Digital Nomad Vs. Expat: Here’s Why Being An Expat Is Better Than Being A Digital Nomad.
After Experimenting with Both Lifestyles, I Can Confidently Say…
Digital Nomad Vs. Expat
According to Google…
“An expatriate, or ex-pat, is an individual living and/or working in a country other than his or her country of citizenship, often temporarily and/or for work reasons.”
And
A Digital Nomad is — “a person who earns a living working online, in various locations of their choosing (rather than a fixed business location).”
The Difference Between Digital Nomad and Expat?
Digital Nomads tend to travel around from city to city, town to town, country to country.
While, Ex-pats often choose a singular destination/country to live, and work from.
Over the last two years, I’ve experimented with both lifestyles.
Here’s Why Being An ExPat Is Better Than Being A Digital Nomad:
Stability
Stability is an underrated feeling.
Living the digital nomad lifestyle can leave you feeling ungrounded and unsettled.
Feeling unsettled makes it difficult to maintain productivity and build a solid and sustainable routine.
Living the digital nomad lifestyle made me crave stability.
Becoming an ex-pat has given me the stability and peace of mind I need to focus on building my income streams online, eating healthy, exercising, and creating an environment I want to live in.
Moving from place to place isn’t for everyone because of how draining the process can become.
I love the feeling of being settled in my own space.
Time To Get To Know and Experience The Land, Culture & Its People.
Most digital nomads work online. This means, most of them are glued to their laptop screens, even when they arrive in a new location.
This can make it difficult to fully experience what their new location has to offer, besides a few local restaurants, and maybe, a little nightlife, here and there.
Being an ex-pat affords you the time to slowly get to know the land, culture, and people of a place, even better.
I love being an ex-pat because it’s given me the time and opportunity to acclimatize, and slowly explore the things my new territory has to offer. Without feeling overwhelmed or “rushed” by 90-day visa restrictions.
Time to slow travel a country.
When you fly into a new country, it’s always best to see other parts of the country, outside of the city where your flight landed.
Staying in only one location in a country doesn’t give you the opportunity to experience the country fully.
Being an ex-pat allows you to slow travel, and explore a new country within a good frame of time.
Having a 2-year visa is not the same as having a 90-day visa.
You need time to discover all the hidden gems and places a new country has to offer.
Less Visa Related Stress.
Apart from working online, digital nomads have to spend a good amount of time figuring out their next destinations — researching visas, travel, and health requirements for their new destinations.
The months roll by quickly, and before you know it, you have to be thinking about your next destinations.
The digital nomad lifestyle can keep you focused on what’s coming next, as opposed to just enjoying and being present with what is.
From my observation, ex-pats are less stressed because they usually have a visa that guarantees them a long-term stay.
Community
Being an ex-pat allows you to stay in a place long enough to build a solid community and lifelong relationships with people you can trust.
Whereas, being a digital nomad means you’re always on the move, therefore having to form and say goodbye to superficial relationships, and connections, with people you barely know or trust.
After experiencing both lifestyles, I can confidently say, different seasons of your life require different things.
In one season, you may be called to be a digital nomad, and in another, you may need to be an ex-pat.
Sometimes, being a digital nomad can lead to becoming an ex-pat.
Do what’s best for you.
Have you tried the digital nomad lifestyle?
Have you tried the ex-pat lifestyle?
Do you have a preference?
Please do share your comments with me.
Download my E-Book: A Digital Nomad & Expat’s Complete Research Guide To Moving and Living Abroad (It’s FREE/You can pay whatever you want for it) here =>
https://judithbanquist.gumroad.com/l/CompleteResearchGuideToMovingandLivingAbroad
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