Products We Love
Language Guides
Language Hacking Guide – If you want to learn a language but have never quite managed it then this is the guide for you. Benny from Fluent in 3 Months is one of our favourite bloggers and this eBook is packed full of his unconventional language learning tips that will inspire and encourage you. It has now been updated and comes with the Speak From Day 1 video series. Check out our full review of The Language Hacking Guide and our Speak From Day 1 review.Digital Nomad Resources
Sell Your Crap – If you want to become a digital nomad or travel long term then freeing yourself from your stuff is an essential step. This is the ultimate guide to selling everything you own and includes incredibly detailed information on how to sell on eBay, Amazon and Craigslist. We wish we had this guide when we were selling our belongings.
How to Live a Life of Travel – Wandering Earl has been travelling the world constantly for over 12 years. Even more amazingly he started his journey with just $1500. In this detailed ebook he shares his tips on how to live a life of travel including how to face your fears; money—how much do you need and how to earn it, with tons of creative ideas on finding jobs around the world, or creating an online business; and the practicalities of being on the road – transport, accommodation, visas, communication, health, security and much more. Perfect if you want to travel but are feeling overwhelmed by how to make it happen.
How To Make Money With Your Travel Blog - Nomadic Matt’s comprehensive guide looks at many different ways you can make money with your travel blog. He earns $8000 a month from his website and with the advice in this eBook you too could fund a location independent lifestyle.
How to Become a House-sitter and See the World – Dalene and Pete Heck have travelled for three years by housesitting all over the world and saving themselves $30,000 in accommodation costs! We think housesitting is a great way for digital nomads to balance work and travel while saving money. This guide shares their secrets of how to find a housesit and how to be a great housesitter.
For an even more comprehensive guide to housesitting available for the Kindle we highly recommend Break Free: The Ultimate Guide to Housesitting.
SugarSync - We love this service for backing up our important data in the cloud. It enables us to access our files anywhere from any device, including both of our laptops, and we can easily share large files with others. You get 5GB of space free and the prices for larger storage are very reasonable. If you sign up for a free account with this link we both get an extra 500MB of space free!
For more useful resources see our Essential Reads for Digital Nomads: Book Edition.
Travel Gear We Love
Computer Equipment
As digital nomads being able to work from anywhere is essential for us. This is the equipment we use and recommend.
Macbook Pro Retina 15 inch Laptop - Simon switched to a Mac before we left to travel and is so glad he did. It is a much more efficient system than a PC – everything just runs smoother, more easily and you don’t have to worry about constant updates and anti-virus protection. He started with a Macbook Pro 13 inch but switched to the Retina as it’s better for design and development work. He loves that Retina display!
Macbook Air 11 inch Laptop - Erin started off with an Asus Eee PC but it wasn’t powerful enough or the screen large enough for serious photo editing so she switched to a Macbook Air and absolutely loves it. We think it’s the perfect travel laptop as it’s powerful and fast but ultra thin and light.
Western Digital My Passport 500Gb Hard Drive – Incredibly small and light yet sturdy this is perfect for backing up when travelling. We now have a 1TB version as well.
Photography
Canon 400d/Rebel XTi SLR Camera - If you are looking for an SLR camera then we’ve been really happy with the Canon. It isn’t as huge and heavy as many SLRs, the photo quality is excellent and it’s easy to use. The newer model is even better with live preview screen and HD video.
Tamron 18-200mm lens – You get a huge zoom range with this lens which is good for both landscapes and wildlife. I like only having to carry one lens and not needing to change it.
Canon Powershot S95 Camera – We use this compact camera when we don’t want to carry the SLR around and for HD video. The quality is impressive considering its size and I actually prefer it to the SLR for low light and macro photography. It even has full manual control.
Other Technology
iPhone 5 – We’d been travelling for nearly three years when we finally bought a phone. Not that we use it as a phone but we love it for the excellent camera, internet on the go, built in GPS and Siri. We bought it unlocked and plan to use local pay as you go SIM cards. Read our full iPhone 5 review.
iPod Touch – An iPod is essential for surviving long bus journeys and the iPod Touch does so much more: we use it as a map, currency convertor, read books on it, play games and there are many other useful apps.
Kindle - We were hesitant at first, but books are so heavy and difficult to find when travelling that we ordered a Kindle after 10 months of travel. We went for the 3G version so we can access email for free wherever we are. It truly is amazing that we can fit thousands of books (many available for free) on such a small and light device. It’s a pleasure to read on. Read our full Kindle for travellers review for more advantages.
For more of our favourite resources see 33 Useful Resources for Digital Nomads.
Clothes
We advocate taking as few clothes as possible. There are a few items that make packing light easier.
Icebreaker Bodyfit Top - We both have one of these base layer long sleeve tops for when the weather gets colder. They are made of Merino wool which is soft, warm, long lasting and best of all never smells! It’s great for travelling because you can wear it many times even on a trek before needing to wash it. See the women’s version too.
Montane Featherlite Smock – We don’t often need a waterproof so this tiny jacket is ideal. It’s very light and packs down to the size of an apple. It’s windproof too.
Toiletries
We travel with just carry-on luggage so all our toiletries need to be under 100ml. These products make this easier and mean we aren’t lugging around heavy bottles.
Lush solid shampoo bars – These are small but last ages and work as both shampoo and shower gel. Best of all they are solid so no chance of leaks.
Shaving Oil – Simon has never gone back to foam after discovering shaving oil. It comes in a tiny bottle and lasts for ages (9 months shaving every 2-3 days).
Riemann once a day suncream – This comes in 100ml bottles and lasts much longer than usual suncreams as you only need to apply it once a day. It’s great for water sports.
Our Complete Packing List
To find out exactly what’s in our backpacks see our complete packing list. Also check out our tips on how to travel long term with only carry-on luggage.
Please note that some of the above links are affiliate links which means we will receive a small commission if you buy through them. These are all products that we love and use ourselves. If you choose to buy through these links thank you for your support.