It’s been weeks since I started my digital nomad life with our tuktuk. Yes, we’re on a quest to discover the treasures of the entire Philippines and soon, the world using our beloved tuktuk. I would love to give him a name but haven’t thought of a suitable one yet. The dream was to do it via an RV but the price of acquiring one and maintaining it would cost us a fortune. Although I work remotely, what I earn is only enough to put a little into my savings account for my future plans, pay for our life and travel medical insurance, and fund our daily expenses. We’re on a budget. We’re skrimping on everything except on experience. We’re not living as comfortably as we used to but we’re happier.
Traveling non-stop has always been my dream. Staying in unfamiliar towns for weeks or even months was something I have always craved for. There’s always magic in getting to know a place, its people, and its culture instead of merely seeing its beautiful spots. I was never into counting places and ticking off bucket lists. Traveling is not a competition nor a race, to begin with. It doesn’t matter if you started your journey of discovering the world some decades ago or just now. What’s more important is how you let every ounce of experience move you, change you, and be a part of you.
I love to relish the stillness of the morning and simply take it all in when I wake up in a small unknown village. The locals happily getting on with their daily routine is like a movie I would never get tired of watching. Their simplicity and genuine happiness are something I aspire to own. They are grateful for the most trivial of things and celebrate the smallest of wins. Life for them is that simple and someday, when I’m done fulfilling my nomadic dreams and aspirations, I wish to live the same kind of life, simple and humble.
My digital nomad life didn’t start easy. I spent months researching and preparing. I’m a Virtual Assistant and a WordPress Technical Support Engineer and unlike other nomads who own their time or have flexible schedules, I’m tied to fixed working hours. I can’t go on a day without the internet except on weekends and I have to be in front of my computer during designated hours. Else, I would have to bid this remote job goodbye and potentially ruin our plans. It’s like a 9 by 5 job and the only perk is I get to work anywhere I want as long as there’s internet. It’s not easy because I feel like I’m only partially free but it’s better than being trapped in a cubicle.
The Philippines is not the most digital nomad-friendly country. Internet connections in rural areas are hard to come by so I carefully planned our route. Our planned route involves tracing the map where a 5G connection is available for all the local carriers in the country. They’re mostly available in cities and developing towns which is such a bummer. That gives us no choice but to find accommodation there. I don’t hate cities. It’s just that I prefer a more laidback atmosphere with less noise and slow-paced life.
Another thing is that most of the hostels here have unreliable wifis. They have also jacked up their prices after the pandemic so they’re not very friendly to our budget. I feel strongly against paying a hefty price for something that doesn’t serve its purpose fully. And as much as I want to spend the night at some faraway island or camp under the stars, most of these sites don’t have internet available. So to remedy this, we’ve been staying in home rentals in the city. I have also taken with me 2 universal pocket wifis for backup in case these rentals don’t have an internet connection. It’s more practical and offers discounted rates for long-term stays. We only explore the nearby villages in the morning or on weekends then we go back to our rental when it’s time for me to work. It’s arduous but that’s part of what we signed up for.
Prior to starting our journey, I spent several nights thinking/picturing how it would turn out. I know most of the time things don’t play as planned but I want to take control of things I can control somehow. I was anxious and I probably spent money even on things we might not need during our quest. I invested in camping materials, first aid kits, health supplements, skincare, power backups, and many things I lost track of. The world is full of uncertainties and things happen at times we least expect them.
One of the things I don’t regret spending money on is our insurance, especially, travel medical insurance. I used to not think of it as essential before but I learned its importance the hard way during an accident when I was in Vietnam. My injuries were not life-threatening but you can only imagine my horror to be in an unknown place, injured, and with not a single family member beside me. The worse, I didn’t have insurance so I have to pay for my hospitalization using my travel money. That’s not good when you’re on a limited budget especially since hospitalization for foreigners is a bit expensive.
Since then, travel medical insurance such as SafetyWing has taken the number one spot on my list of priorities when I travel. If you don’t believe me, I have even written tons of reasons why we need it. I’m on a limited budget for this digital nomad journey and I don’t want it to fall out of place because of something I could have prepared for in advance. We have covered only one Philippine province and a few towns within it since we started this journey. Sultan Kudarat is a lovely place. We don’t post in real-time on our social media channels for privacy and security but we soon would love to share how amazing this journey has been so far. Still, a long way to go. A lot of things, good and bad can still happen. After all, the Philippines has 81 provinces and the world has over 190 countries but I can’t wait to unravel what awaits us so bring it on!
