Work-Life-Travel Balance

Whenever I tell people that I work as a digital nomad, the response is generally, "Wow, that’s incredible, good for you, you’re lucky." My response is generally, "It’s not as good as it sounds." Now, look, I don’t want to sound ungrateful, and let me say that this is exactly what I want to be doing and what I prefer over the alternative. But at that moment, when I’m speaking to those other travellers who are in a new city and have all their time dedicated to exploring that city, they actually have it a little better than I do—at least for those few days, a lot better.

This topic has been on my mind a lot, as I’m currently in Egypt—a country which, for most people, is a once-in-a-lifetime visit to see an ancient culture and in which they’ll spend about a week, maybe two, exploring all the important historical sites. But for me, over the past two years of nomadic traveling, it’s just another home, another place to stay, and another place to work. And just like everybody else who has to get their work done before they can take time off and afford to travel, that is true for me as well. And honestly, I’m embarrassed to say that the majority of my stay in Egypt has been within a 1-mile radius, moving between my hostel and my coworking office. It took me a week and a half just to visit some of the pyramids. And I’m going to leave Egypt without visiting some of the most beautiful historic sites. Why? Because I have limited time with a visa, I have places I need to go, and I have work that I need to do, and I’m human—I get tired, I don’t want to go out and see everything every day, I don’t have the energy for it, I run out of energy. And so, now after 2 1/2 months of particularly fast-paced travel, I’m a little tired and enjoying not going out that much.

And I know this is hard to get—I’m constantly encountering locals and other travelers, and even friends from long-distance, encouraging me to see many places of this incredible country, and having difficulty understanding why I’m only visiting two cities during a month. But the thing is, this is a different lifestyle; this is not travel, this is not vacation, this is living as a nomad. Living as a nomad in the modern age has incredible opportunities, incredible luxuries, and also real limitations of time, budget, and of course energy.

So, I’ll see what I can in Egypt and I’ll come back and see more when I can, because I can, hopefully. Nevertheless, I have really enjoyed my time here. I have been to different areas of Cairo, I have met friends and explored with them, I have met locals, and I even went inside a pyramid, so that’s good enough for now. I do really appreciate the digital nomad lifestyle, and I am learning how to do it better. I am learning how to ration my time, my energy, while acknowledging the unique opportunities and the very human limitations I have. The journey continues.

Travel Tech MOFT Laptop Stand

This one's a story. I like traveling light, and I want to work in a comfortable and also healthy way, so naturally, I’ve been using variations of laptop stands for a while. I had one sort of portable one, but it was metal, which made it not very light, and even when it was contracted, it still took up noticeable space. But the biggest barrier was that I would forget to take it, which is exactly what happened last time I packed for travel. In the meantime, I used all sorts of objects to elevate my laptop while working, to give me a better view of my screen, and to cause less of a hunch in my back.

Fast forward to my last visit to Prague. I was staying at a hostel and noticed a fellow remote worker with an interesting contraption under his laptop. I’d seen things similar to it before on Amazon, but always assumed they were gimmicky, unreliable, and could maybe even cause the laptop to overheat. But, it was a stand that was stuck to the bottom of his laptop, meaning he didn’t need to remember to bring it anywhere. I approached him while he was working to ask about his experience using it, and he expressed that he was really satisfied with it and that it was actually very sturdy.

So, on my last visit home, I bought one, and after 3 months of putting it to the test, I too can very happily recommend this product. It’s sturdy, it’s light, it doesn’t affect overheating, and probably actually helps with it, and most of all, I never forget to bring it with me.

Note: Don’t buy something you don’t need. But if you are interested in purchasing it, using this affiliate link will also support me at no additional cost: https://amzn.to/3FIzSnK

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