A quick note to let you know we’ve relocated. Because winter.
It’s cold, guys. Not here in Chiang Mai, Thailand. It’s currently 36 degrees C here. Arguably too hot. But back in Canada, it’s cold. Very cold. It happens every year and every year we’re like, “we should be somewhere else that doesn’t make our skin hurt when we go outside.”
Because we can, and in fact that’s one of the main reasons we’ve built our online business. As journalists and marketers, Lisa and I have been fortunate to develop a roster of clients who are cool with us filing our work from whatever timezone we happen to be in.
A couple years ago that place was California and Arizona. We spent a few months there living in our van, hanging out in Starbucks and public libraries, sleeping in the desert and hanging out with all of our parents’ friends who were doing the same. We called ourselves Canada’s youngest snowbirds. It was perfect.
This year, however, we wanted something a little different. Scratch that, a lot different. So, we bought one-way tickets to Southeast Asia with the plan to settle down in a number of the digital-nomad hotspots and carry on with our online-based work.
After a quick layover in Taipei, where we powered through our jet lag and took the train into the city to get a sense of the area—which from our brief experience seemed uber friendly, delicious and beautiful—we landed in Bangkok.
Stepping off a plane and into a tropical location when you’ve come from a land of ice and snow is a sensation most Canadians can likely relate to (Mexico all-inclusive, amirite?). It felt amazing. I was immediately sweaty and wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
Sleep no longer an option, we hunkered down at the (rather expensive) airport hotel, feeding ourselves with exotic 7-11 snacks and checking in with our clients online before zonking out hard for the night.
The next day we caught a flight to Chiang Mai, the first actual destination we’d be spending any significant amount of time in. It’s easily one of the top digital nomad spots in the entire world, with hundreds of laptop-friendly cafes and plenty of coworking spaces.
We’ve been easing into it. Drinking smoothies for breakfast and eating Thai rice or noodle dishes for the rest of the day, carrying our laptops down to the pool area for breakfast and then out into the city for a few more hours of work and exploration. So far, so awesome.
As for the van, it’s enjoying a little bit of rest at my old man’s ranch in BC, parked in front of the barn, no doubt providing a cozy nest for some critters at this point. It started just before we left. We’ll have to see if it starts when we return.
But to be completely honest, at this point, I don’t even care. Because sunshine.