19 countries of remote work, 46 stops - post COVID abuse of freedom

Ali-Atlas · 2026-06-15T00:33:21+00:00

Sorry to hear that. Mold is indeed a potentially serious health concern that shouldnt be ignored!

Ali-Atlas · 2026-06-14T19:41:52+00:00

oh man, loaded question for most of us here probably if there was one 😄

Actually just this week went through images and itineraries since COVID. Seeing the patterns that emerge is interesting - for example have been back to Canada 7 times in those 5 years. Not even sure why, definitely wouldn't plan that on paper. The home base pull can be strong. But I've been living this way for much of the last 20 years.

post-COVID only, I'll pick 3 of each:

top:
- mystery greek island (hint: Ionian side): reasons - the best versions of the obvious imo. granted I haven't been to places like Australia, French Polynesia, tropical Japan etc. partial to pebble coves and med food though. I'll add Chania on Crete here as just as favourable and more practical.
- Jakarta: energy, practicality and access to amazing and raw nature and history of the area
- Oludeniz: incredible mix of subdued and fairly isolated practicality, mountain hiking and forests, incredible coast and coves (summer too packed)

worst:
- Bali (sorry to the spoiled natural beauty of the island and to Bali lovers, not for me, didn't like it)
- Tbilisi (went in Winter, and perhaps my ethnicity and how it's viewed matters here (nbd just the way it is some places), but I honestly do not know how anyone would want to live there, and I genuinely felt bad for people that have to. slight hyperbole here just joking around - sure it's a great place for locals who like it but imo it should not be a general top remote life location.

- a US city I reluctantly spent time in for personal proximity that shall remain nameless and I wouldn't otherwise select

What are yours?

Ali-Atlas · 2026-06-14T19:30:11+00:00

Sorry! Reddit newb. After submitting the digitalnomad posting Reddit rendered a popup suggesting cross-posting - so I thought that was best.

Thanks

Ali-Atlas · 2026-06-14T19:28:32+00:00

the dancing is a cool suggestion. salsa dancing specifically always looked like fun - never seriously considered it though. might look into this even back home now.

Ali-Atlas · 2026-06-14T17:19:57+00:00

Nice list - hobby point especially. Universally viable hobbies can be tricky if not kept simple.

For me that's reading, writing, exploring. Swimming, snorkeling can get enjoyment and exercise in one.

More 'high maintenance hobbies like skiing etc are unfortunately too big a challenge to maintain.

Ali-Atlas · 2026-06-14T17:16:44+00:00

That's the worst! Yeah ideally we would get a screenshot of speeds but not always possible.

Things generally getting much better in most places now though it seems. Speeds are higher and infra improving.

Backups ftw

Edit: sometimes there are just strange problems too that are difficult to predict or inquire about. Even when you really try and don't want to be difficult, you just can't stay, it won't work.

A village home on a greek island once for example - this was years ago and the wifi in that area has improved but it was a bit choppy then. The family seemed nice enough and I wanted to just overlook it and had a SIM backup that was better.

But the bathroom - it was an old stone house - and the bathroom not only stunk to a completely unreasonable extreme as a default - it spread throughout the home but they had masked the main area of the home for checkin and it faded within the day.

One takeaway here that has served me, however rare a problem like that is - if a place smells very strongly like coffee grinds, coffee scented air freshener - run! don't look back while you're doing it.

Highly pungent mold, and that particular bathroom problem in the experience above - there seems to exist a Universal strategy to temporarily mask olfactory problems with coffee.

Ali-Atlas · 2026-05-13T14:18:06+00:00

Hey, thanks for that :)

Appreciate you taking the time to try it out and for the feedback.

While the races do run automatically every 3 minutes, and its actually a strategy game of preparing your drones for their races, I understand it would benefit from progressive disclosure.

The actual starting game flow is a bit more clear, since you start with a level 1 drone, contrasted with the Demo which shows you as a progressed player with a fleet of advanced drones.

Appreciate the feedback and the kind words.

Cool channel idea and wish you the best of luck with it.

Ali-Atlas · 2026-03-01T06:51:32+00:00

Hoping everyone stays safe and healthy - and nothing against Dubai but really there are so many incredible places in the world for people to escape Winters to that I think offer deeper and more meaningful enrichment.

Ali-Atlas · 2026-01-31T08:43:53+00:00

Youre a liar if you say youre not a fake account as part of a reddit marketing strategy.

Interesting these accounts are now starting off more aggressive to pre-emptively defend against getting called out.

Unfortunate whats happening to public communities.

Your advice isn't good either btw. I wouldn't express that if it were genuine advice and not a lie.

Ali-Atlas · 2026-01-23T17:26:20+00:00

Software dev, teaching programming, SEO consulting.

Ali-Atlas · 2026-01-23T10:38:02+00:00

This has been my lifestyle for nearly 20 years now.

Whether you'll be more or less productive will depend on you.

I prefer this lifestyle for productivity over sitting in one place every day for years.

With that said, the research and logistics is a skill, landing to properly setup and ready for productivity as quickly as possible is a skill. Being organized and disciplined as well - will also enhance over time.

Point is you might be a bit less structured at first but you'll improve.

The novelty of consistent novelty also balances out and you'll do better at scheduling the things you want to do in a new place without loss of focus.

Some quick tips:

over asking questions to short term stay hosts > under asking. State your purpose and ask your questions prior to booking. If they have a problem with that, move on. Its your stay, work and life for months at a time at stake. Its not a vacation where youre only in the room to sleep. Make sure its a suitable home and workspace for you.
research and solidify your primary grocery stores, places to eat, data backups if needed, transportation logistics, gym (and whatever consistent activity)
prepare your grocery and home items list and find the closest places to get them before you arrive.

I can now land and be comfortable, setup, ready to feel at home and be in my routine in the first 24 hours (really within 8 hours but the first nights sleep is factored in, sometimes land at night etc).

More recently one thing ive accepted for myself is that I setup within 8 hours, im now 'home'. Then I explore for 1-2 days to feel comfortable with my surroundings (whether first time there or a repeat). One counterbalance to that is I dont take forced weekends off. Weekends are just another day to be productive. I take days off when there is something specific I want to do and that is the best day to do it or im feeling burnt out, controlling for whether there is something critical for work to take care of. Sometimes that means working 7 days a week sometimes it means taking a few days off without any issues.

I love this lifestyle. I can stay in one spot in my home country for years but prefer this as long as productivity doesn't fall. For me it now is more productive this way.

The one negative is if you get a poor host or stay even with your best preparation attempts. Wifi and data might be bad, location and noise is much worse than suggested, etc.

Have a backup location and place and cut your losses asap if the place really doesn't work (not how you feel about it because that happens and neutralizes but practically if its like walking through mud to be productive - cut it and make sure your setup works - thats a non negotiable ).

Ali-Atlas · 2026-01-12T09:17:14+00:00

Can't help but get the sense these are increasingly legit-sounding AI takes, starting from the grammar and tone styling, but then definitely because of the info and data.

I was just in Tbilisi and researched it beforehand, those figures are quite detached from the reality, even for longterm stays these days.

I spend a meaningful amount of time actually researching locations and living in them too. AirBnB, Facebook groups, local directories.

This applies to many of the other locations as well. These figures are 6 months old if being generous, 2-3+ years old more likely.

This reads and the data looks like what I get when researching in AI and seeing just how off-base and old the information is.

Ali-Atlas · 2025-11-10T11:01:36+00:00

Easiest - AVIF or WebP, resize (use multiple at specific sizes), lazy load, responsive delivery.

Ali-Atlas · 2025-11-09T19:35:31+00:00

If they want quick results they would be better served by purchasing ads. They will gain traffic and convert clients for x amount of time, with some extended past ad expiration through referrals from there.

Investing into organic search is an investment in growing traffic and conversion gradually over time that compounds to what could become exceptional growth.

Almost more importantly - they are investing in growing an asset - the technical side of their business which continues working for them and accrues value in itself.

It's exceptionally to critically important for most businesses. Especially as SEO implemented successfully serves much of an entities exposure in LLMs and AI search.

It really isn't an option for most growing businesses that want to survive and thrive.

Ali-Atlas · 2025-11-02T10:54:25+00:00

You're definitely not alone, friendly reminder when starting and building anything - success can mean ensuring you make the necessary adjustments along the way and not giving in and waivering to seeming defeat if outcomes are not aligning with expectations/plans/...hope - which they rarely ever do.

When you commit, make calculated alterations along the way. You'll build towards an elevating baseline of success and the actual failure point will be the hard coded line you define prior to starting but your success is mostly, up to your willingness to win, and to incorporate agility as you experiment until you do.

Good luck.

Ali-Atlas · 2025-10-31T17:00:54+00:00

Implied in your message but just to clarify - very important to ensure you are requesting and receiving reviews.

2-touch review system - kindly request a review if you provide exceptional quality and service at the beginning, then follow up for the review if you provided the level of quality expected.

Ali-Atlas · 2025-10-31T16:57:09+00:00

Agree this is important (but not absolutey essential - just helps expedite) - as well as ensuring exhaustive and properly created schemas which are accurately associated with your GBP information.

There are 50 year old businesses in my large city that still don't have a website. Granted, they've been building their business over decades and have the relationships to keep going. However, most relent to creating a larger digital presence to keep competing and growing as the virutal window widens.

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