Our First Season Digital Nomad-ing
Looking back now, I can hardly believe it’s been this long since our first season of digital nomading in southern Europe. After backpacking Portugal, Cyprus, and the Greek Islands we landed in Athens with wide eyes and open hands, ready to see what God might do. We stayed a few nights with the beloved staff at the Greek Bible College, still hopeful for any open doors that might allow us to extend our time beyond the American travel visa (90 days in a 180-day period).
Since we had already been in the Schengen our countdown started at just 81 days. 81 days to figure out if we could make Greece more than just a short chapter.
Our Initial Hope
Our dream was to attend the modern Greek language school at Greek Bible College—an opportunity that combined digital nomad-ing, language learning, culture, and ministry training. But as it turned out, the timing just wasn’t it. To even apply for the visa, we would have to return back to Chicago, hope that the paperwork would go through in time, and somehow make it happen (in a week..) before the embassy shut down for the holidays( TWO MONTHS?! like what😭). It became clear within 48 hours that staying long-term in Greece wasn’t going to happen that Fall.
It felt a little shocking—we had sold our car, quit jobs, downsized to a backpack and small carry on, and booked one-way flights. Yes we had the world at our finger tips but our heart longed to be in Greece. Instead of spiraling, we let the peace of Christ wash over us. We trusted the “yes” God had already given us to leave Michigan– even if our plans had changed and we couldn’t see what plan C was (but really the Lords plan A🥹).
Our Little Beach Town
From Athens we booked a train to Vrachati, wanting to make the most of our last 2 months in Greece. Vrachati is a sleepy seaside town on the Gulf of Corinth. We were car-free, living 100% on foot and bike, enjoying $2 coffees, pebbled beaches, and slow afternoons with Jesus. Those two months were marked by a word the Lord gave us: hibernation. It was a time to rest, to breathe, and to return to the simple rhythms of loving God and loving each other- and learning to be content with our dream not working out (yet).
A time I didn’t realize I needed so desperately, I had just come off a few months earlier from teaching full-time, and man was I still recovering from burn out. The Lord knew we needed to hit the breaks.
Looking back, that season wasn’t wasted—it was ordered. 2023 gave us friendships, cultural beauty, and a slower pace of life that shaped us for everything that came next (including, surprisingly, pivoting & moving to Dallas after we finished up abroad). It taught us to hold plans loosely, live gratefully, and trust the Lord deeply.
What 2023 Taught Us About Digital Nomad-ing
Now, with the perspective of time, digital nomad-ing in Texas, and now being abroad again, I can see how that 2023 was exactly what we needed to iron out all the kinks of being digital nomads. And it would help us better equip ourselves and others with how to pursue this lifestyle in 2025: with wisdom, openness, and obedience!
Living lightly, working remotely, and letting faith lead the journey is not always easy, but it’s deeply rewarding. If you’re considering this lifestyle, here are three things I’d encourage you to take away:
- Flexibility is everything. Digital nomad-ing in 2025 requires a mindset that welcomes change. Your Plan A may shift to Plan C overnight—but sometimes the detours are the Lord leading you to an even better place!
- Root yourself in Christ. Travel can be distracting as much as it is glamorous. And digital nomad-ing in 2025 becomes meaningful when you’re anchored in the Lord and the local community. For us, that looks like joining a local congregation to worship, putting effort into relationships even if they are short term, committing to seeking the Lord DAILY, praying for the nation you are in, and being bold about sharing the Good News you carry!
- Pack light: physically & emotionally. The less you cling to stuff (and even timelines), the freer you are to receive what each place has to offer. That’s the secret gift of digital nomad-ing in 2025. I think the entire point of even calling yourself a nomad, and I know we are FAR from the original use of the word as itineraries do go before us, but being a nomad means not always knowing how long, where to, or when you’ll be going back to your home country. But this has taught me to be present and make the most of the time (Ephesians 5).
2023 reminds me that we’re all just passing through—our lives like a vapor, here today and gone tomorrow. But in that mist, we get to discover God’s love, practice obedience, and find purpose even in unfamiliar places with uncertain timelines.
So here’s to holding the journey with open hands. Who knows where digital nomad-ing in 2025 might take you?
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.
Proverbs 27:1
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Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
James 4:13-17
In Christ,
Cosette
