Vianessa Castaños has always considered herself a “road-trip warrior.” Some of her most cherished memories come from vacationing across the U.S. with her family as a kid.
“I grew up traveling a lot,” Castaños said. “My parents were very much the get-up-and-go kind of people. We lived in Boston, and they’d wake up at 5 a.m. and be like, ‘Alright, we’re going to Miami!’”
Experiencing that nomadic lifestyle became useful for Castaños in her professional life. As a triple threat – writer, producer, and actress – Castaños can drop everything and jump on an airplane at a moment’s notice to take on an assignment.
“I like to write about culture,” she said. “I love to research, and I love learning and talking to people. Traveling is in my DNA.”
In Nómadas, a custom editorial series between Remezcla and Intuit TurboTax, Latine, creative professionals show how – with the help of current technology and online resources like TurboTax experts who’ll do your taxes for you virtually – they are redefining and transforming the remote working experience and becoming location independent. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of people who work outside of an office has tripled from 5.7% (9 million people) in 2019 to 17.9% (27.6 million people) in 2021.
Currently, Castaños, who is of Dominican descent, has home bases in Miami and Madrid, Spain. Although she doesn’t consider herself a hiker, she bought a pair of hiking boots six years ago and headed to Spain to walk the Catholic pilgrimage known as the Camino de Santiago.
“The Camino was my first time traveling internationally on my own,” she said. “I would recommend it to anyone, especially if you’re into self-discovery.”
For Castaños, traveling to countries across Europe by airplane or train is work, but there’s always time to go exploring. Many times, she’d rather go for a walk in a local neighborhood and stop at a market to buy groceries than take a typical sightseeing tour. She tries to avoid itineraries.
“I like to feel like I’m home, no matter where I am in the world,” she said. “That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with touristy things. Whenever I go to a new place, if there’s an interesting museum, I’ll do something like that. But I don’t usually travel with that in mind. I’ll just get there and…exist.”
While Castaños always likes to go with the flow, there’s at least one part of her life that she likes to keep as prepared as possible – her taxes. As a digital nomad whose lifestyle can be spontaneous at times, Castaños likes to know that when it comes to things like her finances, there is help out there. TurboTax experts are available to file people’s taxes and do all the heavy lifting so creatives like her can stop worrying and get them done. (Available with Full Service products only. Video meeting while an expert does your taxes required.)
“When I used TurboTax before, it was really easy because it pulls the information for you and you don’t have to type in every little detail,” Castaños said. “It walks you through the process and will take you step by step. I’ve never had difficulty with my taxes.”
With TurboTax experts, people can avoid the stress of filing taxes. It’s as easy as letting an expert plug in the numbers and file information with them – beginning to end. TurboTax experts can guarantee your taxes are done correctly, so you feel the relief of your taxes being finished. You can focus on doing anything other than taxes. For Castaños, it’s traveling and writing.
“If you’re going to be a digital nomad, you’re going to need to be organized,” she said. “If you’re working from home – whether you’re in Texas or in Egypt – you need to keep a routine for yourself and a schedule that works for you. For me, traveling is part of my personality. I don’t think it’s something I’ll ever stop doing.”
Available with Full Service products only. Video meeting while an expert does your taxes required. See details at turbotax.com/guarantees.
