c/digital-nomad-life

5

tylermason•13h ago

Coffee shop in Chiang Mai lost power while I was on a Zoom call with a client

I was sitting at my usual spot in Chiang Mai when the whole street went dark and my laptop battery died 20 minutes into a client call, so I ran to a 7-Eleven, bought a portable charger, and finished the meeting from a park bench using my phone hotspot - has anyone else had to scramble like that mid-work?

14

benbrown•1d ago

Pro tip: check your visa before you land in Bangkok

I flew into Thailand last Tuesday thinking I could just extend my tourist visa at immigration. Got flagged at Suvarnabhumi because I had overstayed 3 days from a trip 2 years ago. They fined me 2,000 baht and flagged my passport for the next 6 months. Anyone else get hit with a surprise old overstay you forgot about?

22

lucas63•4d ago

Found a way to save $50 a month on coworking spaces in Medellin

I was spending way too much on day passes at Poblado spots until I noticed most of them have loyalty cards or monthly punch passes hidden from the website. Turns out if you just ask at the front desk, they'll sell you a 10-visit card for almost half the price of singles. Anyone else find a good hack for coworking costs in South America?

3

dakota_fox•5d ago

I finally stopped pretending Coworking spaces work for deep work

Three years ago I was all in on coworking spaces, thought they were the only way to stay productive on the road. Last month in Chiang Mai I tried one of the popular spots and got absolutely nothing done for three straight days. The constant chatter and people walking by killed my focus every 20 minutes. It cost me $150 for that week and I finished maybe half of what I normally do from a quiet cafe. Now I just find libraries or rent a private room for $10 a day instead. Has anyone else figured out a better setup for getting real work done while traveling?

7

robinson.quinn•6d ago

My laptop charger died in a cafe in Medellin and I had to scramble

Last Tuesday I was working from a coworking space in Medellin when my charger just sparked and stopped working. No warning, no burnt smell, just dead. I had a deadline in 4 hours and no backup. I ended up running to a nearby electronics shop and paid 45 dollars for a generic replacement that barely works. Has anyone else dealt with a charger dying in a foreign country and found a way to not get ripped off?

25

the_mia•6d ago

Overheard a guy on a Zoom call in a coworking space in Chiang Mai talk about slow travel

I was grinding away on client work when this guy next to me said he spends 3 months minimum in every city he visits, no exceptions. That got me thinking about how I keep rushing through places just to check them off a list. Has anyone here tried slowing down their pace and found it actually helped their work or their mindset?

10

avery_fox93•8d ago

Appreciation post: the wifi timer on my phone that saved me 80 hours of lost work

Was in a cafe in Medellin two weeks ago. Laptop said full bars. Zoom call dropped three times in 10 minutes. Client got pissed. Finally ran a speed test. 2 mbps down. Had been working there for six months thinking the connection was fine. Now I check every spot before I even open my laptop. Anyone else get burned by assuming the wifi is good?

13

faithj10•10d ago

Hit 50 countries on my remote work streak this morning

I crossed the 50-country mark while sitting in a tiny café in Ljubljana (Slovenia) trying to explain to the barista why I needed a power strip for my laptop and a paper clip to fix my broken headphone case. Has anyone else hit a weird personal milestone that made you stop and laugh at how ridiculous this lifestyle actually is?

17

victorclark•11d ago

Coworking pass vs random cafe hopping in Bali - not even close

I spent my first month in Ubud bouncing between cafes that claimed to have good wifi. Spent 45 minutes one morning just walking to three different spots that all had 'sorry wifi down today' signs. Bought a 2 week pass at a coworking place near the monkey forest for like $80. Steady connection, actual desk, and I got way more work done in 6 hours than I did in 8 hours at a cafe. Coffee was free too. Anyone else find coworking worth the cash or do you stick to cafes?

9

jordan464•11d ago

Hit 12 countries in 7 months of nomad life and never planned a single one ahead of time

I just realized I crossed into country number 12 last week in Budapest and I booked my flight maybe 3 days before on a whim... has anyone else accidentally traveled way more than they expected once they got started?

13

umaadams•13d ago

Debate: Is coworking space or a coffee shop better for getting work done abroad?

I spent 3 months hopping between cafes in Medellin and found I got way more done with the noise, but then a week at a coworking space in Buenos Aires doubled my output (since I wasn't hunting for outlets). Which one actually works for you guys when you're on the move?

20

allen.quinn•13d ago

Shoutout to the digital nomad coworker who said "location independence" is just a fancy term for being broke in a cheaper country

Last month in Chiang Mai I realized they were right after my $400/month apartment had a cockroach problem and my "office" was a sticky table at a coffee shop where the wifi cut out every 20 minutes, so has anyone else found that the dream of working from anywhere just means you're trading one set of problems for another?

16

ray648•15d ago

Just ran the numbers on my coworking membership and it stung

I was going through my expenses from last year and found out I spent $4,800 on coworking spaces across 7 different cities. That's more than I paid for rent in my last apartment. The shocking part was that I only actually used them about 60% of the time. Half of those days I just sat in a coffee shop or worked from my hostel bed anyway. I got the data from my bank statement and Google Maps timeline. Has anyone else looked back at their coworking bills and realized they're basically throwing money at a desk they barely sit at?

8

leo603•16d ago

Found out coworking spaces in Bali average $150 a month... from a random blog post

I was scrolling through some digital nomad blog last night and saw that stat about Bali coworking memberships being around $150 monthly. Has anyone actually found decent ones for that price or is it mostly marketing fluff?

0

theaw65•18d ago

My portable monitor screen cracked inside my backpack yesterday

I was walking through a coworking space in Chiang Mai and my bag got knocked off a table, and when I pulled out my 15 inch monitor later it had a spiderweb crack in the corner. The USB-C port still works but half the screen is just black lines now. Has anyone found a rugged case that actually protects these thin screens?

19

dakota_fox•20d ago

Just overheard a guy in a Bali cafe say he 'works' 3 hours a week

I was coding next to him at a co-working space in Ubud and he was bragging about his $6k monthly passive income from a print-on-demand store he set up 2 years ago. Made me wonder, how many of you actually found a real passive income stream or is that just a myth we chase?

7

drew_west•21d ago

Overheard a guy in a Chiang Mai coworking space say he books flights through a VPN to save $150 per ticket...

I tried it myself on a flight from Bangkok to Lisbon and saved $120, so now I always check prices in incognito mode from a different country before booking, has anyone else found a trick that actually works for cutting travel costs?

5

the_morgan•23d ago

Found out that coworking memberships in Bali are actually WAY more expensive than I thought

I was looking at moving my base to Bali for a few months since everyone raves about how cheap it is. But then I actually checked the numbers last night on a nomad forum and I was shocked. The popular coworking spots in Canggu are charging $150 to $200 a month for a desk. That's more than what I pay for my shared office back in Chicago. And you don't even get a private room, it's just a shared table with noisy people on Zoom calls all day. I mean, I knew Bali got more crowded but I didn't expect the workspace costs to be that high. Has anyone else found cheaper alternatives there that don't suck?

33

wade438•24d ago

Overheard a guy at a coworking space in Medellín talking about his 'slow travel' budget

He was saying how he stays in one city for 3 months at a time instead of bouncing around every week, and it saves him almost $400 a month on flights and temporary housing. I always thought moving fast let me see more, but hearing him describe actually getting to know a neighborhood and not burning out made me rethink my whole approach. Has anyone else tried slowing down like that and seen their costs drop?

21

kaimiller•25d ago

Spent 4 hours trying to video call from a coffee shop in Chiang Mai and it just kept dropping

I was in Chiang Mai last week and needed to hop on a client call that was pretty important. Found a coffee shop with what looked like solid wifi, but the video kept freezing every 2 minutes. I spent a full 4 hours bouncing between 3 different cafes before someone told me to just use my phone hotspot instead. Turns out a lot of places here throttle video traffic during peak hours. Has anyone else run into this issue in SEA?

16

the_brooke•28d ago

Can we talk about the coworking space in Chiang Mai that pushed me to leave

I was at Punspace in Chiang Mai last August working on my client projects. A guy at the next table kept giving me side eyes when I took a phone call near my desk. He walked over and told me I should use the phone booths like everyone else. I get being quiet, but I was talking for maybe 2 minutes. That one interaction made me realize how strict some nomad spaces can be, and I stopped going to coworking spots after that. Has anyone else felt judged for basic work stuff in these places?

17

luna_sanchez•29d ago

Coworking space vs library desk for deep focus days

I spent last month bouncing between a $200/month coworking spot in Chiang Mai and the free library desk 10 minutes from my apartment. The coworking space had better coffee and AC but I got way more actual work done at the library where nobody talks to me. Has anyone else found that paying for a desk actually hurts your productivity sometimes?

4

mark_nguyen95•29d ago

Just saw a stat that 42% of digital nomads burn through savings in under 6 months, where do you draw the line between hustle and just surviving on the road?

I found that number from a Nomad List survey and it made me wonder if the freedom lifestyle is actually just a debt trap for some, are you guys running lean budgets or just winging it till the money runs out?

7

kim_sanchez19•1mo ago

Tried co-working at that trendy Bali spot everyone loves... big mistake

I went to The Breeze co-working in Canggu last month because of all the hype online. The wifi dropped 4 times in 3 hours and the AC was broken so everyone was sweating. Turns out the reviews were all from paid influencers, not real digital nomads. Has anyone else found a solid co-working spot in Bali that actually has reliable internet?

36

the_evan•1mo ago

Back when I could work from a hammock in Thailand...

I had to decide between keeping my old suitcase that fit in overhead bins or upgrading to something bigger that I'd have to check. I went with the bigger one because I was tired of doing laundry every 3 days. Turns out checking a bag adds like 45 minutes to every airport trip and I lost it twice in 6 months. One time it ended up in Singapore while I was in Bangkok. Now I'm back to a 40 liter backpack and a tiny roller bag that fits under the seat. Has anyone else gone backwards on luggage size after trying the whole "bring everything" approach?