I have been doing Southeast Asia during June to November for 11 years. Rainy, Typhoons - is wild - still warm but ya - getting older so not as into that. Where can go is warm and dry - not super hot like Vegas but warm and has to be DRY. Good Internet and affordable. Ty
🗯 Forum topics
🗯 Forum replies
tl;dr: introduce yourself in this thread.
We must all get sick of the same backpacker travel questions when we meet new friends, I know I do.
You know the ones - where are you from, where’ve you been, where are you going, what do you do, how long have you been doing it - etc.
The novelty of answering these questions wears off after maybe a week, but they’re nonetheless insightful and no matter how much we hate them, we find ourselves asking others.
So let’s bring the dreaded backpacker questionnaire to NomadForum and introduce ourselves shall we?
**
- what’s your name?
- where are you from?
- how long have you been away from home?
- what do you do?
- where are you currently?
- where are you going?
- what has been memorable for you so far?
- will you go home anytime soon?
- what have you learnt during your time as a nomad?
- [insert your own question here]
**
No need to answer them all if you don’t want to
But the more you share… The merrier!
Winter is coming… Brrrr. I’m in Europe at the moment.
I’ve spent winters in SE Asia, Thailand, south on the beaches, and North in Chiang Mai. I love Thailand. But also I’ve been to Vietnam, Bali, Laos, Camobodia, and Malaysia.
Down in South America I spent a winter around Playa Del Carmen.
Where are you going this winter?
Hey, is there currently a way to save filter settings? I feel like it would be helpful for planning the trip as I have several ideas on what to target and would like to cycle between them
As a follow up to my previous question (I guess I don’t have the right to post links here?), but on a larger scale: if living as a nomad in a place for, say, more than a month (which will be beneficial for the sake of getting work done), how to you prevent yourself from getting too involved in the local society?
I find that every time I stay somewhere for a significant amount of time, I naturally start to settle into the idea that I’ll be there permanently, or at least long term. I guess this is human nature: wanting to have a stable lifestyle, with stable friends, relationship, workplace, recreational activities, etc. But, indeed, that is not my goal-- I believe the benefits of the nomadic lifestyle are far greater at this stage in my life…
So, for those of you who have successfully avoided settling somewhere time despite staying for months at a time, what strategies do you use to stay afloat, as in, not getting too deeply integrated locally?
✨ Recommended destinations
This is an algorithmic recommendation based on @nomadsince2010's trips history to find places they haven't been to yet that other people with similar travels as them also went and liked.

Bali is amazing, but Canggu isn't really that great -- actually there are SO MANY better places, like Uluwatu, Gili Islands or even Ubud that I can't understand the hype. As almost everyone said below, beaches are crappy, roads are terrible, sidewalks are non-existent and having a motorbike is a must. On the other side, food is great and cafes are pretty reasonable with all those incredible bowls. Anyway I wouldn't recommend it for more than a week.
⭐️ Score💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 35° 95° 29° 84°🥵AQI 340$1,347 / mo23Mbps
Don't believe the prices on here for an apartment. 686 usd/month refers to an apartment in a high class condo, right in the city centre and seconds away from the BTS(train station). Just remember this, people working at supermarkets make 2 usd/per hour. If you want to live like a local, then you can save a lot of money. If you don't mind a 5-10 minute walk from the BTS, then you can easily get a one bedroom apartment for 300 USD per month, in a high class condo, plus with free golf cart ser
⭐️ Score💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌤 Feels 43° 109° 32° 90°🥵AQI 680$1,466 / mo23Mbps
Berlin is overall a great city to be. Food is cheap and everywhere, easy to go out and have fun/meet for business. Rent has crept up but still far better value than where I came from. Internet: 36 EUR/month get me 450/40 mbps (cable -> DOCSIS 3.0) Public transport is 2.70 EUR/ticket. No woman I know has said they felt unsafe. Some really odd, xenophobic sounding comments on here. Biggest downsides IMO: service quality at restaurants - not that people are rude, but they don't seem to particular
⭐️ Score💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety ☀️ Feels 3° 37° 5° 41°AQI 730$3,005 / mo38Mbps
Definitely check out The Key (on near Zhong Xiao Dun Hua station) if living here for more than a month. Cafe + Gym + Bar all in one, monthly membership about $50 USD. English-friendly, no contracts. Made my 3 month stay here immensely better with fast wifi in the cafe and it's a great feeling to be able to work out immediately after working.
⭐️ Score💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 23° 73° 23° 74°AQI 640$1,975 / mo20Mbps
They say you get what you pay for. After having traveled the previous 4 months in India, Cambodia, VietNam, Myanmar and Thailand, Singapore was so easy! The subway system is a marvel, streets signs were easy to read, everyone speaks English (that just makes it easy for me as an English speaker) it is safe, clean, and parks are gorgeous. I was there as COVID 19 was breaking out fairly fast and that put a damper on my time but I was so happy to be there anyway and plan to go back. For digital
⭐️ Score💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌦 Feels 40° 104° 31° 87°🥵AQI 620$2,776 / mo95Mbps
London is a SO beautiful city. The historical center is cute, but also majestic and luxurious. You feel the culture at every step. British people are really kind and welcoming! Plus, more than just one, you can enjoy TWO skylines 😍 so many skyscrapers, nothing beats its collection in Europe.
⭐️ Score💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 6° 43° 7° 44°AQI 250$4,241 / mo23Mbps
During winter is quite safe plus much cheaper. Some nightclubs are free and yet there is still a lot of people. Great por lgbtq+ community.
⭐️ Score💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety ☀️ Feels 16° 61° 15° 59°AQI 650$2,932 / mo30Mbps
Honestly, this is an awesome place to be if you're actually trying to get work done. It's a bit of an older vibe than Canggu, and there's certainly a big chunk of yogi's kicking around — but I liked it much better than Canggu and found it less pretentious. Plus, you can drive down there in 45mins whenever you want some beach or party vibes. As others mentioned, there's some great coworking spaces, cheap warungs, some really nice spots to stay cheaply if you go just outside of the mad tourist
⭐️ Score💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌦 Feels 32° 90° 27° 81°🥵AQI 440$1,765 / mo15Mbps🌎 Regions collected (1 of 9)









🚩 Flags collected (5 of 276)





🌍 Top countries





🛬 Most visits

Manila is an incredibly welcoming city and cheap to live. Accommodation in ultra luxurious condos is reasonable, foot massage whilst tapping out emails (£7 per hour) makes working from here a no brainer. Agree living in the Greenbelt area is a no brainer. Vegetarian choices can be limited in some places but excellent (and so cheap!) Delivery services are available, including diet chef stuff which is unaffordable anywhere else. The streets feel safe inside Makati and the areas around greenbelt
⭐️ Score💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌤 Feels 38° 100° 31° 87°🥵AQI 231x$1,455 / mo7Mbps
Usually goes dead after one month. Polluted streets and antisocial locals. It’s okay for a few weeks, but the fun diminishes quickly and boredom sets in. You are left with high rent and no fun after about a month.
⭐️ Score💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌤 Feels 39° 102° 32° 90°🥵AQI 711x$959 / mo21Mbps
Siem Riep has a nice suburb feeling. At first sight it seems there's not much to do besides Angkor Wat and Pub Street, but you can go swimming, do bicycle tours, floating village day trip... I don't have best social skill, but in Siem Reap it was so easy to make new friends. Locals and tourists! I've worked at Garage Society Coworking Space. Pretty nice place. I don't understand the cons of slow internet. I've bought an LTE 4G Sim card for 10 USD with 10 GB. There's also free and mostly fast
⭐️ Score💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌤 Feels 42° 108° 33° 91°🥵AQI 681x$1,044 / mo8Mbps
Chiang Mai used to be N.1 for the digital nomad life. It is still great and you can find really cheap apartments (300-400$) and restaurants (2-3$ for a main). Wouldn't recommend staying there during the burning season. The best area is Nimman, but it's also the most expensive. You can stay in the old city that's very nice but that gets noisy during the weekend for the night markets. Last but not least, very safe city. All in all would go back in a heartbeat.
⭐️ Score💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety ☀️ Feels 35° 95° 33° 91°🥵AQI 171😷1x$1,096 / mo22Mbps
City was cheap and pretty but there's not that many cafes to work from, plenty of tourists and it was hard to make friends. If you go here make sure to rent a motorbike and check out the nature but there are better places to live at in Vietnam.
⭐️ Score💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌤 Feels 35° 95° 29° 83°🥵AQI 551x$628 / mo16Mbps
Nice and laid back city with good infrastructure. 4G coverage was good
⭐️ Score💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌤 Feels 35° 95° 29° 84°🥵AQI 331x$827 / mo17Mbps🛌 Most time spent

City was cheap and pretty but there's not that many cafes to work from, plenty of tourists and it was hard to make friends. If you go here make sure to rent a motorbike and check out the nature but there are better places to live at in Vietnam.
⭐️ Score💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌤 Feels 35° 95° 29° 83°🥵AQI 551mo$628 / mo16Mbps
Nice and laid back city with good infrastructure. 4G coverage was good
⭐️ Score💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌤 Feels 35° 95° 29° 84°🥵AQI 331mo$827 / mo17Mbps
Manila is an incredibly welcoming city and cheap to live. Accommodation in ultra luxurious condos is reasonable, foot massage whilst tapping out emails (£7 per hour) makes working from here a no brainer. Agree living in the Greenbelt area is a no brainer. Vegetarian choices can be limited in some places but excellent (and so cheap!) Delivery services are available, including diet chef stuff which is unaffordable anywhere else. The streets feel safe inside Makati and the areas around greenbelt
⭐️ Score💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌤 Feels 38° 100° 31° 87°🥵AQI 2329d$1,455 / mo7Mbps
Usually goes dead after one month. Polluted streets and antisocial locals. It’s okay for a few weeks, but the fun diminishes quickly and boredom sets in. You are left with high rent and no fun after about a month.
⭐️ Score💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌤 Feels 39° 102° 32° 90°🥵AQI 7129d$959 / mo21Mbps
Siem Riep has a nice suburb feeling. At first sight it seems there's not much to do besides Angkor Wat and Pub Street, but you can go swimming, do bicycle tours, floating village day trip... I don't have best social skill, but in Siem Reap it was so easy to make new friends. Locals and tourists! I've worked at Garage Society Coworking Space. Pretty nice place. I don't understand the cons of slow internet. I've bought an LTE 4G Sim card for 10 USD with 10 GB. There's also free and mostly fast
⭐️ Score💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌤 Feels 42° 108° 33° 91°🥵AQI 6829d$1,044 / mo8Mbps
Chiang Mai used to be N.1 for the digital nomad life. It is still great and you can find really cheap apartments (300-400$) and restaurants (2-3$ for a main). Wouldn't recommend staying there during the burning season. The best area is Nimman, but it's also the most expensive. You can stay in the old city that's very nice but that gets noisy during the weekend for the night markets. Last but not least, very safe city. All in all would go back in a heartbeat.
⭐️ Score💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety ☀️ Feels 35° 95° 33° 91°🥵AQI 171😷29d$1,096 / mo22Mbps