Nomad List
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| 🌍 Region | North America | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🚩 Country | Canada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ⏱ Average trip duration | 5 days | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 📡 Internet speed | 19 Mbps | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ⛅️ Weather | 🌥 20°C 67°F + 💦 Not humid (60%) + 💨 3km/h = Feels like 20°C68°F | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💨 Air quality (now) | 👍 18 µg/m3 equal to 🚬 / day | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💨 Air quality (annual avg) | 👍 15 µg/m3 equal to 🚬 / day | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🔌 Power | 115V60Hz | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🚕 Best taxi app | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 📱 Best wireless carrier | Fido | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💸 10 CAD in USD | USD 7.44 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🏧 Suggested ATM take out: CAD 100 | USD 74 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💸 Tipping | No | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💳 Cashless society | 💳 Yes, cards OK almost everywhere | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💻 Best coworking space | Startup Edmonton | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🚰 Safe tap water | 👌 Yes, drinkable | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ♻️ Return rate | 0% of visitors returns | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 👨👩👧👦 Population | 930,000 people | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 👫 Gender ratio | 👨 49% 👱♀️ 51% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ⛪️ Religious government | Non-religious | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💻 Online electronics shop | Best Buy | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🏠 Apartment listings | VRBO | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ✈️ Best short-haul air carrier | West Jet | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ✈️ Best int'l air carrier | Air Canada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| low taxno-beachairportmildmild nowclean airgood air qualityfast internetfreedom of pressdemocracyfreedommany womenfriendly people | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💵 Nomad Cost™ | $2,006 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for expat | $1,471 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for family | $3,834 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for local | $1,095 / month |
| 🏠 1br studio rent in center | $930 / month |
| 🏢 Coworking | $147 / month |
| 🏨 Hotel | $1,206 / month |
| 🏨 Hotel | $56 / night |
| 🏠 Airbnb (172 listings) | $1,285 / month |
| 🏠 Airbnb | $42 / night |
| 🍝 Dinner | $6 |
| 🍹 Coca-Cola (0.3L) | $1 |
| 🍺 Beer (0.5L) | $3 |
| ☕️ Coffee | $2 |
| 💰 Estimated tax on $50,000 | $12,825 |
| 💰 Estimated tax on $100,000 | $34,643 |
| 💰 Estimated tax on $250,000 | $109,369 |
Based on Edmonton's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:
There is a new coworking space called FreeSpace that is only $49.99 per month and offers access to all three locations (Kits, Chinatown, Yaletown). The way it works is FreeSpace partners with local restaurants that are only open in the evenings and transforms them into unique, comfortable and affordable drop in coworking spaces during the day while the restaurant is closed. The don't have private boardrooms or phone booths for confidential exchanges, but they do have free coffee, outlets at every seat, and super fast Wifi (300mbps- I was surprised!). It doesn't have all of the bells and whistles that a lot of other coworking spaces available but if you are just looking for somewhere to stop in, grab a coffee, and get to work, this is an excellent alternative at a fraction of the cost. Check it out www.thisfreespace.com
Circus scene is AMAZING, the restaurants are great, and it's super easy to eat vegan here. Love this city! The winter is really hard though. I plan to leave before it returns.
The GFW is a *huge* bother in daily work. VPN is not a perfect mitigation as it is throttled and frequently completely blocked (Have tried shadowsocks, outline, lantern, openvpn and expressvpn to about equal success). The VPN availability seems to fluctuate with the political climate (for example if there is a party conference or such). The air quality is so-so. Worst in winter time. The streets seem very safe and their is little crime (Except maybe in tourist areas, beware the scammers). It is super easy to get by with a little English and a translation app. Metro system is super easy to use. Food is fairly cheap, and it can come as cheap as you want... but sometimes of questionable quality.
One of the friendliest people in the world. People are very polite and considerate.
The profile photo is from Porto, Portugal, Not Porto Alegre in Brasil.
I do not recommend London for nomads. It's very hard to find places to work in London. Cafes don't like people with laptops, there won't be any power outlets and you'll get funny stares from staff. That's because London is expensive, and it's a loss for cafes to have you. Flexible coworking is hard to come by and day passes are very expensive. That makes it practically impossible to work properly in London as a nomad.
There is a new coworking space called FreeSpace that is only $49.99 per month and offers access to all three locations (Kits, Chinatown, Yaletown). The way it works is FreeSpace partners with local restaurants that are only open in the evenings and transforms them into unique, comfortable and affordable drop in coworking spaces during the day while the restaurant is closed. The don't have private boardrooms or phone booths for confidential exchanges, but they do have free coffee, outlets at every seat, and super fast Wifi (300mbps- I was surprised!). It doesn't have all of the bells and whistles that a lot of other coworking spaces available but if you are just looking for somewhere to stop in, grab a coffee, and get to work, this is an excellent alternative at a fraction of the cost. Check it out www.thisfreespace.com
A mixture of piss, weed, unwashed nerdy men, overpriced reality estate, passive-aggressiveness, homeless people and freaks
Nothing does a better job of explaining LA’s beautiful diversity and different neighborhoods than the documentary about the late Jonathan Gold, our city’s greatest amabassador and the only food critic to ever win a Pulitzer Prize. It is called, “City of Gold” and if you want to know LA, just watch this film. Trailer link: https://youtu.be/DmKTRDfz1zM
One of the friendliest people in the world. People are very polite and considerate.
Circus scene is AMAZING, the restaurants are great, and it's super easy to eat vegan here. Love this city! The winter is really hard though. I plan to leave before it returns.
One of the most well known cities, few will be surprised by what they see and experience. Very high cost of living can make it tough for many nomads. A lot of things to see and do but most of that costs money. Can feel overwhelming and oppressively business oriented (ie, full of very serious yuppies and places catering to them), especially in Manhattan south of Harlem. Ton of single people, which is good on paper but means everyone you date will get distracted by another person, or multiple, unless you are extremely exceptional, before you have a chance to meet again, never ends. Weather sucks hard from July to August and January to March/April. It's an okay city if you're a biker and varies a lot. Some areas are quite protected, others have no bike lanes. In general, it can be dangerous if you want to commute by bike, it's not Amsterdam. Friendliness of the people varies a lot. I think income/wealth, where they grew up, where they live within NYC, their job, etc. can often give you an idea of what to expect. Service at stores is usually pretty unhelpful and unfriendly but, again, it varies, even within the same store. Internet is fast for the most part. Great selection of food, just a bit pricey besides some of the cheaper pizza slices. Transportation system is good, no need for a car. However, the subway lines are notorious for having issues during rush hour and are usually jam packed. Also, the stations look decrepit and are way out of date. It's pretty safe. Street scams are more prevalent in tourist areas, pick-pocketing and random phone snatching isn't really anything most people worry about. Can be very noisy depending on where you live. You may wake up to extremely loud construction every morning.
I do not recommend London for nomads. It's very hard to find places to work in London. Cafes don't like people with laptops, there won't be any power outlets and you'll get funny stares from staff. That's because London is expensive, and it's a loss for cafes to have you. Flexible coworking is hard to come by and day passes are very expensive. That makes it practically impossible to work properly in London as a nomad.
Getting a place to stay is a challenge, and renting an apartment might be a challenge unless you can show proof on stable income job. most leases are 6-12mths minium
Been living in 3 different centrally located airbnb in Berlin (2018), each between 800 and 900€ per month for 40-45 sqm (we're two, so 400-450€ each). Each time a full flat and not a shared airbnb, legal now since some months (though it was always possible to get a full flat before as well). Internet was always between 15 and 50 mbps. I spend 100€ per week on food, including restaurants (pretty cheap here), check for Turkish market on Maybachufer and Turkish stores in Neukölln (I spend less on food here than in Chiang Mai!). Berlin is such an awesome place to live, very multicultural, very tolerant, many different neighborhoods, quite relaxed feeling, many parks, lakes all around. No need to speak German at all. Come over here, probably one one of the best place on earth ;) (written in Sept 2018)
Been there in January. Like Schonbrunn more than the old center of VIENNA. Honestly, I wouldn't go there during the winter, but in the summer will definitely return for a good look upon the stuff over there.
The GFW is a *huge* bother in daily work. VPN is not a perfect mitigation as it is throttled and frequently completely blocked (Have tried shadowsocks, outline, lantern, openvpn and expressvpn to about equal success). The VPN availability seems to fluctuate with the political climate (for example if there is a party conference or such). The air quality is so-so. Worst in winter time. The streets seem very safe and their is little crime (Except maybe in tourist areas, beware the scammers). It is super easy to get by with a little English and a translation app. Metro system is super easy to use. Food is fairly cheap, and it can come as cheap as you want... but sometimes of questionable quality.
Surprisingly expensive compared to many other places and there is a major language barrier for most western folks. You often end up hanging out with other nomads or expats for sanity. It's expensive to drink, and it's not really to make many local friends and very few speak English or any western languages. The internet is the killer for most folks and China is slowly closing down all the VPN connections from the commercial services, so it's getting harder and harder to find a way out for things like Gmail or even Google searches and even when it does work, it's really unpredictable. Some of the hotels and workspaces have always-on VPN connections to Hong Kong for your internet handoff which eliminates the blocking and is a big help, but this is usually at a cost that is passed on to you. I like Shanghai, but I find it very "showy". People want to make it clear if they have money, so you see lots of flashy cars, expensive clothes and "be seen" places. It's also amazing that you can go to a great restaurant and the table next to you will have six people sitting in complete silence because they are all on their phones. As others have said, you need to figure out a way to get Alipay or Wechat pay money on your account so you can pay for things. Even people selling vegetables in the market have a QR code so you can pay them with your phone. Didi is the local uber-like take service, and you can use western credit cards with it on your phone, and it's pretty cheap by western standards. Public transportation is good and cheap, too. Cool place, but not inexpensive unless you are out a way and a serious language barrier and a bit of indifference to customer service or dealing with westerners in general.
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