I started my digital nomad journey on January 27th when I flew into Hanoi Vietnam, meaning that Coronavirus has been “a thing” the entire time I’ve been a digital nomad thus far.
At first, it was “ a thing” that seemed to be contained mostly in China. Something that wasn’t affecting the rest of Asia. The only real impact I noticed from Coronavirus was the apparent lack of Chinese tourists flooding the main attractions of Vietnam and the fact that everyone was wearing masks in the airport.
Otherwise, it seemed to be business as usual in Vietnam.
I spent my first two weeks in Hanoi, touring Ha Long Bay and Cat Ba Island as well as getting to know the city. Then at the beginning of February, I moved to Da Nang Vietnam, a place that was highly recommended to me by a digital nomad friend.
She told me there was an excellent digital nomad community in Da Nang and I was so excited to start meeting people and really integrate myself into the lifestyle.
My first 30 days in Da Nang were legendary. There were digital nomad meetups every weekend (aka American “talk parties”), open mic nights two times a week and a Sunday women’s brunch.
I was making friends and meeting so many like minded people who loved traveling, personal growth and entrepreneurship as much as I did. I would go to local cafe’s during the day to get work done and see people I had met at meet ups who were becoming my friends. Plus most of us lived within a 5 minute walk of the beach, which is really the centerpiece of Da Nang.
It was seriously the lifestyle I had always dreamed of and I knew all the work I had done, and pieces of my life I had given up to get there was 100% worth it.
But then in mid March, the coronavirus seemed to blow up in a major way, as I’m sure you recall. The number of cases started to rise in Europe and the US and borders began closing around the world, making travel impossible (and rightly so). Entire countries were going into lockdown in order to contain the spread of the virus.
The carefree nomadic lifestyle I had signed up for was suddenly threatened. Big time.
This was a struggle for many of my digital nomads and expat friends as we all faced similar questions. Should we just pack it up and go home? What if we didn’t even have a place to call home?
As you know, we can’t stay indefinitely in any one foreign country because of visa restrictions. So any place we call home is usually only temporary, for 30- 90 days, and then as our visas expire, we move onto the next place.
But if it’s impossible to move onto the next place AND our visa runs out, where does that leave us? Homeless? Living in the airport?
There is one horror story of a Syrian refugee who was stuck living in the airport of Kuala Lumpur for 8 months in 2018 after his Malaysian tourist visa expired and he was denied entry into Cambodia. He legit slept on chairs and showered in toilets for 8 months. That does not sound ideal.
Plus as much as we love the thrill of being in foreign lands, we didn’t know what lockdown would look like in a foreign country? Especially one with a more communist and military government. Was it even safe to stay?
We were all faced with a decision. Where should we go to ride out this pandemic? What place can we call home during this global crisis?
About half of the digital nomads and expats who were living in Da Nang in it’s “hey day” decided to head back to their home countries. Not all of them had an actual home to return to, some of them had to move back into their parents’ houses and others had to find temporary apartments and places to stay.
It was sad watching people trickle out of the country one by one, knowing that the community we had built over the past month was forever changed. But it also made sense to be back in your home country during a time like this.
As more and more people left, it started to rattle me that maybe I was being an idiot by staying. Was I missing something?
Ultimately, I came to peace with my decision to stay in Da Nang Vietnam and ride out the pandemic here. And although we have been under lock down since the end of March, I am so glad I stayed.
As you know, I like to make decisions based on my intuition, and this one was no different. However, there are several rational reasons I stayed as well.
1. I have a place of my own here
Because of the cheap cost of living in Vietnam, I am able to afford monthly rent on my own apartment at around $300/ month. Since we are being forced to stay inside most of the time these days, having space that is all to myself feels so important.
Heading back to the states, for me would likely mean moving back into my parents’ home, in the house I grew up in. Although I love my family dearly and really enjoy spending time with them, I cannot imagine being cooped up with someone else for weeks on end. Plus the idea of moving back in with my parents at 28, just doesn’t seem very appealing to me at the moment.
2. Vietnam is handling COVID very well
Vietnam was one of the first countries to close off its borders and has been implementing very strict testing measures and quarantine precautions from the beginning of this pandemic.
Therefore they have done a great job of preventing community spread and keeping the numbers of the virus ultra low. As of April 17th, Vietnam has reported 268 confirmed cases of COVID-19 within its borders, with 177 people recovered and released from the hospital.
From a disease burden perspective, I feel significantly safer here than in the US. I also feel hopeful, that although we are under lock-down now, we will be able to relax social distancing protocols much sooner in Vietnam than in the US, since the virus seems to be under such good control.
3. I didn’t want to risk traveling home
Although there are technically still commercial flights available, the process of actually traveling right now in the middle of the pandemic seems like the absolute worst idea.
I know that I would be much more likely to get the virus en route to the US and while I was in the US than I would here in Vietnam. Plus once I got home I would have to self-quarantine for 2 weeks. 2 weeks of total and complete isolation sounds so miserable.
Although we have no idea how long this pandemic will last, I am happily riding it out here in Vietnam. We have been under lockdown since the end of March, but are hopeful that the extreme social distancing measures will be over by either April 22 or April 30th. The government is doing a fantastic job handling the crisis and I feel safe and cared for here.
Where are you riding out this global pandemic? What has staying at home been like for you? Are you working remotely or still having to go into work? I’d love to hear more about your experiences during this crazy global crisis! Comment below and share.
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