
Traveling, Writing and Programming - maccman
http://alexmaccaw.co.uk/posts/traveling_writing_programming
======
edw519
_The peculiar thing about programmers is that they're the one profession that
can easily work remotely and travel, and yet they're the one profession that
doesn't._

I believe that the ease with which one "can easily work remotely and travel"
is affected far more by life situation than by profession. Modern technology
has made it just as easy for non-programming electronic workers to do this,
too.

"Life situation" is another matter. Just a few of the things that make it
difficult for some people to do this:

    
    
      - marriage
      - children
      - spouse's job
      - pets
      - caring for elderly parents/others
      - community commitments
      - financial responsibilities (mortgage, etc.)
    

As one who is tethered to his home and family, I thank you, Alex, for allowing
me to live vicariously through your year for the past 5 minutes. The stories
were interesting and the pictures were beautiful.

</BackToRegressionTestNumber127BeforeThePhoneRingsAgainAndTheCatNeedsFed>

~~~
mbesto
_I thank you, Alex, for allowing me to live vicariously through your year for
the past 5 minutes._

This comment made me perk up.

I've eliminated all of those things you mentioned from my life and replaced
them with:

1\. Alcohol 2\. Traveling 3\. Triathletics

In the last 3 years I've been to over 20 countries, been to every continent
(except antartica), boot strapped two companies in NYC and have completed a
half-ironman (and on my way to do a full next year). I realize I couldn't have
done any of that if I had any of those aforementioned responsibilities.

Random, but honest (meta) question: Would people be interested in reading more
about this? I always feel like if I blog about these things it would just
sound like bragging.

~~~
tome
Hang on. You mean you've removed your marriage, children, pets and caring for
elderly relatives from your life?

~~~
mbesto
I guess I haven't necessarily removed them, I've just neglected to pursue them
or don't have the burden.

Marriage - I've been single for 5 years, and adamantly stayed single, to the
point where I've been in a couple of longer term "relationships" that I've
simply cut off in pursuit of other things in life. In reflection I feel this
may be a quite cynical outlook on life and will probably change in the near
future.

Children - I wrap it.

Pets - Don't have the time nor want to spend the incredulous amount of money
required to maintain one.

Elderly Relatives - All of my grandparents have passed and my parents (who are
almost in their 60's now) are generally in very good health. I guess I'm very
fortunate.

------
acabal
I've been traveling the world and running my site, Scribophile, for a few
years now. I just spent 3 months in Germany living with my girlfriend, and now
that my EU visa is up I'm in Colombia for a few months enjoying the warm
weather in Cali.

Whenever I tell people about my lifestyle, they 1) are shocked and awed, 2)
enthuse about how jealous they are, and 3) assume I'm a millionaire. I wish I
could just grab people by their collars to shake them and say, "We live in a
marvelous time! With internet access everywhere, you too can do what I do!
Plus, you don't have to be rich to do it--I probably make much less money than
you do at your desk job!"

Nobody believes me, and if they do, they don't want to take the risk. (To be
fair not everyone is able to do so, even if they wanted to.) So they stay
jealous. It always makes me a little sad that people stay stuck in their
situations often because they can't even envision an alternative, and a little
happy that I somehow managed to make it happen myself.

~~~
noduerme
Hyup. We definitely make a lot less money. But you can drink and smoke and
talk to animals on the job. Guess it all depends what's important to you =)
<http://www.unplggd.com/unplggd/working-from-the-road-082513>

------
patio11
Maybe it is just the crowd I hang out with, but I know a _lot_ of technically
inclined people who didn't quite get the memo when people were told to a) work
for a big megacorp b) close to where they went to college.

There are a variety of ways to do it. They really do work. Plenty of normal,
sane, well-adjusted people take advantage of them. There are avenues forward
from them to either standard middle class career paths at home or continued
success abroad, for a variety of values of "success."

------
lpolovets
+1 for traveling and working remotely.

I was lucky enough to spend 2 months in Australia and Africa this year, and a
lot of that time was 1/2 work and 1/2 fun. It's a great combo: working
stimulates the body and exploring new places stimulates the spirit. (Ugh, that
sounds way cornier than I hoped.)

I have a ~50 hour/week job, and I was I was surprised by how effective and
pleasant it was to go do outdoorsy things from 8am until 2 or 3pm, and then
work until 10 or 11 at night.

On a completely unrelated note: Alex, I'm really curious, how did you manage
to get a book deal with O'Reilly at the age of 20?

~~~
FreakLegion
There's no trick to technical publishing. If you write a solid proposal and
sample chapter and there's a market for the book, you'll get an offer.

Edit: If you're actually interested in writing, let me know. In a past life I
worked for a publisher distributed by O'Reilly. Happy to point you in the
right direction.

~~~
ljlolel
You don't have any contact information listed

~~~
FreakLegion
Updated. Sorry about that!

------
sturadnidge
Awesome post. And you can kind of do this even working for Megacorps - in fact
if you are working for a Megacorp, have a desire to see more of the world, and
are _not_ taking full advantage of the ability to internally xfr to another
country while remaining in full employment... well you're missing a trick.

And it's never too late - I did the above from Sydney to London at the ripe
old age of 33, and have seen tons of Europe and the Nordics over the past few
years - with 5 weeks corp leave, 2 weeks public holidays and weekends, you can
do lots of travel if you plan it a little. Sure it's not quite the same, but
it's a bloody good compromise if you're more tied down / risk averse than an
intrepid 21yo ;)

~~~
groaner
> 5 weeks corp leave, 2 weeks public holidays and weekends

Thanks for rubbing it in :(

/american

------
larrykubin
I spent the summer road-tripping with my wife and have been working remotely.
While we didn't travel around the world, we saw so much beauty in America. We
bought an $80 annual national park pass, got a copy of the book "National
Parks of the American West", and took off. So if you aren't quite ready for
the round-the-world trip, try going to Yellowstone, Grand Teton,
Arches/Canyonlands, Crater Lake etc.

~~~
kylecordes
The $80 national park pass is perhaps the best deal of anything I've ever
bought. Loaded family in car, visited 13 national parks this summer. (Nice
accommodations inside or near those parks are less appealingly priced, but
worth it.)

------
stdbrouw
Lovely post. The only thing I don't buy is the implied sentiment that if
you're not traveling, you're a dummy. Call me jaded, but I can think of many
more interesting, fun things to do with my life than visiting one pretty
artifact after another. Live your dream, yes, as long as it's your own dream.

~~~
mixmastamyk
It's about people, experiences, fresh-air, and knowledge as much as
artifacts... an inoculation against stupidity if you will. For example, when
you hear someone bashing European healthcare, you'll not wonder but know
they're full of shit. Simply put, if you endeavor to be well-rounded there is
no substitute for travel.

~~~
stdbrouw
There's something in what you say, but I've spent enough time in youth hostels
to know that the connections you make with people while traveling, even if
they appear very meaningful at the time, often turn out to be superficial.
Travel is one way to end up a well-rounded human being, but there are many
others. For example:
[http://russelldavies.typepad.com/planning/2006/11/how_to_be_...](http://russelldavies.typepad.com/planning/2006/11/how_to_be_inter.html)

~~~
GFischer
That's a pretty nice hack :)

I believe the point of that article is: Get out of your comfort zone.

When we get out of our comfort zone, we learn :)

Same with traveling I guess :)

------
petercooper
Planning on doing a post about the O-1 visa at all, Alex? If not, you should.
There's not a great deal of info about them from a developer's perspective (I
know DHH got one back in the day) and it'd be interesting to hear how the
process works.

------
grecy
I'm not sure if "me too" comments are welcome here...

I'm a Software Engineer in my late 20s and just spent 2 years driving from
Alaska to Argentina, purely because I wanted to. Along the way I continued to
develop / create which helped supplement my bank account immensely. Keeping an
up-to-date blog helped keep me focused and my head in the game.
(theroadchoseme.com) I'm back working a desk job right now, to rest and
recuperate and bolster the bank account enough until I can set off again.

If you want to do something like this, you totally can.

~~~
jberryman
I'm loving all the "me too" comments. thanks for sharing :)

------
spxdcz
Mine is a similar story; spent 10 years building a web agency in the UK, burnt
out, then went traveling for a year and wrote a Web App book -
<http://www.fivesimplesteps.com/products/web-app-success> \- during the
process. I wrote a little about it here - [http://atrampabroad.com/the-trials-
and-tribulations-of-writi...](http://atrampabroad.com/the-trials-and-
tribulations-of-writing-a-book-while-traveling)

Everything turned out well for us too - my wife was headhunted by Facebook
(thanks to the Content Strategy work we started doing freelance during our
trip), so I'm now in San Francisco, creating apps for myself.

If you have the chance, do it.

------
pinaceae
This lifestyle is ok for writers, not programmers. As the author states, he
was writing a book, which is not a collaborative effort.

Typical programming is team work, with milestones and deadlines. Deadlines
which are set in one time zone.

So, while I applaud this young man for doing what he did, it really is normal
travel porn. If you have no obligations, great, do it. I bet in most cases
you'll be under 30 if you can pull it off.

~~~
jtheory
Agreed on this -- my work is all-remote and quite flexible, but I have to make
it to conference calls 3-4 times a week, and I just missed most of one because
the prepaid mobile broadband sim card wasn't all the way set up (and to finish
it I had to figure out some Malay text in minuscule print). And the call was
at midnight for me, because we have developers scattered across 16 hours of
timezones, and that's the best time, all things considered.

I do travel somewhat -- I left the US for France (but basically settled
there), and periodically spend up to a month or so back in the US, or Malaysia
(where I am now... hence the sim card). But keeping working is always a hassle
(even though I'm almost always staying with family, and I know my way around),
and each time I switch locations there are days of productivity down the drain
due to jet lag, internet issues, actually seeing all of the people I travel to
see, let alone time spent on planes, in airports, trains, etc., where I can
get little bits of work done, but never much.

We probably could travel more (and to more new places...), but it wouldn't be
worth the stress of figuring out the same damn things all over again for each
new place. Leaving your comfort zone is great, but leaving the same comfort
zone in the same way over & over -- shifting to a new & strange place and
sorting out the same basics -- isn't wonderful indefinitely. :)

------
nikcub
"Javascript Web Applications" is a must-read for all web developers. I have
recommended or sent the book to dozens of people.

I hope there is a second edition.

And there is something about developers/hackers and being on the road. I spent
10 years from '00 till last year living out of a suitcase on 4 different
continents and 7 different countries (living in fulltime, visited over 50).
Loved it, brilliant experience and I can't wait to get on the road again.

------
ghurlman
This doesn't help me at all at this point in my life, but I think I'll print
it to PDF and save it for my son when he gets older (he's 8 now).

~~~
AdamTReineke
Why couldn't you travel and take your family with you?

Edit: I was homeschooled my whole life (grad 2005) and homeschooling via Khan
Academy and other online education sites seems like it would be especially
effective. Exposure to tons of cultures at a young age seems like it would be
awesome.

~~~
ghurlman
Just for starters, the 2 year old and 4 week old wouldn't handle it so well,
nor would my wife's medical condition.

Life gets exponentially more complicated as you get older -- something very
hard to see before it happens to you.

~~~
igrekel
Yep I have a 3 and a 6 years old and working from home is VERY difficult. Its
usually worse when we travel.

ALso we did consider homeschooling but the kids really react differently when
its someone else than their parents teaching.

~~~
wmat
I have a 6 & 10 year old and I work from home. I'll be the first to admit that
it's not always easy, but with practice and realistic rules, it can be done.

With respect to the "travelling programmer" meme, I think it's less common for
the older (say > 40 years) among us. As one who falls within that category, my
priorities are far different now than ten or twenty years prior. I enjoy the
stability of a permanent home, of watching my children build relationships in
their schools and neighborhoods, of participating in my children's amateur
sports teams.

Occasionally, my wife and I will fantasize about travelling the world, living
experiences with our kids unlike those living "normal" lives, but we never do.
I suppose for us, the "normal" life is good enough. We are together, and we
laugh, and learn and live as a family. Not to say that our choice is right for
everyone, but it's right for us. For us, uprooting our children from the only
lives and friends they've ever known contains an element of selfishness that
we're not prepared to swallow.

For me personally, I'm just as happy holed up in my basement office fiddling
with BeagleBoards, or soldering together little electronic projects as I'd
ever be doing anything else. I guess I'm simply a geek homebody.

But for those like the original poster and those that strive to attain
similar, more power to you.

~~~
igrekel
Thanks for the post.

Over the last few years I've worked from home or on travel a few times. I was
able to make it work but it never felt very sustainable. As to working from
home it is getting easier as the kids get older (they are able to control the
urge to interrupt and they are able to understand that I am working). I
remember I was on a phone meeting with about 20 people once and my son kept
coming to knock on the door and shout, I was very worried everytime I was off
"mute".

On the other hand, when we travel (a month or more during summer vacations),
they get so excited that they tend to be very loud or litteraly out of
control.

I totaly relate to feeling selfish about uprooting your kids.

------
Arro
Hey man. I'm a programmer who's done a similar thing twice, both times
sticking to just Europe. I didn't go the "write a book" route but rather just
programmed here and there while CouchSurfing, hosteling, seeing new places,
had a couple flings with gorgeous European girls, etc.

I, also, never ran into another programmer doing this. I live in SF now (moved
from the midwestern USA) and work for a startup. Let's grab a beer sometime!
Or maybe I'll see you at one of the weekly CouchSurfing meetups. They're
pretty big here- 50 people a week is not unusual.

~~~
cgag
Can you elaborate on "programmed here and there"? Does everyone who talks
about doing this mostly do freelance web design?

------
clueless123
Whil etalking about traveling on Peru you wrote;

"The picture below is of one of the Colca Canyon's fabled Peregrine Falcons,
taken whilst I was climbing down the canyon, the world's deepest."

it looks like a Condor to me.

~~~
hopeless
yeah, that's no Peregrine falcon! Some sort of condor sounds about right

------
fendale
What is the best way for someone who has been in a reasonably successful
corporate job for about 10 years to get into this 'on the road' sort of
consultancy. I'd love to do it, but the idea of just quitting work scares me -
I've no doubt I am good enough to be a consultant in my area of expertise
(which is Oracle databases), but knowing where to start is the issue. I do
blog a bit, and have experimented with a few app ideas, but haven't managed to
get anything serious off the ground as yet!

~~~
mixmastamyk
I guess you're the perfect candidate for the "4-hour Workweek". No guarantees
but there are some good ideas in there. One of them gave me the courage to
talk the boss in letting me work remotely. That's the first step, I think.

------
gurkendoktor
Thanks for charging my battery a little. I've tried it for the last year and
failed so many times with all sorts of projects and clients. Do you other
working travellers actually find your clients online, or is it really all
about having enough friends _who stay at home_ and are happy & well-integrated
there?

If things go by my new plan, I'll spend the next year in Taiwan, China,
Russia, Korea and some other places :)

------
jberryman
Hey, would you mind talking a little about the details of how you manage your
work/in-front-of-computer time while travelling? Like do you tend to spend a
couple of hours somewhere pleasant and do some hacking, or is it more
structured? Do you allot time everyday for working and adventuring?

I've done some travelling and working (though not overseas), but feel like I
haven't figured it out.

------
tryitnow
I think this is awesome. I've bookmarked and I will share it all the young
people I know.

One thing that bothered me a bit: "My message to fellow programmers is stop
making excuses, man up and do it."

I am in a tiny minority here, but I just don't care to travel. I know in the
day and age of Tim "Superman" Feriss we're all supposed to be pumped up
supermen bouncing around the world with a supermodel in each arm. But
honestly, I really enjoy the things I do where I live: reading, enjoying time
with friends, working (yes I don't view work as something to be avoided - dare
I speak heresy against the cult of the 4HWW?).

In summary I just wanted to offer a counterpoint to this author (and others in
the "travel at all costs" cult) that some people simply don't enjoy travel
compared to what else they could be doing. Sometimes it's not about "manning"
up and doing it, it's just about doing what you enjoy regardless of what
bloggers and bestselling authors recommend.

~~~
naner
_I am in a tiny minority here, but I just don't care to travel._

You have a friend in Emerson: <http://www.ryanholiday.net/emerson-on-travel/>

------
volandovengo
Nice post! How much did the around the world ticket cost?

~~~
prawn
Old data so probably a bit useless, but I did a 24-country around-the-world
trip in 03/04. We eventually had 37 flights all up, but the backbone was a
17-flight ticket which was about $3300. That gave us something like 4-5
continents including Australia, plus 3-4 flights within each continent.

------
mattvot
This is exactly what I want to be doing in my placement year starting june!

Traveling and programming. How did you afford the trip Alex? Savings or
working on the go? If you don't mind, how much did it cost too?

Thanks

~~~
alexdias
I'm also interested in knowing how he afforded it at age 20. I'm 21, and just
now finishing my M.Sc, and I feel like I would have to work a few years in a
Megacorp in order to be able to try something like this.

------
Mizza
Been doing something similar myself - Germany, China, North Korea, drove
across America and launched a startup.. loving life!

Great post!

~~~
kellysutton
How was the firewall in China? Did it inhibit work at all?

~~~
Mizza
It sucked. I set up a personal VPN before I left, but even then, the
connectivity there is really spotty. Wouldn't recommend it. It's only really
good for getting email, responding offline, then reconnecting to send it.

------
barkingcat
To the OP - thanks for that post! It's a very humble post and I hope people
won't take it as self-aggrandisement. It's hard to make choices because we all
only have one life. Make the best of it and I hope you use the perspective you
gained in your travels to make twitter a better place for us users.

------
volandovengo
To all those thinking about doing something like this, I would encourage you
to give it a try. Honestly working and travelling isn't that hard and it's
incredibly cheap to live in many places in the world. I have personally been
doing this while working on artsumo.com for the last 8 months.

------
markive
I've been seriously considering this for ages.. I wonder what his setup for
travel working is? I'm thinking a 17" Macbook would be too much of a pain /
risk to travel round Asia with? A follow-up post on the logistics of the work
side would be amazing!

------
simondlr
When you are in South Africa again, drop by Stellenbosch (40km from Cape
Town)! Would love to hear some more stories.

EDIT:

I also travelled from Singapore to Bangkok (not all the way to Hanoi) this
year. Great trip. Took the train. Beautiful countryside.

------
bluekite2000
He was travelling writing, programming and having the best time of his life.
Now he is just programming....Is that supposed to be a happy ending or sad
ending? I couldn't tell from reading his post.

~~~
mixmastamyk
He's working on the other side of the world, story continues. In a few years
he'll be on the next adventure.

------
ricardobeat
Not everyone has a job that pays in dollars/euros/pounds...

I'll do this some day anyway :)

~~~
GFischer
Well, we have to add to all that stuff a step 0) get a freelance / remote job
that pays in dollars, euros or pounds.

That's what I'm looking forward to, at least :)

------
bosie
Could you tell us what gear your where schlepping around? backpack,
electronical equipment (cam, laptop, batteries,...)

what did you actually do about health insurance, if you don't mind me asking?

------
ggwicz
One of the most attractive things about being a dev/designer to me is the
ability to work pretty much wherever there's an Internet connection. Great
Article!

------
eaurouge
I'll just chime in, albeit two days late, to say that: Africa is a continent
of 53 (54?) countries, experiences vary.

------
billpatrianakos
Oh. My. God. This is the best thing I've seen on HN since I first discovered
it!

I'm in my first year of business and after reading your post I see that I've
made one huge mistake. I'm not working to reach a goal like you did. I'm
working for the sake of working. It doesn't matter how successful I am because
in the end all my work will still have been for nothing.

I think you make a great point (maybe you don't realize you made this point)
about how we should be working to live and not living to work.

This has inspired me and touched me so deeply I cannot even describe it. This
is going to sound lame and cheesy but your post hit a nerve with me and from
this moment on I am going to set out to make a goal to live. Find what I love
besides my work and go out and live. I'm going to work my ass of because I
love my job but after the work day is done I must be able to tell myself that
this work day has brought me just one bit closer to being able to go out and
live. No more working 12 hour days so I can wake up and work another 12 hour
day and pretend like work in and of itself is an end. It's just a means to an
end. I'll always program and love it and I'm sure others are the same but im
also sure that all of us also have other external motivations that make us
human, not just our work. Just thank you for this. Thank you for reminding me
why I'm doing what I'm doing. I feel like I sound like an over emotional...
person. You're younger than I am by a few years and seeing you do this and the
sentiment behind it really just lit a fire under my ass.

Thank you so much for this post. I hope everyone here can one day write a blog
post along these lines. You are truly living. Congratulations and I wish you
continued success.

------
noduerme
"The peculiar thing about programmers is that they're the one profession that
can easily work remotely and travel, and yet they're the one profession that
doesn't."

Not true! My gf and I have been doing it for 5 solid years (she's the
designer). So far we've lived in Argentina & Uruguay for a year, New Zealand &
Australia for a year, Thailand, Vietnam, France and Spain. I _have_ met a few
others on my travels. We never plan to go back; there's no point settling down
when there's so much to see and experience. Yes, a lot of people get angry or
jealous and say it's the dream life, but it's also hard work -- not just
coding and keeping in touch with clients 24/7, but also travel itself. It's
exhausting. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

~~~
pault
I did this for a year in Brazil, and it was the best year of my life, and my
clients and I were happy. Then I went to Thailand, and the time difference
just totally fubar'd my whole working arrangement, and I ended up losing a
very lucrative contract. I took 6 months off after that and travelled around
SE Asia, but now I'm broke and my freelance career is dead in the water and
I'm basically starting over from scratch. There's really no way to communicate
how crushing it is to go from that lifestyle to living in my mom's guest room
(I'm 31 years old for crying out loud) for the last 3 months trying to scare
up some contract work.

The moral of the story is, never lose your momentum, and always tell your
clients how much you love them. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go get
drunk and cry.

~~~
GFischer
Thanks for sharing your story and giving a different angle.

Don't give up and don't let yourself get down by a momentary setback.

If you were good for that contract, you probably still are as good or better
now, and you'll get another one as good or better hopefully.

I'd advise against getting drunk but that's me.

------
georgieporgie
Great writeup, and fantastic adventure.

Do I understand correctly that the story currently ends by working on location
at Twitter?

------
taskstrike
This man has lived.

~~~
sweely
This.

