Working remotely has become so common that something like starting a family by having kids no longer proves to be any kind of hindrance to a digital nomad couple in question. It becomes more of a welcoming of just another family member to what will have essentially just evolved into a digital nomad family, instead of one or two free-spirits traversing the world as a result of being able to earn an income remotely or passively.
Given the challenges of raising a family, without factoring-in the regular and extensive challenges of living out the digital nomad lifestyle as an individual, how do digital nomad families find the strength to make it work and even thrive in many instances? The answer is partly through good family accommodation.
Pre-planning
For the most part, when one is exploring the world, through the eyes of a digital nomad, the last thing on their mind is planning roots somewhere specific, even in the event that they meet someone and the natural processes of life lead to the expectation of a new life to be brought into this world. In many respects, the life of a digital nomad might appear to be one of someone who is just winging it, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
While there is indeed a fair amount of spontaneity involved with being a digital nomad, a closer look would reveal that digital nomads are perhaps the ultimate in supreme planners of any kind. Every possible outcome is pre-planned for. So if they can plan for something like the possibility of missing a flight by looking for alternatives like an empty leg flight or some such option, you’d best believe digital nomads have some plans in place for something like having to account for the responsibility of raising a baby.
So they might not cite starting a family as part of the plan, but it’s definitely something for which provision is made.
Minimal time off
Don’t get me wrong – there are indeed many of digital nomads for whom the digital nomad dream is interrupted or completely terminated as soon as they start a family (planned or unplanned), but those who go on to thrive as a digital nomad family are those who don’t allow events such as the arrival of a baby to halt the lifestyle. It’s a matter of taking the least time off that you can handle, even if it means moving between countries where good medical treatment for moms and newborns is accessible, for the next while.
The longer you interrupt the travel side of the digital nomad lifestyle, the harder and harder it gets to get back on that horse. So digital nomad families that thrive ensure to minimise time off.
Transitioning into family-oriented travel
The type of accommodation plays a huge role in helping digital nomad families thrive, with the common pattern being that of the logical exchange of the likes of double beds in hostels and backpackers for family accommodation. Places that feel like home are favoured, such as serviced apartments housed in residential buildings, the best of which are located in neighbourhoods such as Bristol’s Clifton in the U.K.
