May, with its many holidays and weather too beautiful to stay indoors. Looking at the clear sky and sunlit grass sparkling outside my window, I kept feeling the urge to go outside. That's when I got a flight deal alert for Jeju Island from a travel app I had installed. In that moment, I imagined myself typing on my laptop keyboard while gazing at the blue ocean, and enjoying black pork and fresh sashimi in the evening.
One of the biggest changes in daily life due to COVID-19 might be how we've dramatically transcended spatial constraints. Due to changes and restructuring of spaces, the perception of whether commuting is truly necessary won't change even in the post-COVID era. After a year of various trials and errors, the world has now become comfortable with working remotely, both technologically and culturally. Especially for developers, as long as they have internet and a MacBook, they can work anywhere. The term digital nomad, which existed even before COVID, refers to exactly these kinds of people.
I'm usually someone who plans thoroughly when traveling - researching routes, timing, and even preparing Plan B and C in case places are closed. But this time, I consciously tried to restrain myself from planning, wanting to go with the flow. And so, from Monday to Friday, I began my first attempt at a 5-day digital nomad lifestyle in Jeju.
The First Place I Set Foot
I headed to western Jeju (Aewol-Hangyeong) to enjoy the clear, beautiful ocean. I stayed in a single room at a guesthouse in Geumneung for 3 days, and this accommodation, which looked like a renovated house, was satisfying because it didn't feel like other guesthouses where you'd expect noisy parties every night or feel obligated to chat with new people.
Though it was a rather quiet guesthouse standing alone in a secluded location, I was satisfied because there was a convenience store right in front, and Geumneung Beach and Hyeopjae Beach were just a 4-minute walk away. There was a rooftop and communal dining area above the accommodation, so at night I would take my MacBook up there with a drink to read books or write.
Work and Cafes
The minimum requirement for realizing the digital nomad lifestyle is an environment where you can focus on work.
The moment you decide to become a digital nomad, work must take priority over travel. Looking around and sightseeing is only possible when you're simultaneously doing your job properly. There's something that those who vaguely dream of being digital nomads while traveling with just a laptop tend to overlook easily: it requires much more willpower and effort.
You realize this when you face it directly, but finding a quiet, secluded space with at least internet connection is a major challenge from the start. For someone like me with regular working hours, there are many other things to handle: adjusting meeting times, communication issues, checking work emails intermittently, and more.
Finding a suitable cafe to work in was both important and difficult, with surprisingly demanding conditions. First, for the video meetings I had every morning, it needed to be a place with little noise and low music volume. Thanks to Korea's good internet infrastructure, I didn't worry about internet connectivity, but it had to have power outlets and be a place where I could sit for long periods.
Seoul already has many shared offices and independent spaces for work, so I was curious if Jeju had such places too. There were indeed coworking spaces in Jeju. It seemed there were coworking spaces that could be useful for people like me who came to Jeju for work, such as for month-long stays in Jeju, but they were usually located in downtown Jeju, far from where I was staying, and I didn't feel much need for them as someone working alone.
From the morning after arriving in Jeju, I went around scouting various places like a Starbucks with an ocean view (personally didn't like it because the music was too loud and it was too crowded), famous cafes, and others to find good places to work. Some places I researched beforehand like High-End Jeju, Factory Story, Anthracite Hanrim, and Janmulgyeol, while others I just wandered into. Among them, the place I liked best was Factory Story, where I could quietly finish reading an entire book and write.
Internet issues were surprisingly common. There were places where meetings got disconnected due to poor connection quality, or where I had to try several times because the internet connection itself wasn't smooth. This reminded me that digital nomad life isn't possible just anywhere. Like in Arusha, Tanzania two years ago, where even 3G internet was unavailable and 2G connection was barely hanging on, working remotely would be quite limited in such environments.
If you're dreaming of a digital nomad lifestyle, there's plenty of related advice available, so I recommend first checking if it's a lifestyle that suits you.
Downtime
My plan to take the week with holidays, with vacation the day before, was a kind of safety net. Since this was my first time working like this, it prevented the mishap of disrupting work and messing up schedules if things didn't go as planned in an unfamiliar environment.
Outside work hours, I climbed Geum Oreum, walked alone on coastal walking paths and parts of Olle Trail courses to experience Jeju in its raw form. Since I came all the way to Jeju, I had to try delicious food, so I tried umu pudding and visited famous restaurants like those serving gogi-guksu, timing my visits precisely to avoid long waits.
Side Note) Thoughts on Map Services
As a side story, map services are something we use frequently in daily life but especially more when traveling. Since I work in Naver's Mobile Maps department, I was able to contemplate this map app while on the bus during this trip.
I usually only used Naver Maps, but during this Jeju trip, I started using KakaoMap and found its UX quite convenient. Both have their pros and cons. Naver Maps has excellent connectivity with blogs and cafes due to its strong portal service, making the reviews and photo quality for POIs (Points of Interest) much more extensive and better. KakaoMap has intuitive UX and a boarding/alighting notification feature that I found really useful during this trip - I never missed my stop and could get off on time even while doing other things on the bus.
So I ended up opening Naver Maps when I wanted to see detailed reviews or photos, and KakaoMap when finding directions. Although my current job isn't in public transportation or UI/UX within maps, experiencing it from an actual user's perspective made me think about areas that Naver Maps needs to improve to be more loved by users.
Conclusion
Though it was my first attempt at digital nomad life and there were some disappointing aspects, I think it was a happy 5 days.
When my eyes got tired from the monitor, I could lift my head and look at the ocean, and when my body felt stiff, I walked along the coastal Olle paths.
After work hours, I could leisurely read books and enjoy contemplation while feeling Jeju's breeze.
On the third night when the loneliness of solo travel was growing, it was nice to have brief conversations with new people at the guesthouse.
Now that I'm back home, I feel comfortable and cozy again. Maybe it's because I tried to work in an unfamiliar place while walking 20,000 steps a day, and also because this is the space that has been modified over the years to help me focus and rest in my own way. The things that didn't work well this time will be lessons for making the next trip better.
If the opportunity arises, I think I'll prepare to become a digital nomad again and take off somewhere.