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I've been working almost entirely remote (some occasional short periods of going to a small office with clients) for about 12 years. For most of it, I've been
by stephenr 6y ago
I've been working almost entirely remote (some occasional short periods of going to a small office with clients) for about 12 years.
For most of it, I've been living in Thailand (almost 8 years). Lifestyle here is pretty laid back, but you need to be more aware of your own/your family's safety, in a whole lot of different ways. It's also not particularly easy on foreigners if you want to run a company here, but it's doable. I believe Americans will have a slightly easier time with this, due to an agreement between the countries.
There is a somewhat-formed plan for us to move back to Australia at some point, and we'll almost certainly end up somewhere outside of the major cities, probably one of the larger towns in Victoria.
- dwd 6y agoHighly recommend Warrnambool as far as regional Victorian towns go, but the lack of humidity, constant wind and freezing water would take getting used to after Thailand. The Sunshine Coast or Cairns have a similar vibe but warmer weather.
- stephenr 6y agoI'd been considering Portland actually, and maybe it'd still get a look-in, but it may be too small. Definitely will not miss the humidity/heat. I'll miss the weather being fairly constant though. Also, no to Qld. We want to move back to Australia, not move back to the 1920s.
- dwd 6y agoHaha - you'll find half of Queensland is just ex-pat Victorians. Just don't wear Victorian plates on your car - first day there after driving up from Victoria I got abused by some Maroochydore bogans. Portland is nice, but Port Fairy is possibly the best little town along the West coast. I grew up in Warrnambool, but spent a few months house sitting an old whalers cottage there.
- stephenr 6y agoYou just proved my point about Qld.
- willemh 6y agoTorquay/Ocean Grove may be more your style. The weather isn't as consistent as QLD but beats Warrnambool by being a couple of degrees warmer. It's near Geelong but you still get the ocean. And it's only about 1.5hrs to Melbourne if you avoid peak hour. I get your point about Queensland. Maroochydore might be slowly modernising. They're building a new city centre from scratch on what used to be the golf course. They've recently connected to the Japan-Guam-Australia South submarine fibre cable and the council are marketing that pretty hard. Saying that, it's still largely seen as a place to retire; evidenced by one of the largest contributors to the local economy being healthcare (which includes nursing homes).
- dwd 6y agoDon't forget the Otways. The old growth forest parts are amazing and you used to be able to camp some places in there and even take along the dog. I live within walking distance of a comparable waterfall but can't take the dog due to its park classification.
- stephenr 6y agoHow exactly does the submarine cable connection affect things realistically? I’d have thought the point of contention for most people in Australia would be either the last mile with the boondoggle that is FttN or the distance to other countries. Does skipping a bit of terrestrial fibre backbone really make that much difference?