Location independence should theoretically mean that you can do your job anywhere. Now that is true and false at the same time. It is true in the sense that you are not tied to any particular location. You are free to choose your working location (your “office”) in any city in any country on any continent. (Wouldn’t it be nice to go even further and say “on any planet”? Maybe some time in the future…) But there are still a few considerations you must be aware of when selecting a digital nomad destination. Some of them are objective, others depend on your personal taste, your travel style and your other preferences.

So here are a few pieces of advice I have compiled for you, that will hopefully help you select your next (or your first) digital nomad destination.


1. Follow your heart

There are some fashionable destinations among location independent workers, including Chiang Mai in Thailand or Bali in Indonesia. These are top destinations for digital nomads, and newbies flock there perhaps because they think those places have something special for them. This is true to a certain extent. There are co-working spaces, for example, but it is not a unique thing at all. There are such places in many places around the world. Another advantage, if that is your thing, that you are more likely to meet other digital nomads in these cities.

Chiang Mai, Thailand
Chiang Mai, Thailand

And yes, Chiang Mai is also one of my favourite cities, too but I have more. Bali, on the other hand is one of the very few places that I don’t wish to return to any time soon. Read my post explaining some of the reasons why.

I recommend that you should select a destination simply on the basis of what you are interested in. Is there a country or a city that you have read about and that caught your fancy? Go for it! Did you accidentally see a photo of a place that you thought was beautiful, interesting, exciting? Read more about it and buy a plane ticket! You’ve seen a documentary or some other materials about a tribal community on the island of Borneo? Discover more about it and check which city is the closest where you can settle down to work.

Bidayuh Gawai festival in Gumbang, Borneo
The Gawai festival in Gumbang village on Borneo – villagers receive the guests from other villages

I am the type of traveller who likes to prepare for a new location. Well, most of the time anyway, and if I have enough time to do that. I think it is a good way to avoid unpleasant surprises and to prepare for some of the issues and challenges you are likely to face. But I personally know people who never do that. Yes, they sometimes experience some hardships, but they always manage somehow. But be warned: not everyone is so lucky, and it all depends on how well you can handle the unexpected.

Do you want to get ideas about possible destinations? Here is my whole blog for you to use for that purpose. You can use the Countries menu item at the top, or simply browse among the posts. But for now, here is a short list of some of my favourite locations: Kuching, Yogyakarta, Hanoi, Da Nang, Chiang Mai, Bangkok, and a lot more. Also check out my Digital Nomad City Ratings, especially if you are a digital nomad who wants to spend a longer time somewhere, rather than only visit for a week or so.

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2. Follow your budget

There are a lot of location independent workers who travel to save money, and you can do that too, depending on your home country or where you earn money (the two may or may not coincide). If you are from Europe, North America or other, more developed regions of the world, you have very good chances for being able to save money while travelling, especially if you carry on making money as usual. Prices in some extremely popular countries like Thailand are usually much lower than in any western country, and add to that that you go on earning western salaries.

claypot noodle soup
A very large portion of “clay pot noodle soup” in Ipoh, Malaysia. Price: 5 Malaysian ringgits, a little bit more than 1 euro (1.2 USD)

Not all people are as lucky though. If you are from Thailand or Vietnam, you are not likely to find too many destinations with cheaper prices than at home. If you are from East Europe, you will most probably not find all of the prices in, say, Malaysia shockingly low compared to what you would pay at home.

As a general tip: you should always try to collect information about prices for accommodation, food and the cost of living before you decide on a destination. There are several websites that can help you with that, one of the more popular ones is Numbeo.

3. Follow the WIFI signal

Location independent workers are not a hundred percent location independent, at least most of us are not. Yes, I can easily come up with examples for jobs that may truly be location independent, such as a writer or some kind of an artist, who are free to choose a wooden bungalow in the jungle or a hut on a deserted island’s beach, or a remote village in the hills in Laos, and can be very productive there. And whenever they need to produce the end result to their customers every and now and then, they can visit the nearest city. But this is an exception rather than the rule.

Most location independent workers are so-called “digital nomads”, which means that they need internet connection to be able to do their job, as opposed to submitting or delivering the end product. Some of them, such as graphic designers or full time video bloggers, need a fast internet connection, because they need to transfer large files. Some others don’t need a very high speed, but they need absolutely continuous connection, for example someone who is literally working online – i.e. if the internet connection stops, they can’t go, and they must stop working. I am one of them, since I must use online tools for my translation jobs. Other examples for this may include teachers who give online classes, webmasters and other IT professionals or anyone who needs to continuously monitor something online.

If you also need internet connection (especially a fast one) for your job, don’t just suppose you will find it easily at your destination. Do your research to find out what others say about internet penetration at your desired location.

One tip: if internet connection is essential for your work, always have a backup plan: besides the Wifi provided by your guesthouse, hotel, Airbnb or other accommodation, it is good practice to have a local SIM card with a decent amount of mobile data. This has saved me many times during my travels.

U Mobile SIM card, Malaysia
U Mobile SIM card, Malaysia, costs 25 RM or less than 6 USD (2019 august), with unlimited mobile data

In South East Asia, I have always had good to excellent connections. There was only one place where I had a problem, but even that was not related to the speed or availability of the internet connection, but I still don’t know what caused the issues. It happened in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, where I spent a month. I just couldn’t connect properly to the servers I had to through the specific software tools that I must use for work (Memsource editor and Oddjob). I could connect to any site, I could use the internet connection for anything else like Skype and other communication channels, but not for these two tools. Luckily, I found a workaround, so I could complete my jobs before the deadlines, but it was tough. What would I have done, if there hadn’t been a workaround? There would’ve been but one solution: pack your bags and leave – unless you want to spend a holiday there without doing any work.

4. Follow the security advice

Not all countries of the world are safe. Always check your own government’s or embassy’s website for the latest travel advisory. It is also a good idea to check multiple countries’ advisory pages. Besides my home country’s foreign ministry’s website, I sometimes check the US and the UK websites, too. Of course, you are free to use any other country’s travel advisory site, if you speak their language.

It is, however, highly important to check your home country’s official travel advisory site, because your travel insurance may not be valid for countries and regions that are classified as “not safe” by the Foreign Ministry of your country (or the country where you bought your insurance from). Travelling without insurance is a big no-no, so check your insurance policy, and double-check it with the insurance company’s customer service.

5. Follow the legal requirements

Most of us, digital nomads, travel the world on a tourist visa, so it is highly important to check the entry requirements and prepare for that in advance if necessary. Some countries let you stay for a maximum of three months at one go without a visa, and you are allowed to simply leave the country for a short time and return for another three months. Some other countries, for example Thailand, have introduced serious restrictions on this. In some cases, you can buy the visa when you enter the country (but in some cases only at airports, not at land crossings), in other cases you must buy the visa online before you enter. In some cases, there are e-visas, in some cases there are only regular visas.

There are also some tricky situations, for example in the case of Sri Lanka or the Philippines, where you have to buy a return ticket, or the airlines will not let your board the plane.

Indonesian visa extended
My Indonesian visa extended for another month

Conclusion: always check the visa requirements for your own country. Do not trust generic information from other travellers, blogs or forums! Regulations may and do change, and there are different rules for different nationalities. Check your own country’s travel advisory site for the latest updates, and then check the destination country’s official website, too. If you have questions, direct it to the destination country’s embassies or immigration offices. You can often find questions about visa requirements on travel forums – and that is fine to use as a starting point, but always double check the information at official sources. Also bear in mind that regulations may change: only because you travelled to a particular country last year, it doesn’t mean that this year, the rules will be the same.

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