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by soueuls 1472 days ago
I fully agree with this and I wish the same. I alternative solution I have found so far is

1. I mostly travel to lower income countries in South-East Asia. 2. My income is fairly high even for US standards 3. I usually travel for 3-6 months at the minimum. 4. I will just buy the nice monitor, keyboard, etc 5. I just go to the nearby university, find a random professor working in IT and ask him "Do you have a promising student in one your class, who you can tell is lacking some money to get a good equipment?"

And I just give it all.

It's a pricey strategy, I am probably forking 700-1000$ every 6 months but I don't really care. Last time I have see a young Thai girl cry because I gave her something should could have never afforded before finishing university. Was well worth the price.

And I am not compromising anymore with my own setup, so I have to buy at least 1-2 monitor.

2 comments

We did something similar a couple of times, but ended up selling it all and giving away what was left on a local Facebook group. The sales all went to expats or travellers with the same problem we had; the giveaways went to locals. (We didn't plan it that way.)

The biggest problem we had was buying the stuff to begin with, as we needed a car rental to carry it all and a day trip to the nearest city with an Ikea and a big box store to source it. (And we couldn't find a UK keyboard anywhere!) Most of those we sold it all to didn't have a car to begin with.

I think Covid and WFH have changed the need here, as what might once have been a week's working holiday has now morphed into a 4 month working break.

I don't see a contender popping up anytime soon, as the business would probably thrive best in a location that doesn't attract startups. Costa del Sol rather than Silicon Valley.

This seems the best way to act about it.

If you're a professional on high income and living in a low-income country, this might help others more than you will ever realise.