I love puzzles like this, so I set to work on it right away.

If you enjoy puzzles like this, I suggest trying to solve it first before reading the rest of this post.

I Got It Wrong

Puzzles like this often appear before me with the exact same kind of hook this one had. Precisely like this:

Can you solve it?
Update: If you got 15 on your first try, give it another go!

This is a classic case of a “challenge thrown down.” Someone who already knows the answer is essentially declaring that I won’t be able to figure it out. Challenge accepted.

It was very simple to arrive at the number replacing the question mark: 15.

To be honest, I didn’t quite understand why this result was incorrect. After all, it seemed right! So, I had to look up the solution.

It wasn’t what I (and others) had suspected. In other words, the method isn’t simply subtracting the two adjacent numbers (subtracting the smaller from the larger) to get the number beneath them. Because—and I hadn’t noticed this either—that doesn’t hold true for 21 and 13; if it did, the number below them would have to be 8, not 7. But I missed that detail when I first solved the problem.

It is an elegant puzzle. A beautifully constructed trap. I wasn’t the one who identified it as a trap; Nobuyuki “Nob” Yoshigahara, a renowned Japanese puzzle master, created it. He designed this puzzle late in his career. Perhaps he envisioned it as a masterpiece?

Once I had deciphered the initial numbers, I made quick progress toward the solution. Yet, the creator’s question—the one used to set the trap—might not have actually been “which number goes in the ninth circle?” Perhaps he asked instead, “When will you decide that you already understand the rule?”

The solution to the puzzle

The solution that makes the entire puzzle work is as follows: Add up all the digits of the two upper nodes. This gives you the number located beneath them.

Calculating this way, the number that actually goes into the 9th circle isn’t 15, but 12.

And from there, you can proceed further.

It is indeed an elegant puzzle.

But that is not what I wanted to write about.

Rules

I started thinking about this problem because, at first, I didn’t realize that 15 wasn’t the correct answer—even though I already had the rule that yields 12 (the actual correct result).

With the help of AI, I devised a new method: “Subtract the smaller number from the larger one. If the result is 8, subtract another 1. Otherwise, leave it unchanged.”

Using this rule, 15 becomes the correct result.

Then I took it a step further and found another rule: “Take the difference between the two numbers. If the difference is 15, subtract 2; if it is a single-digit number, subtract 1; otherwise, leave it unchanged.”

With this rule, the correct result is 13.

What do rules actually mean?

A few thoughts crossed my mind. Simpler rules are better. A rule should be consistent. It shouldn’t have special exceptions. One must discover the rule the author originally intended. The most elegant rule is the correct one.

Where have we heard these ideas before?

If I recall correctly, that is the sort of thing I was taught everywhere. Here is the rule. It explains everything. Except for this one case. Oops. So, we modify the rule. And suddenly, it works again.

This reminded me that this line of reasoning is very similar to the one I began developing for my own philosophical system.

We strive to explain the systems we live in. To do this, we formulate rules. Then, we experience these systems in accordance with those rules. There is no problem with this—until tension arises between the system’s actual functioning and our experience of it (specifically, the individual’s experience).

Let me put it more clearly. Take the teachings of the Christian church as an example. That is a system of rules. The system it governs—the functioning reality—is life itself. Everyday life. As long as someone lives their Christian life by fully complying with the church’s precepts without experiencing any tension in their daily routine, then—perhaps—there is no problem. But when they begin to have experiences for which—in their view—the church offers no answer, the result is usually dissatisfaction.

I cannot change the system (in this case, the everyday life that surrounds me). The system of rules (in this example, the Christian church) offers no solution to the tension. Moreover, in this instance, the system of rules itself cannot be modified. The outcome of this situation may not necessarily be positive.

I did not intend to offend anyone with this example. I could just as well have cited systems governing romantic relationships, the financial world, or even child-rearing.

The key point here, I believe, is that systems are generally very complex, whereas the systems that describe them are invariably simpler.

Some systems can afford to constantly change their rules; others cannot.

What does this have to do with life?

Rules describing systems are necessary. Yet, they are not always infallible. As this number puzzle demonstrates, at least three different types of rules can be devised to reach a solution.

Who, then, could say that rules established by others are necessarily suitable for ensuring a stress-free life for everyone?

If I were to replace the word “stress-free” with “happy,” it would likely become immediately clear why I wrote about this puzzle.

Let me state, for the first time in my life, an idea that I intend to substantiate in my future work.

Each individual is responsible for either accepting the set of rules necessary for their own happiness or working to shape them.

The post 353. | Nob’s Number Puzzle first appeared on Digital Nomad Blog.

Fifty different beds, six countries, a few thousand kilometers on foot, by bus, train, plane, boat and motorbike.

I was working in the meantime.

And for that, I needed something that is almost as important to a digital nomad as a passport.

Internet.

The question is not whether there is wifi. Almost every accommodation has it.

The question is whether it works. And if it does, how well. Is it enough to look up a restaurant on Google Maps?

Probably.

Is it enough to work, upload files, edit websites, manage videos or talk to someone on a video call?

That’s another question.

Plus, the accommodation’s wifi is only interesting while I’m at the accommodation.

And I’m usually not there.

I’m going.

The internet comes with me

When I arrive in a new country, one of the first questions I have is always the same:

How will I get mobile internet?

Can I buy a local SIM card?

I haven’t done that yet.

My choice has always been the eSIM.

I don’t have to look for a store. I don’t have to exchange plastic cards. I don’t have to start my first day in a new country hunting for mobile internet.

I buy the package, install the eSIM, and by the time I arrive, I can have internet.

As a digital nomad, this is very easy to get used to.

I don’t always look for the cheapest solution

This may sound strange.

I’m traveling long-term, so of course, how much I spend on something matters.

But I don’t make all my decisions based on which solution costs the least.

My time also has a price.

My convenience also has a price.

And also if my first task upon arriving in a foreign city is not to get internet.

An eSIM can be more expensive than a local SIM card.

In return, it can even work when I get off the plane.

For me, this is often worth it.

It became a routine in a year

A year ago, I tried to plan a lot more things in advance.

Today, I travel in a completely different way.

I arrive in a new city, and often I don’t even know exactly what will happen in the next few days.

But I have to have the internet.

I need it for my work. I need it to find my next place to stay. I need it for transportation. I need it for translation. I need it to see what food I’m pointing at in a Vietnamese restaurant.

And of course, I need it so that the stories I create along the way can finally end up here.

So I don’t like to wait for this one.

Then an email arrived

I received an email right around my one-year anniversary in Asia.

An eSIM provider, previously unknown to me, MegaEsim, found one of my posts, in which I wrote about practical things to do before traveling, including eSIM.

In the email, they introduced their service.

They offer eSIM in over 184 countries. They said that the prices they show on their site are from the same database as the prices you see at checkout. They also have an eSIM Price Index that tracks mobile data prices in 189 countries.

And they offered something else.

A trial option.

I can try out their service before I write anything about it.

I like that.

Let’s try it out

I’m still in Vietnam.

In about three weeks, on September 16th, I’ll be crossing the next border.

Cambodia.

I’m planning to spend a month there.

Then Thailand.

Three different mobile network environments. Border crossings, new cities, hotels, buses, roads. And work in between.

Pretty good test track for an eSIM for travelers.

That’s why I wrote back to them.

I’m interested.

But I want to use it first.

I’m not recommending it because I got a free eSIM. And not because I might get an affiliate commission if someone buys from my site.

I want to know what I would want to know if I were the reader.

Does it work?

How easy is it to install?

Do I have internet when I need it?

What’s the coverage like?

What’s the speed like?

What happens when I move to another country?

And of course:

How much does it cost?

That’s why I haven’t finished this post yet

This isn’t a MegaEsim recommendation.

I don’t know if I’ll recommend it.

I don’t even know if it’s good.

This is the first half of a story.

I can’t write the second half in advance, because I have to leave first.

And MegaEsim, if everything comes together, will come with me.

I don’t know how this post will end yet.

That’s exactly why it’ll be worth coming back to read.

I’m looking forward to this test. It’s exciting. It’s something new on my journey.

And I have a first hunch. We’ll see if I’m right.

Postscript

I sent MegaEsim the first version of this post that same day.

45 minutes later, I received a response.

They read it. Twice.

Then a common plan emerged very quickly. I get a 20 GB eSIM that can be used in seven Southeast Asian countries. I install it in Vietnam and start using it. On September 16, I cross the Cambodian border with the same thing. I don’t need to reinstall it. I don’t need a new QR code. In principle, I don’t have to do anything.

Just cross the border. And watch what happens. I have a very exciting test that will last several weeks.

The package is valid for 30 days, so it won’t be enough for my trip to Thailand. They also announced this in advance, and they offered to give me a second package when I get there.

But that’s not what I liked most about the offer.

They don’t ask for positive reviews. They don’t want to read the post before it’s published. They don’t ask for input or changes afterwards. If it works, I’ll write it. If it doesn’t, I’ll write it. It’s a very fair approach, so I’m already grateful.

In return, they asked for one important thing: to tell you that I got the eSIM from them for free to test.

I did that now. And of course, I’ll do it in the summary.

The whole story went from an email from an unknown address to a joint test across three countries in a few hours.

And I also got a sentence in the process that I’ll carry with me as a writer for a long time.

They wrote: from the fact that I had already written half of the story before I said yes, they learned more about how I work than from any of my answers.

Now I’m even more excited to see how this story continues.

The post 335. | A year in Asia. Have I always had internet? first appeared on Digital Nomad Blog.

What is important in a man’s life?

Countless questions that make the life of a digital nomad more colorful and exciting.

Luck

I wrote “About luck” once. It’s an interesting synchronicity that the day before yesterday I was talking to the friend I quoted in this article nine and a half months ago. And in this conversation the same story happened to come up.

“I think I’m just lucky,” he said.
“Damn it! You had to be lucky too!” they replied.

I said the day before yesterday, and in the article I quoted, that I prefer to use the word blessed instead of lucky.

Whatever you call it, I’m definitely in it. From top to toe.

This is especially true if I add my own responsibility in things.

A story came to mind.

In recent years, I have often said, self-ironically, that I feel like a very lucky person. There are only two things I’m unlucky about. With cars and women.

I stopped this self-mockery when someone asked me back. “You, aren’t those the two most important things in a man’s life?”

Since I’ve become much more aware of my own responsibility for my own life, I’ve stopped telling this story. After all, neither my cars nor my relationships have failed on their own.

Let’s just say I’m lucky. Or blessed. In almost every area.

But yesterday I remembered the opposite of the words.

Luck.

Blessing.

Misfortune.

Curse

Since I’ve been here in Asia, I’ve bought 5 pairs of headphones.

I’ve summarized in a table when, how much, what I bought and what happened to them.

Item 4 is the paradox, because I still have it. But it’s a model that can be twisted around the ear, which doesn’t fit for me during daily use.

So, I left three of the 5 devices, destroyed one, and I don’t like the one that remained.

The curse finally pushed me to the bottom yesterday. The cord of my wired headphones that I use for my laptop – every day – also broke.

So what else could I think of but that the curse had taken hold.

It doesn’t fit in the picture

Of course, you should have seen my face when I was sitting on the terrace of the cafe, struggling with the cord. I laughed at myself and at the whole situation.

Because a few thoughts immediately came to mind.

I have to pay for everything. So I buy cheap headphones. Not because I don’t like music. But because I like life. And sometimes it keeps a pair of headphones for itself.

Or I could even say this: I have a strange hobby. I don’t collect headphones. I prefer to distribute them around Asia.

But I didn’t spare myself with this either: I’m slowly getting to the point where if someone finds a pair of headphones in Laos or Vietnam, there’s a good chance they were mine.

There is no curse

Of course there is no curse.

I just sometimes make mistakes that have a physical trace. I am a digital nomad, most of my mistakes are measured in bits.

Besides, I don’t really own that many things I could lose.

If life only asks me for this 10 USD monthly tax, then I am not unlucky, but lucky. If all life asks of me is 10 USD a month, how could I call it anything but a blessing?

The post 308. | Curse or tax? first appeared on Digital Nomad Blog.

I have some thoughts about injustice.

But I may be wrong when I think I have the right to write about it.

Drive smart!

I have written about Asian traffic in several separate articles, and I have mentioned it in a few stories.

My former self would say that people here use the roads like an uneducated bunch. Today I put it differently. Here in Asia, they use the roads according to habits and practices that are completely different from those I have lived my whole life.

Of the many colorful road experiences, I will let the three that come to mind the most quickly speak.

Indonesia: I was crossing the road at a designated pedestrian crossing. Several drivers turning left from the main road also chose this path. Since no car signaled their intention to let me pass, I bravely stepped onto the road. I had double priority. There was a police officer standing on the other side of the road. Neither my presence nor the double priority deterred the driver from speeding forward. The police officer’s whistle was the only thing that convinced him not to hit me.

Thailand: The situation is the same: I crossed the road at a designated pedestrian crossing. Which was also controlled by a traffic light. I was fully aware of my double protection, because the cars here didn’t care that their light was red, that they were crossing a pedestrian crossing where someone was. One of the drivers was indignant. He signaled this by placing the front of his car in the middle of the zebra crossing, a centimeter away from my feet, and honking his horn for half a minute.

Vietnam: A truck in the oncoming lane, moving a little slowly. Behind it, a bus starts to overtake, turning the corner and crossing the double line on the road. At incredible speed. I am driving in my own lane, innocent as a lamb born today. The triple-illegal driver takes my presence for granted and blows his horn at my hair.

These are everyday experiences here. And I mean this very seriously.

Being invisible in the jungle

I had to figure out that the correct term is that I am invisible in the jungle.

Walking the trail as a pedestrian, most big game ignores me. And take that very seriously! If you cross paths with a vehicle, assume that it will neither swerve nor slow down. Any vehicle larger than you is a potential enemy. They are above you in the food chain. You’ll come off worse.

As a motorcyclist, expect nothing less. When you are on a motorcycle, pedestrians will see you, but for some reason, those larger than you will not. If you see a car swerving into your lane, slow down or change lanes. If they see you, don’t even bother. He is already full and is trudging home with dignity.

I have found that it is easier to exist in the jungle with the awareness of invisibility. If this is my basic assumption, it will only be a pleasant disappointment if someone notices me. And let’s say they don’t want to eat me.

In an interesting way, a realization and an intention met in me regarding this.

In the past few months, when asked who I am a few times, I answered that I am nobody.

And this is a liberating feeling. I experience my clear insignificance to the universe with liberation.

Asian transportation provides good confirmation of this.

I have no rights

My thoughts on invisibility are much earlier than my thoughts on injustice.

I used to be the wild animal that would bite if its rights were violated. I had to prove that I was right!

There was a time when I made a scene over 5 dgk salami. Or I made a few people uncomfortable if someone didn’t say hello back.

Because of this, I was often rude and aggressive. A dick, I would tell myself about my former self. Today, I would rather say that I was not patient with myself or others.

I was also outraged many times when I read, heard, or saw injustice happening to others in a movie. Be it any dark period of human history or a fictional story.

Here in Asia, I understood that in certain situations I don’t have to live up to my expectations related to the law.

Today I no longer expect people to stop at zebra crossings. I prefer to walk away as if they didn’t see me. In a strange way, this makes me feel safer.

When I realized that no one and nothing owes me anything, this expectation became easier. I wrote about this in my post “Forgive yourself, Soma!”

I was a hedgehog for a long time. I was afraid of injustice. Fear drove me.

Today I don’t have to curl up at everything that comes my way.

The post 303. | Injustice first appeared on Digital Nomad Blog.

I decided that I would write honestly about the digital nomad lifestyle.

And the truth also includes things that don’t always shine.

In this post, I write about the difficulties associated with the phone and the internet.

Real SIM card

I brought with me Yettel’s excellent card (formerly Pannon GSM, then Telenor).

And the suffering that this tech company offers in 2026.

First of all, I bought a dual SIM phone from them (more precisely, I accepted it as a gift in exchange for my loyalty). Which, after receiving it, turned out to be able to handle a real SIM card and an eSIM, but not at the same time.

Joint responsibility, but I was cut off with this phone. If I look back more closely, I wouldn’t have chosen this, but now this is what I have, I cook with it.

It is extremely inconvenient that if I very rarely want to receive an SMS, I have to change the device.

In addition, this company is at the forefront of making my digital nomad life difficult. In the system that was forced on me two months ago, I can no longer handle matters on their website, only in the application. Where I couldn’t even log in at first. I wrote a complaint to them (from Asia), asking why they allow the Digital Citizen application to be used in the system if it doesn’t work properly. Because I couldn’t log in to the application with it.

The other two methods would have been a telephone consultation (forget it, I would spend my pants on it), or personal administration. From Asia? Excellent.

So, I asked them why they launched the system without serious testing. I specifically asked them to give a substantive answer in their response and not suggest a telephone or customer service solution. Of course, they didn’t answer my question in their response, but they suggested that I call them or stop by.

For some reason, they’ve only let me log into the app once a month by sending an SMS. There’s no “I prefer to identify myself by email” or other method.

I’d say I don’t understand why this is, but I think I understand it exactly.

On my trip, I met several people who suggested that I buy a local SIM card in each country. I’m slowly leaning towards that.

But because of the lame phone, I think I’d have to activate my spare phone that hasn’t been turned on in a year.

I see a lot of travelers traveling with two phones. The above reason might be behind it for them too.

In summary: in 2026, we’re still at a point where I have to fight physical SIM cards and phone companies.

It’s not a happy feeling. I swear, I get a chill every month when I have to pay my bill, because it’s a 5-minute stunt at the top of technology.

What if I dig myself out?

The following story happened to me in Hanoi.

On a given day, I wanted to pay three Hungarian bills. This used to be a simple task every month. In Hungary.

Here, after 30 minutes of gymnastics, I gave up the fight. The next day, I took some strong Westerns, drank half a liter of vodka with it, and felt ready. I’ll just have to do it the second time. (Of course, I haven’t taken any sedatives or drunk vodka in years, I just wanted to illustrate my determination.)

Several people have asked me what a VPN is. It means many things, but in most cases I use it to make the website I’m visiting feel like I’m visiting it from Hungary. That is, I log into a Hungarian network and use the internet from there.

Why?

Because there are sites that are simply inaccessible from here. I turned on the VPN. This finally makes Yettel think I’m sitting in Hungary. But the gas company thinks I’m a robot.

Then I have to turn off my eSIM because of Yettel, but then I have to turn it back on because of mobile internet.

On the second day, I was able to pay the three bills in 20 minutes. It’s true that I turned everything off and on. But in the end, I managed.

I worked for another hour or two, then I went to eat.

I was listening to a song that wasn’t downloaded to my phone. As I was walking out the door, I even thought that I’d listen to it online now. I do this sometimes, it’s really not a problem. Listening to music doesn’t use much internet via Spotify. My eSIM budget can handle it.

Before lunch, I took a kilometre walk. Those 1,000 metres were enough for my phone to beep. I thought I was going to throw up when I saw that Yettel was texting. I immediately realized that I forgot to switch back to the eSIM and the innocent music listening went through the physical one.

I really enjoyed that morning, especially that walk. I listened to that song about five times. I don’t remember what it was, although it could have been memorable forever with the Yettel.

In retrospect, it turned out that listening to music really doesn’t consume much. I used a total of 8 MB of data for this. Just to be clear, this is the size of 1 or 2 photos, depending on the phone settings.

And what makes the event memorable is that I paid 20,000 HUF (65 USD) for this little touch on my side.

Lesson learned: never, ever use a Hungarian card.

I’m even thinking about canceling this phone number.

And next time I’ll try not to bury myself with my own stupidity.

eSIM card

Since I’ve been living a digital nomad life, I’ve seen a lot of advertisements about eSIMs.

The saying goes that you can have internet everywhere in every country in the world if you choose us.

I have reservations about this based on my experience.

I started using a service called JetPac back in August of last year.

I was actually satisfied with this provider. It’s easy to choose which country I want to use it in. There you can quickly choose from the packages. I usually choose the 3 GB/30 day package. This means that I can use 3 GB of data within 30 days. If the limit runs out during that time, or there is still a limit but the 30 days are up, the package stops working.

I always ran out of my limit before the 30 days, but based on my experience, I can say that 3 GB is more than enough for 3-3.5 weeks. Of course, I use wifi everywhere I can.

Only my own inattention caused surprises. Of course, at the worst moments. If I don’t pay attention to the package and it runs out, I can only buy a new one with working internet. It happened two or three times that the package ran out “on the go”.

Once, for example, in Thailand at the bus station yard, I couldn’t make myself understood by the cashier. Another time in the middle of Bali, when after an hour of random motorbike riding I could barely find my way home without a map. But I was also at the airport without internet, while applying for a visa.

Every problem can be solved. But in today’s world – in certain situations – being without internet for me is like jumping out of a plane without a parachute. In the first moments, it’s shocking, and then I just fall.

So, the eSIM works everywhere. Yes, yes! Except where it doesn’t.

When I arrived in Ninh-Binh, this card simply stopped. The card settings don’t allow for many options. I tried everything I could, and I managed to breathe life into the system for a few hours, but then I lived without my own mobile network for 3 weeks. It wasn’t a problem, because my boyfriend and I went everywhere, and he was able to give me access.

Before I went to China, I changed providers. I chose a company called Saily. And in the last few days, I finally had my own network.

But this card didn’t work in China. As I wrote earlier, I spent half an hour practicing with the AI, and then another half an hour with the help of the company’s customer service. That’s how my own network finally worked in China.

Then came the time for Google not working, VPN not always good, and other horror stories that I wrote about in connection with China.

Summary

Everything always works. Except when it doesn’t.

Every problem can always be solved. The question is with how much effort, patience and suffering.

I think I handle these problems relatively easily. I’m not saying I don’t sweat sometimes.

But even now, the only thing that comes to mind is what I’ve already mentioned several times.

This may not be for everyone.

The post 302. | The Internet and its companions first appeared on Digital Nomad Blog.

I will show you how to walk the physical path differently from a new perspective.

Before that, I will write about the everyday issues that arise during the traveling lifestyle.

This information may come in handy.

Especially if you happen to be a digital nomad.

Decisions, decisions!

When it comes to the digital nomad lifestyle, the word “freedom” is the one that comes up most often in the reflections I receive.

This kind of life has truly brought me freedom.

But freedom – like everything else – is not just black and white.

While writing this sentence, I realized that the expression I often use carries exactly the same meaning. I usually say that everything has a price.

This topic has been discussed several times with fellow travelers – with whom we share our time, energy, and the experience of being on the road for a shorter or longer period of time.

After a while, most people feel tired. I can’t speak for myself (yet) because I don’t feel it (yet).

These conversations are primarily not about physical fatigue, but rather a kind of mental exhaustion. And it appears especially in those who have been on the road for a long time (many months, many years).

On this road, there are a lot of decisions to be made. That in itself is perhaps not more burdensome than usual, since even in so-called “traditional” life situations, we make a lot of daily, medium- and short-term decisions.

What makes the decisions of those on the road have a different weight, in my opinion, is that here essential issues have to be resolved on a daily basis.

Where will I sleep today?

Where will I sleep tomorrow? If I want to go, I have to pack, move, agree on the next place to stay, unpack, and only then can I pack. If I don’t want to go, I have to extend my current accommodation.

So a person has no permanent home. There is no such thing as not having to decide on the question, because the origin is missing. I definitely have to decide where to go next.

If I miss the answer even once, whether I will extend my stay in a given place or move on, the end will be that I will be evicted from that place and have to sleep on the street.

And the question of where I will sleep today is not only about deciding on accommodation. Often, you have to make a decision about where to go next. Then, most of us have to decide which country to go to when we travel, because visas only allow a limited stay everywhere.

Accommodation, city, country.

Either one can be constant during the journey, but then the journey slows down or stops. In this sense, looking at the process of travel, a constant amount of work to be done is the price of the existence of free will and free decision-making.

Where and what do I eat?

In the places I’ve seen so far, the question has never been whether there’s anything to eat or drink. It’s not always guaranteed that the quality of the food is always good, or whether what I want to eat at that moment is available. It’s more of an interesting question of what price they offer it for. In many cases, you can draw a very nice map of which street the tourists go to. Up there, the prices are higher, and from there, the prices are local.

But for example, the quality of the place is not guaranteed either. Here too, there are average quality restaurants, but more often there are below average ones. I don’t write this as a judgment or with bad intentions. But I’ve had an experience where, when I got to the back of a nicely decorated, average-looking restaurant that opened onto the street, the stench greeted me. I decided then and there that if they could serve fried rice, I’d eat there, but I’d feel like I was sitting in a toilet the whole time.

I don’t know how I felt in the end. I was glad there was no fried rice, so I didn’t eat there. Or maybe I was sad that I missed out on that experience.

On this trip, there are rarely any kitchens. Even more rarely, there are refrigerators. So we are quite often left with questions like where is the nearest shop? What is available there? Where is the nearest restaurant with a good price? If I buy something, where do I put it in my room?

The last question might make you smile. But in reality, it’s not always fun, or it takes a lot of imagination to make it fun. For example, if the area is full of insects, it doesn’t matter whether they have access to the food hidden in my bag or not. In Pai, the rat that visited my room gnawed at two of my soaps. In the jungle, everything that was edible had to be put in a big box, even though we slept 32 meters above the ground.

I don’t think I need to write about the lack of a refrigerator as a source of problems.

And when I wrote that it’s also a question of what’s available in the store, I wasn’t talking about being picky. But I was talking about the fact that the offer of the stores is very limited. A 7-11, for example, is considered a good store here too. But there are hardly any fruits and vegetables. What is there is expensive. There are a lot of preserved and fast food, chips and sweets available, but there is not really any fresh food.

Then there are the rows of street shops. Lots of small garages, with the same offer. Sugary drinks, preserved foods, beer, cigarettes. Everything you need for everyday fast life.

For these reasons, research work is usually preceded by finding a place that sells fruit, for example.

So perhaps it’s understandable why I say that the question of where and what to eat also requires continuous decision-making.

What should I do with my time?

The question may sound strange, but in this environment – at least for me – it is a very serious question.

Excellent company of people. Entertainment opportunities. Beautiful nature around the settlements. Dozens of organized activities in the more frequented places. The possibility of finding your own way everywhere. Exciting streets, new shops. Daytime hustle and bustle, or discovering the nightlife.

Constant movement creates constant temptation.

If I am only in each place for 1-2 weeks, then there are so many attractions around me that I have to spent every(!) time f mine to see everything.

Then I can go to the next place for 1-2 weeks, and there is still a lot waiting for me there.

But I work as a digital nomad. So my time is severely limited.

Most people on the road I have met travel on a small or even smaller budget. I include myself. So my financial possibilities must also be taken into account in every decision.

Nevertheless, I also have to decide – almost – on a daily basis what my next program is. It almost doesn’t matter here that instead of working tomorrow I go on a boat trip and instead of tomorrow I work on Saturday.

But I still have to make the decision, and I do it quickly and often. Moreover, the majority of decisions are cancellations, because I have to decide which of the many options I won’t use.

There is no reason to regret!

Before anyone starts regretting! The conclusion of this “many decisions, many energies” cycle of thought is not how difficult my fate is, how much a person on the road suffers.

I just wanted to show that as a person on the road, I have to work for my freedom.

Everything has a price.

What an interesting paradox this has become. I achieve freedom by constantly working for it. LOL.

Random destination selection

There are certainly many ways to determine our own direction.

Several of these seem very exciting to me and I would definitely like to try them in the future.

One is the bottle spinning method. All you need is an intersection, a flat surface and an empty bottle. The bottle that is spun will definitely stop at some point and show you the direction.

As an IT professional, I can also imagine using a random number generator to determine the direction, another shot to determine the distance within, say, 700 km, and then asking the AI ​​to tell me where to go with these two parameters.

I don’t think I was surprised. When I wrote the previous lines, I immediately performed this experiment.

Northwest, 583 km. Within moments, it turned out that using this method, my next destination would be Mosha Town (Moshazhen), China.

I’ve been thinking about this for a while now. It’s really about 583 km as the crow flies. But it’s 1,100 km by road. There are even closer settlements in China, so I probably won’t be playing this game right away.

I have two weeks to decide.

Then there’s another method – one that resonates very strongly with me.

I simply give my phone to a stranger on the street. I ask them to mark a point on the open map. And I go and live where they point. Of course, I adjust the map zoom according to how much money I have in my wallet. LOL.

I love synchronicities like the ones that happen when I’m writing this post.

I was looking through my AI music playlist to see what song I should listen to next. I stumbled upon Madonna’s hit La Isla Bonita. I also know exactly because I heard it when entering and leaving Cat Ba National Park. This beautiful song found me in a special mood at that time.

So I started it.

I have known this song for almost 40 years. It enchanted me even when I didn’t understand a word of what Madonna was singing about. I have understood it for many years now.

Listening to the lyrics, of course these lines started echoing in my head:

Last night I dreamt of San Pedro
Just like I’d never gone, I knew the song
A young girl with eyes like the desert
It all seems like yesterday, not far away

Tropical the island breeze
All of nature wild and free
This is where I long to be
La isla bonita

These lines flooded my soul with waves of pleasure.

These waves had their time now. I am a week away from my beautiful island. And almost 40 years away from that young guy who didn’t understand, just felt this song.

Today – in these moments – I understand and feel it. After 40 years, this song has found its rightful place in me, where its rightful place has always been.

La Isla Bonita.

I have arrived.

This could be one of the ways I choose a direction. A song. An old feeling that is being reshaped by my current life and life experiences.

As I quietly observe myself now, the songs come one after another: Paradise City, Wherever I May Roam, Northwest Passage, Far Beyond The Sun, A Passage to Bangkok…

I love synchronicities like the ones that happen when I write this post. Or have I already mentioned that?

I haven’t even written a word about what I was planning to write this post about.

I wanted to get back to the original topic, but I started listening to Rush’s song: A Passage to Bangkok. And I saw in the description that “”A Passage to Bangkok” is the second song on Rush’s album 2112, released in 1976.”

I had a hunch and asked the AI: On what dates was this album released in different parts of the world?

The answer is: “March 10, 1976 – several fan and archival sources consider this to be the Canadian release date.”

Three days before I was born.

How do I do it?

Returning to the present and leaving the random choice to the mercy of the future for now, I will tell you how I have chosen so far. And what opportunities I am counting on now, in the search for a new destination.

I wrote about choosing Thailand and Koh Samui at the time. Asia called me. Within that, Thailand seemed like an exciting starting point. I wanted to give it time to decide that it should really be Thailand, but I quickly felt that this was an intuitive choice, so it was not worth thinking too much about whether it should be the first or not.

And Koh Samui appeared as a destination by selecting from the names of the better-known settlements those that are on the coast or on an island. In the end, for practical reasons – quickly – I decided where my new journey would begin.

From there, Indonesia, Thailand again, Laos, Vietnam followed based on recommendations and practical choices.

When it was clear after Wat Pa Tam Wua that Laos would be next, I started moving within the country in a way that would get me closer to the border. I had already covered a fairly easy-to-follow route from west to east within Laos.

Here, in Vietnam, I started the kind of journey where I started to put less and less emphasis on where I was going, because any place would be suitable.

But up until now, all my decisions had started with determining the next place. From then on, the only question was how to travel. In most cases, I didn’t have much choice. Train, bus, sometimes plane were the possible options. But typically only one option was always available.

However, this often means time-consuming movement in this part of the world. 20+ hour bus trips are neither comfortable – and I have to admit – nor fun.

On the advice of a friend, I thought about another method for choosing a destination.

It’s clear that I’m currently a slow traveler. My goal is not to list a dozen or two towns on my map. I do not intend to see every available attraction that is available around me.

My focus is more on feeling good where I am. It is not a problem if the list of attractions is exhausted after a visit or two. In fact, it is not a problem if there is nothing to see at all.

I have emphasized several times that the place is unimportant. The journey is endless, time does not burden me.

So I really have the freedom to go where I want, or even to places that I do not even know exist.

This, in turn, creates an opportunity to reverse the order of my search.

From now on, I will use the method of seeing where I can travel cheaply from where I currently live – or from near it. So, first, I will look for the cheapest trip. And that will determine the destination.

It is as simple as that.

This way I can keep track of certain directions, and that’s more than enough.

For example, right now my only direction is to be in Singapore in mid-August.

Until then, I’ll travel freely and easily from city to city, and to at least one other country.

Honestly, I can’t wait to spend the next few days figuring out where I’m going from this wonderful place I’m in.

In the next post, I’ll introduce this place, and maybe I’ll be able to mention where I’m going and how I found this place.

The post 280. | A change in the method of travel first appeared on Digital Nomad Blog.

The adventures, joys and hardships I have lived through come together and continue to exist as experiences.

I believe that these experiences are essential components of the digital nomad lifestyle.

Or are they inherent?

Whatever. I don’t want to get lost in the details.

9 months

266 days. 9 months in 1 week. Three quarters of a year.

That’s how long it’s been since I left for Southeast Asia.

Besides the dirt, something else stuck to me.

This time was enough for me to move from the initial state – resulting from inexperience – to a different way of functioning.

This time was enough for me to no longer be the junior in a company. Nine months also have weight among travelers. Sometimes I don’t just keep quiet about the trip, but I tell others new information based on specific experiences.

As I think back on these few months, I don’t remember feeling lost once. Yet something has changed in me, I just have a hard time finding the right words. What and how.

I don’t know this even as I write these words, but I’m sure I will find it. If this post appears, then I have found it. If I don’t find it, I will be the only one reading this.

I will start taking stock of the individual travel areas, in case the changes in each area finally show the right idea.

The countries

Thailand, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam.

4 countries, 5 border crossings.

When I arrived in Thailand, I only had ideas about Southeast Asia. I read, watched videos, analyzed lists of good advice. And of course, there were the ideas that had reached me in the previous decades.

But all knowledge was just an idea. In reality, I only started to get to know this continent when I stepped out of the Koh Samui airport. I had been to Bangkok before, but there I only saw an international and then a domestic airport. Asia, but still not. A neutral area, the same everywhere.

I remember the first days. When I stated – both silently and aloud – that if I looked out the window of my accommodation, I really wouldn’t be able to tell whether I was in a Hungarian room or a Thai one.

Walking the streets (yes, in most cases there are no streets) it was nice to discover how much everything is similar and what the differences are.

The grass is the same (or very similar) as in Europe. The bitumen and concrete are no different. There are palm trees and exotic plants, but the similarity is not always and not everywhere very sharp.

The discarded garbage is like anywhere. The dust on the roadside is no different. There are also electricity poles next to the road. The traffic signs are 95% the same. The layout of the shops is no different than anywhere else.

I am not looking for more similarities, I am rather saying that in many aspects there is no difference between Asia and Europe.

Parenthetical note: I have just reached this point in the writing when something happened to me that has never happened before. While I was doing something that I have never done before. I happened to be sitting on a sun lounger on the beach. Sea, waves, sand. The only thing missing was the sunlight, because it was already evening.

I had never written while sitting on the beach before. I had been spending my days sitting in cafes for days, and I felt like it would be nice to relax on the beach. Then I felt so relaxed that I took out my laptop and started writing.

After 15 minutes, a guy stopped by me and said – at 7:40 PM – that it would cost me 50,000 to sit here. I didn’t ask him if this was a serious thing or just a joke. I told him that in that case I would leave.

This is how it happened that during an activity I had never tried, an experience I had never ordered came to me.

Returning to my original thought process: There are the differences.

There are different goods in the stores, and what is the same, is sold under different brands. There are different kinds of vegetables and fruits on the shelves. The beer is different. The bread is different.

There are more dogs on the streets. The traffic is different. The houses are sometimes very different in shape. They are arranged differently

Parenthetic note: This is one of those evenings. I don’t feel like I’ve gotten very far from the previous part in parentheses. Not in writing either. Not far either, because the beach is about 800 meters from here. But in the meantime I came home to the hostel. I bought myself two cans of beer so that I could continue writing while sitting peacefully in the garden.

At 20:05 the karaoke night started. Actually, now I only mention one name frequently while writing. Jesus Christ!

The girl who opened the night sings so fucking badly that all I can think – without judgment – is that if the others become like this, and the volume doesn’t decrease either, then a) my brain will burn out, b) I’ll go up to my room and sit in my bed and write.

I’m drinking a little beer now to find out how much danger my brain is in. I’ll continue from there. Sometime and somewhere. (The second song has started. Two young girls are trying. Jesus Christ is still my most used phrase tonight. But I definitely feel like my brain is going to explode. This will be another departure. I don’t think I would stay even if they paid me 50,000. LOL.)

Well, okay! I’m not going anywhere. I’m turning off my hearing among my senses. If I hear something good, at most… Fuck, the third girl is good. She can sing! And she sings well. Very well!

I hope I don’t have to go back to writing again. I mean, it would be nice if nothing happened today.

Well, jumping in again, pretending like nothing happened.

There are also differences between Thailand and – let’s say – Hungary. But it’s not even close to saying that they are the same because of the similarities, just as differences don’t mean that everything is incomprehensibly different.

This was Thailand. There were new things in Bali too, but compared to Thailand it was a much smoother transition.

Naturally – I wrote this at the time – I returned to Thailand as a familiar person.

Then came Laos. Here I recognized the differences more clearly and with much more character, faster. The similarities in this case meant that very, very many things were exactly the same as in Thailand.

And although I have only been here in Vietnam for two weeks, the familiarity of familiar things already surrounds me very naturally, and it almost immediately dawned on me how different this country is.

To sum up this part, I think that I was over the cardinal differences at the beginning, and the smaller – although not insignificant – differences are much more noticeable to me.

Maybe there was no change in me, but I simply had a reference point. In the first country, everything was one big first impression. Now I automatically compare new experiences with previous ones. My curiosity is no less, but my impressions come to me in a more orderly way.

Other aspects

I wanted to continue with the locals.

I think it’s unnecessary.

I wanted to write more about the trip. The accommodations. The food. My workplaces. The tables and chairs. My encounters with other travelers.

But by the end of the previous paragraph, I realized that I had found the explanation for why I am more experienced. I think it is likely that this would be the explanation I could be satisfied with, even if I delved deeper into other areas.

It was as if gaining points of reference and interpreting impressions differently created my own internal “Asia operating system.”

I had trouble at the beginning of this article because there were certain terms that would have been easier to use.

“Culture shock.” “It takes less energy.” “Relearning and its difficulties.” “Without a handhold.” “The dynamics of arrival.” “Fine-tuning.” “I have to put myself together.”

These thoughts came to me, but I had to immediately dismiss them because I couldn’t identify with them.

At the beginning of this post I wrote: As I look back on these past few months, I don’t think I’ve ever felt lost. Yet something has changed inside me, but I’m having a hard time finding the right words. What and how.

I enjoyed figuring myself out tonight. Despite the terrible karaoke!

The post 271. | I have become more experienced first appeared on Digital Nomad Blog.

Summary

This is my story and my interpretation.

I felt a bit like I did when I wrote the post “Hello, my old friend, conflict!”

A few days ago, I was talking to someone about insurance. He pointed out to me that the insurance I took out in Hungary last August was probably not good.

I looked at the fine print.

Atlas Privileg annual pass, World 2 package

In the post “Missing post: The final practical steps”, I wrote about why and how I bought this package.

This is a one-year world travel, atlas-crossing insurance package that expires after 31 days of staying abroad. In other words, I should have come home every 31 days for my insurance to remain valid. In other words, I have been breathing the air of Asia without insurance since last September.

If I choose this intentionally, then I would also call myself stupid. So, the fact that this turned out to be an unplanned disaster, I think I can discover another lesson in the story.

This story is about taking responsibility and not taking responsibility.

The first letter

So I wrote a letter to the lady with whom I took out this insurance.

This letter was honest, so I didn’t send it. I’ll just show it for the sake of the story’s clarity:

Hi Appolónia!

I’m looking for you because of the insurance I took out with you last August.
I’m disappointed!

Someone just brought it to my attention to look into something because I’m going to have problems and unfortunately they were right.
When I presented my plans to you, I told you that I would be living abroad continuously for at least a year.
Now I’m reading the Atlas Travel Insurance Regulations 250625.pdf in section 2.4.2. Risk Coverage Period:

In the case of an Annual Rental, the Insurer’s risk coverage does not cover:a. any Trip lasting longer than 31 days;

That is, I have not had insurance coverage since the end of last September, and I can only thank blind luck that I did not suffer any damage because I have not needed to use it so far.
In summary, this story looks like I paid 104,900 HUF for insurance valid for 31 days.
It is my responsibility that I did not read the 47-page policy before signing the contract. The fact that I trusted you did not exempt me from this. I believe that your responsibility is that you sold me an unsuitable product.

I await your response regarding the above!
Regards:
István

The second letter

I sent the more polite version, of course:

Hi Appolónia!

I am contacting you regarding the Atlasz Privileg Annual Rental insurance that you brokered last August.

When we concluded the contract, I explained my plans in detail to you and said that I would be staying abroad continuously for at least one year.

Now, after reading through Section 2.4.2 of the Insurance Regulations, I was confronted with the following:

“In the case of an Annual Rental, the Insurer’s risk coverage does not extend to any Trip lasting longer than 31 days.”

Based on this, the insurance did not provide any substantial coverage despite my continuous stay abroad exceeding 31 days.

I would like to understand why this product was recommended to me, given my circumstances, and what solution you see for resolving the situation.

This is particularly unpleasant for me because I took out the insurance in good faith, based on my previously agreed life situation.

I look forward to your response.

Regards,
István

To be honest, I did not expect the following response:

Imagined answer

Hi István!

I’m sorry you’re in this situation!

I think it’s too late for you to read the information afterwards, I see, 47 pages is quite a lot. Unfortunately, I offered you a product that was not suitable for your stated goals.

I suggest that we see how much a 30-day insurance costs. We will deduct this amount from the amount you paid and, based on the shared responsibility, I will refund 80% of this to you.

…

The reality

I immediately saw from the greeting Dear István appearing instead of the greeting Hi István! that the answer I expected had arrived:

Dear István,

When I requested a personal quote, I offered 2 options, one was daily pricing (the fee for this is higher than the rental fee), the other was an annual rental fee, at which time I handed over the product information booklet, you took it and you took out the insurance knowing this. A longer time, several days, passed between the handing over of the product information booklet and the taking out of the insurance, you did not immediately decide which insurance you would like to apply for.
At the same time as taking out the insurance, you accepted that you had read the insurance conditions.

Gratitude

I try to see the good in everything. It’s always been easy. Well, I had some really tough years.

The glasses of gratitude help me a lot. When I’m in a situation like this, my first thought these days is automatically what the lesson is.

I’m grateful for this answer, because it confirmed again how quickly the idea of ​​shared responsibility can disappear in some people, if it ever existed at all. It’s good to see the you-are-the-fault mentality in everything again.

And I’m grateful that I’ve decided one thing for sure.

If possible – based on my own experience – I’ll never buy anything from a Hungarian insurance office again.

And I won’t waste any more of my time visiting TRAVEL-KOM Trading and Service Ltd. in Komárom.

Oh, and I definitely don’t want to blame Hungary for this story. I’ll definitely have to deal with similar excellent businessmen in my life.

I’m looking forward to seeing what they will teach me.

The post 233. | Trapped by insurance first appeared on Digital Nomad Blog.

Summary

Sometimes I have to take paths that ultimately seem fruitless, just to get somewhere. I could apply this idea to any area of my life. Now it's my turn to look for a job.

This is my 200th post. Actually, it’s my 201st post, but I don’t want to get lost in the world of numbers. Let’s go to another world!

This number wants me to write something serious.

I could defend myself by saying that I only write about serious things, but I think even I would laugh at myself.

This post is very close to what this blog was originally intended to do. Maybe it can help someone else who wants to become a digital nomad.

Job search in the online world

I decided to share my experience with location-independent job search mainly because this area is full of avoidable traps. These traps are mainly embodied in the promises offered by prepaid systems.

Because promises and good-sounding advertising are behind almost every system.

I had to chew my way through a few systems to finally arrive somewhere. I didn’t know it at first, but these systems not only didn’t give me work, but also forced me to finally articulate who I am professionally.

But I’m not starting here.

LinkedIn

The professional Facebook.

If you are not present, you do not exist.

I used these and similar phrases to position the characters on this page. I made a cover photo that looked (as professional as I could) professional, I found the most professional profile picture.

I uploaded my completely up-to-date CV (see, “About my CV and its uselessness”), turned all my experience into gold, and waited for employers to come knocking. Obviously, everyone would want to work with me.

I had a few inquiries. The first one came straight from LinkedIn. I mean, if I subscribe to the professional Premium system (about 200,000 HUF, 600 USD) per year, my chances would be much better. This offer comes up weekly.

Then a few people contacted me because they saw my CV and everything in it was so professional, but they would help me make it even more professional. I had already rejected this opportunity, and it wasn’t hard to say no this time either.

Then network builders started looking for me, and they imagined me joining all kinds of sales networks that offered serious success.

So, I had to realize that despite all my efforts and experience, the dog wasn’t even interested in me.

Of course, I set up job monitoring emails, so every day I see dozens of opportunities in my inbox that I can’t do anything about. But I’ll write about that a little later.

Job offering systems in general

Every system is free. I mean, it promises to be free.

Yeah! Sorry! Usually it’s not.

But who expects anyone to operate such a serious system for free? Someone has to pay for it, and it’s obvious that the unfortunate job seeker has to take a share of this payment.

These kinds of systems pose a serious risk for every future digital nomad!

To feel like you’re doing everything you can to get a job, you have to take these systems seriously. Filling out your professional profile is already a time investment in a system like this.

Obviously, I have to show myself, and seriously. Profile picture. Uploading your CV is often tricky because you have to fill in all the data almost line by line. Schools, workplaces, dates from to, the stupid date selectors, mandatory selection fields that don’t recognize Hungarian universities.

Then comes the name of the job you want to fill, which is an entrance to a fantasy world even in Hungarian, let alone in the terms dreamed up by the inventors of all kinds of systems.

The icing on the cake is that in many systems the number of jobs is limited. Let’s say 5. In other words, choose carefully, because that’s what your results will depend on. If you’ve been working as a facility manager for 30 years, then there’s no problem, because you only have to enter this one. But if you happen to have worked in 20 different jobs in 30 years, then pull yourself together and make a responsible decision.

So, let’s say you can spend hours registering on an average job search system. Then comes the search. Because this search is also a trap.

You can search for free and happily in several systems. Then when you have found the job of your dreams and would like to apply, it turns out that you already have to register to apply.

Jump back to the start field and don’t want to miss this job!

UpWork

This is a site offering project jobs.

Sites like this have been in my sights for about 10 months, but I haven’t put in the serious work to look for them here. So I tried this system.

It offers a lot of small jobs that I can do single-handedly. It shows job fees transparently, with descriptions that meet expectations.

Well. Last year’s registration just needs to be oiled up a little and I’ll be a millionaire.

When applying for the first job, it turns out that you don’t have to pay for it. The system only deducts from the available so-called connections for each offer I submit. I get 100 of the connections when registering, and applying for a job costs 10-20 connections. After 5 applications, the connections run out, but don’t worry, I can buy more for myself for a few USD.

But the system is free, because I don’t pay with money, but with connections. If we replace the word “konnekt” with “krumpli”, it will still only mean that we have to buy the potato.

Let’s get over this pitiful job and buy a few “konnekts” and become a subscriber in the system, because then we will only have more opportunities. By the time I blinked twice, I had already spent 20,000 HUF (60 USD) in this system. It’s okay, a good investment, because soon the job that lays the golden egg will be there.

I quickly applied for about 20 jobs and waited for the next email to arrive with the sound of the cash register jingling instead of the usual email beep.

After two days, I was still looking at the fact that the person I sent my job applications to hadn’t even opened them.

That’s when you have to look deeper into the system.

This is an evaluation system. The employer evaluates the employee, and vice versa. There are dozens of applicants for every job.

The system puts applicants without a rating – like me – at the bottom of the applicant list. The job offerer looks at the ones at the top of the list, chooses from the top 3, and we’re done. Of course, no one expects a person offering a job for 100 USD to look at the data and offers of 70 applicants.

Because when you apply for a job, you are actually making an offer. (And you are using up your connections.) So, if your offer is even professionally suitable, but someone – say, from a poorer region – would do the job for half the price, then you don’t have much chance of being selected.

Overall, you have to compete not only with applicants with more ratings, but also with those who work significantly cheaper.

The system came up with this idea that you can boost your application by offering extra connections to get to the top of the list. Of course, it is impossible to know the extent of this, so if you find a good job, then BID 100 more in addition to the 17 connections, so that you might be the first.

In the meantime, hope that your colleague didn’t go to the top of the list with 200.

I’m not kidding, when I activated this system, I had a few connections in front of me, and then the next day I woke up to 200 emails waiting in my inbox. All with excellent offers.

I had fun with this system for a few more days.

In the meantime, I redirected the emails from the inbox to a special folder. In this folder now, two weeks after registration, there are 1,673 unread job offers waiting for me
to never read them.

This system simply doesn’t work. Despite having 30+ years of professional experience, I am a snotty, bottom-of-the-list beginner to the system. I can spend any amount of money to apply, I don’t think I’ll make a dent in this or similar systems.

One of my favorites – AI Apply

Things got a little funny after that. Just as I was starting to realize that I wasn’t going to get anywhere with this system, an ad popped up in my news feed.

It was nice to get confirmation from an advertisement that my intuition was right and UpWork was useless, as you can see in the picture, the fake job offers generated by AI make it impossible to function normally.

Fortunately, the advertisement provided the solution. I should try their old system and I won’t be disappointed. Maybe the symmetry of the advertisement (only the even sentences have a period at the end) strengthened my trust, but I gave this system a chance too.

They promised that after registration, the system would be so AI-driven that I would only have to prepare for the interviews that were organized, I wouldn’t have anything else to do.

This sounded so good that I didn’t wait long to register.

Start for free! – we start from here. The first question was about the stress factor during the login, the essence of it was about how urgent it was to find a job, the scale ranged from I’m really relaxed to I’ll get the job right away.

On the next screen, a motivational piece of advice reassured me that I wasn’t one of the scum of the world just because I didn’t have a job.

Then I could enter the job titles I wanted to apply for. You can enter a maximum of five, and the AI ​​helps in the selection by correcting the entered title to industry standard.

Now comes the selection of experience level.

These few pieces of data were enough to immediately give me the encouragement: “Thanks to your rich professional background, you have a good chance of reaching the highest level of opportunities.”

This AI knows something to draw this conclusion from all this. And if this isn’t a conclusion, then I’m already in trouble with this system.

Now comes the expected annual salary level. For me, the fact that the salary selection slider is politely set to 40 million HUF (120,000 USD) per year is already a warning sign.

I reduced the number to be on the safe side, so that I could fall on my face in the face of reality.

You still have to provide the industry, the type of employment and when I am able to work, plus whether I am willing to move for work.

And it already analyzes the vast amount of data I provided. After the analysis, there are also demographic questions, it is certainly important for employment that I do not define myself in a binary or heterosexual way.

Then we’re there to give you my card details. With all the usual trappings of such offers: This is a reduced offer, but it’s only available for 10 minutes and the clock is ticking. The basic package is chosen only by the losers, the middle one is what everyone spins.

It doesn’t matter, it’s all just a big blah-blah-blah.

Most of these systems want to ask for money without me even knowing exactly why I’m paying.

Good luck to everyone with these systems, but be careful!

Professional identity

If nothing else, these systems helped me by highlighting that my search method was not appropriate.

The question of what to call my future job title presented me with a difficult task, because I realized that I couldn’t clearly articulate it, or even define it with a single good title.

So I slowly had to realize that my personal, spiritual self-definition journey was complemented by the desire to formulate my professional identity.

This task did not scare me, and I only thought a little about whether it was safe to shine the flashlight of a midlife crisis on it from the outside. Personally, I do not feel myself to be either midlife or in crisis, so I will not identify with this well-known terminology now.

I would like to point out once again that this is a task. And it has never scared me. So I got over it in the past week.

So now I am much more specific in targeting job advertisements, and even positions that I had not even considered before have come into my sights.

Overall, I do not regret spending some time and energy with job search systems, that through my own unpleasant experiences I have come to a new realization and task. The point is that by the end of the process, I have a clearer view of who I am in the world of remote work.

The post 200. | What’s new in the world of remote work II. first appeared on Digital Nomad Blog.

I love it so much that I almost always take it out when I feel like someone would gently hold my hand during the meditation.

This meditation was made by Eszter Mulholland.

The morning meditation can be found on her YouTube channel. Or, you can visit her website if you need her professional help.

I was with her, I wrote about it eight months ago in the post “On the way to my subconscious”.

I think of Eszter with gratitude and I think of the Rapid Transformational Therapy we did together every day, because I hear her voice in this meditation almost every day.

I love this material so much that I decided to make an English version of it too.

To do this, I first had to write down the text.

I didn’t leave this to AI – I typed it out word for word, because it was important to deepen the significance of the work in myself.

Since I think it’s great material, I’m sharing the text here. It’s also very strong in writing.

Regardless, I encourage you to use the audio version.

Every day.
Every morning.

I’ve already experienced that it works and I’m ready to start the day with joy.

A few tips before you listen and read

• This meditation will be easy if you just do it. You don’t need anything! Enjoy it with ease – the sound will guide you.
• You don’t have to pay attention to your breathing, just be natural.
• When you hear about deep breathing, try belly breathing, but it’s okay if you don’t know exactly what it is.
• When you exhale, just let the air come out. You don’t have to blow it out – do it however you feel like.
• At the end, I put my palms on my face and open my eyes behind my closed fingers. It feels friendly to touch myself, and the light is gentler.
• Do a big stretch at the end.
• And be very proud of yourself. You gave yourself 10 important minutes.

Good morning!

I am glad that you are taking the next 10 minutes for yourself and starting your day with inner peace and ease.

Sit comfortably, close your eyes and let your body relax and rest.
Your inner focus gives you peace.
And therefore, it is possible that you will wander and thoughts will start flowing through you.
You accept them with understanding and see them as clouds floating in the sky that appear and then move on.
You do not have to do anything, just let everything happen by itself.
You are open to having your day start in the most wonderful way possible.
And by letting your thoughts in, you give them space to support and help you throughout the rest of the day.

Take a deep breath through your nose and then slowly exhale through your mouth.
Focus on your body and your sensations.
Notice that as you exhale, a sense of relaxation permeates you.
As you breathe deeply, your body becomes heavier with each exhalation.
Your jaw drops, your shoulders drop, your facial muscles smooth out, and your limbs relax.
Breathe evenly and surrender to the feeling of calm.

Feel the peace within you, where your true self is.
You are here now!
You are safe!
And it feels wonderful to be at peace, to be connected to your inner self.

And now, as you inhale, see positive light energy entering your body through the top of your head with the fresh air.
As you exhale, the light energy creeps down your spine, filling and filling your body as it goes.
You inhale the positive energy, which as you exhale moves lower and lower in your body.
You can imagine that light energy is flowing down on you from a showerhead, washing away all the stagnant or negative energy from the previous day or night.
You inhale calmness, ease, and exhale stress and difficulties.
With each inhalation, positive energy fills your body with peace and tranquility.

I ask you to hear the following thoughts and feel and experience their message.
You accept them because you feel how wonderful they affect you.

I am grateful for this new day.
I am balanced and calm.
Today gives me the opportunity to do new things.
I am grateful for my life.
I know that everything happens to me for a reason.
I am exactly where I need to be in my life.
I am valuable.
I am good just the way I am.
I love and trust myself.
I believe in myself and my abilities.
I believe and know that everything that happens to me is a learning process.
I deserve success and love.
My life is full of joy.
I shape my life.
I have the ability to create the most wonderful life for myself.
I am calm and safe.
I believe in myself and love who I am.
I have everything within me to be successful and happy.
My life is wonderful and valuable.
I am ready to have an exceptional day.
I am ready to live my greatness.

And you feel the strength, the positive energy, to start your wonderful day.
And you know that everything you experience, that may challenge you, shows how great you are.
You are grateful for everything that surrounds you, because through it you get to know yourself.
You become more and more in tune with this energy.
And you radiate strength, positivity, love and gratitude.
This energy is always with you, and regardless of the outside world, you can activate the peace within you at any time.
You shape your life.
You have the ability to create the most wonderful life for yourself.

Now take a deep breath, then slowly let it out.
And you are ready to start the day with joy.
Open your eyes and have a beautiful day!

Technical information:

• I created the English text of the meditation using web.descript.com.
• The original text is read more slowly by Eszter, but the sentences are formed a little faster in the English version.
• This makes the English version more airy.
• At first, this was strange to me, but I left it as it is: I think this makes the concentration requirement of the meditation a little higher.

The post 185. | Morning meditation first appeared on Digital Nomad Blog.