Nomads of the Obvious
When even Global Traveler joins the digital nomad wave, you know it’s gone mainstream. But beneath the trend, something real is still moving — the quiet redefinition of where and how we live.
It finally happened.
Global Traveler — the glossy magazine that once taught executives how to collect air miles like Olympic medals — just discovered digital nomads.
In their November issue, journalist Lina Zeldovich opens with a scene straight from an Instagram reel: she’s on a boat in Sweden, spotting seals before logging in for her 4 p.m. Zoom call. It’s beautifully written, slightly cinematic — and, to anyone who’s been living this way for years, hilariously overdue.
Welcome to 2025, where being “nomadic by trade” is no longer a fringe lifestyle but a full-blown demographic category. According to MBO Partners, over 8 million Americans now identify as digital nomads — that’s one in ten workers. Globally, there are 40 million of us, projected to hit 92 million by 2030. (And probably 300 million reels about it.)
The article does a great job summarizing how we got here: from Steven K. Roberts pedaling across America with a portable computer in the ’80s, to post-pandemic professionals working from hammocks, hostels, and hybrid hotels. From Quinta Camarena in Portugal’s Alentejo to COSI Hotels in Thailand, everyone now wants to host “peripatetic professionals” — even if they just renamed the lobby Wi-Fi as “coworking.”
But here’s what’s interesting: the story isn’t really about Wi-Fi or time zones. It’s about how the world has rearranged itself around people who don’t stay put.
Countries now compete for digital nomads the way they used to compete for car factories. Over 70 nations offer special visas, from Albania’s $10K minimum income rule to Iceland’s $7,763-a-month requirement (because clearly, remote coders live on cod). Platforms like Citizen Remote have turned the bureaucracy of mobility into a business model — charging $800 to $2,000 per person to help you legally keep moving.
Zeldovich calls it a “bull market for digital nomads.” She’s right — but markets evolve. The real question isn’t how to move, but where this movement lands.
Because not every digital nomad wants another minimalist villa in Bali or a smoothie bowl in Lisbon. Some are looking for meaning, not just mobility. They’re trading “chasing summer” for “choosing community.” They’re swapping tropical heat for human warmth — the kind you find in places that aren’t optimized for tourism but open to transformation.
And that’s where the conversation needs to go next.
Not about visas or Wi-Fi speeds — but about roots, reciprocity, and regeneration.
At Nomag, we’ve been saying it for… ever: the future of work doesn’t belong to cities, and the future of travel doesn’t belong to tourism. It belongs to the in-between — the villages, the forgotten towns, the places where remote work becomes real life.
So while we love that Global Traveler finally caught the wave (welcome aboard, friends!), maybe it’s time to surf somewhere less crowded.
Malta? Too small.
Bali? Too full.
Portugal? Getting pricey.
How about Sicily — where the Wi-Fi may glitch but the life never does.
You can still have your morning espresso under a lemon tree, log in from a medieval alley, and feel, for once, that you’re not just “anywhere.”
You’re somewhere that matters.