4 ms·

My girlfriend and I were looking at real estate in SF. It was unreasonably expensive for places that we did not love. We have since decided to sell all of our t

My girlfriend and I were looking at real estate in SF. It was unreasonably expensive for places that we did not love. We have since decided to sell all of our things and live full-time in AirBNBs around the world. I now only have a carry-on suitcase and backpack, and getting rid of all of my crap was such an empowering feeling. For less than rent in SF, we are currently in a beautiful apartment in Mexico City that is decorated, has all services provided (including internet), and has weekly maid cleanings. I don't know how long we will continue this lifestyle, but AirBNB makes it easy. For multi-month rentals, payments go through monthly. After dealing with so many headaches in personal and commercial rentals in SF, I'm welcoming this lifestyle. I'm tired of setting up internet, enrolling in utility payments, disputing issues with landlords, and moving crap between apartments. The last year has been a nightmare for this stuff, and having to deal with long leases has been a root problem preventing me from walking out of bad personal and business rentals. (Fun fact - even canceling a month-to-month Comcast business internet account requires 2 months notice.)

artursapek 9y ago
If I didn't have a kid, I would try to live this way as well. Sounds really nice.
- jdavis703 9y ago
  You can still live minimally with a kid (obviously with school and such travel is harder, but homeschool/unschool is always an option). There are many tiny home documentaries out there with people who have kids. Because I don't have Netflix convenient, here's something I think might be relevant: http://www.theminimalists.com/familylinks/ http://www.theminimalists.com/familylinks/
  - thesmallestcat 9y ago
    Might want to consider the kid's wants and needs too.
tryitnow 9y ago
How long have you lived this lifestyle?
- philip1209 9y ago
  About a week :-) Took about 2 months for us to ramp down life in SF. We're planning on staying in cities for ~3 months at a time each. When we shut down [1] my last company, my girlfriend said "it's now or never." I had realized that I dreaded going to an office every day, so I'm working on making my new company 100% remote. [1] https://blog.staffjoy.com/staffjoy-is-shutting-down-39f7b5d66ef6 https://blog.staffjoy.com/staffjoy-is-shutting-down-39f7b5d6...
  - ohyes 9y ago
    I would be interested to hear how this works out for you, do you plan on chronicling the experiences? I'd be worried about mundane things like income taxes and having a proper mailing address. This seems like something only enabled by having a truly 'digital' lifestyle.
    - philip1209 9y ago
      We'll set up a blog at some point - for now I have my personal [1] and company [2] Instagrams. We're using Earthclass Mail for a mailing address. Works super well. They even cash checks for us. [1] http://instagram.com/philipithomas http://instagram.com/philipithomas [2] http://instagram.com/moonlight_work http://instagram.com/moonlight_work
    - devrandomguy 9y ago
      For expats of most countries, if you spend no more than about a month per year in your native country and don't have property there, then you can declare non-residency. This way, you don't have to pay income tax to your home country, as you are not using their services. Also, if you are constantly on the move, not actually setting up shop and taking local clients, then local income taxes don't really apply either. Nomads aren't really compatible with most income tax systems, for better or worse. It is different for Americans, though, they are on the hook for income tax regardless of where in the world they reside.
hijohnnylin 9y ago
I have a few friends doing this, and saving a ton of money since they work remotely anyway. Like you, they're doing multi-months, and they actually save another ~10% by paying the host directly, using Airbnb only to find places.
devrandomguy 9y ago
I was living the nomadic developer lifestyle for a couple years, and it has been the best experience of my life. Living in and working from a dozen or so different countries has given me an incredible perspective on where in the world I actually want to be. If you and your SO are a developers, then I would highly recommend a work-cation in Prague. I spent a few weeks at a really cool co-working space, PaperHub, which was part of the Institute of Cryptanarchy (lol). They take BTC for everything, the transit system is a dream, and there are tiny little specialist grocery stores everywhere. If I was ever going to return to the same place twice, it would be Prague. Beware of burnout, though - there is no rest in this lifestyle. The home office wants me online during their business day, and constantly learning new cultures is a huge cognitive load. After two years of this, I needed to settle down for a while; right now I am resting between jobs, thanks to a very supportive mother. Oh, make sure to take good care of your parents, they may end up being the only solid, reliable people in your life.
- Mediterraneo10 9y ago
  > I spent a few weeks at a really cool co-working space, PaperHub I honestly don’t get the attraction of co-working spaces for most digital nomads. The costs often outweigh simply working from a cafe or the balcony of your AirBnB – 3G internet is cheap in most of the world now. In my hometown, co-working spaces attract locals who set up small teams with other local freelancers and could benefit from in-person collaboration. But for a solitary digital nomad all of whose contacts are remote, what's the point?
  - phamilton 9y ago
    Networking is a big one. Traveling around the world gives you a chance to uniquely expand your professional network.
    - Mediterraneo10 9y ago
      I see. I guess this must be a developer thing. I’m a digital nomad, but my profession is translation. In a co-working space in a third country, I’d be unlikely to ever meet anyone who needs my particular language pairs, and the only benefit would be working in an unusually quiet place that, in itself, doesn’t seem worth the cost.
yojo 9y ago
I've done long term nomadic with my wife twice so far (once in 2008 for 9 months, once in 2015 for 6 months). It is very enjoyable, but at the end of each stretch I was ready to go home and reconnect with my family and friends. Personally I found it difficult to feel connected in a place when I don't speak the language, and move every month or so. Your personal needs may vary. Either way it should be a great time, at least for a while.
- philip1209 9y ago
  We're actually spending a couple months in each of our home towns (extending trips for weddings). It's a freedom we haven't had in the past, and hopefully it will address those feelings.

artursapek 9y ago

If I didn't have a kid, I would try to live this way as well. Sounds really nice.

jdavis703 9y ago
You can still live minimally with a kid (obviously with school and such travel is harder, but homeschool/unschool is always an option). There are many tiny home documentaries out there with people who have kids. Because I don't have Netflix convenient, here's something I think might be relevant: http://www.theminimalists.com/familylinks/ http://www.theminimalists.com/familylinks/
- thesmallestcat 9y ago
  Might want to consider the kid's wants and needs too.

tryitnow 9y ago

How long have you lived this lifestyle?

philip1209 9y ago
About a week :-) Took about 2 months for us to ramp down life in SF. We're planning on staying in cities for ~3 months at a time each. When we shut down [1] my last company, my girlfriend said "it's now or never." I had realized that I dreaded going to an office every day, so I'm working on making my new company 100% remote. [1] https://blog.staffjoy.com/staffjoy-is-shutting-down-39f7b5d66ef6 https://blog.staffjoy.com/staffjoy-is-shutting-down-39f7b5d6...
- ohyes 9y ago
  I would be interested to hear how this works out for you, do you plan on chronicling the experiences? I'd be worried about mundane things like income taxes and having a proper mailing address. This seems like something only enabled by having a truly 'digital' lifestyle.
  - philip1209 9y ago
    We'll set up a blog at some point - for now I have my personal [1] and company [2] Instagrams. We're using Earthclass Mail for a mailing address. Works super well. They even cash checks for us. [1] http://instagram.com/philipithomas http://instagram.com/philipithomas [2] http://instagram.com/moonlight_work http://instagram.com/moonlight_work
  - devrandomguy 9y ago
    For expats of most countries, if you spend no more than about a month per year in your native country and don't have property there, then you can declare non-residency. This way, you don't have to pay income tax to your home country, as you are not using their services. Also, if you are constantly on the move, not actually setting up shop and taking local clients, then local income taxes don't really apply either. Nomads aren't really compatible with most income tax systems, for better or worse. It is different for Americans, though, they are on the hook for income tax regardless of where in the world they reside.

hijohnnylin 9y ago

I have a few friends doing this, and saving a ton of money since they work remotely anyway. Like you, they're doing multi-months, and they actually save another ~10% by paying the host directly, using Airbnb only to find places.

devrandomguy 9y ago

I was living the nomadic developer lifestyle for a couple years, and it has been the best experience of my life. Living in and working from a dozen or so different countries has given me an incredible perspective on where in the world I actually want to be. If you and your SO are a developers, then I would highly recommend a work-cation in Prague. I spent a few weeks at a really cool co-working space, PaperHub, which was part of the Institute of Cryptanarchy (lol). They take BTC for everything, the transit system is a dream, and there are tiny little specialist grocery stores everywhere. If I was ever going to return to the same place twice, it would be Prague. Beware of burnout, though - there is no rest in this lifestyle. The home office wants me online during their business day, and constantly learning new cultures is a huge cognitive load. After two years of this, I needed to settle down for a while; right now I am resting between jobs, thanks to a very supportive mother. Oh, make sure to take good care of your parents, they may end up being the only solid, reliable people in your life.

Mediterraneo10 9y ago
> I spent a few weeks at a really cool co-working space, PaperHub I honestly don’t get the attraction of co-working spaces for most digital nomads. The costs often outweigh simply working from a cafe or the balcony of your AirBnB – 3G internet is cheap in most of the world now. In my hometown, co-working spaces attract locals who set up small teams with other local freelancers and could benefit from in-person collaboration. But for a solitary digital nomad all of whose contacts are remote, what's the point?
- phamilton 9y ago
  Networking is a big one. Traveling around the world gives you a chance to uniquely expand your professional network.
  - Mediterraneo10 9y ago
    I see. I guess this must be a developer thing. I’m a digital nomad, but my profession is translation. In a co-working space in a third country, I’d be unlikely to ever meet anyone who needs my particular language pairs, and the only benefit would be working in an unusually quiet place that, in itself, doesn’t seem worth the cost.

yojo 9y ago

I've done long term nomadic with my wife twice so far (once in 2008 for 9 months, once in 2015 for 6 months). It is very enjoyable, but at the end of each stretch I was ready to go home and reconnect with my family and friends. Personally I found it difficult to feel connected in a place when I don't speak the language, and move every month or so. Your personal needs may vary. Either way it should be a great time, at least for a while.

philip1209 9y ago
We're actually spending a couple months in each of our home towns (extending trips for weddings). It's a freedom we haven't had in the past, and hopefully it will address those feelings.