Digital Nomads & Frequent Travellers (Tips/Advice/Chat)

Hi,
I am considering working from Da Nang for a couple of months just to try out being a digital nomad.

I quit my job last year and I am working on my own project so I do not have any constraints from technical side.

My travel check list

→ Visa
→ Insurance
→ Google translation app (offline)
→ Local food and cab apps
→ Forex
→ Local sim
→ Airbnb / hostel / home stay

You must be familiar with Peter level’s Nomadlist but incase people don’t know

(curated list of cities for digital nomads taking into consideration cost, vibes, internet and safety)

Ah nice! Let us know how you get on

Do you have any tips for securing your machine/keeping your data safe?

Currently my thoughts are using something like Apple Remote Desktop and a VPN - so your data stays at home and you only access what you need as and when you need it. The base M4 Mac Mini is great for this - a cheap and efficient server. It has an option which reboots it after a power cut so I think it would be pretty reliable, and of course you could always get someone to manually reboot it if there’s someone you can leave your keys with (or just buy two, clone your data and have two up and running at two different locations).

I think it also removes the worry of your laptop getting stolen or damaged, and since your data will remain at home you won’t need an expensive machine with lots of storage. Curious if anyone if any frequent travellers or nomads are doing something like this, or whether there are any pitfalls I haven’t thought of?

Not frequent nor long but when I bikepacked for a week last year, I had the goal of advancing a personal project a bit every day.

I brought a secondhand Lenovo x270 with a danish keymap, the cheapest okay laptop I could find, and ran it (well run it, I still use it) under Lubuntu, fully encrypted with LUKS. I had a temporary private key, encrypted with a separate password on it, and deleted it from the authorized keys of my origins after the trip.

It was fine to work on elixir projects on it . Endorphines from all the cycling made it quite smooth but I must say I skipped some days. Now I daydream about a three week long bikepacking + coding trip.

This time I think I would bring my macbook air and large enough battery to tether from my phone. I also would deal an arrangement with a freelance friend to handle any alert if I want to hike in a no-reception zone. There’s a tacit law that says that production incidents happen the one day of the year I drop my phone in a fire by accident.

Everything always runs super smoothly with more nines than contractually set, then if you go off-grid a one-in-ten-million condition happens the next second.

I like the first rule in https://krausefx.com/blog/going-nomad#security-concerns

Sounds like you had a fantastic experience - definitely do it again if you can!

Where did you go? Was there anything in particular you found challenging?

Do you mean like a separate power bank?

Do you mean the whole section on security or just the first bit:

I generally don’t own anything of real value, besides my MacBook

If so I would definitely agree - it’s a major reason why I’d look into using something like Remote Desktop as it eradicates the need for a large disk, which usually bumps up the cost quite significantly of a Mac.

Do share your final setup because I to am curious. Would you travel with a Chromebook or some other low power device?

I shall Michael

Personally I would not as I don’t see any advantages, perhaps particularly as I am a macOS user and MBAs have excellent batteries, are super lightweight, etc

If you were keeping your data home then you may also be limited to ssh for file transfers, which isn’t a bad idea (and I’m sure @Lucassifoni (and maybe @ruslandoga) could provide further insight) but part of the reason I like the idea of Apple Remote Desktop is you dial into your home machine and can basically do anything on/from it - so you could even send mail from your home machine, or browse the web… so it could be even better than just using a VPN as there would be no browser history on your local device or via local networks/ISPs. I need to look into it more but the more I think of it the more it sounds like a really good approach

I think it would be helpful to ask yourself whether the location you’re planning to work from has more - or less - physical security risks than your home location. This conversation seems to make the assumption that “it’s all safe and secure at home, but risky and unsafe in ‘other places’”. I’m not sure that assertion stands up to scrutiny.

This is a great point Kip! I agree wholeheartedly we should not take security at home for granted.

It’s something I mentioned in the What is your Dev Machine thread. I’ll copy some of that here, specifically:

For anyone interested in running macOS off an external drive, some advantages:

• You can bolt it on to a wall or under your desk and if there is a break in chances are a petty thief will be more interested in nicking your Mac than a hard drive that they won’t be able to easily/quickly remove.

You can purchase good quality TB cables so could mount your HD somewhere out of sight, and, from what I know, it’s very likely a petty thief will be more interested in an expensive Mac than a tiny HD, particularly if you make it difficult to remove and particularly if the cable to it is amongst other cables (petty thieves often just cut cables attached to more valuable devices to make a quick exit).

You can do other things too, install an alarm, CCTV, or even get someone to house-sit/lodge. Some of which I have already done and some I am personally considering. Again, macOS here is great because you can remotely wipe your data on a compromised/stolen device.

I think it is worth highlighting that part of the reason people might focus on security abroad is, understandably, because it will be unfamiliar territory, and in many cases, unfamiliar laws. While I am not one to automatically trust the narratives of mainstream media I do personally think we should keep our wits about us and not take anything for granted and exercise caution - whether at home or abroad. Prevention is better than cure, especially if you are involved in sensitive fields. I have heard horror stories of people having to give passwords to their laptops at airport security (which appear to then have their data copied) or risk being refused entry and their equipment seized. And I’ve heard this is happening in our own countries too, sometimes even to nationals returning from a trip abroad.

One of the most famous cases is when the partner of the Guardian’s editor who interviewed Edward Snowden had his laptop and other equipment seized on returning back to the UK under a controversial law which applies only at airports (and ports/borders):

Miranda was released, but officials confiscated electronics equipment including his mobile phone, laptop, camera, memory sticks, DVDs and games consoles.

So my personal take is to be careful and cautious everywhere, even if you feel like you’re going somewhere relatively safe. You could go to a ‘safe zone’ and be subject to a severe and intrusive breach of privacy, or go somewhere that has a ‘bad reputation’ and be treated with nothing but respect.

The remote access option sounds good to me as well. My home machine is my MacBook Air so I would need something lighter/cheaper in my case.