How to Become a Digital Nomad Family: Technology Hacks
Based on our time on the road so far, we have come up with a few guides to share our top tips and tricks for digital nomad families. There are too many travel hacks to share in just one post, so we’ve divided the list up into three broad categories: finance, technology and entertainment, and packing.
To start us off, here’s everything you need to know about technology and entertainment when planning to become a digital nomad family:
E-Books
If you and your kids are anything like us, you will spend a ton of time reading on vacation — in airports, on flights and long car rides, and even when you’re just hanging out in your hotel room. But when you’re travelling long-term, there’s never enough room in your luggage for heavy books, you can’t always find English-language books at your destination, and e-books can get really expensive really fast.
So one of the things we always do before we head out on a trip is renew our library cards. Local libraries have thousands of copies of e-books for adults and kids that you can download and read on just about any device, anywhere in the world — all totally for free!
You can download an app (our local library uses Libby) and read e-books on just about any device you already have: an e-reader, a tablet, or even a phone. After months of travel we’ve never come close to running out of things to read, and haven’t spent so much as a penny on new books. Win, win!
e-SIMs
eSIMs are hugely convenient when traveling between countries. We tend to arrange for local data packages in each specific country, and combine these smaller packages with a one-year global eSIM data plan from Airalo, which we use as a backstop for when we arrive in a new country and haven’t yet had a chance to set up a SIM card yet, or when we’re in a place to short a time to bother with a local SIM.
For local SIM plans, we use a mix of Airalo e-SIMs and physical SIM cards, depending on which is cheaper and/or more convenient. But if you are flying somewhere and not sure that you’ll be able to get a physical SIM when you arrive, you can just set up an eSIM for that country in advance.
We can tell you from experience that it was not fun being in a cab in Laos without internet trying to find an Airbnb without proper directions or access to Google Maps, so having a local plan set up and ready to go as soon as you arrive at the airport in your destination can be a lifesaver.
(If you don’t already have an Airalo account, you can use our referral code for a small discount on your first purchase: CAITLI2661)
E-Visas
It sounds simple, but it’s surprisingly easy to head off to a new country without realizing you need a tourist visa to enter, and this can cause huge problems for you or even ruin a trip entirely.
Even if you are able to apply for a visa on arrival at your destination, the last thing you want to do after you get off a long flight is wait in a massive visa line. So make sure you look into any visa requirements before you book your trip, and then (whenever possible) order e-visas in advance through the country’s official website. Make sure to print off your e-visas as well, since many countries won’t accept a digital version.
Rideshare/Food Delivery Apps
Before you visit any new country, you should research what the locals use for transportation and food delivery apps and download those in advance, and also set up your accounts so that you’re ready to go as soon as you land. (This last step is particularly important because many of these apps require 2FA to set up an account, and you can’t rely on having a local number to receive texts after you arrive at your destination since many SIMs only come with local data.)
Many countries have their own versions of Uber or Lyft, so make sure you have the local rideshare apps installed set up before you arrive so you can avoid getting scammed by taxis at the airport. For South East Asia, the ones you’ll use most often are likely Grab, Bolt, and FoodPanda, but each country has its own unique way of doing things so you can’t always assume these apps will work in every country.
Streaming Accounts
Streaming accounts like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ are a necessity when you’re travelling with kids — especially ones that allow you to download content to your device for offline viewing, as you won’t always have access to wifi or data, and you can’t always rely on airlines to offer in-flight entertainment.
But as a family of four travelling together, we often found that we were able to download content for our kids, but we weren’t able to get any for ourselves, since our Netflix account only allowed downloads to two devices.
A simple fix for this is to upgrade your Netflix account before you leave to allow for downloads to more devices so that you can all be covered for content for travel days. We’ve also found that it’s helpful to rotate through streaming subscriptions every few months so there’s always fresh content available.
Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
For long-term travelers who want to be able to access their bank accounts or government accounts while abroad, two-factor authentication (2FA) can cause some pretty major headaches, since it often relies on you having access to a domestic cell phone to receive passcodes via text or call. And the last thing you want while you’re travelling long-term is to find yourself locked out of your bank accounts and trying to figure out how to call your bank back home. (Though if you do find yourself in this predicament, it’s helpful to know that you can use Skype to call any 1-800 number back home for free.)
Before you leave on any long trip, we recommend changing as many of your 2FA-reliant accounts as possible to use alternate modes of authentication. Some will allow you to send yourself a code through email or the banking app on a registered device, some will require the use of a separate authenticator app like Google Authenticator, and some will have personalized passcode grid that you can save and use later. Unfortunately, you’ll probably also find that some will only allow you to use SMS texts or calls to your domestic phone line, which is where things get tricky.
While some people recommend using virtual phone lines to receive a 2FA SMS, we’ve found that most of these options either don’t work or aren’t reliable. As such, we opted to keep one domestic phone line connected to a cheap plan solely for the purpose of receiving 2FA SMS messages for the next year, which we only connect to when needed so we can avoid incurring significant roaming fees.
VPN
Having a VPN is a very good idea for long-term travelers. Not only does it let you continue to enjoy any of your ongoing online subscriptions from abroad, but it also helps protect you from data breaches when you need to access your bank account, log into a government website, or visit any other secure websites when using unsecured wifi networks at hotels, airports, and cafes. We’ve had a good experience using PIA VPN.