

Ask HN: Hacker-Travelers, please share your techniques and experience. - jberryman

This recent submission[1] sparked a really inspiring bunch of "me too" comments from folks with experience travelling the world while doing their life/company's work. I'd like to know how you travelling hackers work and what tricks you've picked up.<p>For example: do you keep to a strict work/adventuring schedule, or just do whatever you feel like? what kind of equipment do you use? Do you really feel like you can work from anywhere, or do you have to find coffee shops/libraries?<p>1. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3266772
======
marquis
I travel for pleasure and like to stay in new places for quite a while (more
than a week if I really love the place). I find it easy to work out most
hotels, stay with friends or use AirBnB. If I'm interested in relocating
(which I do often) it will be because I've visited somewhere and fell in love
with the place, or the language, or just landed in a good spot. The key I
believe is just be interested in everything and follow your instincts. If you
want to move somewhere really out of the way it may not be possible, but then
again I've had great broadband along the Swiss Alps' lower ranges at friend's
holiday homes for example, and in unexpected spots along the Croatian,
Australian and Oaxacan beaches. Be surprised and hope for the best. Even
better, if you can work offline and sync when you get to a cafe. My most
productive days come when I'm not near a wifi signal. Oh, and if you're US
based just get a wireless card and go roaming. If you can and want to go
offline just be extremely communicative with your team, and always always keep
your deadlines when possible: they need to know they can trust you.

------
SHOwnsYou
I don't get to travel to far away lands while I program from the beach, but I
do get to travel around the US for work.

I was in NYC over the summer, Dallas in most of the fall, and now LA until
Christmas and maybe some of next year. Because I go to work for different
companies and actually work in their offices with their people, I also get all
my travel and housing expenses paid for, on top of a nice pay check. So now I
am travelling around on another company's dime while I explore some cool
cities in the US.

------
volandovengo
Some tips from a recent interview i did:

Living in many parts of the world is much less expensive than living in North
America. When you’re starting a company, it’s really important to keep costs
low, so living in a place where the cost of living is much cheaper makes a lot
of sense. I lived for two months in the south of Spain while preparing to
launch Art Sumo. For a fully furnished, two bedroom apartment in the center of
the city, I paid approximately $300/month. How can you argue with that?

That said, be careful how much you travel around. Generally, I find that there
is a serious tax to moving from place to place, because for each place you go,
you need to spend approximately one week setting up (renting a place, getting
sheets, finding a gym, etc). Keep in mind that while you’re setting up, it’s
still time away from the business, so you must be able to plan for that. Also
– if you’re living in a place that generally is very chill (eg. South of
Spain!), it can be hard to motivate yourself to work 10 hour days when
everyone else is getting up at 11 am only to take a siesta 2 hours later.

More at <http://ideamensch.com/naysawn-naderi/>

