Phrasal Verbs in Context
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Digital Nomads: Working While Traveling

Learn phrasal verbs about mobile living, freedom on the road, and van life adventures

Level: Pre-Intermediate to Intermediate (A2-B1)

1

Van Life and Trailer Living

Living on the road in vans and trailers

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2

Digital Nomads: Working While Traveling

Permanent travel as a way of life

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Urban Car Dwelling

Vehicle living in city environments

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Home Themes Tiny House Hub Digital Nomads

Phrasal Verbs in Context: Digital Nomads: Working While Traveling

An empty downtown city street early morning light office buildings on both sides no people no cars traffic lights on sense of stillness and suspension clean urban architecture pandemic aftermath atmosphere

Welcome to Digital Nomads: Working While Traveling, a lesson that explores how the world of work changed forever—and how millions of people discovered they could carry out their jobs from anywhere with decent WiFi. Some of them set out escaping jobs they hated and end up building careers they love in unexpected places. Others take on remote work because they want to keep up with family members living abroad or experience cultures they've always dreamed about. And there are those who consciously opt for this lifestyle because they believe the best ideas come about when you open up to new environments and perspectives every few months. In this lesson, you'll discover the real challenges and freedoms of location-independent work—from corporate surveillance to building your own online business.

You'll learn how digital nomads break free from office walls, deal with unpredictable internet, and build up sustainable income streams on the road.

break free log in carry out set up deal with balance out tune in switch over hold onto build up

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🔊 Listen & Practice This Card — 🎧 Listen to Section 1 Practice shadowing: read while listening and repeat. Then write down a few expressions or sentences that stood out to you.
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💻 The Remote Work Revolution — A New Way of Working

A person at home dressed in formal office attire sitting at a desk in the living room looking out through a window with a thoughtful expression laptop open in front of them a small camera system mounted on the desk facing the person subtle sense of surveillance

Imagine waking up to the sound of waves instead of an alarm clock—and still making it to your morning meeting. That’s exactly what millions of people discovered when the world changed and offices **shut down** overnight. Suddenly, workers everywhere began to **break free** from the old belief that you needed a desk in a building to do your job. They learned to **log in** from kitchen tables, then from coffee shops, then from places they’d only dreamed of visiting. A beach in Thailand.

A café in Lisbon. A mountain cabin in Colorado. Once you realize you can **carry out** your work from anywhere with decent WiFi, everything changes. The old rules simply **fall apart**—and a whole new life **opens up**. Smart nomads quickly learn to **set up** workspaces wherever they land—a café with good WiFi, a hostel common room, a sunny balcony overlooking the sea.

Yes, they must **deal with** unpredictable internet and time zone math that would confuse most people. But the secret is learning to **balance out** focused work with exploration, creating rhythms that serve both productivity and adventure. Those who **tune in** to local life often discover they’re more productive than they ever were in traditional offices—free from commutes, unnecessary meetings, and office politics. Technology has **brought about** the biggest shift in work culture since the industrial revolution. Young professionals increasingly **take on** remote positions specifically to enable their travel dreams, choosing employers based on flexibility rather than salary alone.

Many **opt for** freelance careers that give them complete control over their schedules and client relationships. Others **switch over** from corporate jobs to consulting, which allows them to **tap into** their expertise while staying mobile and choosing their own projects. This flexibility has **opened up** opportunities that previous generations could never have imagined—careers built around life goals rather than life squeezed around career demands.

shut down break free log in carry out fall apart open up set up deal with balance out tune in bring about take on opt for switch over tap into
🔊 Listen & Practice This Card — 🎧 Tools of the Trade — Navigating the Digital Workspace Practice shadowing: read while listening and repeat. Then write down a few expressions or sentences that stood out to you.
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💻 Tools of the Trade — Navigating the Digital Workspace

But remote work isn’t always a dream come true. Companies may **go along with** working from home, but many want to **make sure** their investment pays off. They’ve started to **set up** tracking systems that follow workers into the digital world: surprise meetings at odd hours, login monitoring, even camera surveillance. For many nomads, this can **get in the way of** the freedom they were hoping for. The office walls **came down**, but new invisible ones **went up** in their place.

Still, many remote workers find ways to **get around** these pressures. They **carve out** spaces of freedom within the system—choosing employers who trust results over surveillance, or **switching over** to freelance work where they can finally **break free** from digital micromanagement. The dream is still possible. It just takes more intention to **hold onto** it. A typical workday begins when nomads **log on** to their project management platforms and **sign in** to video calls with colleagues across time zones.

They **zoom in** on details during virtual meetings and **reach out** to clients through messaging apps, often juggling conversations with people on three different continents. The challenge is to **get through** all their tasks efficiently so they can enjoy their destination before moving on to the next one. Professionals who **follow up** consistently and **check in** regularly earn trust despite the physical distance, proving that reliability has nothing to do with sitting in a specific office chair every day. Managing finances requires careful planning since you can’t simply **print out** bank statements when you’re in Bali or walk into your local bank branch while living in Vietnam. Most nomads **save up** a financial cushion before beginning their travels, knowing that unexpected expenses will definitely appear.

They **lay out** detailed budgets that account for varying costs of living around the world—a month in Southeast Asia might cost less than a week in Scandinavia. The apps they use to track expenses become as essential as their passports, and financial discipline separates successful nomads from those who must return home broke after only a few months of adventure.

go along with make sure set up get in the way of come down go up get around carve out switch over break free hold onto log on sign in zoom in reach out get through follow up check in print out save up lay out
🔊 Listen & Practice This Card — 🎧 Building Your Own Freedom — Creating Independent Income Practice shadowing: read while listening and repeat. Then write down a few expressions or sentences that stood out to you.
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💻 Building Your Own Freedom — Creating Independent Income

Some nomads decide to **break away** from client work entirely and **set up** their own online businesses. They **start out** small—a YouTube channel filming life in a motorhome, a blog sharing hidden gems from small towns, an Instagram account documenting sunrises from different countries. What begins as a personal journal often **takes off** unexpectedly. Followers **tune in** to watch someone live the dream they’re still dreaming about. These creators **build up** audiences who feel like they’re traveling along, experiencing the world through someone else’s eyes.

Others **branch out** into more ambitious projects. They **come up with** apps that solve problems they discovered on the road—finding free camping spots, translating local menus, connecting travelers with each other. Some **figure out** ways to turn their curiosity into content: deep dives into local history, interviews with people they meet, guides to places most tourists never see. The journey itself becomes the research, and every new destination **opens up** fresh material to share with the world. What makes this lifestyle possible is a community willing to **chip in**.

Loyal followers **sign up** for memberships, donate through Patreon, or simply **spread** the word to friends. It’s a beautiful exchange: creators **live out** adventures many people only dream about, and supporters get to travel through their stories. These nomads don’t just **rely on** algorithms or sponsors—they **count on** real human connections. And for those who **keep up** the work with consistency and heart, the road can actually **pay for** itself.

A person standing on top of a motorhome parked near the beach arms wide open facing the ocean sense of freedom and release golden hour light vast sky and sea in the background
break away set up start out take off tune in build up branch out come up with figure out open up chip in sign up spread live out rely on count on keep up pay for
🔊 Listen & Practice This Card — 🎧 The Future of Work — Where Do We Go From Here Practice shadowing: read while listening and repeat. Then write down a few expressions or sentences that stood out to you.
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💻 The Future of Work — Where Do We Go From Here

A calm interior scene inside a motorhome a table in the foreground with a laptop open showing simple stable charts and clean app interface no dramatic spikes a cup of coffee beside the laptop warm natural light minimal and organized workspace

The trend toward remote work didn’t **come out of** nowhere—it had been slowly **building up** for years. But the 2020 pandemic **sped up** what might have taken decades, forcing millions to **figure out** how to work from home almost overnight. This sudden shift **brought about** unexpected challenges. For many workers, bringing the office into their homes also meant bringing the pressure. The boundaries between work and personal life began to **break down**.

Notifications **kept coming in** at all hours. The boss who used to stay at the office now lived inside the laptop. Some workers found it harder to **switch off** than ever before. To **get away from** corporate surveillance and the feeling of being watched even in their own kitchens, many people **turned to** nomadism as a way of life. They **set out** to build their freedom by creating content, sharing their journeys, and **living off** the support of online communities.

But this path **came with** its own trade-offs. Now they **depend on** the attention of a volatile audience and the generosity of followers who may **move on** at any moment. Trading one type of pressure for another isn’t always the freedom it seems to be. More recently, a new kind of worker has **started to** emerge. These digital entrepreneurs **set up** their own small businesses while living on the road—building apps, creating automated systems, developing solutions for specific niches.

They don’t **rely on** a single employer or a fickle audience. Instead, they **build up** sustainable income streams that give them true independence. For this new generation, the nomadic lifestyle isn’t just a dream to **hold onto**—it’s a business model that finally **adds up**.

come out of build up speed up figure out bring about break down keep coming in switch off get away from turn to set out live off come with depend on move on start to set up rely on hold onto add up
💻 Match the Phrasal Verbs - Digital Nomads
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Click one phrasal verb in Column A and its meaning in Column B. Complete all pairs.

Column A – Phrasal Verbs

Column B – Meanings

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