It's almost certainly easier than it used to be because you can do so much online, everyone has a mobile number, etc. There are even basically "address as a service" services for mail forwarding and the like. Still, there's probably more peace of mind (and it's probably somewhat more legit) to be officially living somewhere with someone reliable even if you just happen to almost never be there.

When I was doing it for my friend, it was never that big a deal. But stuff did come up every now and then that needed to be handled.