The Travel Chica

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Am I A Digital Nomad Now?

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You may be wondering why I have stayed in Buenos Aires for so long.  After all, I did say in my post about coming home for a short visit that I would re-charge and then get back to my original itinerary through Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, and Peru.

Something came up right before I said goodbye to Columbus.

I got a part-time, remote consulting gig creating web-based training.

Since the job would last at least 2 months, I decided to stay in Buenos Aires where I already know the city and would have reliable, strong internet (usually).

I knew I wanted to rent an apartment, so I would have a good work area with wifi and no interruptions.  You remember from the Cruella incident that I am not a big fan of apartment-hunting in Buenos Aires.  I knew it would take some time.

Luckily, I was able to stay with a friend until I had my own place.  But I still needed a space to work with better wifi, and well, I needed to get out of the way every once in a while.

Then I remembered Urban Station.

Urban Station

When I lived in Palermo Soho previously, I walked every block of the neighborhood.  I remembered seeing this shared workspace and decided to check it out.  Of course, we have these in the US, but I wasn’t expecting to find this in Buenos Aires.

The facilities were clean and modern and comfortable. 

The prices were reasonable.

And when they told me that the coffee and snack bar was complimentary, I was sold!

I purchased a package of hours, and used Urban Station as my mobile office when I needed a place to crank out some work and make Skype calls.

Can I Call Myself a Digital Nomad Now?

Yes, I think I can since I earned a living working remotely during my travels.  At least, I was for a couple of months.

I am past the 1-year mark of my travel sabbatical now.   So now it is time to get back on the road.

I enjoyed being a digital nomad.  Mixing work and travel was a good experience for me.

I am usually more efficient when working in a comfortable, interruption-free space rather than in a typical office environment, and that proved to be true this time as well.

Have you found professional shared workspace options like this during your travels?

Comments

  9. That sounds great, and your “office” an excellent place to get some work done. I usually prefer to be alone when I write, or at least I thought so, but traveling I found out that I’m quite productive also in crowded places. When I travel for weeks or months in a raw I can’t really be too fussy over my “office” location, the second time I went to India I spent a whole morning writing (under tight deadline!) at the foot of the Himalayas, managing to get done more than I usually do at home.
    Angela recently posted..Photo Essay: The colors of La Boqueria Market, Barcelona

  13. Stephanie: sos tan amorosa, inteligente y dulce que quisiera que te quedaras en BA para siempre!
    Que estemos siempre en un rinconcito de tu corazón!
    Una porteña de ley.

  15. We don’t really have these shared office spaces in Australia yet. I’m told they exist but I’ve never seen any ads anywhere for them.

    But you’re article has given me a brilliant idea. That is to use Buenos Aires as a base for my trip to South America when it finally happens and to use shared office spaces whenever I happen to be in a big city. I spend a lot of time on the internet so it would make a lot of sense rather than internet cafes and the free snacks would be a great incentive to get out and commute and check out the city.

    Now to answer your original question that is the topic of your post. Can I call myself a digital nomad now? Most definitely yes :) !

  19. OMG, what a cool “office”! I love it. I’ve never seen that in the U.S. or anywhere else.

    And I would’ve loved something like that when I was blogging for a living…just the ability to be in an area surrounded by other people because it was such a solitary job and I got lonely working from home.
    Kyle recently posted..Volcan Osorn | Stanley y Valentina

  21. Looks fantastic! My hubbie based himself out of a similar sort of space in Dubai, called Dubai Media City, for many years. They also have Internet City, Education City, etc, and were pretty visionary – they must have started them around 10-12 years ago. They have shared work areas like Urban Station where you can rent a ‘hot desk’ (which is what Terry had) which you use for a certain number of hours a week, only it’s an annual contract (plus they have small offices, large offices, lofts etc), use of business facilities, etc. I haven’t seen anything like this anywhere else actually, and don’t remember seeing Urban Station. Is it new?

    They’re a brilliant idea, although when we travel we do prefer to rent an apartment so we can spread out our stuff, and cook, drink and play music while we work, and work into the wee hours if we have to. But this would be a great set-up if you were just in a hotel/hostel for a short time. Wondering why there aren’t more of these around the world.
    lara dunston recently posted..Monday Memories: Life on the Streets in Siem Reap

    • Really interesting. Definitely ahead of the times.

      I think Urban Station is pretty new. There is another similar place I have heard about that is more expensive in BA.

      There really should be more places like this. I have a feeling the initial investment makes people less inclined to start up these types of business.
      The Travel Chica recently posted..Seeing the Greatest Polo Player in the World

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