Work's a beach: meet the digital nomads making the world their office

It is an hour or so into the working day and Joe Hodgson looks up from his desk. But his view is different from most professionals. His laptop is sat on a bamboo table. A white beach slopes gently into a cove of cobalt water, dotted here and there with long-tail boats. He is surrounded by the distinctive landscape of Ko Pha Ngan island in Thailand, all coconut palms and little hills. “My office for the day,” Hodgson says.

The freelance translator and illustrator also runs a language-based website, Lingo Bongo. Because he is not shackled to an office desk or subject to the whim of a manager, Hodgson has exploited his freedom and embraced digital nomadism: the idea that by using technology you can work from wherever you like. So far this has meant his regular home in Madrid, but equally he has gone to work in the Himalayan foothills, in Bangkok and Ko Pha Ngan island, famed for its hedonistic full moon parties and pristine scenery.

“I have always wanted to do it,” Hodgson says, “ever since the internet began and I saw the first laptop.” He adds that it has only become practical in the last five years thanks to advances in technology. For his trips, he’s invested in a “bullet-proof” laptop that he tethers wirelessly to his smartphone. “You can get a phone card for about 50 euros (£35),” he says, “that gives excellent 4G coverage. In India and Thailand they have astonishing networks for mobile phones. It is easily as good, and probably better, than in rural England.” Apart from a few software packages such as Skype, there is little else Hodgson needs except, perhaps, a steady supply of drinks from the bar.

Hodgson’s story epitomises a 21st century ideal – a way of life that is Jack Kerouac meets Richard Branson. Of the two French companies who send him daily translation work, he admits he has never met them in his life, yet their working relationship functions perfectly well and has endured for years. So with technology becoming more reliable and the lifestyle so enticing, is digital nomadism on the increase? Could it become a common way of working in the future?

Lea Woodward is someone who has watched the growth of remote working from the start. Born in Hong Kong and educated at Warwick University, she initially took a job with Accenture in the City of London. But disillusioned with the corporate life she decided to set up a personal training business. When her husband, a graphic designer, was made redundant in 2005 they decided it was time for another change. “I typed into Google, ‘cheap places with good quality of life’, and Panama kept coming up,” she remembers.

“At the time remote working was not common, but I bought a guide and we decided to go. We told our friends and family and they thought we were crazy.” Woodward continued with her personal training work and moved into coaching too. “I did lots of it on Skype,” she says. “[My husband] Jonathan did all his work via email.”

Their time in Panama marked the beginning of a remote working odyssey that took them to Buenos Aires, Grenada, Canada, Thailand, Turkey, Dubai, Hong Kong and South Africa. They worked throughout, making use of new social media technologies as they appeared. “I kept a personal blog and it became very popular,” she says, “so I kept writing and eventually I decided to turn our experiences into an ebook about location independence”.

Since they started their travels, Woodward is sure that many more people have taken up the same lifestyle. She says: “There is definitely a trend for remote working. Previously it was such a strange concept that you had to overcome that mind-set. That has been the big thing. The tech is there and it has been for some time and now you’re getting companies like Buffer and Automattic which are 100% remote. They have 100-130 people in their organisations. There is also a big number of micro-entrepreneurs and people pulling together in co-working spaces or renting Airbnb in places like Ubud in Bali.”

But while remote working seems to be on the increase, we’ve not experienced the massive shift that so many predicted. Woodward acknowledges this. “Making it work is hard,” she says. “Running and growing a business alongside travelling and settling in and making new friends is very difficult.” To make her ventures work she has been forced to be strict on the allocation of time. “You have to be even more disciplined and motivated. Instead of the park outside, you might have the beach, but sometimes you have to just get on with your work.”

Brenna Holeman, author of This Battered Suitcase, agrees. “Digital nomadism isn’t as easy as it has been advertised,” she says. “The people I know who live that kind of lifestyle work extremely hard, and on top of that do very strange hours. They have to be online a lot. If you are taking your work with you – say you’re a scuba instructor – then that is one thing. If you’re planning to start from scratch and make your entire living from being a digital nomad, however, then it can be a tough slog. If it works out then great, you’ve got the beach right outside. But it is difficult.”

The business community also have their doubts. There are questions of trust and team building, and also of the efficiency of someone who is based far away. Hodgson acknowledges that one of the most difficult issues is the different time zones. “Most of the time I have to send a translation within 24 hours,” he says. “Then there are the fast jobs – those that tend to pay a bit more – and as Asia is about six hours ahead there is the worry that you’ll have gone to the pub by the time that they come in.”

For both Woodward and Hodgson digital nomadism is coming to an end for now. The reason, Hodgson says, is that while the beach might be a few feet away, his friends are halfway around the world. “It’s an idyllic and quiet place, but it’s too solitary.”

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