The Remote Writing Life with Nina Ragusa

I first met Nina Ragusa when a bunch of travel bloggers got invited to a travel industry marketing summit in Nepal, where we spent a few days hiking in the Himalayas. Then I ran into her at a hotel in Puerto Vallarta a few years later when she was based nearby. You may find her in some other random country since she has lived in and worked from plenty since 2011 while running the aptly named blog Where in the World is Nina. Besides regular travel writing, she covers the nitty-gritty details about moving abroad, remote work, and the nomadic life in multiple countries. 

You say on your About page that you’ve had 11 travel jobs that have kept you on the road. What were they and how did travel blogging finally win out?

It’s kind of a random mix looking back. I first moved abroad to Thailand to teach English, which kicked everything off. Around that same time, I stumbled into teaching English online, which was way before it became super common. That opened the door to working remotely.

From there, it was a mix of any travel job that kept me going: freelancing online, writing about my travels for other sites, doing house sitting, volunteering gigs, virtual assistant jobs, and a working holiday visa in Australia where I did bartending and waitressing.

Blogging wasn’t supposed to be “the job” at all. I actually started my site because people kept asking me how I was traveling and living abroad, and instead of answering the same questions over and over (I got lazy), I figured I’d just put everything on a website and send them there.

At some point I realized this could be a real job and decided to take it seriously. It kind of grew alongside everything else until it eventually became the main thing.

How far in were you when you first started feeling like this was your real job you could make a long-term living from? Was there a turning point?

It definitely wasn’t instant. For a long time, it felt like something that might work, but I was still piecing together income from a bunch of different sources.

Again, I didn’t even know it could be a job until a few years in. After taking it more seriously for a couple of years, it eventually felt like it was becoming more legit. That’s when traffic, search engine optimization, and income all started lining up in a way that felt sustainable.

There wasn’t one big turning point. It was more like a slow build where things stacked over time. Learning SEO properly, understanding what content actually works, and staying consistent probably made the biggest difference.

Some people are expats, some have a home base they branch out from regularly, others are nomadic. You seem to take the last path, but slowly. How has that decision evolved?

It’s definitely evolved, but it’s also always been pretty intentional. I tend to follow a mix of lifestyle, visa options, and overall quality of life when deciding where to go next.

I’ve lived in a handful of places longer-term. Sometimes because of visas (like Australia), sometimes because of lifestyle choices (like wanting to surf in places like Morocco or Ecuador), and sometimes just because it felt right at the time.

More recently, Thailand has been our main base again. It’s somewhere I’ve spent a lot of time over the years, and now with the newer long-term visa options, it makes even more sense. It allows us to stay longer, work online, and actually settle into a routine while still having flexibility.

So while I’ve always been nomadic, it’s become a bit more strategic and less bouncing around randomly. More choosing places that support the lifestyle long-term.

What are your main sources of income and how have those changed the past few years?

I run an online business with my partner, and we split things a bit between client work and our own platforms.

On the client side, he manages content and marketing for an adventure travel company. Everything from blog content to media production.

On my side, I run multiple blogs, including my main site and a few regional ones. The primary income streams there are affiliates, display ads, and some sponsored content.

Over the past few years, things have shifted a bit. With traffic being less predictable across the industry, I’ve leaned more into diversifying and taking on more sponsored work and being a bit more intentional with partnerships.

It’s definitely required adapting, but the core model is still the same.

What do you do better or differently than most that has allowed you to thrive over a sustained period?

I think a big part of it is focusing on a slightly different angle than general travel.

A lot of my content is centered around moving abroad—living abroad, working abroad, and actually making long-term travel happen, not just short trips or inspiration. That tends to attract a more intentional audience that’s looking for real answers.

I’ve also spent a lot of time actually living in the places I write about, which helps add more depth and credibility to the content.

And honestly, longevity probably plays a role too. I’ve been doing this for a long time (I feel like a dinosaur), so I’ve had time to figure out what works, adapt when things change, and build a solid foundation. I’m also stubborn and won’t let algo or rule changes get to me, I find a way to make it work!

What are you hoping to launch or accomplish in the next couple of years and why?

Right now, the focus is less on chasing something brand new and more on strengthening what’s already working.

There are always ideas in the background, but the main goal is sustainability and growth without overcomplicating things—that is, until the right ideas come around…

If you could go back to any place you have lived but have a fancier place that’s all expenses paid, where would it be?

Probably Australia or New Zealand, for different reasons.

In Australia, I was on a working holiday visa and focused almost entirely on working. We knew it was a one-time opportunity, so we didn’t really lean into the “holiday” side. It was so worth it, though, because we saved a bunch of money. A lot of that money was used to help me take the blog more seriously actually!

New Zealand is a bit different. I spent nearly five months living in a van there, and I wouldn’t change that at all. It was one of my best trips. But going back and experiencing it in a more comfortable way would be pretty amazing too.

Nina Ragusa is the creator of Where in the World is Nina, a travel and lifestyle blog focused on helping people figure out how to live, work, and travel abroad long-term. She shares practical, no-BS advice on visas, remote work, and building a location-independent life, alongside destination guides based on years of living overseas.