How to Improve Your Digital Nomad Life with a VPN

Last Updated by Olivia Jones on March 12, 2024

When your physical location no longer matters when it comes to getting the job done, possibilities rapidly open up as to how and where an individual can live their life. Video conference calls replace the need to visit with clients at the office; file-sharing apps make transferrable of documents and projects instantaneous; and the cloud allows you to see a company’s infrastructure and interact with it from anywhere in the world.

Those bare minimums as the foundation of a career has led to the formation of a new class of working professional – the digital nomad.

But even these wandering freelancers need protection, particularly when it comes to their online data and information. In this blog we’ll break down this unique worker type and explored how VPNs for a digital nomad can keep them safe.

Who a Digital Nomad is

Being a digital nomad means living in one place only as long as you want to, and traveling to another at the drop of a hat while still maintaining your business and professional world through the use of the Internet.

So if you’re a native New Yorker who happens to also be an amazing graphic designer, there’s nothing keeping you from renting a place in Colorado for the summer, assuming it has great upload and download speeds.

Or if you dazzle as a coder in London, but you’ve always wanted to see springtime in Paris, you can find a flat with reasonable rates and free Wi-Fi and start practicing your French while getting plump on beignets as you create.

Being a digital nomad affords you the freedom to live a fairly spartan existence when it comes to possessions, freeing up your income for enjoying recreational activities, traveling, investing, or socking money away for the next phase of life.

Digital nomads are usually single people, although plenty of couples without children are enjoying the nomadic life together as well.

The lifestyle has become so popular that NomadList, a website that helps digital nomads decide where to live next, how to find accommodations there, and includes measures for fun, safety, and Internet access, has cropped up.

Viewed across all filters, the current top five cities for digital nomads worldwide are:

Canggu Bali, Indonesia
Bangkok, Thailand
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Budapest, Hungary

Challenges of being a Digital Nomad

As cool a prospect as living on the beach, in the mountains, or at the heart of a thriving metropolis, and being able to pack up and go somewhere else at a whim, sounds amazing. But like the rest of the life, there are certain hoops you’ll have to jump through in order to keep in compliance and maximize your productivity and profitability.

Get travellers’ insurance. Not just to protect against theft, but also for your own medical health. Winding up sick in a country where you don’t know the local phrase for “Please get me to a doctor right now” is a bad way to live. Travellers insurance will get you access to care clinics, hospitals,and ambulance services.
Get a credit card with no international fees. Hopefully you won’t have to use a credit card too often, but they are still valuable financial tools. American Express is a great go-to card for digital nomads because it generally does not charge fees if you want to access cash or make purchase in different countries.

Protecting yourself online with a VPN

Traveling to different countries can mean adhering to their own specific laws about Internet usage and censorship. You also have to be aware of the weaknesses of each location’s Internet security, particularly if you are planning to do a lot of web surfing or working while using public Internet at places like coffee houses, restaurants, airports and universities. VPNs can supercede the restrictions of a particular country’s Internet laws, allowing you to visit any website you may want or need access to.

At the same time, the maxed-out encryption and other security protocol favored by most leading VPN companies give digital nomads incredible protection to keep their personal data and the important work they are doing safe, regardless of what part of the world they are signing online from.

There are dozens of VPN companies available, but three of the best when it comes to VPNs for a digital nomad are: NordVPN, Trust.Zone, and IPVanish.