I shed the ‘digital nomad’ label when I discovered that I was more of a ‘digital plonker’ – a location independent worker who prefers to stay in the one place for an extended period of time – than someone who prefers moving around on a nomadic journey through towns and cities and countries.
I tried the digital nomad lifestyle in Vietnam in 2016. I learned very quickly that I didn’t like working on the road or in hotel rooms where the desk and chair combo was far from ergonomic. While TJ and The Monsta were out exploring the streets of Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi, I was getting a crick in my neck while ploughing through client work.
So we plonked in Nha Trang for about 3 months and it was fab.
Perhaps the best thing to come out of our three-month digital nomadding experiment in Vietnam was that it sparked a major life change.
You can read about that here:
And now, here we are in Korea. We’ve been in the same city for 2 years and 2 months. I consider that suitably plonked.
Perhaps I should adopt the expat label. According to the Macquarie Dictionary, it’s what I am:
Someone living or working in a country of which they are not a citizen.
Macquarie Dictionary
Our life of digital plonking in Korea will be over at the end of the year. I’m apprehensive and excited about moving back to Melbourne. I want to bring as much of the slow lifestyle we’ve built here back with us. I know things will be different and many things less convenient. But we’ll have carpet, wind-dried clothes and access to chicken Twisties. And my nose will be of average proportions. Hooray!
Moving to a completely new area of Melbourne – the Macedon Ranges – will also help mix things up for us. It won’t feel like we’re returning to the same place we left – literally and figuratively. There will be mountains and clean air and much less traffic.
Earlier this year I was felt dread every time I thought about moving back. I’m so glad I’m in a much more positive mindset about it.
In the interim, my bucket list of things to do before we leave continues to grow. We’re ticking them off one experience at a time.
