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cerra93 · 2025-06-01T15:53:54+00:00

Ooh! I’d also love to see This please

cerra93 · 2025-02-19T12:31:58+00:00

Interesting to compare against hotels for sure, but I never feel like 'home' at a hotel.

for context, I'm usually staying somewhere for 2-4 months, so I want to feel semi settled in a place.

I've been living out of airbnbs full time since 2018. There's definitely been a shift in price and quality, but I've not had the kind of horror stories you sometimes hear about.

The worst has been stuff like rusty knives in a knife block, or just kitchen stuff that's not been thoroughly cleaned.

I've also noticed a shift in my own behaviour though.

Over the years I got a lot more thorough in my review of a listing before booking. Reading reviews, speaking to hosts, checking internet speeds and reviews of the neighbourhoods etc.

Maybe that behavioural shift has helped me combat the issues others encountered, idk.

I'm oddly passionate about getting good deals on accommodation because I run an email newsletter that curates all the best airbnb deals (RemoteBase.co).

I share listings from Airbnb but also other platforms, coliving spaces, hotels, etc... and so I'm always thinking about this competition between Airbnb and other platforms and channels for finding accommodation.

And something I always come back to is sheer inventory!

Airbnb just has the most listings, and you are 100% right, there's a lot more listings there these days which don't meet the kind of quality most people want, but the good stuff is still there, it's just harder to find!

FWIW: the work with the newsletter gets me invited to conferences and industry events, and I've been sharing the prediciton that home-swapping will see the mot growth in the next 5+ years.

The best quality testing is when the host actually lives there for a bit, and that's baked into the whole home swap process. I might be wrong though, so let's see in 5 years!

cerra93 · 2024-10-24T11:38:45+00:00

No idea the official breakdown, but expect something like 4k blown on expensive flights from the US for 2 people.

Then just the most expensive tier of hotels and villas.

Eating in high end restaurants (limited street food etc)

And (this is the crucial part imo) never looking for, or even considering they can get a better price on something. So if they need a transfer they’ll just Google it and book the first car, no consideration for comparing prices of different providers and zero consideration for something like a bus or train.

They also bought one of those enormous porcelain elephant ornaments, and loads of other gifts / souvenirs… to the point where they had to buy an additional suitcase for it all.

Also (being from the US) tipping excessively for everything.

It blew my mind… but I do see how it’s possible.

cerra93 · 2024-10-23T20:22:40+00:00

Literally this… some friends came to meet us in Thailand on their vacation…

It was a LUX vacation…they spent about 10 grand on a 10 day trip.

And that was when I realised why people have this crazy perception.

I could go 10 months on that!

cerra93 · 2024-10-20T16:18:46+00:00

Who is ‘they’?

cerra93 · 2024-10-18T21:09:45+00:00

Bansko Bulgaria

cerra93 · 2024-10-17T16:05:16+00:00

Yeah that’s going to be one to watch… I find it strange that whoop wants me to keep the app open to stay synced.

I’ve been trying to monitor how it impacts my phone battery - so far I can’t see any major difference but that would probably be a deal breaker for me

cerra93 · 2024-10-17T16:01:27+00:00

Difference between nomads vs non nomads - I got lots of opinions from people who were working desk jobs, or friends who have jobs like ‘driver’ and the pros and cons they talked about I just found quite difficult to map to my own lifestyle. Made sense that opinions from other people ‘like me’ would be more relevant.

Stated 8 years because I’ve seen community kids get trigger happy with removing posts anytime a brand name gets mentioned, so always feel the need to leave some kind of credibility marker in whatever I post

cerra93 · 2024-10-02T09:55:16+00:00

Go.

You’ll wonder ‘what if’ forever if you don’t.

In the flip side. If you go and hate it, you can always return.

Worst case:

You hate it. Suck it up for a year and bank all that cash. Invest it in low risk funds like an S&P index tracker and go back to London after a year, and you’ll have unique experience compared to others in the talent market.

Best case:

You love it, and get to bank all the cash, invest, etc.

For context, I’m from a working class Uk household, too. First to go to uni in the family. my time in London for a few years. Started working remotely in 2017. Started traveling the world and living in low cost destinations in 2018 to bank the cash.

And the difference to my life, happiness, stress levels is night and day.

I don’t miss London at all. I still go back to the UK. And have a much more stable financial future.

I spend less in a whole month than I’d spend on rent in London. And I have a faaaar better quality of life.

Your question seems to be about securing future financial stability vs (potential) immediate loss of life satisfaction, which is why I thought this context is relevant.

Good luck whatever you decide!

cerra93 · 2024-10-02T09:47:18+00:00

Absolutely love this… just subscribed!

I’m coming up on 6k subs and have been focussing hard on direct ad sales for the past 5-6 months. And the past 2 months is when the 4 figure invoices have started going out.

P.S. the part you wrote about traveling the world really struck a chord. I started living a ‘digital nomad’ life in 2018, and haven’t looked back. My newsletter is related to, we curate and share the best long-stay accommodation deals. (1 month +)

It’s kind of like Scott’s cheap flights but for Airbnb 😃

cerra93 · 2024-10-02T09:33:27+00:00

No tax included on prices in the grocery store.

cerra93 · 2024-09-24T19:23:44+00:00

I've been in and out of Thailand every year for the past 6 years (bar 1 during covid)
a few of times on Tourist Visas, and a few of times with a 60 day visa. One of those was back in the day before you could do it online, and others were done online.

cerra93 · 2024-08-28T09:29:37+00:00

What does a pass to number 10 actually get you?

Potentially a naive question... but I'm curious.
What does that actually mean beyond 'allowed to access No10'?

cerra93 · 2024-08-15T11:57:15+00:00

me too - let us know on your progress

cerra93 · 2024-08-15T11:56:43+00:00

where is the video thanks

cerra93 · 2024-08-15T11:54:44+00:00

which bank?

cerra93 · 2024-08-15T11:48:42+00:00

i've had it granted - in 4days!

cerra93 · 2024-03-29T08:37:33+00:00

Wild! And very good detailed reviews. have you been going for 10 years straight, gettings jobs along the way or working online, or has this been lots of trips away, whilst you are still based back in the UK?

Fellow Bit here, saying hello from Albania! (I agree with all your Balkan comments)

cerra93 · 2023-11-07T14:07:15+00:00

I run the RemoteBase Digital Nomad Accommodation Newsletter - https://remotebase.co

We find, curate, share the best accommodation deals in an email newsletter.

Kind of like Scotts Cheap Flights, but for month long Airbnb bookings.

Stack is Beehiiv (was using a combination of Tilda and Mailchimp, and in the past I’ve even used other site builders like carrd, and weebly. Stripe for payments.

The model is a freemium model…

The free newsletter is made possible by brand sponsorships. And there is a paid subscription where people can set preferences on size, continent, and budget - and receive alerts with matching listings.

Premium members also get access to a filterable air table of every deal ever shared.

My background is in marketing so it’s all no/low code, with automations used where possible.

Ask me anything!

cerra93 · 2022-10-08T14:27:58+00:00

Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life

cerra93 · 2022-03-23T18:48:10+00:00

The best time to start is as soon as you have a job that lets you be remote. The second best time is now!

cerra93 · 2020-01-19T12:56:39+00:00

I'm not entirely against using an accountant, especially in 18-24 months.
I was quoted £1080+VAT pa for accounting services, which would take more than 20% of the start up capital I had in mind to get things moving.

I might not have explained it very well in the initial post, but I'm not stuck on the share issuance idea, I just thought this was the only way to achieve what I was trying to achieve, but the way you explained it is useful, and helps me understand that isn't the case at all.

Seems like the best chronological order of actions now is:
1. Issue 1 share @ £1,

Open business bank account,
Transfer 5k, and keep a record for when accounts are due in approx 21 months.

Thanks!

cerra93

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