How I Manage the Practical Side of Digital Nomad Life
AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE: Some links in this post are affiliate links, marked with an asterisk (*). If you buy something through one, I may earn a small commission, but it won't cost you anything extra. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Just like living anywhere else, being a digital nomad means having to figure out plenty of practical things, from managing finances to maintaining phone service and health insurance. Except when you're constantly moving between countries, these things become a little more complicated since you need solutions that can work wherever you are.
Over time, I've developed a few systems that make these practicalities relatively straightforward without spending a fortune. So here's how I manage them!
Health Insurance: Staying Covered Across Countries
Health insurance was one of the more important things I needed to figure out, and one that I knew nothing about in the context of traveling full-time. In the past, for short trips abroad, I'd buy travel health insurance as needed to cover medical emergencies. But now that I'm spending months in different countries at a time, I wanted something that could function as my primary health insurance across countries and that I could maintain long-term.
International health insurance (also called expat or global health insurance) is comprehensive medical coverage designed for people living abroad. It pretty much functions like domestic health insurance in the countries your plan covers. After looking into several different providers (popular ones include Cigna Global, Allianz Care, and IMG Global), I eventually settled on Genki Native*. It's a relatively new insurance provider, but it’s marketed to fit the lifestyle of digital nomads, and one of the biggest reasons I chose it is that it doesn't require a fixed residential address in a particular foreign country. I had previously used Cigna Global for a few months, but Genki Native ended up being a better fit for how I travel for that reason.
My Experience With Genki’s Claims Process
I actually had to put Genki Native to use relatively soon after getting it.
While I was staying in Chile, I went in for a routine annual physical examination, and my bloodwork unexpectedly revealed an abnormality that required further investigation. So I had to meet with a specialist and undergo several rounds of follow-up testing to figure out what was going on. The evaluation continued over the following months, including after traveling to Europe, so I ended up submitting claims for medical care received in multiple countries (fortunately, it turned out to be a temporary condition!).
Overall, I was pretty satisfied with the claims process. With the first few submissions, there were a few rounds of emails with the claims representatives to clarify certain aspects of the medical issue and obtain the documentation they were asking for. But subsequent claims went smoothly, and the representatives responded promptly and were understanding throughout. Medical claims processes are always a bit stressful, but considering that I was dealing with an ongoing medical issue involving multiple appointments and tests across different countries, I thought the process didn't add too much additional stress.
What About Coverage in the US?
One thing worth mentioning is that international health insurance may limit coverage in your home country, depending on the policy. For example, at the time of writing, Genki Native Basic covers up to 182 days per eligible visit to your country of nationality, except for the US, which has much more restrictive coverage. The US is also particularly tricky because many international health insurance plans limit coverage there unless you pay extra to include it. In my case, the version of Genki Native I have only covers life-threatening medical emergencies in the US.
Since my Genki Native coverage is limited in the US, I purchase Genki Traveler* as additional coverage for my visits back to the country. It's not necessarily the cheapest option compared to other travel health insurance plans, but the crucial thing is that Genki Traveler allows US residents to purchase emergency medical coverage for temporary visits to the US, which many other travel insurance policies don't.
Insurance policies can have quite specific exclusions, geographic limitations, and eligibility requirements, so I'd recommend reading the actual conditions carefully before purchasing anything, especially if you're planning to spend time in your country of citizenship or residence. I
f you're interested in Genki, you can use the calculator below to get an estimate of how much coverage would cost based on your age and region of coverage. Keep in mind that the default price shown is for Genki Traveler without US and Canada coverage.
Phone Service: Maintaining My US Number While Traveling
Back when I was fully living in the US but taking frequent trips, I used to have an international plan with Verizon that gave me unlimited data in the US and abroad. It was super convenient since I never had to think about phone service, but now that I spend relatively little time physically in the US, I didn't want to pay for domestic data that I don't actually use (the Verizon plan cost around $100/month). I still need to maintain my US phone number though, since I'm still based in the US.
I ended up choosing Mint Mobile, where I pay $15/month for a plan with 6GB of data to keep my US number functioning at a relatively low monthly cost. Then, I can purchase international service separately depending on where I'm traveling.
When I'm abroad, I generally choose between two options. If I'm only staying somewhere for a short period, or just don't feel like dealing with getting another SIM, I'll purchase Mint Mobile's Minternational Pass. The 10-day pass costs $20 and includes 10GB of high-speed data, along with calls and texts. Most of the time, it's not the cheapest way to get mobile data abroad, but it's super convenient to use — you just add it through the Mint Mobile app. Plus, I can keep making calls and sending texts using my US number (which isn't super frequent, but it has saved me a few times, including once when I had my credit cards stolen in Spain and had to call my US banks to freeze them).
If I'm staying somewhere for a longer period, especially for more than a month, I'll get a local data plan instead since they tend to be considerably cheaper. I then supplement that with Mint Mobile's $5 international pass for 30 days of calls and texts if I need it.
Overall, this setup has worked well for me since I started traveling full-time, but I'm still exploring better or cheaper options. I'll be updating this post with my discoveries or any changes, and if you have any advice for me, I'd love to hear it!
Banking and Finances: Keeping Fees Down
The main thing with traveling abroad is using credit cards with no foreign transaction fees and checking accounts with low ATM withdrawal fees for cash.
For everyday spending, I primarily use my Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card, which has no foreign transaction fees and earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points. One great thing about this card is that you earn 2x points on travel purchases, and Chase points, in my experience, have been great for travel. One of my favorite uses is to transfer them to World of Hyatt, where I've been able to get amazing value for hotel stays. Honestly, the value of the Hyatt hotels I've stayed at has likely saved me thousands of dollars in cash. Unfortunately, Chase recently reduced the transfer rate to Hyatt from 1:1 to 4:3, so the points aren't quite as valuable for Hyatt stays as they used to be.
Although the Chase Sapphire Preferred is my main card, I also carry a couple of other credit cards from different banks that don't charge foreign transaction fees. This is mainly for backup purposes, since occasionally a credit card won't work with a particular vendor or a transaction will get declined for whatever reason (often when security verifications fail with foreign vendors).
Besides my traditional bank accounts, I also maintain a Wise account, which has been useful for transferring money internationally. My partner and I have bank accounts in different countries, so Wise makes it much easier for us to transfer money between each other. Honestly, since I started traveling full-time, I haven't visited a country that's super cash-based. But I just recently ordered a Wise debit card, which allows you to withdraw cash from ATMs without additional Wise withdrawal fees, up to a monthly limit (although individual ATMs may charge their own fees). I'll be testing it out soon to see how well it works and updating this post with my experience.
Managing Mail While Abroad: Mail Forwarding
Another practical issue with traveling full-time is figuring out how to receive physical mail, especially when you maintain bank accounts and other services in a country where you're not physically present most of the time.
For this, I use a US mail-forwarding service that receives mail on my behalf and lets me manage everything online. Whenever something arrives, I can see it through my account and decide whether I want to have it scanned, forwarded, or held until later.
This has been particularly useful for things like replacement bank cards, which I occasionally need to receive in the US. Rather than having to time everything around my visits or rely on friends and family to collect mail for me, I can just have the service hold onto it and forward everything to wherever I'm staying when I'm back in the country (or if urgently needed, pay extra to have it shipped to where I am internationally).
It's a relatively small part of my overall setup since I don’t receive mail too often, but having a reliable way to receive mail does provide peace of mind in that aspect.
Questions?
Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave a comment below or send me a message with any questions — I'm always happy to help when I can. And if you have your own tips for managing the practical side of digital nomad life, I'd love to hear them!
You may also like:
My Approach to Low-Friction Travel — how I make travel easier by minimizing unnecessary hassles and decisions.
My 3 Travel Modes — how I balance sightseeing, everyday responsibilities, and downtime while traveling continuously.
My One-Bag Gear List — everything I carry while traveling full-time, all in one everyday-sized backpack.
