METM16 presentation 


A year as a digital nomad: mid-term report 

Elizabeth Garrison, no fixed abode  

In this day and age, many of us are fortunate enough to be in a position where we can work remotely and do our jobs from anywhere in the world, as ‘digital nomads’, something that freelance translation/editing lends itself to. This presentation will reflect on my first six months into my year of living as a digital nomad. I will explain what living and working on the road entails, the positives and negatives of being part of a group of creative and entrepreneurial nomads, coworking and coexisting. Some of the questions I will be looking at will include: how can you strike a balance between juggling a (nearly) full workload with taking advantage of everything the destination has to offer? How do you stay in touch with clients and colleagues on the other side of the world in totally different time zones? How can you draw on your fellow nomads’ skills and experience to enhance your own?
 
I will seek to explain how travel and coworking can improve our lives as freelancers and bring us new opportunities for professional and personal growth as we take full advantage of our ability to work from anywhere in the world. The idea of growing based on these experiences fits in well with this year’s METM theme of knowledge sharing and peer training.
 
The presentation will consist of a PowerPoint with photos to illustrate the experiences I will talk about.
 
This presentation may be of interest to anyone, but particularly those in freelance roles, especially if they are considering taking the plunge and hitting the road.


Elizabeth Garrison has been working as a freelance translator since early 2009, in the combinations Spanish and Catalan to English, focusing on EU affairs, tourism, culture and wine. After realising that working from her spare room in Manchester meant was she was not taking full advantage of her freelance freedom, she fortuitously discovered a programme geared towards mobile professionals that offered the chance to live and work from 12 different cities over the course of a year. On the road since March, she has now spent four months in South America and is currently based in Eastern Europe.