We caught up with former resident Megan, originally from the pacific northwest in the US, currently living the remote lifestyle to the fullest. Megan stayed with us at Swiss Escape in November-December 2021. It was not such a scary jump to book her stay at Swiss Escape as Megan always had roommates and had even experienced coliving coworking for 4 months already in Washington.
However she noticed that in the US, most of the coliving opportunities, where in the cities, which is not really the environment Megan seeks.
Indeed, one of the main reason Megan wanted to be fully remote was to satisfy her passion for the outdoor. Our Community Manager was impressed when Megan arrived seeing the amount of gear she had with her, everything from climbing to packrafting and skiing, and yet Megan says she had to be very selective and only take what she could carry! At her former "non remote" job, Megan was known for her 2h to 10h drives on weekends to reach new mountains or lakes to explore, coming back on Sunday night whishing she could have stayed longer. Needless to say the 3 minutes commute from the Swiss Escape chalet to the slopes was highly appreciated!
Having now found her dream job working as a Product Manager for a company that was completely remote from the start, Megan is able to fully embrace her new lifestyle, learning to appreciate working in different time zones and structuring her days differently: starting the day with the outdoor and working later at night, or the other way around.
Throughout her travel she has also stayed in several Airbnb accommodations but she appreciates the "friends included" aspect of the coliving concept as she acknowledges, it is difficult to find people to do activities with you when you arrive somewhere new and live on your own. Locals usually are very nice but understandably, they tend not to invest in friendship with people who aren't going to stay, whereas colivers are all in the same boat!
Of course Megan recognizes she sometimes need her own time to recharge and that may create some FOMO, but it is also an important learning, about your own boundaries and managing your energy. She is looking forward to exploring the full spectrum of coliving with small groups and big communities.
Her next adventure might take her to coliving again soon. At the moment she about to go climbing in Turkey, then head to Canada and South America. Portugal and Norway are also on her list. The main thing slowing her down (not counting the gear)? Not being European, she is only allowed to stay up to 90 days in a row in the Schengen zone, but there are so many mountains to climb!
So yes to Nomad visas!
Thank you Megan for chatting with us!