4 ms·

Welcome to the real world of digital nomadism

33 points by mskvsk 10y ago

lukasm 10y ago
How do you find the accommodation? It must be quite frustrating to pay for WIFI that's almost nonexistent.
- mskvsk 10y ago
  On Booking.com mostly, they have feedback on Wi-fi. But yes, it's super frustrating.
- herbst 10y ago
  Honestly i dont mind that factor at all. Sometimes wifi is shitty, sometimes not. Usually it works because otherwise people would complain. At home i had a gigibit sync internet connection and honestly i rarely really miss it. If everything else fails 4G is widely available and cheap
Numberwang 10y ago
I'm in Bali now and can see where you are coming from. This is def an age thing though. The older you get the more you want to settle (in general).
- mskvsk 10y ago
  True.
65827 10y ago
I think that I'd be way more interested in reading about this phenomena if there was literally any term used to describe it other than "digital nomad". There's also just the creeps who really enjoy being served by other humans, but can't really afford to own a full time servant class anywhere but SE Asia so that's where they live. Something really rubs me the wrong way about the white people who do this, lots of really creepy stuff going on.
- 127 10y ago
  It's just another job. What's so creepy about it?
- b6 10y ago
  > There's also just the creeps who really enjoy being served by other humans, but can't really afford to own a full time servant class anywhere but SE Asia so that's where they live. Hi, I've been doing the digital nomad thing (I don't like this term either) for about a year and a half with two close friends. I'm not the way you describe, and neither are my friends. Could you give more information about where your perspective comes from? Is this something you've seen while working as a nomad? Or something you imagine happening?
  - mercer 10y ago
    I'd second that request. I've been considering 'going nomad' for a while and I'm very interested to learn more about it, 'good' or 'bad'.
- mskvsk 10y ago
  The majority of nomads I've met were nice people and didn't have the master/servant mindset. However, I knew some people who do, though. As for the term, I don't like it either, but this is how languages work, I guess. There is little we can do at that point.
- yummyfajitas 10y ago
  I quite enjoy having servants when I'm in India. There are many jobs where I don't have a comparative advantage so I pay people to do them. Your language "own a full time servant" is nonsensical, it's "pay a person for their labor at a mutually agreed upon wage". If an employee finds something better (which they often do in a fast growing economy) there's nothing I can do to keep them besides offer them more money. By contrast, in the US, I'm forced to pay people not to work. Why is preferring the former "creepy"?
  - someguydave 10y ago
camillomiller 10y ago
I'm currently in Siem Reap, ready for the last leg of my trip. It was more of a vacation to escape Berlin's cruellest months (january and february), but so far work has been hard. Very sporadic and much less consistent than I expected. Mine's a short trip, tho, with lots of travelling in between places, so I won't describe it as a real digital nomad experience.
beachstartup 10y ago
it seems like a lot of these problems can avoided by simply staying in one spot longer, i.e. 6 months to a year. i'd say anything less than 3 months and you're basically just a tourist. i've lived in my current spot for 6 years and i still find new things less than 1 km from my house routinely.
- Canada 10y ago
  I agree. In most places it's difficult to rent places at reasonable prices for less than a year. Sure, you can rent crappy places, but nothing good. You get a lot more mileage committing a year at a time than jumping around every month. Knowing you have 12 months ahead encourages behaving like you actually live there and also allows real friendships to develop. It amazes me how some people jump around, going to 5 cities on their 2 week holiday. They go everywhere and they they experience nowhere. The big challenge is immigration. 60 to 90 day visit limits are common, and how many times you can do quick ins and outs varies.
- mskvsk 10y ago
  Yes, some of these issues can be avoided by going the long term, but the majority of them still persist: weather, not knowing the local language, troubles getting local things done, condescending attitude, food poisoning etc. In fact, going long term helps with the internet speed and work place issues only. And even that isn't necessarily the case when staying in some Thailand islands, for instance. But yeah, you get somewhat used to it. Personally, my 6 month stay in Chiang mai was quite pleasant.
marz0 10y ago
A lot of the issues you describe seem to come from remotely working in countries throughout SE Asia. What if one were to travel the US as a US citizen? Issues like unreliable internet connection, workplace issues, food poisoning, visas/paperwork, and language barrier would be greatly minimized. Traveling Europe with an EU citizenship would be a similar experience, though you may run into some language barriers. You also have a general idea of what the weather will be like in any of these places. Overspending on the other hand is definitely something that would be an issue while remotely working anywhere, but if you stay disciplined enough I think you'd be able to manage.
- mskvsk 10y ago
  True, when travelling domestically or within more or less same culture, most points described in the article don't apply.
benguild 10y ago
Yeah, this is part of the reason we built https://cafewifi.com https://cafewifi.com
DrScump 10y ago
I wonder how many people nowadays know of Steven K. Roberts, the original "High Tech Nomad" starting in 1983: https://microship.com/high-tech-nomad-popular-computing/ https://microship.com/high-tech-nomad-popular-computing/

33 points by mskvsk 10y ago

lukasm 10y ago

How do you find the accommodation? It must be quite frustrating to pay for WIFI that's almost nonexistent.

mskvsk 10y ago
On Booking.com mostly, they have feedback on Wi-fi. But yes, it's super frustrating.
herbst 10y ago
Honestly i dont mind that factor at all. Sometimes wifi is shitty, sometimes not. Usually it works because otherwise people would complain. At home i had a gigibit sync internet connection and honestly i rarely really miss it. If everything else fails 4G is widely available and cheap

Numberwang 10y ago

I'm in Bali now and can see where you are coming from. This is def an age thing though. The older you get the more you want to settle (in general).

mskvsk 10y ago
True.

65827 10y ago

I think that I'd be way more interested in reading about this phenomena if there was literally any term used to describe it other than "digital nomad". There's also just the creeps who really enjoy being served by other humans, but can't really afford to own a full time servant class anywhere but SE Asia so that's where they live. Something really rubs me the wrong way about the white people who do this, lots of really creepy stuff going on.

127 10y ago
It's just another job. What's so creepy about it?
b6 10y ago
> There's also just the creeps who really enjoy being served by other humans, but can't really afford to own a full time servant class anywhere but SE Asia so that's where they live. Hi, I've been doing the digital nomad thing (I don't like this term either) for about a year and a half with two close friends. I'm not the way you describe, and neither are my friends. Could you give more information about where your perspective comes from? Is this something you've seen while working as a nomad? Or something you imagine happening?
- mercer 10y ago
  I'd second that request. I've been considering 'going nomad' for a while and I'm very interested to learn more about it, 'good' or 'bad'.
mskvsk 10y ago
The majority of nomads I've met were nice people and didn't have the master/servant mindset. However, I knew some people who do, though. As for the term, I don't like it either, but this is how languages work, I guess. There is little we can do at that point.
yummyfajitas 10y ago
I quite enjoy having servants when I'm in India. There are many jobs where I don't have a comparative advantage so I pay people to do them. Your language "own a full time servant" is nonsensical, it's "pay a person for their labor at a mutually agreed upon wage". If an employee finds something better (which they often do in a fast growing economy) there's nothing I can do to keep them besides offer them more money. By contrast, in the US, I'm forced to pay people not to work. Why is preferring the former "creepy"?
- someguydave 10y ago

camillomiller 10y ago

I'm currently in Siem Reap, ready for the last leg of my trip. It was more of a vacation to escape Berlin's cruellest months (january and february), but so far work has been hard. Very sporadic and much less consistent than I expected. Mine's a short trip, tho, with lots of travelling in between places, so I won't describe it as a real digital nomad experience.

beachstartup 10y ago

it seems like a lot of these problems can avoided by simply staying in one spot longer, i.e. 6 months to a year. i'd say anything less than 3 months and you're basically just a tourist. i've lived in my current spot for 6 years and i still find new things less than 1 km from my house routinely.

Canada 10y ago
I agree. In most places it's difficult to rent places at reasonable prices for less than a year. Sure, you can rent crappy places, but nothing good. You get a lot more mileage committing a year at a time than jumping around every month. Knowing you have 12 months ahead encourages behaving like you actually live there and also allows real friendships to develop. It amazes me how some people jump around, going to 5 cities on their 2 week holiday. They go everywhere and they they experience nowhere. The big challenge is immigration. 60 to 90 day visit limits are common, and how many times you can do quick ins and outs varies.
mskvsk 10y ago
Yes, some of these issues can be avoided by going the long term, but the majority of them still persist: weather, not knowing the local language, troubles getting local things done, condescending attitude, food poisoning etc. In fact, going long term helps with the internet speed and work place issues only. And even that isn't necessarily the case when staying in some Thailand islands, for instance. But yeah, you get somewhat used to it. Personally, my 6 month stay in Chiang mai was quite pleasant.

marz0 10y ago

A lot of the issues you describe seem to come from remotely working in countries throughout SE Asia. What if one were to travel the US as a US citizen? Issues like unreliable internet connection, workplace issues, food poisoning, visas/paperwork, and language barrier would be greatly minimized. Traveling Europe with an EU citizenship would be a similar experience, though you may run into some language barriers. You also have a general idea of what the weather will be like in any of these places. Overspending on the other hand is definitely something that would be an issue while remotely working anywhere, but if you stay disciplined enough I think you'd be able to manage.

mskvsk 10y ago
True, when travelling domestically or within more or less same culture, most points described in the article don't apply.

benguild 10y ago

Yeah, this is part of the reason we built https://cafewifi.com https://cafewifi.com

DrScump 10y ago

I wonder how many people nowadays know of Steven K. Roberts, the original "High Tech Nomad" starting in 1983: https://microship.com/high-tech-nomad-popular-computing/ https://microship.com/high-tech-nomad-popular-computing/