well hello friends i am super excited for today's video where we are going to go over the top
five budget-friendly countries for digital nomads but before we get into the list i want to say a
big thank you to lenovo google and qualcomm for sponsoring today's video and i definitely think
that the new lenovo chromebook do at 5 is perfect for any digital nomads or for anybody who has a
busy lifestyle you guys know that i travel a lot for my job and just in these past three years
i have been to over 12 different countries ideally i like the gear i use to be powerful
compact and that can keep me always connected to the work i do and the people i love the new
lenovo chromebook duet 5 is a very versatile two in one computer that has a super long battery life
up to 15 hours on one charge it is also perfect for video calls and live streaming since it has
front and rear fhd cameras that are really high quality it also makes it really easy to stay
focused and productive with all the necessary work programs like microsoft word excel and powerpoint
as well as all of your favorite apps from the play store another really cool feature about the
lenovo chromebook duet 5 is that it can transform from a laptop to a tablet in a matter of seconds
and what's also really cool is that the two can connect remotely by bluetooth the tablet
has a really sturdy kickstand and it just lets you customize your work environment to what suits you
best i really like bringing this two in one laptop on trips where i don't want to feel weighed down
but still be able to work remotely if something unexpected comes up my favorite feature is
definitely the super long battery life because it's not always easy to have an outlet available
when you're traveling or snagging the last one at a cafe definitely one of the top benefits of
being a digital nomad is having a fresh new work environment whenever you want so i've really been
loving being able to take this computer with me all over calgary being able to work during travel
and even in the middle of nature so if you guys are looking for a very versatile on-the-go
computer that will always keep you connected i would definitely recommend the new lenovo
chromebook duet 5. i'm going to have the link in the description so you guys can check it out
and a big thank you to lenovo google and qualcomm for sponsoring today's video so let's jump into
the first country on our list which i am probably at just arriving when you guys are watching this
video which is indonesia this country really needs no introduction as a digital nomad hub
or specifically bali i should say now to give you guys an idea about budget uh i'm actually flying
into jakarta to start off my trip the capital city and i am staying at a minimum three but i think
it's actually a four-star hotel in a good part of the city central part of the city breakfast
included for 35 us dollars a night i was even seeing some private rooms go for as low as like 15
20 if you didn't really want anything fancy and if you're staying at a hostel almost for sure
it should be less than ten dollars a night food and transport overall is very inexpensive as well
and sim cards i think the average price is about 20 us dollars but that's a really large package
with lots of data so a lot better than the prices that we pay here in canada i will say
but i think the top thing that i've really heard from a lot of digital nomads of why
they like specifically bali so much is because there is such a community there and a very
young community at that now speaking of paperwork to actually go to bali and stay there a long time
it is supposed to be in the works of an actual digital nomad visa that is going to be coming out
but at this point in time nothing is confirmed it's just supposed to be something where you
can stay there up to five years and live tax-free if you make all of your money
online but for the time being there are some longer-term sort of visas that are available
to remote workers where i think there's one that you can apply for that's 60 days and then you can
extend it for another 60 days one or two times but for me personally i'm only going there for a month
or two this time around so i'm just getting the easy visa upon arrival that you pay 30 dollars for
if you want to possibly extend before the end of your 30 days and then get another 30 days
number two on our list is one of my favorite countries that i went to in 2020 and was just
so impressed so impressed you guys bulgaria i think i spent almost three months in bulgaria
if i'm not mistaken i liked it that much i kept extending when i was going to leave to go over
to north macedonia but i kept coming up with like more things that i wanted to see in the country
it was so easy to get around i was shocked how well people spoke in english there even in your
average corner shop and everybody was just so nice in uh downtown sofia i feel like that was the most
expensive place as far as apartment costs where this was two years ago i was paying about 40
45 u.s per night at a really nice like really nice one-bedroom apartment within
walking distance of everything but as soon as you leave sofia as soon as you leave the capital city
i found that the prices drop quite substantially and some of the smaller
sorts of cities that i went to and especially some of the really beautiful places um in the
mountains that i stayed like my god i was staying in the loveliest little hotel rooms for like
20 a night breakfast included the other really cool thing about bulgaria is that it has extremely
fast internet and once again for very low prices like especially in the larger centers like sophia
and varna i was shocked that i was having two gigabyte large files like uploading my youtube
videos was going through in 15 minutes or less now as far as how long you can stay
in bulgaria as a digital nomad if you are from an eu country or from canada usa i think as a whole
it is three months visa-free but there is a sort of digital nomad visa though i think they do call
it something slightly different like a long-term residence permit or something like that but if you
google bulgaria digital nomad visa it will come up and it's basically a period of either 6 months
or 12 months that you're able to remain in the country i don't think there's any big processing
fees so definitely a great option if you want to stay in europe for a longer period of time
don't have to spend a lot of money it's very safe people are really kind i was very impressed by
bulgaria and country number three i was just there mexico this is nothing new for all my viewers
from the u.s because mexico is definitely the top place that uh americans immigrate to or
spend longer periods of time in it's probably the case for canadians as well though there's a lot
of canadians that actually spend the winters in the states so kind of between those two countries
is where a lot of north americans go to spend their winters nobody comes to canada nobody
so it definitely gets my vote as the place to be stationed in central or south america
if you are on a budget because of course there's so many people that go to costa rica
i haven't been yet it's supposed to be amazing but it's not inexpensive like costa rica
is not what i would call budget friendly mexico also has a very generous visa-free uh option
for any canadians americans and i think as well anybody from the eu where you can stay up to six
months as a taurus i personally wouldn't need more time than that unless i'm actually choosing it
as a place to live which speaking of which is apparently one of the easier permanent residencies
to actually get the main requirement is to prove that you have made over twenty six hundred dollars
a month for the last six months from work that you do online so it absolutely makes sense why
it's such a popular destination and i think in the next few years the more that people keep working
remotely i think it is going to continue to be a very large destination specifically for canadians
and americans because the other nice thing about mexico is that it's on the same time zone right
number four to no one's surprise is thailand i feel like even before bali really became a
thing i feel like thailand has always been popular not only for just backpackers remote workers but
especially retirees thailand is kind of a one-stop shop for every generation
most people absolutely love it when they go there i absolutely love my time there when i went
i guess it was early 2021 back when you had to do a two-week long hotel quarantine
i have never put in so much effort to get into a country but i think it was absolutely worth it
because like they said you are never going to see hopefully never going to see thailand this empty
again so just like all the other countries on our list thailand is obviously very budget friendly
has great cafes co-working spaces it's definitely um tailored you know towards that demographic
if you are in the digital nomad sort of hubs like bangkok chiang mai phuket all of those
places are super tailored towards people working remotely overall it is a very safe country which
you know as a solo female traveler i think is very important i think out of all the countries
on my list thailand and bulgaria would probably be my picks as the two countries that if safety
is really a concern for you or if you're not used to traveling by yourself and want to have a lower
risk for any sorts of incidents happening i think thailand and bulgaria are very very safe now as
far as how long you can stay there kind of similar to indonesia i guess and a lot of the countries in
southeast asia if you are canadian american and once again i don't know i don't know with the eu
what the rules are for them but uh for us you can go in visa free for a month and then
you can extend it for another 30 days the next best thing to stay there longer is to apply for
a two month long visa you do have to pay i think about an 80 or 100 fee for that one and send it to
the consulate before you leave your country and then you can also extend it for another 30 days
once you're already in thailand and last but certainly not least the fifth country on our list
i feel isn't mentioned enough in the digital nomad community even though it's definitely a
hub like it's definitely already a digital nomad hub but i believe it's going to get even bigger
which is turkey i went to turkey in early 2020 before chaos ensued
all over the world and let me tell you i was very surprised like pleasantly surprised
not that i was expecting you know anything really negative out of going to turkey but
i was just especially impressed by istanbul and then also we went out to the coastal city of izmir
which is absolutely beautiful and just on a whole it's very easy to get around very budget friendly
uh even for like domestic flights i remember we took a flight from izmir to the airport that's
near cappadocia and it was like twenty dollars like maybe people that are european are used to
those kinds of prices with like ryanair and all that kind of stuff but like coming from canada
where to go one hour from saskatchewan to alberta the buggers are trying to charge me 250 dollars
for that and that's not even with luggage it just blows my mind like how how do they still make
money when a seat on an airplane for like an hour long flight is only twenty dollars
and just to lastly touch on how long you can stay there uh if you're canadian or from the us
you do actually have to apply for an e-visa which sure is a bit more of a bother than just a visa
on arrival but overall it is super streamlined i think i got mine you know within 24 hours of
applying for it the website's really easy to use and you can choose in between a 30-day
tourist visa or there is also there is also another one that is multiple entry
for three months which i think would be the better choice if you kind of wanted to stay there a bit
of a longer time and bonus guys just gonna put a quick little bonus in here you could say how could
you make a digital nomad list without kind of including you know the king of i think one of the
best digital nomad visas that there are which is georgia they do have in my opinion one of the best
digital nomad permanent residency even just going there as a tourist one of the most
open sort of programs they are supposed to have a very low cost of living the people are super nice
so georgia absolutely deserves a place on this list i just haven't been there yet but that is it
guys i hope you enjoyed today's video as always let me know if you have any countries that you
would personally recommend that you think are a great fit for digital nomads that are on a budget
thank you once again to lenovo google and qualcomm for sponsoring today's video
i'm gonna have my link in the description where you guys can check out their awesome
new lenovo chromebook duet 5 super cool computer go check it out and as always i'm sending you guys
so much love i hope you're having a fantastic day and keep being your own kind of beautiful bye guys
you