From finding your favourite local café to making plans after work, the little moments can become the best part of living overseas.
There’s a particular kind of frustration that comes with working abroad. You’ve spent eight hours staring at a laptop, the sun is beginning to set, and somewhere outside your apartment, people are enjoying the city you travelled thousands of miles to experience.
Meanwhile, you’ve barely made it further than the supermarket.
Of course, working remotely from another country has its perks. You can spend your lunch break wandering through unfamiliar streets, try something different for dinner, and wake up somewhere that would once have been a holiday destination. But there’s still work to do, bills to pay, and the occasional evening when you’re far too tired to leave the sofa.
And that’s when living abroad gets even more interesting. You start developing routines, discovering places tourists miss, and finding little ways to enjoy yourself between working hours.
Become a regular somewhere
One of the nicest things about staying in a city for several weeks is getting to know the neighbourhood.
Perhaps there’s a bakery where the owner starts recognizing you, a little restaurant that serves an excellent lunch for a few dollars, or a coffee shop where you can sit for an hour without feeling rushed.
These places become part of your routine. You stop checking maps every time you leave the apartment, learn which streets are busiest in the evening, and eventually figure out where to buy decent groceries. Try visiting the same local spots a few times, even when there are plenty of new places to explore. Familiar faces can make a surprising difference when you’re thousands of miles from home.
Sometimes, the best evening plans involve staying in
Travelling long-term can be exhausting, especially when you’re balancing sightseeing with a full working week. There will be evenings when another restaurant, walking tour, or social event sounds like far too much effort.
Fortunately, staying home doesn’t have to mean being bored.
You might order something from a local restaurant, put on a Netflix series, or spend an hour catching up with friends back home. Some remote workers also enjoy hopping on to their favourite online casino for plenty of new games, including live blackjack online, which brings a real-time dealer and card-table experience to a phone or laptop.
For digital nomads who enjoy blackjack, the live format has a few practical attractions:
- You can play from your accommodation. There’s no need to travel anywhere after a long working day. All you need is a compatible device and a reliable internet connection.
- The familiar rules are easy to return to. Blackjack follows the same basic objective wherever you’re playing – trying to get closer to 21 than the dealer without going over.
- There’s a live element. With live blackjack online, you’re watching a real dealer handle the cards as the game unfolds, which makes the experience different from playing against a computer.
- You can fit a short session into your evening. You can decide how much time and money to set aside beforehand, without committing your entire night to an activity.
Of course, there are plenty of other ways to enjoy an evening indoors, from multiplayer gaming and virtual quizzes to listening to a favourite podcast.
The important thing is having options. After spending the day working, there’s something lovely about enjoying your temporary home without feeling obliged to go anywhere.
Find your people without filling your calendar
Making friends abroad can be wonderfully spontaneous. One minute, you’re asking someone about their coffee order, and the next, you’re being invited to a group dinner on Friday.
Of course, starting friendships from scratch can also get tiring.
A 2025 study published in Media, Culture & Society, involving 30 interviews with digital nomads, explored how moving frequently can make it harder to maintain close relationships. Participants described the challenges of repeatedly meeting new people and leaving friendships behind.
If you’re hoping to meet people while working abroad, try:
- Attending a weekly language exchange
- Working from a coworking space occasionally
- Joining a local hiking or walking group
- Signing up for a cooking class
- Returning to the same community events
You don’t need plans every evening. Sometimes, one familiar face in a new city is enough to make the week feel different.
Match your evening plans to your energy
There’s no point booking an ambitious evening activity when you’ve just finished a stressful nine-hour working day.
Some nights call for adventure. Others call for comfortable clothes and absolutely no plans. Here’s a little inspiration for your next week abroad.
| Your mood | Evening idea | Budget |
| Feeling adventurous | Explore a local food market | $-$$ |
| Want some company | Attend a language exchange | Free–$ |
| Completely exhausted | Cook dinner and watch a movie | Free |
| Feeling creative | Take a local craft or cooking class | $$-$$$ |
| Need fresh air | Go for a sunset walk | Free |
| Feeling spontaneous | Visit a neighbourhood you’ve never explored | Free-$$ |
One useful habit is keeping a small list of things you’d like to try in each destination. That little restaurant someone recommended, a weekend market, or a beautiful walking route can all go on there.
Then, when you finish work early, you’ve already got a few ideas.
Give yourself permission to have an ordinary Tuesday
Here’s something people don’t always mention about working abroad. Eventually, even the most exciting destination becomes somewhere where you need to buy toothpaste and take out the trash.
And that’s perfectly fine.
You might spend Monday evening doing laundry, Tuesday catching up on emails, and Wednesday eating leftovers in your apartment.
Thursday, however, could involve discovering a fantastic little restaurant, meeting someone interesting, or stumbling across a street performance on your way home. That balance is really what’s worth remembering. You have time to discover a destination gradually, without trying to squeeze everything into a week-long vacation.
Make room for the evenings you’ll remember
Ask someone about their favourite travel memories, and they might mention a famous landmark or an incredible excursion. But sometimes, the stories that stick involve much smaller moments.
A conversation with a stranger, an unexpectedly delicious dinner, or the evening you finally found your way home without checking your phone. Working abroad gives you the chance to experience those everyday moments somewhere new.
And years later, you might find yourself missing the little café around the corner just as much as the spectacular places you visited.
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