I’ve been homeless for 5 years now! 🥹

Hi, it’s Aakanksha 👋

Right now I’m writing to you from my apartment in Bangkok 🥹 I’m sitting at my desk in front of this HUGE floor-to-ceiling window and I can literally see the entire city spread out in front of me. The skyline, the lights, all of it. It’s honestly insane that this is my life right now 😭

And the best part? I’m going to be here for the next FIVE months. Five!! I’ve already been exploring the city, finding my favourite coffee spots, joining run clubs, discovering parts of Bangkok that most tourists never even find. I am absolutely OBSESSED with this city and I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface 🧡

But honestly? That’s not the point of this newsletter.

Here’s the point.

This morning someone asked me, “So where are you from?”

India, I said.

“Oh nice, but where in India do you live?”

“Well…kind of everywhere? I don’t really live in India.”

Cue the confused face 😭 “Okay so then where DO you live?”

“Hmm, sometimes Cape Town, sometimes Japan, sometimes Thailand, sometimes Europe…”

And then I get THE expression. That bewildered, slightly suspicious “wait, how does that even WORK” look 😂 I get it ALL the time.

And that’s exactly why I’m writing this. The digital nomad life, having multiple homes instead of one base, being a citizen of everywhere, gets treated like this mysterious alien concept beamed in from another planet 👽 So today, let me play the friendly alien who finally explains how it actually works.

It’s not that complicated, and not that deep. Let’s get into it 👇🏽

You work from your laptop, you don’t go into an office, you don’t report to a manager in person. You’re not a plumber or a doctor who has to physically show up somewhere…you can just do it all from a screen from any location 💻

And once that’s true, a bunch of other “rules” quietly fall apart. You don’t have to live in a big city. You don’t have to stay where you’ve always lived just because…that’s where you’ve always lived 😌

Most people never stop to question this. Why DO we all agree to cram into expensive cities and sit at the same desk every day? I imagine the first ever digital nomad just looked up one day and went, “wait…why am I doing this from a grey cubicle when I could do the exact same thing overlooking a mountain in Peru?” 🏔️

There’s one less glamorous reason we keep moving though: tax. In most countries, once you stay past six months, you become a tax resident and things get complicated. So part of the nomad shuffle is wanderlust…and part of it is lovingly running from paperwork 😅

I’ve been living like this for over FIVE years now. Wild to even type out 🤯

The first step is honestly boring: get a remote job. Let me tell you mine because it might help.

I started in consulting at Bain, but joined during COVID, so it was fully remote. That was my first taste, working out of Goa, Ladakh, still doing the full corporate job, just not from a tower 👀 Then Bain started reopening offices and I had a full-body NO moment.

So I went on LinkedIn and found a job at LinkedIn itself, my number one criteria above everything was that it HAD to be fully remote. From there I worked out of Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, Germany. Then I took the bigger leap, quit, and started creating content full time. Now I’ve got multiple income streams that let me travel and work, so I never need to be in one place.

So if you’re starting: look at LinkedIn and other platforms for fully remote roles, OR build a skill you can offer remotely. My editor, graphic designer, assistant, social media manager…all remote. Nobody comes to an office, because I don’t have one 😂

Biggest myth out there is that this life is wildly expensive, that you need to be rich or have family money. Couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact it’s often CHEAPER than a big city. In Delhi I’d pay ₹20,000 to ₹30,000 rent. In Himachal, ₹10,000. In Goa, ₹20,000 max 😭

Quick honest breakdown:

At Bain I earned ₹65,000/month (~$730), enough to live and travel India easily. My average month was around ₹30,000. The plot twist? In a big city I’d have spent my whole salary. Being a nomad was helping me SAVE 😌

At LinkedIn I earned ₹1,20,000/month, which unlocked going international. Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, all so affordable I saved over HALF my salary. The secret was co-living spaces: one big building, everyone working at shared desks, a kitchen, usually a gym, everyone in their own room. Costs stay stupidly low, but the best part is it feels less like an office and more like a never-ending sleepover with your friends 🥹 Thailand came to ~$600 to $700 a month.

Now, as a content creator, I earn more so my quality of life has gone up. To keep it simple: everything combined (food, rent, scooter, all of it) comes to around ₹1,00,000 to ₹1,50,000 a month. Cheaper in Asia, up to ₹2,00,000 in Cape Town. For the life and views I get? Still phenomenal 😌

In a nutshell? You just need a steady full-time salary, something landing in your account month on month. Then you simply pick destinations, in India or abroad, that match what you earn. That’s the whole game 😌

Okay so “make money online” sounds vague, I know. So let me make it real. I’ve worked from over 30 countries around the world, and I’ve met digital nomads doing all SORTS of jobs. But here are the most common ones I see, the ones I know you could do too if you put your heart into it 👇🏽

Coaches of any kind. Yoga instructor, breathwork coach, fitness coach…all of it works remotely the moment you take the service online or build a course around it 🧘🏽‍♀️

Freelance & creative roles. Graphic designers, video editors, thumbnail designers. The classic nomad toolkit. I’ve literally built my whole team out of people like this.

Copywriters & ghostwriters. A big upcoming one that makes people serious money. I have a friend who ghostwrites books, newsletters, and social media for other people, all remotely ✍🏽

Social media & influencer marketing. Huge. My boyfriend and his co-founder run a social media marketing agency, fully remote. And my own brother works from Canada for an influencer marketing agency, because honestly, why would you need an office for that? 😌

Tech, coding & AI. The biggest sector of them all. And the AI space has blown this wide open, people all over the world are building AI products for companies, running AI trainings, or vibe coding their way to a living 🤖 If you’re in tech, you’re basically pre-approved for this lifestyle.

Product managers. I know SO many PMs living this way, like Shreya Mahindru, who’s built a whole life around it. It’s become one of the most nomad-friendly roles out there.

Travel businesses, content creation, online courses… the list keeps going. The point is: there are way more options than you think. You don’t need to invent something wild, you just need ONE skill you can deliver through a screen.

So if you’re sitting there thinking “but what’s MY skill?”, start there. Learn editing, design, coding, AI tools, social media, copywriting…pick one thing you can do remotely and get good at it. That ONE skill is your passport into this whole world 👽

Okay…I’m going to stop here, because this is getting LONG and I’ve still got SO much to unravel 😭

Because we haven’t even gotten to the juicy stuff yet: How I stay in so many countries on an Indian passport (visa hacks included), how my entire life fits into ONE suitcase, the 5 things I check before choosing a base, and the honest, unfiltered downsides nobody on Instagram talks about.

So here’s the deal. If this opened your mind to a different way of living, or even just made you go “wait…could I do this too?”, I want to know.

Reply to this email with “PART 2” 👽 If enough of you do, I’ll put in the effort and write the next part with the full story. Deal?

I get asked this ALL the time 😭

I’ve personally used both of these and genuinely loved them so here you go:

Digitek DTR 550 LW Tripod lightweight, sturdy, and honestly great value for the price. Perfect if you want something that stands on its own and gives you a solid stable shot. I’ve used this one and it does the job really well without being heavy to carry around 🎒

360° Panoramic Gimbal Stabiliser this one is SO fun 👀 Anti-shake, rechargeable, and it rotates 360° which means it literally follows you around and keeps you in frame. Great for solo travel content when you have no one to film you. I’ve used this one too and loved it for walking shots especially 😌

Both are budget friendly and both are genuinely worth it 🙌🏽

Okay so this weekend was A LOT 😭 I hosted a free live masterclass where I taught people how to become travel creators, how to post consistently, and how to start earning. AND on top of that we officially launched Creator Takeoff Academy Batch 3 🎉

The energy was honestly WILD. So many people showed up and the room just felt so alive 🥹 I love teaching live so much more than I expected to.

I got sick literally FOUR hours before the first session 🤒 I was completely freaking out. But I pushed through and I am SO glad I did. My team was incredibly supportive through all of it and I genuinely couldn’t have done it without them.

And bdw…if any of you attended it, thank you so much. It really meant everything 💛

That’s it for this week’s Unpacked…see you next Wednesday with something new to unpack 👋🏽

Lots of love & sunshine,

Aakanksha