Ask HN: Fleeing work

[elbenshira]

I'm an American university student in a position to work with startup this summer with flexibility in location. I want to travel somewhere I've never been before and stay there for a month and work from there. A nice coastal town would be awesome (I love the sea). Any suggestions about a location? My requirements: high English-speaking population and broadband internet access. A strong dollar:local_currency ratio and cheap flight to/fro helps.

Some places I had in mind: Cape Town, South Africa; Cayman Islands.

[mahmud]

Where on earth did you get the idea that Cayman Islands was cheap? George Town is more expensive than Washington D.C; you can get a pad in Dupont for $1.2k, further towards Adams Morgan much cheaper, yet further still in Ward 1, Columbia Heights, Park View, Kalorama and Mount Pleasant and you hit sub $700 territory.

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

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

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

[elbenshira → mahmud]

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

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

[mahmud → elbenshira]

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

[maneesh]

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

[quant18]

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

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

[jakehow → quant18]

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

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

[ichverstehe]

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

[elbenshira]

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

[nixusg]

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

[sganesh]

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

[jacquesm]

Panama.

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

[gexla]

Philippines. I'm living there now.