Who says you have to go to an office every day to manage a successful career? That having a home of your own and a routine are the only ways to be a real adult? That the place you’re happiest is the place where you were born or where you found your job? That you’ll be able to retire one day and then travel the world?

We’ve grown up seeing various models of what it means to be an adult, but the common theme follows the same pattern: get a job, make a home, start a family. That conventional lifestyle is rooted in cultural traditions and historical needs and opportunities.

But it’s no longer the only way.

People of all walks of life, all industries and nationalities become digital nomads. Despite wildly different backgrounds, the motivation is consistent: to have a lifestyle that exhibits freedom of choice and is enabled by modern technology and travel.

While many companies are still brick-and-mortar, we are seeing more and more opportunities for remote work.

Today, we can choose between hostels, hotels, personal apartments, and co-living spaces. We can bounce from place to place or settle in and stay awhile, go local, seek out adventure, or relish in seclusion.

It’s never been easier to get recommendations and make reservations for living arrangements, and plans can be solidified months in advance or hours before arrival. The technology has never been more available or more flexible for creating itineraries and will only continue to improve.

However, with all the options available for people living this lifestyle, it’s hard to know where to start and what will work best for you.

Countless blogs and books already inspire people with stories and images and advice about this lifestyle. And many do give helpful advice and links, but it takes hours to find, much less implement, the information all over the internet.

So we created the resource that we (and our friends) wanted and needed a few years ago. We had jobs, we had dreams, and we had travel experience — but we didn’t really know how to go from “normal life” to being a digital nomad.

After years on the road, we have a much clearer understanding of what works and what doesn’t, what’s good and what’s bad, what we liked and what we wished we avoided. Those insights have been very helpful for us as we continue to plan our lives as digital nomads.

We looked in popular forums for common questions and pain points, went back through our own records (financial, travel, work, and personal), talked to friends we’ve met on the road, referenced blog posts that are helpful and informative, surveyed digital nomads, and researched favorite tools and apps.

So we decided to pool our knowledge and write The Digital Nomad Survival Guide — a reference manual about how to get started and survive being a digital nomad. And we created this website to share resources and strategy suggestions to help you determine your own approach to your new lifestyle.