The Cost of Being a Digital Nomad in Thailand
The first stop on our digital nomad journey was Phuket in Thailand. We picked Thailand as we were making final plans of where to go in late 2021. A lot of countries in South East Asia still had their borders closed. Thailand has been running a “Sandbox” system on the island whereby you could come in for a holiday without enduring a lengthy quarantine process. There were restrictions on movement beyond the island but it allowed their tourism sector to start bouncing back.
We spent four months in Phuket and had an amazing time. The people are welcoming, it’s sunny and there are plenty of activities to do from island hopping, beach days, elephant sanctuaries and theatre performances.
Below is a breakdown of the average monthly living costs for the two of us. Hopefully, this helps if you’re wondering how much it costs to live as a digital nomad. We definitely couldn’t live the lifestyle we did in Thailand back in New Zealand on this kind of budget.
Rent
We stayed at two different locations in Phuket. DLUX Apartments in Chalong and HOMA in Phuket Town.
DLUX is a small apartment building near Chalong Circle we found on Airbnb. It has a rooftop swimming pool, a small gym and a common garden area where we could hang out. The place is starting to look a little dated and run-down with things like the sun loungers needing replacing, but overall clean and safe. Our room was on the seventh floor and looked out to the Big Buddha. You can read more about DLUX here.
HOMA is a new development that includes an on-site co-working space, a rooftop swimming pool, a well-appointed gym with fitness classes, a yoga studio and a restaurant. It’s large and beautifully thought-out. The biggest drawcard for us was the co-working space as it gave us somewhere else to work without having to travel. Perfect for my early morning meetings. The team at HOMA also works really hard to provide additional benefits to their guests, including a run club, a football club, networking events and even charity involvement.
We knew that rent would be our biggest expense, but as we work from home having somewhere we like to be is also important. I’d say we’re middle of the range here. Definitely not dirt cheap, but obviously in Phuket there’s the opportunity to spend a lot and live in a stunning home.
Dining Out and Groceries
As you can see, we spent a lot more on Dining Out than on Groceries. We generally ate breakfast at home, but aside from this, we ate out or got delivery for most of our lunches and dinners. We had some meals that were at Western prices and some ridiculously cheap local Thai food for 80c a meal. Mostly, we tried to find meals that were in between these two.
Spending
Before we became digital nomads, we each had a monthly spending budget, so carrying this across was pretty easy. This includes things we bought for ourselves like souvenirs or clothing as well as fancy meals out that we didn’t want to put in our regular Dining Out budget and day excursions to the islands. We also put all our alcohol here, unless it was with a meal and then we didn’t always split it out. We want to track what we’re spending our money on but don’t want to make the process too onerous.
Travel Medical Insurance
A must-have on any trip, but especially when we landed in Thailand. To apply for the Thai Pass (an entry requirement, separate from visas) we had to have a certain amount of coverage for quarantining. The requirements for this were constantly shifting, even up until the day we left. We use SafetyWing who have always been really helpful and responsive when we’ve needed information. They understood the requirements from the Thai government so when we landed we didn’t have any issues. Always a huge relief especially when there were all the added barriers to travel. We haven’t ever had to make a claim from them, so I can’t comment on that process.
Transport
Two things to note on transport in Phuket. First, legally you are not meant to ride a scooter without a bike licence. A rental shop will give you a bike with no problem, but if you have an accident it’s unlikely your insurance will cover you. Also, the Police go through phases of pulling over tourists and reminding them of their driving status. If you don’t want to see the inside of a Thai police station, either get your bike licence before you leave home or skip the scooter hire. Secondly, taxis are expensive. You can use services like Grab or Bolt to bring the price down, but it’s still not going to be cheap.
Utilities
Both places we stayed charged us for power and DLUX also charged us for water. Both included cleaning, either weekly or fortnightly which is an added little luxury.
Visas
We got two visas each while we were in Thailand. We arrived on the free 30-day Visa Exemptions (we’re on New Zealand passports) and then extended once for another 30 days. Due to Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine (there are a lot of Russians in Thailand), the government was allowing people to apply for additional 60-day extensions. It was great to be able to extend as we wanted to stay longer than just 30 days.
Subscriptions
We have an Apple+ subscription for storage and TV as well as a Netflix sub.
Mobile Phone
We got SIM cards at the airport as we were going into quarantine when we arrived and wanted to make sure we were connected in case we were in there for a while. The plan we originally got had way too much data for us so we downgraded to lower (and cheaper) options as soon as we could.
Bank Fees
Although we have a credit card that doesn’t charge us to withdraw cash, Thai ATMs do charge a $6 fee each time. So we used our Wise account as much as possible to avoid this. Since we used cash a lot, we always took out large amounts each time.
