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One of the best things about being a digital nomad is the freedom to work anywhere in the world. But to do that, there are some digital nomad essentials that will make working remotely way easier.
These are all things I use every single day while I’m working remotely.
You should have these things whether you work for a company remotely, run your own business, or freelance. Everything on this list will make your digital nomad working life so much better.
Now, I’m not going to cover all the digital nomad essentials you need to thrive as a digital nomad. I’m sure you already know you need good walking shoes and all that other fun stuff that comes with the travel side of digital nomadism.
This article is solely going to cover the digital nomad essentials you need to create a comfortable, safe, and efficient working environment.
You may be thinking that since you’re a digital nomad all you need is a laptop and internet, and you’re good to go.
That’s a common misconception.
Yes that is the bare minimum and can get you started, but there are a few more things you need before starting your digital nomad journey.
So here is a list of the digital nomad essentials I swear by in order to make working remotely easy, convenient, and efficient. Because efficiency is key!
Table of Contents
Invest in a High Quality Laptop
This is definitely the most obvious thing on this list of digital nomad essentials. You and I both know you need a laptop to work remotely no matter what your job is.
So get one.
And get a good one that does everything you need it to do, is powerful, and will last you a long time.
Don’t cheap out on it.
There are other things you can cheap out on in your digital nomad lifestyle, but your laptop is not one of them.
You won’t make money without a good laptop, and without money, you’ll be right back at home working a “normal” job and not living the digital nomad lifestyle of your dreams.
I personally have the M2 Macbook Air and love it, but you get whatever you want and whatever works best for you.

A VPN
Next up is a VPN. This is a non-negotiable. You need it. There is no way you convince me otherwise.
You especially need it if you work for a company or are freelance. You don’t just have your information and data on your computer. You have their’s as well, and I can guarantee that it won’t be a pleasant conversation if you have to tell them that someone hacked your computer and stole their information.
The good news is there is a way you can ensure that doesn’t happen. And that’s by install a VPN on all of your devices.
A VPN essentially creates an invisible forcefield around your devices that makes it impossible for prying eyes to access your data and information.
It makes using the public wifi that you’re going to be relying on as a digital nomad just as safe to use as your home wifi where you’re the only one who knows the password.
One of my favourite parts of a VPN is that you can cloak your location. That may not sound cool, but it is. You can set your location to anywhere in the world, and your computer thinks you’re there even if you aren’t.
This means you can watch any country’s Netflix or stream sports from a different country, which is particularly important to me as a Canadian hockey fan.
Choosing a VPN
You want to invest in a good VPN. You need to make sure the VPN you choose is reliable and actually protects your online information.
Most importantly, you also need to make sure you choose a fast VPN.
Most VPNs are notorious for slowing down your computer, and you don’t want that as a digital nomad. You need invested in a fast laptop, and you don’t want your VPN slowing your down.
I personally use NordVPN. It’s one of the best and most recognizable VPNs on the market and consistently wins competitions as the fastest VPN on the market. I’ve been using it since 2018 and have no plans on ever changing.
You also want to make sure that the VPN you purchase allows you to protect all of your devices with a single subscription. NordVPN allows you to protect up to six devices with a single account, but some VPNs only allow you to protect one. Sometimes three.
But it doesn’t matter what VPN you get. Just make sure it is from a reputable company, fast, and actually keeps you safe.

NordVPN
Protect up to six devices with the world’s fastest and safest VPN.
Good Internet Speed
Now that you have a laptop and know how to protect your information while online, you need to make sure you have access to good internet.
This is easier said than done because you don’t know how good the internet is in any given place until you get there.
But there are a few things you can do to give yourself the best chance of having access to high-speed, reliable internet.
The first is to pay very close attention to the reviews of any place you’re booking as accommodation. It doesn’t matter if it’s a hotel, Airbnb, or long-term apartment rental.
Read the reviews and trust them.
If even a single review mentions a bad internet connection or slow internet, I take it as a sign that I shouldn’t book that place.
Reading the reviews doesn’t always guarantee you a good internet connection though. There are places in the world that just typically have weaker and slower internet than you’re used to.
If that is the case, there are two things you can do to boost your wifi strengh:
- Purchase a portable wifi extender
- Do your work in a place that has better wifi. Starbucks typically has strong internet anywhere in the world, and you can also look into a designated co-working space. They’re quite popular in major expat/digital nomad hubs like Bali.
I know it’s easy to assume that if an accommodation says on their website that they have high-speed internet that it will be strong enough for you to work remotely, but that isn’t always the case.
You need to put in a little bit more effort than a typical vacationer to make sure you choose a place to stay that has the best chance of having reliable, high-speed internet.

Health Insurance
Okay, okay. I know this one is a little bit of an outlier on my list of digital nomad essentials. I know that having good health insurance doesn’t directly help you create a more productive mobile office but hear me out.
Purchasing the right long-term health insurance is one of the most important things you need to do as a digital nomad. Even if you work for a company who provides health insurance, it typically won’t cover you if you’re living and travelling outside your home country.
You need to make sure you’re responsible and find the right health and travel insurance that will cover you as a digital nomad, which is often easier said than done.
Luckily, there are companies that specialize in digital nomad health and travel insurance. Their specialized policies will cover you as a digital nomad anywhere in the world no matter how long you’re gone from your home country.
I personally use Safety Wing insurance as my digital nomad travel insurance of choice. It’s very affordable compared to other digital nomad insurance companies, has a low deductible, and even covers you in your home country for 30 days as long as you’ve been abroad for 90 days.
Safety Wing also includes travel insurance on top of their health insurance in their Nomad Insurance policy. It includes coverage for lost baggage, cancelled flights, and trip interruption insurance.
Essentially you’re getting both specialized health insurance and travel insurance for one low price.

But How Does Health Insurance Help Me be a Productive Digital Nomad?
Good question! While having health insurance won’t make your mobile office more productive, it will make you more productive.
It gives you peace of mind that you’re protected and can live your life how you want without worrying about getting sick and being stuck with heaps of medical bills. You don’t have that worrying little voice in the back of your head telling you not to do something just because you don’t have health insurance.
One of the best parts of being a digital nomad is being able to explore a new part of the world while working. You don’t want to not explore the world in the way you want just because you don’t have health insurance.
Knowing you have medical insurance will give you the confidence to live your best digital nomad life.
Now I’m by no means suggesting you do anything crazy or dangerous. But if you love hiking and was avoiding doing it because you didn’t want to twist an ankle and have to go see a doctor, go on that hike!

Safety Wing Insurance
Get Comprehensive travel insurance as a digital nomad for a low price.
Online Organizer/Planner
One of the digital nomad essentials that made my life so much easier is having an online organizer/planner.
There are tons of ways you can do this. I like using Google Drive and Google Calendar. I keep everything in folders on my Google Drive and important dates in my Google Calendar.
This is the simplest and cheapest way you can keep organized. If you’re pretty low key and basic like I am, that’s probably all you need.
If you run a complicated business or manage team members, you’ll definitely want a specific software to keep you organized.
I haven’t used a software like that, but I’ve heard tons and tons of digital nomads rave about ClickUp. I can’t personally recommend it because I haven’t used it, but it is definitely worth looking into.
No matter how you chose to do it, you need to have a way to organize your tasks, meetings, and deadlines as a digital nomad. Using pen and paper like lots of people do in a physical office just doesn’t cut it when you’re a digital nomad.
Try out a few different methods and find the one that works best for you!
Phone Data
One of the digital nomad essentials that often causes the most headaches is finding a reliable way to have phone data when abroad.
Lots of people who travel for leisure tend to just rely on public wifi when they’re out and about, but that likely won’t cut it for you as a digital nomad.
You probably need to have reliable phone data, so you can check your emails, get in touch with clients, or update your Instagram stories.
There are a few options available to you:
- Install an esim on your phone
- Purchase a local esim
- Purchase your own personal wifi egg
- Rent a wifi egg
Each option has it’s pros and cons, but there is a clear winner in my opinion. And the winner is installing an esim on your phone.
Esims are a fairly new technology that not a lot of people know about. But they are one of the few things that has absolutely changed the way I travel and something I can’t travel without now.
What I love about esims is that they’re fully electronic. You purchase an esim through the website or app and then download it directly to your phone.
There’s no need to get a physical sim or take out your home sim. You continue to use your home phone number for texting, but now you can access data in whatever country you’re in.
It is the most convenient way to get phone data when you’re abroad. I personally use the company Airalo for all my esims.
They offer the most esims for the most countries compared to other companies. They also have extremely competitive prices, and offer a variety of different plans with different amounts of data. If you run out of data, you can top it up with more data with just a few clicks in the app.
I’ve told everybody I know about esims, and everybody comes back from their trip abroad absolutely in love with them.

Airalo
Get local data in nearly every country around the world
A Routine and Willpower
This is by far the most difficult of all the digital nomad essentials on this list to get. People underestimate how much willpower, discipline, and dedication it takes to be a digital nomad.
Especially if you work for yourself.
It isn’t anything like working from home, and I don’t want you to think it is before you set out on your digital nomad journey.
The Hard Truth
What makes being a digital nomad so difficult in a lot of ways is that you’re on the road travelling while working. That’s absolutely the upside of being a digital nomad, but it is a double-edged sword.
It takes so much discipline to be a good digital nomad. You’re in a country you’ve probably dreamt of visiting for years, and you need to force yourself to work instead of spending all day exploring.
There will be times when you have to say no to doing things you really want to do because you have to work. And there will be tons of times where you have absolutely zero desire to work at all.
But you have to push through it and force yourself to do it.
That’s where having a routine comes in. You need to decide when you’re going to work and make it a habit.
Are you going to work for a few hours in the morning before going out? Are you going to stick to a standard 9-5, 5 days a week work schedule and just explore on the evenings and weekends? What about working in the evenings?
You also have to figure out where you’re going to work. Unless you settle down in one place, you won’t have a long-term desk setup.
You may find yourself working from your bed, working at a table that is far too low for you, or you may become a frequent guest at a coffee shop.
It’ll take some time, but you’ll figure out what work environment works best for you. I personally make sure that every hotel or Airbnb I book has a desk and chair. I also sometimes find myself at a coffee shop, but that’s less common. Rarely do I work in bed.
A Mouse
This is another item you may think is out of place on this list of digital nomad essentials that make your mobile office more productive.
You’ll be working on a laptop, and you’ll be surprised to learn how many people choose to just rely on their trackpad rather than a mouse.
I’m here to tell you that if you’re a trackpad person that there is a high probability that you’ll be going out and buying yourself a mouse not too long into your digital nomad journey if you didn’t bring one.
I know mouses (mice? what’s the plural of a computer mouse?) sometimes get a bad wrap. People love their keyboard shortcuts, but you’ll be amazed at how much quicker and easier your work is when you have a mouse.
Just trust me on this one and pack a mouse.

External Hard Drive
Last and certainly not least is an external hard drive. You may use a digital storage method like Google Drive for most of your work, but it never hurts to bring an external hard drive.
Especially if your work involves large files like video files. You don’t want them eating up your laptop’s storage or your cloud storage.
External hard drives are inexpensive, relatively small, and I pretty much guarantee at some point you’ll be wishing you had one.
For important things, it’s essential that you have multiple versions of it if something goes wrong. If you sign contracts with businesses as a freelancer, you’ll want to keep a copy of the contract not only on your laptop but also in your cloud storage and on an external hard drive.
Important things need to be kept safe and protected. You need to have a backup plan to your backup plan, and things should be saved in three places just to be safe.
Conclusion
This is by no means a complete list of digital nomad essentials you need. It is, however, a list of the most important things you need to create a productive workspace while on the road.
Every single thing on this list will make you more productive. You’ll have more time to explore the new city you’re in and less time stuck behind a computer screen.
These items will also make your work environment more comfortable. Your work environment is constantly changing as a digital nomad. It’s nice to have a few things that always stay the same no matter where in the world you’re working.
The items on this list will also keep you safe. As a digital nomad, it’s your responsibility to make sure that not only are you physically safe but also your online data and the work you do for other people online is also safe.
If there are only two things you take seriously on this list please let them be getting health insurance and installing a VPN.



