Digital Nomad Lifestyle: 5 Things I Couldn’t Live Without

Last updated on April 22, 2026

In 2017 my husband and I jumped into the digital nomad lifestyle. We had built an online real estate investing business for several years while working our 9 to 5’s but it wasn’t until 2017 that we quit our jobs, sold most of our possessions, and moved into an RV to begin working remotely for our company.

Working remotely has major perks. We’ve “clocked in” on the beach in Mexico, the deserts of Utah, the mountains of Canada, Spain, and countless other countries. While we still work as often as others, we get to explore new places as we do it traveling to new cities and countries while earning a living.

With six years of being a virtual nomad under our belt, I can confidently say we’ve only been successful as digital nomads because we have certain tools in our toolkit.

Whether you’re learning how to become a digital nomad or looking for new digital nomad services and tools to improve your lifestyle as you travel, we’re sharing the 5 things we can’t live without in our digital nomad lifestyle.

My favorite tools for our digital nomad lifestyle

This blog post was written in partnership with Surfshark, our preferred VPN service. However, all opinions are our own. It’s a tool, along with the four others, we’ve used for years and is one of the biggest reasons we can maintain the digital nomad lifestyle no matter where we are. You can learn more about how we earn money with the digital nomad lifestyle here.

Now, let’s dive into the 5 digital nomad tools and services we can’t live without.

1. Virtual private network

While we always try to be our own internet source from our mobile hot spot or Starlink, we rely heavily on public wi-fi with our digital nomad lifestyle. We’ve worked from the airport, on a train, in cafes, restaurants, libraries, and hotels.

Whenever we’re connected to a public wi-fi connection, we’re making our private online information accessible to anyone else on the same connection. This makes you super susceptible to online hackers (yikes 😬). To protect ourselves, we use a VPN.

A virtual private network, or VPN for short, is an online service that helps protect your online identity. When turned on, the VPN encrypts your Internet Protocol (IP) address. In other words, it adds a layer of security to stop online hackers and places your IP address in a different, safe, location.

Changing our IP address and encrypting the data also means we “appear” like we’re in a different country as we’re working. This is crucial for me as a digital nomad because many websites I use as a freelance writer require me to be in the United States. If I don’t have a VPN, I can’t submit my work and ultimately, work remotely overseas.

Surfshark VPN is the VPN provider we like the best (and we’ve tried several over the years). Why we prefer Surfshark VPN over others:

• Protection on unlimited devices (mine and Dennis’s laptops and phones).
• Allows me to appear in different countries by changing my IP address.
• Data breach alerts scanning for passwords, credit card numbers, or accounts involved in a data breach.
• It is an intuitive and easy-to-use interface on my phone and laptop.
• Blocks your webcam from being used without authorization from hackers (scary but they know how to turn on and record from your camera without permission at any time).
• Block ads and prohibit internet services from using your browsing data for future retargeting ads.

Surfshark VPN also allows me to watch some of our favorite shows on streaming services that only operate in the United States! 😉 We’ve been using Surfshark since 2020 (I wish we knew what VPNs were before that) and it’s been a game-changer for us. If there was only one digital nomad service we had moving forward, Surfshark VPN would be it.

2. Travel insurance

Unfortunately, your home country’s health insurance won’t cover any claims or issues that might arise overseas. That’s why you need travel insurance. We don’t use travel insurance for every trip, but whenever we’re in a place for an extended period we always make sure we have travel health insurance.

Our go-to travel insurance provider is Safety Wing. They have really affordable plans for as little as a few days up to a few months, making it a great plan for the digital nomad lifestyle. They also offer plans with Nomad Health for digital nomads who spend no more than 30 days in their home country, covering you no matter what country you’re in!

Safety Wing’s benefits perfect for the digital nomad lifestyle:

• Up to $250,000 in medical coverage in any hospital in your covered country with just a $250 deductible!
• You can add coverage for extreme sports (like paragliding, scuba diving, extreme hiking, etc).
• You can add protection from electronic theft (which means if our camera equipment or laptops were stolen we’d be covered). This is HUGE!
• Up to $5,000 in coverage for trip interruptions like canceled flights, hotels, lost luggage, or natural disasters.

We’ve had to go to the doctors in Mexico and Spain and while the process was pleasant (and affordable <$100) we were happy knowing if it was a bigger, more expensive issue, we were covered with Safety Wing. The insurance cost will vary depending on pre-existing conditions, age, desired time for coverage, and the country you’re visiting. So, you should get a personalized quote based on your needs.

3. International cell phone plan

As digital nomads, we want to be able to use our cell phones abroad without interruption. This includes texts, calls, browsing, social media, and using our hot spot.

Most U.S. carriers offer coverage in Canada and Mexico but require you to purchase an international plan which starts at $10 PER DAY. If we spent 30 days abroad paying that fee for a single phone, that’d be over $300 extra plus our normal cell phone cost. There’s no way we are paying that!

We could purchase SIM cards in the country we’re visiting, which is the cheapest way to go. But you have to have an unlocked phone and honestly, trying to figure out how to buy a SIM card in a country that speaks a different language than you is not the most enjoyable experience, especially after a long flight.

Rather than having data interruptions when we landed in a new place, we found a cell phone plan that covered us internationally. GoogleFi is a U.S.-based cell phone provider that uses towers from local carriers to provide the best coverage wherever you are. The best part is their Simply Unlimited plan offers coverage in 200+ countries!

Whenever we land in a new place our phone welcomes us to the country and within a few minutes, we have a fully functioning phone with data, like normal. We can also hot-spot as much as we want or need with their unlimited plan (which we use when abroad for a long period). This allows us to work on the go when we don’t have access to public wi-fi.

However, speeds slow after 50GB of data per user per month which is easy to do if you’re using the hot spot for large activities like uploading videos or streaming often. Use code W36HDY to get $60 OFF if you sign up for Google Fi.

If you want to try GoogleFi for yourself as you leap into the digital nomad lifestyle click the button below and use code W36HDY to get $60 OFF when you join.

4. Debit card with zero to no ATM or international fees

We try to use our travel credit cards whenever possible when traveling abroad. This card charges no international fees and earns points I can redeem for travel (a win-win if you ask me), but many countries like Mexico, still primarily use cash.

You can arrive in the country with a lot of cash on hand, but since we tend to stay in places for a long time (months to years), we prefer to have a way to withdraw cash as needed. That’s why I love Revolut.

Revolut is a money management, transaction card, and finance app blended into one. It’s the dream app for digital nomads who exchange money with people they meet in their new country or want safety and lower fees as they travel. Revolut is huge in Europe (how I found out about it) and it finally made its way to the USA, hooray! 😃

The Revolut app sends you a debit card where you can add money as needed. Open their app up as you travel to search for in-network ATMs and you can withdraw money without an ATM fee! They have way more in-network ATMs than my traditional bank does. Plus, they offer a better exchange rate than my bank.

Before we used Revolut we were paying $20 – $35 per month in ATM and banking fees to withdraw cash and I wasn’t getting a great conversion rate. I also have an added layer of protection. Unlike a traditional debit card that links directly to my bank account my debit card gets stolen or lost, I can withdraw all the money from the card back to my banking institution. Plus, there are no international fees when I use it abroad and I can send money internationally.

Revolut benefits I love for the digital nomad lifestyle:

• No ATM fee for in-network ATMs (there’s a lot). Out-of-network ATMs are a 2% fee of the withdrawn amount.
• Get a better exchange rate than ATMs and our bank offers.
• Send money to people in other countries easily.
• Withdraw the money on my “debit” card if it’s lost or stolen.
• Link the card to my bank account to add money as needed.
• Set spending limits for the card to make sure I stay within budget.

5. World-wide plug adapter

As digital nomads, we’re constantly using and charging our devices. Rather than having loads of different adapters to charge our devices, we have a universal worldwide plug adapter capable of charging any and all items.

It’s like the Swiss Army knife of world wide electricity. It can adapt to any electrical outlet type in the world. It has two USB-C ports, which can provide up to 100 watts of power when charging a single USB-C device. If you are charging two USB-C devices at once, one USB-C port becomes 65 watts and the other 35 watts.

If all this wattage talk makes no sense to you, it simply means it can charge high-wattage items without worry. For example, my Macbook Pro requires 67 watts or higher to charge without damaging the device. Many of the other universal chargers we found couldn’t accommodate this, but this one can!

It also has other ports including a USB-A and accepts any A/C electricity plug (think what you plug into a wall outlet). The one thing to keep in mind if you are using a device built for 110V (American standard electricity) in Europe which uses 220V, can damage the device. For example, Dennis used his American electric 110V hair clippers in Spain and burnt up the motor due to over-voltage from the 220V electricity. I’ve had similar issues with my hair straightener too.

Benefits of this universal adapter:

• The Swiss Army knife of electrical adapters can convert any wall outlet in the world.
• Capable of charging 100W in a USB-C port.
• Can charge multiple devices at once.

Hopefully, you’ve found these digital nomad tools and services as helpful as we do. We truly love and use all of them and don’t know what we’d do without them with our digital nomad lifestyle. Let me know if you try any of the recommended services above or if you have other digital nomad tools you use and love below.