Challenge You to Say Yes to 1 Year Digital Nomad Life in Croatia

你敢接受挑戰在克羅埃西亞當 1 年的「數位遊俠」嗎？

Have you heard about Digital Nomad? If yes, what would you say if you had the chance to be a Croatia nomad for 1 year?

I read this article “Want to work remotely? Croatia has just opened its first digital nomad village” about Croatia, which brings back all the good old memories of my visit a few years back. As a travel lover who has visited 31 countries prior to the pandemic, I have to say, the digital nomad life in Croatia seems freaking amazing!

What’s Croatia Nomad About?

According to Croatia’s government website, non-European visitors can apply for a 1-year Digital Nomad Residence Permit. The only rule is that those applicants are not hired by any Croatia companies and can prove their financial independence.

This policy was issued on Jan 1st, 2021, with no expiry date indicated. I assume Croatia may keep it for a few years, just like its neighbors in this post-COVID era. Digital nomads are quite sought-after by many European countries right now, especially for those whose economies heavily rely on tourism.

It’s easy to apply for a Croatia nomad visa. You only need to prove that you can earn HRK 16,907.5 (~US$2,600) a month, or have at least HRK 202,890 (~US$31,000) in your bank if you’re staying for one year. Of course, there are other administrative fees, which were below HRK 1,190 (~US$185).

And you don’t need to worry too much about accommodation because Croatia just opened its first Digital Nomad Village in Zadar! If you are staying for over 7 weeks, the weekly price for a double-bed unit with a private bathroom and a shared kitchen is only €175 (~US$205). It seems like a reasonable price to enjoy such a picturesque country, don’t you agree?

/Is Nomad Really You Thing?

The first time I heard about the word Nomad was from the Instagram account of a famous travel blogger Matthew Karsten, who has been on the move for 10 years. As a fellow travel lover, I fell for his envious lifestyle, so I began to dig into how he and others make it work. The key to becoming a successful digital nomad depends on 3 factors: financials, flexibility, and independence. Let me elaborate a bit.

First, you have to be financially sound. Make sure you have stable or multiple income sources before you hit the road. Do a financial estimation and calculate all your expenses. I suggest preparing a 6-month emergency saving for the rainy days. Don’t forget to check the cost of living for the countries you are visiting too.

Second, you need to have the flexibility for surprises. Your flight may be canceled at the last minute due to heavy rain (true story when I was in Peru), you may get lost in the snowy woods (the near-death experience taught me GPS may not always work), or you might have diarrhea after eating exotic street foods (always pack some common medicine). You can not be fully prepared for the unexpected, so the only thing you can do is stay calm, execute your backup plan, or think of one fast. Then be a goldfish and let go of the grey cloud for the rest of your journey (yeah..I am a Ted Lasso fan too).

Last, it would help if you were independent. A lot of nomads travel alone. They may partner with other cooperators occasionally, but a piece of everyday advice from them is to get used to the loneliness when you are on the move. Also noteworthy is that you have to be independent enough to arrange your trips and solve any obstacles. For me, I love to travel with friends, but I wouldn’t rely on others to take care of everything for me. I enjoy the planning part and see the world with the traveling style of my choosing.

Final Thoughts

With more companies open to remote work, being a digital nomad doesn’t sound like a crazy dream anymore. This lifestyle is no longer a privilege to those influencers or freelance writers either; software engineers, digital marketing experts, UX designers, etc., are all possible professions.

Becoming a nomad is doable with the new way of working (can refer to a Mckinsey study), as long as you ticked all the 3 boxes above.

The question now is, where do you want to go? Maybe check the nomad county list and throw a dice? Anyway, before you make any decision, let me charm you with some beautiful Croatia photos. Check them out at the end of this article!

Ready to accept the challenge and try the nomad life in Croatia? Leave a comment below if you have some Croatia stories to share or a fellow travel lover. Otherwise, you can drop me an email and let me know what you think.

Before you go, you can subscribe to my newsletter so that you won’t miss out on all the fun. Otherwise, you can find my other travel story on this page. 

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Note: All the photos in this article were taken by me, please cite the source if you want to share them elsewhere. More travel photos can be found on my Instagram.

你聽過 Digital Nomad 嗎？如果有機會，你願意在克羅埃西亞嘗試 1 年「數位遊牧」生活嗎？

最近讀了一篇關於克羅埃西亞的文章 “Want to work remotely? Croatia has just opened its first digital nomad village” ，勾起我幾年前去當地旅遊的美好回憶。身為一個在疫情前去了 31 個國家的旅遊愛好者，拿數位遊牧簽證在克羅埃西亞聽起來實在是太棒啦！

克羅埃西亞數位遊牧簽證是什麼?

根據克羅埃西亞政府網站，來自非歐盟國家的旅客可以申請為期一年的克羅埃西亞數位遊牧簽證許可(Digital Nomad Residence Permit)，唯一條件是你必須受僱於非克羅埃西亞註冊的雇主，並提供一定的財力證明。

這個政策於 2021 年 1 月 1 日生效，目前沒有註明開放到什麼時候；我猜測克羅埃西亞政府可能會實施個幾年，畢竟後疫情時代她的鄰居們也都對這個商機躍躍欲試。對那些過去經濟大量仰賴觀光業的歐洲國家來說，數位遊牧訪客現在可是很夯的。

申請克羅埃西亞數位遊牧簽證看起來一點也不困難，財力方面，只需證明你每月有庫納幣 (HRK/ Kuna) 16,907.5 元 (約台幣 7 萬 3 千元) 的收入，或銀行存款達到申請 1 年期簽證要求的庫納幣 202,890 元 (約台幣 87 萬元)，而其他行政費用加起來也不貴，約是庫納幣 1,190 元 (約台幣 5 千多元)。

住宿方面也不大需要擔心，因為克羅埃西亞第五大城 Zadar 剛宣布成立第一座 Digital Nomad 專屬的度假村！如果你一次預訂超過 7 個星期的住宿，一間雙人床房 (含私人浴室和一個共用的廚房) 每週費用只要歐元 175 元 (約台幣 6 千元有找)，從可以無限制欣賞美麗東歐風情的角度來看是不是很划算？

你適合做個「數位遊俠」嗎？

我第一次看到 Digital Nomad 這個詞其實是在一個旅遊達人的 IG，這位 Matthew Karsten 已經過了超過 10 年的數位遊牧生活。身為旅遊愛好者，我非常好奇他和其他旅遊同好到底是怎麼辦到的；經過一番研究，我發現要當一個的成功的「數位遊俠」，似乎可以歸納為三個因素。

第一，你必須財務健全，意思是你在上路時必須有穩定的收入，或至少同時有多個收入來源。一定要事先做個財務分析，算算看你需要多少旅費，而且最好有 6 個月的緊急存款以備不時之需。而且別忘了查你要拜訪國家的生活水準指數，可以跟台灣做比較才不會在抓預算時失準。

第二，面對意外時你要有保持彈性的能力。你的飛機有可能在最後一刻因為下大雨被取消 (我在秘魯的真實經歷)、你也可能在大雪紛飛的森林迷路 (這個頻死經驗的教訓是 GPS 並不是每次管用)，你也可能吃了路邊的異國食物結果大拉肚子 (打包時永遠記得帶常備藥)。為了意外做萬全準備是很困難的，所以你唯一可以做的，是保持冷靜、拿出備用方案 (或趕快當場擠出一個)，然後當個金魚把所有烏雲都拋諸腦後 (是的，我挪用了一點 Apple TV 的 Ted Lasso 梗…)。

最後，你必須能夠獨立。很多數位遊俠們都是單獨上路的，當然他們有時也會和其他人一起合作，但是他們最常給的建議就是，你必須學會「孤獨」。同樣重要的是，你必須能獨立安排旅行的大小瑣事，並自己解決任何難題。以我個人來說，雖然我喜歡和朋友一同旅行，但我不會事事仰賴朋友們的照顧，我喜歡規劃自己的旅行，用自己喜歡的方式拜訪世界的各個角落。

結語

後疫情時代有越來越多的公司開放遠距工作了，當個數位遊俠聽起來也沒這麼異想天開。數位遊牧不再是網紅或自由工作者特有的生活方式，軟體科技、數位行銷、UX 設計等職業都是可以配合數位遊牧的工作型態。

若你符合上面三個要素，當個數位遊俠應該不是太困難的事，畢竟現在都強調要學著適應新的工作模式了 (可以參考麥肯錫的文章)。

那麼，你該問自己的，是選擇去哪裡當個數位遊俠，或許可以從數位遊牧清單選一個國家開始 (猜猜台灣在該網站的排名是多少？)。不管怎麼說，在你出發前，讓我用一些克羅埃西亞的照片來幫你做決定吧！

準備好要挑戰一年的數位遊俠生活了嗎？不論你是旅遊愛好者或對克羅埃西亞有很多話想說，歡迎在底下留言告訴我你的想法。 當然如果有什麼悄悄話想說，也可以透過 email 聯絡我。

在你走之前，別忘了訂閱這個網站 Second Star To The Right 的電子報，才不會錯過我的最新文章。我的其他旅遊文章在這裡可以找到。

最後，如果覺得這篇文章對你有幫助，歡迎你透過以下綠界或讚賞公民 Liker 的連結支持我後續的寫作計畫，也讓這個網站能以無廣告的方式走的更遠，謝謝。

備註：文中照片皆為我旅行中所攝，若欲分享請標註原作者，更多旅遊照片可參見我的 IG。