I Don't Want To Be A Digital Nomad
I just want a place I can confidently and happily call home
The idea of being a digital nomad sounds great—in theory. For many people, it works in reality. Even though I could—in theory—be a digital nomad, I pretty much want no part of it.
In my case, being a digital nomad portends a rough and more expensive life than the one I have now in Los Angeles and anticipate having when me and my partner move to Spain.
In today’s post I explain what I mean, inspired by a recent installment of the
Substack.Ultimately, I want a place I can confidently, comfortably and happily call home. As I’ll explain this is NOT what a large number of people seeking digital nomad visas—particularly the one Spain offers—want.
In the Facebook Groups I frequent about Spain’s Digital Nomad Visa, these questions come up as much as anything else:
What are the maximum number of days I can be out of Spain, but maintain the visa?
After how many days of being in Spain do I become a tax resident? Do I have to pay taxes to Spain just because I got the visa? Because, in their words, not mine, that’s not fair!
This tells me that a decent number of people want to use this visa, not to make a home in Spain, but to travel Europe, effectively on the back of the Spanish government. The only part of this that really bothers me are the people trying to skirt paying taxes—
Though, I’d argue you might spend more changing locations every few weeks or months and paying taxes somewhere than you will by simply becoming a tax resident in Spain.
Outside of that, I don’t really care what you do with your visa.
This part of
’s excellent post really resonated with me—Last month, in Morocco, when we had the realisation that we couldn’t stay any longer and we were looking into options as to where we could go, was when I first felt those feelings of longing for the home we no longer have. When I had food poisoning and we checked into the hotel, I wanted nothing more than my own comfortable familiar surroundings. I dreamt of our old bed, our previous sofa, the basket of blankets I used to pour over me. It was in those moments when I wished we had our own home to go back to. Not even the same house we owned. Just a home, our home. A place of safety, security, comfort. All of the things I’ve given up.
I love this.
It illustrates one of the things that’s great about this newsletter.
We have people in very different personal and financial situations, who might differ—and even disagree—on specifics, but share a general consensus on the broader issues we regularly discuss.
On the specifics, I disagree with Lyndsay. I’ll likely leave Los Angeles with two bags. I might send a box—maybe two—to Spain. That’s it. I’ve never been attached to material things. There are clothes, some boots, a handful of kitchen equipment and a few of my favorite books I’d like to take with me. I won’t miss furniture or blankets.
If I read between her lines correctly, Lyndsay feels the same way. So, maybe we agree? She’s using those items as symbolic of the safety, security, comfort she gave up. She doesn’t even want her old house back. She just wants her old life back. I get that.
Here’s the thing—when you consider the many discussions we’ve had around why I and others want or need to move, it’s because we don’t feel safety, security and comfort where we presently reside. Maybe we have or even feel those things now, but we see the writing on the wall. That writing foreshadows the breakdown of those key elements of living a good life.
Isn’t this a—if not the—fundamental problem with life in America for many people today?
The rent’s going to go up.
The cost of food won’t get any less expensive. In fact, it’ll likely get way more expensive.
I could never emotionally prepare myself for $3,400 rent or a mortgage payment that requires a high-level of work (counted in time and pressure) for too long. I get emotionally aroused thinking about writing this newsletter most days of the week for the rest of my life.
So I’d never be ready to move if the more for my money mantra was my mindset. If that was my mindset, I’d probably be just fine overpaying for everything in Los Angeles until I fall over and die after getting hit by a left-turning car in a crosswalk holding a $17 cup of cold brew in the year 2073.
Los Angeles will never lose its car culture enough to make this place the type of built environment I want to live in.
Some digital nomads wander the globe because they crave excitement.
I don’t want excitement in that sense. I just want to remain physically and mentally engaged as I enter relative old age.
Some digital nomads can’t stay in one place. They get bored.
I don’t get bored in creative, vibrant, non-boring built environments.
An exciting, non-boring life to me is one where—
My partner and I have the ability to travel freely and relatively inexpensively, but have a home base we’re happy to be part of. Not one where we merely hang our hats. But where we happily pay taxes in return for what we can’t get in America.
My partner and I can live an active, tapas-filled day-to-day life that doesn’t cost a relative fortune.
My partner and I can buy an apartment and not have a housing payment during the second act of our lives.
My partner and I can safely, securely and comfortably ride out the rest of our life together without having to hang on for dear life.
I’m aiming to get a digital nomad visa, not to be a nomad, but to make our forever home.
Tapas!
The thing about DN visas is that they simply don't work for DNs because they're based on staying in one place for possibly years which totally goes against the point of being nomadic. One of the largest groups of people actually using them are those who want to emigrate permanently. It's a weird thing. A friend of mine is a Doctor in migrant studies and is working on DN research right now. Her opinion is that these visas simply don't work for anyone, either DNs or people who want to become expats. That any they're not being used by the people governments thought they would. DNs no, people escaping war (if they can afford and access them), yes. It's all fascinating stuff!
I am so pleased (and chuffed) that my latest post inspired this post of yours Rocco! I've certainly enjoyed travelling and living the nomad life, and without it my husband and I wouldn't be in the position we are in now which is the freedom to make the move on our next chapter. It's something we wouldn't have been able to do if we had stayed put. But all the travelling has certainly made me miss having my own home and now I can look to strike that balance between creating a home base and travelling. It's a fun thing to be able to create the life we want to create ☺️