---
title: 'Pros & Cons After 4 Years as a DIGITAL NOMAD (honest opinion)'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z5XpvpmCNDg'
video_id: 'Z5XpvpmCNDg'
date: 2026-06-28
duration_sec: 0
---

# Pros & Cons After 4 Years as a DIGITAL NOMAD (honest opinion)

> Source: [Pros & Cons After 4 Years as a DIGITAL NOMAD (honest opinion)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z5XpvpmCNDg)

## Summary

After four years as a digital nomad, the speaker provides an honest assessment of the lifestyle, weighing pros like constant inspiration, tax flexibility, and lower cost of living against cons such as shallow community ties, health risks, and eventual burnout. He recommends trying digital nomadism for 1–2 years but suggests eventually settling in a base like Bali for deeper connections.

### Key Points

- **Moving doesn't solve all problems** [00:38] — A perfect place doesn't exist; personal problems follow you, but if you don't connect with your home country, exploring other options is worthwhile.
- **Constant inspiration from moving** [01:10] — Speaker gets bored staying 2–4 months in one place; moving every few months renews excitement, new experiences, and meeting new people.
- **Community vs. freedom trade-off** [02:33] — Expat lifestyle allows deep community and routines, while digital nomads constantly leave, making deep connections hard.
- **Considering settling in one place** [03:48] — Speaker thinks about living as an expat in Bali to keep most positives (weather, culture) while still traveling occasionally.
- **eSIM travel hack** [05:04] — Uses Holafly eSIM for reliable unlimited data across destinations; avoids unreliable local SIM cards.
- **Benefits of staying in home country** [06:14] — Less hassle, lower risk, and travel feels more magical when done occasionally rather than constantly.
- **Health risks in Southeast Asia** [07:36] — Better weather and food but higher risks of food poisoning, dengue, and scooter accidents; recommends comprehensive travel insurance.
- **Cost of living advantage** [09:33] — Southeast Asia is much cheaper than Western countries, allowing a high quality of life without high income.
- **Property investment challenges** [10:28] — In Bali, foreigners can only get leasehold properties, which lose value over time, unlike freehold ownership in home countries.
- **Ultimate recommendation** [12:18] — Trying digital nomadism for 1–2 years helps discover the best place to eventually settle, and building an online business gives the freedom to choose.

### Conclusion

The digital nomad lifestyle offers great freedom, inspiration, and savings, but it struggles with deep community and long-term stability. The speaker recommends trying it for a short period and then settling in a preferred location like Bali.

## Transcript

4 years that's how long I have been
living as a digital Nomad constantly
moving working remotely and experiencing
life in different countries but is it
actually worth it in this video I will
give you my honest opinion on the pros
and the cons of this lifestyle should
you become a digital Nomad or would you
be better off just moving abroad as an
exper or in some cases is it actually
better to just stay in your home country
and travel occasionally by the end of
this video you will know whether this
life that is worth all the hassle or is
it just an overhyped
[Music]
dream so first of all I used to think
that just moving to my dream place to
live it would just solve all my problems
but that's definitely not the case and
perfect place definitely doesn't exist
there's different problems and your
personal problems comes with you
anywhere you move but definitely if
you're like me and you don't really
connect with the nature or the weather
the people the mindset whatever in your
home country it's really good idea to
think of the different options for your
life to live in different places and try
different Lifestyles so let's start with
my raw take on the lifestyle as a
digital Nomad first for me this is quite
perfect because definitely like as many
people like I like to travel I like to
experience new places and I get kind of
like bored in one place like I notice it
after many years now that anytime I'm
more than like two three four months in
one place I kind of all the days feels
the same and I get like less inspired
and like I I don't know like it just
doesn't feel the most exciting in a way
and that's why it's so nice to every few
months move to a new place and get that
feeling again that wow like I'm so
inspired and excited about life and like
experiencing these new things in a new
placees new flavors new smells new
tastes like it's just like new people
also like you meet a lot of new people
with different mindset like it's just an
amazing lifestyle in this way and also
the nice thing about the D nor lifestyle
when you're moving around and like be
free to go anywhere anytime is that you
can avoid any like bad Seasons like most
places have rainy season or typhoon
season or something like that you can
avoid all that like I do like I always
go based on the season so I'm always in
sunny weather most of the time not right
now but like usually and also with this
lifestyle you have a lot of freedom when
it comes to like optimizing your taxes
and your setup because you can be
anywhere anytime and you don't need to
be in one place for a whole year so
that's a lot of the positives which are
of course amazing but there's of course
a lot of negatives also and the way I
would explain this is that if I compare
my lifestyle to someone who's an expat
so they just move to a different country
for example Indonesia they move to Bali
and they just stay in Bali all the time
what I'm kind of jealous of those people
is that of course when you stay in one
place all the time you get to like build
connections and Community around you
make good friends and like a friend
group and have your routine and really
learn so much about that one destination
I of course have got a lot of those
positives in Bali because I have stayed
way more there but it's just that
feeling always like you build your
circle around and then you leave so
that's sometimes that for all the
positives I love leaving Bali and
traveling and trying different places
every year but also I feel a bit sad of
like okay like now I'm leaving again and
trying to find new friends in the new
places of course you always meet so many
people so it's not a problem but like
having the Deep connections it's a bit
struggle and by the way specifically for
this problem I created my new school
Community The Nomad TR to make a space
that is more like for those deep
connections with like-minded people so
even if we travel around we always have
one place to go to ask questions meet
people on the calls and have meetups and
just have like more deeper connections
with people because it's definitely a
struggle a little bit when you're digal
Nomad this is what most people say so
I've been thinking a lot lately that
would it be just better to actually live
in one place as an exper and lose some
of the positives of the full digit NAD
lifestyle but for example Bali like it's
pretty good place to live long term like
the weather is year around the best
option and also for me like as a home
base like it's my favorite with the vibe
and the people and the culture and
everything like Bal is really good in
that way and there's a lot to do like it
doesn't get boring and then every now
and then I can still do like travel like
I can still do trips from Bali like if I
have home in Bali I can still do some
trips anytime I want and I can go for
month or two during the rainy season
anyway so in that way you would get like
most of the positives of the G noral
lifestyle without getting so much of the
negatives and I noticed also after a few
years that I love the feeling of coming
to a new even like a place that I have
been before like dang like I just love
the feeling coming back here like
changing environment like is so nice but
that feeling kind of like I lose it
after one week two weeks and then it
feels the same again like not so
inspired so is it better to chase that
new feeling all the time after year
after year or is it better just settle
down more in one place and still can
travel and experience places without
losing the community and the people side
of staying in one place and by the way
one of the best travel hacks I have
found as a nomad is using eims Wi-Fi is
still not always reliable and of course
you need mobile data when going around
and honestly I don't even bother with
physical SIM cards anymore using eims is
just so much easier and hasslefree you
can set up your eim just before your
flight to have a working intern at the
second you land in your destination no
need to search for SIM card at the
airport and deal with topups and by the
way the steam cars both at the local
shops or at the airport are often quite
unreliable they might just stop working
after a while but with Holly the sponsor
of this video you can get reliable
unlimited mobile data in over 200
destinations and they have also Regional
plans so if you're traveling around ASA
for example you can just get one eim
that works across multiple countries so
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data or any surprise fees so if you're
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an eim for your trip I will leave Link
in the description trust me it just
makes life so much easier and by using
my discount code yours at The Nomad you
will get 5% off and help support my
channel and one thing also now after a
long time I noticed like if I think of
like just staying in a home country in
some cases like it's just so easy like
you citizen in the country where you
live like you're from there you know how
everything works the taxi setups like
you really save so much hassle when you
just live in your home country like
there's less risk and less like worry
about like how things going to change in
the world and in a way when you travel
from your home country every now and
then you really do enjoy the travel I
remember traveling from Finland like to
Bali or Philippines back in the day when
I still lived there like I was just like
it was amazing to travel like the best
experience like I was just like happy
tears almost like every day it was just
amazing feeling you know to finally
travel to a new place like that but when
you do this all the time you kind of
lose that like magic of traveling like
it's still nice and it's amazing but
it's not as like incredible like it was
back in the day so I would say that if
you don't have any place that you really
want to live instead of your home
country if you're kind of happy with
your home country it can be even make
sense to just stay living there because
like yeah that mindset of like okay if I
move to this new place things going to
change and be so much better like it's
not really like that it can be because
you meet new people you get new
opportunities you develop your mindset
and all that of course but in a way it
can be also pretty good to just stay
your home country if you have your close
friends and family and really enjoy your
life there and have all the positives
with that and also more about the topic
of health of course when you move to
these places in Southeast Asia for
example in some ways you can be way
healthier because you're in a like
outside in nature with good weather like
surfing or like eating nice food in the
restaurants eily like really healthy
options but of course there's also like
the negatives like you can get food
poisonings easier in Bali for example
you can get like a tropical disease like
dangi fever from the mosquitoes you can
easier get like into scooter accidents
or something so there's definitely like
there's lot of like Risk when it comes
to health also and I definitely have to
say that I haven't always been the
healthiest when I live in Southeast Asia
because of all these things and that's
why I would recommend get a good travel
medical insurance of course when you
travel the one I'll be using is Link in
the description you can check it out
like that's what I would recommend and
nowadays I used to complete plan that
means basically is best for this moment
that are long-term living this lifestyle
because you have more Comprehensive
Health Care with that so it's not really
a problem when it comes to Health Care
like in Southeast Asia there's good
hospitals so it's not really something I
would be too worried about if you get
this insurance for long term so my
opinion based on my own experience I
would say that it's really good be like
it's been amazing to live this lifestyle
for the past four years and I will
probably keep doing it for at least one
or two years more but after that yeah I
based on everything that I already say
like I've been thinking that would would
be better to have a home in Bali or like
in some place that I love the most and
change the lifestyle a little bit like
that especially if I build a family one
day that I definitely looking forward to
do and want to do it would be much
better to stay in one place and can
still travel but settle down a little
bit and in Bali for example there's good
international schools so that would be
kind of like what I'm seeing for the
future and by the way if you're getting
value out of this video please like the
video and subscribe to not miss out on
all the future content about this dig
normal lifestyle in different places and
of course one positive that I need to
mention is that when you live this
digital normal lifestyle you can live
anywhere you can save a lot of money
like cost of living is so much cheaper
in some of the places in Southeast Asia
for example compared to Western
countries that obviously you will like
you don't need to make that much money
to live a really good lifestyle so
that's the opportunity but of course the
challenge is like can you make money
online like without needing to be in a
specific place because in most cases you
can't really get like a job in b or
something like that you need to work
online and if you can make it happen
it's really amazing setup but it can be
a challenge of course and also like the
world and the countries and you you
don't really know how things going to
change with climate change also like how
different countries going to develop to
better and worse conditions for living
so that's why it's nice to have this
freedom of like I can kind of just
choose whatever makes sense for me
whatever I see is the best option I can
go there and have the freedom and
flexibility so that's definitely a big
positive about this lifestyle and one
thing I have been thinking that it would
be nice like if I'm getting a home in
Bal of course would be nice to own it
like would be nice to invest into a
property but it's not that easy because
inali is always lease hold so it kind of
like lose value by time so it's not like
a long-term investment in that way so
that's one negative that in my home
country of course I would buy a property
it would be really good long-term
investment so there's not really that
kind of opportunity when you as a
foreign or in a foreign country so
that's one negative but of course like
you can also make good business with
properties opportun ities in Bali like
you can build lot of properties and like
have different businesses around that
but for a simple investment as one
person buying one house like it's not
that nice that it would be in Western
countries when you actually own the land
and own the house so yeah every
lifestyle every place have the pros and
cons you just need to choose something
that is like for you the pros are more
important than the cons that's just how
life works and for me dig nor lifestyle
yeah it's it's been a good choice like I
really I'm like I'm happy that I did
this and I make all the effort to be
able to live like this and for most
people I would also recommend doing this
at least for one or two years to kind of
also see like you can't really know what
is your favorite place to live before
you try many like just moving to Bali or
just moving to one place and just settle
down there like how could you know that
you wouldn't in actually living in
Thailand way more so that's the positive
of trying many places that you can
actually find like what is the best for
you where you feel the best where you
meet the best people for you like most
likeminded and then choose one place for
long term because I would say that most
people wouldn't want to actually live
for the rest of their life digit nor
lifestyle of course like most people
want to build some kind of community and
home and family in one place instead of
always traveling like it can get a bit
exhausting always changing place and
never settling down somewhere so yeah in
the end of the day I would always
recommend trying to build some kind of
business online to give you the freedom
to choose because that's really the
greatest feeling ever so yeah I hope to
see you in the no man tribe like And
subscribe and see you next week