Digital Nomad Lifestyle Around 22 Countries in 1 YEAR (+STATISTICS)

Viktor Vincej·
Digital Nomad News, Updates, And TipsOur Travels
·0 Comments·14 mins read

It’s been almost 5 years, since I quit my comfortable job in Slovakia and started living digital nomad lifestyle! It’s been a blast but on the other hand, it’s been enough. BUT! it’s not the END 🙂 .

Plan for next year? “same same but different” stay tuned on INSTAGRAM 😉

To make it more FUN, I’ve prepared some fun statistics and “sexy” numbers from 2017 and compared them with 2016 as well. They are very random, most of them exact, some of them estimated.

In this article you will find:

(links below are jump links to take you throughout the article faster)

STATISTICS: red is 2017 / green is 2016

  1. Countries visited: 22 (21 countries in 2016)
  2. New countries visited: 13 (12)
  3. Bucket list dreams DONE: 5
  4. Time spent in Slovakia (home): 1 month (3 months)
  5. TRANSPORTATION:
    • Flights: 16 (14)
    • Bus rides (intercity): 25
    • Train rides (intercity): 11
    • Cruise ship: 1 (across Atlantic) (1)
    • Ferry rides: 4
    • UBER rides: 36 (14)
    • Blablacar rides: 6 (8) (1x accident)
  6. TOTAL money spent: 17580 euros (17100 euros)
    • Cost of flights: 1185 euros (1336 euros)
    • Cost of accommodation: cca 4000 – 5000 euros
    • Cost of food: cca 5000 – 6000 euros
    • Insurance: 217 euros
    • Nomad events/transportation: 1800 euros (2000 euros)
  7. Books read: 5 – Truban Support (SVK), Mindset, Alchemist, American Kingpin, Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
  8. Digital Nomad events: 2 (4) – Nomad Cruise & Nomad Train
  9. Coworking spaces I worked from: 5 (5) – my favs:
  10. Digital Nomad Hubs Visited – 4 – Medellin, Lisbon, BCN, Bali
  11. SLEPT in: 61 beds (58)
    • Airbnbs – 10 (16)
    • 2x “long-term” rentals – Medellin (2 months) & Bali (3 months)
    • Hostels – 27 (17)
    • Hotels/Guesthouses/B&Bs – 18 (5)
    • Friends places – 3 (11)
  12. FUN FACT: spent almost 1 month (cca 28 nights) – sleeping on trains, planes, buses & cruise).
  13. WORKED on my 3 projects (estimation):
  14. WORLD IS SMALL FACT – bumped into 3 different friends on the street in random places around the world (within 3 months).
    • in Mostar (Martin from Slovakia) – August
    • in Sarajevo (Tak from UK/Japan) – August
    • in Beijing (Martin from Czech Republic) – October
  15. WORK FUN FACT: I wrote 2 articles ONLY

**skip scrolling TIMELINE 2017 and jump to GOALS 2018 and CONCLUSIONs

[sta_anchor id=”timeline”]TIMELINE OF MY DIGITAL NOMAD LIFESTYLE in 2017[/sta_anchor]

[sta_anchor id=”january” unsan=”January”]NYE on the beach in Dominican Republic (January)[/sta_anchor]

I’ve started this crazy year in Cabarete, Dominican Republic with around 100 digital nomads from Nomad Cruise which I attended just before Xmas 2016. We had a fun time and we definitely kicked OFF new year BIG TIMEEEE 🙂

I stayed there for around 5 more weeks and pretty much worked (not very productive) and hang out on the beach. Cabarete wasn’t really my type of a place, maybe that’s why I wasn’t productive or just a lazy beginning of the year. It’s always a weird period of the year, right?

[sta_anchor id=”february”]Colombia – Bogota, Medellin (February & March)[/sta_anchor]

COLOMBIA <3 … I was going there with quite high expectations and certainly wasn’t disappointed. Bogota was a “quick tour” and I only stayed 4 nights. It’s a beautiful place full of culture and nice mountain vibe (but also cold and dangerous).

Since, I had some friends already in Medellin (and more coming) I knew it will become a home for few weeks. It didn’t take long to find other digital nomads around and some cool coworking space to get some work done (finally). I worked from La Casa Redonda and lived in Laureles neighborhood for 2 months.

Got myself very quickly into the routine between coworking space, gym, nomad friends and dating local senoritas / “practicing Spanish”. Despacito, avacate, cerveza, cafe con leche, guapa, bonita, linda, hermosa <3.

It’s been an awesome routine and I was getting work done but still a bit “on the edge” between lazy and productive. It felt comfortable and I didn’t want to make any move from there.

I wanted to get on another giant trip… to finish my 3rd around to world trip (the plan was kinda Colombia, USA, Hawai, Sydney, Bali.. and some other exciting destinations on the way but I was a bit worried about budget and I couldn’t see myself traveling/backpacking for that long, again.

I also loved the sense of routine, started being organized person (a bit) and enjoyed the community of like-minded people around me.

In the same time, new nomad cruise trip was announced.. and I wasn’t planning on going at all but way too many friends from Medellin applied and suddenly I wanted as well.

I changed the plan for 3rd around the world trip and decided visiting some other country close by before the NOMAD CRUISE. Peru WON, it was affordable and exciting enough for me to book flights and make a bit of a plan.

That plan failed.. but it failed successfully! 🙂

[sta_anchor id=”april”]Peru + Chile, Bolivia (April)[/sta_anchor]

I was set for Peru and the plan was to work a bit and backpack around for 1 month. Once I got into good “backpacker” mindset I wanted more. I heard great stories and once I got to Arequipa I’ve realized how close I’m to all those amazing places I always wanted to visit in South America. I had about 2,5 weeks and I squeezed “giant trip” in it and headed more south, to Chile and Bolivia!

From Arequipa, I headed south by bus down to Arica but I made it only to city called Tacna. I arrived very late and I would have to make it through the border during late hours and that’s kind of dangerous. Kind of.. I mean, REALLY DANGEROUS. So, one extra night in Tacna (there is nothing in that city :D).

Next day, I crossed the border and made it to ARICA which was surprisingly very cool city with beaches, surfing, cliffs, amazing views, sunsets and low tourism.  I made some friends in the hostel and spend amazing 3 days in the city. There was also local festival / celebration of the city establishment which dates back to 1541 (476 years).. so lot’s of dancing, drinking and food 😉 They REAL GUANTANAMERA stuff by Indigenous people (not like the ones in VIDEO! (We used to have “radio tape” of that when I was little kid).

I arrived to IQUIQUE, cool little beach town for 2 nights. I enjoyed runs and exercise on the beach and got some (very little) work done and headed to San Pedro.

I made it to SAN PEDRO in early morning hours and got “cold slap” in the face! That place was freaking cold and all I had was beach clothes and 1 pair of jeans + 1 hoodie. It was 5am / dark & cold / I didn’t have room reservation / there was nobody / no actual bus station / no map / no sense of the city (it’s not even city). There was one backpacker so I headed to hostel with her. 

First thing in the morning was shopping, to get some warm stuff before I go to even colder Bolivia. I did also bike trip to “Moon Lagune” and booked myself for a 3 days trip to Bolivia. In the same time, I started to regret I only had 2 days in this amazing place. There way too many amazing places to visit around.. see the pics.

3 DAYS TRIP TO BOLIVIA

This trip is dream of every backpacker but there is so much more then just famous “Salt Flats”! It was also a bit hard because most of the time we stayed between 3000-5000m altitudes and yes it was freaking cold but 100% worth it. Check out the pics and see yourself.

LA PAZ

After the trip, I decided to not waste my time in Uyuni and took night bus to La Paz. Had very low expectations about the city because I heard just bad things how ugly it is but.. I actually loved it. I went to very fun and interesting walking tour which was for sure amazing! It has very interesting history and unique culture.

Next day I went for “dead road” bike trip and fell in love with 80km downhill from 5000m altitude via the famous road which used to take 200 lives every year!

TITICACA LAKE

After I headed to famous TITICACA lake which is the highest lake in the world and has a lot of places to visit. I was getting sick and decided to take rest a bit and do much around. I tried to do some work but there was not even one place with decent internet (tried maybe 15).

CUSCO

When I got to Cusco, I was pumped for Machu Picchu but I kinda realized I don’t have enough time to go and enjoy it properly. I felt also sick and super tired after intense backpacing trips, so I decided to skip the most popular place in SOUTH AMERICA.. will need to come back one day. Cusco is lovely city worth visiting and spending few days just hanging around.

After Cusco.. I flew to Lima -> Bogota -> and Cartagena for Nomad Cruise. The game changed instantly from “TOO COLD ” to “TOO HOT” and after 3 days I was ready to convert from backpacker to digital nomad again 🙂

[sta_anchor id=”may”]Nomad Cruise n.4 – Cartagena, St. Marteen, Antigua, Madeira, Lisbon (May)[/sta_anchor]

Getting on board of Nomad Cruise for 2nd time was really exciting. I had lots of friends there to catch up with and also needed/wanted to make it back to Europe.

[sta_anchor id=”june”]Portugal & Spain (June)[/sta_anchor]

After we made it to Lisbon, I spend few days enjoying the city and checking some favorite places from the previous year! Then I visited a friend and traveled south of Portugal (Faro & Lagos) + South of Spain (Sevilla & Granada). Spent 2 weeks around and caught up on work (just a bit)!

.. also had car accident (first time) 🙂

In the middle of June we had Nomad Cruise 3.  reunion in Tarifa where I spent 2 weeks and then headed to my favorite place, Barcelona. I stayed 4 weeks (instead of 2) in total, got a lot of work done and spent a great time in coliving space A Landing Pad (highly recommended).

Staying in Barcelona was super addictive and I did not feel like going at all but I was already booked for trip to Balkan, including bachelor party in Macedonia with my friends from UNIVERSITY!

[sta_anchor id=”july” unsan=”July”]Balkan trip – Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania, Montenegro, Bosna & Hercegovina, Hungary, Slovakia (July / August)[/sta_anchor]

Since, I cut 2 weeks, stayed longer in BCN and I had wedding (deadline) to go to in Slovakia, Balkan trip had to be very quick (unfortunately!).

I started with 4 days in Sofia in Bulgaria where I focused a lot on work, not much of discovering of the city. I also reunited for a drink with a local friend who I met on the 3 days trip from CHILE to BOLIVIA (in April).

My first visit of Greece was awesome, I booked nice place in Thessaloniki and stayed for a week. I spent most of the time working, running and eating amazing gyros everyday :D. I headed to a beach / touristic places for a day trip and that was definitely enough. Umbrellas and fat holiday people everywhere 😀

My last night in Greece I ended in “Alexander The Great” style by getting 21km run DONE! So far, my longest run ever! Next morning I headed to Skopje in Macedonia.

MACEDONIA was really cool and I was catching up with my best friends after almost a year! We spent time in the capital, Skopje and the lake “Ohrid” which is super beautiful and also border with Albania. When you ever go to Macedonia, you have to visit OHRID.. it’s so clean that you can drink out of it!

After Macedonia I had about 2 weeks to visit explore Balkan more and flight to catch in Sarajevo!

Next 2 nights I spent in Kosovo, in the small city called Prizren. I stayed in cool hostel and had long discussion about war & life with local guy who runs the hostel. It was definitely slap in the face to hear about that terrible history. Just hearing about it was frustrating enough.. and took me a while to fall a sleep that night!

It’s important to know what countries think, representatives, NATO etc. but the most important is to hear what local people think, those who grew up and live there!

Next day, I got cool recommendation to go Albania by ferry and visit one of the hidden jams and most beautiful places in Albania, Komani Lake. It wasn’t very easy and there was no exact information online on how to get there and also the way how guys in the hostel explained it was not very certain and clear! But when I googled  how it looks like.. I was like.. “f**k it, I’m doing it!”.

This post explains it..

Albania seemed like very interesting place but I was running out time and spent only 2 days around the lake Shkoder and made a move to Montenegro which was country I was the most excited about on this trip. I visited 2 cities, Budva and Kotor and they are both stunning (highly recommended). The old towns, architecture, food, ocean makes you want to stay there forever!

NEXT STOP! Mostar 🙂

This iconic city of the whole country is must visited destination in Balkans. Downtown is small but very beautiful with great vibes in the evening. It’s perfect weekend trip destination for Europeans.

2nd day I was heading for walking tour and I randomly bumped into a friend from Slovakia.. which proofed again the saying “World is small”. We did that walking tour later and ended up drinking beers on “sniper tower”.

My last stop after Mostar was Sarajevo (capital of Bosna & Hercegovina). I did “war walking tour” and again my mind was blown away by the stories I’ve heard.

Last night, I was working in living room of the hostel and it happened again. I bumped into other friend from Japan/UK who I met in Bali (April 2016).. so, world is even smaller than I thought a week ago.

I flew to Budapest next day in the morning, had some nice “gulas” for lunch and jumped on the bus to Kosice, Slovakia.

[sta_anchor id=”august”]Slovakia (August)[/sta_anchor]

The time back home was as usual.. 2 weddings, catching up with friends and family time + few runs to Bratislava to get my VISA to Russia for another adventure (it seems like I only go home for weddings but that’s exactly what it is! 😀 ).

[sta_anchor id=”september”]NOMAD TRAIN – Russia -> Mongolia (September)[/sta_anchor]

Almost a month at home was just enough and I was ready and pumped for another adventure! I flew from Bratislava to Moscow and spent a week discovering the city. Then I met with the group of 30 digital nomads and headed with NOMAD TRAIN to Mongolia. In twelve days we made it to Ulaanbatar in Mongolia. We spent around 5 days in the train and 7 days visiting and working from Ekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and Irkutsk + lake Baikal. Another highly recommended trip for digital nomads!

Moscow – EKA – Novosibirsk – Irkutsk – Baikal – Ulaanbatar

With the small group from the trip we traveled a bit around Mongolia, visited country side, Gobi desert and slept in traditional “nomad houses”. Unforgettable experience! I stayed one more week in Ulaanbatar, rented apartment, caught up on work and watched crazy snow from the inside 😀 + few dates (pssst).

China, Beijing (3 days)

I was very excited for Beijing, just because it was warm!!! I had only 72 hours transfer visa and my only goal was to make it to “Great Wall” and not miss the flight to BALI!

Next day, WORLD proofed to be small again because I bumped into a friend from Czech Republic at the same hostel where I stayed! Super random again.

[sta_anchor id=”october”]Bali Bali Bali (Oct. Nov. Dec.)[/sta_anchor]

Boom.. BALI for the 4th time was definitely great decision. I spent (and still spending while writing this) a great time in Canggu and working from Dojo coworking space and enjoying the cummunity of all smart digital nomads around. I reunited with lots of friends I met around the world here in last few months and in total it’s gonna be 4 months here in Bali. My longest stop since I left Australia in April 2015.

[sta_anchor id=”goals”]Goals for 2018:[/sta_anchor]

  • work more / travel less
    • less buses, less trains, less hostels.. 😀
  • reach 100k/month visitors on travelinglifestyle.net
    • (now it’s around 15k per month)
  • delegate more work
  • double my current income
  • spend more time with family
  • travel abroad with my parents (for the 1st time actually)
  • do more sports / more often
  • cut drinking & smoking to minimum (already happening, “keep going Viktor :D” )
  • read more books! let’s say 8 this year;)
  • organize nomad meetups (maybe a bigger event)
  • 2x Nomad Cruises (see ya soon!) we got spots.
  • launch product or book on amazon.com
  • do some volunteering again and support more charities
  • spend at least 6 months in one place.. ok maybe 5, or maybe just 4 🙂

[sta_anchor id=”conclusions”]CONCLUSIONs[/sta_anchor]

  1. 2017 was “once again” one of the best years of my life and I learn a lot about myself. I realized more of what makes me happy and one of those things is “being productive” and having more routines in my life! Therefore, I’m going to be slowing down and spending half a year in Spain in 2018.
  2.  I’m super thankful that I have “work” which I enjoy doing and wake up pumped for everyday.
  3. Being around digital nomad community is super inspiring so I will be also spending most of my time around “productive nomads” or creating that community around myself.

Hope you enjoyed reading.. please drop a comment if you have any questions about digital nomad lifestyle or some recommendations 🙂