Digital Nomads: Stop Pissing Off Locals With Your Remote Work

Digital nomads, and their remote work, are gathering a lot more interest on Google Trends. We are all getting used to remote work… and we are figuring out that we can travel the world within this new paradigm. But there are some catches.  

Remote Work: The Bigger Picture

No wonder searches for the gypsy life are up. We can now take our computers and live in any corner of the earth. But while we live the dream, that can create a problem for those that are in less fortunate situations than us.

Digital nomads flocking into cheaper places of the world like Portugal are seriously pissing off the locals.

According to Tik Tokker Upton, the 1000s of Americans arriving at places like Lisbon are seriously annoying the locals. They are doing this by driving up the price of real estate and housing. The minimum wage is about $800 a month for the locals.

Says a protestor, “When university started, many people gave up their studies because all the people that are renting bedrooms are digital nomads that can pay much more than a Portuguese student that comes from outside of Lisbon to study.”

Americans are the most visible here. They enjoy 50% off housing costs by moving away from the U.S. and settling in Portugal. But the situation is making Lisbon unaffordable to many who actually are from Portugal. Lately, locals have been protesting the digital nomad visa, saying that their government is just being greedy.

The protester says, “The rent is going crazy high, and now it’s affecting like public schools, hospitals because our wages are really very low and of course, if someone can rent an apartment for €2000 euros, they will not let a local in it for €700.”

Schools and hospitals are failing to get staff as they can’t afford the price of rental properties in the area.

Governments around the world initially thought an influx of people with foreign incomes would be great for the economy. But it has created tensions, especially in places like Mexico, where it is also sending rents rocketing. People from the US but also Europe and Scandinavia have found their way there, bringing their high incomes with them. And locals are pissed.

Home Swapping – A Better Way

So now we, as remote workers, can go to Berlin or Paris or New York or Singapore for weeks on end, and still do the same job.. just have a different breakfast café in our life! So how do we do this without pissing people off and causing locals hardships with our presence?

We house swap. People out equals people in. When we swap houses, we are not building new resources, we are using exiting resources. We are not competing with locals, we are simply enhancing our lives, and the life of locals, without any new pressure on existing structures.

And if we have kids who are of school age, then we don’t need to have the 2-week holiday anymore… we can go for 6 or 8 weeks, and work around exploring new parks, new restaurants, and new experiences.

And you don’t need to squash into the #vanlife to do it. You just need to find like-minded people. People with their own place who want to swap their home for an extended period of time.

Instead of booking accommodation that could otherwise go to locals, use your own home. You can swap with an existing property that would never be in the rental pool. This means that you are treading lightly, but still spending and helping the local economy.

You can sign up to Swaplyfe.com for free, and trade houses for free. It can solve the ethical dilemma at hand.

Here are some ways you can smash your work while digital nomadding!