James Innes-Smith

Diary of a digital nomad

There's never been a better time to try working from anywhere

  • From Spectator Life
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As the pandemic gently recedes into history, many of us have been embracing the liberties that have followed. For anyone whose work relied on a desk, a chair and a computer, video-conferencing services such as Zoom left us questioning long-held assumptions about the need for those increasingly anachronistic offices to which we once trudged. The thought of traipsing across town to sit in front of the same computer perched on a slightly different desk suddenly felt absurdly outdated.  

But just as we became accustomed to typing in our slippers, more adventurous feet began to itch. Being stuck in a corner of the sitting room all day could be just as stifling as those open-plan offices we thought we’d escaped. Why would we limit ourselves to the over-familiarity of home when we could just as easily work from a host of other, more congenial home-from-homes?

For those of us with a visceral aversion to spending half the year imprisoned beneath a damp grey mop, the idea of being somewhere sunnier and brighter was always going to be hard to resist. The first few months of the year can be especially bleak and with UK infrastructure collapsing around our ears, now would seem the perfect time to skedaddle.

Portugal has been busily laying down the red carpet for UK escapees. Prices are generally lower than in the UK, the temperature rarely falls below spring-like and the beaches are long and languorous

Becoming a digital nomad is a two-way street, of course; while we get to enjoy better weather, better food and infrastructures that actually work, host countries get to boost their economies, create new jobs and increase trade turnover. The good news is countries are falling over themselves to welcome refugees from failed states like ours – so why languish in your damp cell a moment longer?

One destination in particular has been busily laying down the red carpet for UK escapees: Portugal.

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