A local in Chiang Mai told me my 'work from anywhere' life was just tourism with a laptop

I was at a small coffee shop there, working on my phone, when the owner asked what I did. I explained the digital nomad thing. He just smiled and said, 'So you are a tourist who brings your office. You see the same cafes we see, but you never really see our city.' It stuck with me because he was so calm about it. Is this lifestyle just a fancy version of traveling, or does living somewhere for a month or two actually create a deeper connection? What's your take?

3 comments

3 Comments

king.andrew1mo ago

What if the laptop is just a new kind of souvenir?

oliviat171mo ago

Totally makes sense, like how people used to bring back a snow globe or a postcard. Now my laptop is covered in stickers from cafes in different cities, and every time I see that chipped one from Berlin it just floods back the whole trip. It's the same feeling, just a different kind of object to hold the memory.

richard_dixon1mo ago

But is a laptop sticker really the same as a snow globe you kept on a shelf for years? One gets worn down from daily use and the other was a special thing you'd look at now and then. Doesn't that change the memory a bit?