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Living Nomadically: My 80/20 Guide

I’ve been living nomadically for three years, and I’m often asked what my advice is for people trying it. Here’s the 80/20 of all my advice:

*   Work out of restaurants and 5-star resorts. They’re gorgeous and if you pay for a meal, ~99.9% of restaurants and resorts are fine with you working there.
*   Ask ~20 different AirBnBs for a 40% discount if you stay for a month. ~5-10% will say yes, then you’ll get to stay in way nicer places for cheaper. 
*   Travel with a folding bike. It will help you get around and really see the cities. 
*   Use [NomadList.com](https://nomadlist.com/) to find the best places to stay. It allows you to search cities by cheapness, safety for women, weather, number of nomads, etc. Nomad List is the best and I wish everything were Nomad List.
*   Social contact is the main reason people stop nomading. To fix that a) travel with at least one friend/partner and b) become excellent at location-independent friendships. The main way to do this is to set up recurring calls. Make it the default to talk to people. If you have to choose to hangout with people each time, you will just forget to. You should probably already be doing this. [Full short article on how to do this well](http://www.katwoods.org/home/how-to-maintain-long-distance-friendships-instead-of-losing-touch). 
*   Some of the best places to nomad, according to Nomad List / me
    *   Bali (particularly Canggu and Ubud). Tropical paradise, tons of nomads, insanely cheap and beautiful living arrangements. 

![](https://39669.cdn.cke-cs.com/rQvD3VnunXZu34m86e5f/images/4c20d355e8b9da757aff1fe9cd89d92b2c4f1f7ee6999ba1.png)

*   Thailand (particularly Chiang Mai). Same as Bali. 
*   Istanbul. The Mediterranean with mosques and cats. (So many cats!) Very safe for women, filled with history. First world infrastructure and third world prices. Better time zone for working remotely in Europe. 

![](https://39669.cdn.cke-cs.com/rQvD3VnunXZu34m86e5f/images/583901748ca9f68b4b6be3bf220b788d8079677744ace0c3.png)

*   Buenos Aires. European style city, very cheap and safe. Better time zone for working remotely from North America
*   Medellín. Jungle in a city. Cheap and gorgeous. Better time zone for working remotely from North America

  
**Other articles you might like:**

*   [How to maintain long-distance friendships without losing touch](http://www.katwoods.org/home/how-to-maintain-long-distance-friendships-instead-of-losing-touch)
*   [App and book recommendations for people who want to be happier and more productive](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/tEDXpFgsHsm5T8sWz/app-and-book-recommendations-for-people-who-want-to-be)
*   [EA Houses: the AirBnB of EA](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/4zHWQNzCusaTfD7jz/ea-houses-live-or-stay-with-eas-around-the-world)

*Cross-posted from my* [*personal blog*](http://www.katwoods.org/popular-posts.html)

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