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A location independent lifestyle is known for being able to move from one place to the next, enjoying a sense of freedom, and at the same time creating or maintaining an income stream to finance your travel pursuits.
However, just because you are living a location independent lifestyle doesn’t mean that you have to move constantly from one place to the next. It means that you have the freedom of mobility that others do not have. Your desire determines your destination. You can choose to have a single destination, or multiple ones, and you can stay as long as you want at any one of them.
For a lot of location independent professionals, there is a never-ending battle over whether to have an established home in one place, or live a completely nomadic lifestyle. With the variety of choices that life has to offer, it all depends on what your ultimate goals and dreams are. Hopefully, this article can help shed light on what really suits your lifestyle.
1. Minimal Travel Expenses
One considerable benefit that comes when you choose to stay in one location for a long period is the amount of money you can save on flight and travel expenses. In fact, you can probably save enough money to pay for the cost of living for additional months by staying in one destination rather than spending the it going to multiple places. For example, there is no reason to bring a hair straightener for your hair cut when using a professional with hair straighteners because it is just an extra expense.
2. Cheap Rent
Another good reason why some location independent professionals prefer to stay longer at one place is to take advantage of better accommodation deals. Some places have better offers when staying for 6 months to 1 year. But of course, for some people, being tied down for one year in one place may be a bit too long.
The best way to test the desirability of this arrangement is by first starting out with a 3-month contract. With that time frame, you have sufficient time to get to know the place, know the culture and finally decide if staying for 1 year is right for you.
3. Avoiding costly purchases and set-up expenses
By staying in one place, you will start to learn where to buy bargain items that get the best value for your money, especially when buying food and eating out. One of the common mistakes that people make is to arrive at their destination and start to explore without first researching the area and end up paying more for the services they find along the way.
When moving to a new place, you can be sure that your cost of living will increase for a month until you figure everything out. This also goes for set-up expenses. The best thing to do is to stay put, avoid unnecessary expenses and get know the place first.
4. Local Price and Tourist Price
There are several countries in the world, especially in Asia, that have a price set for locals, and a separate price for tourists. By staying in one place long enough, and becoming a regular in bars or restaurants, and being seen as a frequent guest, you might have discounts and other privileges available. But be aware, that it may take a couple of months to build this type of relationship with the locals. Over the course of a few weeks or months, you will see your expenses diminish.
5. Time is Gold
Finding balance in building your business profitably and living in a foreign country where the cost of living can be high is a struggle for most location independent professionals. The best option is to choose the country where the standard and cost of living is lower, that way you don’t have to worry about high expenses.
By visiting a country with a lower cost of living for an extended period of time, without the worries of having to move from one place to another, you could afford to live for long enough to launch any new business and work on it until it becomes successful.
6. Travel in your own location independent style
If you are still new to traveling and visiting new places, then deciding to stay in one location can help you soft nudge into this lifestyle. By staying in one place temporarily, you only have to organize your accommodations once. This will prove to be less complicated than having to deal with 10 places in one trip. Staying in one location does some other advantages such creating personal relationships with the locals, learning interesting things about the culture, and simply taking time to assess what your future plans are. Who knows, you might even learn a thing or two that you can use on your next trip.
7. Experiencing the Culture
For a lot of people, traveling to other places is their own adventure. They get to see cultures, landscapes, beliefs and traditions that may be unlike their own. Of course there are other possible reasons why they choose to visit a place, but one thing is for sure, their sense of adventure made them decide to go there.
If you stay long enough in a given location, you will eventually get to know the place much better than when you first arrived. It takes a long time to reach the roots of a culture, but the lessons and experiences you get will make it all worthwhile.
Now that we’ve discussed all the positive things of staying in one place, let’s now move on to the downsides.
Staying in a foreign country will involve a lot of paperwork and documentation. Dealing with visas and immigration may be your biggest headache, as each country that you will go to will have different requirements and a different number of options for foreigners staying for a long period of time.
Be aware that there will be restrictions in terms of the number of months you can stay at one place. If you are setting up a business, then this may be a little tricky, but if not, then you have nothing to worry about. The best way to avoid any future problems is by researching visa, immigration and foreign business laws on the web before you travel anywhere. In fact, this should be your first priority.
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