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Having been semi-location independent for 4 years now, I have come to a similar conclusion. The theory of decision fatigue -- that you get exhausted by making

Having been semi-location independent for 4 years now, I have come to a similar conclusion. The theory of decision fatigue -- that you get exhausted by making a certain number of decisions -- seems to be true to me. And the thing is that when you are in a new place, there is a large number of decisions to make about petty things like where is the nearest supermarket, where can I work out, how do I get proper internet etc. Whenever I've set up in a new place, my productivity suffers severely for a week or two. After that, I'm okay but if you travel a lot, that becomes a real price. And it's not rewarding the same way that other guilty pleasures are, it's just annoying. I remember walking to the "office" in Bangkok one day, having been there for three weeks. I pulled out my iPod for the first time since I arrived. It struck me that this was a sign that I was familiar with my surroundings. I didn't need the full mental capacity just to navigate, I could run that process in the background and allow myself to listen to music. I am not sure what you can conclude from this but I think that it's likely that I had consumed a lot of energy up until that point, which I then didn't have for programming.

Vivtek 13y ago
Oh man, yeah, decision fatigue. I've been a freelancer (web work and later technical translation) since 1996 and we've moved, kids and dog and all, from Indiana to Puerto Rico to Budapest, at will - and the one thing that makes it difficult is that you're always asking, "Should we be staying here or going somewhere else now?" It never stops. The kids are having allergy problems? Let's move to the Caribbean! The Caribbean is too relaxed and the schools suck? Let's move to Europe! Europe has horrible winters? Back to the Caribbean! It gets old. And expensive. And the business takes a major hit every time we move just because of the distractions - and it's a continual stress when we don't move, a stress that normal people don't even think of having.
- kokey 13y ago
  I can also relate, we should start a Moving Around Anonymous. I find that we don't always consider all the costs before choosing to hop off to the next location, cost in time and energy, but also financially. That said, it doesn't feel like we can settle.
  - personlurking 13y ago
    > Moving Around Anonymous or perhaps Digital Nomads Anonymous. I feel like it's in my DNA.
- wslh 13y ago
  It seems like there is no perfect place. New Zealand or Australia? they are in a difficult time zone. One alternative is having two fixed locations and moving on winter.
  - joonix 13y ago
    This is really how it's done. But requires wealth. It's what super rich people do. Homes in multiple locations and chase the sun.
    - toumhi 13y ago
      Or you could sub-rent your place for a few months in winter and rent a place in a warm country. No wealth required.
      - devgutt 13y ago
        I always wonder if there is a website to organize this. I have my own house but would like to stay here only 3 months a year and move for other 3 places elsewhere (fixed places). It would be a good idea for a startup.
        graeme 13y ago
        There's quite a few websites that handle house swaps. Airbnb is also a good option if you have someone to manage the place for you while you're away.
    - Vivtek 13y ago
      Well, we kind of have that planned. You don't have to be super rich, just have to know your places pretty well and buy smart, maybe something that needs a little work. We bought a house in Richmond, Indiana (more or less where I'm from) for $8000 - that was actually a mistake because it needed too much work, but the principle was sound. Now we're looking for foreclosures in reasonable neighborhoods in Puerto Rico, we're probably going to build a house here in Budapest, and maybe we'll find something in Indiana in a few years. If you have modest houses in your places instead of putting all your real estate money into a new garage and a pool, it's totally doable. A lot of not-so-wealthy people have a house in the North and one in Florida, after all.
- joonix 13y ago
  Exactly. I thought this was what I wanted. Now that I'm somewhat location independent, I keep thinking about where I should move to take full advantage of my freedom. It's exhausting! I want to settle somewhere but can't decide.
  - pjbrunet 13y ago
    Been there, done that. My recommendation is, find your family. Think about your contribution to the future.
  - Fingel 13y ago
    Excuse me if I don't feel sorry for you. Don't you think that's a pretty good problem to have?
    - WA 13y ago
      It's certainly a luxury problem, but it's also a tough problem. Think about it: If you are location-independent, how do you even start to come up with a good decision on where to live? What are the factors you consider and the metrics to see whether or not your decision was good or not afterwards? I'm in a very similar position and just thinking about the endless possibilities of choosing a new place to live can be very overwhelming. But if you haven't been in this position, you won't know how it feels I guess. I figured it is very similar to everybody joking about how they want more free time to do "their stuff". And if you ask "So, what stuff would you do, if you had all time of the day and still get your monthly paycheck?", the answer is often much less clear. Everybody dreams of having all day off, but when it comes to that situation, too much leisure can be frustrating as well.
      - kaitai 13y ago
        I do think this is an interesting discussion and question. For me the answer is simple and clear -- live where my family and friends are. It is interesting to me that other people take such different approaches. Of course one can make new friends and perhaps create a family, but I'm surprised at how little family and friends are even mentioned in the following discussion.
- Lucadg 13y ago
  I'll be in Budapest for a week from the 8th of October with my wife. It would be nice to meet for a coffee and discuss our gypsy lifestyle problems :)
  - Vivtek 13y ago
    Hey, cool! That would give me a great excuse to go into town! My email is in my profile, so let's definitely hook up. Neat venture you have there, by the way - social reservations, I like it! I just did the Craigslist thing in Budapest a couple of years ago (before we moved more permanently) and it worked out nicely - but I think we got lucky. A little more triangulation would have been nice, and it looks like that's what you're doing. Neat!
    - Lucadg 13y ago
      great! I sent you an email. It's funny you label it as social reservations. Did you see this page? http://www.adormo.com http://www.adormo.com because we also launched a test project (italan only for now) http://social.adormo.com/ http://social.adormo.com/ where it's much more social. I just wonder what site you did visit :)
      - Vivtek 13y ago
        The main site (www) - I call that social, probably because I'm a dinosaur. But you've got a kind of ... well, curation thing going, and a personal contact locally. It's not just ads.
        Lucadg 13y ago
        you are right. The local Manager visits most the apartments and meets most owners so he's able to help the guests and guarantees that there are not fakes/bad actors.
enraged_camel 13y ago
>>Whenever I've set up in a new place, my productivity suffers severely for a week or two. The language you are using here - specifically the word "suffer" - is indicative of a certain type of (generally Western) mindset where productivity plays a big role in a person's happiness and satisfaction. I went on a two week vacation to my home country of Turkey back in July. For the first few days, it felt really odd to not work. I would wake up in the morning, have breakfast, fire up my laptop on the patio of my parents' house, and then... stare at the screen. After screwing around on HN and other sites, I would realize that it was 2pm and that I had "wasted" half my day. And I would feel bad about that. After a few days though I realized how absolutely ridiculous that mindset was. I was on vacation and I was not supposed to be producing anything. I was supposed to be relaxing. It was like flipping a switch - I made a paradigm shift and spent the rest of my vacation "doing nothing." It felt great! If I ever find myself in the author's situation where I have sufficient savings and am sitting on a beach in Thailand, instead of trying to continue working and getting stuff done, I'll just check out mentally and enjoy life.
- kolinko 13y ago
  Well, there is vacation, and there is "digital nomadism" that kristian and bartek are talking about. If you go for holidays, you can tuck away your laptop and just rest, but if you plan a year long work&life scenario where you work remotely from another country, your productivity matters.
- zorbo 13y ago
  This is why all my vacations are "zero technology". I bring absolutely no electronics except for an old non-smartphone in case of emergencies. This way I don't have to feel guilty, because I can't be "productive" anyway.
narrator 13y ago
>>And the thing is that when you are in a new place, there is a large number of decisions to make about petty things like where is the nearest supermarket, where can I work out, how do I get proper internet etc. Whenever I've set up in a new place, my productivity suffers severely for a week or two. After that, I'm okay but if you travel a lot, that becomes a real price. And it's not rewarding the same way that other guilty pleasures are, it's just annoying. It's almost like you should get together with a travelling companion who's job is to just figure out your new location and you'll pay for food, fun and expenses. Maybe they're an FWB too :) ? It's like a deluxe travel agent "arrangement" for nomad geeks. This could be a thing if it got going. I can see the 2015 New Yorker Headline now "FWB gets upgraded to Personal Concierge and Travel Agent W/ Benefits for wandering nomad supergeeks in surprising new trend".
- danilocampos 13y ago
  "Boy you guys, wouldn't it be neat if a software development career entitled you to a concubine on top of everything else?"
  - evan_ 13y ago
    Not just a concubine, but a personal assistant and housekeeper, too. Frank Reynolds is not supposed to be a role model, people: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1028239/quotes?ref_=tt_ql_3 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1028239/quotes?ref_=tt_ql_3
- Vivtek 13y ago
  There is a word for a friend-with-benefits for hire, and it's illegal in many places. For good reason.

Vivtek 13y ago

Oh man, yeah, decision fatigue. I've been a freelancer (web work and later technical translation) since 1996 and we've moved, kids and dog and all, from Indiana to Puerto Rico to Budapest, at will - and the one thing that makes it difficult is that you're always asking, "Should we be staying here or going somewhere else now?" It never stops. The kids are having allergy problems? Let's move to the Caribbean! The Caribbean is too relaxed and the schools suck? Let's move to Europe! Europe has horrible winters? Back to the Caribbean! It gets old. And expensive. And the business takes a major hit every time we move just because of the distractions - and it's a continual stress when we don't move, a stress that normal people don't even think of having.

kokey 13y ago
I can also relate, we should start a Moving Around Anonymous. I find that we don't always consider all the costs before choosing to hop off to the next location, cost in time and energy, but also financially. That said, it doesn't feel like we can settle.
- personlurking 13y ago
  > Moving Around Anonymous or perhaps Digital Nomads Anonymous. I feel like it's in my DNA.
wslh 13y ago
It seems like there is no perfect place. New Zealand or Australia? they are in a difficult time zone. One alternative is having two fixed locations and moving on winter.
- joonix 13y ago
  This is really how it's done. But requires wealth. It's what super rich people do. Homes in multiple locations and chase the sun.
  - toumhi 13y ago
    Or you could sub-rent your place for a few months in winter and rent a place in a warm country. No wealth required.
    - devgutt 13y ago
      I always wonder if there is a website to organize this. I have my own house but would like to stay here only 3 months a year and move for other 3 places elsewhere (fixed places). It would be a good idea for a startup.
      - graeme 13y ago
        There's quite a few websites that handle house swaps. Airbnb is also a good option if you have someone to manage the place for you while you're away.
  - Vivtek 13y ago
    Well, we kind of have that planned. You don't have to be super rich, just have to know your places pretty well and buy smart, maybe something that needs a little work. We bought a house in Richmond, Indiana (more or less where I'm from) for $8000 - that was actually a mistake because it needed too much work, but the principle was sound. Now we're looking for foreclosures in reasonable neighborhoods in Puerto Rico, we're probably going to build a house here in Budapest, and maybe we'll find something in Indiana in a few years. If you have modest houses in your places instead of putting all your real estate money into a new garage and a pool, it's totally doable. A lot of not-so-wealthy people have a house in the North and one in Florida, after all.
joonix 13y ago
Exactly. I thought this was what I wanted. Now that I'm somewhat location independent, I keep thinking about where I should move to take full advantage of my freedom. It's exhausting! I want to settle somewhere but can't decide.
- pjbrunet 13y ago
  Been there, done that. My recommendation is, find your family. Think about your contribution to the future.
- Fingel 13y ago
  Excuse me if I don't feel sorry for you. Don't you think that's a pretty good problem to have?
  - WA 13y ago
    It's certainly a luxury problem, but it's also a tough problem. Think about it: If you are location-independent, how do you even start to come up with a good decision on where to live? What are the factors you consider and the metrics to see whether or not your decision was good or not afterwards? I'm in a very similar position and just thinking about the endless possibilities of choosing a new place to live can be very overwhelming. But if you haven't been in this position, you won't know how it feels I guess. I figured it is very similar to everybody joking about how they want more free time to do "their stuff". And if you ask "So, what stuff would you do, if you had all time of the day and still get your monthly paycheck?", the answer is often much less clear. Everybody dreams of having all day off, but when it comes to that situation, too much leisure can be frustrating as well.
    - kaitai 13y ago
      I do think this is an interesting discussion and question. For me the answer is simple and clear -- live where my family and friends are. It is interesting to me that other people take such different approaches. Of course one can make new friends and perhaps create a family, but I'm surprised at how little family and friends are even mentioned in the following discussion.
Lucadg 13y ago
I'll be in Budapest for a week from the 8th of October with my wife. It would be nice to meet for a coffee and discuss our gypsy lifestyle problems :)
- Vivtek 13y ago
  Hey, cool! That would give me a great excuse to go into town! My email is in my profile, so let's definitely hook up. Neat venture you have there, by the way - social reservations, I like it! I just did the Craigslist thing in Budapest a couple of years ago (before we moved more permanently) and it worked out nicely - but I think we got lucky. A little more triangulation would have been nice, and it looks like that's what you're doing. Neat!
  - Lucadg 13y ago
    great! I sent you an email. It's funny you label it as social reservations. Did you see this page? http://www.adormo.com http://www.adormo.com because we also launched a test project (italan only for now) http://social.adormo.com/ http://social.adormo.com/ where it's much more social. I just wonder what site you did visit :)
    - Vivtek 13y ago
      The main site (www) - I call that social, probably because I'm a dinosaur. But you've got a kind of ... well, curation thing going, and a personal contact locally. It's not just ads.
      - Lucadg 13y ago
        you are right. The local Manager visits most the apartments and meets most owners so he's able to help the guests and guarantees that there are not fakes/bad actors.

enraged_camel 13y ago

>>Whenever I've set up in a new place, my productivity suffers severely for a week or two. The language you are using here - specifically the word "suffer" - is indicative of a certain type of (generally Western) mindset where productivity plays a big role in a person's happiness and satisfaction. I went on a two week vacation to my home country of Turkey back in July. For the first few days, it felt really odd to not work. I would wake up in the morning, have breakfast, fire up my laptop on the patio of my parents' house, and then... stare at the screen. After screwing around on HN and other sites, I would realize that it was 2pm and that I had "wasted" half my day. And I would feel bad about that. After a few days though I realized how absolutely ridiculous that mindset was. I was on vacation and I was not supposed to be producing anything. I was supposed to be relaxing. It was like flipping a switch - I made a paradigm shift and spent the rest of my vacation "doing nothing." It felt great! If I ever find myself in the author's situation where I have sufficient savings and am sitting on a beach in Thailand, instead of trying to continue working and getting stuff done, I'll just check out mentally and enjoy life.

kolinko 13y ago
Well, there is vacation, and there is "digital nomadism" that kristian and bartek are talking about. If you go for holidays, you can tuck away your laptop and just rest, but if you plan a year long work&life scenario where you work remotely from another country, your productivity matters.
zorbo 13y ago
This is why all my vacations are "zero technology". I bring absolutely no electronics except for an old non-smartphone in case of emergencies. This way I don't have to feel guilty, because I can't be "productive" anyway.

narrator 13y ago

>>And the thing is that when you are in a new place, there is a large number of decisions to make about petty things like where is the nearest supermarket, where can I work out, how do I get proper internet etc. Whenever I've set up in a new place, my productivity suffers severely for a week or two. After that, I'm okay but if you travel a lot, that becomes a real price. And it's not rewarding the same way that other guilty pleasures are, it's just annoying. It's almost like you should get together with a travelling companion who's job is to just figure out your new location and you'll pay for food, fun and expenses. Maybe they're an FWB too :) ? It's like a deluxe travel agent "arrangement" for nomad geeks. This could be a thing if it got going. I can see the 2015 New Yorker Headline now "FWB gets upgraded to Personal Concierge and Travel Agent W/ Benefits for wandering nomad supergeeks in surprising new trend".

danilocampos 13y ago
"Boy you guys, wouldn't it be neat if a software development career entitled you to a concubine on top of everything else?"
- evan_ 13y ago
  Not just a concubine, but a personal assistant and housekeeper, too. Frank Reynolds is not supposed to be a role model, people: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1028239/quotes?ref_=tt_ql_3 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1028239/quotes?ref_=tt_ql_3
Vivtek 13y ago
There is a word for a friend-with-benefits for hire, and it's illegal in many places. For good reason.