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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Emily Bratt

‘My mind was shrieking: “What am I doing?”’ – when the digital nomad dream turns sour

She sits on the pebbles, looking at the camera
‘It all felt wonderfully freeing at first’ ... Emily Bratt on Brighton beach. Photograph: Peter Flude/The Guardian

Jason, a 34-year-old American, is stumbling around the pool table, cue in hand. Five Saigon beers later, he will shuffle out, clamber on to a scooter and drive back to his beach hut. I know this because I’ve seen the same routine for the past four nights. Meanwhile, Eloise, 38, a French national, is gyrating on the dancefloor. Earlier, on the beach, she told me about her big bitcoin dreams – although she hasn’t got the funds she needs yet. Then there is Bex, a Briton in her late 50s whose eyes are large and wild because she has just popped a pill. She spends only a month a year in the UK – not because she wants to, she says, just to check in with family who are worried about her.

Here we are together on this paradise island in south-east Asia, laptops closed for the day. This is the digital nomad dream, isn’t it? This is what adventure and freedom looks like, right? We’re happy!

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