Finally took the plunge...Digital Nomadding during covid19

[Willyfish]

Why don't you come down here in the Balkans, Beers on me!

and me I am not invited? I thought we were friends

 

[b1step-ahead]

Hey everyone

So me and my partner had planned to travel around the world and do full on digital nomadding for 17 months. We intended to go earlier but we got out of UK only 2 weeks ago.

Currently we are in Estonia, beautiful country.

I'm setting up this thread to share our experiences travelling and how the digital scene is like during covid 19, to allow others who are considering to take the plunge.

I think the world is going to shit, no point delaying. Also other economies have suffered far greater so we will be doing what we can to support local economies.

We are both vaccinated, before anyone makes this political.

Not sure what this thread will develop into as we move around, but I would love to meet some of you, and get networking going in all countries we go to.

As I said we are currently in Estonia, the scene here is still picking up. Restaurants have discounts, and Estonia has a relatively low infection rate. Everything's open, and they are allowing certain countries to come in without quarantining/PCR tests.

If any of you are currently in Estonia, would love to meet up

Additionally, would love to open up a discussion of countries you guys are currently in and how your experiences have been.

awesome man best of luck!

 

[DulalKisku]

how u managing your expenses?

 

[kasher9]

finally managed to get somewhat of a decent shot of me working at a beach since it was in high demand

I will be spending time to write a full update today and answer all the above.

Btw just wanted to say thanks everyone for the support!

 

[kasher9]

Had some time finally to respond to everyone and give a proper update.

There are quite a few IRL streamers on Twitch, who travel for a living and stream whatever they do. It's definitely not the easiest time to travel. Depending on the virus situation, touristy places can be deserted, if they're open at all. If you don't like the crowd and want a whole beach to yourself, it's the best time to travel. Some countries can be easier, but the situation can change fast and restrictions can emerge. You need to follow local news to be prepared, which is probably not the easiest, if you happen to be in a country, where you don't speak the language.

Traveling requires a lot more time now than before. There's a chance that you need to stay quarantined for a month, if you're unlucky with your destination. Two weeks when you enter the country and two weeks, when you return home or to another country. This can get expensive. For instance there's this chick i follow on Twitch, she visited Thailand back in February, when the situation was much better there than it is now. When she entered the country, she needed to stay quarantined in an accredited hotel for two weeks, which was pretty expensive and it required a lot of preparing, paperwork. People usually go to Thailand, because it's cheap, now it is not, if you need to spend two weeks in an expensive hotel before you can actually go explore.

It will get better eventually. It already did in places, where the vaccination level is high enough.

Yeah I've travelled before, and I can definitely say now with the covid situation I'm a bit more on edge when crossing countries.

A trick that we have which many don't know is: https://capturetheatlas.com/countries-open-for-tourism/ - theres another table somewhere floating around, but the one I just shared is updated daily, so you can know which countries are okay to travel to live.

I think you just have to be mega flexible and not set your expectations too high.

Hey Kasher! Long time no talk.

Congrats on your digital nomad journey. I look forward to starting my digital nomad life at the end of 2021. Hopefully we can meet up somewhere - any interest in going to Medellin?

Anyways, safe travels brother!

Hey yeah long time indeed!

Yeah we actually planned to go to medellin, but my partner is a bit worried by the whole covid situation in latam currently :/ Where are you intending to start your digital nomad journey with?

Sounds cool!

This year I was travelling from South America to Russia through some Eastern European countries.

Btw. Covid-Tests suck! Each time you're spending $50-100 for a fucking PCR test.

Not vaccinated yet - still thinking to either get EU-Vaccine or Russian Sputnik

Next plans: Georgia / Kazakhstan / Asia (?)

Yeah, the covid tests are killers

I think we will go to bali next, but its' not certain yet

if you are still in ee, visit rummu lake(quarry)

And if you are travelling throu latvia, lmk, beer on me

Yep ticked off rummu! Come to estonia man, its like a few hrs drive from latvia! Beers AND cocktails on me

Congratulations on your decision!

When I was younger, I did that too.

But instead of hopping from country to country, I did it in the United States.

It’s a very liberating feeling.

In fact, when I was in Sta. Barbara and Manhattan Beach, it seemed like every Starbucks in those places were my personal office.

There’s nothing more awesome than feeling free.

The freedom of working out of your laptop and hopping from cafe to cafe, from beach to beach, or from restaurant to restaurant is awesome!

Enjoy your travels.

And remember that while travel is awesome, it should also have a higher purpose.

The higher purpose here, of course, is personal growth and a sense of fulfillment.

Please understand that you’re not just on a physical journey when you go from place to place.

As you move from point A to point B, on your way to point C, you’re also going on a journey inside you.

You’re learning things about yourself, overcoming your fears, and essentially, tapping into your inner sense of adventure and curiosity.

As a writer, these are the things that I crave for.

They give me passion and, ultimately, meaning.

Welcome to the club!

hi5! yeah i mean I travelled a lot before, but that was put to a sudden halt, now we are travelling in true nomad fashion, its very much freeing.

Would love to see Estonia, it's meant to be awesome for DN'ing and also techno-progressive which is great too.

What's a few other places you guys are thinking of bouncing to next mate? Staying in Europe or further afield?

yeah Estonia is awesome

We don't know if we'll stick around in Europe honestly, the quarantining situation hasn't improved, think we may go to dubai next and then bali!

Hey @kasher9

Come to Romania, I live near a few mountain resorts, and I can offer you free accomodation.

You can visit a lot of things here:

One of the best roads from europe: Transalpina - it is 40 km from me
Parang mountains some of the tallest moutains of europe
Straja
Corvinu castle
and a lot of other things, I mean a lot of them

Free accomodation and beer from me


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Hey thanks! Yeah romania is awesome, i've been, I hope to visit you and will definitely take you up on that offer!

Did you have to get vaccinated to travel?

Yeah I am double vaxxed

Beautiful, bookmarking this to read.
Looking forward to seeing more of your posts
I totally miss travelling, stuck in my own country for over a year now.
& $40 shoes, that's such a steal

The best advice I can give is, take the plunge, whatever country is accepting your country, and whatever budget you can afford, take the plunge. That's just my opinion though

Why don't you come down here in the Balkans, Beers on me!

Definitely will try and make it down there!


Some pictures for everyone (still in estonia, but we are island hopping and enjoying summer solstice week):

Fun fact about estonia (referring to the sunset image): during the summer it basically doesn't get dark at all, this pic was taken at 11.30pm

 

[Deleted Member 112605]

Yeah we actually planned to go to medellin, but my partner is a bit worried by the whole covid situation in latam currently :/ Where are you intending to start your digital nomad journey with?

I think as of now I'll only explore Colombia and Costa Rica. I may head to Europe if those two adventures go well. I plan on selling most/all of my belongings and starting fresh.

 

[amoon]

Have a safe trip, there is no better than traveling to get back to business strong and refreshed
wish to all BHW member the same as well, as I saw the news today and it seems some countries are still fighting with the pandemic.

so be safe and stay strong.

 

[Dark Hat 007]

Wow.. This is awesome. Keep enjoying life, YOLO - You Only Live once!

 

[kasher9]

I think as of now I'll only explore Colombia and Costa Rica. I may head to Europe if those two adventures go well. I plan on selling most/all of my belongings and starting fresh.

nice brother! Thats the best way to do it. We sold everything we had in UK, i mean we got a storage unit for the small amount of items we couldn't sell. But yeah it's refreshing. Slide into my dms, lets make some plans!

Have a safe trip, there is no better than traveling to get back to business strong and refreshed
wish to all BHW member the same as well, as I saw the news today and it seems some countries are still fighting with the pandemic.

so be safe and stay strong.

Thanks man, I think there will only be an increase in pandemics personally, so I really want to enjoy my time. + i'm double vaxxed

Wow.. This is awesome. Keep enjoying life, YOLO - You Only Live once!

Thanks!

 

[kasher9]

Posting a (non-update kinda) update

We're still in estonia. Our plan was to go to bali, but bali is still in lockdown, and we are tired of waiting on the Indonesian government, so we are going to croatia instead.

Croatia doesn't count my 3months in EU towards the visa (thanks brexit) so we should be okay. If brexit hadn't had happened, we'd probably rent a hippie van and travel across EU right now, but you know, idiots be idiots, so I have to GTFO from EU as my visa ends soon.

Get ready for some awesome pics of croatia boys (and girls)!

 

[Gramified]

Posting a (non-update kinda) update

We're still in estonia. Our plan was to go to bali, but bali is still in lockdown, so we are going to croatia instead.

Croatia doesn't count my 3months in EU towards the visa (thanks brexit) so we should be okay. If brexit hadn't had happened, we'd probably rent a hippie van and travel across EU right now, but you know, idiots be idiots, so I have to GTFO from EU as my visa ends soon.

Get ready for some awesome pics of croatia boys (and girls)!

Visit GoT spots if you're a fan. Dope country. Enjoy!

 

[Cshark]

Keep posting pics of wherever you go. Some of us cannot move like you, maybe we will find insurmountable delight in those pictures.

 

[SuperKonstax]

I read the author's post, saw the words "low infection rate" and immediately felt ridiculous.

I'm not going to get vaccinated at all, as this would violate the constitution in my country, plus there is no covid, since it was clear at the very beginning of this hype. Our health is not needed at all by anyone and will never be needed ... Well, this is a very extensive topic of conversation, and even if you create hundreds of threads on the forum on this topic, it will not be possible to fully disclose it.

 

[Sardi]

I read the author's post, saw the words "low infection rate" and immediately felt ridiculous.

I'm not going to get vaccinated at all, as this would violate the constitution in my country, plus there is no covid, since it was clear at the very beginning of this hype. Our health is not needed at all by anyone and will never be needed ... Well, this is a very extensive topic of conversation, and even if you create hundreds of threads on the forum on this topic, it will not be possible to fully disclose it.

Does this look like a covid thread to you?
You don't believe in Covid? Nobody asked...

 

[kasher9]

I read the author's post, saw the words "low infection rate" and immediately felt ridiculous.

I'm not going to get vaccinated at all, as this would violate the constitution in my country, plus there is no covid, since it was clear at the very beginning of this hype. Our health is not needed at all by anyone and will never be needed ... Well, this is a very extensive topic of conversation, and even if you create hundreds of threads on the forum on this topic, it will not be possible to fully disclose it.

Err what? Take your agenda elsewhere pls, I'm just trying to give some positivity to our community!

 

[Graymanshield]

Man, it feels like you're sponsored by Estonia. You really are selling it better than any tourism brochure I have come across, must be an amazing experience.

 

[Willyfish]

I read the author's post, saw the words "low infection rate" and immediately felt ridiculous.

I'm not going to get vaccinated at all, as this would violate the constitution in my country, plus there is no covid, since it was clear at the very beginning of this hype. Our health is not needed at all by anyone and will never be needed ... Well, this is a very extensive topic of conversation, and even if you create hundreds of threads on the forum on this topic, it will not be possible to fully disclose it.

this thread is not about this and for once that we have a nice positive thread with no bs inside but only people enjoying, we will not make it a covid thread at all... keep your opinion safely for people who want to argue all day about this.

thanks @kasher9 it is a very nice plan you have there and a beautiful thread

 

[kasher9]

So, We Didn't End Up Going To Croatia, However....

We are in Dubai for the past 2 weeks!

Croatia was working out too expensive (well not the living part, but the flights were horrendous) and I had some work in Dubai. We realised if we flew from Croatia to Dubai, we'd have to quarantine, so we went to Dubai instead.

The end goal was always to build a base in south east asia for 6-7 months and travel around, we're hoping we can still do that.

Dubai is cool, hot, not many people around because it's hot. I've been here many times, but never really stayed here for long time.

Will provide a better update with what we've been doing later this week - let me know if you're interested in pics!

In terms of getting here, we had to stop via istanbul, and then once we got here, they took a swab test. A PCR test had to be provided.

Coming here right now is very very cheap, since its hot. We are staying in some wicked apartments!

Been mainly working, but we've tried to fit in some fun stuff and meet some friends that live here. Let me know if you're in Dubai, and you want to hang out!

 

[BabyJoker]

I also planned to go to Bali, but since they're in a complete lockdown, that's still impossible :/ I hope to see you there once Bali opens up!

 

[share4win]

Coming here right now is very very cheap, since its hot. We are staying in some wicked apartments!

So, what's the rent there in Dubai atm? I heard that it looks cheap because of this pandemic.