Have Internet Will Travel A blog about travel freelancing in the Philippines

Friends and family often tell us they’re jealous of our adventures and how lucky we are to be able to afford our nomadic travel lifestyle. We agree. We’re in a very advantageous position, earning an income working online while we travel. But how much is this costing us exactly, and how does the cost of living abroad compare to what we were paying back home in Vancouver, Canada?

You’ll notice that we spent significantly less in the Philippines on a per month basis than anywhere else. I primarily attribute this to being settled in a beach house with a full kitchen for a 4 month stretch and being fairly remote which limited restaurant expenses to local options. This illustrates my previous post about how to keep costs down by traveling slowly and minimizing food expenses. There’s also no international flight costs included in the Philippines expenses. I’m not sure if something like that should be averaged over the whole trip, or attributed to the arrival country. In which case, Hong Kong cost us $3400. :) Read More…

We rounded out our month in Bali chillin’ at the beach and getting a bit of work done. With Mike’s computer out of commission we were doing double duty with mine, so we had to play nice and share. Since Mike had a bit more work to do than me, I took the opportunity to spoil myself with a bit of a spa day while he used my computer to catch up on a few things. Read More…

We’re rounding out our time in Bali, with only a couple of days left. This week we managed to meet up with a few friends from Vancouver. We had a beach day with Aimee in Kuta, and dinner with Sam and Adam in Sanur. It’s been great to see some familiar faces and has made me excited about seeing everyone in August. Until then however, I’m still enjoying things in Asia.

On Tuesday I headed up to Ubud, about 20km north of Denpasar, and only about an hour away from where we’ve been staying. Ubud is a cute little town surrounded by lush green rice paddies and one of Bali’s major arts and culture centers. Mike opted to stay back in Sanur as my plans were a little too girly for him. Read More…

Manta Point, Nusa Penida, Bali

Things are back on track and looking up. We finally managed to get some accommodation sorted for our month in Bali, and were able to relax and enjoy our first week here. Our hotel for the first few days was great! A little more than we’ve been spending, but we got a great deal through AsiaRooms.com*, and it was one of the few we found that actually had internet. After a couple of crappy weeks it was a welcome splurge and just what we needed.

Bali is beautiful, and the weather has been great. We spent a few days lounging by the pool and making the most of the swim-up bar. Mike was in heaven, and I’m convinced that’s the reason he picked the hotel. He’s been complaining about the lack of swim-up bars in Asia, so was finally happy. Read More…