[d13]

I live on the India/Nepal/Thailand "Digital Hippie" circuit and can confirm the following living costs if you're doing it on your on your own without booking anything else in advance:

Thailand (islands like Koh Tao or Koh Phangan): $700/month. Kathmandu/Pokhara: $300-$400/month. Big cities in India (Pune, Bangalore, Calcutta): $1000/month, small towns in India (Goa, Dharmsala, Naggar, Leh): $500/month. These costs include apartment, food internet. All my luggage is carry-on and check-in baggage under 20kg.

I've been doing this for 6 years with occasional runs to Canada or South Africa to visit friends and family. I'm usually in Nepal for the trekking season, India for the Indian classical music season, and Thailand between those gaps.

[jmcdowell]

As someone interested in this lifestyle, do you receive your work from a network of clients you built up from a more traditional job or do you use online job sites.

[archagon]

Man, those are some nice prices. I'm currently traveling in Europe (mostly Western) and my monthly spendings hover around $2100/month on average. (Would be a lot less if I didn't go out to eat so much!) How is life on those islands? Is there a social scene?

[notahacker]

There's as much or little social scene as you want, including (to an extent) a choice of whether to hang out with tourist-friendly locals, medium-term Western freelancers/divers/hippies and travellers/holidaymakersof all levels of maturity

Those beach bars and boat trips can drive your monthly spend up quite a bit, but eating out certainly won't blow your budget.

[atudoute]

Nice lifestyle, kind of semi-nomadic. Love that.