4 ms·

Life on the road was not for me. Sure I loved seeing the world but .... 1. Always having to make plans for the next place to sleep was stressful for me. I'd ar

Life on the road was not for me. Sure I loved seeing the world but .... 1. Always having to make plans for the next place to sleep was stressful for me. I'd arrive at some city and have to start planning the next city else I'd be homeless once my hotel/apartment term expired. I started booking longer (4 weeks, 6 weeks, more) but even then just the fact that I have a place I don't have to think about is less stressful for me. 2. No hangout buddy or really close friends. Some people are great at making new friends and I did make a few in certain cities but I'm at least a little introverted and felt pretty lonely quite often. 3. There only so much tourism I can take. At some point it just got boring seeing yet another old church, yet another museum, etc. Some recent book claimed you should take several shorter vacations than fewer but longer ones. They recommended no more than a week at a time. 4. Not being able to buy/own anything. That might appeal to some but not to others, it means no shopping, something that many people enjoy while traveling. It also means no PS4, no Vive/Oculus, no gaming rig, no tools, no food supplies. Sure if I rented an apartment I could go buy a few things to cook but when I have a permanent residence I have tons of utensils and spices and other things in my kitchen that I just don't have the time to gather in a temporary place. Similarly I had drawers or closets full of parts and tools, something I didn't have digital nomadding. Of course that's all just me. I've met others who really enjoy that lifestyle. Good for them!

kbenson 9y ago
> There only so much tourism I can take. At some point it just got boring seeing yet another old church, yet another museum, etc. Some recent book claimed you should take several shorter vacations than fewer but longer ones. They recommended no more than a week at a time. I just finished a two week honeymoon less than a month ago, and we did it as a traveling and sightseeing vacation. We started with a week in New Orleans and the surrounding area (and mostly did sightseeing instead of partying, it was a honeymoon), and were going to head up through Atlanta and see more of the South. We decided after that first week we were not looking forward to more sightseeing in the humidity, so we made a beeline for Florida and went to Disneyworld for a few days instead. Even though we were a little underwhelmed with Disneyworld after building up expectations for so long(we go to Disneyland often, and I would say they are comparable depending on the type of vacation you want), we didn't regret it. Like many things, the wonder becomes commonplace if you are subjected to it consistently for long enough. That seems to start happening for a lot of people around about a week. We did spend a day in Savannah after that though, and that was gorgeous. Mixing up the vacation probably let us appreciate it more.
komali2 9y ago
Regarding 4, did you ever consider trying a gaming laptop? Razer is coming out with some pretty insane builds at very small form factors. As for tools, yea that was always a bummer. Some cities have hacker barns or whatever but it really depends on where you are. As always, I recommend digital nomads that like buildin shit to check out Taipei, the maker crowd is HUGE there (relatively).
- nylonstrung 9y ago
  Clevo and Sager are great too. The performance gap between desktop and laptop GPUs has been closing so rapidly that imo there's almost no reason to get a desktop rig even though gaming laptops were godawful even 5 years ago
  - outworlder 9y ago
    They still lose hands down in the performance/dollar metric. Also, CPU performance is not in the same ballpark. Similarly marked parts (eg. desktop i7 vs laptop i7) have widly different performance characteristics, mostly due to thermal budgets. But you CAN game in a laptop that doesn't require a backpack-sized power adapter now, and that's great. They're just not the most economical choice. I haven't even got into the upgrade angle.
- mrisoli 9y ago
  As an expat(who doesn't know how long until I might move again) it's not just about gaming IMO. Anything you buy is just more weight to move to the next place. If you enjoy technology and novelty it hurts, think about all interesting that can come out of IoT, you can't just get a new thermostat or put a smart mirror in a place you don't own and need landlord approval. It gets worse if you are living as a hardcore nomad moving from place to place within a few months, you need to have a limited supply of clothes, shoes and other similar things.
  - komali2 9y ago
    Funny though, that's exactly what attracts me to the lifestyle :) I love the aggressive minimalism.
dkersten 9y ago
Number 2 is a big one for me. I've considered a digital nomad life a few times because I love to travel, love to see new places, love to meet new people and all the rest, BUT... I hate solo travel. I'm naturally very quiet, introverted, socially awkward and get social anxiety, so travelling alone is stressful and I don't end up exploring new places much and meet rather few new people because I find it incredibly hard to just start a conversation with strangers (doubly so if there's a language barrier). I'd love to go on extended travels, working from coffee shops while exploring new and interesting places, seeing new things and meeting new people, but to feel comfortable doing that, I would need someone to join me and I simply don't know anybody who would do it with me. :(
- pault 9y ago
  I just moved back to the states after 8 years doing the digital nomad thing and while I totally agree taking a friend or SO with you is ideal, you develop the skill of feeling comfortable opening up to strangers. I used to be completely unable to do this and now I can chat up anyone anywhere. Unfortunately I find that most people can't reciprocate, increasingly so these days. I was severely disappointed when I moved to Austin and got nothing but cold shoulders when trying to start conversations with people in public (I had formed the impression that Austin would be a friendlier place than it is in reality; people talk a big game here but when it comes down to it they are just as self-absorbed as people in any other tech hub). The first six months are brutal but eventually you will get over it out of necessity. I don't want to downplay how rough the adjustment period is, though. It sucks and it reduced me to tears nearly every day.
  - dkersten 9y ago
    Thanks for the reply! Very much appreciated.
  - mrisoli 9y ago
    I am not a Digital Nomad but an expat, and IMO it's not just about being able to open up to strangers but being welcomed by them, I've had people literally tell me they just expect me to leave after one year because that's just what people do here, they are protective, they are okay socializing with me but they don't involve me within their circles because I can't speak the language.
caser 9y ago
1 & 2 are basically the reason we started Hacker Paradise, to make it so you can travel the world without having to think as much about logistics, and while immersed in a tight-knit community. Sounds like you're pretty set on being settled down, but if you ever do choose to travel again, definitely check us out! I myself have mostly settled now, but still like to get away for 1-3 months per year. A large segment of our community has that mostly-stationary lifestyle accented by stints of medium-long travel :)
- iagooar 9y ago
  I love the idea, yet I need to say that $700-$800 for a week is pretty steep. The 4-week offering is a bit better, but still a lot of money, considering flights and food are not included.
- komali2 9y ago
  Oh man I've wanted to ask you guys for ages (politely) - how do you justify the cost of your program? I'm sure you've heard it before, but everything you offer I can find on my own, at a hostel cost of 10 bucks a day and a coffee cost (for wifi) of like 1-2 dollars/day, in SE Asia. Your program seems to be charging several hundreds/week for establishing housing.
edpichler 9y ago
Your are right, traveling to much, all the time, you end up having no bonds. This is not good.
pdimitar 9y ago
Why are you and your grandparent conflating a lifestyle business (== not a try-extremely-hard business) with digital nomadism? Where's the connection?

kbenson 9y ago

> There only so much tourism I can take. At some point it just got boring seeing yet another old church, yet another museum, etc. Some recent book claimed you should take several shorter vacations than fewer but longer ones. They recommended no more than a week at a time. I just finished a two week honeymoon less than a month ago, and we did it as a traveling and sightseeing vacation. We started with a week in New Orleans and the surrounding area (and mostly did sightseeing instead of partying, it was a honeymoon), and were going to head up through Atlanta and see more of the South. We decided after that first week we were not looking forward to more sightseeing in the humidity, so we made a beeline for Florida and went to Disneyworld for a few days instead. Even though we were a little underwhelmed with Disneyworld after building up expectations for so long(we go to Disneyland often, and I would say they are comparable depending on the type of vacation you want), we didn't regret it. Like many things, the wonder becomes commonplace if you are subjected to it consistently for long enough. That seems to start happening for a lot of people around about a week. We did spend a day in Savannah after that though, and that was gorgeous. Mixing up the vacation probably let us appreciate it more.

komali2 9y ago

Regarding 4, did you ever consider trying a gaming laptop? Razer is coming out with some pretty insane builds at very small form factors. As for tools, yea that was always a bummer. Some cities have hacker barns or whatever but it really depends on where you are. As always, I recommend digital nomads that like buildin shit to check out Taipei, the maker crowd is HUGE there (relatively).

nylonstrung 9y ago
Clevo and Sager are great too. The performance gap between desktop and laptop GPUs has been closing so rapidly that imo there's almost no reason to get a desktop rig even though gaming laptops were godawful even 5 years ago
- outworlder 9y ago
  They still lose hands down in the performance/dollar metric. Also, CPU performance is not in the same ballpark. Similarly marked parts (eg. desktop i7 vs laptop i7) have widly different performance characteristics, mostly due to thermal budgets. But you CAN game in a laptop that doesn't require a backpack-sized power adapter now, and that's great. They're just not the most economical choice. I haven't even got into the upgrade angle.
mrisoli 9y ago
As an expat(who doesn't know how long until I might move again) it's not just about gaming IMO. Anything you buy is just more weight to move to the next place. If you enjoy technology and novelty it hurts, think about all interesting that can come out of IoT, you can't just get a new thermostat or put a smart mirror in a place you don't own and need landlord approval. It gets worse if you are living as a hardcore nomad moving from place to place within a few months, you need to have a limited supply of clothes, shoes and other similar things.
- komali2 9y ago
  Funny though, that's exactly what attracts me to the lifestyle :) I love the aggressive minimalism.

dkersten 9y ago

Number 2 is a big one for me. I've considered a digital nomad life a few times because I love to travel, love to see new places, love to meet new people and all the rest, BUT... I hate solo travel. I'm naturally very quiet, introverted, socially awkward and get social anxiety, so travelling alone is stressful and I don't end up exploring new places much and meet rather few new people because I find it incredibly hard to just start a conversation with strangers (doubly so if there's a language barrier). I'd love to go on extended travels, working from coffee shops while exploring new and interesting places, seeing new things and meeting new people, but to feel comfortable doing that, I would need someone to join me and I simply don't know anybody who would do it with me. :(

pault 9y ago
I just moved back to the states after 8 years doing the digital nomad thing and while I totally agree taking a friend or SO with you is ideal, you develop the skill of feeling comfortable opening up to strangers. I used to be completely unable to do this and now I can chat up anyone anywhere. Unfortunately I find that most people can't reciprocate, increasingly so these days. I was severely disappointed when I moved to Austin and got nothing but cold shoulders when trying to start conversations with people in public (I had formed the impression that Austin would be a friendlier place than it is in reality; people talk a big game here but when it comes down to it they are just as self-absorbed as people in any other tech hub). The first six months are brutal but eventually you will get over it out of necessity. I don't want to downplay how rough the adjustment period is, though. It sucks and it reduced me to tears nearly every day.
- dkersten 9y ago
  Thanks for the reply! Very much appreciated.
- mrisoli 9y ago
  I am not a Digital Nomad but an expat, and IMO it's not just about being able to open up to strangers but being welcomed by them, I've had people literally tell me they just expect me to leave after one year because that's just what people do here, they are protective, they are okay socializing with me but they don't involve me within their circles because I can't speak the language.

caser 9y ago

1 & 2 are basically the reason we started Hacker Paradise, to make it so you can travel the world without having to think as much about logistics, and while immersed in a tight-knit community. Sounds like you're pretty set on being settled down, but if you ever do choose to travel again, definitely check us out! I myself have mostly settled now, but still like to get away for 1-3 months per year. A large segment of our community has that mostly-stationary lifestyle accented by stints of medium-long travel :)

iagooar 9y ago
I love the idea, yet I need to say that $700-$800 for a week is pretty steep. The 4-week offering is a bit better, but still a lot of money, considering flights and food are not included.
komali2 9y ago
Oh man I've wanted to ask you guys for ages (politely) - how do you justify the cost of your program? I'm sure you've heard it before, but everything you offer I can find on my own, at a hostel cost of 10 bucks a day and a coffee cost (for wifi) of like 1-2 dollars/day, in SE Asia. Your program seems to be charging several hundreds/week for establishing housing.

edpichler 9y ago

Your are right, traveling to much, all the time, you end up having no bonds. This is not good.

pdimitar 9y ago

Why are you and your grandparent conflating a lifestyle business (== not a try-extremely-hard business) with digital nomadism? Where's the connection?