A woman has taken remote working to the extreme by travelling across the world while still doing her job - all while putting up to £1,700 a month into savings. Madi Mucha, 24, an accounts manager, was offered a full-time work-from-home role towards the end of the pandemic in July, 2021.
But instead of working from her cramped and expensive apartment, she decided she wanted a taste of adventure. She has since worked from Guatemala, Mexico and Italy.
Posting about her travels on Instagram under the handle @madidadytravels, she spends some time planning her next trips – and has provided some of her tips for other remote workers who want to see some more of the world. Madi, who is currently in Columbia, said: “I’ve been remote since the start of the pandemic in March 2020 and in July last year I got a new job which was much more flexible with talking about going to back to the office.
“I told them I wanted to try travelling and working remotely – in the first and second month at the job I did a remote working program with a company called RemoteYear who organise trips for people who can work remotely. You get to rent an apartment with people doing the same thing so I did the whole month of August – it was kind of expensive but I was a woman travelling alone and I wanted to try it in a safe way at first that felt comfortable.
“I did a month in Guatemala, realised how easy it was and a lot of people I met told me you can stay in co-working hostels and find coworking spaces nearby if your hotel or hostel doesn’t have wifi – I got the motivation from that first trip in August and went from there.”
Madi first began working remotely at the start of the Covid pandemic in March 2020 before getting a new job in July 2021 with a flexible attitude when it came to returning to the office. After being offered the role, she trialled her first attempt at remote working and travelling with a month-long trip to Guatemala in August, 2021.
She then spent some time in Mexico in October 2021 and then returned to Guatemala in December for three weeks, before jetting over to Kenya from late December to January. Following her time in Kenya, Madi spent February in Costa Rica before flying over to Europe in April and touring around Italy, France and Belgium through April.
Alongside her experiences travelling, she has also been able to save some money thanks to cutting out expenses like rent and bills. She also saves on items like clothes and meals out – as she quite literally doesn’t have room in her bag for new outfits or shoes.
“Latin American countries have been the best for remote working for me as I can start a bit early and have more of my afternoon to do things,” said Madi. “I didn’t really connect with any digital nomads in Europe or Kenya but in South America and Central America it’s more prominent and I’ve heard similar things about Ecuador.
“I went back to Guatemala a couple of times as I had close friends there and it has a special place in my heart and then I went to a couple of cities in Mexico in late October 2021. I headed back to Guatemala in late December for three weeks and then went to Kenya in late December 2021 to January 2022 as one of my best friends is from there.
“I went to Costa Rica in February, then Europe for a month as my brother is studying there and visited Italy, France and Belgium through April and then on to Ecuador - currently I'm in Columbia.
“Inbetween trips I’ll come home – ideally, I would like to do a long-term trip. People keep DMing me and asking me how I do it – the first thing is actually prioritising jobs that are labelled as remote and using LinkedIn or Glassdoor.
“If they don’t say if they’re remote, be confident in an interview and ask, say its important to you. This might be obvious but eliminate your monthly expenses.
“I eliminated my car payments and rent and now all that money is used for travelling. If you’re good with money and finances, get a travel credit card – you can get travel points where you almost don’t have to pay for flights, they’re points you’ve earned from using the card and paying it off.
“By staying at co-working hostels you stay for cheaper and have a co-worker space where you can connect with other people doing the same thing and it allows you to get recommendations from other people.
“You get so many recommendations on how to work, travel, save money and maintain the lifestyle for longer.”
