A digital nomad but without the digital
I have gone through five very different main phases shaping my background for writing: in a family corporate business, at university, traveling as a nomad, expat life with a local small business, and recently, starting a new phase working remotely with online content creation. I started on a nomadic lifestyle 20 years ago in 2000 but eventually decided to live in the Dominican Republic, where I have lived as an expat for 15 years and had a local real estate business. After high school in 1988, I worked for my family’s business, the Pressalit Group, in Aarhus, Denmark, for five years, including a two-year trainee period in Hamburg, Germany. Then I started at University in Copenhagen and finished my law degree in 2000.
A couple of years ago, I heard the term digital nomad, which is someone who travels and works from a laptop without having a permanent home, and I realized I had been one on and off for almost 20 years. However, for the first several years, it was not with much of the digital as I had limited internet access, and it was before social media. Typically, you work mainly by yourself and only loosely belong to communities. I mentioned the term to an American expat in the Dominican Republic, from the expat community. He said, “Ha, they finally found a term for it, ah. A digital nomad. That’s like sexing up the unemployed guy with a laptop who knows some technology and a bit of business,”. I thought that was hilarious. I have known many during the years with those characteristics. Some were independently wealthy, and others lived from hand to mouth. It characterizes me more and more, actually.
