Why Cruise Ships are My Favorite Remote Work Location

by bradly • 13 years ago

355 310 13 years ago

melindajb5• 13 years ago

This is an insanely great idea. Cruise ships are incredibly quiet places. the lack of internet/expensive internet is a forcing function. Great way for co founders to spend time together if they're normally in different locations. We might just do this for a big push. Transatlantic cruises are very, very cheap and not crowded; and since it's not incredibly warm outside there's an added incentive to work. :)

Another benefit: take your spouses/partners; so long as they are able to let you work during the day while they hit the gym/spa/bingo etc. Everyone wins.

Only danger I see is eating too much.

atlbeer• 13 years ago

To the eating part; if you aren't on "vacation" the gyms on cruise ships are ghost towns usually. Good way to fight to free food factor.

melindajb5• 13 years ago

yes. also another tip I got that worked the last time we did a big family cruise: never take the elevators, always take the stairs. On at sea days we made it a point to walk at least 3 miles on the track outside on the ship. Managed not to gain any weight, which I counted as a win.

philsnow4• 13 years ago

Most of the repositioning cruises are in November or April, which probably won't work for any employees with kids in school. I don't think you could make this mandatory if you have any employees with kids.

If it's not mandatory then you're splitting your team up for 1-3 weeks.

melindajb5• 13 years ago

neither my co-founder nor I have kids. so it could work out well. not every technique has to work for everyone.

Some startups demand you travel for 2 weeks a year for "hackathons" in remote locations. I don't see the difference.

joelgrus• 13 years ago

I can see how the lack of Internet is awesome for preventing you from checking Facebook / Twitter / HN all day. At the same time, I'm not sure how productive I could be without near-constant access to StackOverflow. :)

ngoel36• 13 years ago

http://kapeli.com/dash

jimbishopp• 13 years ago

Feel like I've had my head in the sand. Dash is great - thanks

pacofvf• 13 years ago

awesome, I clicked the purchase button and.... only for mac :(

AlexMuir4• 13 years ago

I too work from a lot of different places, but I find that I absolutely need internet to be productive. Pulling a Gem for instance, or checking Stack Overflow.

My favourite places to work are all-inclusive holiday resorts. Lanzarote and the Algarve most recently. Being all inclusive means there is no thought process in eating or drinking. Nor any need to shop, clean, cook.

The most difficult thing is finding out what the internet situation is in hotels - but this has vastly improved even in the last year. I generally call up reception, and travel with an ethernet cable.

Incidentally for an individual or a couple, Airbnb is generally far more expensive than a reasonable half-board hotel. I've only ever found Airbnb type stuff useful in capital cities.

I've been at my most productive working in:

- Wetherspoons in Slough

- An apartment in Cairo

- A bungalow in Lanzarote

- The lobby of the Apex hotel in Dundee (current)

Downsides are seeing a laptop screen in the sun (wear a dark shirt) and being surrounded by happy couples while on one's own.

(I'm back to Lanzarote for a week at the start of December if anyone fancies a coffee)

DanBC4• 13 years ago

I'm gently surprised SO hasn't done a 6 month torrent of a stand-alone locally searchable SO. They could possibly do a monthly subscription download?

That'd help the people wanting to turn off the Internet.

EDIT: And, if you really need it, you can get Internet on a ship. It's hideously expensive, but that's okay. You just need to think before going online.

df07• 13 years ago

We release an XML data dump every 3 months. It'd only be a bit of work to make it presentable and load it into something searchable. http://www.clearbits.net/creators/146-stack-exchange-data-du...

jaibot• 13 years ago

I know of at least one shop that does most of their work offline and keeps a local SO cache for exactly this purpose.

Dewie• 13 years ago

It would be really nice to be able to easily download whole (or parts) websites for offline use. One thing is SO, but maybe you also want the API of some specific library or language, some specific Wikipedia articles or whole topics on Wikipedia... does something like this exist?

Kiro• 13 years ago

What kind of stuff do you work on where you need to pull gems so frequently? Why do people need so many external libraries?

AlexMuir4• 13 years ago

Over the last week I moved http://www.thebigeat.com/uk from PHP to Rails. That uses Geocoder, Carrierwave, Stripe, gmaps4rails, FriendlyId and Rakismet. I use Gems because they do what I need to be done. When they don't then I roll my own - I used to use Devise, but hacking around it just became inflexible and more work than my own.

mixmastamyk2• 13 years ago

As the article mentions, there is internet, it's just expensive. And big downloads can be done at an internet cafe in port.

mathattack5• 13 years ago

I agree completely on the internet access. Very hard to work through issues without online resources nowadays. How did we do it before there was such great online help like StackExchange?

AlexMuir4• 13 years ago

I now find a lot of better answers through Github issues and personal blogs. I should remember to search Github code when I'm stuck trying to figure something out.

larrys5• 13 years ago

" How did we do it before there was such great online help like StackExchange?"

Books. And if you were lucky you would buy 2 or 3 so you could triangulate something that didn't make sense. At least that is what I did.

Also plenty of trying and iteration.

Try this.

Try that.

For hours on end. (Not sure by your question if you had done this or were just asking btw.).

When I bought a Unix system (mid 80's) it came with a bound set of maybe 10 manuals iirc. Getting other books was difficult I had to drive miles to a University bookstore to even find anything on Unix or C. Software wasn't free of course. It cost real dollars and was pretty expensive and came on floppies.

Nicholas_C• 13 years ago

Think of the value added by StackExchange and other websites. The amount of efficiency the Internet has created is incredible.

reeses2• 13 years ago

We read the source code, reverse-engineered existing applications and hardware, wrote test harnesses, and implemented things ourselves. :-)

tokenrove• 13 years ago

Last year, I spent about six months without regular Internet access. It was fascinating watching my muscle memory adjust, and it got me thinking about how I worked in the past. Not just StackOverflow (which I don't find very useful for what I do), but the tendency to immediately google for a library, or current papers on a class of algorithms, or a piece of code I can study to see the preferred idiom for something.

In some ways I was more productive than before, but I tended to reuse less code, and use less sophisticated algorithms and data structures to solve problems. Having good code around to read became a lot more important, as did having access to good books, and good man pages. (It reminded me why I loved OpenBSD so much in the 90s)

The most positive thing that came out of it was reading a lot more code; I realized one of the habits that had diminished most since sometime in the last decade was the habit of reading the source code for something when I had a problem with it, instead of immediately googling it.

It made me think that maybe younger programmers should try working without a connection now and then (say, for a week at a time). Also that open source has really changed things; there's so much stuff that I don't even think about writing myself now, because I know someone out there has already written and open sourced.

epsylon• 13 years ago

Books and Usenet.

virtualwhys2• 13 years ago

The Algarve rocks for work, surfing, sunny weather...and not much else ;-)

Might head down for the winter again, would be my my 4th I think, and I still only grok about 5% of the language (Brazilian Portuguese is worlds easier for me to comprehend).

My remote work setup is simple: rent an apartment with high speed internet for a few months and dive in.

kroger• 13 years ago

Would you mind sharing how expensive is to live in the Algarve? (i.e. renting an apartment, food, etc.) I only been there (Faro) as a tourist.

mherdeg• 13 years ago

Can I ask how you spend per day in Lanzarote? We were just there for a weekend and "splurged" on an €88/night property, but it seemed like we could have done just fine at €30–40/night. What an interesting place.

AlexMuir4• 13 years ago

Probably around 50 EUR last time I was there, at a decent 3* all inclusive. In Portugal I was paying 60EUR a night half board at a five star.

drum• 13 years ago

The idea of being able to travel around the world with just a laptop reminds me of being a 21st century writer. Take the notepad to a remote beach and just write. I love the idea of working on a cruise ship but I imagine it would get kind of hard to code without internet. Is that something you face?

ufmace• 13 years ago

Interesting idea, but the lack of internet to look things up easily could be a headache. I suppose it would help if you already have expert-level knowledge in the tech stack that you're working in, and/or you can download local copies of lots of documentation.

astine• 13 years ago

I find that for myself, that when I work without Internet access, the boost I get from a lack of distractions usually cancels out the problems caused by inability to look things up. A lot of the time, having to figure out things that I would usually look up helps me to think more deeply about the problem at hand. Downloading a manual or two is often all I really need to be productive offline.

antonius• 13 years ago

I really like the simplicity of the UI of your cruise deal website. As someone who is currently looking to book a cruise trip, this helps.

tynan9• 13 years ago

Thank you! I actually redesigned it to be simpler on the flight over to where the cruise started.

MattBearman3• 13 years ago

Wow, I don't think this would have ever occurred to me, but it's genius!

I can go from London to San Juan in 14 days, for about £32 / day. That's cheaper than life at home.

Think I'm gonna book myself a cruise soon

Edit: Just exploring this guy's blog, and it turns out he's Herbal from "The Game" - an excellent book if you've not read it.

triangleman2• 13 years ago

That was a terrible book! You might as well read Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

MattBearman3• 13 years ago

I've not read RDPD, but unless I'm mistaken isn't it a self help type book? (in the vein of 4HWW). Where as The Game a novel, you can't really learn to pick up women from reading it, so not sure they can be compared.

peteretep• 13 years ago

Tynan is an all-round bad-ass, and most of what he writes is worth reading.

tynan9• 13 years ago

Thank you!

Irishsteve• 13 years ago

Does this include meals etc. ? Where did you find it ? Seems like a great idea indeed

spindritf• 13 years ago

I had no idea cruises were so cheap. I though they're ~$100/day. This is what it costs to get a cabin on a cargo ship.

jonlucc• 13 years ago

I think many of the cruises leave on very short notice. That would bring the price way down.

toomuchtodo4• 13 years ago

It can be much cheaper than that to get cargo ship carriage:

http://www.flightlesstravel.com/plan/cargo-ships/

mmphosis• 13 years ago

The prices do not include taxes and tips. Tips are added to your bill. Taxes can easily exceed to cost of the trip.

pastylegs• 13 years ago

"Frankly, if you're not into bingo and ballroom dancing, you may find there's not much for you to do on the ship other than work or read."

What is happening to people? When you are insulating yourself from nearly every aspect of day-to-day normality just to be able to concentrate without distraction there is a problem and it's likely you are working to much. I'm all up for travelling but this just seems like an easy way to remove yourself from the world to get more done. Why not just check into a mental health clinic with a wifi dongle - you won't have to cook or clean and they'll be perfectly equipped to deal with you once the monumental burnout hits.

sp332• 13 years ago

What if there's something I want to get done, and I have the time but I keep getting interrupted? I'll just go off somewhere with fewer distractions. That's what this is for.

eddieroger• 13 years ago

I got the same impression from reading it as pastylegs did. To me, it sounded like the author does thing on the regular, as opposed to a one-off or rare type thing. If you have that much trouble creating a segmented space to work in your normal life, you either have too many distractions in your space, are too easily distracted, or have an unreasonable expectation of what it means to work.

icebraining• 13 years ago

Lots of people sought isolation to do mental work. The writer's cabin is not a cliché by chance.

rattray• 13 years ago

I'd agree with you if he recommended doing this constantly. But to me it seems like a great way to promote a healthy work-life balance most of the year, with infrequent work-vacations for times when you do want extreme productivity, and even a break from your social life.

This tactic seems like it could be more of a sanity-booster than anything, if applied responsibly.

eli• 13 years ago

Hmm, I wonder if I could publish a dd-wrt fork that requires you to pay me $0.20 to $0.70 per minute for internet access.

invalidOrTaken• 13 years ago

Prediction: This will be a trend. People are less likely to be married now than they used to be. People increasingly feel loyalty to a culture rather than a country. Internet access on cruise ships will become cheaper.

melindajb5• 13 years ago

Already this is a trend, but for senior citizens. Many of them use cruise ships as retirement communities for nearly similar reasons.

http://www.aplaceformom.com/blog/2013-2-2-cruise-ship-retire...

"According to Dr. Lee Lindquist’s 2004 study comparing assisted living costs and benefits to those offered by cruise ships, “cruises were priced similarly to assisted living centers and were more efficacious.” Lindquist claimed that over a 20-year life expectancy, cruise ships only cost about $2,000 more than the cost of assisted living. And, she says, “when you compare that to the $9,000 a month or more charged by some assisted living facilities,” a cruise ship may seem like a bargain indeed."

joezydeco• 13 years ago

The hazards and medical care availability pointed out in the article (Good 'ol Cecil) seem to greatly outweigh any possible benefits.

arbuge• 13 years ago

OK, I have to be that guy. Barcelona to Casablanca is not a "transatlantic cruise".

Anyway, interesting idea if you can live without internet. Technically speaking, if you're in international waters (and not a US citizen, which is a long story), you won't even owe taxes on the work you do aboard.

jhvh1134• 13 years ago

Those could have just been two connecting ports of many.

busterarm3• 13 years ago

In ship lingo it is. A trip from Florida across the Suez Canal and out to Singapore is also considered "Transatlantic".

Basically it just matters what your starting ocean is and if it's round trip or not.

busterarm3• 13 years ago

Ugh. I meant to say Panama, and I'm wrong anyway. Derp moment. Disregard.

tynan9• 13 years ago

Original author here... I wrote the post in transit between those ports. On cruises you go to a lot of ports... this particular one ends up in Florida (Florence to Florida, with 8 stops or so)

kayoone3• 13 years ago

As much as id like to work from different places alot, i just cant stand the fact of being hunched over a laptop all day. Most of these places that are not an office, just arent very ergonomic.

xradionut• 13 years ago

In my humble opinion, this is a shitty idea. There are other quiet places with decent enough bandwidth that don't have the costs or risks of a cruise ship. My favorite one is the study section of the local library. I've also gone out to a cabin in the woods that only had a satellite link. My neighbor has soundproof walk-in closet.

As for the risks of a cruise ship, if something goes wrong, your options are limited. I say this as a navy veteran that's had to deal with multiple things that go wrong on a ocean vessel. (Fire, flooding, engine failure, etc...) As a civilian, I'm very wary of cruises.

brador4• 13 years ago

What things can go wrong on a cruise ship that are very bad for people onboard? Isn't a life boat just a short run away?

mkramlich2• 13 years ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Concordia

or if you're of a different age:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic

chollida1• 13 years ago

No power for 3-4 days. Google "cruise ship no power", it happens more often than you'd think

That means

-no showers

- no toilets flushing.

- No internet

- no hot meals

blisterpeanuts2• 13 years ago

Norovirus.

mehmehshoe• 13 years ago

I thought I'd share an interesting segment from Tina Fey's book regarding her honeymoon cruise when a fire broke out on the boat.

"In the event of an emergency, it is the entertainers who are in charge of the lifeboats. Because the rest of the crew has actual nautical duties, the kids from Fiesta Caliente are trained to man the lifeboats. If you ever have to get on a lifeboat, the person in charge of your safety will likely be a nineteen-year-old dancer from Tampa who just had a fight with his boyfriend about the new Rihanna video. James also told me that each lifeboat has a gun on it and that once a lifeboat is in the water, the performer–lifeboat captain is trained to shoot anyone who is disruptive. This is apparently legal in accordance with maritime law."

dmckeon• 13 years ago

Wide-spread gastro-intestinal illnesses - google "cruise" and "norovirus"

http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/surv/gilist.htm

It is important to distinguish among cruise outcomes - I'd rather experience a 24-36 hour power outage than a fire that resulted in passengers at sea in lifeboats, but there appear to be some narratives that conflate "our honeymoon was not what I had dreamed of" with "captured, burned, sunk, and destroyed" without any points on a scale in between.

Third party advice I'd heard on cruising:

avoid the very cheapest lines

choose an operator with a generally nordic background (not flag/registration, more company origin).

DanBC4• 13 years ago

How many people die per 1,000 passenger miles?

chockablock• 13 years ago

Not really the right comparison, since you're not using the cruise for transportation.

Better question might be deaths/injuries/etc per day, as compared to living in a city, a cabin in the woods, etc.

kayoone3• 13 years ago

What kind of risks do you have on a cruise ship that you do not have in everyday life traffic, public places and outdoor activities ? Statistically, your cabin in the woods with nobody around is probably an order of magnitude more dangerous than a cruise ship ;)

hcarvalhoalves• 13 years ago

Getting sick is a big one.

crusso4• 13 years ago

Going to the library doesn't get your room cleaned and our meals prepared.

The whole point of the suggestion is that a Cruise is an entire package of benefits.

cylinder2• 13 years ago

A better option, in my opinion, is an all-inclusive resort. My preference is Mexico. After going recently, my main takeaway was how nice life would be if everything were always taken care of for me -- cleaning, food, etc. It's going to cost more than a cruise, but cruises have all sorts of hidden/surprise fees that you don't have at a good all-inclusive resort. Our resort was calm, peaceful and full of couples, no rowdy partiers. Good internet access, the highest quality service imaginable, and some of the best restaurants I've ever experienced (where you can order whatever you want without the stress of worrying about cost!). If you go during low season, you can get a great rate, and some rain shouldn't bother you if you're there to work.

byoung23• 13 years ago

Our resort was calm, peaceful and full of couples, no rowdy partiers.

That reminds me of a funny experience I had in Cancun a few years back in Cancun. My wife booked a room at the all-inclusive Temptation resort because it had the best rate. When we got there, we were surprised to find that it was basically clothing optional. Be sure to check out the hotel website first if you want to avoid distractions!

jotm• 13 years ago

Add to that Turkey and Greece.

codex_irl• 13 years ago

What resort did you go to? Mind if I ask what the approx. costs where?

slg2• 13 years ago

Like others here, my major concern would be access to the technical resources that are freely available on the internet like StackOverflow. I was curious and consulted the StackExchange API and license. They seem to indicate it would not only possible to pull down the site's entire contents but it also would be allowed under the CC license that is used. Although judging by the various throttles in place, it would take you roughly 11 days to grab all the data. So who wants to take the plunge, write up the scripts, pull the data, and then share it with everyone else?

davorak• 13 years ago

The work is already down regularly:

http://www.clearbits.net/creators/146-stack-exchange-data-du...

I do not know what format it is however because I have not gotten around to using it yet.

ZoFreX2• 13 years ago

It's always friendlier to first look for an official data dump before thinking about scraping - and in this case, SO does have one[1] :)

[1] http://www.clearbits.net/creators/146-stack-exchange-data-du...

wiggle_bar• 13 years ago

I wonder if Tynan would be as gung ho about working on cruise ships if he didn't happen to be launching a cruise deal aggregator site

edsrzf• 13 years ago

I'm pretty sure it's the other way around: he wouldn't be launching a cruise deal aggregator site if he weren't so gung ho about working on cruise ships. http://tynan.com/cruisesheet

tynan9• 13 years ago

Yeah... this is my 12th cruise or so now. I really love them. For a while I was going twice a year pretty regularly. The cruise aggregator started as a way for me to find the best prices (because cruisehotsheet.com went down), and I decided to try to make money with it to fund access to better cruise data.

Also... I didn't post either of these... did one of my 2 minute cruise-internet email checks and was pretty surprised to see that I was on the front page twice.

benmorris• 13 years ago

One of the reasons I enjoy cruises so much. So easy to disconnect from the rest of the world, but you still have access if you really need it. I bought an hour of internet on the last cruise we took to ration for the week, mostly to check email once a day. I used RDP on the way to Puerto Rico from my cabin to fix a quick server issue also. Connection was useable, but very laggy (as expected).

plainOldText• 13 years ago

In case someone didn't get to the bottom of the article, the author also built Cruise Sheet, which helps you find the cheapest cruises http://cruisesheet.com/.

bane• 13 years ago

Folks who are interested in this in terms of lack of distractions might also want to consider doing commercial freighter cruises.

busterarm3• 13 years ago

I'm actually not into the whole cruise entertainment experience anyway and would appreciate a few weeks to mostly be a loner while my needs are taken care of. Commercial Freight is a fantastic idea that I plan on doing hopefully next year.

VikingCoder3• 13 years ago

I can't wait for a Google Driverless Car to essentially be the same thing for me.

I order one with my cell phone, it shows up, I hop in, type my destination, and then I can ignore the world while I'm getting stuff done. Or sleeping.

I get to see interesting places, but get stuff done.

philsnow4• 13 years ago

Can't tell if trolling or serious...

Take a train.

VikingCoder3• 13 years ago

Yeah, okay, I'll take a train...

That requires that I get from where I am to a train station. That also requires that the train leaves NOW to get to my destination. That also requires that the train has anything like a reasonable route to my destination. That also requires I get from the destination train station to the actual destination.

I'll just take a train to the Grand Canyon.

kronholm2• 13 years ago

He's serious, and so am I. Trains go on rails, so a driverless car can go many places trains can't. Can't wait for it to become reality either. Like in Children of Men, but with time better.

yourapostasy• 13 years ago

In the US, even if you are willing to deal with the vagaries of erratic schedules, long-distance trains are problematic for the kind of hacker tourism that many on HN might be interested in, but still doable. Some observations to share from my own experiences:

Multi-day long-distances are best experienced in a cabin with a shower facility. These cabins get booked out a month or longer in advance. This cuts down on the ability to make short-notice trip decisions.

These cabins are not lockable except by the conductor. You need to be sensible with your gear, and don't draw attention to it. I took my laptop with me when I went to meals in the dining car or to sit in the observation car.

Temperature control is largely set by the conductor or porter. There are thermostats in the cabins, but I never actually have seen them work.

Internet connectivity on most lines is bring-your-own-Internet; Northeast lines have more options, Midwest/Western/Southern lines are the ones that are BYOI. With a Sprint 3G/4G modem, I mostly got 3G except near the major metro areas, and was able to get some work done, but definitely not anything that counted upon heavy connectivity. Web browsing and terminal-based work via SSH and screen (or similar) was easily doable; anything needing RDP or X11 was pretty much out of the question once you left the major metro areas. VPN is a crap shoot; sometimes the connection is not stable enough. There are vast deserts of absolutely zero connectivity out in the Western US.

Voice phone connectivity is surprisingly good, except in those aforementioned deserts.

Passengers keep to themselves if they see you wearing headphones. It is super easy to find a spot on the train, pop on the headphones (you don't actually need to be listening to anything, or even be plugged into anything), then hit your zone and crank some work out.

Trains are almost ideal for traveling young families. If you are on a $100K-type per annum income and live within your means, then the family cabins that include meals are not a stretch on that kind of budget, many young children are utterly enthralled with trains, and you get to introduce the youngsters to people from many walks of life. Though keep the trip to around two days, and break up longer trips with multiple day stays in towns in between if you can; longer than two days and they start to get bored. Use a car service at either end of the train trip, and it becomes a pretty comfortable way to travel with children compared to planes.

Luggage check-in and pick up is far easier than at airports, but there are limits, and Amtrak is far stricter with sticking to those limits than the airlines with their baggage rules. Trip check-in without the security lines is much less time-consuming than at airports.

Any carry-ons you cannot fit into your cabin are stowed out in the open in some storage bays. This has never presented a problem for me, though at times I have used a locking luggage cable when my paranoia got the better of me. Cabins don't have much storage space beyond what can fit underneath the beds.

If you are comfortable with taking a shower inside the tiny closet that the toilet is in, then you'll be fresh and clean on multiple-day trips. This is the same kind of setup that you have on smaller cruising sailboats. If that kind of setup raises your ick factor, reconsider long train trips.

Meals in the dining cars are generally smaller portions than what you get a restaurant. For Europeans, the portions are normal. Frequent diners of an Applebee's or Outback Steakhouse are going to think the portions are on the small side. The snack bar topped off gluttons like me (I generally try to eat low-carb+high-protein, and carry on board my protein bars and a jar of nuts). On a $100K-type income, the meal and snack prices are not a big deal, though the fiscal and nutritional values are generally absent with some offerings. If you book a cabin, meals can be delivered for dining in your cabin, valuable if you are in crunch mode on something.

Motion was not really an issue; I was very pleasantly surprised at the comfort quality of the ride.

If you stay in a cabin, then tip your porter well when they help you board, and they will bend over backwards to make your trip enjoyable. I tip $50 (which is considered huge and extravagant) and our porters always sought to make sure our cabin was secure and comfortable, we had whatever drinks we wanted delivered to our cabin (water bottles, juices and coffees are served at a refreshments station in the middle of the car), our carry-ons got stowed regardless of whether there was room for them or not, and that we got our pick of meal times (dining car service is by time slot reservation).

I really wish Amtrak would expand their Auto Train service everywhere. Think "land ferry".

http://www.amtrak.com/auto-train

If I had serious FU money, then I would get a private railroad car (or two) built, hitch a ride to someplace interesting along Amtrak's routes, divert to a rail siding, and bounce around the US. I looked into it, and it seems Amtrak actually hauls private railroad cars. There is even an association of private railroad car owners (AAPRCO). I could bring along my own automobile, those diesel-electric engines supply a huge amount of high-voltage power, with that kind of platform and money satellite Internet becomes feasible, and there seem to be a lot of interesting stories out there in those towns (if nothing else I could scout for interesting places for offices).

lifeformed2• 13 years ago

Not for me: I get horribly carsick if I try to read inside of a moving car.

VikingCoder3• 13 years ago

If I could SLEEP in a Google Driverless Car that would be awesome. And there's no real reason it should feel like car seats, if there's a more comfortable design.

On a Friday night, I could order a car from my phone, hop in, fall asleep, wake up in destination city on Saturday morning. On Sunday evening, I go home, waking up on Monday morning right outside my office. It'd be awesome.

reustle• 13 years ago

Great work on the article and CruiseSheet.com. Could you update the "From" dropdown to combine "New York, New York" and "New York, NY"?

mjn2• 13 years ago

One of the academic conferences in my field has been on a cruise on and off [1], for some of these reasons. One of the main things people like about it is that it keeps everyone together: everyone eats in the same dining room, drinks at the same bars, and it's easy to meet up and split off into impromptu discussing/working groups somewhere. Whereas in a big city people tend to diffuse, partly by income (well-paid people go to different restaurants than grad students), partly by interest, partly by what part of the city they found a hotel in. Many people also like no-internet. No temptation to respond to work emails or check Facebook during talks! And finally, it means everyone has to come for the whole conference or none of it: no showing up for half the conference, or just for your keynote.

The cost is also surprisingly low, typically coming out less in total than a typical "big hotel" conference does: when you add up conference-room rental, catering for coffee breaks and lunch, cost of hotel rooms, restaurants for dinner, etc., the cruise ship's all-in group pricing typically ends up cheaper per person, sometimes substantially so.

The downsides:

1. It looks bad externally, like academics wasting taxpayer money on a boondoggle. Even if it's cheaper, the image is too luxurious. It looks better to have a conference at a Marriott in Chicago, even if that costs the taxpayers more. It looks bad enough that some people won't come, because their source of funds won't approve the trip.

2. Flipside of the community tightness aspect is that it can feel claustrophobic to be essentially stuck at the conference, literally unable to leave the floating conference hotel.

3. No internet means certain kinds of demos won't work, or need added preparation. Although this is good practice anyway, because conference-room internet is often flaky even on land.

4. Not being able to come for only part of the conference can also be a disadvantage, since the schedule is inflexible. If you have a hard conflict anywhere in the conference, you have to skip it, since there is no way to arrive half a day late, or leave even 2 hours early.

Last year we experimented with having it in a medium-sized town with a compact city center, in a lower-cost-of-living location [2], to try to get some of the advantages without the disadvantages. I think this worked fairly well, and I personally liked it more than the cruise ship. But there is an added travel disadvantage, because there are few compact towns that also have good international airports.

[1] http://www.fdg2014.org/

[2] Chania, Crete: http://www.fdg2013.org/attendees/

wehadfun2• 13 years ago

Where are keynotes or big talks held. I did not know ships had rooms where hundreds of people could listen to a presentatio. Do cruise ships have projctors/screens?

mjn2• 13 years ago

Many ships have auditoriums with projectors/screens. They're used for various kinds of shows during the cruise, but you can often arrange with them (far ahead of time, as part of booking the conference) to have use of the auditorium during certain hours.

The 2009 version of this conference was on a Disney cruise ship, and the keynotes and plenum sessions were in the auditorium/theatre pictured here: http://www.film-tech.com/ubb/f8/t006888.html

blisterpeanuts2• 13 years ago

I guess another downside would be the connectivity problem, especially if you stream the presentations for remote participants, and anyway conference goers are constantly on their laptops connecting with work or whatever.

I like the floating village concept, though, and I guess everyone would be pretty relaxed overall, maybe bring the family as well, and what a way to combine vacation with work!

gmays2• 13 years ago

Great post. Being new in my entrepreneurial career I'm just learning the pleasures of working from anywhere.

I live in San Diego, but a few weeks ago I drove up to NorCal to visit the parents. While there I attended Startup School in the bay area. The next week I flew to Boston and stayed with a friend in Cambridge and attended WordCamp Boston. I attended the Business of Software conference next and stayed at the Seaport Hotel. At the end of the conference I took the short ride to Cape Cod and stayed there for a week or so with some family. It was a little chilly this time of year, but with everyone gone during the day and the tourist season over I could really enjoy the beauty and eat at all of the great restaurants. It's incredibly peaceful. I even spent some time at the Chatham Bars Inn and worked from there...absolutely incredible.

By staying with friends and family and managing costs the whole few weeks probably cost around $1,000 including plane tickets. The most expensive thing was the three nights at the Seaport Hotel, which cost around $500 even though I split the room with someone. It would have been a lot more if my wife was with me since we would have wanted to do more.

So now I'm back in NorCal staying with my parents. I'll probably stay here through Thanksgiving then head back home to San Diego for the winter.

This lifestyle really is incredible. It'll be interesting to see how it works out when my wife and I have kids, I assume it'll be a pain in the ass. I can't believe I had a 'real' job for so long. Sure I work about 2x as much, but I love it. Besides, it's really only work if you'd rather be doing something else.

wbeckler• 13 years ago

How did you arrange a roomshare at a hotel? friend or online service?

gmays2• 13 years ago

I shared the room with a guy I met earlier this year at MicroConf (another great conference). I think Rob Walling or Mike Taber put us in touch.

ssharp2• 13 years ago

Having been of a few cruises, I'd like to point out a few things:

1) Listed prices generally DO NOT include gratuities. Low level cruise employees like the cleaning crew, cabin stewards, waiters, cooks, etc. are paid ridiculously low wages, because cruise ships are registered to countries like Panama and the companies do not need to adhere to U.S. standards. I don't recall offhand, but for a 7-day cruise the "automatic" gratuity is, I believe, around $100 or so per person, so take that into consideration. You can remove the charge if you want to, but you'd have to be a pretty big asshole to do that :) Also, prices are based on double-occupancy, so if you go by yourself, double the fares.

2) Internet is expensive, slow, and charges by the minute). However, if you do this a lot, some cruise loyalty programs will give you free internet. I know Princess does this. Also, you're cell phone my work in certain locations. I'm a U.S. AT&T subscriber and I have full service in U.S. ports like San Juan and the U.S. Virgin Islands. If you can tether your phone, you'll get much faster and cheaper service that way than on the boat internet.

3) Don't get sick / injured. My wife stepped on broken glass while wearing open-toed shoes and got cut up pretty bad. The doctor on board used strips instead of stitches, and the cut reopened in two days, by which time we were already off the ship. The crew handled the incident terribly. The problem with the glass was not resolved quickly, my wife had to wait a fair amount of time for someone to show up with a wheelchair to take her to the doctor and the crew went into "don't get sued" mode really quickly. They gave us pushback when we refused to sign a liability waiver before getting treatment and we had some security guy who kept insisting to come into our room to photograph the shoes my wife was wearing at the time. When we complained the next day about the process, a nice woman sat down with us to hear out our complaint, but never really did anything. We were adamant about NOT paying for the care and it never showed up on our bill, so we let well enough alone. Three months later, they sent us a bill for $300 for the care. After we sent their HQ a letter in response, they ended up waiving the fee and giving us $100 credit towards our next cruise. Nice, but it was ridiculous in the first place since.

4) In regards to the above, had something worse happened, or they had refused to waive the fee, good luck fighting the cruise company in court. You're not only bound by typical consumer-crushing stuff like forced arbitration, but you're also getting into international legal difficulties. For big cases like the cruise that tipped over, it's worth the hassle, but for smaller claims, you're pretty limited in what you can realistically do.

All that said, I think this is a pretty cool idea and had always thought about how cruises could be a cool little work/vacation thing.

larrys5• 13 years ago

"2) Internet is expensive, slow, and charges by the minute). "

When I've been on cruises (this dates back to as early as 2002 iirc) I've always been concerned with this.

And there are times as well (when sailing) that you are out of reach by satellite and have no connectivity at all. Unless things have changed you aren't going to be streaming video or doing anything that requires bandwidth. Once again, from my experience, things could have changed as I haven't cruised in at least 4 years.

With respect to internet on cruises it's a totally YMMV. I was concerned enough about access that I actually tracked down and contacted the operator of the service [1] for the particular ship I was on (and they do this for many cruise lines) and spoke to an engineer to ask questions before taking a particular cruise. I wasn't going to rely on what the cruise ship customer service told me. One of the questions I had was "do you block any ports"? The engineer (quite knowledgeable not customer service but engineering) said they didn't but it turned out that (at the time) they blocked anything that carried voice or obviously video (like ichat, skype etc.). Have no idea if that is still the case.

But here is the strangest thing. Back in perhaps 2004 on a particular ship you couldn't (get this) connect by wifi with a Mac!.

That's right you had to have a windows machine to connect to the ships wifi. Made no sense. But true. Nobody on the ship with a mac could connect only PC laptops. Ended up having to use the crap in the "Internet Cafe" which made 1996 using AOL seem quick. Literally couldn't even get email during certain times since all ship traffic went through one pipe.

For the next cruise I also brought a PC laptop. (But on that ship I didn't need it).

[1] It was this company: http://www.mtnsat.com/

toomuchtodo4• 13 years ago

Was the cruise line Royal Caribbean?

chimeracoder• 13 years ago

Low level cruise employees like the cleaning crew, cabin stewards, waiters, cooks, etc. are paid ridiculously low wages, because cruise ships are registered to countries like Panama and the companies do not need to adhere to U.S. standards.

On most major lines, the cleaning, etc. staff get reprimanded if they receive reviews from their passengers that are less than 5 stars. Even if it's only 4/5 (or the equivalent), they are expected to keep "perfect" ratings and are punished if they don't.

Cruises end up being a convenient way for my family to take vacations for a number of reasons (not the least being that my grandmother has limited mobility and cannot enjoy other vacation destinations as easily), but I always feel very guilty every time I go, because I see firsthand how badly the staff are exploited.

(Also, if you never want to go on a cruise line again, read the chapter in Tina Fey's "Bossypants" about her experience the one and only time she took a cruise.)

As for the (lack of) connectivity, I actually like this feature. When I go on a vacation, I enjoy being completely disconnected from the "real world". I find that, after a week of this, I wind up completely refreshed and come back to work more productive than if my attention had been split. But YMMV.

crusso4• 13 years ago

but I always feel very guilty every time I go, because I see firsthand how badly the staff are exploited

You have to consider any situation holistically. What you call exploitation is often a tremendous improvement over the alternatives those folks have in their countries of origin.

Go on the cruise, tip well, and be polite to staff.

sliverstorm• 13 years ago

the crew went into "don't get sued" mode really quickly

I hate this kind of thing. Why do we allow this sort of situation, where fear of lawsuits results in worse response/care?

I don't know exactly what would need to change, but this the legal process at its worst.

bennyg• 13 years ago

Less people suing would reduce that. The problem is that people sue over everything, so why deal with the hassle when you can go into defense mode early and stave off frivolous court proceedings? I agree, it sucks.

sanskritabelt3• 13 years ago

He says room service is "free", which suggests that he's not tipping. Someone pointed out down thread that this guy's a pickup artist (http://www.pualingo.com/pua-profiles/herbal-tynan/), which is empirically correlated with "asshole", which in turn is correlated with "does not tip".

masterofmasters• 13 years ago

Wow, this is a pretty strong attack, for something that is likely just a miswording. Cruise passengers pay an automatic gratuity at the end of a trip. Much of this goes to your room attendant. So it's "free" in the sense that it's essentially included in the total price.

veemjeem• 13 years ago

Isn't your conclusion a bit of a stretch? Anyone who is a pickup artist is an asshole, and every asshole doesn't tip? Tynan is actually a pretty nice guy if you meet him in person.

If I found an asshole that does tip, would that destroy your theory?

michaelmcmillan• 13 years ago

That must be the worst argument I have seen in a long time.

levosmetalo• 13 years ago

You realize that this "tipping culture" is not that prevalent outside the US? In many countries, especially in Europe, service and stuff is paid market wages, and there's no reason to tip by default, just when you are extremely satisfied with the service.

Does the fact that I didn't know about "tipping culture" when I was first time in the US makes me an asshole?

DanBC4• 13 years ago

On cruise ships you tend to tip the staff at the end of the voyage.

monksy• 13 years ago

The fact that he is/was [if you read his blog .. thats "was"] a PUA invalidates his experience/findings/credibility?

auctiontheory3• 13 years ago

(1) I have personally met Tynan, and he's not an asshole. In fact, he's quite sweet in person. Even if you read his blog, there's nothing assholish about it. He doesn't lie. He does his own thing.

(2) People who generalize about an entire class of people being "assholes" ... maybe should look in the mirror.

enko6• 13 years ago

I am annoyed with this comment. You do not seem to realise that there are many parallels between the "PUA" community and the startup community. Both are about people striving to meet their goals.

You should read "The Game", by Neil Strauss. He documents the process of becoming a pickup artist, the people he met, the stages he went through. And as you read it, you will realise something - the only surefire way to becoming a successful PUA is to improve yourself, to become the best version of yourself, and at the end of it all, that's what these guys were trying to do.

Yeah, there are assholes. There's always assholes. But at the end of the day, this so-called "PUA" culture is about turning yourself into the best version of yourself you can be. And isn't that what all us startup types are trying to do? Rising to a challenge? Stepping into those shoes? Pushing ourselves beyond what we thought possible? Closing the deal?

There are more parallels than you think. Read that book. And don't be so eager to judge people. They're more like you than you realise.

rdl3• 13 years ago

I think you tip essentially a constant amount t on cruises. Room service is about as free as dining in the main room. The only time I would tip exceptionally is if someone went really above and beyond, or did something against policy, and in a lot of customer support cases, a cash tip separately is a better solution there. Or, if it is just exceptional service , calling the employee out by name to management a few layers above.

tynan9• 13 years ago

Author of the post, confirmed asshole, here. In most cruise ships you do not tip for anything until the end, and it is a flat rate. Enjoy.

erichocean• 13 years ago

2) Internet is expensive, slow, and charges by the minute).

I worked remotely from a cruise ship that went around Hawaii for a week in 2007 (long story). I had a small Verizon cellular router that I set up in my room. It worked well enough, and I didn't have to use the ship's (presumably) crappy wi-fi, or pay by the minute or whatever.

Plus, when I'm coding, my bandwidth needs aren't that great.

I'd assume that using your phone as a hotspot today would work equally well in that scenario.

byoung23• 13 years ago

Now that T-Mobile has unlimited international roaming I can't wait to try this out on my next trip. It is only 2G but that is faster than ship internet.

specialist3• 13 years ago

Low level cruise employees ... are paid ridiculously low wages

The service staff work for tips. No wages. No benefits.

I was shocked when I first heard this. I asked around, a lot. Everyone confirmed.

I personally hate the cruise ship experience. The master/servant dynamic makes me very uncomfortable.

fredsters_s• 13 years ago

I love it how everyone is extrapolating their personal cruise ship experiences -> every cruise ship in the world ever.

byoung23• 13 years ago

My wife is from the Philippines and her friend works for Princess cruises and he loves it (he is a bartender). He gets to travel, meet interesting people, and he makes several times what he would make at home. I doubt the experience of the staff is much different from the experience of those working the same jobs back home, or possibly better.

himperdunk• 13 years ago

If somebody is blogging about their lifestyle you have to question it. Creative geniuses seem to vary in their response to distractions. Leonhard Euler claimed that he did important work with baby on knee. The inventor of the shape sorter (I forget his name) used to head off to a place of absolute quiet and stillness to conceive his inventions. John von Neumann turned the TV volume up in order to work. Go figure

bujatt2• 13 years ago

Airport trips I like the most for the same reason, but they never take 9+ days. Tynan made a good point.

btgeekboy• 13 years ago

"Airport trips"? Can you elaborate?

bujatt2• 13 years ago

When I was a student and had lots of free-time in the summer. I did some trips where I intentionally spent long hours on airports. Taking advantage of the many low-cost airlines in Europe, once I managed to buy a whole Budapest-London-Cork, Dublin-Barcelona, Barcelona-Budapest trip for $120. That made a trip with 5 flights, 8 different airports in 7 days and 3 cities where I actually stayed over.

I find airports very neutral in-between spaces and thus perfect for concentration and work.

wehadfun2• 13 years ago

This could be somewhat bad for the cruise industry. I think cruises sell at a loss and hope to make there money back through alcohol spas, gambling or things someone working folks will not do.

bfe• 13 years ago

Now imagine how much undistracted work you could get done on a six-month trip to Mars.

graeme• 13 years ago

I had this same experience working in Cuba for a month. I was writing, so I didn't need internet. They don't have it there, except for occasional slow access in certain access points, where I went to handle correspondence once a week.

I stayed in a family's house. They cooked, cleaned and made coffee. I had zero responsibilities. Results:

I wrote 50% more than usual. I read 7 novels, including Moby Dick. I socialized more than usual. I exercised and went for long walks every day. I studied for the GMAT.

Not having internet was very helpful, but outsourcing all domestic tasks made a huge difference.

benhebert• 13 years ago

I took a cruise earlier this year with my girlfriend and we paid $600 combined. After tips and a lot of boozing, we ended up spending around $1000 combined an average of $100 per day. You can do it for a lot cheaper as well, plus we weren't using the internet.

I'd do it again in a heartbeat and work if there was a steady internet connection.

noarchy• 13 years ago

Posts like this seem self-congratulatory, to me. Working in this field, we're well-compensated, and in a position of relative privilege based on that alone. Add to that the flexibility (when we have it) to not be tied down to a daily commute or an office/cube-farm, and we're living in another world entirely. We shouldn't forget this.

badman_ting• 13 years ago

There is no honor in acting like you aren't privileged when you are. But moreover, cruises have a generally more glamorous image than the reality. You can often get on a cruise ship essentially for free, because they want you to spend money shopping and eating on the ship.

macspoofing• 13 years ago

Whatever works for you.

jscheel• 13 years ago

This guys is enjoying life while making money and seeing the world. Who am I to argue :) I'm not sure what I would do without internet for that long (especially since I listen to internet radio all the time), but if you can get past that, more power to you.

Zoomla• 13 years ago

Internet on cruise ships is fairly cheap

mixmastamyk2• 13 years ago

Lot's of choices on the West Coast as well, looks like you can go up to Alaska and down to Santiago, or over to Hawaii.

Interesting idea, although it's going to be a really tough sell to go without the family. :/

mrjatx• 13 years ago

I went on my first cruise last year, 4 days, and it was one of the worst vacation experiences of my life. Don't go when school is out unless you're planning on bringing your asshole children and letting them roam free with the other kids.

chrissnell• 13 years ago

OP touched on another great remote work idea: the RV. Find a smaller model in good condition and outfit it with a Verizon mobile AP and you're in business. Sadly, I didn't move into remote work until after I got married and started a family but if I was 22 again, this is how I'd do it. I'd spend my winters in South Texas, around San Antonio and Port Aransas. In the springtime, I'd head up to Southern Utah, places like Escalante and Moab where I could mountain bike and go canyoneering. In the summer, I'd head for the mountain towns: Telluride, Colorado...Aspen...Park City, Utah...Idaho...for more mountain biking and hiking. In the fall, I'd head south again and start it all over.

All of these places have easily available wifi, good food, great people, and lots to do after work. If you're smart about it, there are even nice places just outside of these towns where you can camp (< 14 days) for free and still have 4G cell service.

bri3d• 13 years ago

I think the RV is ultimately a better lifestyle. Biking, hiking, sightseeing, canyoneering, etc. appeal to me a lot more than being stuck on a ship with a sad crew and tons of vacationers.

I don't think I'd compare the two directly, though. Driving an RV is probably more expensive per-day even discounting the food and services on a ship and assuming very little depreciation on the vehicle (i.e. you got a deal used), and it's a lot more work. Between finding places to park/camp, run the generator or hook up power, empty the toilet, maintain the drivetrain, cooking, and the inevitable RV disaster-breakdowns RVing is a lot of work - a far cry from "saunter to the restaurant, pick a meal, eat it, come back to a freshly cleaned room and more food."

driverdan• 13 years ago

I find Las Vegas is a great place to get work done, assuming you don't have a gambling addiction and don't mind working from hotel rooms. Hotels are super cheap, food is reasonable (if you're careful where you eat), and you can usually find cheap flights.

Downsides: You'll need a wireless hotspot since hotels charge too much for internet access (ones without resort fees). Starbucks is overpriced and there aren't many other coffee shops on the strip.

triplesec• 13 years ago

So yes please: what are those tricks for getting cruises cheaply?

tynan9• 13 years ago

Will be writing that post very soon... I don't normally submit my own posts to HN, but I will submit that one if no one else does.

mdip• 13 years ago

This was an interesting read. His arguments for why he likes working on a cruise ship are very much my arguments for why I prefer to vacation on a cruise ship:

(1) Internet access is "limited". I'll stick with "limited" because it's a mixed bag. It's been 5 years since I cruised, though not Mediterranean and was able to find flat rate per-day, however, the one day I broke down and purchased access I found it to be very unreliable (single shared satellite connection for the entire ship). This is the same for phone service. The last ship I was on had a ship-board cell "tower" that showed up as international and I can imagine even T-Mobile doesn't cover that in their zero roaming considering ship to shore calls were $9.00/minute from the suite. This also encourages my coworkers to think long and hard about whether or not to call me in an emergency.

(2) Everything is taken care of, including entertainment. I find it difficult to relax, even on vacation -- it's an exercise of planning what to eat, when to eat, what to see, what to do and when to do it. When "at sea", the cruise director provides a menu of what you can do and when. You pick. Very little energy is expelled in enjoying myself.

(3) When in port, same rules apply. You don't have enough time to plan some grand excursion, so you pick one or two things to do and head back. I always opt for a room with a window and have found that if the ship is oriented with me facing the shore, I can pick up free Wi-Fi from restaurants at shore for a fix (even when the ship is too big and has to be anchored at sea). This provides for a quick fix of internet and stretching.

Because there are many times of the day where there is literally nothing else to do, I find it's the only thing that slows my mind down. By day 7 or so I'm ready to be home again, and the weeks that follow my vacation are usually amazing. The time spent being forced to be alone with my thoughts results in me returning with new ideas, new ways to solve old problems and just a generally more positive outlook. It's the only vacation I take where I truly get the idea of taking time out to decompress.

WalterBright• 13 years ago

or to get caught up in the dreaded Reddit -> Hacker News -> Reddit cycle.

Dang!

rholdy• 13 years ago

Great idea. Pretty sure I wouldn't get much done with limited internet access though. Maybe I'll try to simulate limited connectivity for a while a see how it goes...

theorique• 13 years ago

Perspective from David Foster Wallace - "Shipping Out: On the (nearly lethal) comforts of a luxury cruise". Also known as "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again".

[pdf] http://harpers.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/HarpersMagazin...

However, I don't think this (somewhat critical) article should deter any would-be cruise goers, especially if you have work to engage you during the time.

peteforde• 13 years ago

Earlier this year I wrote about how shrinking my business size down to one (me) allows me to work from trains. Specifically, I wrote that post while on board VIA Rail's The Canadian, which goes to/from Toronto to Vancouver in four days. It was awesome, and if you know where to look, these trips are always 50% off.

http://hackertourism.com/growing-by-shrinking

snogglethorpe2• 13 years ago

I totally second this...

I took the Toronto to Vancouver train in 1984, and although I understand the details of that route have changed quite a bit since, it was a wonderful experience.

95% of the trip is through wilderness, with occasional stops in small cities that seem to just spring up in the middle of nowhere (Winnipeg...). Once past Thunder Bay, the train suddenly empties out a bit, so it doesn't feel crowded, and spending all day reading, in comfortable seats, with wilderness streaming by the huge window next to you is just wonderful. I found the other passengers quite interesting—I shared my four-seat "section" with a forestry student off to work in a lumbercamp for the summer, and learned a lot of interesting stuff about Canada, and forests... :]—and the vibe was very amiable and quiet. People were friendly, but there was a distinct lack of "chatterers" and most people seemed content to do their own thing most of the time.

Because the trip took five days, and there was basically no demand on my time, it felt incredibly unrushed, and combined with constant low-level "passive" distraction in the form of scenery, the wonderful light, and the soothing motion and sounds of rail travel, it left me feeling both incredibly relaxed and oddly energetic.

Extreme long-distance train travel is generally way underrated, I think; obviously it's not ideal if you're in a hurry, but if you have a few days, it's often a treat. Although the Canadian trip was the best, I've also traveled by train from Seattle to Boston, and it was a great trip too, for many of the same reasons (Amtrak long-distance seats are just amazingly huge and comfortable though).

lmm2• 13 years ago

I went London-Osaka by train and ferry, which was great fun, but the longest single train was two and a half days (Moscow - Shymkent) and I wouldn't've wanted it to be any longer, even travelling with a friend and a tablet. Possibly the scenery was more repetitive than yours - empty snowfields as far as the eye can see is beautiful for a day or two, but does become boring.

guiomie• 13 years ago

I fuckin love this guy.

tynan9• 13 years ago

Thank you. I love you, too.

fcoury• 13 years ago

I am currently on a trip to Miami where I am actively working every day. For me the worst part about being away from home is finding a decent workspace where I can really concentrate and get in the zone to program.

The chairs are usually terrible and anything more than a few hours seated makes me want to move somewhere else. Even when working standing (using a kitchen counter for instance) is bad: the height is sub optimal.

I would love to hear suggestions if anyone has insights or good tips for what you do in cases like this.

feverishaaron• 13 years ago

According to his site, the daily rate is actually cheaper to take a cruise than to pay rent on a 3 bdr house in much of the bay area.

taternuts• 13 years ago

I've always wondered about this, the relative price of cruises make it a cool place to do the work from home thing. I lived in Costa Rica for 6 months while working from home, and it was a great experience. I was wondering about the internet connection, and I guess if you don't have to maintain visibility via some chat program then I guess you wouldn't really need it that often.

simonsquiff• 13 years ago

Cruise ships are also an amazing alternative to nursing homes.

I did some work for p&o cruises, on a ship that focused on round the world trips. These was one old lady there in her 80s who had swapped a nursing home for the ship - and had been there for 3 years or so. The food was incredible, she had diffent company every night due to other guests coming and going, was treated like royalty by the crew (unlike normal nursing home residents), and had an onboard doctor and nurse when needed. And all this was cheaper than any nursing home. Inspired idea.

jacalata2• 13 years ago

Probably about the same cost, according to snopes - http://www.snopes.com/travel/trap/retire.asp

ritchiea• 13 years ago

They are also similarly priced, there was a discussion of this earlier this year on HN https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5806006

archagon• 13 years ago

This is a pretty great idea. I'm trying to travel and work on a few projects right now, and my average is turning out to be around $75-$100 per day for the US. $50 per day sounds like a fun, cheap way to get some work done, assuming you can get access to the internet at least in some capacity.

gurkendoktor2• 13 years ago

That sounds like a great idea. I've tried programming on a trans-siberian train ride, but it was SO HARD to get any exercise at all - feels unhealthy. Plus you end up thinking about food a lot (missing good food, mostly).

ThinkBeat• 13 years ago

Am I the only person left who enjoys having a nice comfy office, a nice beefy desktop, some books and a nice little sound system?

Even some co-workers who you can bounce ideas off of.

I find working for long periods on nothing but a laptop challenging.

rdl3• 13 years ago

My personal preference is 5 day stays in cat I to IV Starwood hotels in interesting places, during lower occupancy periods, with top tier status -- ends up costing $20-100/day all-in by gaming the points system.

I tend to go full Howard Hughes (not leaving my 2-3 room suite) for a few days, do some limited local exploration, etc. I feel a lot better having a separate bedroom and office. Free breakfast and lounge means effectively unlimited food, although local restaurants, room service, etc are options.

This week I've been at the Le Meridien Bangkok, probably my favorite hotel in town, for 5000 points/night, net, which is essentially $50/night in foregone cash back on credit card purchases, or about $100/night at retail. It cost me $50 to fly here from Singapore, where I couch surfed with friends for a few days, after 10 days in Bali with the girlfriend.

Less risk of fire, norovirus, my hotel is mainly full of nice Japanese people instead of either obnoxious partier spring break types or old dying people, 50M Internet, etc.

kozikow• 13 years ago

Regarding the internet - one can set up the iodined server somewhere at home http://dev.kryo.se/iodine/wiki/HowtoSetup and use elinks to browse internet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELinks) . m.facebook.com, m.google.com, m.gmail.com have light, html-only versions of their websites, which works OK in slow net conditions.

I would like to have an app that learn from my browsing usage and from time to time caches my favorite part of the internet (for example in my case it would cache the hacker news site 1 link deep from front page)

Why Cruise Ships are My Favorite Remote Work Location

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