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Would love to hear your point of view on this. Have you documented your experiences anywhere? Blog post or HN comment? Also, do you think having such a lifesty

Would love to hear your point of view on this. Have you documented your experiences anywhere? Blog post or HN comment? Also, do you think having such a lifestyle can have be called as truly financially independent?

jasonkester 16y ago
A quick spin back through my blog reveals that I've been shamefully lax on writing about the actual mechanics of running a software company from the road. I'll need to do something about that. In the meantime, here's a quick overview of what I've been up to since I started working from the road: http://www.expatsoftware.com/articles/2006/12/getting-it-down-on-paper.html http://www.expatsoftware.com/articles/2006/12/getting-it-dow... From a financial perspective, it's completely counterintuitive that traveling is actually a lot cheaper than staying at home. But if you think about it a minute, it starts to make sense. Imagine you cut your rent and car payment down to zero (by ditching both car and apartment), as well as all the little bills that went along with them. Now replace that with the comparatively small expense of staying in $5/night accommodation, and otherwise living on about $20/day. When I was planning my first long trip, taking the $2,000/month "keep life in the US alive" line-item out of the spreadsheet extended my $10k budget from 2 months to 10 months. Bill a day per month, and yes, you're pretty much set for life. Of course, you're only set for life if you don't plan on coming home, so it's probably best to leave a bit in reserve for when you do.
- hbt 16y ago
  I'm guessing those rates only apply for south-east asia and south america and maybe some rural locations in Europe or eastern europe. Out of curiosity, are you writing software or managing programmers remotely? I tried traveling and working as a consultant but dual screens and comfy chairs don't do well in a suitcase.
  - jamii 16y ago
    > I'm guessing those rates only apply for south-east asia and south america and maybe some rural locations in Europe or eastern europe. For western european hostels budget about 16 euros per day. It used to be closer to 8 but the supply of budget travelers has increased sharply in the last decade.
  - jasonkester 16y ago
    Given the option of a 22 inch monitor in a cube or a 12" thinkpad on a sandy beach, it's amazing how quickly you can get used to coding with small fonts. South America is more realistically $25/day all in. SE Asia, as mentioned is about $20. Indonesia is more like $10. Africa is free.
    - cuchoperl 16y ago
      Some countries even pay you to come, see Chile and its $40k grant: www.startupchile.org
    - kiddo 16y ago
      Can you elaborate on Africa being free?
      - jasonkester 16y ago
        Free enough that you don't need to think about it as an expense. I think I bottomed out at $0.70 per night for a room in Malawi. Double that if you want to splurge on something nicer.
- alnayyir 16y ago
  The details are helpful, thank you. I've been pondering what to do about my room when I leave next week.
alnayyir 16y ago
I'm thinking about attempting the same thing. Leaving the country in a week and a half. Thinking about getting a few of my ideas out there while I travel.

jasonkester 16y ago

A quick spin back through my blog reveals that I've been shamefully lax on writing about the actual mechanics of running a software company from the road. I'll need to do something about that. In the meantime, here's a quick overview of what I've been up to since I started working from the road: http://www.expatsoftware.com/articles/2006/12/getting-it-down-on-paper.html http://www.expatsoftware.com/articles/2006/12/getting-it-dow... From a financial perspective, it's completely counterintuitive that traveling is actually a lot cheaper than staying at home. But if you think about it a minute, it starts to make sense. Imagine you cut your rent and car payment down to zero (by ditching both car and apartment), as well as all the little bills that went along with them. Now replace that with the comparatively small expense of staying in $5/night accommodation, and otherwise living on about $20/day. When I was planning my first long trip, taking the $2,000/month "keep life in the US alive" line-item out of the spreadsheet extended my $10k budget from 2 months to 10 months. Bill a day per month, and yes, you're pretty much set for life. Of course, you're only set for life if you don't plan on coming home, so it's probably best to leave a bit in reserve for when you do.

hbt 16y ago
I'm guessing those rates only apply for south-east asia and south america and maybe some rural locations in Europe or eastern europe. Out of curiosity, are you writing software or managing programmers remotely? I tried traveling and working as a consultant but dual screens and comfy chairs don't do well in a suitcase.
- jamii 16y ago
  > I'm guessing those rates only apply for south-east asia and south america and maybe some rural locations in Europe or eastern europe. For western european hostels budget about 16 euros per day. It used to be closer to 8 but the supply of budget travelers has increased sharply in the last decade.
- jasonkester 16y ago
  Given the option of a 22 inch monitor in a cube or a 12" thinkpad on a sandy beach, it's amazing how quickly you can get used to coding with small fonts. South America is more realistically $25/day all in. SE Asia, as mentioned is about $20. Indonesia is more like $10. Africa is free.
  - cuchoperl 16y ago
    Some countries even pay you to come, see Chile and its $40k grant: www.startupchile.org
  - kiddo 16y ago
    Can you elaborate on Africa being free?
    - jasonkester 16y ago
      Free enough that you don't need to think about it as an expense. I think I bottomed out at $0.70 per night for a room in Malawi. Double that if you want to splurge on something nicer.
alnayyir 16y ago
The details are helpful, thank you. I've been pondering what to do about my room when I leave next week.

alnayyir 16y ago

I'm thinking about attempting the same thing. Leaving the country in a week and a half. Thinking about getting a few of my ideas out there while I travel.