World Happiness & Life Hacks | Issue #0012

November 13, 2024

Well, our mini exit poll was wrong. The US election has been and gone and the thing that stood out the most to us - as digital nomad tragics - was that the term digital nomad got a big spike in Google searches at the end of the week!

Any political change will stir something in a population though so we’d expect that whatever the result. You guys are making it look like a very appealing lifestyle!

Preparations for this week’s festival have pushed us back day, but in this week’s issue…

 😊 Where will you be happiest?
  🪷 Celebrate this week’s festival like a local
 💪 Life hacks from subscribers to The Digital Nomad
⁇ Riddles that will satisfy and frustrate in equal measure

Have a fun week - and enjoy the festivities if you are in Chiang Mai!

NEWS
What would make you happy?

Are you in a “happy place”?

Correct us if we’re wrong, but one of the reasons you live a digital nomad life is a search for somewhere you’ll be happy. It is often a different country, city, or village for everyone - and for different reasons.

The 2024 World Happiness Report is upon us so you can check out what the statistics tell us about where in the world people are happiest with their lives.

These are obviously based on residents of that country, and who knows, yours could be up there. Of course, that you are a digital nomad likely means you are escaping your home country for one reason or another!

We think most Brits we speak to would contest the high ranking of the UK, and there’s a top 10 entrant that you’d think is likely to have dropped since they compiled the data, but see the whole list and breakdown here.

Where does your "home" country rank?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

WHAT ELSE…

🦅 Would you commute in one of these?: Taxis will look different someday for sure - we saw Robocop - but it might be sooner than you think. These look a little too similar to drones for us to feel safe just yet, but what do you think?

🌏 Where would you have gone?: You’re a traveller, right? So where would have been on your list of destinations a couple of hundred years ago, or even 2000 years ago? Check out what the world and borders looked like in the past here, and whether where you are now even existed then.

👩‍💼 Very nice! (ifkyk): Another digital nomad visa is hitting the shelves soon - it feels like every couple of weeks another lands at the moment so we’re in danger of losing track. The Neo Nomad Visa will be introduced by Kazakhstan next month and is the first in Central Asia.

DIGITAL NOMAD LIFE HACKS
How did I not know this before??

Off the back of our list of travel hacks a few weeks ago, we got some good ideas back from y'all, but a lot of them were just good general life hacks!

Here are some of the best ones we got back:

  • Set up @@ as your email address on all your devices

  • Roll an orange before peeling it - so much easier to eat.

  • Buy “just because” gifts…don’t wait until you have to apologise! (you and your partner/friend will benefit in the long run, promise!)

  • Sturdy trash bags are the most versatile bags ever made…waterproof, strong, flexible. Don’t overlook them!

  • Take a photo of where you have parked. One day it will be a life-saver so get in the habit now.

  • Freeze left over coffee into ice cubes - makes for better iced coffees!

  • Eat finger foods with chopsticks, especially if you snack when working on your laptop.

  • Do the best stretch in the world whenever you have a spare couple of minutes a few times a day. You’ll thank me!

  • Add a tiny dash of salt to your coffee, either when you grind it or straight in the drink. Pops the coffee flavor.

  • If you only have one knife, make it a tomato knife. It’s the cheapest and smallest, most versatile knife you can get.

  • Perhaps one for those AirBnB stays - use mayonnaise to get rid of water circles on wooden tables.

  • Peanut butter cures hiccups! (any excuse to eat it works for us!

Keep them coming - it’s improving our lives if no one else’s!

Email [email protected] with yours.

SPREAD THE WORD

Do you have friends who are digital nomads roaming the world? If you think they could use a quick weekly fix of what’s happening in their world, then share this link so they can get The Digital Nomad each week too.

Or, share it on your socials with the links at the top of this newsletter.

EVENTS
The biggest party in Chiang Mai is this week

This week is the biggest celebratory week in Thailand after Songkran, and Chiang Mai is the most famous place for it.

Loy Krathong is a a Thailand-wide traditional festival where locals and tourists alike release floating offerings along rivers and canals. However it also coincides with Northern Thailand’s Yi Peng festival.

The latter is likely more familiar to you thanks to the mass releases of lanterns outside of the city, plus we featured it last week, so you could prepare your plans (the city will be filled to the rafters - hotels are already almost completely sold out so don’t expect to rock up if you aren’t already booked!).

To tie in with the festivities, Yellow Coworking are putting on a Loy Krathong-making workshop this Friday at 2pm. You’ll be there for a couple of hours, but you’ll walk away with a handmade “krathong” that you can “loy” (ok - that’s a crude translation but Loy Krathong effectively translates to floating vessel).

Book your spot at the café as there are limited spaces!

BRAIN FOOD
What we’ve been recommended this week

Book - Feel Good Productivity: Ali Abdaal. After the success of his YouTube channel, Abdaal has simplified productivity in a book. You’ll get a lot of this from his channel too, but it’ll be much quicker to read or listen to his easy-to-action book.

Movie - There’s no shame here. It is never too early to start with Christmas movies, and the first one of the year is upon us in movie theatres. Red One is a star-studded, fun new take on festive flicks.

Podcast - Even Tom Rosenthal - the singer/songwriter host - thought this sounded like it’d be boring, but it’s not. For some wholesome life lessons, check out Strangers on a Bench, where he does what the title says.

Drop us an email at [email protected] if you have any recommendations we should share!

CONNECT TO CHIANG MAI
Fill your social calendar in Chiang Mai

Steve’s Email: A weekly resource and email for events around the city. Available as an email or Google doc.

Digital Nomad WhatsApp: A long-standing group that spawned a range of sub-groups for almost any niche and interest in the city.

For up-to-date events in the city join the Activities/Events WhatsApp group.

ChiangMai Fit WhatsApp: If you want to do something active (trust us, being fit isn’t a prerequisite!) then wholesome activities throughout the week in here.

Yellow Coworking Telegram: For more about what is happening at Yellow, and to be part of their conversation, join here.

COWORKING IN CHIANG MAI

If you are in the city, or heading over soon, then check out the current packages - from day passes to monthly or annual memberships - here.

Or, just get in touch with Mickey or the team at Yellow Coworking at [email protected].

THE DIGITAL RESOURCE

We’ve shared some useful resources over the last few weeks, and while you can access back issues here, several of you have asked us to share them again.

So, to save lots of email back-and-forths or searching through previous newsletters, here are the most requested resources:

  • Safety Wing, who also offer digital nomad insurance, have started running community events in various locations around the world. A few participants in a Chiang Mai one even won a meal out at a top restaurant in the city!

  • Genki also do worldwide digital nomad insurance.

  • Healthy Junk is the go-to for healthy food near Yellow. Dine in, out or get it delivered.

  • Get your meal prep from Chef Fuji. Healthy, macro-focussed food delivered in Chiang Mai.

  • Contact Liselle for a LinkedIn or resume revamp.

  • If decision-making is not your forte, get in touch with Hannah Wang - a decision-making coach for entrepreneurs, business owners and big corporates.

  • Stay safe online - and get TV from any country! - using NordVPN. They did have a Black Friday sale on when we looked too.

  • Airalo - a marketplace for eSIM data packs for more than 200 countries. Get 15% off if you are new and use this link and the code NEWTOAIRALO15, or 10% off if you are an existing user using AIRALOESIM10.

QUIZ
Riddle time!
Solve these brain-testers…

  1. When you need me, you throw me away. When you're done with me, you take me back. What am I?

  2. What is most useful when it is broken?

  3. David's father has three sons : Snap, Crackle and _____ ?

  4. What belongs to you, but other people use it more than you?

  5. What always runs but never walks, often murmurs, never talks, has a bed but never sleeps, has a mouth but never eats?

  6. What has a foot on each side and one in the middle?

Answers below.

WHAT DID YOU MISS?

If you are new to The Digital Nomad, or just want to go back and read a previous issue, then you can find them all here.

COMMUNITY
Get seen by digital nomads everywhere

We would love to hear from you if you have some valuable knowledge, products or services, information, or just a fun or crazy digital nomad story.

This is an opportunity to get some extra eyes on your thing, or if you just like to write or provide information to other nomads.

Drop us an email at [email protected] if you:

  • have a product or service that could help other digital nomads

  • have a travel blog, channel or platform that we can spotlight

  • took a photo worthy we could feature along with your portfolio or IG

  • know a great event or place in Chiang Mai we might have missed

  • …just have a great digital nomad story!

ANSWERS

  1. An Anchor

  2. An egg

  3. David

  4. Your name

  5. A river

  6. A yardstick