@voskovek

You can look up the Iglu company in Thailand. It is a legal way of working in Thailand with a work permit for digital nomads. Are there other companies in Thailand offering work permits for digital nomads? They charge you 30% of your salary, which is a lot. Are there other companies charging less than Iglu or have a different pricing scheme?

Probably most of you do as I do, Google it first and then research further, if needed, on official transportation websites, travel guides, blogs, etc.

I travel each month to a new city and I find this task tedious, sometimes there’s not enough information in English or there might be a handy travel planning app or uber-like app that I’m not aware of.

I wish there were a “nomad list” website or app for transport information where you would choose a city and be given all the transportation options (Bus? Tram? Subway? etc), how/where to buy tickets/passes and any additional useful information (trip planner, apps, maps, etc).

Do any of you relate to this?

PS: I’m a developer and I might actually try and create something to “fix” this if a lot of people are experiencing this same “annoyance”.

Has anybody traveled as a DN with a one way ticket and two laptops?

I’m going to Chile in a couple weeks and I only have a one way ticket and I’m going to Argentina after Chile. I don’t know when so that is why I still have not bought my onward ticket to Argentina but I will go there before my Chilean visa expires. I’m also going to carry my work windows laptop and my personal mac with me.

Now my question is, is this enough reason for an immigration officer to get suspicious and not let me in Chile? What would you tell them if they try to give me a hard time about my one way ticket and two laptops?

Thanks for you help in advance!

Hi, let me start by saying i’m an idiot when it comes to these things. I know all the infos are out there and I’ve been reading posts here as well as googling lots of blogs to find answers but there are just so many details and personal aspects that it leaves me dizzy! I’m hoping for a kind soul to share his/her wisdom with me in simple words. Bear with me while I try to wrap my head around this:

I NEED: 1. to be able to get payed by international customers in Dollars and Euros mostly 2. A way to get to that money with a debit/credit card for online payments and ATM’s in whatever local currency needed (thinking of heading to Bali next)

I AM: newly nomadic designer working with platforms like 99designs and upwork as well as some direct clients. I have swiss citizenship, but am no longer resident there, or anywhere else.

I HAVE: 1. A swiss bank account (UBS) with CHF and no credit card (for savings not to be touched). 2. A spanish bank account (Deutsche Bank) with EUR with a debit and credit card for backup money. 3. A Paypal Account.

The plan is to earn the money I need to live monthly and put it into a spending account and only touch the others (CHF/EUR) if I didn’t make enough money.

So far I’ve come across these options:

1. Paypal
   I already have a paypal account and It does some of what I want. Except I’d have to transfer my online money to my Euro Account to spend it with my spanish credit card. Which sounds like a lot of fees. Blog posts about nomad finances all seem to say paypal is an expensive option.

2. Open Local Bank Accounts / Use Butcoins
   I would like the simplest solution possible. Opening new accounts for every country sounds like too much paperwork (which I hate with the intensity of 100 hell fires). Bitcoins? I’m already confused with all the real currency’s involved please don’t bring in digital ones…

3. Payoneer
   Biggest plus: It is integrated in the platforms I work with (99d & Upwork) so I can pay out my earnings really simple and supposedly cheap. They also give me a Mastercard to spend that money and multi-currency “bank accounts”. But I’ve read really mixed reviews about it so I don’t know what to think of it in the end.

4. Revolut:
   Seems to be just what I need. You get a Mastercard and . It seems like they have really low fees, good exchange rates and no ATM extra-charges? I read some good reviews (except customer service which seems to be terrible with both Payoneer and Revolut). Customers can pay me directly with the multi-currency bank accounts but I would have to find the best way to bring my earnings from 99d and Upwork into here (I read about a guy that uses payoneer to send money to his Revolut? Is anyone using a similar setup?)

5. Travel Credit Cards
   I’ve read about those who are suposed to have low fees and no ATM-charges, have not done any research yet.

So this is what my research brought up. Is there something I missed? Seems like getting to your money is harder than actually making it xD
Does anybody with a similar situation have personal experiences and clear suggestions on this topic?
I can’t seem to make up my mind between payoneer and revolut. I also read about Transferwise bringing in their own credit card but could not find any infos from them? I would really appreciate your inputs because as mentioned I find this all quite overwhelming and would love an easy solution that involves the least amount of paperwork/effort (even is I loose a few cents here and there if not possible otherwise)

Thank you all!!

Hi! Hola!

the rules are to post in english, so…

I’ve seen much information on blogs, youtube etc, from Americans or 1st world country people. But the information I’ve seen from Latin people is most than anything backpackers, and I would like to know the experience of Latin nomads, since I think there maybe some issues that are different, like racism and that earning an Developed Country equivalent income is way more challenging. And when English is not your native language, trying to understand a Chinese or Indi people speaking english, may be a nightmare.

I would like to know the experience of the Latin people on becoming a nomad and if you feel there is any difference or special barrier to overcome, and how did you faced them.

would appreciate any comments

I’m planning on 6 weeks in Chiang Mai soon and most of the stuff I’ve read about finding a place there says the best thing to do is to look in person. Considering the short time I’m there, I would prefer to prebook to say a couple of days of apartment hunting.

I was wondering about the options for short(ish) term accommodation and if pre-booking is worthwhile or if I’ll just get fobbed off with the worst room/apartment available.

I’m just looking for something basic - so long as it has air conditioning. Having a work space would be a definite advantage as would closeness to coffee. Other than that, things like a pool, gym, kitchen aren’t that important to me.

I’m finding it harder and harder to work with my friend from the Ukraine, to transfer money from the US, in USD to USD (he has an account that allows dollars).

• I used to work with Western Union, which was a hefty fee around $60. They closed the account years ago on concerns I was operating a business (I am)
• I opened an HSBC account to be able to wire internationally, with a $45 per wire fee, but they have stopped allowing transfers
• Ria Money Transfer was great, but they stopped this week doing deposits in to UA

Arrgh! If a Ukrainian is on a freelancing site like UpWork, how do they get money from their accounts, especially US clients? It must be incredibly expensive by now?

Hi guys, my wife and I are planning on spending 2-3 months in Chiang Mai in February and wanted to know from experienced people if there is anything we can learn or do beforehand to make it a productive and exciting trip?

We’ve traveled together before so that’s all good, we know what to pack and have been spending time reading these forums and related blogs for ideas on living costs etc.

Also, Chiang Mai seems like the place to go if you want cheap living but we’re totally open to other suggestions in the area, for example looking at Saigon or other places.

Any suggestions or pointers would be most appreciated!

I’m wanting to travel to Thailand in February and I’m a little overwhelmed with travel arraignments (I have only left the US once) and what I’m going to do once I’m there.

So far I’m wanting to be in Thailand for a month. It looks like I’m going to need shots: Hepatitis A and B and typhoid. I can take care of that no worries.

I was looking into the Visa requirements, it looks like I can just arrive in Thailand and get a 30-day tourist visa?

As for housing I was thinking AirBnb. My goal while in Thailand is to work primarily. I have a project I need to wrap up and I’d like to do that in Thailand without a lot of distractions.

Now I’ve joined NomadList because it seems I can join up with others to Thailand? Looking at nomadtrips I have no idea how it works… but that seems to be the place to link up with others? Or maybe I’m wrong. I’m looking at: https://nomadtrips.co/chiang-mai-thailand

What’s the best way to communicate with this group about meet ups, etc?

What are the best tips you can give me for sleeping in an airport?

Hi folks! Planning a trip on a budget and I’m finding an 11 hour overnight gap I have in between flights where I can either book a quick airbnb at an odd hour of the night, or live the real nomad life and sleep in the airport!

This is the first time I’m able to plan staying the night in an airport, so I’m reaching out to know if there’s any “do’s” or “don’ts”.

Appreciate any tips or other viable options!

Thanks guys! Stay nomadic

I am a web developer and content writer. As of right now , I reside in Atlanta, Georgia . My plan is to move abroad soon. At this point , I am not sure where to set up my home base . Anyways , my real question is about rates. How do web developers decide the most suitable charging rate ? Let’s say a client is in need of a full website and e-commerce platform. That client resides in Paris , but another client in a low income country wants the same service. Does your charging rate depend on the client’s location ? That was a hypothetical situation. I am a new to this stuff! I do not have any clients yet .

Any nomad-specific gadgets that you’d get someone for Christmas or use to make your iife/location independent business more easy?

My fiancée(who is British) is on her second 30 days visa exemption in Thailand. We’re considering getting the visa exemption extension for 30 days and staying longer.

Our only worry is: Does this mean we would hit 90 days in total? We need to return in March to fly home from Bangkok. We are worried we’d be refused entry in March as they might count the visa exemption extension against us.

Any advice is appreciated!

Cheers

So there are many occasion people give gifts, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Birthdays, … etc.

For instance:

• Food: you can use it pretty quickly
• Flowers: doesn’t last too long
• Perfume: take a lot of space for a month or two
• Clothes: what if you don’t life them? (eg: a t-shirt, a scarf, …)
• Random stuff: as part of the nomadic life, we want to be minimalist and can’t keep too much stuff

I would say there is short-term, middle-term and long-term goods. And useful / useless / special goods.

So we have a problem, we don’t have infinite storage space (either out of the bag in containers or inside bags).

Attacking the source of the problem:

1. Asking people to give mostly short-term goods, useful middle-term/long-term goods (eg: from a wishlist for instance)
2. Asking for no physical gifts
3. Not going / celebrating those occasions
4. Something else?

I think it’s pretty hard to prevent people from giving unwanted gifts (rejecting a gift is an huge cultural mistake).

Attacking the effects of the problem:

1. Giving gifts to somebody else
2. Re-selling gifts
3. Taking a photo of it and throwing it away
4. Shipping them to some stockage container company
5. Something else?

I personally think that’s one of the biggest thing against minimalism, and ultimately against the freedom of moving quickly.

So, what you you do?

I’m looking for a good budgeting and expenses tracking software to track my expenses and my income, I don’t mind if it’s free or paid, but I can’t find any with all these characteristics which are fundamental for me. They always lack at least one or two.

• multi-account (for me and my girlfriend)
• multi-currency (of course)
• sync between desktop and multiple mobile devices
• geolocation for each transaction to better track expenses by country and city

What do you use?

Hey everyone! This is a question I’m asking out of curiosity since I’ve lived in South Korea for several years, been to China, Thailand and the Philippines and have recently traveled to Malaysia and Vietnam. By no means is pollution unique to Asia, but much of the developing process involves CO2 emissions and places like Indonesia and Vietnam produce a lot of smoke in the air by burning rice fields. Personally, this really puts me off from visiting these countries for any substantial period of time so I was wondering if it’s a factor for you as well, or do you just deal with it - and if so, for how long?

I think I’m admittedly pretty sensitive to air quality because I’m prone to dust allergy, and especially since I have reaped the benefits of living in clean places like Sweden and Finland in the past. But I can’t imagine this not being an important factor especially for people who have children or health issues. I’d love to get your thoughts on this

When looking for places in Chiang Mai to stay, what are good districts that I should target? I don’t want to find myself either too far from everything or somewhere that is super shady.

How did you get started in learning how to do what you do? How long until you began making money with it?

Hey all, I know I should probably be asking this on a travel forum but I figure there are plenty of you in Chiang Mai that would have the answer for me… I’m coming for two months Dec/Jan (yay!) and looking at tickets for a side trip by plane to Krabi… round trip is ~$76 right now (probably not including checked back). I’m always anxious and book things too far in advance, but was wondering if I can expect to get a price like this (i.e. at least under $100 return, nonstop) closer to last minute. Especially since January is busy travel season for Thailand… thanks for your input !!! Can’t wait to meet some of you in Chiang Mai.

I know many people that have been Cuba but none are digital nomads and can really answer my questions.

While there are big visa and logistical details (duration of stay) that still need to be worked out, id love to hear anything about how practical it’d be to spend a few months there?

Internet? From what I’ve heard it’s awful outside of the resorts and non-existent outside the Havana. Things changes fast though,
Cost of living? From what I’ve heard it’s cheap, it can just be hard to find things occasionally.
Transport?
Housing?

Any first hand accounts from fellow digital nomads would be way more useful than the random Canadian tourist that went there for 5 days in 2009 if you know what I mean

Hey everyone,

I am brand new to this forum, so apologies if this topic has been covered elsewhere. I will be in Koh Phangan from 10 February to 9 March 2015 (1 month). I have a few questions for past or present KP nomads:

1. What’s the accommodation situation like and the best way to find it? I’d prefer a studio/one bedroom apartment, but happy with a Bungalow too, and would consider sharing a house with cool people. I’m not too precious but do need air conditioning and quiet (not a party person and I value my sleep very much). Preferably nearish to Cocohut Resort, as my friend will be staying there for a week, but this isn’t essential. Budget flexible but let’s nominate 15,000 baht to put a figure on it.

2. I’m a reformed fatty and besides working on my computer, healthy living is my biggest priority for the month. Is there a gym anyone would recommend? Just need lots of free weights and some space. What about outdoor activities, like mountain running or beach bootcamp torture? Up for anything. Also healthy eating? I’m not too fussy with food, and just try to stick primarily to lean meats, vegetables/salad and fruit.

3. From my limited research into the island, Koh Space seems like the place to work from, although this might depend on its location to my accommodation. I require a reliable but not particularly speedy internet connection, coffee and comfortable seating. Where do people work from?

4. I’m involved in the glamorous industry of editing and proofreading, mainly academic and book. Would love to connect with editors and writers, especially those looking for casual work, as I may be able to offer some value.

5. Looking forward to meeting people in general and having a productive, healthy and awesome month!

Cheers,
Brendan

I’m starting to think about luggage choices for our adventure. We’re personally not planning on a lot of rugged trekking, which made me wonder about the preference for backpacks that digital nomads tend to have. Do nomads tend to prefer backpacks due to trekking? What advantages to backpacks have over more traditional rolly bags?