Now that I am currently job hunting, or in other words jobless, I finally found the "remote job" I always wanted, that is, without the money. As I send out my CV daily, get rejected daily, try to come up with new cover letters as to why working for this software company has been my literal dream, and trust me, it gets difficult to come up with reasons after a while, I wonder what my next move is. If I am to be a penniless digital nomad, might as well actually go somewhere beside my own apartment, "see the world".
However, as a girl on a budget, travel expenses can get high very quickly: bring a cabin suitcase for a one-way trip? €60. Want to choose your own seat? €35. Want to get some insurance in case the flight company goes bankrupt? €8,95. Want to get a ticket confirmation by email? Only €3,99. I'm sorry, since when did we have to pay to receive a literal email about our flight and check in time? Book it through a third party website like CheapTickets? €30 extra for them to book it. Even inside the airplane it felt like if I'd breathe too much I'd have to pay extra.
In order to save some money, I booked a ticket in the evening that would save me €60, plus I'd have some "extra time in Spain before my friends arrive", I could even "do some work". In my mind it was a win-win situation. Yet, here I am, it's currently 1:51AM, sitting alone at the airport, too tired to work, and nothing to do, waiting for another 7 hours for my friends to arrive at 8:30AM.
Airports at night are a strange phenomenon. Busy throughout the day, empty at night, they are liminal spaces--you are neither here nor there, neither at home nor in a foreign country. It's just me, my laptop, and the lady next to me that has built a bed out of suitcases.
What I'm trying to say is that one must ask themselves--is it worth it? You might say no, who would want to wait that long, be sleep deprived and stuck at the airport just to save a measly amount of money. Well, I see this as a challenge. Is traveling comfortably now a privilege, and also am I willing to pay for it, support that system, get my confirmation email cause who cares about €3,99.
No! Travel should be accessible to everyone, and me being out of a job right now actually made me realise what privileges I've had so far. I will continue sitting here, making use of the time I've got, stuff myself with vending machine snacks, and gladly do it all over again just to prove a point.
Anyway, if anyone has tips on how to get time to pass quickly, I'd love to know. Otherwise, I can finally be chronically online for a reason.