Digital Nomads

Either monthly airbnb or Facebook groups. I don't rent unfurnished apartements, if you value your time its a huge unnecessarily hassle, I can't imagine ever buying a tv while nomading.

Ill sometimes buy a used office chair and some cookware.

Only really slowmad. Only rent furnished apartments. Easily done, plenty of fb groups on that area you’re in.

I have 3-5 "home bases" in a year, at like 1-4 months each place. I just use airbnb, except in places I have local real estate contacts.

Did that for 3.5yrs...and it rocked :)

Got the best flats through local contacts/friends. At least on Canary Islands there was always some surfer dude who had a friend who had a friend who was looking for a tenant. Crazy cheap deals that way.

Best deal wast a 2 bedroom flat with a rooftop terrace right next to one of the best waves on Lanzarote, all utility and internet (fibre) bills included as well as a (small) car with insurance included...for EUR650/mo.

FB groups can work too depending on location. Don't get scammed, take photos of passports ;)

I will typically Airbnb for the first 2-4 weeks, and then use that time to talk with people and find something better/cheaper.

A lot of times you can even rent the same place directly from the owner outside Airbnb for cash for a lot less.

I’ve been living like this for 5 years

Hmm, I've been slomading through LATAM for the last 3 years now and the cut off to be considered a slomad is definitely 1 MONTH in a city/country and possibly staying up to a year... After that you're either an expat or an illegal immigrant. 😂

I, and all the other slomads I know from USA/CAN, typically book month-long Airbnbs, almost exclusively, because we travel light and don't want to be burdened furnishing apartments and then going through the hassle of selling items when we decide to leave. Some of my European friends claim to find better deals on Bookings.com, but the value difference seems negligible at a glance.

If you're going to go the route of furnishing each place, its probably best to lock in 6-month rental agreements to make the energy and money worth your time.

Depends, on where I'm going. I've spent a lot of time in Brazil outside of the typical destinations like Rio, SP, and Floripa.

Once you get outside of those places, the AirBNB deals are so much better that for me personally, it's not really worth the hassle of trying to navigate the local rental market with even less DN community help/advice.

For instance I stayed 2 months in Aracaju, a smaller city in the Northeast of Brazil.

I got a deal on a modest, but well-located apartment for $650/month after Airbnb fees.

Of course I'm sure if I did a deep dive into the local market I could find similar price for probably like $450-500/month but the additional hassle and risk just isn't worth it personally.

Gotta have that tv.

I do this and usually use airbnb for 30 days at minimum for the discount. I usually do at least one 6 month stint somewhere with a lease usually in an off season tourist area.

I also stay in small towns and country locations mostly as I don't like cities as much.

The leases I found found on expat Facebook sites and also once from talking with a waiter.

When the Apple Vision comes out that shit will be sweet for having extra big screens and TV

I generally just use an Airbnb, always furnished. Usually I’ll only buy a monitor, when leaving I’ll just sell it or give it to a friend.

One time I had a really nice apartment in Buenos Aires but the work space wasn’t great so I convinced the owner to go 50/50 with me on a new desk and chair.

Huh I didn’t know this has a name! My partner and I are both nomads/‘slowmads’.

Definitely a solid way to go. We’ve been at it for over 2 years, primarily using Air BnB but sometimes VRBO, Booking.com, or sometimes a few others - found a great place on a site in Hawaii for 4 months that rents to nurses typically because they have short term contracts, but not only restricted to nurses.

We’ll stay between 1 week and 3 months depending on the travel goals.

We’ve done what you mentioned - purchase any essentials not already in a place (desks, coffee makers, etc) then about 2 weeks before leaving post it all on FB marketplace and usually make back 50% or more of what we spent.

The only real challenge is the best deals and availability happens when you can book it several months out at least - if you wait until a few weeks before, it’s slim pickings and usually pricier. But that requires you to have a full route planned for 6+ months.

But! We always ensure to find places that are fully refundable, and mark in the calendar the last day to cancel, and that minimizes the risk if plans change 6 months from now.

Good luck!

Most cases places aren't going to give you a local price on an unfurnished place for 6 months as a foreigner, no residency, no rental history, credit, co-signer etc. Difficult or damn near impossible to set up utilities in most cases, etc.

Even, then, the savings are a lot less than people think - don't compare to what your cleaning lady/taxi driver pays when your Airbnb is an exclusive area etc. I finally set up my own apartment in Medellin, for an extra $100-200/month I could have just had everything set up, not spend the $ on furniture, etc.

Yep that’s what we do. 3 months in each place. Otherwise I find im too tired to enjoy.

Book 3 day hotel stay, arrive to location, spend 3 days searching for furnished apartments with 3 month rental, sign lease. Done.

Facebook marketplace and craigslist but beware of scams. Typically I weed out scammers by asking them to hop on a video call to meet and show me the apartment.

Slowmadding is the only way to nomad in my opinion. Packing day is my personal hell and having to do that every month or couple of weeks fucking sucks. Instead, I choose a good home base and travel where I want from there.

Smart way to do it, imo.
Next thing ya know, you'll be an expat somewhere.
Good living.

I'm currently Slowmading in LATAM. I've used 2 main platforms for furnished Mid-term rentals (I have tried Fb marketplace -- these have worked the best for me and less of a hassle)

RemoteCasa.co , they do fully furnished rentals for 30days+ / nights stays, focussed on nomads that prefer to work from Home, usually in great neighbourhoods (I believe they focus on Colombia mainly for now) They give out decent discounts if you stay longer.

Another one is Vacation Renter (less quality, budget travel) https://www.vacationrenter.com/es-es/search/Manizales -- hosts more rentals in the outskirts. This has been good for budget travel, it's hooked up to Booking.com, so you should also be able to check out reviews/ ratings there.

From what I've heard, Marketplace does have a couple scams going around (at least in LATAM), so I'd suggest being extra careful. Also, furnishing the apartment has been a time waste of time for me, but totally worth it if you've got the time.

Worktravels is a small travel agency that arranges all the facilities around remote work for you. They arranged an apparent for me incl. ergonomic workspace for my six month Capetown adventure. Cheers.

I work remotely and I spend 2-3 months in one location and use it as a base for weekend trips (I work Mon-Fri). I had a mixed experience with AirBNB and hotels were too expensive for a long stay (although sometimes I negotiate price with smaller hotels run by locals).

I prefer coliving spaces, especially those targeting digital nomads. You mentioned BKK, if you plan to go to Chiang Mai, this one for example has some rooms equipped with standing desk, office chair and 4k display (and even basic tv): https://www.thesocialclub.asia/

I've stayed there in the low season and I got a pretty good discount for my 3 months stay (2 month tourist visa + 1 month extension, the downside - I had to pay upfront). Unfortunately, in the high season, they get fully booked and don't give discounts for longer than 1 month stays.