12 ms·

Ask HN: Location-independent entrepreneurs, where do you live and why?

• neebz 10y ago
  Peshawar, Pakistan. It's one of the highest terrorist-hit cities of the world but my parents love this place and are unwilling to move anywhere else. Due to their age (and lack of better retirement facilities) I live with them.
  • jmickey 10y ago
    Kudos to you. I'm in a similar situation where while working remotely I have decided to stay in my home town with family, so they don't age alone.
    • deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
• smt88 10y ago
  I live in Atlanta. The cost of living is low, quality of life is great, and there are tons of local companies to sell to. The culture here is to prioritize work-life balance[1], and it honestly seems to make everyone happier and more productive. As far as startup culture, people really admire and encourage lean bootstrapping, which results in far more B2B companies than B2C. We do have an incubator[2] working to change that, but I actually prefer it this way. The SV culture of equating raising money with success is completely opposite of my own beliefs. 1. http://www.fastcompany.com/1840856/how-southern-tech-workers-build-booming-businesses-and-still-go-home-5 http://www.fastcompany.com/1840856/how-southern-tech-workers... 2. http://www.switchyards.com http://www.switchyards.com
• cperciva 10y ago
  Assuming that by "location-independent entrepreneur" you mean that I could run my business from anywhere (as opposed to "digital nomad", referring to someone who does run their business from all over the world): Vancouver, Canada. Because it's my home; it's where most of my friends live; and... well, if you've ever lived in Vancouver you'll understand why I don't want to live anywhere else.
• philip1209 10y ago
  Can you clarify what you mean by "location-independent"? Do you imply that the person is traveling, or does it mean that the team is all remote?
  • dave1619 10y ago
    By "location-independent" I mean a person doesn't have to be in a certain location to run their business. Meaning, they can run their business from anywhere.
• grillwork 10y ago
  Vermont, because if you've ever been here you'd know there's no place like it. I like living in the middle of no where and having access to great outdoor activities, great food, and great place to raise a family. Not to expensive, but not cheap, and the extreme winters keeps the riff raff away...
  • gwbas1c 10y ago
    I'm trying to talk my wife into Vermont. What kind of business do you run?
  • Dwolb 10y ago
    Vermont's sort of my goal. I've talked to a few people about Vergennes, but do you have a different perspective for a place to research?
• gwbas1c 10y ago
  Can you define what a "location-independent entrepreneur" is? Does it mean running a business where everyone is a telecommuter? Perhaps running a business that depends heavily on outsourcing, or even a one-man (no employees) business? I do know someone who ran a business where he subcontracted all work to people overseas and basically functioned as a technical manager. He lived in the mountains outside of Silicon Valley. When I saw how he interacted with his friends, and the things he did, "why he lived where he lived" was obvious: He had lots of friends in the area, and was an active participant in the local culture. It helps that he's close enough to a tech hub that he can drive in any time he needs; although a daily commute would be prohibitive. I've also signed up for online source control and bug tracking (before Github really "won,") and found that it was a one-man business run by a friend-of-a-friend in Hawaii. The reasons for the owner living in Hawaii, or any area where there's a lot of recreation, are probably obvious. As far as why people choose to live where they live; the usual reasons apply: Close to friends and family, lots of recreation, culture, and reasonable cost of living. Choosing a place within a large radius around a tech hub might also be important. For example, a ski bum could live in Tahoe or New Hampshire, but still get to Silicon Valley or Boston when needed.
• apatters 10y ago
  Bangkok, because it offers all the amenities of a major city at less than half the cost. It has world class restaurants, nightlife that never stops, good public transport, and endless beaches an hour away. I traveled extensively and lived in the US and Australia before settling down here but I like big cities and there aren't a lot of nice ones like this where you can get a luxury condo with maid service for $1,000/mo.
  • jordansmith 10y ago
    Are you a US citizen, or Aus? How do you deal with the visa? I want to move to thailand for an unknown amount of time but the visa seems like more than I would care to deal with. Don't want to have to do visa runs and all of that.
    • pandler 10y ago
      It's easy enough to take Thai language classes and get a student visa in Thailand, though they appear to be getting more strict with their checks to validate that you are actually learning Thai. I say that, because some people just get the student visa and never actually take the classes. You can also get a student visa (in Chiang Mai at least) for hand-to-hand combat training with the military police. You just take two lessons a week on Saturday and Sunday afternoons for two hours. http://chiangmaibuddy.com/services/chiang-mai-visa-services/12-month-hand-to-hand-combat-education-visa/ http://chiangmaibuddy.com/services/chiang-mai-visa-services/.... You're spot on though - doing visa runs all the time gets old fast.
      • cpayne 10y ago
        If I were 10 years younger & without kids... Hand to hand combat with the military police on a weekend sounds awesome!!! Never understood westerners who live in Thailand (or any non-english, Asian country) but don't bother to learn the language. It's not as if you need to be fluent or even that good at it...
      • apatters 10y ago
        I believe that in Bangkok the Thai language schools currently require 8 hours of study a week to qualify for a student visa, which is more than it used to be but is still incredibly lenient. In the provinces I hear the requirements are even lower. Anyone who intends to stay here for more than a year without learning at least basic Thai is shooting themselves in the foot anyway IMHO.
• aram 10y ago
  If you didn't check already, see NomadList[0] for summarized information on a lot of cities. It provides a "score" in basic categories that would/could be important for people working remotely. [0] https://nomadlist.com/ https://nomadlist.com/
  • nraynaud 10y ago
    I don't understand this website, how could Vancouver, Prague, San Jose and Porto have the same cost of living ?
  • al_chemist 10y ago
    I've checked scores of few cities I've lived in and they look like they were based on stereotypes, not on real experience.
    • ivm 10y ago
      Santiago scored 1 on "Gay friendly" despite same-sex unions are legal in Chile and most people don't care (there are transgender and gay politicians). 2 on Weather (Mediterranean climate), 2 on Fun (huge developed city with all sorts of entertainment).
• bgroins 10y ago
  Amsterdam. As an American (or Japanese) citizen you can get a residency card easily here if you start a business under the DAFT. You can also get a 30% tax break for up to 8 years as a highly skilled migrant, which is good because the highest effective tax rate here is 52%. Aside from those things, the city is very clean, extremely safe, cheap groceries, tons of green space, and extremely easy to navigate by bike or public transport. My wife and I came from LA where none of those things are true. Going out to eat is also about half as much as LA, and there is a lot of restaurant variety due to the multicultural nature of the city. Cheap insurance for individuals with a highly rated health care system. Downsides are the weather can be unpredictable, and definitely cold and gloomy in the winter. Also high rents in some popular areas, but that's probably true for most places. Overall though, we're extremely happy with our choice and considering staying long term. Also speaking only English is no problem.
  • alemhnan 10y ago
    the 30% tax break holds also if you are a one man company (zzp) ?
    • tijs 10y ago
      Yes. All you need is a business registration and a bank account with €5k in it. Both easy to setup in a week or two. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DAFT https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DAFT
      • owenwil 10y ago
        No, this isn't correct. If you set up a ZZP you lose it forever, however if you create a BV and hire yourself into it, you can have it. Source: I did this.
        • alemhnan 10y ago
          Ah that's very interesting. Do you mind to have a chat? I'm in Netherlands and might be interested in doing that.
• thatoneguy 10y ago
  Vancouver, WA just across the bridge from Portland. Native Oregonian but mortgage on a condo downtown was less than $400/month, no state income tax & my profit-making side project is better protected by WA state IP laws (basically a copy of California's own time laws). Worked for Google for many years, quit when I got a WFH job where I was guaranteed an "office" in Washington state. Nowadays, just hang out with the friends I grew up with when I'm not working, saving money & hanging out with the wife (who also works from home). Travel used to matter a lot but then I moved back home and realized I just hated living in San Francisco and people are way more important to me nowadays. Basically the best thing ever and every morning I step out to get coffee & feel legit thankful I got escape the Bay Area and get back to my native biome.
  • 1_listerine_pls 10y ago
    What sucks about the Bay
• agentgt 10y ago
  If the wife didn't have a job and didn't like being close to family I would not mind living in Nice France. I was just there recently (luckily before the attack) and loved it. It is like San Diego but with French+Italian cuisine and warmer water. That being said San Diego, Miami, Vermont, and Colorado are some solid choices.
• aorth 10y ago
  Sofia, Bulgaria (my wife is Bulgarian). Working remotely as a sysadmin, I push code to GitHub and do server maintenance from coffee shops and my couch. Fantastic internet in Bulgaria. Very cheap, awesome food, beautiful mountains here. Language a bit of an issue with older people and outside the capital.
  • hdkmraf 10y ago
    Same here, for almost the same reasons (down to wife being Bulgarian). I would add that the girls are quite hot too (it has been a driving force in my life up to before marriage).
  • 59nadir 10y ago
    Are you learning Bulgarian, though? It's not a terribly hard language and it's generally a positive things to the locals if you speak it, even if you have a terrible accent.
    • aorth 10y ago
      Да, аз уча български език. Сега мога да говоря малко. (Yes, I'm studying Bulgarian language. Now I'm able to speak a bit). Learning to read/write Cyrillic has opened many doors, and even though I only speak like a five-year-old child, I can understand much more contextually.
• samsonradu 10y ago
  Bucharest, Romania Being Romanian, it wasn't really a tough choice, having family and friends here. Quite happy with the quality of life, cost of living and income taxes. The city has been changing for the better in the past 10 years, feeling very cosmopolitan these days and open to foreigners.
• tajen 10y ago
  Home. In Lyon, France, because my friends are the most important asset. I've also chosen my coworking space ("Ecoworking") based on the awesomeness of the community and the variety of entrepreneurs (NGOs, architects, book writers, motion designers, etc). I'm a software editor. If it were only for the quality of living, I'd be in the south of France (Nice), but the coworking space I met there wasn't friendly. Besides, the cost of living is much lower in Lyon, notably because the car isn't necessary.
  • bbradley406 10y ago
    As an American who hadn't been out of North America until 10th grade, my student exchange to Lyon was very enjoyable and showed me how absurd life can be in America sometimes. The beautiful old architecture paired with modern public transit made it an excellent city for adventures. We could be anywhere we wanted via bike, scooter, skateboard, and metro in almost no time, and there was so much to see. Coming from living in a car-centric US suburb, it was extremely liberating. One of my fondest memories was when my exchange student was here in the states, and we were eating at an Applebees. The waitress took his 3/4 empty soda glass away, and he swore at her in french. She just shrugged and returned with a free refill. His jaw just dropped since drinking that much soda, and free refills, was totally foreign to him.
• crdb 10y ago
  Singapore. Aside from the obvious ease of doing business bit, I like the rule of law, weather, food, infrastructure, people and values (both Singaporean, and the expat community), low COL (for a developed country), international outlook, English as first and main language, ease of flying to cool places including the PRC and Japan, and the jungle in the middle that you can trek in any time also has a place in my heart. It's a great "home".
  • davej 10y ago
    > low COL It's been a few years since I've been there but is that really the case? I've heard the rent is close to SF level and buying a car is supposed to cost a small fortune in taxes alone. Just from walking around and eating out there, it seemed more expensive than any European city I've been to.
    • lyonlim 10y ago
      Rent has been dropping here, compared to a couple years back. Food can be really cheap if you dine at food centres rather then cafes and restaurants.
    • rorykoehler 10y ago
      Rent: It's coming down at the moment. Depending on how far you're willing to commute it can be very reasonable. Car: You can live here without a car. The public transport is exceptional and for times when you must go quickly/directly taxis are dirt cheap. I can eat a decent quality filling lunch of Hainanese Chicken Rice for $2.50SGD (about €1.70 or $1.90USD) in my local hawker, prices I have never found in Europe unless you are willing to eat potentially hazardous materials. It's true you can easily spend hundreds of dollars eating out if you like however there are plenty of options to keep expenses down. In CBD I can get lunch for less than $5 but usually spend around $8.
    • hboon 10y ago
      It's become more expensive. Rent is expensive. But if you only rent a room, you can go within 500-1000. Food isn't cheap compared to neighbouring countries, but there are neighbourhood eating places (hawker centers) that are ~US$5. > I've heard the rent is close to SF level and buying a car is supposed to cost a small fortune in taxes alone. The trick is not to drive in Singapore. Uber/Grab/cabs and other public transport options are much cheaper unless you need to move around a lot daily. E.g. in sales.
• _kyran 10y ago
  Australia. Foremost because it's always been 'home'. I grew up here and it's where my family and friends are. There's plenty of space to explore and enjoy outside. I love having so many great beaches, places to mountain bike and go bush walking. There's clean drinking water, unpolluted air, have a pretty decent healthcare system and healthy work culture. Speaking of culture, I'm yet to come across another culture that's as laid back and easy going. At the same time, I take advantage of being 'location-independent' and travel frequently. In the past year I've explored Vietnam by motorbike, been surfing in central Australia, gone skiing in New Zealand, road tripped around California, Nevada & Arizona as well as spending some time just soaking up the culture in Japan.
  • saq 10y ago
    Whereabouts in AUS?
    • _kyran 10y ago
      Melbourne and Geelong in Victoria
  • apapli 10y ago
    Surfing in central Australia?
    • _kyran 10y ago
      Central on the east coast (north of Sydney) :) There's not much going on in the middle of the country.
      • stephenr 10y ago
        > Central on the east coast (north of Sydney) I don't think anyone ever in the history of the planet has described that location as "Central Australia", before you.
        • 10y ago
• known 10y ago
  Tokyo
• lemming 10y ago
  Nelson, New Zealand. Beautiful nature all around me, the town is just big enough and it's a really awesome place to have a small kid. My folks are a short trip away so we see them every month, and the pace of life here is totally relaxed. Downsides: basically zero tech scene, and it's getting pretty expensive these days.
  • pandler 10y ago
    > Downsides: basically zero tech scene That seems to be a common theme across the few places I know people working in tech in NZ. Wellington and Auckland are exceptions obviously (well, based on my very superficial interactions there at least). Christchurch has a decent amount of tech but the "scene" is quite humble and close-knit, which I think is more representative of most other places I know of in NZ. I'd probably chalk it up to raw population numbers and population density really. Awesome country to raise a family though; you're totally right.
  • _kyran 10y ago
    Nelson's lovely, but I can't get over Wanaka as the place to be in NZ. I've only visited there a few times, but I always leave thinking 'this would be a great place to settle down'.
    • tankenmate 10y ago
      Wanaka is really beautiful; for people who haven't been there you can get a reasonable idea of what it is like by watching almost any of the outdoor scenes from Lord of the Rings / Hobbit movies. I first went to Wanaka in '94 long before the rest of the world discovered it. Warbirds over Wanaka is great too if you're into WWII aircraft (and others besides). The skiing is great there too (Cardrona, Treble Cone). And Hilary's first major ascent was Mount Aspiring which is about 1.5 hours drive by 4x4 from Wanaka.
• cpplinuxdude 10y ago
  Marbella: beach. :)
• dwyer 10y ago
  Taipei, Taiwan. * Clean and modern. * Very safe. * Nice people. * Excellent public transportation. * Good housing (relatively inexpensive). * Great restaurants (extremely inexpensive). * Low sales tax. * Mandarin is a fun language to learn. Also, $150-200 buys you a round-trip ticket to almost any other major city in Asia, so experiencing a new culture is just another way to spend a weekend. Taiwan's Eva Air and China Airlines are also excellent.
  • jklepatch 10y ago
    Living in Taipei also and I approve everything mentioned above :) Plus: - Taipei is a green city - easy to meet interesting people - Very foreigner friendly - Good and cheap healthcare
    • frrp 10y ago
      I agree, Taipei is a nice place to live and Taiwan is an amazing island. But do you work completely remotely (for a US company)? Do you have any experience with local businesses or starting something in Taiwan? I've lived in Hong Kong and I'm interested in your insights. My email is in my profile.
• matt4077 10y ago
  Berlin, because it's where my social life is, with a week/month working somewhere else (Barcelona, Rome, Istanbul ...) when it gets too cold or boring.
• mbrock 10y ago
  Riga, Latvia right now. Our rent is about 200 EUR but we're thinking of finding something even cheaper... and considering living for free in a kind of legal squat that will be a culture house where we could stay and do a few hours of helping out every week. I'm here because my girlfriend is here, it's cheap, and it's pretty close to my family and friends in Sweden. Riga is also small and cozy in a way that I seem to like. In the future I have a hunch that I'd like to stay in Estonia. It seems like a very forward-thinking country tech-wise and a great place to do something like a blockchain business. Or Romania... or Holland... or Barcelona...
  • lucaspiller 10y ago
    Vilnius, Lithuania Same reasons mostly, except the city is having a big push to make the city a regional tech hub. There are already quite a few startups here such as Wix, Trafi, Vinted, TransferGo and bigger companies like Barclays employ over 1,500 IT staff in the city. The city is small but has enough going on. It has a young vibe, as there are lots of students around. Plenty of cafes you can sit in all day and use the wifi. Public transport is good and taxis are cheap (phone or use an app to book them though: ETaksi, Taxify or Uber), or if you'd rather drive there are two car sharing schemes CityBee and Spark. Oh and internet speeds... I have 100/100 fiber at home for €10/month (there is also a 600/600 option). Ping times to London are 40ms. http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/5458602528 http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/5458602528 Only negative would be winter. If you like sub-zero (C and F) it's fine. As a digital nomad just escape to somewhere else then. Summers are nice though, around 25c - 30c and there are lots of lakes for swimming if it gets too hot.
    • mbrock 10y ago
      Cool, I'd love to visit Vilnius and Lithuania, and probably will in the near future.
    • mixon 10y ago
      Wix (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wix.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wix.com) doesn't look like a startup. Founded in 2006, IPO in 2014, market cap is ~1B
• petercooper 10y ago
  I live in the backest of backwaters in England, rural Lincolnshire. We're a company of 10 but most of our customers are in SV and we work in $. The why: My wife's from here and I've grown to like the culture and how much further money stretches. Luxury outside of London versus living in a shoebox is no real contest for me (but is a legitimate one for others).
  • boothead 10y ago
    Must be pretty handy to be paid in $ around now :-)
• grantcox 10y ago
  Phnom Penh, Cambodia. My wife's work requires her to work abroad, and this is the post that made sense for our family and her career. It's a nice enough place to live and work, very cheap, all modern conveniences are available, great expat community. We'll stay for a couple more years, then move somewhere else (she gets re-posted every 2-3 years).
  • hndude 10y ago
    Do you mind sharing what your wife does? I was recently in Phnom Penh and really liked it.
• forcer 10y ago
  Andorra, small country in the middle of Pyrenees. Beautiful mountains with decent skiing in winter, all year around nice sunny weather, great food, almost all homes have fibre to home, close proximity to Barcelona. Cost-wise very affordable + only 10% income tax. On the flip side there is no tech ecosystem or it can sometimes be a bit boring, you need to travel to BCN to get your culture fix :) It can also be a bit hard to get out since closest airport is BCN.
  • angry-hacker 10y ago
    Do you manage to live there speaking only Castellano or is Catalán necessary?
• rihegher 10y ago
  Libourne, France You can rent a 110m2 house for around 800 euros a month in a small town 30 minutes away from Bordeaux by car or train. The town is nice and getting better with new projects coming to make it more attractive for wine tourists (Saint Emilion is 10 minutes drive from it). There is a train station where you can get 5 trains per day to get to Paris in 3 hours. There is High school and hospital and all what you need for basic stuff, and if you can't find something you can still go to Bordeaux to get what you want. I live there with my wife and kids mainly because it's cheap and not too far from our families and friends and because we wanted to get a not too small house (by french measure) with a nice garden for our kids in a nice area. As I see more and more people from Paris coming here so I think we made the right choice.
• cookiecaper 10y ago
  No one has mentioned it yet, so if I could ask, what about Hong Kong? I'm an American living state-side but I have done some research on relocating to Hong Kong. I work from home with a salary that would be at least semi-respectable anywhere in the US (though of course not luxurious in high CoL cities), but it doesn't seem like it would be enough to furnish a home or lifestyle in HK that is anything like what we have now. Immigration seems like it will be a problem without employer sponsorship, and employment opportunities for programmers look terrible (though, to be fair, I don't know much Cantonese yet so I can't search in the native language). I'm starting to come to the conclusion that the only realistic way to get there would be a career shift into finance and specifically targeting the type of jobs that often end up being exported to HK (along with luxurious compensation and relocation packages). Anyone here run a biz from HK and want to share some details? I see several of its neighbors have been mentioned: Singapore, Taipei, Bangkok, but no HK. Is that just luck of the draw or is there a reason that entrepreneurs avoid HK? I have an indirect acquaintance, someone I just barely know enough to follow on Facebook, who opened an office in HK. He's been there for 3 or 4 years now, but just announced he and his family are relocating over the border into Shenzen to open another office there (as I understand it, his HK office is still operating, and, for the record, his company primarily does Wordpress sites). I thought this was interesting. I don't know the guy well enough to ask him directly about what motivated him, but is this something people are seeing a lot of? From my reading, it sounds like the only benefits of Shenzen are cheaper rent and more protections from hostile Western governments (HK more likely to extradite and/or honor civil judgments issued by Western countries than mainline China), and there appear to be many additional limitations despite Shenzen's status as a Special Economic Zone.
  • ddeck 10y ago
    I do. I think the most important question is: If your business is truly location independent and you don't have other reasons to be in HK, why choose to locate it in the city with the world's most expensive real estate? There are many things I love about HK, but the control of the property market by a cartel of local families permeates every aspect of life. There's zero sales tax in HK and goods are manufactured nearby, and yet a nice TV from a retail electronics store will cost you double what you'd pay in the US, because they need to cover the rent. Even something simple like finding a cafe to sit down, enjoy a coffee and read the paper becomes a nearly impossible challenge at times given the inability of a cafe to support its exorbitant rent from customers spending an hour sitting around. To put some numbers on it, the average rental per per square foot at the high end is $0.55/hour [1]. Assuming you're serving customers 12 hours a day, and you have nothing but customer seating, with one square meter per person, that's $12/hour in rent alone for every seat. Without zoning, the highest bidder wins. So food and beverage have been pushed up into the high floors of office buildings where rents are cheaper, and the pedestrian areas are instead lined with jewelry and watch shops. Although HK has a lot of nice forest (as only 25% of the land is developed), within the developed areas, this is what passes for a park: https://www.google.com/maps/@22.2753215,114.171373,3a,37.5y,34.71h,82.87t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s6cBywtl7PMmCt1ZrbOlaOQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en https://www.google.com/maps/@22.2753215,114.171373,3a,37.5y,... There are many great things about HK, but it's important to be aware of the space issue. [1] http://www.mingtiandi.com/real-estate/china-retail-real-estate-news/hks-causeway-bay-still-ranks-2nd-worldwide-for-retail-rents-despite-downturn/ http://www.mingtiandi.com/real-estate/china-retail-real-esta...
• bemmu 10y ago
  Tokushima, Japan. Not a particularly inspiring environment, besides the good beaches and view of the mountains. Non-existent developer community. Sufficiently sized city (200k) to have everything you need. Fun festivals. For our family of two adults and a baby, our living cost is very roughly $3000 / month. Biggest cost is my health insurance, second highest expense is rent, our place is $720 / month. You need a car to survive. At first it seemed that taxes would be much cheaper than Finland, but actually there are many varieties of fees and when you add them all up Japan is about the same. Putting a child through the schooling system would tip that in favor of Finland, where they actually pay you to study. I wrote this ages ago, been meaning to update it: http://www.bemmu.com/what-it-costs-to-live-in-japan http://www.bemmu.com/what-it-costs-to-live-in-japan
  • panorama 10y ago
    Hey Bemmu! A couple questions after reading your blog post: 1. Any noticeable societal differences between living in Tokushima and Tokyo? 2. Assuming you are still renting, do you eventually plan to purchase your own property in Japan? It seems property costs outside of Tokyo are really cheap. I've been contemplating moving near Kamakura as it has a beach and it's still reasonably close to Tokyo.
• gfwilliams 10y ago
  Oxfordshire countryside in England. I tried working from a small flat in London and I got totally burnt out. I like being able to look out the window and see trees, fields and a river - I've been working full-time for myself for 7 years now, I'm personally finding it's hugely important to be able to keep stress under control and get some perspective... and for me, being able to get outside really helps. Ideally I'd move to Wales where it's cheaper and prettier, but realistically I need to be able to get to London and airports relatively quickly, as well as to not be too far from friends and family.
• slederer 10y ago
  Austria and San Francisco, as we have office locations there. I'm splitting my time every month between the two locations.
• pandler 10y ago
  I've been popping around quite a bit recently. Some recent destinations in no particular order: Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Korea, USA, Australia, India, Kenya, South Africa, Germany, Norway, New Zealand. I stay for a few months (usually 2-6 months) at a time and move on. Currently in Bali because it's cheap, the weather is nice, I'm right on the beach, there are solid coworking + cafe options, and the Balinese people + culture + architecture are absolutely splendid.
  • dave1619 10y ago
    So, how do you decide where to go next?
    • pandler 10y ago
      I have a tentative plan of the next few places I want to go next. That changes (just about every week) based on people I meet, the conversations I have, what other people's stories get me excited, and the timezone I want to be in. The more I make solid friends with other long-term travelers, however, the more I prioritize the locations where I know those friends will be.
  • aaren 10y ago
    You mind emailing me (in profile)? I'm looking for some Bali specific info - just want to work and surf basically :)
    • pandler 10y ago
      Check your inbox
• adrianh 10y ago
  I moved to Amsterdam with my wife and kid eight months ago. (I'm American, from Chicago, and I run Soundslice, soundslice.com.) We chose Amsterdam because: * The DAFT program makes it easy for American business owners to get a Dutch visa. * Everybody speaks English (which is a double-edged sword, because it's tough to learn/practice Dutch!). * The biking is second-to-none. I'm spoiled for life. * It's safe. I feel much safer than the U.S. * It's beautiful. * Great scene for Django music (gypsy jazz), which I play. * Easy travel to other parts of Europe. * It's very international -- in day-to-day life I meet people from all over Europe and the world. A very cool experience (especially for an American). * Liberal policies make for a culture that we personally agree with more, even compared to liberal Chicago. As for weather, people complain about it -- but it's better than Chicago. So it's a net win. :-)
• tluyben2 10y ago
  Spain, in the mountains. I do coding and management which require only 'ok' internet and I for sure am more productive here working on my mountain view terras than in some office with other office views. When needed I fly to clients or partners or meetings for a few days and a few times a year I fly to partners and hang around for a month. I try to avoid offices so we usually meet in nature hotel lobbies, hotel lobbies in general or bars and restaurants to work or talk. Location does not matter a lot because if I have a phone or skype for meetings and something to write code and docs on, I am fine. Have been for 20+ years now.
  • angry-hacker 10y ago
    I'm also in Spain. In the mountains do you mean as a more or less hermit or just somewhere really high altitude?
    • tluyben2 10y ago
      Compared to most I guess it is both: highest village in this region and I live in a part from the village which has 40 people living in it: in winter less.
  • jasonkester 10y ago
    Nice. I spent a year in Pamplona when I first started living abroad full time. It's cool in that it's a nice medieval walled city with all the infrastructure to handle tons of tourists. But those tourists all come at once for San Fermin and the running of the bulls, then they leave. The rest of the year you and the locals get the whole city to yourself, with the little pipe band playing in the square at night and everybody out dancing, then making rounds of the tapas bars and such. A really nice pace of life. For anybody who likes a walkable city and has the freedom to be anywhere, it's a good place to be.
• jimaek 10y ago
  Krakow, Poland. Because Poland is one of the very few EU countries with low enough business requirements to get a residence.
• omginternets 10y ago
  Paris It's important that the time I don't spend working be fulfilling -- a value that Parisians all seem to share. Cheap (if not free) museums, cultural events, and small gatherings in which people talk about life are what keep me here.
• personlurking 10y ago
  Lisbon - Sunny most of the year - Small EU capital but lots to do, beautiful cities countrywide - Walkable - Almost all young people speak fluent English - Cheap (though this is slowly changing) - Very multicultural (if you know where to look) - I rent a big room w/ an amazing view of the city and my total monthly bills are under $600 (includes going out several times per week).
• oriettaxx 10y ago
  Greece, Dodecanneso. Why? maybe the best sailing area in the med (we live aboard a 11mt old/cheap sailing boat), cheap, easy, great weather, great & cheap internet (mobile) everywhere. Winter not aboard anymore (electricity is getting too expensive), so maybe will join some of you in wintertime
• garyclarke27 10y ago
  Anyone in Cascais Lisbon? I'm fortunate to have location independent income, following the Brexit result which disgusted me, I will definitly leave within the UK in the next 6 months. Portuguese tax looks v good for entrepreneurs, only €500k investment (includes house) required to get EU passport, great climate, cheap living, great food, large city close by with access to Tech Talent, international private schools for young daughters. Thought about Malaga aswell but wealth tax puts me off and Spaniards seem less freindly towards Brits. Also thought of Berlin or Munich but they are more expensive and have more immigration pressures, France Italy too anti- business, so Lisbon seems best option to me. Any comments or critiques of my logic would be appreciated, it's a very big decision after all!
  • jayjay1010 10y ago
    I'm in Cascais, ive been navigating the NHR program since I arrived last year, its a loverly place, lisbon has a cool scene, they hosting websimmit this year which will put it on the map totally. You can get me at this address support / linkaudit.co.uk
• ivm 10y ago
  Valdivia, Chile It's a cute small city with all the necessary services (shopping, restaurants, healthcare, optical fiber with 10-15mbps to California) and a vibrant community created by hundreds of students from local universities. There're a coworking space, small tech meetups, and game jams. You can also take a one hour flight to Santiago for bigger tech events and meetups. Renting a good house is $600-700 a month, the climate is mild (only rains in winter). Average lunch is $6-8, we spend about $350 for food and $150 for health insurance for 2 persons. Chile is quite safe in general but here we can walk in night without any worries. The city is trying to be bike-friendly, it just got some bike lanes. Startup and business visas are too complicated here but you can get a "rentista" visa for any kind of passive foreign income or work visa for a contract with a foreign employer. There're many expats coming, we know a team from the US building a tech village near the city. Downsides: you will need to learn Chilean Spanish (though many young people know English, especially developers), there's smoke pollution in winter in the evenings since wood stoves are used for heating.
• jasonkester 10y ago
  Just South of Paris, near Fontainebleau. Where they keep all the good bouldering. It's all about: - Choose the thing you like to do most - Find the absolute best place in the world to do that thing - Find a house there It doesn't always work out though. I spent years trying to find a place to live that was walking distance from a good surf break in the sun. Can't be done unless you're happy spending five million dollars on the house or are willing to live on a dusty scrap of land in Central America where you need to hire a guy with a gun to sit at the gate all night every night. Or want to strand yourself on a little sand and mosquito island a day's boat ride from Sumatra. Fortunately, my (and my wife's) first love is climbing. We were worried we'd quickly "climb out" any crag we moved to, but Fontainebleau has just over 20,000 problems so it'll be a few years before we can get to them all. And they have proper French wine and baguettes and Paris 40 minutes away on the train. Sorted. But yeah, if you can pull this whole location independence thing off, I'd highly recommend it.
  • sanswork 10y ago
    >I spent years trying to find a place to live that was walking distance from a good surf break in the sun. My wife and I just moved to Yamba, NSW which fits this pretty well. We're ~500m walk from 2 different beaches one of them a surf beach and about a km from another surf beach. I don't surf(yet) myself but my friends that do are all very excited to be in the area so apparently its pretty good here.
• Mz 10y ago
  I am in California for health reasons. The dry climate and low levels of ragweed are good for me. I like California for a lot of reasons, but the deciding factor is my health.
• gspyrou 10y ago
  Thessaloniki , Greece . Because no other place can match the beaches of Chalkidiki [inside joke for Greek readers :)].