c/digital-nomad-life

The hostel wifi speed test that made me miss the old cafe days

Was in Lisbon last month and this 19 year old at our hostel bragged about 100 Mbps fiber. Pulled out my old laptop and the 2012 speed test result from a cafe in Bangkok was still in my bookmarks, 12 Mbps. We both just laughed but it got me thinking about how much smoother everything is now. I still sort of miss the slow wifi forcing you to actually talk to people or read a physical map. Anyone else catch themselves romanticizing the janky setup from a decade back?

1 comments

lilya76•1mo ago

The $79 coworking pass in Lisbon that I thought was a scam

I almost skipped booking a day pass at this spot near Cais do Sodre because the photos looked too polished, but the wifi speed test hit 300 Mbps and the quiet floor actually had enforced silence. I still think most 'community' perks are marketing fluff, but the free event they ran on Thursday got me two solid client leads. Has anyone else found a coworking space where the networking actually beat working from a cafe?

1 comments

the_jennifer•1mo ago

A barista in Lisbon talked me out of my 10-year 'anywhere work' dream

I was bragging to this local barista about my setup, you know, laptop, espresso, zero ties to anywhere, and she just laughed and said 'so you live nowhere and own nothing, sounds lonely.' It hit different because she wasn't being mean, she was just stating the fact I'd been dodging for years. I've been hopping cities for 4 years and my 'freedom' is really just 3 storage bins in my mom's garage in Phoenix. She asked if I could name one person who'd notice if I vanished for a month, and I honestly couldn't. Has anyone else had a random stranger poke a hole in their whole nomad identity, or am I just the one who cracked?

c/digital-nomad-life

The hostel wifi speed test that made me miss the old cafe days

The $79 coworking pass in Lisbon that I thought was a scam

A barista in Lisbon talked me out of my 10-year 'anywhere work' dream

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