How did I go to 11 countries as a Digital Nomad

Thanks to this trip, I got to know cultures, mindsets, and ways of life that you usually don’t see in your home country, significantly broadening your perspective and changing the way you see things and define your life. Without a doubt, it has been an enriching experience, and I’ve wanted to write about it for a while; therefore, in this article, I will broadly discuss what I did, how I did it, and essential points to consider if you also want to do it: In July of this year, I visited Europe for the first time. It was a trip I had been planning for about four months, and initially, I had only planned to visit 4 countries in no more than 1 month. The trip's main objective and reason was to attend Tomorrowland, a well-known electronic music festival with extensive global attendance.

I bought the festival tickets 6 months before the trip (usually, they sell out very quickly as soon as the presale starts, so it’s challenging to get a ticket), and once I had them, I began to plan the entire trip. Thanks to that festival and the tickets, I decided to go to Europe and not leave it as an unfulfilled New Year’s wish. I knew that things could still arise that would prevent me from flying (work, economic capacity, fear of traveling alone, etc.). Still, if I didn’t make an effort to plan and execute it, I would lose the opportunity to go to Tomorrowland and, with it, a significant amount of money, so I decided to buy it in advance, as well as prepare my finances and my time to make it a reality. At that time, I was working on the Data team of a company based in Romania, so I had friends from that country as it was a 100% remote job. I saw the possibility of meeting them on my trip and spending time with my work team. However, after a few months into the year, I left the company but maintained the relationship with them, so my plans did not change; they spoke very well of their country and were willing to make their best effort to meet me in Bucharest if I went, so I already had my second destination for my trip, so I started to look for what to do there, where to stay, what to know, etc. My main and necessary arrival point was Belgium, where Tomorrowland was held at the end of July, so I had to plan the trip to be near Belgium on those dates and the flights would be affordable.

Flyting to Europe

To get from CDMX to Europe, I was looking for flights to the most touristic and typical countries: Spain, France, or Italy. However, the prices were somewhat high, so I didn’t buy them at the beginning of the year, waiting for a lower price. However, June arrived, and I still didn’t have flights, so I had to look for the best option in a very short time, one that would allow me to get to Europe at a reasonable price, and the duration of the trip was not too high (typically this increases a lot since the lower-priced flights usually have several hours layovers in certain countries before your final destination). The one I found with the best quality price-duration ratio was to Switzerland in June 2023, and at that time, I bought my CDMX-Zurich flight for early July. That was it, I was going to Europe! Now, I could not back out or postpone my trip to Tomorrowland.

Intinerary

After reviewing multiple options, sites, and recommendations and talking with acquaintances, I decided to make my itinerary as follows:

Switzerland
Serbia
Romania
Belgium
Greece
Latvia
Finland
Belgium
Netherlands
Spain
Italy
Switzerland — Mexico

Each country had a reason, and although I left out some that I would have loved to visit, here I tell you the variables considered to end up with these countries:

Internet quality in each country: I would not take vacations since I had just started working at a new company; I only took two days off during my entire trip, thanks to remote work. This was something to consider since I started working at 7 pm, finishing around 2–3 am, sleeping each day between 5 and 6 hours, no more.
Cost of living: After Switzerland, I had to consider this since I had to pay for lodging and food and consider my budget for the tourist attractions I had seen in previously in each country.
Safety: Determining which countries were safe to visit, which did not currently have armed conflicts, and which were safe to go out in the central areas.
Cost of flights between countries: This factor led me from about four countries to 11. I saw that there were times when flying directly from one country to another was very expensive. Still, if I made a stopover in an intermediate country, it reduced the flight cost even though I would spend the same on the stay, but in the end, I would know another country. It was worth doing it!

Conclusion

Many things happened on this trip: I had the opportunity to meet people of many nationalities, learn about their history, and understand different points of view. I plan to write more articles related to my experience as a digital nomad. There is a lot to tell, and indeed, it will be helpful to people thinking of doing the same. If you liked it, subscribe and like this article so it will reach more people who can benefit from it. If you want to read the paper in Spanish, you can see it at this link.