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Ask Slashdot: What's the Best Way To Work On Projects While Traveling?
An anonymous reader writes "I really want to go travel the world with the money I've saved up at my day job, but I also want to grow as a developer in the process. This is a long-term engagement: 2-3 years or more depending on whether my software is successful. I'll probably be hopping from hostel to hostel at first, with a few weeks at each. How do I find a good work environment in these conditions? Do hostels generally have quiet areas where work could be done? Is it OK to get out your laptop and spend the day in a cafe in Europe, assuming you keep buying drinks? What about hackerspaces — are those common on the other side of the globe? (Apartments are an option for later on, but I'm concerned about losing the social atmosphere that's built in with the hostel lifestyle.) I've never done anything like this before, but I'm really excited about the idea! Any advice would be greatly appreciated."
duh.
but in europe, you can find quiet places in most cities. if it's a quiet cafe they don't mind if you give them money every now and then.
hackerspaces you'll probably find near universities. which brings up another point, at least in finland you can just walk into any university during daytime and nobody will ask you any questions and you'll find quiet places to work during daytime, during night you might need a pass to get in and get booted by the security depending on the university(booted means asked to leave, though that happens probably only if you're drinking alcoholic beverages).
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
"I really want to go travel the world with the money I've saved up at my day job, but I also want to grow as a developer in the process. This is a long-term engagement: 2-3 years or more depending on whether my software is successful.
Awesome, welcome to the fun :D
I'll probably be hopping from hostel to hostel at first, with a few weeks at each.
Each place you stay try to find semi-furnished apartments by the month if you can. Honestly if you can find them you will save loads of money. I usually found a touristy area in my desired city, and asked bartenders and restauranteurs.
How do I find a good work environment in these conditions? Do hostels generally have quiet areas where work could be done?
Not really, they are designed typically with socializing in mind. My favourite hostel work space is in bed... Next best is an area with various cafes.
Is it OK to get out your laptop and spend the day in a cafe in Europe, assuming you keep buying drinks?
I find it is more internal that I start to feel uncomfortable working in any particular cafe too long or too many times in a row. I don't think they mind, but I start to feel awkward. That is why I like areas with lots of cafes/bars all with internet. So I can shuffle around a bit.
What about hackerspaces — are those common on the other side of the globe?
I haven't found them, they would be a welcome site to me. Maybe more in Europe.
(Apartments are an option for later on, but I'm concerned about losing the social atmosphere that's built in with the hostel lifestyle.)
I find when I'm working I lose that social atmosphere anyway and have to find it outside after work anyway. I'm not sure the benefits of a hostel outweigh the costs.
I've never done anything like this before, but I'm really excited about the idea! Any advice would be greatly appreciated."
Good luck, it is fun!
Hmm, the humour and sarcasm seem to have been be lost on you.
Surprisingly good places to work in many western nations.
As long as you understand that you will very likely get robbed, or have your laptop stolen at some point, I'd go into something like this with a learn-as-you-go attitude. After all, it's supposed to be an adventure, right? Gain some world knowledge from first hand experience and whatnot. Just make sure you're saving your work remotely somehow, probably through some cloud service, and that your credentials and personal identity information isn't easily available to the first person who swipes your phone or laptop.
Seriously consider getting remote wipe software for both, as well.
As for the other stuff... hostels are, by their very nature, community areas. Most have space to break out a laptop and get internet access, but you are very much sharing the area with other strangers. Again, theft is a huge issue at these places, to the point that you might return to from taking a piss only find your laptop stolen.
There are also some security-related issues to consider, if you are going to be hopping from one country to another. Many will flat out require access to your laptop just to pass through, and if you have it encrypted (which you should), they'll demand access to the encrypted data as well, or else confiscate it while you miss your flight. It can be a real big pain in the ass. So what you want to do is setup your laptop with a standard unencrypted Windows OS install that you use for random internet crap like Facebook or general browsing, and maybe a few games. Then setup a second hidden install of whatever OS you prefer, and use it for your *real* work. TrueCrypt handles this for the purpose of plausible deniability, although any encryption software should be able to handle it. The basic idea is that, if you get stopped at customs, you can happily give them access to your laptop and let them log in and see your mundane OS install with normal internet crap, without raising any flags about whatever work you are doing.
And it really doesn't matter what kind of work you are doing, either, because the security guys at checkpoints could easily decide that the crazy-looking computer code for your gaming pet project might really be stolen state secrets. Or that the photos you took of some Buddhist temple could be considered spy activity. Crazy people are crazy, and the last thing you want is get sent to some labor camp in the middle of your dream vacation.
Things to take:
A spare battery for your laptop. (And encrypt your laptop, and have a decent backup solution.)
Power adaptors for your things.
A powerboard, hostels often only have one or two powerpoints.
Oh, and a voltage converter thing.
An unlocked mobile phone.
Fewer electronics (no music player, no recorder, etc., let your phone do all that).
A backpack (a suitcase will really piss you off).
Water bottles. Plastic travel cutlery maybe (it's cheaper to buy bread and cheese separately than it is to buy them together as a pre-made sandwich).
Travelers Checks and cash for many countries.
A lock for your bags, a lock for lockers in hostels, and a bicycle lock to tie your bags to your bed (or park bench) when you don't have a locker.
Get clothing with hidden (inside) pockets to put cash in. But that's emergency cash. Put your general day cash in an easily accessible pocket (and watch it).
Hostels only sometimes have quiet areas, and are only sometimes quiet (not just drunken people wandering in at 3:00, but also just the traffic all evening, or the bar downstairs), and only sometimes have Internet in the rooms.
If you're looking for places to stay all day, try libraries instead. Ask yourself if an American cafe would let you stay all day. The answer is probably the same for other countries. But then again, a library or a local park would be cheaper.
Two years is a long time. You'll probably get sick of traveling by the end.
Your question is too generic to give a more specific answer.
HELP MY ACCOUNT HAS BEEN HACKED BY AN ILLIBERAL ART STUDENT SET TO DESTROY THE INTERWEBZ!
You'll have a blast!
I really recommend that you spend some time in Berlin. I lived there for 6 months (some of it working, some of it chilling out). It's a hugely exciting city and everywhere has free wifi. I spent many happy days just hanging out in cool cafes, coding. Don't be put off if you can't speak German. I only really have schoolboy German but everybody under the age of 35 speaks fluent English (which is a bummer if you also want to seriously learn the language).
I've also done similar in Stockholm, Sweden (but for a much shorter amount of time).
Basically, both have really nice people, great beer, great coffee, great working environment and a surprisingly large number of fellow coders.
Enjoy!
--- "We've always been at war with Eastasia."
Check price and length of Visa. It varies from country to country. Europe is mainly EU(Schengen) and three months is the standard tourist visa. Then you have to leave for three months before coming back. For American citizens EU is free. There is also other countries around EU that is cheap.
As long as you do not get paid from the EU you do not need a work Visa.
I travel SE Asia a lot and live in EU. Theoretically it is possible to do what you want. WIFI and electricity is available most places. If you find a quiet corner in a cafe they will love you for spending money all day even if it is just coffee.
I recently did this myself, traveled for a year and a half through Europe, Australia and Hawaii, while writing software to pay the bills. It was much easier than saving up that much money before hand, and the work was more stable and dependable than trying to find temporary work at each new location. I stuck to countries with good Internet access, where I didn't have to worry about getting mugged or my rig stolen.
Some hostels provide free wifi, but in many cases it's painfully slow, and many hostels charge for wifi, but it can often be by the hour or for really small amounts of data. Basically they're assuming that you're just emailing and facebooking. Many do have a quiet area, but it might not be setup well for plugging in a laptop, and ergonomically sitting there for hours at a time. What worked best for me was to plan on participating with the other hostelers at all the peak times, such as the shared breakfast and possibly shared dinner times, and either afternoon treks or late night partying. Then I worked in all the gaps in-between, usually the late morning, afternoons, and before supper. Staying in the hostel quiet area all that time was very unappealing, so I would use any rooftop patio, or cafe, or pubs that aren't busy and so will allow you to camp out for hours after you've finished your meal, if asked nicely. Libraries are very good, as well as any post secondary schools that might be nearby. When I found a cafe with good wifi, I would return often, and they would usually accommodate me, even asking other patrons to move for me so I could access a plugin!
Since not every place has good cheap/free wifi, it quickly became necessary to get local SIMs for my iPhone, and get data plans that allow for tethering. Luckily in most places outside of North America, getting 1 GB pay as you go is pretty cheap and easy. At times I got 1.5 or 3 GB. It did take some effort to make sure that a wireless provider allowed both tethering and VPN through that tethering, so I could access my company's intranet for SVN etc. Also, having a local SIM will facilitate with communicating with fellow hostelers and locals that you meet. People seem to mostly stick to SMS, WhatsApp, iMessage and Facebook for messaging and coordinating meeting up.
I always kept a very current Time Machine backup of my computer, which I stored separately from my computer bag, which saved the day when my computer did eventually get stolen. Don't rely on a computer that you can't afford to replace. If you can, keep your home insurance up, to cover your possessions abroad, like I did. Also, I use CrashPlan for an offsite backup, in case I lost everything. This helped get back my very most recent work that I hadn't yet backed up to my Time Machine. But beware, your data plan or limited wifi will not readily support regular backing up everything. I added rules to CrashPlan to not backup any temporary or built files, and I would regularly use the feature that allows suspending backing up for several hours, until I was back on a free wifi. Also, don't let your computer automatically download updates. It can take a while for an online backup service to upload everything for the first complete backup, so start that process well before leaving. I used Mozy first, and didn't like how slow it was and the trouble I had restoring files, so I needed to start all over again with CrashPlan. Also, a padded water proof or resistant computer case is a must. Many times I went to a cafe it wasn't raining, but on my return it was. Always lock up your computer in your locker in your room. Not every hostel has lockers in the rooms.
The main thing, is to not shut yourself off from the other backpackers, but to find a balance of socialising, seeing all the sights, relaxing, and also fitting in your work that will pay the bills. This way you will have an even better time than those who are not working but must live within a tight budget as they're burning through their savings.
With the Dutch American Friendship Treaty, you can get a Visa pretty easily so you don't have to worry about going back to the US every few months. You can be based there on paper and travel elsewhere in the EU if you plan on spending the bulk of your time in Europe. The Netherlands is very central and has great access to all of the EU, and although the trains are slow until you get out of the country, the airport in Amsterdam has been rated the best in the world on multiple occasions. The Dutch are all fluent in English and very welcoming. And renting an apartment is surprisingly inexpensive, even in Amsterdam proper.
The Visa is good for a year, and can be renewed annually so long as you maintain your qualifications (which are minimal). It sounds as though you may qualify based on your post:
http://www.expatlaw.nl/dutch_american_friendship_treaty.htm
I almost did this four or five years ago, but my business ended up doing well in the US to the point where it didn't make sense to leave. I still hope to do it someday, as I think it would be a great experience.
Good luck!
--SONET
Think of it not as an alternative to vacation/traveling, but an alternative to living/working in the same city you always have.
I've traveled 150+ dates a year while keeping a full time job and I can say that it is not easy. While most of that time is spent in a van and in nasty green rooms, there have been some helpful tricks that have helped a great deal being productive while on the road.
1. Keep whomever you work for in the loop. There are going to be times where you are missing a meeting or will have trouble being available. Most of the time isn't a big deal if you're up front an open about where you are. It also helps if you end up keeping somewhat "off hours", which I typically do.
2. Get a MiFi or some other reliable internet source. Coffee shops and hotels often have flaky connections. When you do need to have that meeting or restart some services, it is beneficial to have a connection that is reasonably reliable. Also, if you use Linux full time, a MiFi is like any other wifi, which can mean less futzing with USB drivers.
3. If you work while "moving" (ie in a van, train, plain, etc.) then make sure you don't get motion sickness. I used to take Dramamine and Bonine, but both made me extremely tired and put me in a horrible mood. Since then I keep a lot of ginger chews / gum and natural motion sickness remedies. Specifically, I use a chewable tablets with Nux Vomica and Cocculus Indicus. You can pop that stuff like candy and it really works.
4. Have different themes available for your text editor. When traveling, having a light and dark theme is helpful when you may not have the best natural lighting or you have to battle some sunshine outdoors or by a window.
5. Battery life is critical! A small power efficient laptop is really helpful, especially if you have to carry it around. I also keep a small power inverter for working in the car. You want to get the lowest power possible as they are less likely overheat and break.
I've also found that using a email client that can work offline is helpful at times. I use Emacs + Mu4e with offlineimap and have found it to be helpful at times. Org-mode in Emacs is also helpful as it provides me with a timesheet and a helpful system of organizing my notes that is close to the code. This is nice b/c when traveling, you typically will have shorter time spans to focus. Being able to clock out and keep a note of what you were working open when you close your laptop can go a long way when trying to get back to work.
Good luck!
I telecommuted for a couple years, mostly from an island in Thailand. It was pretty easy to set up in a restaurant for up to 3 hours at a time, but I would likely have been unwelcome if I was taking up space for more than that, or if I was just ordering a Coke during dinner. Personally, I worked in 3-4 3-hour shifts, early morning at my bungalow, lunch at the restaurant, early evening at either another restaurant or a place with air conditioning, and as needed a 4th shift back at the bungalow. Some social time, but also some concentration time in the mix gave a reasonable balance. Could get in 2 hours of Scuba diving a day as well.
In hostels in Europe I would think the same style of living would be much more difficult. Biggest problem would be concern of theft, but after that you have to find good venues for a large part of the day. Restaurants closing between lunch and dinner makes this hard; you would have to work hard to make more than a two-hour shift. Working in a hostel would never be functional for me; too transitory of a place.
Really it comes down to finding the right spot for yourself. If you can concentrate in a public square you are set...
I've managed to organize my freelance writing business so I can (and do) travel as much as I want. I'm not 100% -- I travelled 188 days in 2012 -- but that's by choice. (I like having a home base in small-town Ohio, where the livin' is easy.)
Anyway, to answer your questions from my perspective, with travel in the U.S. and Western Europe (which seems to be your focus):
Most modern Hostelling International hostels in Western Europe have comparatively reliable wifi, 24-hour access, and electrical outlets. (I can't speak for other hostel chains or independents.) I've found cafes to be less reliable -- they have less at stake if the wifi goes down. And libraries don't all offer wifi to non-members.
Usually.
It depends. You can usually spend a couple of hours at each, but it's obnoxious to stay when it's crowded. Some have auto-limited wifi access: Check before sitting down.
Again, it depends. I know of some in Rotterdam (The Netherlands), but that's a very Western city. Now, my comments.
Good luck!
Tom Geller
Having visited, lived, studied, and worked within the Schengen zone on a US passport, this corresponds to my information and experience concerning tourist visas.
3 months presence out of any 6 is ok on a tourist visa, and there is no charge (or application) for the visa. Stay 3 months, leave for 1 day, and you earn the right to return, for 1 day.
Overstay the visa, and you run the risk of difficulty when you leave or attempt to re-enter. This check occurs as you enter or leave the Schengen zone.
For passports that don't earn an automatic, free visa, paying a fee seems to earn the same rights. It varies from country to country, but I think the number tends to run in the low hundreds of euros.
As to working, each country has its own rules about what constitutes working. I've been told of a particular case where a business trip lasting a few weeks qualifies for taxation, even though you don't need a work permit. Check the rules before you declare the purpose of your visit as a business trip or working holiday. You might end up owing half of what you earn while in the country.