
Ask HN: Affordable Locations for an Independent Study Period (Sabbatical)? - bolzano
I have been lucky enough to save up a good chunk of cash from regular work and side projects...<p>I would now like to take some time off (6+ months) to completely focus on my own development&#x2F;education&#x2F;reading etc... I am pretty free to go wherever I think would work best, what I would like is to find a relatively cheap place with:<p>- A decent living space (1 bed apartment)<p>- Relatively cheap and decent food and rent (hopefully &lt; $1500&#x2F;month all in)<p>- Good Internet Access and a comfortable&#x2F;quiet place to read&#x2F;study<p>- Some chances opportunities to socialize with like minded individuals (I&#x27;m afraid I speak only English)<p>- Somewhere not too hot (&lt; 28C please! :) ) but with good access to nature (I love the outdoors and hiking)<p>Can anyone recommend somewhere? I&#x27;m a single mid&#x2F;late 30s happy go lucky guy, who loves science and philosophy, if that helps!<p>I&#x27;m thinking SE Asia, or South&#x2F;Central America are my best bets? Or maybe India&#x2F;Nepal?<p>Thanks!
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pieterhg
I made a site exactly to find these kinds of places called Nomad List.

Here's mild (20'C - 30'C) cities with fast internet and many young tech
enabled people there to socialize with:

[https://nomadlist.com/mild-cities-with-fast-internet-and-
man...](https://nomadlist.com/mild-cities-with-fast-internet-and-many-nomads-
now)

1) Lisbon 2) Mexico City 3) Melbourne 4) Tokyo 5) Hong Kong

The more popular cities don't show with this filter query because they're a
bit too warm now (>30'C). Try removing warm and seeing what you get!

~~~
dontbenebby
Interesting. When a city lists a dollar figure, is that the monthly rent, or
total cost? (rent + estimate of meals etc)

~~~
pieterhg
It's the Nomad Cost, which is the cost of living per month for a person living
mostly from hotels/Airbnbs and eating outside. If you click the sort dropdown
and select local cost, that's the cost of living for a local.

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notahacker
Good for you, and enjoy. If I were you I'd be tempted not to commit to the
full six months in one place - you might find a periodic move helps refresh
things more

You might need to be slightly more flexible on the temperature for SE Asia
(~30C and humid is pretty standard, though there's plenty of nice sea to cool
down in) and speaking only English is going to somewhat limit your social
options in many parts of South America.

~~~
muzani
I second this. Malaysia has a very good level of English, lots of nightlife
and you can find a good spot for socialization. The city will probably cost
around $1000 a month in food and rent, but I could probably recommend a few
places out of the city, which are cheaper and accessible. Feel free to drop me
an email.

You can probably save quite a bit and get a good monthly deal through Airbnb.

Bali is quite nice too.

Fair warning: we're facing a crazy heat wave this time of year, but there's
plenty of air-conditioning. Take note that the humidity will leave you
sweating up to 3 AM without an air conditioner.

~~~
vram22
How about the annual few weeks or months of haze from tree burning to clear
growth in Malaysia and Indonesia? I've heard from friends that it is a health
issue while it lasts, in the two mentioned countries and also in Singapore and
maybe in Thailand too; also heard that something was being done to mitigate
it, some time back. Do you know if there is any improvement in the situation?

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badpun
Gdansk, Poland. For the next six months, the weather will be great (warm/hot,
but practically never exceeds 26-28 C) and days will be long. Good public
transport. You can live close to the beach. Good amount of IT around, and
educated people who do speak English. Internet is not a problem (300 MBit/s at
$20 a month). Charming nature/lakes/villages for hundreds of miles outside the
city (the Kaszuby region). At $1500 a month, you’ll be living very
comfortably.

The November-March part of the year is a bit dreary, but April-October is
glorious for the most part. Just the right kinds of temperatures, and sun. If
you’re from Europe, I’d say it’s probably better here (and in places in Europe
with similar climate) than in SEA during spring and summer.

I’d recommend a few other Polish cities as well, but they’re not on the coast
and so they can get hotter in the summer.

~~~
bolzano
Sounds great actually, another one I hadn't considered. Thank you

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santa_boy
$1,500 is pretty good for India. Bangalore is a good choice. Outdoor Activity
is pretty accessible .. 3-6 hrs drives. The city is pretty crowded. But,
English and vibrant software crowd can make it a good choice.

~~~
bolzano
Yes, I'd love to go to India, seems so vibrant and colourful! Thanks for the
suggestion

~~~
asicsp
since you mentioned outdoor/hiking, if you do end up choosing Bangalore (name
changed as Bengaluru now), check out Bangalore Trekking Club[1] - I did many
treks and social events like tree plantation, blood donation, hill clean up,
etc with them while I was in Bengaluru. Apart from many hills surrounding the
city, you can lookout for trips to lush green Western ghats, Himalayas, etc.
The best part is the club is non-profit and even trek organizers pay out of
their pocket to share all the costs

[1][http://www.bangaloretrekkingclub.com/](http://www.bangaloretrekkingclub.com/)

~~~
bolzano
This is great! Thank you

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hackermailman
For $1500/mth you could comfortably live in Berlin if not eating out
restaurants everyday, could even go to some schools there since tuition is
free. Here's typical neighborhood rent averages in the form of a metro map
[https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/jan/08/costs-
berlin-...](https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/jan/08/costs-berlin-rent-
housing-subway-map)

SE Asia is interesting to visit but staying there half a year in a chaotic
country which likely will have persistant flooding during rain seasons, non
potable water, random power outages and endemic corruption from taxi drivers
to police demanding bribes everytime you drive gets annoying really fast if
your goal is studying and not living the tourist-bro party lifestyle. I spent
a few months there doing exactly what you are doing, and immediately regretted
not going to the Balkans or even Georgia (cheap cost of living) instead since
my goal was to study.

~~~
bolzano
Thanks! I hadn't even considered Berlin or most of Europe to be honest, I just
assumed it would be pricey... How did your trip work out? I'm fairly excited
and hope it works out well... the food in Thailand though does tempt me :)

~~~
hackermailman
If you want to go there you should go, in hindsight what I should have done is
attended a conference in another cheap cost of living country to meet other
people doing the same field as I was studying but instead I did the chaotic
country route. The worst part will be returning to your own country and having
customs/ICE agents not believe you were there for studying since 'nobody does
that'. So prepare for very long interrogation depending if their forensics
people are on hand to scan your phone, laptop ect. while at the same time
accusing you of being an international drug lord or sex offender.

~~~
bolzano
Oh god that sounds awful, I'm really sorry to hear that. I'm from Western
Europe so things are bit/lot more chill here, (especially if you're white :(
). Thanks for the tips, I'm tempted to go somewhere exotic but I don't want
chaotic

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keiferski
Check out the Balkans. Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, etc. All fascinating countries
and you can easily get by on $1,000 a month.

~~~
chungleong
Money will go even further in Lviv, Ukraine. $1500 is like 5x the median
salary. One can live like a king. In a beautiful European city. Safety of the
Polish border just an hour away.

~~~
bolzano
Interesting! How about English speaking, is it possible to get by there?
Socialise?

~~~
keiferski
Definitely possible to get by with English in Ukraine, but - many foreigners
have left in the past year or so, due to the conflict in the east. There's
nothing to physically worry about in the western part of Ukraine (where Lviv
is) but the perception has scared some people away.

Another suggestion is Tbilisi. Very inexpensive, interesting place with
360-day visa on-arrival for all nationalities.

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thorin
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokhara](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokhara)

Probably the cheapest viable place you could go and find a nice set up. Easy
access to hiking in the Himalaya! Internet connection is ok and has probably
improved since I was there. You can probably get by on 200$ a month if you are
frugal and the climate is mild!

Or "splash out" and stay here:
[https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/11315606?location=Pokhara%2C%...](https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/11315606?location=Pokhara%2C%20Nepal&guests=1&adults=1)

probably still spending <500$ a month!

~~~
bolzano
That sounds absolutely amazing! At that price I could stay longer! Are there
many English speaking people there I could socialise with? Or is it just
tourists passing through?

~~~
thorin
There are plenty of English speakers or locals who want to improve their
English to work in tourism. There are lots of long term visitors and European
or Americans running business over there like trekking, rafting, retreats etc.
You're only a few hours away from 8000m peaks and the whitewater and culture
is fantastic.

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nextos
Rural Spain and some coast hotspots, especially in the Atlantic have really
good weather, food, infrastructure and cheap housing.

Also the weather is really mild all year round.

~~~
vram22
Can you mention names of some such places there? Sounds like a good combo of
factors for a vacation.

~~~
nextos
This article should be a good starting point:

[https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/aug/15/slow-train-
sp...](https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/aug/15/slow-train-spain-feve-
railway-santander-asturias-galicia)

~~~
vram11
Thanks, will check.

~~~
vram22
I read it, it's good. Would be good to visit there sometime.

~~~
nextos
Glad you liked it. I think it's a really underrated region, although some
people are starting to notice as seen in The Guardian article comments.

If you avoid July 15 - August 15 it should be extremely quiet.

~~~
vram11
Cool, thanks for the tip.

Such places - quiet, natural, rural, scenic, etc. - should really be the norm,
not the exception. I am reminded of Gandhi's reply to someone (maybe a
reporter) asking him "What is your opinion of civilization?"

He said "I think it would be a good idea."

~~~
vram22
:)

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quickthrower2
Nottingham UK: cheap but with strong uni nearby so interesting people to meet
or study with.

~~~
bolzano
Interesting... I hadn't really thought about the UK... Wouldn't the cost of
living be quite high though (I'm used to London prices which are expensive!)

~~~
irremediable
COL is high in London and cities around it, but way cheaper in other parts.

FWIW I'd recommend other places over Nottingham, though. Birmingham is a
vibrant "second city", with low prices and good connections to London. Several
decent universities. Manchester is cheaper still. Southampton is cheaper than
London and has good culture and a good university. Glasgow is a cheap and
rapidly rejuvenating city.

Nottingham is IMO pretty dull. Maybe the parent commenter has better
experiences though.

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pplonski86
Do you know [https://nomadlist.com/](https://nomadlist.com/)? You should be
able to find a perfect place based on your requirements.

~~~
bolzano
This is excellent, I hadn't seen it before. Thank you!

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pouta
Try Porto, Portugal. Amazing weather and city.

1500 p/month is more than enough to live comfortably

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bolzano
Is it a bit cheaper than Lisbon, I'm not sure I could get by on $1500 in
Lisbon from a previous short experience. It would be close... but I haven't
tried Porto before

