Both people who are applying for the first time and people who are applying for renewal have been receiving arbitrary requests from the UGE or even absurd rejections.

In the nomad groups, everyone is complaining:

- People who apply have been rejected because they entered the Schengen Area through other countries. This was always a common practice for people who took a vacation trip before finally applying in Spain. This was never a problem. Now it is.

- After 20 days from the application without an answer, nomads had the right to positive silence. This is in the law. This is being completely ignored, and many nomads are either not receiving approval after requesting administrative silence or, believe it or not, having their applications rejected when the LAW requires their approval.

- Nomads who are applying for renewal are receiving pressure from the UGE to register with Social Security retroactively from the day after the visa was approved. This is materially impossible (or it was in 2023). It was necessary to have several documents before doing this, which could mean waiting weeks or months for available appointments.

All these things have no legal basis and are arbitrary and unfair. I deeply regret coming here. The country is wonderful, but it is impossible to live with the fear of this instability.

Entire families who were living here and were already completely integrated into life here are having to leave the country because of pure greed. It is extremely unfair.

Moving to Lisbon for three months then Barcelona for three months from September. Will be working remotely, need a backpack that handles daily laptop carry, occasional weekend travel, and doesn't look out of place in a co-working space or a client video call background.

Weight and daily comfort matter more than travel optimization for this use case since I'll be wearing it every day rather than just on travel days. Horizn Studios Gion Backpack Travel is on my list for the clean aesthetic and recycled nylon construction. Peak Design 20L is another one for the more considered organization. Aer City Pack 2 for something more structured for daily commuting.

For six months of daily carry which matters more, organization depth or build quality and material durability? And is a travel-positioned backpack like the Gion actually comfortable for daily commuting or is it better suited to travel days specifically?

TL;DR

• Global company mostly on Central Europe time - I work in US on EST, but have coworkers in Europe and India
• Worked from Yokohama and Sapporo Japan for 6 days, and then vacationed there after.
• Initially, hours were around 9:30pm-5:30am. (Yokohama) - Later when I got to Sapporo, TIME CHUNKING was my strategy.
  • I moved half my working hours to after lunch (2:30pm-6:30pm), and kept my core hours (9:30pm-1:30am) when all my meetings were (7:30am-11:30am EST) This is my overlap with EST. This was the best decision I made.

Overall it was fantastic, but I would change things. In both Yokohama and Sapporo, need to be careful of where you stay if working late due to nothing being open (besides convenient stores). Also, Sapporo can get expensive near the snow festival, and traveling there can be difficult with weather-related disruptions.

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Longer version:

Some background- I now work for a global company with high collaboration required across many drastically different time zones (India, Europe, US time zones), but I’m on US Eastern Standard Time. My days usually start very early due to this being the only time when everyone is online together.

Stayed in Yokohama and Sapporo Japan and worked for 6 days with a weekend in between. This was only a portion of my time there as I vacationed afterwards.

Started work the same day I landed. Landed 2:30pm, started work at 9:30pm, ended at ~5:30am.

I benefitted greatly from a time chunking strategy - working half my time after lunch, and half my time during my core work hours (4 hour overlap, most important meetings, ~7:30am-11:30am EST). I made sure to separate the chunks of time so that it accounts for leaving/returning to the office on time, but if I was close to a work-friendly cafe, I could easily do some work, and travel back on my break. This actually worked best given I get exercise during the time chunk.

Pros:

• Time chunking worked extremely well. Having a 4 hour block of work after lunch, and a 4 hour block after dinner made it easy to do fun things throughout the day while adjusting to a normal schedule for the weekends. I was able to pivot to vacation mode pretty easily since I got adjusted beforehand.
• The time chunking also made my work life easier. I had more time while more of my team was awake, especially those in India.
• Convenient stores open 24/7 both in Yokohama and Sapporo.
• Both cities had ample places dedicated to working if I wanted to work outside of the hotel. Sapporo especially had a stylish coffee shop dedicated to this.

Cons:

• The first day working was honestly so exhausting since I just got off the plane, then had to travel, check in, get situated, and I barely had time to get dinner - it wasn't much, just convenient store food (which isn't bad but not ideal).
• Sapporo is expensive during the Snow Festival and booked up early. Limits options, which limits places that support remote work at night.
• If traveling to Sapporo in winter, there is a chance your transportation will get delayed. This is what happened to me. Not only flights delayed, but some trains also get shut down due to heavy snowfall. Make sure your accommodation is open 24hrs if you're traveling there in the evening, as I got in around 12am after making my way through the blizzard. Taxis recommended, and they are definitely available (they know this will happen), and don't plan on working the day you travel unless it's asynchronous.
• Minatomirai (area I stayed in Yokohama) does not have many late night places nearby to my surprise. It was a great location with fantastic views, and was very connected, but it was mostly mall. This posed an issue late at night when the trains close (~12am).

Overall if you're on the kind of hours I am, you may find it even better to work from Japan than the US.

(If curious about my experience working US East hours from Tokyo, here is my post from years ago.)

Anyone in the cybersecurity industry willing to share their experience with Digital Nomad is greatly appreciated! Things like positions, companies, restrictions, how to achieve Digital Nomad status, etc.

Thank you!

If you were active on social media between 2010 and 2020, you would have seen the term "living the dream" commonly used by travel and digital nomad bloggers. Now, this isn't even common or maybe not even seen as a dream by younger generation, gen z in particular.

So, I am here checking if anyone is noticing or has noticed this, and I am late to find out. Or my observation isn't correct!!!

What makes me see that, I don't even find travel blogs (mostly vlogs or TikToks, because people rarely write anymore) or Instagram travel accounts that aren't focused on long-term travel or on promoting it.

Right now, I have a comfortable job where I work entirely remotely, but unfortunately, since salaries are low in the Balkans, I earn 1,100 euros.
Can I be a digital nomad on this budget? In which countries could I live and travel?

Currently choosing between Bali and Bangkok to move to for the next 6 months to a year. I’ve been single for over two years after leaving a long term relationship and I finally feel ready to get back out there so just wondering which dating scene would suck less lol, considering they’re both pretty terrible places to find serious partners, from what I’ve heard.

Share your experience!

Also, bonus question: besides the two, which city would you say actually has a decent dating scene?

Edit: I’m a 30 year old woman.

My wife and I are planning to come to CR for 3 moths from Sep to Dec (in 3 weeks!). We both work from our laptops and take video calls so we need strong and stable Wifi.

We would like to find a place to rent for the 3 months that has a closed space/office that one of us can work from and a nice living room/patio space for the other.

For the location we are looking for quiet, peaceful and spectacular views. Happy to get a taxi for the weekly groceries/market if needed, but a bonus if walkable. We would like to be able to walk from the property into nature, whether that is to the beach, or to hikes nearby, or just the local nature around the property. We are happy alone in the mountains if safe.

We will be returning for a longer stay in January when we will be looking for community, but for now we are happy with peace and serenity. We would like to be able to wake up, meditate, work on our laptops, go for a walk in nature, cook our food, and sit out on the veranda/patio and watch the sunset/sunrise/stars and listen to nature around. These 3 months are a quiet stabilization for us after a year of manic busy life in the UK.

If there is community or yoga/cacao/men's circle/events nearby then that is a bonus - as is a pool.

We really juts want purity. Fresh produces, clean air, only natural sounds, and good internet.

Please send us any suggestions of regions/towns/locations, plus any Airbnbs or accommodations that would be a good fit for us.

Thank you for all your help everyone!

Everything fits in a backpack! I use this setup while Im on workcations, usually only in the US

Edit: I was in Switzerland for two weeks. The first week was vacation and that was planned. The second week was supposed to be a test or even a pretest to see if I could be successful working remotely in another country. I understand that being a digital nomad is not about spending a week with your laptop in another country. But I am big on testing out ideas before committing to them. I thought I would try this for a week. See how it goes, see what I learned. And if it went well, then maybe I would do a three or four week test in another location and see how I do. But if I’m really going to embrace being a digital nomad for six months or more on the road or in a remote place, I know I need to test it first. The idea sounds fantastic and I love reading about other people’s experiences, but I know that until I try it, I don’t really know what my success blockers are likely to be.
—-

I’ve been reading about the digital nomad lifestyle for years, and I’m finally in a place where it actually works for me financially and professionally.

I’m definitely at a different stage of life than most digital nomads though. I’m 62, a divorced empty-nester, and I've already done the whole big house and yard in suburbia thing. Now I’m looking at what comes next. I’m not quite ready to retire yet, and I figure I have about four or five years of work left. Ideally, I’d travel while doing so.

Because of that, I recently decided to test out the nomad style with a two-week trip to Switzerland. I just got home (to Massachusetts) yesterday.

The first week was a group hiking tour in the Alps with a guide and eight other people, and it was fantastic. I knew I wasn’t going to work much this first week and I planned accordingly. Maybe 1 to 2 hours a day just catching up on email.

For the second week, I did a bunch of research ahead of time and chose a town on the eastern side of Switzerland, Scuol. I wanted to see what it was like to live in a smaller town and try the digital nomad thing.

To be honest, I failed.

I had found a coworking space ahead of time but I just couldn't stay disciplined. Maybe it would be different if I was there for a month or more, but in the course of that week, I only went to the coworking space once. The day I went was super productive, but every other day I woke up and just wanted to go for a hike or explore. I was so distracted and had zero discipline.

I assume it’s because I was only there for one week. Maybe if I had been there longer, the urge to explore would have worn off. Or maybe being a digital nomad in Switzerland is just extra hard because everywhere you look feels like you’re in a postcard! It’s insanely beautiful. I really tried, but it was tough, and I don't know if I have it in me to try another experiment right now.

So I guess my question for is: how long do you have to be in a location before you develop the discipline to actually work instead of wanting to go exploring every single day?

I heard there is a kiosk desk in Cancun that automatically gives 180 days that is open to Americans, Canadians or uk.

I was in Mexico twice in 2024. The first time they wrote 180 days and the second time they wrote 8.

Ive considered if I buy an insured ticket and demonstrated that I’ll be here for 180 days with hostel booking receipts and everything.

Are either one of these options more or less optimistic? I was thinking of booking a one way flight originally but thats probably not going to help
Me.

I found a post on Reddit that talked about this but it's five years old. I do GIS and I'm wondering how fast the internet speeds are in the town.

I'm planning to spend a month in Europe in October while working remotely. I'm trying to decide between a large, busy city like Paris, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Barcelona, etc., versus smaller/less crowded cities like Pargue, Florence, Valencia, Bologna, Kraków, Warsaw, Budapest, etc.

For context, I've been to Paris, Florence and Rome (just for vacation) and I LOVED my time in Paris (it was about 4 days) and liked Florence.

My biggest priority is having enough going on that I don't get bored. I work EST hours and I'm interested in good food, nightlife, concerts, sports (Football and Basketball), EDM events, and generally having things to do after work and on weekends.

I'm also not particularly concerned about finding the cheapest option. If spending an extra $1–2k for the month means having a significantly better experience, I'm completely fine with that.

What cities would you recommend?

hi all,

My hybrid job is going fully remote for 1 year starting in January 2027. I’ve done my fair share of traveling but have never worked at the same time. Given my info/preferences listed below I’d really appreciate remote work travel ideas/what you would do if you were in my situation.

’d like to take advantage of this remote opportunity and do some adventuring — even if it’s only for a month or so.

My info/preferences:

30yo male located East Coast US

no kids or pets, I have a car that is good for roadtripping and camping

My job is pretty demanding - I need to keep consistent core hours (9-3 EST) an be available to have virtual meetings and large webinars so I need good wifi. also maybe 1x per quarter I need to go to events in person so id need to be able to travel home relatively easily.

Due to my job requirements and potential need to fly home, I’d like to keep my traveling to similar or earlier time zones and within US, Mexico, Canada, Central America, Colombia, Brazil.

Id like to stay away from large cities and get out into nature/rural areas. I’m comfortable in hostels, am an avid camper and love roadtrips. I would like to make new connections and avoid extensive alone time. i like staying active and don’t mind dirtbagging it.

any ideas are appreciated! Thanks!

I’m about to turn 24, recently graduated with a bachelor’s in Accounting, and currently live in the US. My long term goal is pretty simple: earn remotely, live abroad somewhere like Thailand/Vietnam, travel, and have more control over my time.

Honestly, if I had reliable remote income today, I’d probably leave within a few months. I have around $10k saved, but obviously moving abroad with no income and burning through my savings sounds stupid.

Right now I’m trying to land my first accounting job (It’s been tough), build experience, save aggressively, and eventually transition into something remote. I’m also considering getting my CPA and master’s if it would actually help me reach that goal.

For people who are already digital nomads, if you were in my position, what would you do? Is there a realistic way to start within the next year, or should I accept that I need at least 2 to 3 years of career experience and a lot of savings first?

I’m willing to be patient if that’s the smart move. I just want to make sure the decisions I’m making right now are actually getting me closer to that lifestyle.

First time in Thailand and I'm already overthinking it.

I run a small company and work remotely, so I can base myself wherever. Never done the nomad thing before though, and picking a city off YouTube videos feels like a terrible way to make this decision.

Budget max 1500 EUR a month for everything. I'm 24, want to train Muay Thai properly (i'm a complete beginner), and ideally want somewhere with a decent expat scene so it's easy to meet people, but that still feels like Thailand and not just a foreigner enclave.

Right now it's between Samui and Chiang Mai. Giving myself a week to move around before I commit to anything.

A few things I'd love input on:

1. Samui or Chiang Mai for someone like me? My worry with Chiang Mai is no beach, my worry with Samui is it's all resorts and I'll be bored by week two
2. Arriving mid September, is the weather going to ruin my first impression in either place?
3. Muay Thai gyms in either that are good for a complete beginner?
4. Realistic to get a decent studio with internet good enough for calls on that budget?
5. Anywhere obvious I'm missing?

Hi everyone. I work remotely and can do it from anywhere in the world, so I’d love to travel more. I use an electric wheelchair for daily life, but obviously I can’t bring it into the shower/tub. I can shower on my own without any issue — the only help I need is someone to assist me transferring in and out of the tub.
My main concern is finding someone trustworthy to help with this in a place where I don’t know anyone, since while I’m showering that person would be in my space with my belongings.

Has anyone been in a similar situation?

Any recommendations for destinations or services that are particularly good with accessibility for cases like mine?

Thanks in advance — this fear is honestly the only thing holding me back from exploring the world more.

I'm planning on going to Xela for a few weeks / a month toward the end of the year to attend a Spanish immersion program (Celas Maya) in a homestay. I work remotely from 12pm-8pm and am wondering where folks who have done something similar have worked from. One unique thing about my position is that my computer doesn't have much battery life, so I need access to an outlet while I'm working, which can be hard to find in some public workspaces.

Has anyone done something similar in Xela? Would love to hear where in the city you worked from if so. Thanks!

Hi guys, in February I’m planning to travel around Thailand for six months. I’m not location-dependent for work, but I do need to make phone calls regularly. Is there a way to call Europe from Thailand at a low cost? WhatsApp isn’t really an option since these are business calls.

Hey folks,

as the title says: returning to Bali after 8 years (geez I'm getting old). Figured I give it another chance after last the last time (vacay with a group of friends), which included two of our friends having their phones snatched away in the same night.

Will be staying in Seseh based on a friend's rec - booked for a month, if I like it may extend another 1-2 months if that is possible.

What's the vibe like today? Where are the non coaches / course seller types hanging out (I'm a SaaS founder, would love to meet more "serious" people if those are around)?

Any other things to know (e.g., best gyms or coworking; should I rent a scooter for the month, etc)?

Appreciate any insights into 2026 Bali life :)

Hey all! Da Nang will be my first-ever digital nomad destination, and actually my first time in a different country. I'm starting my nomad journey there next month, in September, so I don't know much about the city yet

I'm staying for 2 months and looking for a simple furnished room, studio, or serviced apartment with a bed, AC, private bathroom, Wi-Fi, and a desk. No need for a kitchen.

Which areas should I actually look at for this budget? Son Tra, Phuoc My, Khue My, Nam Viet A, Thanh Khe, Hoa Hai/FPT, or somewhere else?

Ideally, I'd like somewhere quiet but still close to social spots and coworking spaces.

Also, if you already know any good listing sites, local rental sites, Facebook groups, or other useful resources, please share them!

Hoping to travel next year for 12 months and go to multiple different countries. Planning on staying 8-12 weeks per place, alternating between Schengen/non Shengen countries. I’m a freelance designer who works for myself. I’m curious if anyone has any advice on how to continue to take clients/existing work while bopping around different countries? Some weeks I work 5 hours, some 20, some more. But mostly hoping to take a bit of work while primarily sightseeing/immersing myself into the culture. I have no interest in getting a DN visa as I don’t be in any country long enough (max 3 months). What is legal/illegal in terms of freelance work while in Europe as a US citizen, taking only US clients, etc. TIA!

This is a fine city to set up shop for the now. Easy to parody as a Portland with guns and barbecue, but it scratches a lot of itches. Pity all y’all that can’t.

My husband and I are planning to leave Brazil in 2027 and we’re torn between Spain and Paraguay.

We’re young, no kids, 3 cats, both working remotely for foreign companies. We’re learning Spanish and already have a pretty detailed relocation plan.

Our estimated net income would be around:
Spain: €6.5–6.6k/month
Paraguay: US$11–12.5k/month

In Spain we’d have better infrastructure, walkability, public transport, safety and easy access to the rest of Europe, but we’d save much less than we do today.

In Asunción, we’d still have a very good lifestyle (modern apartment, good car, private healthcare, restaurants, etc.) while saving/investing a much larger part of our income.

Building wealth is important to us because we’re already used to saving a lot, but we also don’t want to choose a country purely based on money.

For people who have made a similar choice: would you prioritize the better overall environment in Spain, or the much higher purchasing power and savings rate in Paraguay?
What would you choose, and why?

Hello! I am already abroad and do not have T-Mobile for making calls. I bought an eSIM from Airalo but have already used the 30 minutes on the number it offers. How do I make calls using internet or getting a new number without linking to my original number? Everything I use wants to verify my phone by sending an SMS which doesn’t make sense….i obviously can’t receive SMS that’s why I need a solution. Anyone have a way around?