Ask HN: Where to travel/freelance abroad?

3 pointsdhackner13y ago5 comments

Open ended discussion question! My girlfriend and I are SF based but looking to spend a few months traveling, starting around March. She's a writer/blogger/social media manager and I'm a freelance developer.

I'd love suggestions from the community for places to head to. Considerations are cost, safety/health, food, weather, interesting experiences, local dev community / ease of finding cafes to work out of. Would be fun to learn to surf/kiteboard while traveling. I figure that I'll aim for 2-3 days a week of client work to support us (which I already have). She'd like to pick up some work here and there as well. We'd like to see a few different places during our trip, but want to spend a few weeks in at least one of the locations. We're less interested in backpacking / changing locations nightly and more interested in the experiences of getting to live abroad.

I speak some Chinese and would love to return to there. She speaks some French. I also have family in Brazil. Current considerations:

Buenos Aires, Santiago, Shanghai, Tokyo, Chengdu

Look forward to hearing thoughts!

p.s. We've recently traveled to Japan, China, and Australia.

5 comments

gexla13y ago

Why not just make this permanent and keep traveling? Better yet, stay in one place for a month or more so that you can buckle down on projects and get to know the area better?

It seems like you are doing this as a temporary thing. Or assuming that because your girlfriend is going to try picking up work, then maybe it's just temporary for her? Why not remove the blocks and take on / seek good projects that wouldn't be limited by a 2 - 3 days / week schedule? If your girlfriend is able to pick up work, then why not continue hammering on that to bring in more clients and build up a strong business?

It just seems like a waste to be building a client base for a certain lifestyle and then breaking that back down when you finish your travels. However, I do understand that a lot of people do freelance work to bridge income gaps and it's not a good way to maximize your reach in making your mark on the world.

I moved to the Philippines and then quit traveling. ;) I guess I decided that I really like the Philippines and would rather focus on work. Good weather, lots of English speakers and an easy to work with visa.

CliveW13y ago

I recently spent around 6 weeks in Sri Lanka/southern India - and I'd wholeheartedly recommend it. Absolutely beautiful, incredibly friendly locals, very cheap. The food is also great (assuming you like south-east Asian cuisine, there isn't a lot of variety).

There's a very vibrant tech scene in Bangalore, although not much outside of that in my experience. Internet cafes aren't that commonplace (though not rare either), but 3G internet was pretty cheap (a few $s per GB), and available on a pay-as-you-go basis.

ishener13y ago

I like that you have Chengdu in your considerations! It's a charming place, IMHO the best choice if you want China. I wish I can come back there...

I wasn't doing any work while I was there, but I was backpacking in west Sichuan in the Tibetan areas. The most beautiful and inspiring place I've been...

dylanhassinger13y ago

you should check out the Lifestyle Business Podcast / TropicalMBA community. They talk a lot about travel, lots of folks there are running businesses from Southeast Asia. cheers

http://lifestylebusinesspodcast.com

http://tropicalmba.com

rifchia13y ago

You should travel to Singapore. We've got a huge community of tech geeks in a small country.

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