
How I thought I wanted to become a digital nomad - bartekurbanski
http://alexp.github.io/2013/09/12/how-i-thought-i-wanted-to-become-a-digital-nomad.html
======
kristiandupont
Having been semi-location independent for 4 years now, I have come to a
similar conclusion.

The theory of decision fatigue -- that you get exhausted by making a certain
number of decisions -- seems to be true to me. And the thing is that when you
are in a new place, there is a large number of decisions to make about petty
things like where is the nearest supermarket, where can I work out, how do I
get proper internet etc. Whenever I've set up in a new place, my productivity
suffers severely for a week or two. After that, I'm okay but if you travel a
lot, that becomes a real price. And it's not rewarding the same way that other
guilty pleasures are, it's just annoying.

I remember walking to the "office" in Bangkok one day, having been there for
three weeks. I pulled out my iPod for the first time since I arrived. It
struck me that this was a sign that I was familiar with my surroundings. I
didn't need the full mental capacity just to navigate, I could run that
process in the background and allow myself to listen to music. I am not sure
what you can conclude from this but I think that it's likely that I had
consumed a lot of energy up until that point, which I then didn't have for
programming.

~~~
Vivtek
Oh man, yeah, decision fatigue. I've been a freelancer (web work and later
technical translation) since 1996 and we've moved, kids and dog and all, from
Indiana to Puerto Rico to Budapest, at will - and the one thing that makes it
difficult is that you're _always_ asking, "Should we be staying here or going
somewhere else now?" It never stops. The kids are having allergy problems?
Let's move to the Caribbean! The Caribbean is _too_ relaxed and the schools
suck? Let's move to Europe! Europe has horrible winters? Back to the
Caribbean!

It gets old. And expensive. And the business takes a major hit every time we
move just because of the distractions - _and_ it's a continual stress when we
don't move, a stress that normal people don't even think of having.

~~~
wslh
It seems like there is no perfect place. New Zealand or Australia? they are in
a difficult time zone.

One alternative is having two fixed locations and moving on winter.

~~~
joonix
This is really how it's done. But requires wealth. It's what super rich people
do. Homes in multiple locations and chase the sun.

~~~
toumhi
Or you could sub-rent your place for a few months in winter and rent a place
in a warm country. No wealth required.

~~~
devgutt
I always wonder if there is a website to organize this. I have my own house
but would like to stay here only 3 months a year and move for other 3 places
elsewhere (fixed places). It would be a good idea for a startup.

~~~
graeme
There's quite a few websites that handle house swaps. Airbnb is also a good
option if you have someone to manage the place for you while you're away.

------
cmeranda
Programming (for me) occurs at the apex of an extended Maslow's type
hierarchy, and traveling often destroys the very foundations of it. The code I
write when sleep-deprived, hungover, hungry, sunburnt, and sitting on a bumpy
Thai train wondering if I missed my stop and wishing there was internet &
coffee, is strongly inferior to what I write in a well-lit, quiet environment,
fed, rested, fueled by engineering conversation and mental/real bandwidth,
etc. That's not a proscription of adventure so much as an acknowledgement that
the whole nature of adventure is disruptive: multiple variables in your
equation are changing at rapid rates, and they are important variables: food,
shelter, language, currency. Over our two-year stint in Asia, we usually found
ourselves in one of two situations: 1) blissfully immersed in the culture and
outdoor activities of <x> country but contending with unreliable internet,
limited work time and near-nonexistent attention spans, or 2) sitting on a
nice nondescript hotel bed somewhere with A/C, good wifi and our tiny MacBook
Air screens, and feeling like we may as well have not left the US at all.

~~~
kalleboo
> Programming (for me) occurs at the apex of an extended Maslow's type
> hierarchy, and traveling often destroys the very foundations of it

For me, it varies with my mood. A lot of the time having some stress and
interesting surroundings spurs my creativity and I've written some of my best
code in a park, on an airplane or at a café. Other times I just want to lock
myself in a familiar room with all my comforts and shut out the world.

That's why when I do the travel-and-work thing, I stay for 2-3 mo in a place,
and I can mix things up depending on how I feel that week. I've also decided
for myself that it's never a failure of travel to not be in local's dining
room every night living the "real experience". I'm not on vacation, I'm still
working, so I'll never see #2 as an issue.

~~~
cmeranda
It is interesting that sometimes being in a new environment can promote
creativity and even discipline (for instance, it's easier for me to work
continuously on a plane--which I'm doing right now--than when I'm in our home
office because I perceive I have less choice: not sure what that says about
me). And I agree that if I'm doing performance testing or adding a mellow
feature, then sure, throw me in the middle of Cirque du Soleil and I'll be
fine.

But I would challenge the idea that complex programming problems (cloud sync,
NLP, etc, choose your poison) can be solved equally well in a suboptimal
environment. Here is my "hypothesis": unregulated noise[1], temperature[2],
and other travel-centric environmental factors (such as the need for vigilance
in a new environment) distract from cognitive performance in the majority of
people, if not all people.

[1]
[http://peterhancock.ucf.edu/Downloads/ref_pubs/Szalma_Hancoc...](http://peterhancock.ucf.edu/Downloads/ref_pubs/Szalma_Hancock_2011_Noise.pdf)
[2]
[http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1600-0668.2004....](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1600-0668.2004.00305.x/abstract?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false)

To be clear, I don't think it is possible to write my best code in a park, an
airplane or a café, regardless of mood. But I would be curious to see relevant
studies which demonstrate otherwise. I agree that changes in environment are
stimulating and that stagnant workplaces hold their own dangers.

I also agree that 2-3 months is a good baseline for getting to know a place:
you don't feel as jostled about by your schedule, and there may even be time
for cursory grasp of the language (w/some prepping beforehand) and making a
friend or two. Plus you don't have to cram your (potentially expensive)
excursions into as short a block of time.

~~~
ParahSailin
[http://libgen.org/scimag2/10.1111/j.1600-0668.2004.00305.x.p...](http://libgen.org/scimag2/10.1111/j.1600-0668.2004.00305.x.pdf)

------
RyanZAG
Far as I can tell, the argument here boils down to "can't concentrate on
coding while traveling". When put in a simple statement like that it becomes
very obvious that the statement depends entirely on the person. Many people
have little difficulty opening up their laptop and forgetting the rest of the
world for an 8 hour stretch, and this would be the type of person who would do
well as a digital nomad. If you need peace and stability in order to code -
and many, many people do - then it's a bad choice.

I've also found you need to be very comfortable with email and text
communications, and you probably need to be good at getting your point across
and discerning the point of others as it's more difficult to communicate
technical issues without being in person - but obviously very possible, as the
number of very good technical blogs can attest to.

~~~
seiji
How do you do an eight hour stretch? At best I can work for two hours without
needing food or a bathroom break.

Imagine you're working in public space. To take a break you have to pack up
your laptop, power adapter, water bottle, phone, headphones, go put them in a
locker (or just carry them), visit a wc, eat, take a break, go get bag out of
locker, find another place to sit with power, set up computer, power adapter,
etc.

It's a lot different than just walking away from your desk at home for 5
minutes to relieve yourself, grabbing a banana, then getting back to work.

~~~
kalleboo
I wish "hourly office rental"-type places were more common for this use case.
It would also help with all the people hogging seats at Starbucks.

Personally I love the internet cafés in Japan - you get a private booth, free
drinks, some even have showers. They're well-equipped enough that some people
down on their luck even live in them permanently. I wish that model was more
widespread internationally.

~~~
joonix
Regus does it. Of course it's much more cost effective to get a monthly rental
if you'll be using it frequently.

~~~
nl
You can occasionally get a year's free use of Regas facilities via various
promotions. Worth keeping an eye out for.

------
dageshi
Having done this a bit, the answer is in my experience, figure out a good
location in a particular country, in Thailand I'd say Chiang Mai, in China
perhaps Yangshuo, Cambodia Siem Reap or Sihanoukville. Get yourself a cheap
place/room for a month or so, do some serious work then when you've completed
whatever it is you're doing do some proper traveling.

Trying to do it all at once is mostly a killer. That's not to say you can't do
maintenance and smaller tasks while actually traveling, but really building
anything meaningful actually requires a lot more concentration in my opinion.

~~~
alexp
I absolutely agree. The thing is, that having been to most of those locations
(except Sihanoukville and generally China), I just didn't feel that those
places would be fun to stay in for a longer period of time. It all comes down
to personal preferences of course. I was on the hunt for a good spot for
myself and failed so far.

~~~
dageshi
Yeah for me they're ideal, they've got lots of guesthouses so there's plenty
of competition and finding rooms for a month should be easy and pretty damned
cheap. Tons of restaurants meaning you can more or less walk out the front
door and find somewhere new to eat everyday cheaply.

I kinda suspect you're looking on the wrong continent or as you say you're
just not suited to it.

~~~
ledge
I've been in Phnom Penh for the last 3 weeks. It may not be as relaxing as
Sihanoukville or somewhere else smaller but for me it's been the perfect place
to work and focus.

I found a nice (enough) apartment for 120$/month that is extremely close to
the largest market in PP and Olympic stadium, where I exercise daily. Right
outside my front door I can find excellent meals cooked by my friendly
neighbors for less than a dollar. I'm here for at least a year, but probably
longer; I love this place.

~~~
dalerus
Nice, I've been in Phnom Penh for 2 years now. What type of work are you
doing? I'm always looking for good freelance devs.

------
Lucadg
I worked online, run my "little Airbnb" and travelled/lived in more than 50
countries since 2001. The fact that your productivity suffers can be
interpreted in a positive way: you CAN'T work too much because you are kept
busy with the non-routine stuff. I absolutely love it and wouldn't change this
for a 100% productive environment anytime soon. It's my protection against the
work-a-lot-buy-stuff-you-don't-need routine. So I am forced to spend money in
non trivial things as keeping the flexibility is expensive. When I need to get
some serious work done I stay in Italy, Bangkok, Bali or Prague for a few
months. It takes me a couple of weeks to settle in Bali, 1 day in Prague (I
just need to rent an apartment), 1 day in Bangkok and more or less a week in
other places. I also did a lot of backpacking (a few days in each place) and I
agree that this greatly reduces the productivity. You have to find the balance
which works for you, anytime, anywhere. Not easy, but it's there somewhere.

------
motters
"Even though it might be obvious, during my travels I found out the hard way
that creative, meaningful work, requires some routine. Changing your location
once a week, working from benches, hammocks, cafes, bars and hostel floors is
a cool way to fund your vacation, but it certainly doesn’t help you when
tackling hard programming problems."

And this is what I've also found. In order to be able to do anything of any
significance you need to make the rest of your life as routine as possible in
order to minimise distractions. Continually moving around requires you to do a
lot of extraneous work merely to reproduce your labour.

~~~
mercer
The way I see it, one doesn't need to actively travel constantly to be
traveling. When I was dealing with a difficult project, I just stayed at one
particular hostel for two months, and settled into a routine. It was an odd
one, of course, but it still became a routine, and I could finish the project.

~~~
_delirium
The successful travel/work people I know do it in that style, moving between
cities on a monthly or bimonthly basis, not daily. They'll typically spend 1-3
months in a city, renting a place on AirBnB or a local rental site, then move
to another city.

That removes a lot of the problems discussed in this blog post, like not
knowing if you'll have internet access tomorrow, and not being able to
guarantee you can spend 8 hours tomorrow on a project.

It's also how I personally prefer traveling, even just purely for vacation
purposes: have a relatively stable temporary base where you can leave your
stuff, and then explore the local area for a while (both the city you're in,
and day trips to nearby places). When I spend only a few days in a city I
never feel like I really see it or understand it, so I don't like doing the
whirlwind backpacker-style trips where you're moving to a new place every day
or two.

~~~
virtualwhys
The most cost effective way I've managed to pull off the expat existence is to
find the equivalent of Craigslist in the country you'd like to visit; then
arrange a 3 month rental (the usual visa limit, on an American passport at any
rate), sorting out high-speed internet in advance (i.e. if no connection in
place already, contact local ISP and get technician visit/installation for day
after you arrive).

Next, get a local SIM card with pay-as-you-go plan and use the invoice with
your apartment address as "proof" of residency (for the next step).

Finally, hit an ATM and draw equivalent of a couple grand USD in local
currency and create a bank account using your pay-as-you-go invoice and
passport as proof of identity.

Have bank accounts in Canada, France, Brazil, and the States, only one of
which charges a monthly fee.

In SW France now, the 2-bedroom apartment I'm renting is 5 minutes walk from
the beach, and runs me about $750/month, high speed internet included.

SE Asia may be cheaper, have yet to venture that far from EST where my clients
are based. Might check out Sri Lanka though this winter, have heard there's
decent (enough) surf and not super pricey.

Cheers to fellow code warriors ;-)

~~~
malandrew
There needs to be a service where you can just buy/rent a packet with all the
essentials. Sim cards are just one of the many things that could come in such
a package to save you a lot of time. My GF when she travels has often sought
out exchanging used pre-paid SIM cards for the countries she goes to as a way
to avoid all the bureaucracy that often surrounds their acquisition. It would
be great if you could do this with bank accounts too by simply handing it over
to another person. Just withdraw all the money and hand the debit cards and
other account information to another person. So long as the bank rules don't
allow accounts to go negative, there is no reason to tie identity to bank
accounts.

TBH, I've really come to the conclusion that borders are bullshit and I can't
wait until they are increasingly viewed as an anachronism like they have come
to be viewed within the EU. They create a number of inefficiencies in many
many systems and the truth is that the only necessary system that really needs
them to function under the current model is taxation to support public
infrastructure within a region. However, even that can be solved by only
taxing everything that is immobile, such as land, buildings, businesses that
need to exist in a certain physical location for prosperity, such that both
those that live in a place and those that visit a place, pay directly for the
use of all the public services in that place via the infrastructure that
accommodates them (places to sleep, eat, work and be entertained).

~~~
lostlogin
Yes. When I last left the UK I remarked to the teller as I withdrew the last
of my money that it was about 100 up on what I expected. Suddenly all the
money was grabbed back. I was quizzed at length on what I had bought recently.
It transpired that a recent purchase (it may even have been an ATM withdrawal)
hadn't registered at the back yet, and I was made to leave all my money behind
to cover the pending charge. Given the BS involved in opening accounts and the
larger issue of te impossibility of closing them (10 years later I still have
the bank and a tax authority writing to me regarding about 10 quid in the
account), handing them on is a great idea. Makes me wonder if I could get paid
to some other system - a non bank affiliated credit card or similar. Dare I
suggest a Paypal equivalent (obviously not Paypal though).

------
SyneRyder
"Stay in one place for a while" is fantastic advice. One week is barely enough
time to get settled - every time you move you need to find stores, amenities,
cafes etc. Two weeks is much better (and you'll appreciate the place more),
but even longer is better if you really want to get work done.

A nice room is great advice too - makes a huge difference to your happiness if
you can wake up each morning to an amazing view & sunshine in a good location,
compared to a small cramped hotel room in a sketchy area. Obviously you have
to go with what you can afford, but a cheap AirBnB can be dramatically better
than a hotel sometimes.

The downside of getting a 'real job with an office' is that you might not be
able to negotiate that 2 months annual vacation, or to get the vacation at
times that suit you. You'll have to prioritize what you really want.

~~~
personlurking
Even staying in one place for 2-3 months means having to continuously find
those stores, amenities, etc. Sure, it's more stable to stay a few months but
having to constantly settle in new places is tiring...I can't imagine having
to do it every week or two!

~~~
_delirium
I wouldn't do it every week or two, but every few months is doable if you
travel slowly, since you can reuse a lot of your knowledge in other cities.
Once I got reasonably comfortable with Copenhagen, for example, getting
comfortable with Malmö or Helsingør was a quick incremental adjustment, since
many things are similar.

~~~
personlurking
True, though I find the smaller the cities are, or rather the more they're
similar in smaller size and population, the smoother the transition. As far as
Brazil, I've lived in more neighborhoods and more cities than most Brazilians
and the toughest experience was adjusting to São Paulo's 12 million people and
spread out geography.

Cities of large sizes and big populations also create other problems such as
with locomotion, quality of public transport, number of modes of transport
needed to get to various points, etc. In essense, it came to preferring to
live in a crappy, cramped yet centralized place vs a larger, more comfortable
'far away' place (from the city center). In São Paulo, often the time I would
spend in transit would be double the time I would actually spend with a friend
(versus smaller coastal cities where I could reach my friends in 10-15 minutes
tops).

------
jonmy
I'm a location independent UX/ UI, startup guy who has been doing this for a
long time. Over the years, I've raised capital for one startup, worked with
high-profile clients on complicated projects, and worked on my own stuff, all
while being more or less unattached to a location.

I've clocked time in South America (Ecuador, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay),
Mexico, Taiwan, India, China, and Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand)
and the list goes on. I'm not dropping these locations or the info above to
show off, I'm simply lending perspective.

I slow travel - meaning I usually set up for at least 3 months, if not longer.
My most recent stint was on and off Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam for 6 months+
where I was lucky enough to get embedded in the local startup scene.

The biggest flaw with the article and the idea of the digital nomad as
presented in general is prioritizing lifestyle over business.

It makes being a "nomad" seem like a wandering soul hopping gig to gig taking
advantage of low cost locations without much strategy or purpose.
Additionally, I sense the job or employee mindset in the tone of the article,
which is fine, but I wouldn't hit the road with that mindset.

If you're going to take on this lifestyle you can't have an employee mindset.
It won't work, and most will end up broke or bored trying to sustain the
lifestyle and scrambling to try and find remote work.

A whole point of being location independent, which the article neglects is how
you can be more strategic about your location, expand your network by being
exposed to serendipitous opportunities that would have otherwise not presented
themselves, and grow your business.

The opportunity to expose yourself to places and people on an upward
trajectory, and how you can add value to those situations and take advantage
of them should be a priority at the top of the list. Not just a beach hammock,
backpacker ghetto or a cool place to work and Instagram.

Otherwise, what's the point.

------
mr_luc
I've been living 9 months per year in coastal pacific south america -- for the
past 7 years.

I am not a "nomad", and my experience is the opposite -- I am much, much more
productive working remotely. I did actually enjoy the article for the useful
information it can provide others considering this, but (as many of the
comments in this thread point out) the author is clearly Doing It Wrong. I
don't think it has much bearing on working internationally.

Two thoughts:

1\. 'I changed a massive part of my life and, 2 months in, I feel less
efficient!' Gee, really? 2 months is just about long enough to investigate a
new location, but it pales in comparison to the amount of time you've spent
optimizing your life in your old locations.

2\. Home base. Living. Everyone here is saying the same thing: you need a
solid, stable home base. Maybe there are rare butterflies who can flit from
hostel to hostel and feel good. The rest of us typically have more of a
relationship with our surroundings.

I hate traveling. I love _living_ in great parts of the world, though.

I have a modest 2-story house I bought, one block back from the ocean in an
800-person fishing village. It's my home base.

I am fantastically productive when I am there. Far, far, far more so than when
(maybe close to launch date) some clients request that I sit in their lovely,
stylish, noisy open-plan offices, where you cannot take a nap and where you
have the mental barrier of a commute bookending your days.

~~~
personlurking
> I hate traveling. I love living in great parts of the world, though.

Good point. This is my view as well, though I've moved many times in order to
try out new places...in order to find those great parts of the world. I'm on
my 2nd country and I'm a lot closer to what would be ideal for me. The nomad
life I live is, in reality, more of a nomadic mover than a nomadic traveler.
The hard part is when the grass is always greener.

------
johncampbelljr
I hope to try the digital nomad route in a few years but I have a different
take on it.

I'm not looking to sustain a working vacation--I'm interesting in experiencing
day-to-day lifestyle in different cultures/suroundings. I'm thinking of
staying around in terms of months or years, not weeks.

Also, I probably will only try it if I have my own enterprise I can run on the
road. I'm currently working as a freelancer but wouldn't think about hitting
the road until I have more direct control on projects.

And while I get my ducks I a row I would love for someone to do an airbnb for
digital nomads. If it would be easy to find a place to work and place to live
I'm sure I'd me more likely to try it. And I wish some countries would see the
revenue opportunity of this! (I'm looking at you Spain, Italy and Greece.)

~~~
podviaznikov
what is airbnb for digiral nomads? Can you describe in more details what you
need?

~~~
personlurking
I'm guessing here but I assume he means a site for places to live and work or
perhaps a preset agreement where both kinds of places are rentable at the same
time, in a package sort of deal.

In terms of co-working spaces, they're often way more than I'd want to spend
for a simple internet connection and a place to sit.

------
VLM
My father did something like this in his later years and I never heard any of
the complaints in the article; then again he had an RV instead of a 44 liter
backpack and mostly stayed in the USA rather than crossing the world.
Connectivity was the main problem I heard about. I guess its much better now.

Also its not a binary decision. Its a big planet and you can select whatever
tradeoff you'd prefer in a nearly pure analog fashion, its not exclusively
binary "Poland OR Vietnam". For example there must be tens of thousands of
places to park a RV in the USA that are similar enough not to be strange but
different enough to be an adventure on time off.

Some people set the thermostat to 72F and leave it alone 24x365 (that's me!).
Some people alternate setting the thermostat to 85F and 60F every couple hours
and complain constantly of freezing or burning up (I work with people like
that, it is such a pain to be around). That doesn't mean a third option
doesn't exist of setting the thermostat to 67F, or 77F, or randomly varying
from 70F to 74F from week to week, etc.

~~~
timmaah
Was your father working at the time?

My wife and I live, work and travel from a 25' Airstream and can definitely
relate to a lot of the point the post has made as well as the "decision
fatigue" mentioned in other comments. It is tough to keep focus for 8 hours
when your scenery is changing from week to week and there are so many new
awesome places to explore. That said.. We are currently loving it with no
plans to stop or slow today. Todays adventure is mountain biking in Bend
Oregon.

Decision fatigue comes in with route planning, trying to figure out if that
cool forest road everyone talks about will have cell service, where to fill up
with water, where to dump the tanks... all of which are near constant. We
could slow it down a bit and stay in an RV park a month or so, but we enjoy
moving and don't enjoy the atmosphere of most private RV parks.

~~~
VLM
Consulting, sort of working, yes. Very limited hours basically retired, but
still helping out here and there. In an earlier era, to say the least. He
never went quite to the level of parking his RV in the clients parking lot,
but he came close a couple times. For one client I think he visited every
office in the country over the course of one fall for an upgrade project. I
don't think he ran a net profit, but he probably paid quite a few expenses. He
said something once about 3piece business suits and RVs don't mix very well.

All I remember of his advice on this topic was private parks are completely
deserted during the week during the school year, and there are public parks in
the middle of nowhere for the weekends.

I have been to private campgrounds (as a tent camper) and even in season
during the summer, the difference between 3pm Thursday and 3pm Saturday is
spectacular.

The airstream sounds like fun, have a good time! As an adult child I had to
drive to my parents house many a time to take care of the mail, check the
place out, etc. In fact I watched the 9/11 attack reports on their TV, I
happened to be there that day. I would imagine snail mail and stuff like that
(vehicle registration?) is quite a challenge for a true nomad.

------
contingencies
Yes, moving around is a pain. Power adaptors, crappy internet, lost days in
airports, missing luggage, carrying things, finding decent accommodation,
worrying about visas, changing money, etc.

I'm location independent and change base-cities every year or so. I also spend
maybe 6 months per year on the road.

Honestly, I get more coding work done when I'm at my home-of-the-time. But a
lot of the soft stuff: running in to people in related industries whose brains
I can pick, spotting new potential hires, thinking up powerful bizdev ideas,
etc. all happen far more on the road. I often stop for extended periods .. a
week is typically the minimum.

I've found the most important thing to manage is my own motivation: if work is
getting in the way of relaxing, I can it for awhile. If relaxing is getting in
the way of work, I can it for awhile.

Being in a stationary, fixed environment with ongoing overheads and
investments in random rapidly depreciating junk (like vehicles) is personally
not a good situation for me. I get demotivated pretty immediately. On the
other hand, sometimes transient living feels like it's getting long in the
tooth, too. If that happens, I tend to switch it up a bit and pop cultures,
rent a place longer term. The grass is always greener, right? As it turns out:
often it is. And when you go back to somewhere you'd been before, both you and
the place have changed.

Bonus poem excerpt (sorry to those scrolling!):

 _They 'll allow me to choose,

Where to settle anew,

Be it in east or west.

But with dollar now sliding,

And frequent poor tidings,

The orient does rather seem best!

Aye if USA visas,

Berkeley feminist divas,

Could yet warrant a tired "may-be"...

With all due respect,

Most are pains in the neck,

And I love a good foreign lady.

So at present juncture,

(Passed global acupuncture)

I dream happily now of returning...

To the rhythms of life,

Of an eastern respite,

From the world of democracy burning._

------
gexla
I'm somewhat doing this, I made it as far as the Philippines and then I sort
of planted myself. When sticking to one place, it's pretty much the same as
being planted anywhere else. Obviously the author of the article moved around
a lot more.

My advice for S.E. Asia is don't get a hostel for AirBnB room. Get an actual
apartment or even a house. Where I'm at you can get either month to month for
$100 to $200 per month easy.

My work takes a lot of my time, so I don't travel much. There is no way I
could move around a lot. But with a good gig it's easy to take some time off
and travel to another place for a couple of weeks. Flights are cheap to
anywhere in the region and there are a lot of interesting places nearby.

So, use your house or apartment as your home base and then take lots of
vacations.

Even just living abroad can get old though. After a number of years you wonder
why you are doing it. What's the point? You begin to find out what really
matters in life, which to me is family, my craft and... food! I haven't had
real Mexican food for far too long. I would kill for a Subway sandwich. Even
worse is that the Philippines isn't known for its food.

But then, there are good reasons to stay as well. I think there is a lot of
opportunity in S.E. Asia. I feel like I'm not missing out on opportunity in
the U.S. because most of my work is there anyways and I already know the
culture.

ETA: I don't see how you could go out 5 nights a week. Even with just a few
drinks and going to sleep later than usual, I feel it the next day. It's not
even hangover, I would feel the same the next day just from screwing up my
sleep schedule. If I did that 5 nights a week I would get nothing done. I
generally get up crazy early to be available towards end of day for the U.S.
though (12 hour difference from New York.)

~~~
asmosoinio
Had to comment on a minor thing: If you are in one of the big cities, Subway
is easily available?
[http://www.subway.com.ph/Subway_front/layouts/](http://www.subway.com.ph/Subway_front/layouts/)

It was what I had for lunch almost too often when living in Makati. A bit
expensive compared to many of the local offerings, but always fresh and you
know exactly what you get.

------
pieterhg
I have been practicing this lifestyle since April when I moved from Amsterdam
to Bangkok & Chiang Mai. While I recognize some parts of the article, I think
the general tone is off.

Constantly traveling and working won't work for most. But settling in one
place for at least 6 months, finding a good office or co-working space with
fast internet, and getting into a routine (like the article states) CAN
actually work for many people. It does for me.

Also since you're in a new place, you also have plenty of opportunity to do
weekend travels to other countries, as well as local leisure activities. In
case of Thailand, that means you can be on the beach in 2 hours from anywhere,
or if you're not into that, enjoy the wild nature. And life is cheaper in many
of these places.

Not for everybody, but definitely do-able.

------
hawkharris
Alex, you're a very skilled storyteller. I enjoyed reading the post.

I have one small piece of constructive feedback: your use of commas was a
little confusing at times, and it slowed down my reading.

Commas can be tricky, and I sometimes struggle with them as well. Here's a
quick guide that I find useful:

[http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/commas.asp](http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/commas.asp)

~~~
pjbrunet
You didn't need a comma here:

"at times and it slowed"

Or here:

"can be tricky and I sometimes struggle"

Granted, you might want a dramatic pause or the comma might break up parts
that could be misconstrued as together. Chiding Alex with superfluous commas?
Generally speaking I recommend dropping commas where you can. Like you said,
they're speed bumps.

~~~
hawkharris
You should use commas to separate complete sentences. That's what I did in
both cases.

There's no need for either of us to be snarky. I told Alex that I enjoyed his
writing and respectfully offered feedback.

~~~
pjbrunet
"I have one small piece of constructive feedback: your use of commas was a
little confusing at times, and it slowed down my reading.

Commas can be tricky, and I sometimes struggle with them as well."

I'm not saying you're wrong. Yes the sentences are complete but how self-
sufficient are they? It's a sliding scale from no comma to comma to period.
Some of these rules are not hard and fast. The art of writing is slowly
evolving and to a degree it's a matter of taste. Some people love hyphens. In
this case there's a strong enough correlation, conceptual link between the
sentences such that the reader doesn't need a comma to read what you're saying
in one breath. If it sounds good in one breath, that's a strong signal you
don't need a comma. Knowing the basic rules is just the beginning. I'm dead
serious.

------
config_yml
"And to be completely honest, it’s just not enough. I believe that working
with a team of people that are more experienced and smarter than yourself is
crucial for your development, and as a freelancer, doing minor gigs involving
some MVC/CRUD application programming, you just miss out on a world of
possibilities to grow and learn."

I've experienced this as well, it was my main grief with working by myself and
on the road and ultimately led me to join a company again part time. Sadly the
team I joined isn't really what I expected from a team, so I'm already on the
lookout again :(

~~~
kalleboo
Working on a team doesn't have to be incompatible with working while
traveling. I work on a global team on a single product and get challenged by
my workmates all the time. We meet once a year at WWDC.

~~~
vpdn
Wish more companies are like that. Scott Berkun maintains a list of companies
with distributed teams, if anyone looks for a new job :-)

[http://scottberkun.com/2013/how-many-companies-
are-100-distr...](http://scottberkun.com/2013/how-many-companies-
are-100-distributed/)

------
alexp
Thank you all for commenting. I'm positively blown away. Especially
considering the fact that it's just my first note on the blog. And sorry about
the commas and possible grammar mistakes. English isn't my native tongue. I
must have skipped those classes on punctuation.

------
jfb_1973
My wife and I were talking about a property we found in Central America that
was pretty amazing. Having been a backpacker when I was younger (in the 90s) I
always wanted to set up a small hostel/hotel type thing somewhere beautiful.

I wonder if you could build a business serving the Digital Nomad. Basically
offer a place to live + a coworking space. The traveling hacker gets the
benefit of having a good place to work, plus the benefit of hanging out with
other hackers whom you can chat with, maybe even pick up new work.

------
skizm
Has anyone tried this working only in the United States? I feel like this
would be easier as internet access isn't at a premium (you can always tether
on your smart phone worst comes to worst). The United States also has lots of
large clients and if you want a larger technical challenge you can always set
up camp near their offices for a few weeks and work in house. On the non-
technical side of things you can find any kind of environment you want in the
US. Mountains, beaches, cites, etc. I know you won't get the rewards of
traveling abroad but you get 90% of what the ideal is and you can always take
some time off big projects and travel abroad if you feel like it.

This is coming from a US citizen who loves his country despite all the fucked
up shit that it's government does sometimes, so maybe I'm bias, but I
definitely think the life is possible.

~~~
SyneRyder
I'm sure it's possible, I've travelled through parts of the US with my
business mostly on autopilot. The higher cost of living can make it trickier
though, part of being a digital nomad is income arbitrage (ie earning a US
salary but spending it in a country where your US Dollars are worth a
fortune).

It won't be the same as travelling overseas & experiencing different cultures
though... part of the fun is returning to your home country after months
overseas and seeing your home culture with fresh eyes. But it could be a good
start.

I think you're overestimating the difficulty of finding WiFi & internet,
though. I've often found better internet connections while traveling through
Europe than in the US. But if you're a US citizen, travelling just through the
US will simplify visa concerns, which helps a bit.

------
personlurking
Being and having been a digital nomad for the past several years, it can
become tiring having to switch up location and work setting so often. While
living in Rio de Janeiro, I often wondered how people who are from there work
in office buildings in the wealthy neighborhoods (which are a stone's throw
from the beach), deal with knowing that fun and sun is literally 5 minutes
away at any given moment, that people are always on the beach enjoying
themselves while you have to be stuck up in your office with a possible view
of the sea.

In any event, I wasn't one of these people as I could take a break when I
wished and hit up the beach, etc. It was great...until the project that kept
me financially stable went under. Instead of looking for more work, I
sacrificed the need to work more for the free time (and ability) to very
cheaply or freely enjoy myself in my surroundings, eventually tiring of
demanding little of myself after a few months (you can only be young-ish and
'hang' for so long). It's great living in a beautiful place, but even better
when that place is very affordable (or, in the least, when you've found a way
to make it affordable...almost an art in itself).

In the Bay, I almost never went out because everything cost money and
therefore my friends only did things that cost money. Being poor in US
standards was social suicide.

In Brazil, I was going out 4-5x per week! My average night out in Rio I'd
spend about US$5, maybe $10 (drinks included, try doing that in SF!). Plus,
there just so much to do for free, from hiking to beaches, to free concerts
and art exhibitions...you name it. Things that other young people are also
doing, mind you. In developing nations, or even economically strained ones
(I'm in Portugal now), where most people are on a budget, I find the amount of
fun and interesting things to do, for free or cheap, increase. Not only do the
events and activities increase, but the number of people doing them increase,
too.

Being a digital nomad, with at least one stable project, in places like these
is where the 'good life' is. But when that stable project goes bye-bye, the
sense of the good life goes with it, no matter where you are.

_____

As an aside, having just read the article, I saw that it's a minimalist blog
(post) on github.io, which I'm not familiar with. From their landing page, I
don't see any offer for blogging.

On Wordpress, I couldn't find any theme like this but on HN I come across
these types of entries somewhat often, though this is the first I've seen from
github.io. Anyone know how I can get a free one like this, where there's just
a white page and words, via any blogging service?

~~~
digitalboss
Using Jekyll with Pages

[https://help.github.com/articles/using-jekyll-with-
pages](https://help.github.com/articles/using-jekyll-with-pages)

~~~
alexp
Author here. Exactly as digitalboss commented plus a custom crafted html/css
on top of twitter bootstrap. It's not perfect, but it does the job.

Best, Alex.

~~~
keithpeter
And it looks clean.

I use 'noscript' and had to enable the javascripts in the page to get sensible
justification.

------
spaboleo
I am really wondering how you communicate with your customers?

Do they know that you are living in places where most of them might even can
only dream of going to for vacation? Or do you just simply "not tell them"?
How do you handle call requests then? Or situations where the customers just
invites you over to discuss the project in detail in person?

And what are their reactions like when you tell them that you currently are
living just a stone's throw away from a beautiful sandy beach? What is the
quota of lost jobs due to that?

Thanks!

Otherwise really insightful article. I enjoyed it :) And being a frequent
traveller myself I would recommend you to stay longer in predefined places.
Like you said...catering for the logistics (accommodation, internet access,
checking out the neighborhood, finding grocery stores/restaurants) all that is
yet interesting but really tiering and time consuming. It is a better choice
to stay somewhere for 3 months, plan ahead for the next location during that
period and use weekends or other "time-slots" of your choice to explore the
region. If you want to travel to a place that would require you to have more
time than a regular weekend offers, you should take a vacation. Which would
require you to work the time on weekends the weeks before and of course one
should stick to a set number of days off per year in addition. It's the
student-dilemma...when there is no one micro-managing you, people tend to
slack-off. So you should keep yourself accountable towards yourself in that
situation. Like you were employed, but by yourself ;)

Oh and another question: What is your girlfriend doing that she has the time
and financial backup to do this with you? Is she working in the same field?

~~~
alexp
My clients always know exactly where I am, what's the time zone difference and
all.

During the two month period of the 'experiment' I didn't actively hunt for new
leads, so I can't relate to the lost deals part.

Call requests are done via Skype if needed.

Regarding my girlfriend, during this two months, she's on vacation, although
she actively helps with prototyping and concepts.

We both had savings from day one of the trip and my freelancing gigs make up
for a source of additional income that makes this thing less scary :)

~~~
spaboleo
Thanks for your reply. I would love to hear from you in an update-post, when
those customer relations actually end and you have to establish new ones.
Especially given the situation that you both, can't profit from the company's
relations and are working remotely.

Awesome travel blog as well...went straight to my feedly! Cheers

------
stevenwei
I think the 'digital nomad' lifestyle is an interesting one and definitely
worth experimenting with (especially for folks in our industry who truly can
work from anywhere in the world), but it is hard to sustain over time.

If you're trying to get stuff done though, I think a good strategy is to pick
a place and stay there for a few months, rather than being 'on the road' and
traveling around from place to place. You can still be 'location independent'
by renting an apartment for 3 months in a foreign country (like the Costa Rica
example that was on HN a few weeks ago). But at least then you'll have more of
a sense of routine, waking up in the same place every day, and because you
have a full 3 months to explore the place, you won't feel as obligated to rush
out and see the sights all the time.

It also really helps to be able to set yourself up in an office with an
ergonomic chair, external monitors, and proper mouse/keyboard. That might be a
bit more difficult to do if you're in a foreign country, but you can
definitely buy used and sell again when you leave.

------
heyitsnick
I see there's lots of insightful comments here from "digital nomads." Are
there any good forums or communities online where you congregate to discuss
these issues?

~~~
jimmhay
I'm part of a paid, private online forum of 'digital nomads' (though everyone
hates that term) or 'location-independent entrepreneurs' that also places much
importance on solving entrepreneurial loneliness via in-person meetups etc.
There are hundreds of members. You have to be doing something worthwhile to be
accepted. It's called the Dynamite Circle.

~~~
goblin89
From this page it seems you just have to pay around $30/month:
[http://www.tropicalmba.com/innercircle/](http://www.tropicalmba.com/innercircle/)

~~~
jimmhay
That's correct. It's eclipsed by the value.

------
bobonaza
I have been working on, gotten funded, and grown my DYI'd startup while living
as a digital nomad. Since being funded I have worked with a number of
collaborators. I try to only hire people that move a lot. because I live that
way it feels good that the people I get to work with share that lifestyle. We
are actually currently doing our first group face2face powwow now for 2 weeks.
It's great to be in person together but everyone, myself included is such a
lone wolf that working together in person is awkward. We all disperse to our
corners and work.

Hanging out having cigarettes and chatting about development, that's where the
value in being together is it seems.

We are hiring again now. Anyone know the best forums to find digital nomads
(term is getting worn out) looking for work. It would fit our company's
culture to bring on another traveling developer.

~~~
SyneRyder
Heya bobonaza, I see you're new to HN (welcome!) You might have more luck
getting people to contact you if you fill out your profile - try adding a few
website links of what you're working on and maybe an email address or Twitter
handle :)

------
timedoctor
I travelled and worked for over 3 years with 1 month at a time. After working
on my time management skills I found that it did not decrease my productivity
that significantly (maybe 10% reduction?). This is mostly from things that you
cannot get when traveling for example: Multiple big screen monitors, regularly
stocked fridge with easy to eat food, extra time taken to find locations to
eat and wash your clothes etc.

This is assuming you're switching locations every 1-2 months. If you move
locations every week it's a huge drain in productivity as it takes time to get
set up and to travel etc.

Have now fixed in one place just because I have a baby, but otherwise would be
possible to keep traveling.

I think a bigger problem of constant travel is the lack of a regular
community.

------
pwpwp
I've just travelled through Europe for three months as a location-independent
consultant and what worked well for me was to stay at least a week in any
place, and travel only on weekends.

This got me into a nice rhythm where I could be as productive as at home.

------
StavrosK
As a data point, I went to Barcelona for a month (because remote work) and
stayed in a flat with roommates etc, the full citizen thing. I loved it, I
worked at home during the day and went out/made friends/saw the sights in the
evenings and weekends. It's only one place, as I just roam around Greece
usually, but it was a very positive experience.

The hardest part was meeting new people in the beginning, but meetups quickly
changed that and I had a blast. I would definitely recommend going to a new
city for a month or two (a month is a bit inconvenient, you have to go right
when you're making new friends and enjoying yourself).

------
dennybritz
Your blog should have comments. I've done this as well, I've lived in Thailand
for 6 months and Japan for a year, and other countries for longer period of
time, mostly doing remote freelancing work.

I somewhat disagree with your first point (I've been getting good and big
projects), but I completely agree with the second one. There is a lot of
mental baggage when you have not "settled" down and don't have established
habits. I am starting to think that a more effective way would be to do
several weeks of focused work, 1-2 week travel, rinse and repeat.

~~~
alexp
I absolutely didn't plan for this kind of 'publicity' for the post, to be
honest. Comments will be added.

Regarding the first point - I guess it's a matter of commitment. From day one
this was mainly a travel project first and remote working project second. I
believe that if I found a place I really would love to stay at for longer than
a month, my view would be slightly different. But still, I tried to describe
honestly what I thought about the past two months.

------
karterk
_1) get a remote-friendly job that fits your skill set and ambitions. Move
every quarter or so. Stay in one place for a while._

That's kind of the best of both worlds. It's actually pretty tiring travelling
AND working at the same time. You will have a large amount of context shifts
which will destroy your productivity.

I also wish remote work is more common. While it usually works when you know a
company really well (e.g. small company with known, trusted colleagues), not
many companies are actively trying to make remote work possible.

------
keek1016
I spent 8 months traveling through Central and South America helping someone
develop a travel site, Skilljet.com, a job I found through Odesk. Although I
loved every minute of it, I can agree that there are some limitations. It's a
bit hard to venture off into remote territory, when work is dependent upon
stable internet access. And when moving around often, it can take a bit of
time to get re-settled and find a comfortable work place.

However, like I said, I loved every minute of it! I initially left for my trip
with only $600 USD in my account. Working online allowed me to stretch what
would have been a 3 week trip into an 8 month trip where I was able to visit 6
different countries! When I found my 'office' to be a hammock on a beautiful
beach in Brazil, I knew I had accomplished something very special.

Also, since Skilljet is a website designed to help travelers find amazing
adventure around the world, I was able to contribute to its development from
my personal travel experience. This really helped me unite, both the virtual
world of working online, with the physical world around me, which made my
experience much more meaningful.

------
ivanhoe
Very good text. I'm struggling with the same problems right now, typing this
from a beautiful medieval city in Istria, Croatia, and trying to look at my
laptop and not at the wonderful landscapes and Adriatic sea on the horizon.
It's harder than it might sound and extremely distracting. And I have to sit
here because it's the only place around with a decent wifi. Self-discipline is
a b__ch...

~~~
msantos
I'm considering leaving my stable job in London, for remote/freelancing while
based in Istria/Croatia any of these days.

------
geoarbitrage
Hi folks found this discussion through Dan Andrews on www tropicalmba
com/digital-nomad/ My 2 cents, I am aspiring to an online business and to be
able to work when I want to not because I have to. To that end when my regular
job ended 3+ years ago, I decided to work as a contractor. I work as a
professional in Australia but live in S-E Asia. My work schedule is about 2
weeks on, 2 weeks off. It's a little like the Four Hour Work Week prescription
for geographical arbitrage. It's not perfect, and if the AUD tumbles will have
to re-assess. Compared with previously I work the same hours per day for 12
days/month - before I used to work these hours or more for about 22-24
days/month + as employee had lots of administrative and bureaucractic
headaches which you cannot help taking home. As I am on contract have none of
these - or very little. Those admin and politicial headaches are so bad for
your health.

Now I have some time to think and strategise on my long term plan - and act!
Anyway good luck to all looking for something different.

------
__--__
I recently did something similar to this short term (airbnb for a month in SF)
and I'm curious: are all digital nomads strictly software guys or writers? I
have physical electronics and carpentry projects I like to do in my spare
time, so I had a trunk full of tools during my airbnb stay.

Is it possible to do hardware projects on the road? Maybe rely on hackerspaces
for tools and such?

------
lnanek2
I fly almost every week and, honestly, I get a lot more work done those
weekends I stay in one place. Even ordering cars ahead of time you aren't
going to get as much coding done when you are hoping in planes and out of cars
and waiting for departures, or arranging the next week's hotel stay or other
stuff.

------
kimar
Very interesting discussion as I am just starting my digital nomad life. Like
the author suggests, I strongly believe in staying at least a couple months at
every destination (where you'd like to get some work done).

One thing I'm curious about is if some of you have tried finding local clients
in destinations you visit?

This is obviously easier in big cities than in Kho Phi Phi, and will most
likely pay less than a US-based client. Nevertheless, I'd imagine it to be a
great way to get immersed in the local lifestyle and solves some of the issues
mentioned in the post (eg: timezone, workplace).

------
ozim
I would like to take different approach, get my gf to some calm place. Have a
nice house, good internet connection which is now not a big problem even in
country side. Lead simple life far from city, have my "home office" room.
Country side is cheaper and a lot nicer, I could get great coffe doing it by
myself instead of working from "shops". Traveling would be needed also because
it is easier to work with someone you met at least once face to face, or going
on vacations but without work. That would be life of digital hermit :)

------
pjbrunet
I don't think he mentioned safety or crime either. Law enforcement varies
state to state, town to town. Off-limits neighborhoods, speed traps, tricky
intersections where accidents are common, quirky customs and conventions. Gang
colors? Towing! Some states left turns go first, in Texas left turns go last.
Frontage roads in Texas are really crazy and we have life-threatening flash
floods regularly. "Turn around, don't drown." Knowledge of local insects,
snakes, animals, etc.

------
agibsonccc
Great story. This is something similar to what I'm close to building for
myself. I had wondered what it would be like if I had actually achieved it.
That being said, if I rotate places I would try to stay for a decent chunk of
time. I couldn't imagine constant travel. It's just not productive if only for
the fact that travel itself tends to limit ability to do work. That doesn't
count the cognitive load of establishing a somewhat productive routine.

------
malandrew
The best way to do meaningful work while living as a digital nomad is to
contribute to open source. IRC, mailing lists and Github issues provide all
the conversation and decision making infrastructure necessary to make the same
architectural choices needed to build something with the same level of
substance and depth as any project being tackled in an office environment.

~~~
mooreds
My takeaway from the article was that the cognitive overload of being in a new
environment was at least as big a factor in not being able to handle
meaningful work (that is to say, challenging work that forces you to grow) as
the logistics.

But what you suggest has merit and I'd be interested to hear what the nomads'
take on it is.

~~~
malandrew
Totes. The one big difference though with open source projects versus client
work is that the logistics of collaboration in open source never changes. It's
always somewhat async and almost always communicated in writing, with various
tools to help (JSBin, Gists, Diffs, IRC, email, etc.). With clients, the
biggest complicator is negotiating how to communicate with them, which can
occur for every new project and on every move. Time zone differences compound
these negotiations because so many people expect phone or video calls to sync
up.

------
rdixit
I did this throughout India for 9 months. Reliable wifi access is a must and
more difficult to secure than you'd think, perhaps. But by moving only every 2
or 3 months, I find there's a good balance between setting up shop, getting
familiar with your environment, etc. and just getting shi* done.. YMMV

------
charleshaanel
This is a thoughtful discussion. But it doesn't really address those of us
that have kinda "graduated" from digital nomad hood.

By that I mean, for some of us, you get to the point where yes, you want the
advantage of multiple locations - but you also want routine.

The problem is when you start traveling around enough, it gets harder and
harder to "get it all" in one place.

For me the solution is, as one person mentioned (or rather, several) 1\.
establish a home base(s) 2\. get second homes or rentals you've been to before
in familiar places (you can get to know AirBnB landlords many of the have
multiple homes) 3\. coworking spots around the world 4\. start connecting with
nomad communities - like a diplomat, you'll start running into the same people
over and over again - forums, private/paid communities 5\. tap into your
alumni abroad community (if you have one) 6\. establish daily routines (for
me, it's a morning call with several other location independent founders) 7\.
meet ups

Eventually you'll have a set up where you have say "home bases" in 2-3
countries/continents....places you can go back to sleep in your own bed, say
Hi to the local butcher, grocer etc, read your own books.....

...then you can travel several times a year (conferences, random hot spots,
etc) - for the excitement, because one starts to miss the thrill of traveling.

I definitely think though that multiple home bases + coworking spots +
connecting with the location independent community + a codified daily routine
is the way to go!

Anyone who can enjoy this life should be totally grateful for the options it
affords one.

The biggest challenge I've found (someone tell me if you can relate) is that
often I find myself hanging out with: 1\. trust fund babies (born into having
the time, income, location freedom) 2\. retirees (have the time, income,
location freedom but had to work for it) 3\. people on welfare (have the time
and often times the money too, lol) 4\. location independent
professionals/entrepreneurs (perfect match but still quite niche) ...in my age
group. Man when you walk around during the day, outside of the traditional
corporate/9-to-5 set up, that's rarefied air.

Someone who really establishes his/her community as the penultimate resource
for connecting location independent founders and professionals with homes,
coworking sports almost like a done-for-you social network, will be solving a
huge problem.

------
homakov
I dont understand what are you trying to say. I traveled around the world and
had nonproblem consulting people meanwhile.

------
pfortuny
I read , much of the night And go South in the Winter.

------
nickthemagicman
a

------
cmccabe
Excessive travel is terrible for the environment. You can easily generate many
times the amount of carbon dioxide you would emit by driving for a year,
simply by taking a long plane flight or two.
[http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/sunday-review/the-
biggest-...](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/sunday-review/the-biggest-
carbon-sin-air-travel.html?_r=0)

Travel is nice, but not when you do it just to brag about having gone to X
countries in Y days. Then it just becomes a status thing, and is, as the
author notes, "kind of douchey." The internet, _good_ news sources, and
documentaries can broaden your horizons even without leaving the house.

~~~
sobri
Always take trains overland. Flying should be reserved only for trips that
cross water.

Besides, travelling by train is much more fun.

~~~
khuey
Unfortunately not always a realistic option (exhibit A: North America).

~~~
pessimizer
I do it in North America. Every long trip needs two days of padding on each
side, but people make allowances for you as if you had a phobia of flying.

When all of your business trips become taking the Amtrak in a Roomette to your
B&B, business travel becomes a lot less stressful.

------
Dewie
On the one hand, I can understand all the complaints here that traveling makes
hard work since you often have to forego all the creature comforts you have
become accostumed to, and might rely on to a large degree in order to be
productive.

On the other hand, programmers are notorious for their binge-coding-marathons,
living off less-than-optimal nutrition and little sleep. I can imagine that
this type of person could sustain to have a few bumpy days when settling into
a new location (of course, even if one can manage to sustain some binge-coding
now and then does not mean that you can do it often. So I guess you still
might have to find a comfortable setup and routine while away from home,
eventually).

------
cottonseed
The author needs to learn how to properly use the comma.

~~~
sanderjd
I don't really like grammar comments, but in case the author is reading -- the
comma really did throw off my reading of the title.

~~~
charleshaanel
I couldn't concur more. It's one thing if someone is tactfully offering a
suggestion that would help improve the comprehension of someone's work.

But to me there's nothing worse than someone whose only way of adding value is
criticism something they weren't creative or proactive enough to do
themselves.

------
davidgerard
If you're going to take a holiday, take a proper damn holiday. "Digital
nomads" are fictional characters from Charlie Stross novels. (Or, if you're
unlucky, Cory Doctorow novels.)

~~~
jimmhay
"Fictional" \- How so, David? If you define digital nomadism as working from
the road via the internet - 'location-independent entrepreneurialism' \- I
know hundreds of people doing this successfully.

