Another Year of Digital Nomadism: But When Does it End?

If some of you are anything like my husband and I, you’ve been working from home since March 2020. That means, clearly, that we’ve officially lapped the one-year anniversary of society shutting down, which has been a wild, exhausting, at times at terrifying ride. On the other hand, though, it means you might have had new opportunities to branch out, live elsewhere (maybe even on the road) and reconnect with your friends and families in new, digital ways, which hasn’t been all bad.

But, if you’re anything like us, you’ve likely asked— when does this end? I google “how do pandemics end” at least three times a week at this rate, and there’s (sadly) never a clear answer. So, I look elsewhere— to my employer, to my government, and beyond… but that also yields no answers. Whether you’re enjoying living on the road and working remotely or not (for me, it depends on the day, really), you are likely wondering when this ends and living in a sort of pandemic-induced-limbo, which can be, if nothing else, confusing AF.

Me, in June 2020, shortly after the “digital-nomad” lifestyle began. From random cabin camping and family stays to AirBNBs and beyond, many young people (like myself) are feeling “stuck” (or stranded, really) in terms of where to live more permanently.

Work from home, digital nomadism, and beyond: when does it end, and will it end?

The biggest issue I’ve had with this new brand of “digital-nomadism” is my own sense of insecurity around it actually lasting. It’s hard for me to believe that a short-lived (relatively speaking, of course) pandemic of 2-3 years in length will alter the world forever; however, some signs are showing that it just might do exactly that.

Companies like Spotify are allowing employees permanent remote-work options at NYC/San Francisco pay rates. Microsoft is thinking the same thing (though a more hybrid model). Other companies aren’t so sure, and that’s where I feel quite stuck.

My company isn’t sure what they’re going to do yet, which is fine and completely understandable, but it’s left my husband and I with quite the predicament, which is (in short)— where the heck do we live?

We have been staying with my mom for nearly 10 months now. Yes, 10 months. We left Philadelphia in May 2020 as the first lockdown eased, only holding on to our apartment in the hopes that offices (and the world) would reopen, be alright, etc. in a reasonable amount of time. When it became clear that wasn’t going to happen, however, we let go of our Philadelphia abode and moved ourselves, some of our things, and our pets in with my mom more “permanently.”

We know we can’t live with her forever, but the problem persists— WHERE THE HECK DO WE LIVE?! We have jobs based in Philadelphia, PA, so you’d think we’d live there, right? Well, not when a pandemic has kept our offices there closed for 1+ years and that’s not necessarily where we’d live if we could live anywhere (forever, as in: work from home forever), after all.

So therein lies our problem. Digital nomadism sounds awesome, until you don’t know whether or not you’re going to be called back to your office (and, in turn, their base city) in a matter of weeks or months, or if you’re going to be told (at some unspecified time) if working remote is going to last forever.

We have no idea when the pandemic is going to end. We have no idea if variants will significantly de-rail vaccination efforts. We have no idea if our offices will accept a certain level of risk-tolerance for vaccinated employees, so we can’t really do anything right now. We can’t accept a year-long lease in a new, fun city, because what if we have to go back to the office this summer on the chance that things look up? We can’t buy an AirStream and travel across the country with much confidence for the same reason— if work from home ends and we have to live in a major US city, where would we park (and when would we use) such an expensive buy? We can’t buy a home for the same reasons. We can’t, we can’t, we can’t.

Is anyone else feeling this sort of stuck as summer comes around the corner? Don’t get me wrong— now that we’re fully vaccinated we plan to travel this summer, but not knowing where to live (and not knowing where to pursue a place of our own) has been very confusing, disrupting, and weirdly liberating for the last 14-ish months, and… I’m just not sure where we’ll go from here. So, how is everyone else dealing with this? I’d love to discuss and come up with some creative ideas for semi-permanent digital nomadism, if possible, this summer.

Xoxo, MM.