Travelling to Australia does feel a little different, it’s certainly different to the UK or the US, it has its own laid back character.  As it’s a developed country you don’t have to worry about shopping, great coffee or buying anything, everything is available.

The flip side of this is that it is expensive, it’s probably better value than Europe, but accommodation can be very expensive even in backpacker hostels.

Where’s the net access?

The biggest downside to Australia, and this is probably going to be the breaking point for anyone who is Location Free is the horrendous internet access!  You’d think it would be up there with the rest of the world, but it is incredibly slow – slower than many developing countries – and incredibly expensive.   At the moment I’m in an internet cafe, with gorgeous $4 coffees, but the net is $5 an hour and keeps cutting out.  Uploading to Youtube is virtually impossible. Last week I was in a 5 star hotel in Sydney, and they not only charged $20 per night for net access, they capped the limit at 300 MB!   Unfortunately Windows decided to update that night and used up all my allowance.

So although Australia is beautiful and laid back, the lack of net access is a very big hindrance to anyone wanting to seriously work online here.  Plus having everyone speak English just makes it far too easy, I think I’d rather go somewhere with more of a challenge – that’s also a little cheaper!

There are some really cool things to do on your day off though!

This month I’m here in Beijing.  Last week I was doing consulting work, so this week is my first Location Free week where I don’t have any specific reason to be here, I just had lots of computer work to do figured why not stay a few extra weeks!

Accommodation isn’t too pricey,  you can get really nice 5 star suites for around 60 GBP or around 30 GBP for a normal businessy hotel.

Food is good, but it’s much better when you have people to tell you where is good to eat (same applies in Hong Kong!)  Last week I was out every night with people I was working with and it was gorgeous.  This week everywhere I’ve tried on my own has been a bowl full of oil with a few vegetables floating in it!  But I guess you get better with practice.

Language wise, you really do need Chinese.  Because I already speak Japanese I’m finding it not too bad as I can actually read most things, including menus, but you really need to be able to speak Mandarin, even in posh hotels and restaurants.

Internet wise, speeds are OK.  Not too much wifi but the hotels seem to have good wired connections.  The biggest inconvenience is banned websites.  Last year one of my sites was banned because it was on a joint hosting IP number.  I had to pay to upgrade it to have it’s own dedicated number and, touch wood, it’s OK now.  Youtube is currently banned, which is a bit tough as two of my web businesses are Youtube based.  I’m still earning from them, but I can’t add anything new.  For my other blogs I’ve been experimenting with Vimeo for video, which is looking good but of course you lose the benefit of having 5,000 subscribers when you switch systems.  Feedburner feeds also don’t work in China which is a bit of a hassle and would be a major hassle if I was actually setting up any new sites here.

People wise, although the girls don’t wear make up and most people don’t smile(!), the people you do meet are all very nice.  I was working with some great people last week, both in the business aspects and the people in slum areas where we were working were all really nice.  One of the other good things about having an internet company and then coming to a capital city is that over the years you get lots of emails from people asking you to give them a shout when you’re in town.  So I think my schedule is full pretty much all this week from work meetings and also just meets up for beers, which is cool.  If you’re in Beijing do give me a shout!

Climate, it’s really, really nice now, perfect t-shirt weather.  But it is very, very dry, you can really feel it in your skin.  I’m also sat with the window open now and my computer is covered in dust from outside, and there isn’t even a sandstorm today.

Days off wise,  there’s shopping and just wondering round which is good.  We went to the Forbidden City on Saturday which was cool, and the best thing about Beijing is of course the Great Wall of China, which is just an hour or so out of town!

Over all though it’s proving really cool so far, I’ll keep you posted how the next few weeks go!

(I hope that’s the right video, I can’t see it from here!)

Lea Woodward has just written up an excellent post on  10 Things You Should Know Before Visiting South Africa As A Location Independent Destination

Well worth a read!

Singapore probably isn’t the first place that comes to mind when you think of a “digital nomad” or location free lifestyle.  But although in the video I mention how expensive it is to be here, I am now wondering if it maybe is worth spending the little extra it costs to live here.  Let me explain…

Living on the beach is great, it’s fantastic to work all day then just look up to see beautiful sea and trees and general tropical amazingness.  But for longer term motivation it can sometimes be a trap that if everyone around you is on holiday then over time you tend to slip on your goals and what you can achieve.  You still put in the hours, but maybe at the end of the day don’t produce as much value as you could.

It’s not till you come to a place like Singapore that you realise how much more you could be achieving.   Over here everything is in super hyper drive.   People push themselves and set crazy goals.  This might be exactly what you wanted to avoid when starting a location free lifestyle, and fair enough.  But if you do super charge your business and earn even more then you actually become more free in the long run.  One concrete advantage is that more income can drastically cut down on your research time if you don’t have to keep looking for the cheapest accommodation deals in each town! (I spend far too much time on that!)

My main business is actually my passion, not just a business, I really want to make a difference in the world with it.   So I’m thinking that spending a month of two in Singapore might just be the thing I need to kick myself into a higher gear.  Then I can always crash back at the beach for a while once I’ve got a new load of momentum going.   So is living in Singapore an investment?  It may well be, watch this space…

Motivation Singapore Style

One other great thing about Singapore is that I’ve discovered a whole new bunch of motivation and business books that I’d never heard of.   Adam Khoo’s books are in the same league as Napoleon Hill, Seth Godin, Anthony Robbins et all but with a very nice Singaporean twist.  I spent an insane amount of money on his books and I’m sure they are going to be a great investment.  Highly recommended.

I often have workshops organised in Bangkok so what I normally do is to set up a month or so of computer work to do afterwards on the beach.  Here are a few places I’ve been:

Bangkok

Great for shopping, partying with friends but probably not the best place to work.  Finding apartments can be very difficult and hotels are usually quite expensive.   You could go and stay in some of the cheaper hostels, but make sure your computer is locked up.  WiFi is available in lots of places, either by buying a card or sometimes it’s free.   If I were you though I’d head out to one of the paradise beach areas.

Phuket

I’ve tried Phuket twice but never found anywhere really cool.  Expedia once had a great deal on the Dusit Laguna hotel which was fabulous, but there was nowhere cheap to eat nearby and hotel food got very expensive very quickly.  The hotels around Karon beach were cheaper but never had an atmosphere of getting some work done.  Krabi, another place popular in the tour books, was also similar.

Koh Samui

This is probably my favourite beach location to go to.   It’s cheaper than Phuket and I think the beaches are much nicer. Bangkok Air have regular flights that are easy to book online.    If you want to rowdy nightlife then Chewang beach is probably for you, but I prefer to head up to the North of the island where it’s much quieter.  You can pop out for a beer in the evening, but you can also get lots of work done during the day.

Here’s where I stayed the last time I was here, the Panalee resort:

I certainly think Thailand should be on any location free lifestyle list!

I usually spend Christmas and New Year back in the UK with family.  So then I’m always itching to travel off somewhere in early January.  Europe has some of the cheapest airfairs in the world, so I got a 9.99 poundsbargain flight down to the Algarve in Portugal.

The Algarve is billed as a winter sun location, and although it was t-shirt weather and sunshiny during the day, at night you do need a coat.   (As you might have noticed my finding warm locations is usually a big priority of mine!)

I got a very nice cheap modern appartment on Expedia, and really got a lot of work done.  But that was probably because there isn’t that much else to do here in the Winter!   There’s a large shopping center which is great for stocking up on food,  but eating out isn’t that good (ever heard of any famous Portuguese food?) and you could often go for days without seeing anyone!

So as far as Europe goes, or if you’ve got a lot of work that needs doing then I’d say try Portugal, but I much prefer the paradise beaches of Asia!

If you want to stay longer then “monthly mansions” i.e. rented apartments, can be good, but if it’s anything less than 30 days then hotels are usually cheaper.

Travel around inside Japan is probably the most expensive.  Sometimes I can fly internationally cheaper than flying between the Japanese islands.  If you can get a Japan rail pass, then it’s probably worth it.  Or just stick in one or two locations.   I love working in Coffee Shops in Japan, Starbucks and things really have the old “we could run an internet startup from here” feel, unlike places in Europe!   People are also very friendly which is cool.

Had I not had this I think that being location free in India would be very different.   Eating out isn’t as easy as it could be, unlike say Thailand I wouldn’t risk most of the food stalls, and you very often end up eating in hotels.  Plus although the younger professional people are quite friendly and hang out, India is very conservative and I would imagine if you went on your own it would be difficult to meet many friends.  Having said that at festival time things are a little crazy!