“Anyone wants Shall we meet for steak? This was the message posted by a man named David in the Digital Nomads Buenos Aires Facebook group five years ago. I responded, and upon meeting each other in the leafy neighborhood of Palermo, David and I bonded instantly, became as strong as thieves, and have since solidified our friendship with meetups in places like Zurich and Playa del Carmen, a true hotspot for nomads. digital.
Loneliness is one of the challenges of the digital nomad lifestyle, where location-independent professionals travel while working online. However, a variety of virtual communities are helping these remote workers see the world and make friends along the way. There are online conferences where participants come from everywhere, digital nomad subredditsand Slack channels where people can connect. There are also city-specific Facebook groups like Rio digital nomads for people living and working in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
While living in Playa del Carmen, on the Caribbean coast of Mexico, as a digital nomad, WhatsApp groups were the lifeblood of my itinerant existence. There were WhatsApp channels for all kinds of gatherings, whether board games, ice baths or dawn sessions with modern mystics.
Belgian businesswoman Julie Renson also used WhatsApp groups while living in Playa del Carmen, relying on communities like “Beach Volley in PDC” and “Salsa and Bachata” to strengthen her social network in real life. He has also lived in warm climate locations such as Ivory Coast, Panama, and Thailand, and employs various strategies to create friends depending on location.
“Bangkok, for example, has a lot of MeetUp and Facebook groups, but in some places like Marrakech there isn’t much to do,” he says. In those less traveled places, post in Facebook groups before you arrive, sharing the dates of your trip. “Honestly, for me, the best way to meet people is to attend events I find online, which is probably why I’m working on a tool now. TukiooThat allows people to come together and come together,” says Renson. “People are what will make your experience magical.”
distant friendships
When living in the capital of Portugal, a paradise for digital nomads, British citizen Saskia Hadley uses the Facebook group Lisbon digital nomads and expats. “Having been remote for the better part of 10 years, Facebook groups are a great resource when you need a hive mind,” he says. Hadley is the marketing director of Noma Collectivea group travel company that offers people a plug-and-play community of other remote workers in countries like Belize, Kenya, and Sri Lanka. He usually also joins Facebook groups for specific interests, such as hiking, kickboxing, or European parties, to make the most of his location independence.
Nomads looking for connections also turn to premium communities designed specifically for them, some of which have thousands of members. Nomads.com (formerly NomadList) costs $200 to join, and is the first port of call for many working travel enthusiasts, offering a popularity ranking of various nomadic destinations along with a solid breakdown of living costs, travel safety, location and availability. Good Wi-Fi connection. The members-only platform has an active Telegram chat and hosts up to 400 meetings per year around the world. For traveling business owners looking to access a peer network, Digital nomad girls offers a “virtual brotherhood” with more than 39,000 members for $100 a month or $600 a year. Benefits include a monthly book club, sharing circles, tandem digital decluttering, and a platform to invite potential friends on adventures.
While some digital nomads mingle during internet-enabled happy hours and Zoom coworking sessions, many of these virtual communities see real-world gatherings as the end game. This is the case with NomadBasean online community that for the last two years has brought together workers without borders in feeSpain, for three weeks of kitesurfing, aerial yoga, community dinners and networking.
NomadBase was founded by Johannes Voelkner, who is also behind Nomad Cruisethe world’s first at-sea conference for digital nomads. “Life as a digital nomad can be very isolating,” says Voelkner, “but our program helps nomads become part of an amazing community of like-minded people in no time.”