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How I thought I wanted to become a digital nomad

alexp.github.io

41–50 of 204 posts

Re: How I thought I wanted to become a digital nomad

#41
post #18

My father did something like this in his later years and I never heard any of the complaints in the article; then again he had an RV instead of a 44 liter backpack and mostly stayed in the USA rather than crossing the world. Connectivity was the main problem I heard about. I guess its much better now. Also its not a binary decision. Its a big planet and you can select whatever tradeoff you'd prefer in a nearly pure a…

"Some people set the thermostat to 72F and leave it alone 24x365. Some people alternate setting the thermostat to 85F and 60F every couple hours and complain constantly of freezing or burning up..."

In some countries, you just put a jumper on or wear cooler clothes. Personally, I like to be near the weather. It is all tradeoffs.

Re: How I thought I wanted to become a digital nomad

#42

Being and having been a digital nomad for the past several years, it can become tiring having to switch up location and work setting so often. While living in Rio de Janeiro, I often wondered how people who are from there work in office buildings in the wealthy neighborhoods (which are a stone's throw from the beach), deal with knowing that fun and sun is literally 5 minutes away at any given moment, that people are…

Do you speak Portuguese fluently? Language is the thing...

Re: How I thought I wanted to become a digital nomad

#43

Being and having been a digital nomad for the past several years, it can become tiring having to switch up location and work setting so often. While living in Rio de Janeiro, I often wondered how people who are from there work in office buildings in the wealthy neighborhoods (which are a stone's throw from the beach), deal with knowing that fun and sun is literally 5 minutes away at any given moment, that people are…

Do you speak Portuguese fluently? Language is the thing...

Yes. I learned beforehand. I couldn't imagine living somewhere w/o speaking the language (though now that I'm in Portugal, European Portuguese feels like it actually is another language, lol).

Re: How I thought I wanted to become a digital nomad

#44
post #3

Far as I can tell, the argument here boils down to "can't concentrate on coding while traveling". When put in a simple statement like that it becomes very obvious that the statement depends entirely on the person. Many people have little difficulty opening up their laptop and forgetting the rest of the world for an 8 hour stretch, and this would be the type of person who would do well as a digital nomad. If you need…

How do you do an eight hour stretch? At best I can work for two hours without needing food or a bathroom break.

Imagine you're working in public space. To take a break you have to pack up your laptop, power adapter, water bottle, phone, headphones, go put them in a locker (or just carry them), visit a wc, eat, take a break, go get bag out of locker, find another place to sit with power, set up computer, power adapter, etc.

It's a lot different than just walking away from your desk at home for 5 minutes to relieve yourself, grabbing a banana, then getting back to work.

Re: How I thought I wanted to become a digital nomad

#45

I hope to try the digital nomad route in a few years but I have a different take on it. I'm not looking to sustain a working vacation--I'm interesting in experiencing day-to-day lifestyle in different cultures/suroundings. I'm thinking of staying around in terms of months or years, not weeks. Also, I probably will only try it if I have my own enterprise I can run on the road. I'm currently working as a freelancer but…

what is airbnb for digiral nomads? Can you describe in more details what you need?

I'm guessing here but I assume he means a site for places to live and work or perhaps a preset agreement where both kinds of places are rentable at the same time, in a package sort of deal.

In terms of co-working spaces, they're often way more than I'd want to spend for a simple internet connection and a place to sit.

Re: How I thought I wanted to become a digital nomad

#46
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using Jekyll with Pages https://help.github.com/articles/using-jekyll-with-pages

Author here. Exactly as digitalboss commented plus a custom crafted html/css on top of twitter bootstrap. It's not perfect, but it does the job. Best, Alex.

And it looks clean.

I use 'noscript' and had to enable the javascripts in the page to get sensible justification.

Re: How I thought I wanted to become a digital nomad

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you speak Portuguese fluently? Language is the thing...

Yes. I learned beforehand. I couldn't imagine living somewhere w/o speaking the language (though now that I'm in Portugal, European Portuguese feels like it actually is another language, lol).

Good for you. I teach some Afro-Portugese students who have washed up here in the UK. I always think they are talking German amongst themselves in the cafe!

Re: How I thought I wanted to become a digital nomad

#49
post #14

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…

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 Carib…

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.

Re: How I thought I wanted to become a digital nomad

#50
post #35
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 Carib…

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.

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.
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