It’s not easy to be on the road for so long, even though a lot of people dream of long-term travel. But once you’re in it, you hit a point of wanting to share all that with someone, to start building communities.
Sometimes you are able to take a quick trip home and visit your family and friends, especially around the holidays. Other times you don’t get that chance. That’s why building communities is important. It helps us to stay connected and surrounded with people who understand what you are going through. After all, they’re in it themselves.
Even if you don’t feel nostalgic or you don’t have anything tying you to your place of origin. Even if you don’t really have that “back home” label to bring up in conversations, you still want to build connections with other nomads. We want to meet new people and make friends. Why? Because humans are social creatures that rely on cooperation in the community to survive and thrive. Contact is what gives us energy and strength and courage and motivation to move forward, it provides happiness.
Community building : places
Communities are traditionally built between families, neighbors, school groups, church (or other religious) groups, sports clubs, classmates or college student groups, members of a club or workshops attendees. It’s something that ties people together, something that they share in common. So when we travel, we have the opportunity to meet people that share that interest with us. For nomads – the love of travel and adventure, the remote work.
So how can we build communities when we travel?
The simplest way is through co-living and co-working spaces. There are so many of them emerging recently around the world, that you will be able to find at least one wherever you go.
Coliving
This is concept that became even more popular after the Covid-19 pandemic started. It’s a great place for building communities. We remember that before the pandemic the hostels were the place to be. Usually young people, backpackers, would stay there for a while. Some of them working remotely especially in the industries that were open to location independent jobs like tech, IT, marketing, content creation, writing etc.
You could stay in a shared room, open up your computer and do your work for a few hours. You didn’t usually mind the noise and would meet other travellers. Other than work, you would hang out, go to the beach or explore the jungle together. You would visit museums and sights in a city, have a few drinks or dinner together. Most importantly you would share stories and experiences or ask for recommendations for your next destination.
In March 2020 that dream life was put on pause. Due to physical and social distancing, hostels were closed down. No more 12-bed dorms with shared bathrooms, filled to the brim with people coming in and out on a daily basis. This crushed a lot of hostel owners. They were forced to lock up permanently, sell or convert their facilities into something else.
That was the turning point for those who got in on the concept of co-living. Suitable for digital nomads, travellers opting for longer stays (with monthly payments), co-living is the new hub where magic happens. It can be a smaller place with 4 to 5 private bedrooms with either a private bathroom or a shared one. In some cases a bigger coliving space offering shared room options, but within the limits of covid restrictions.
Favourite coliving
The most popular co-living brand is Selina – they have houses in over 10 countries of Central and Latin America. They boast a couple of locations in Europe and the U.S. Apart from the franchised co-livings, there are also independent houses that are more authentic to the places you go to. My personal top experience was with coDreamers coliving in Buenos Aires and coimpact coliving in Barcelona. They are locally owned and provide a more authentic experience. This is done through organizing walking tours of the town or local cuisine experience, insights into the local life etc.
More often than not, co-living houses have dedicated working stations that you can use for free. This ranges from a simple table&chair setup to a special room with video making equipment and projectors. Some have a phone booth where you can sit and have audio&video calls with clients without being disturbed. That, of course, depends on the size of the coliving house and you can always find the detail description on their website.
The good thing about coliving is that people who stay there are usually nomads who work while they travel. They understand that people around them do that too, so they will not make noise. They will be more considerate and understanding of your needs than how it used to be (and now again probably still is) in the hostels.
Coworking
Dedicated working stations are what we call the co-work. Apart from finding them in the colivings, there are numerous co-works around the world. You can go to when you need an office space but don’t want to (or can’t) set it up at your house. Even if you are not a nomad but working from home, and due to the lack of appropriate space, signing up for a desk at a co-work might be a good option for you. For those of you that do travel, and decide not to stay in a coliving (maybe you are travelling with your partner and would rather stay in a more private setting, or you just not wish to spend every day around other people) you can check out the co-working options in your destinations.
Favourite coworking
The most popular one especially in building communities is WeWork. A top-notch co-working space that you can usually find in big cities. Some are on the 20+ floor of a skyscraper with a lot of natural light coming in through full glass windows offering you a magnificent view over the city. They offer monthly memberships and you can choose between a hot desk, dedicated desk, or a private office. You can also use their meeting rooms and the phone booths.
One special thing they have is, they built a break room where you can play pool, table football, darts and other games and get free beers. It helps you socialize with other co-workers in your time off. I spent a day at the WeWork in Buenos Aires and loved it. Of course, all that comes with a higher price. There are other co-working spaces that you can find out there, which will be more accessible for whatever your budget is. They often organize events and meetups for digital nomads where you can enter even without being a member. So I suggest keeping an eye on that and using that as an opportunity to meet people and build communities.
Collaborating
Another great tool is staying connected through Facebook groups for Digital Nomads and there are so many of them. Some are a generic group on digital nomads around the world to a more specific, country or city related group. More often you will see these groups as a starting point to ask questions or get recommendations. In some cases someone might have created an event or a meetup, a pop-up co-working space for a day that you can join to meet others and maybe get inspired to create an event yourself.
There are often WhatsApp groups that follow from the Facebook group, where people are more casually chatting about their day and come up with spontaneous meetups. This is usually for an after work drink or even for a coffee while working from one of the coffee shops. Some of these are equipped for nomad work (smaller and less crowded cafes where the music is not so loud and there are power sockets and good Wi-Fi). So now building communities can be done online and offline.
Good community, great vibes
Currently I am spending my time in Guadalajara, Mexico and absolutely love the group that has been formed here. I am currently staying in an Airbnb with my partner who also works remotely, so we opted for this option instead of a co-living. Yet since it is so important to meet other people and connect, I was all over the Facebook group since day one. I wanted to get some insights and within the first month have met a dozen amazing women! We’ve been out for dinner and drinks, met up for brunch and had spontaneous coffees whenever someone was in the area. All those interactions energized me and gave me ideas. Quite frankly, it makes me feel less alone when discovering a new city and I am so thankful.
Next week I will share some ideas with tips and tricks for all of you starting out as digital nomads and what to keep in mind before you take off ☺
If you have any questions, hit us up on Facebook or Instagram and you can always reach out to me directly as well.
by Antonija Bosanac
Antonija was born and raised in Split, Croatia. Now a restless traveller gone digital nomad in 2019, she’s passionate about building communities, volunteer work, education and human & civil rights. Currently working as a coach in the field of interpersonal communication and self development, she’s promoting change through individual work with clients; as well as being en route to getting a degree in psychotherapy. For her current location, check her Instagram profile.
