Reflections — Two Years Of Being A Digital Nomad
The second year of travel began in Vang Vieng, Laos. It slowly got hotter and hotter while we lived there and the sky closed in as burning season peaked.
We then headed south, through Vientiene across the border in Thailand. The overnight train took us down to Bangkok to celebrate Songkran, the epic water festival.
We continued down to the coast where we went back to Thai island life on Koh Chang. We parted ways there, Tania heading back to New Zealand for work.
We met up again in Sumatra, spending time at Lake Toba and enjoying jungle life in Bukit Lawang.
We bounced up to Malaysia as our visas expired and went to Melaka to live as apartment dwellers for a change of pace. Then it was back to Indonesia, this time to Bali.
We had friends join us for a whirlwind tour of Ubud, Nusa Lembongan and Southern Lombok. After they left we headed across to Lovina in the north of Bali.
The visa extension process meant we got an extra 30-days which we spent travelling around Java, experiencing our fourth Indonesian island.
A short stop in Malaysia reset our visas again and we headed back to Lombok. We’d already fell in love with the place and wanted to get more of a feel for the area. We spent time in Kuta as well at Gili Trawangan.
In the middle of all this, we invested in a piece of land in Lombok which sort of turned our lives upside down and reset our goals. Earning money suddenly became a key focus for us. So we decided to come back to New Zealand to allow ourselves to rest and make a plan of how to build our dream home.
Four months later and our plan has been pretty perfectly executed. The Lombok House Savings Account is growing and we’re planning our next adventure.
Here are our reflections from the past year. You can read our reflections from Year One here.
What would you have done differently?
Tania: The only piece I would have done differently is the time we spent in Laos. We knew that the burning season was coming but we didn’t realise how hot it would be, that ash would fall from the sky and all the activities would be disappointing because you couldn’t see anything. I’d love to return to Laos when everything is green and lush.
Blue Lagoon in Vang Vieng
Favourite excursion or activity?
Tania: I loved the journey down to Bangkok on the night train and the time we had in the city, even though it was short! Being in such a crush of people for my first ever Songkran experience is not something I’ll forget any time soon.
The overnight train from Nong Khai to Bangkok
What have you learnt?
Tania: You’ve got to find the right balance of planning and going with the flow. We should’ve planned our trip to Laos better but not having strict plans later in the year meant that we could return to Lombok after we fell in love with the place. Make a plan but hold it loosely so you can adapt as new opportunities arise.
What have you loved?
Tania: Looking back on the year, I can find the good bits in all the places we stayed. I loved the gym we had in Melaka, so I think about that rather than the fact that the heat meant I couldn’t walk anywhere. We met lovely locals in Tuk-Tuk, so I think about that rather than when we both got sick.
I loved everywhere we stayed when we were surrounded by nature - the jungle in Bukit Lawang, the waterfalls in Lovina, the beaches in Lombok. Being places that aren’t filled with concrete and that make it easy to be surrounded by nature makes me the happiest.
Always happiest in a forest by a stream
What do you never want to do again?
Tania: Spend the burning season in Laos.
What surprised you?
Tania: How quickly we went from ‘We’re going to keep this travel lifestyle going for the foreseeable future’ to ‘We’ve bought land and we’re going to be more settled.’
Our trip to Lombok was just meant to be a cute little beach holiday with friends but we fell in love with the place. And thanks to Kieron’s research, we learned about how to buy land there, found a great company to do it with and took the leap in the space of about two weeks.
Buying a home overseas had been on my goals list but I thought it was going to be a ten year goal rather than happening so soon.
Absolute joy! On our way to see our land for the first time
Favourite country?
Tania: Has to be Indonesia. Having visited four of the hundreds of islands, I’ve learnt how much diversity there is. And it’s diversity of landscapes, animals, people, cultures, development, everything. There’s so much more I want to explore there and I can’t wait to do it.
What would you have changed?
Tania: Again, the timing of our trip to Laos. But I think that’s about it. We visited a lot of places which we realised weren’t for us, but we needed to go there to know that.
We did make some changes as we went. We started the year with a loose plan which we tweaked and that worked pretty well for us.
What’s your priority for next year?
Tania: I really want to get the house build underway, ideally within the next six months. It’s a big ask and we’ve still got a lot to sort out on that front, but I feel like with how quickly we acted on the land purchase, we can do it.
Advice for anyone becoming a digital nomad?
Tania: The first step for us was understanding our finances. It helped us save up our financial cushion so we could take the leap into the digital nomad lifestyle. It also helped us reduce our expenses before we left meaning we could travel for less. That means less work and more fun.
Then keep your eyes open for opportunities. We heard about several places we travelled to from a lovely German man we met in Tuk-Tuk. We got the idea of buying land from a local in Lombok. We considered a stint in Vietnam but never booked it so we could change our plans and head back to Lombok later in the year. You never know what opportunities are going to arise when you’re travelling.
What did we get right this year?
Tania: Although that summary of our year sounds like we moved a lot, it felt like we bounced around less than the first year. Everything worked in more of a logical flow from one stop to the next.
We also solved problems as we went. We were looking for a way to be more grounded in the future and found the perfect way to do that with the house in Lombok.
We got to spend time with our friends whilst abroad and back here in New Zealand which has been so special.
If you’re a digital nomad, let us know your biggest lessons or reflections from the last year in the comments below.
