So last year, I was in some deep financial shit.

Basically $1000 to my name with no hopes in sight.

I moved to Lviv, Ukraine, and worked online a lot for a whole year. Kept my expenses at about $1000 or so.

Lviv was the cheapest place I could find on Numbeo that looked to be even slightly livable. Yes, Pakistan and India are cheaper, but seriously fuck that.

I've discovered second tier towns in Ukraine that, of course, are cheaper than Lviv.

My question to you: what do you think the cheapest place is to live in the world that's actually decent enough to want to live there?

What do you do online for money? I know places in Southeast Asia such as the Philippines and Vietnam are just as cheap as Ukraine and livable also.

Vietnam is pretty damn cheap.

Second tier cities in Peru are doable for about $800/month living pretty good. Mexico about $1000/month. You'll want to learn Spanish though.

edit: really any latin american place is a decent choice

Cheap won't help you without knowing the bigger picture.

It'll be a different answer for someone in their early 20s screwing off in between school years than it would be for a guy in his 30s building a career or business. It's a different picture altogether for a guy in his 60s looking to retire near someplace with affordable living and health care.

Can't help without knowing a bit more.

I nearly went AWOL to Ukraine. To this day it's one of my biggest regrets. You see, I had been in Eastern Europe, and was running out of money to backpack on, and was considering just pulling the trigger and moving to Ukraine illegally and overstaying the tourist visa. Probably learning Russian in the process. One of the biggest regrets in my life that I didn't pull the trigger on it.

Anyway, as far as cheaper places, I would most likely guess the East of Ukraine first, perhaps Kharkov. Second tier Russia is decently cheap as well, from what I hear. There is also Moldova which is the poorest european country. Outside of Europe there are portions of the Middle East that are damn cheap, Asia, Africa of course, and much of central and South America is very affordable.

Quote: (02-24-2019 06:11 PM)WhatTheFuck Wrote:  

Second tier cities in Peru are doable for about $800/month living pretty good. Mexico about $1000/month. You'll want to learn Spanish though.

edit: really any latin american place is a decent choice

Uruguay is an exception. It takes roughly 2000 USD a month to pull off a comfortable standard of living and imported goods cost a hefty premium. The locals survive on local salaries by doing the multigenerational household thing. Uruguay can be even more expensive without some level of Spanish fluency and the ability to cook for yourself.

Trying to do Uruguay on 1000 USD/monthly looks like what the immigrants from even poorer countries get stuck trying to do. Small bedroom, shared bathroom pensions, lots of rice, and awful location. Potential for expensive disaster should you work online and your work tools break.

I offer this because generalizations like "Latin America == Cheap" only hold until they don't.

Isn't there a reason why Chiang Mai, Medellin, Bali and Saigon are the Meccas for digital nomads?

All are cheap and probably a great atmosphere to be around to if you're into online business and connect with many like-minded people. Never been but seems very livable and I've heard Saigon is very nice.

All depends on how you live as well. I used to live off 1000 a month in the uk, but that was as a student in a house share with no car.

Second tier cities in China are OK. Budapest has been floated.

Can live a great life in Vietnam for 1000 USD

You need to factor in visa runs and visa extensions. If you're living on sub-$1000/month, taking a flight out and back again every three months can start to become an issue.

Could easily do Saigon or Chiang Mai on a $1,000. I wouldn't but I've grown accustomed to the finer things in life.

Instead of asking this question though, I think you'd be better served researching how you can make more money.

+1 for Chiang Mai

Mexico

I don't think that you are going to find a liveable place much cheaper than Lviv. It's possible that some of these places in SE Asia can give you roughly the same cost with better weather and easier pussy.

2nd/3rd tier Mexico and Colombia can be done for $1000-1500/month and a guy would live comfortably on that and be able to have fun, eat out, date chicas, etc.

What would you do if you had a serious medical emergency in these places

^Go to a world class hospital and get fixed for cheap, at least that how it is in Thailand, Philippines, Mexico and Colombia. You shouldn’t be abroad if you can’t afford basic travel health insurance and ideally you should have a credit card with a couple of grand on it “just in case.”

Honestly getting sick in the USA is a lot scarier financially, I spent a lot of time in a retirement community in Florida and all of the Canadians were very scared of that happening. If a Canadian has a heart attack down there, the insurance company will literally charter aprivate jet to get the hell out of there and back to the land of free health care.

I'm surprised to hear that; I've witnessed the exact opposite happen with Canadians. They will come to the US and pay out of their own pockets to get treatments that in the US one would think require extra urgency. In Canada they get put on wait lists or get run around in circles of never ending lab tests before their benevolent government gives them a "free" operation. But old Canadians in FL are famous for exaggerating the shit out of how wonderful the country they left behind really is. They could always just go back, yet they don't

Can someone explain the appeal of the digital nomad lifestyle... I see it floated a lot on the forum, but I still really wonder what the appeal of it is. Having to move every three months sounds a bit depressing to be honest, but maybe that's just me.

OP, what is your goal? Just to work in a cheap country, or to have some fun along the way?

Since I was in Lviv as well, I don't think it can get much better than Ukraine in terms of "best buy". The girls were not as hot as Serbian/Croatian girls, but the cost of restaurant food, transport, alcohol and accommodation was dirt cheap.

Of course, India or Moldova are even cheaper than Ukraine, but why bother living in a shithole just to save a few hundred a month? Fuck that.

Quote: (02-25-2019 08:30 PM)Heuristics Wrote:  

Can someone explain the appeal of the digital nomad lifestyle... I see it floated a lot on the forum, but I still really wonder what the appeal of it is. Having to move every three months sounds a bit depressing to be honest, but maybe that's just me.

I work remote. I hate the term ''digital nomad'' though. The term seems douchy, selfish, closed-minded. Never really got were that frase came from. I just say I am location-independent. That's what I like. And the only thing that's different. Freedom to work wherever you are. Home is where the heart is. You don't have to change location every 3 months. You can stay where you feel at home. Whenever people ask me how long I stay, I tell them ''between one day and all my life''. A lot of people that say ''I am a digital nomad'' are usually travellers, showing off their pics on Instagram, partying etc.. It's way more than that. Sure you can travel, been doing it for 9 months. It does get exhausting, especially if you have to do work as well.

Also, for people that want to have kids one day. Working from home and seeing your kids growing up, or spending 10+ hours in office watching time go by and being to tired to do anything with the kids at night? I rather have the first scenario.

On-Topic now:


Great places I like that are not to expensive:
- Mexico / Colombia / Peru (Great places to start if you've never been to Latin America)
- Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand (same for South-East Asia)
- Africa I don't know, heard Morocco is pretty cool.
- Eastern Europe (heard greats things about Lviv as well). I loved Romania and Serbia too, and woman are great there.

Quote: (02-25-2019 01:22 PM)Brahman Wrote:  

What would you do if you had a serious medical emergency in these places

Most cities have high-end private/international hospitals that aren't really for the day-to-day care of poorer locals. I remember hearing about a good one in Lima years ago, Googling quickly it looks like there are a few. Being in a small city in the American Rust Belt, I'd actually rather be in some of those hospitals over the regional hospitals here if I got hit by a car or had a heart attack.

Long-term travel insurance - at least for Americans - is relatively inexpensive and usually covers a range of solutions between covering care at those hospitals and repatriation flights, where short-term travel insurance usually just prefers immediate repatriation - and will usually only reimburse you for emergency care in-country after the fact, meaning you need to front the money. If you're interested, look into GeoBlue, a Blue Cross product that screens their international network of approved providers carefully:

https://www.geobluetravelinsurance.com/m...etwork.cfm

Second/third tier Spain by far if you can get to $1500.

Best lifestyle in the world, top notch free healthcare, safe and great food. I think worldwide only certain parts of Italy have a better quality of life but don't do Italy as girls are just not worth the headache there.

Colombia/Mexico are good but quality of life in Spain is better in every aspect but girls hotness/easyness, so it really depends on how important is that to you.
Also the kind of lifestyle that you can have in Southern Europe for cheap is not achievable in those countries for the same price, its sound crazy but its the reality of things. If you live like a poor-medium class person Latin America is gona be much cheaper but you gona have shitty food, little safety etc.