Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#361

Post by ledneb » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 8:59 AM UTC

nelsonic wrote: post #297

pandemic_region wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Italian heritage.

exactly ! but seriously, it's just a [bad] habit ... thanks for pointing it out. hope it did not detract from my message.

You wrote a great response! Assuming you genuinely want feedback on it; your writing style does detract a bit from what you're saying - the emphasis and braces don't read like native English. My advice is try not to use quotes, italics and braces at all - go cold turkey! Then you'll probably find yourself using them when you actually _need_ them. :)

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#362

Post by pzduniak » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 8:59 AM UTC

fatamorgana wrote: post #281

pzduniak wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Avoid working for local companies in Poland unless you like low pay. Just find yourself a nice remote gig (there's plenty of them if you know how to find them) and live like the top .001% of the country or whatever. There's a good reason why being a "digital nomad" is becoming more and more popular. Healthcare starts at ~$130/mo if you manage to not pay for the retirement fund scam (rarely possible), goes up to like…

Currently working for a local Polish company as a dev, how would you go about finding a remote gig ?

Look for openings on various sites, apply on sites like Upwork. Initially it'll take a lot of effort to get a gig, eventually you should be able to just use your network to find projects.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#363

Post by new_here » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 8:59 AM UTC

Cape Town is exceptional value. Lived there for 12 years. I would recommend you try and work remotely from there earning a foreign currency like USD, GBP or EUR. You will then find it very cheap.

Pros: Excellent quality of life (for your demographic). Beautiful outdoors, quick to get around. Cheap compared to SF, NYC, LDN, AMS, BLN. Great food scene. Not oversubscribed like SF, LDN etc. You can usually just walk into a restaurant. Good, fun people.

Cons: Rand (ZAR) is a weak and volatile currency. Geographically out of the way. Tech scene/talent is a bit small IMO (contrary to the local opinion) but AWS EC2 also has a development office out there so that might be of interest.

Overall, Cape Town is a great place to live. Beautiful, cheap and you will find you have plenty of time to pursue intellectual interests. I really miss the lifestyle.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#364

Post by loriverkutya » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 9:00 AM UTC

ody4242 wrote: post #271

mahasvin wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, its survivable. I drove twice via "non-central" Hungary this year. And people understand basic English. However, can't comment on availability of English-speaking communities of smart individuals in Hungary.

As an IT professional living in Hungary atm, take my advice and don't come here. I've been living in Stockholm, Madrid and Wien for a while, so I have comparison. The intellectual community is evaporating, and although the city is nice, that shine will only last for a couple of a weeks. If I had a remote job, I'd go back to Madrid, loved it there :)

Completely agree with this.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#365

Post by sandGorgon » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 9:00 AM UTC

quanto wrote: post #303

anonlilcoward wrote: post #214

Bangalore,India: Rent price : 200$/month for a 1000sqft apartment. Bangalore is often called the silicon valley of India, filled with software professionals. Majority of the city's inhabitants are migrants from other parts of the country and almost everyone communicates in English. The living expenses for a couple is not more than 600-700$/month including rent for a decent lifestyle. The city has a good pub culture a…

How does a non-Indian English speaker go about hunting for an apartment lease in Bangalore? Especially short-term leases. This is the biggest bottleneck for me.

everyone speaks English in India (mostly).

Also the online ecosystem is very highly developed in India. Look at http://nobroker.com, housing.com, 99acres.com , etc etc

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#366

Post by anon1253 » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 9:01 AM UTC

Groningen, The Netherlands. Population 300k, strong university and other educational fascilities. Has the Dutch infrastructure but still relatively cheap compared to the other majors cities (eg Amsterdam)

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#367

Post by smcquade92 » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 9:01 AM UTC

Hawaii wouldn't be ideal based on your criteria. Living costs aren't low and there isn't a thriving intellectual community. Fair Hawaiian weather and vibrant outdoor living, however, have attracted intellectuals ranging from Garrett Lisi to Joseph Campbell.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#368

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 9:01 AM UTC

lonesword wrote: post #196

Bangalore, India. Not a very good place to "live" - the traffic is _insane_, and you have to deal with us Indians. But on the plus side, a dollar goes a long long way in India. Bangalore is on the expensive side for Indians. To put things into perspective, a decent dev job in India gets you 1300$ per month after taxes and comfortably puts you in the upper middle class. Monthly rent for a 3BHK apartment at a good loca…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#369

Post by rb666 » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 9:01 AM UTC

rolleiflex wrote: post #239

nelsonic wrote: post #229

Depending on your ability to work remotely, I would make the "case" that you should consider Portugal . Lisbon and Porto are super popular with ["digital nomad"] remote workers who work for international companies so earn in USD but spend [much less] in Euros for a superb lifestyle. There's a reason @paddycosgrave moved Web Summit to Lisbon. It's one of the cheapest cities in Europe and [unlike Barcelona] everyone sp…

This is awesome. I live in SF, and have a base in Istanbul, which is from what I heard, similar to Lisbon in many aspects — but I would be hesitant to recommend it without at least a willingness to learn Turkish. There are some digital nomads here in HN based in Istanbul, though. Nevertheless - my point was, you’re living my dream and I’ll definitely give a visit when my life allows for a Portugal trip. Never been ye…

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahaa Istanbul a good intellectual atmosphere? A country run by a lying, corrupt, refuge-bombing despot. Why on EARTH would you invite anyone over.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#370

Post by sandGorgon » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 9:02 AM UTC

anonlilcoward wrote: post #214

Bangalore,India: Rent price : 200$/month for a 1000sqft apartment. Bangalore is often called the silicon valley of India, filled with software professionals. Majority of the city's inhabitants are migrants from other parts of the country and almost everyone communicates in English. The living expenses for a couple is not more than 600-700$/month including rent for a decent lifestyle. The city has a good pub culture a…

This, except New Delhi.

Bigger roads, much better infrastructure/subway system. We actually have close to 7-8 world class universities in the city (IITD, AIIMS, NSIT, DCE, IIITD, etc).

Rentals are also cheaper.