
Remote Year: Travel with interesting people while working remotely - pdappollonio
http://www.remoteyear.com/
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WestCoastJustin
Looks like the classic MVP page to _test_ if this is a good idea. Seems
interesting, but can you imagine the headaches of looking after 100 people, in
18 locations across the globe, in one year?! Coordinating jobs, visas,
accommodation, people leaving, getting fired, personal issues, flights, buses,
etc. I have taken coordinated trips with 90+ people on the same plain to
remote destinations, and it takes _months_ of planning for a single stop. You
would need full time handlers.

ps. don't get me wrong, I like the idea, but you are likely going to burn
these people out with tons of logistic issues.

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gdcaplan
We are going to have 5 full time staff to handle all of those details.

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bonestamp2
Very cool. How are you handling work Visas? For example, when I moved to the
US I kept my job back home but I still need a work visa.

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31reasons
You are a tourist working remotely for some company in other country, do you
need work visa in that case ?

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Swizec
I am a tourist working remotely for my own company while in the US.

 _Technically_ you need a visa. _Practically_ as long as invoices are coming
from your own country and the money is going to your own country, nobody will
care (or even notice).

Unless of course you make posts like this one in a public forum under a name
everyone knows you under. But I am counting on inefficiencies and the good
will of fellow hackernewsers. (you'd need to actively get reported for
anything to happen)

PS: having an actual tourist/business visitor's visa rather than just the visa
waiver (esta) makes things easier and border crossings go much smoother

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briggers
Pretty interesting. This is what I've been doing for the last 12 months
throughout Europe, but with a new location every 1-2 months.

At first the organisational details were the frustrating part, but after
almost 12 months and 8 cities the lack of longer term friendships is more of a
problem.

In regards to "the headaches of looking after 100 people", surely that's
something that can be addressed by limiting the scope of services provided? I
think handling 1) accommodation and 2) work would be more than sufficient for
most responsible people.

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detroitcoder
What are your thoughts on this? \- Remote Working Groups (3 - 10 people) \-
New city every month \- Rent entire home via AirBNB \- Keep per person avg
monthly rent below 1000 USD

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nchuhoai
Please tell me you are planning something like this?

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detroitcoder
It sounds cool doesn't it? I haven't thought about it before this thread but
it sounds pretty easy to put together.

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nchuhoai
Well if you end up doing it, please email me

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chippy
It sounds like a coworking (coworkation?) round the world holiday. Can
participants work on other things or are they tied to those jobs that the
organisers assign them, I wonder...

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sushimako
The wording on the page suggests that you get to live the nomad lifestyle
while still maintaining your comfort-zone. I strongly believe that exactly the
opposite makes this kind of lifestyle so interesting and worthwhile (i.e.
being pushed out of your comfort zone on a regular basis).

I understand that it may sound very compelling to many and I absolutely don't
want to advocate against their "product"; just think about what you want.
"traveling without any of the risks" also takes away _much_ of the fun,
adventures and personal growth you'd experience on your individual, non risk-
free journey.

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nchuhoai
I just started to work remotely and I agree that the solitude is easily the
worst thing about it. You have to make an extra effort to go out and establish
relationships, but even then, if you move around a lot, long-term it is going
to be tough.

I think having a group or network of similar minded people would greatly help.

I have actually thought about this a lot, what if there is a network of
airbnbs/hostels around the world which a group of remote workers agree upon to
be more concentrated? I think co-working spaces do much of it right now, but
it can always be improved upon.

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detroitcoder
I have started to experiment with this over the last month. Staying at room
shares on airbnb, working in coffee shops/co-working spaces during the day and
then meetups at night to network. Doing this with a group would lower costs
and keep a sense of familiarity. Do you think a less formal concept of this
would work?

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nchuhoai
I think something more focused would be better. The biggest problem for me is
not to meet people, but to establish long-term relationships, and that is hard
if you are not around them a) frequently and b) long-term.

I do think that something like OP would be too formal, as it doesn't give you
the flexibility to deviate, which is why I think a more liquid network of at
the start just several locations would work.

Btw, I liked your approach above very much, if you have a majority of the
group do that (allowing individuals to divert), this could totally work

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startupfounder
Nice job!

You got a nice simple idea, created a quick gmail account, built a quick
SquareSpace landing page with collection form and now you are on the front
page of Hacker News collecting some good data.

This my friends is quick and dirty and it works, if you can hack this idea and
get it onto the front page of NH in 30 minutes you will make this happen.

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flysteps
Yeah, they didn't even change some of the default squarespace photos.

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tylermac1
Are the travel costs footed by the remote worker? I'm trying to understand how
Remote Year would make money off of this. Kind of like a
programmer/recruiter/travel agent all in one?

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gdcaplan
The remote workers all have their own jobs that Remote Year can help them
find. They then pay a fixed amount per month to Remote Year, which includes
housing, travel, activities, programming and some meals.

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morganvachon
Would you be willing to add this information to your site? You might find more
people willing to sign up if they are better informed. See my above (wrong)
conjecture as an example of how little can be extrapolated from what you have
on display.

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Aardwolf
There is some missing information on the page I think, such as, what do you
get paid, and who pays for accomodation, and, what are the 18 locations?

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rco8786
They made it pretty clear that they aren't paying you for your work, but have
some help available for securing remote jobs. So I imagine the pay has
everything to do with you and your experience.

Anyways, the page seems like a marketing test anyway, just to see if there is
any interest.

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scrollaway
Ok, as a remote worker this sounds super cool and all but I am going to have a
minor complaint which has nothing to do with the feature at hand.

"REMOTEYEAR@GMAIL.COM"

Really? You have a domain name, couldn't set up "contact@remoteyear.com"?

Even though I'm sure nothing was meant by that, it makes the whole thing sound
incredibly unprofessional and simply detracts from the offer.

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morganvachon
This could explain it, it looks like their choice for hosting doesn't provide
email:

[https://www.squarespace.com/pricing/](https://www.squarespace.com/pricing/)

Still, they could opt for Google's business email so they could use Gmail's
backend with @remoteyear.com addresses.

