

Ask HN: Fleeing work - elbenshira

I'm an American university student in a position to work with startup this summer with flexibility in location. I want to travel somewhere I've never been before and stay there for a month and work from there. A nice coastal town would be awesome (I love the sea). Any suggestions about a location? My requirements: high English-speaking population and broadband internet access. A strong dollar:local_currency ratio and cheap flight to/fro helps.<p>Some places I had in mind: Cape Town, South Africa; Cayman Islands.
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mahmud
Where on earth did you get the idea that Cayman Islands was cheap? George Town
is more expensive than Washington D.C; you can get a pad in Dupont for $1.2k,
further towards Adams Morgan much cheaper, yet further still in Ward 1,
Columbia Heights, Park View, Kalorama and Mount Pleasant and you hit sub $700
territory.

Cayman Islands you're lucky to get a pad for $3k, and anywhere you wanna live
is probably an expat community home (mid-aged nudist Englishman alert!)

If you're working for a startup, your colleagues will most definitely want you
at hand. They might agree to telecommuting now, but if they're _really_ a
startup, then they will be screaming their heads off at you over the phone and
demanding you come back. If they don't fire you by fax or message in a bottle,
that is.

P.S. Stay in the same timezone or suffer the consequences. I am 15 hours ahead
of my work zone, and I have days when I just finish a long day at work and
feel like a cold beer, even though the clock says it's 8AM where I live.

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elbenshira
You make valid points. I threw in Cayman Islands because I know someone there
and I might be able to rent from them.

As for the telecommuting, the startup has a couple of developers that don't
live in the same state. They are flown in whenever needed, but it seems to be
working well. The thing is, I want to use my summer to travel and to
experience cool internships. Unfortunately, these two things don't mesh very
well hence this idea.

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mahmud
Never been there, but Panama looks good: cheap cost of living, fast internet,
sizeable "knowledge worker" expat community (from cursory googling), good
nightlife, etc.

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maneesh
Buenos Aires is great, I lived there for 4 months, Internet is easy. Broadband
is not bad in Delhi India, everyone speaks english and you can outsource well,
plus you can buy those sweet wireless broadband sticks and have wireless
everywhere. Brazil was okay for work, but the Internet isn't as good as Buenos
Aires. Italy is terrible for wifi, as is Spain generally. Those are the places
I've digitally nomaded, but I'm heading to cape town later this year.

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quant18
Accra (Ghana) is cheap, coastal, and Anglophone. When I was there four years
ago the broadband was quite spotty, though I expect things have gotten better
since then. But the flight over won't be cheap.

You might try Panama or Costa Rica. It won't be as low-cost or as Anglophone
as Ghana or South Africa, but there's enough English speakers around, it's
cheaper to get there, and the infrastructure (including broadband) is better.
And you'll also remain in roughly the same timezone, if that's important to
you.

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jakehow
Just got back from Ghana. RT flight was about $1250 direct from NY.

Internet is definitely still spotty, though it can be acquired. Accommodations
in Accra that match what you are used to in the Americas can be quite
expensive, but food and alcohol are cheap. If you are moving around within the
country though it will be much more inconsistent. There is decent mobile
access everywhere though.

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ichverstehe
Buenos Aires is cheap and awesome, and you'll get along with English. You will
probably end up spending more time being drunk than working, though.

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elbenshira
So the 2010 World Cup will be in Cape Town, South Africa. This means more
expensive housing, depending on when my one month stay is I suppose.

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nixusg
For those heading to Cape Town at any point there are fellow HN readers living
here that you can contact if you need any information.

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sganesh
Pretty much costal cities and islands in Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Brazil,
Argentina, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Philippines.

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jacquesm
Panama.

Friends of mine have moved there, I visited last winter and it was quite
amazing. Tempted to move there!

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gexla
Philippines. I'm living there now.

