How I Built IT

In this menu item, you will find my posts in English, in which I present solutions to real IT problems. As I work, experiment and learn in the process.

Among the topics, you will find everything that I have implemented in my own projects, from WordPress optimization to form building and automation to Excel-based systems.

The posts are only in English, because I want the technical solutions to be useful not only to the Hungarian, but also to the international community.

You can access the posts in English here: [How I Built It]

These posts do not belong to the current direction of my blog. Online-dentist.hu is about creating and living a digital nomad lifestyle, and I have set the goal of presenting my spiritual journey along with this physical journey.

I will soon be launching the blog into the world, and with this intention, I have already started preparing to show another important side of me to those with whom we can work together.

Therefore, I will mention this new direction only once in the course so far. At the same time, I have also redesigned the main page of the blog.

The post 155. | The “How I Built IT” posts first appeared on Digital Nomad Blog.

On September 15th, exactly a week ago, I received an email:

Subject: TOYOTA COROLLA Sedan 1.6 , 4,200,000 HUF
Message: Hello friend, is this still available for purchase?

I won’t say that I started to worry at this point, but it’s still strange that someone would contact me with such a short message, and bypassing the official platforms. In any case, I replied immediately, not wanting to take the deal on my own:

Hi! Yes, it’s available for purchase. Regards István

Okay, will I need to change or fix anything when it arrives? Please be honest in your answer! Thank you

The car is in perfect condition, with a few months of maintenance. It was due for inspection in April. I had to replace the brake pads myself.

I am only selling the car because I live abroad and don’t need it. I would have used it for many years anyway.

So I sincerely recommend it.

Well, I am happy with the price and the terms, but I would like you to know that I cannot come to pick it up in person. I have a private transport company that will come to pick it up after the payment has been made.

Please provide your details so I can proceed with the payment to your account.

Full name
IBAN
Home address for shipping

Thank you

• The name on the ID is Täubert Kay, but the email address in the letter contains one more dotted letter: Täubert Käy <taubertkay7@gmail.com>
• I wasn’t lazy, I looked up the gentleman in the picture on Facebook. There is an existing profile, based on the details, we are indeed talking about a person from Germany, it is only a little worrying that his last post is from 2019. (Here I put an asterisk in the writing: *.)
• What conditions is the writer satisfied with besides the price?
• He buys a car worth several million forints without even looking at it, just sending someone to pick it up?
• Who is the buyer? Him? Then, who will sign the sales contract? Let’s say, if the purchase price had been credited to my account, a driver could also sign the sales contract because of me, I wouldn’t have been interested.
• He pays because he trusts me so much, then sends someone to pick it up?

Great, thank you!
Full name: István Schulmann
IBAN: I provided
Home address for delivery: 2943 Bábolna, Ácsi út 2, Hungary – I gave the address of the gas station so that the delivery service wouldn’t come to pick up the car at night.

Best Regards,
István

Thank you for the details, the first thing I will do on Monday morning is to make the payment and let you know. Thank you

Your appointment has been accepted.

 

Hello Schulmann István,

 

You’ve acknowledged an instant international payment from Mr Taubert Kay.
This email confirms that you have received an instant payment of Ft4,462,980.00 HUF from
Mr Taubert Kay through First Direct Bank AUCTION payment service.
( TOYOTA COROLLA Sedan 1.6 )

 

Status: Pending

 

Important Notice: For seller protection this payment method is governed to provide seller protection, ensuring that the payment is final and cannot be disputed or reversed.

 

Transaction status: Initiated 99% completed.

 

Action Required: To complete the transaction please follow the instructions below:

 

Summary of this invoice
Sender information:
Mr Taubert Kay
XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-8957

 

Receive information:
Schulmann István
HU55
OKHBHUHB
K&H Bank Zrt. 271 Ács

 

Transaction ID
U-04J03293E5202820W

 

Merchandise Amount: Ft4,200,000.00 HUF
Freight charges: Ft262,980.00 HUF
Total Amount: Ft4,462,980.00 HUF

 

The above amount includes Pickup fees for the Goods, which means they must be manually approved by us. Given the amount of money involved, we need to take additional steps to protect account holders.

 

To release the payment, please ensure the following steps by sending the shipping charges to the shipping company via Western Union and send us a scanned photo/receipt of the Western Union deposit receipt for us to confirm its VALIDITY and release the full amount in pending to your bank account.

 

To complete the Western Union deposit, please follow these steps:
1; Visit the nearest Western Union nearby you
2; Request for a sending form and fill it with the Western Union address given to you below
3; Deposit the required amount of Ft262,980.00 HUF
4; Transfer REASON must be as Family and Friends
5; Get back to us with the Western Union transfer receipt after you successfully completed the transfer for proper verification.

 

Confirmed Wester Union Address Below:
FULL NAME: BRAHIM ABISMAIL
CITY: ISTANBUL
ZIP CODE: 34000
COUNTRY: TURKEY

 

For security reasons, we have made sure that this payment method cannot be ” DIVIDED, REVERSED or TERMINATED ” by the payee to ensure that you receive your money once you complete the Western Union deposit and return to us with the Western Union deposit photo/receipt of deposit you make for verification and immediate release your amount of Ft4,462,980.00 HUF
to your bank account upon Western Union deposit photo/receipt of Ft262,980.00 HUF for the pickup fee that includes the amount in pending to your bank account.

 

Note: The Western Union DEPOSIT photo/receipt must be sent directly to us for verification, you should only send the Western Union DEPOSIT information to the buyer after your money is finally released into your bank account.

 

Team First Direct Bank.
Thank You For Choosing Our Service We’re Here To Serve You Well.

The interesting part of the message starts with “To complete the Western Union payment, please follow the steps below:”

I was a bit under-estimated when I expected a scam of around 30,000 HUF. So, let me transfer 262,980 HUF and I will get that back, as well as the purchase price of the car.

If I wanted to be really stupid, I could even do the above steps, because there are two Western Union banks on Koh Samui. One is in Lamai, where I did the hike described in my article “My first long walk in the tropics”. In Hungarian, if I didn’t want to spend more than a quarter of a million HUF on this scam, then I will walk back to the part of the island 16-17 km away and free myself from the burden of so much money.

On Thursday, I was already sure that I would write about this purchase scam. I was at the point marked with an asterisk when I received Mr. Taubert’s letter:

Hello my friend, I have made the payment, did you receive the payment confirmation email from my bank, First Direct Bank? Please let me know, the payment confirmation is attached to this email. It is a pleasure to do business with you, I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you

I even received a picture, which – to be precise, as the star moves in the sky – was also named precisely: Ft4,462,980.jpg

Who could this man be, whom I no longer call Mr. Taubert in my mind, because I have no idea what his name is. Maybe Brahim Abismai?

At this point, I asked ChatGPT about the name. Based on my experience with the answer, I recommend that you also look up the name in case of similar dubious attempts. Two simple questions can help a lot.

Could Brahim Abismai be a real Turkish name?

The name “Brahim Abismail” does not seem like a typically Turkish name at first glance.

• Brahim is more of an Arabic name (short for Ibrahim, which is the Arabic version of Abraham). It also occurs in Turkey, but it is almost always used as Ibrahim, not as “Brahim”.
• On the other hand, Abismail does not fit into the usual forms of Turkish family names. Turkish family names are usually simpler, ending in -oğlu, -soy, -li, -ci, -kaya, -demir, -çelik, etc., or consist of some noun/formed word. “Abismail” has a much more Arabic sound, but it is not typical there either.

In summary: It is possible that it comes from an Arabic (and not Turkish) name, but it is very unusual for a Turkish person, so it is unlikely to be a typical Turkish name.

Is it acceptable as an Arabic name?

Yes, it is much more conceivable as an Arabic name than as a Turkish one – but it is still not entirely typical.

• Brahim: this is the short form of Ibrahim. It is a very common first name in North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia).
• Abismail: at first glance it resembles the structure “Abi Ismail” (‘Father of Ismail’), which makes sense in Arabic. However, it is rare as a family name, but it can occur, especially in the Maghreb countries, where there are many surnames of Arabic origin.

So: acceptable in an Arab environment, it may exist, but it is not one of the most common or well-known Arabic names.

I will not write an answer. I am not angry at the anonymous person, and I do not judge. I know that he was just doing his job, even if it is not nice or fair. His chosen role was now to cheat on the stage of life. I accept it peacefully, and I do not want to hurt him with either word or thought.

Only for the sake of the other, I trust that he will not succeed with anyone else until he finds a more fair role for himself…

The post 132. | They almost(!) bought my car first appeared on Digital Nomad Blog.

You can’t speed up time, nor can you bring success forward.
The only thing you can control is your next step.

James Clear

I read this quote somewhere and added it to the notes for this post. Actually, this post was in my head as one of the “Missing posts”. The reason it didn’t get this tag is that the question is just as valid now as it was during the pre-departure preparation period. I’ve already addressed this question in posts like “How much does it cost to switch to nomadic life?”, or “Finding a job”, or “My first job application”, or “I quit”.

This article summarizes previous thoughts and facts learned in the meantime, and I would like it to be a kind of guide to questions that might be worth considering in connection with the question “What will I live on?”

Freedom is nice, but not free

“Okay, but what will you live on?” might have been the question asked by those people whom I slowly and carefully introduced to my plans. Interestingly, I don’t remember anyone (which doesn’t mean there wasn’t anyone!) who asked this question at all, let alone at first. I answered the question “what will you work on” to several people, so several people must have felt that I wasn’t going on a lifelong vacation, but rather that I would continue my life with hard work. But – as I recall – there wasn’t much emphasis on the question “what”.

I worked a lot on this question. I’ve been managing my family and my own life for a long time, so there was no question that it was important not only to dream about it, but to also come up with concrete plans! Somewhere in my head, there was also the idea that although I would like to find a job, I would not build my new life on a fixed salary, but on awareness. One element of awareness is planning. I have made quite a few tables, with parameters and numbers everywhere.

Don’t skimp on this work if you want to do yourself a favor!

What is my financial situation?

The first step is to assess your current situation. In my experience, many people are unaware of their own financial situation. I worked for years as a personal banker at Fundamenta, not to mention anything else. So I met a lot of people talking about financial situations. The picture I got to know at that time is more tragic than uplifting.

Most people only know about the financial world how much they earn. When we talk about disposable income or about summarizing debts, the picture is not always so clear. “Oh, yes, I also have a monthly phone payment of 30 thousand HUF.” How many times have I heard this. “Oh, there is already a mortgage on this house, I didn’t know that was a problem.” “I don’t have any debt. But I do, because there is child support deducted based on a court decision!” Hundreds of such sentences and similar ones came up during the conversations.

So let’s start at the beginning of planning by saying what we have. For example, I assessed what I keep in Hungary to support my children and how much it costs me. In an example image, I show how many cost items I currently calculate for Hungarian expenses: internet; iTunes; Xiaomi Home; 3 Google storage; YouTube Premium; Netflix; Spotify; 3 Yettel phone subscriptions; apartment: insurance, electricity, gas, common costs, garbage fee, water, university tuition, rent; accountant; entrepreneur contributions, monthly bank costs. In addition, there are periodic items.

What is something I no longer need and can sell? My musical instrument and its accessories, and my car were like that. I didn’t stop myself from frantically selling the movables from my apartment, because I couldn’t do that.

There may still be savings, but unfortunately not everyone has them.

When planning expenses, I recommend a monthly breakdown. I also realized after thinking about it several times that monthly averaging takes the plan in an irrational direction. I recommend creating a table broken down by item and month, at least for one year from the start. If you can, make it for two years: the first year will go by quickly…

Income sources – existing and planned

If you quit your job – like I did – your main source of income will probably disappear. I’m not saying that the first month when the phone doesn’t ring on the tenth will be shocking, but hang up your pants if that happens!

The question is whether you have another source of income and/or savings. If you do, you can at least finance the first period even if nothing else happens.

You probably want to create a fresh source of income. You will find countless materials and companies that help you for good money. Just register on one or two sites, and every week you will receive dozens of offers where they can show you how to be a prepared freelancer, how to write a proper CV, how to behave at a job interview, etc. Remember! These preparations only sell you the promise that everything will be fine! The promise will not make money, you will not be able to pay any expenses with it.

Finding a source of income is hard work. You can ask for help, but at the end of the day you have to find the job, your new business, the income opportunity that will allow you to continue financing your life. Use the free systems and put a lot of work into the search.

Passive/semi-passive income is a pretty big buzzword in today’s world. I’m still on the fence about this issue, I have no experience with it. My personal opinion is that it’s hard to get a decent income without a job. If you already have a background, it might be worth trying passive income sources, but based on my feelings, I’d say that I’m not basing my future on this, at least not when I start.

I watched a lot of videos during my preparation. There are buzzwords and dreams flying everywhere. Getting up late, having coffee, walking on the beach, then sitting in front of the plane, strictly for an hour a day. Then announcing a number as an income that is NASA’s half-year budget…

I would ask all the individuals who announce such huge monthly incomes, if they have so much wealth, why are they still waiting for my little money. I don’t think it’s professional dedication…

What I meant to say is: be careful with these projected images! If this is the solution, please forgive me for my lack of faith!

Estimated expenses – how much do I need per month?

Here I am specifically thinking about the costs of my new life. Roughly along these lines:

• Basic expenses: accommodation, food, internet, insurance, transportation
• Plus expenses: education, travel, emergencies
• Where is it cheaper to live? – planned cost level of destination country(ies)

Here you can be a member of the emperor, the tourist and the modest digital nomad categories. You have to decide, because the possibilities are endless. Do you go to America and eat salty bread because you can afford it? Do you prefer to go to Asia and only eat there every other day in a rented reed hut? Do you choose Europe and strive for a normal life? Do you go to a new country every other week because you have enough money to travel? There are many options, only you know that.

The only good advice that I suddenly remember from all the videos is to be punctual and patient with yourself. Don’t try to imitate a vacation in your future life, because it will probably be expensive. You probably won’t go to a restaurant every day at home to have a champagne dinner. Why would you do that during your digital nomad life? Jet skiing on the sea every day is cool. Do it if you can afford it!

But be aware of how long you can afford this lifestyle! The old saying is always true: stretch until your blanket reaches you!

Financial safety net

Here are a few questions that came to mind that I asked myself. Without further ado, here are some questions that are worth taking seriously:

• Number of reserve months
• Currency breakdown (euro, forint, dollar?)
• Contingency scenarios: what if…? (project doesn’t come through, I get sick, etc.)
• At what point do I need to re-plan?

Months ago, I calculated how long I could finance my life abroad, unemployed, with the price of my car if nothing came of it. I also have an emergency scenario, although it’s not that strong for me.

At what point do I have to re-plan? Definitely not when my last iron is gone.

What if my friends can lend me money? Will I win a few more months? Then I’ll never give them the money back, because there’s nothing left? I’ll be the Hungarian Whiskys in Thailand.

Think carefully about what you’re doing in this area too. There will always be surprises, we all know that. If possible, don’t start on Tuesday with Wednesday as a surprise!

Let’s just say that some people can do this too. I’m not that type of person.

Tracking devices

No, I’m not suggesting you put an Airtag on the woman’s car! I’ve been keeping an Excel spreadsheet of my income and expenses for 31 years. For many, many years, it has a monthly budget spreadsheet, planned at the beginning of the year, with plan/actual columns. I haven’t really met anyone who can track their finances even in the short term. I’m not saying there aren’t any! I’ve just met a few of them. (On one of my January hikes, I ran into a woman who, when asked about it, admitted that she also keeps such a spreadsheet, but hers is only 27 years old.)

This advice is certainly problematic, but if you want to know how long you can finance your new life, then you’ve already gone beyond planning. In this situation, besides plans, there is a great lack of actual data. But for that, you need something to enter the numbers into. As I wrote earlier, I use my own Excel, so I can’t recommend an app or website. It’s up to you to find one. I think your bank already offers you such an option on your phone…

I planned my monthly food expenses for Thailand at 150 thousand HUF. It will be 4 weeks since I’ve been living here tomorrow, so I’ll prepare my first monthly evaluation for myself this weekend. I’m curious about the actual numbers, and this only took up 125 rows in the Excel table. Believe me, it won’t be difficult to analyze the facts, because I have the numbers.

A small digression: one of my friends asked me if I still keep this table the same way I have for the past 31 years? That is, can I tell you the total price of the bread I bought, or even how much I bought ear buds? I paid for my first ear buds on 1998.07.04. Yes, I used my parents’ until then… From then on, I spent 22,695 HUF on this over 27 years. Well, I can’t keep track of this in such detail anymore. There’s only one reason for this now: The shops sell a block with Thai inscriptions, so I can’t read what I bought and why at home. But I know it in its category, and that’s more than enough to compare the design with the facts.

The spiritual side of finances – courage or recklessness?

I left this topic for last. Here are two questions worth answering very seriously:

• Where is the line between “belief in myself” and “self-deception”?
• How do I deal with insecurity and how do I strengthen myself?

You need faith! I have no doubt about that. But it is very important that self-deception is a trap. Let that faith guide you (I will write about this in another post soon), but be realistic. When the time comes, admit that it is not going to work out this way. Then don’t give up, just change direction. But – I say it again – if possible, don’t do it at the last minute!

Money is not the goal, it is the means

I gave two basic ideas to the last paragraph:

• Financial security is not a fixed number, but a flexible strategy.
• I have a plan, I have reserves, I have flexibility, so I can go.

Consider how important the above ideas are to you and how much you have the tools listed here. It’s okay if you’re not flexible, it’s not necessarily that you need it. Don’t have any reserves? It’s not necessarily a problem, because you already have a suitable source of income. Don’t have a plan? I’ll even say that it’s okay, because you might have just won the Lottery and there’s a huge amount of money waiting in your bank account.

It can be a problem if you don’t have a plan, you don’t have savings, you’ve never had reserves and you’re not even flexible. If I were you, I would think about it…

The post 130. | What will I live on? first appeared on Digital Nomad Blog.

It’s not (just) about a plane ticket

I’ve talked to many people about this lifestyle in the past six months. Many of my conversation partners are aware that living is cheaper in some countries, such as Thailand. That is, if I choose the country where I want to live properly, this lifestyle can be much cheaper than living in Hungary. However, switching to a digital nomad lifestyle comes with some costs, I can say that it is not free. Whether life is really cheaper elsewhere is still a question for me to discover. I have expectations in this regard, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Here and now I am considering the costs of preparation and not how much life costs elsewhere.

I find it important to explore this topic because I myself would like to know whether I am in a unique position to be able to prepare for this lifestyle change at all, or if anyone has the opportunity to do so.

How much is that?

I have an Excel spreadsheet. It lists all my income and expenses itemized. Since 1994.08.30. That is, the spreadsheet turned 30 last year. The data occupies 114,693 rows in the spreadsheet as of yesterday. In order to determine exactly how much money my preparation has cost me, I only had to do a relatively short analysis. The spreadsheet contains 1,445 rows since 2024.12.01, when I started preparing for the digital nomad lifestyle. It took me about 5 minutes to look through these few rows, and I was already able to select the 26 rows that contain the costs of my preparation so far – for my new life.

What do the numbers show?

I can show you what I have spent so far with a very simple spreadsheet.

It is immediately obvious that the largest portion of my expenses is the Nomad Cruise. We could argue whether this is absolutely necessary for the transition to a digital nomad lifestyle, but I do not consider this debate necessary. As I have written before – for example, in my post “The 14th Nomad Cruise is approaching” – the Nomad Cruise is an investment for me. But I am sure that someone can be a digital nomad even without this event. So I created a table that shows my expenses so far, excluding the Nomad Cruise costs.

In order to clearly see how much the preparation will cost, I still need to create a budget, where I supplement the actual costs so far with the expected costs. Here I calculated by taking into account the costs of the first month there, thinking that by the end of the first month I will already be living my new life. This is how Table 3 was prepared, which I think answers the question. What is the cost of transitioning to a new life?

Based on this, I can say that preparing for the digital nomad lifestyle costs me approximately 4.800 USD. Based on this, I think that not everyone can easily make this switch, but I can also add that it is certainly not an insurmountable obstacle for someone who is really serious about making the switch.

This statement can certainly be confirmed by the fact that, for example, if someone starts within Europe, they can save on the price of vaccinations. Also in this case, they do not need to take out insurance, which can also reduce their expenses. If they do not buy a translation machine or create a website, they can already significantly reduce their expenses. Table 4 shows a more pleasant, EU-based spending plan.

One thing that should not be forgotten is the issue of reserves. As I already wrote, for me this will be the income from the sale of my car.

If the first month or months of departure and stay are financially covered and I have a little bit of money in my pocket, plus I have a job or the prospect of working, I think I don’t have to worry about my near future.

Finally, it’s also worth taking stock of how many devices we have that we’ve had for a while, are still functional and will need on the road. In my case, these include, for example, the power bank, the laptop, the newly replaced phone, the software we’re already using, etc.

Since I – due to my own situation – don’t have to spend on everything, I’ve made a summary list of what expenses are worth thinking about when switching.

Cost ranges for creating a digital nomad lifestyle – major categories

• Administration, papers
  • Passport, visa, e-Residency, vaccinations
  • Insurance, TB settlement (exit, travel insurance)
• Technical equipment
  • Laptop, backup storage, VPN, headset, new mobile, adapters, eSIM, power bank
  • Cloud storage, password manager subscription
• Work and training
  • Online courses, courses, portfolio creation
  • Website, domain, hosting
• Travel, contingency costs
  • Airfare, first accommodation booking, living expenses 1–2 months in advance
  • Reserve: minimum 3 months of living expenses
• Closing costs
  • Termination of lease, sale or storage of furniture
  • Unexpected closing costs: car sale, contract termination

Tracking expenses

I have read in more than one book – whether it is about travel or general lifestyle – how important it is (would be) to store our expenses (and income) in an analytically detailed manner in order to protect our financial resources. I implemented this with my Excel spreadsheet mentioned above. Analytical detail means that I do not enter “Lidl purchase for HUF 25,346”, but I record every item in the block in the table. For example, I can say that I have spent HUF 681,249 on bread in the past 30 years, or that I have bought ear buds a total of 98 times during this period, for a total of HUF 22,695. These examples alone may induce the question “what is the point of this?”, but deeper analyses show much more interesting and usable information. For example, how the costs of operating a car change over the years, or what the specific costs of preparing for a digital nomad lifestyle are.

My own Excel spreadsheet has become what it is today as a result of 30 years of experience and development. This winter, on one of my hikes, I met a lady by chance, with whom we hung out for half a day. When this Excel spreadsheet came up by chance, she wasn’t that surprised that such a spreadsheet existed. She’s the only one I’ve ever met who reacted this way. Not by chance. As it turns out, she also has a similar spreadsheet, which is almost as long-lived as my spreadsheet.

So, even if you don’t have any plans to change your lifestyle, it’s still worth analyzing your expenses, because sometimes the numbers show surprising differences between your idea and reality.

I don’t know of any such applications, because I’ve never tried any. But after a little research, I recommend two English and two Hungarian language applications to get you started. They’re worth a try:

• YNAB
• Notion budget tracker
• BudgetBakers
• FastBudget

It is worth finding the most suitable application and starting to use it to track your expenses (and income), and sometimes analyze them!

What I don’t pay for in money

Spending money is a relatively simple thing: if I have it, I can spend it, if I don’t, I can’t. If I spend it, I can do it with or without reason. I can measure it or not. Despite all this, spending money is not a very complicated thing, and it is also easily measurable.

However, there are expenses that do not necessarily have to be paid for in money. What do I mean here?

• Lost job benefits, ceasing status (e.g. fixed salary, cafeteria items, company health insurance)
• Time that you could spend on other things: studying, searching, organizing
• Mental energy

For example, I left a well-paying middle management job so that I could start. I also had the cafeteria, company insurance, a stable, long-term predictable background. As you can read in the posts “The decision”, “Point of no return” and “I quit”, I had to think about this issue carefully, but from the first minute there was no doubt in my mind that I would pay this price.

The other price is the sale of my car (“I am selling my car”). No matter how you look at it, this is a ceasing status. Even though I really loved this car, it was not difficult at all to say that this step was also one of the prices to be paid for the sake of the goal.

The time

I can say that I have been busy preparing for the switch quite a lot in the past six months. But this time included my natural interest and the extra laps that came with it. And, to a large extent, writing this blog. If I try to estimate the absolutely necessary time, I think that it would take a few days of work – distributed over time – to prepare for the switch. I don’t just mean defining the tasks, along with spending time on their implementation.

This definitely includes – regardless of whether I write it down or not – carefully considering the framework. Lest I find out on the other side of the world that I am neither a minimalist nor do I like fried insects. I am thinking here of the posts “The decision”, “Preparing my environment”, “Setting the target date”, the most recent “The art of saying goodbye” and “Staying in touch”, and countless others.

I believe that before making such a major change – due to the nature of the weight of the change – you need to think a lot. After careful consideration, you can make a decision with a calm heart. I think I am good at this – in some areas of life. And in other areas I am trying to improve.

The energy

I have always tried to live in a way that I have free time in addition to my current work. I think I can proudly say that I have succeeded in most cases. I have a low need for sleep, I have quite a lot of internal energy and, as I wrote at the beginning, I have entered a state of “Synchronicity, coincidences, flow”.

So – although I have often felt exhausted during the past months – I have no reason to complain. But the fact is that I used more energy than usual to get through this preparation period. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to rest more. As I explained in my article “Freedom, selfish freedom”, as a single person I can make decisions with relatively more freedom.

Freedom has a price, but it’s worth it

A change of this magnitude costs money, but often not as much as we think. In my opinion, the real difficulty is not the money, but the decision. The price of leaving is not only a number that can be expressed in money, but also a change in perspective.  The question is not how much it costs to leave – but how much will it be worth if I finally leave!?

The post 92. | How much does it cost to switch to nomadic life? first appeared on Digital Nomad Blog.

The time has come for this today. Last week, I posted an ad on my own website for my Facebook friends. I wanted to give my currently 1,700 friends the opportunity to apply for the car. So far, no one has applied.

Two weeks ago, I spoke to a car dealer known to me by a friend, who it turned out I also knew. I told him that I had a car that I wanted to sell. Before I went to him, I would try to sell the car myself for a week or two. If it doesn’t sell or I get too many unpleasant calls about it, then I would trade it in. Until then, I’ll be struggling a bit with the car.

Posting my first ad

It’s a pleasure to post a car’s data sheet on the most well-known website in the used car market. At the same time as selecting the right model, the system automatically fills in a good part of the technical parameters.

Since I have all the data about the car, I was able to fill in the other manually selected data very quickly myself.

After the complete exterior and interior cleaning that I had not done so long ago, I immediately took pictures of the vehicle, and uploading the pictures was no problem either.

During the upload, I learned that I can download all technical inspection and basic data information from Hungary’s electronic system based on the license plate number – via the Customer Portal – and then click on it to view all the pictures taken during the technical inspection. It’s an exciting document. You can make sure that the car is not a fake through 12 pages. I downloaded and attached this document to the ad as well.

Among other things, we can see what the car’s mileage was based on the officially recorded data:

Or, we can also see the recorded odometer readings themselves:

I’ll also complete the Marketplace upload, and then I’ll wait for the new owner to apply.

The Farewell

I’ll keep the car’s parameters as a souvenir. Who knows when I’ll have my own vehicle next. It’s a strange feeling. I’ve actually been driving my own car for 25 years. I’ll definitely drive in the future, but probably not my own vehicle. I almost got my international driving permit this week. Since I had a schedule one afternoon, I had to leave the office a few numbers before my own because the paperwork was slow. I’ll make it next time!

Ciao, my Toyota!

Vehicle data:

• Odometer reading: 272,000 km
• Price: 5,000,000 HUF
• Technical validity: 2027.04, freshly replaced brakes, oil change
• Complete exterior and interior cleaning on 2025.05.06.
• I will add a gray bicycle license plate.
• With a set of winter and summer tires.
• There have been no problems with the car over the past many years, apart from the mandatory technical and oil changes, I have not had to do anything with it.
• The car can be viewed by prior arrangement, mainly in Bábolna, usually after 17:00.
• Gasoline car.

Vehicle parameters:

• Power (kW): 97 kW
• Power (HP): 132 HP
• Kern weight: 1270 kg
• Maximum total weight: 1775 kg
• Number of doors: 4
• Number of seats: 5 people
• Transmission type: Manual 6-speed
• Version: Sedan
• Year: 2016

Standard equipment:

• 12V socket front, rear and in the luggage compartment
• Windshield wiper system with rain sensor
• Audio system with Bluetooth connection
• Aux-In connector for external players
• Interior rearview mirror with automatic dimming
• Electric windows front and rear
• ESP [electronic stability program] + ASR [anti-skid regulation] + Hill Holder + emergency brake assist
• Headrests front and rear [5 pcs]
• Headrests front: active [‘whiplash effect’ prevention]
• Brake system: anti-lock braking system [ABS]
• Tachometer
• Immobilizer
• Information system: touchscreen multifunction display
• Information system: on-board computer
• ISOFIX child seat anchorage for rear seats, Top Tether
• Upholstery: fabric
• Front armrest
• Front armrest, movable
• Rear armrest with cup holder
• Tyre pressure monitoring system
• Steering wheel: leather steering wheel, leather-wrapped gear lever
• Steering wheel: multifunction steering wheel
• Steering column: height and reach adjustment
• Alloy wheels: 16”
• Central locking with remote control
• Chrome exterior handles
• Exterior mirrors electrically adjustable and heated
• Flooring mat: fabric
• Air conditioning [ACC] 2-zone automatic
• Airbags for driver and passenger, curtain airbags front-rear, side airbags front
• Rear seats: 1/3-2/3 split reclining rear seatback
• Seats: height-adjustable driver’s seat, split rear seat
• Seats: Heated front seats
• Microfilter [dust and pollen filter]
• Cup holders front and rear
• Spare brake light [third brake light with LED display]
• Spare wheel: tire repair kit instead of spare wheel
• Radio-CD MP3 + 6 speakers + steering column-controlled radio
• Radio-telephone hands-free system [Bluetooth]
• Safety Sense safety package: collision avoidance system with emergency brake assistant, lane departure warning, sign recognition system, automatic high beam switch
• Cruise control [tempomat]
• Gearbox: 6-speed mechanical
• Door mirrors with lighting on the driver and passenger sides
• Power steering: electric, speed-sensitive
• Tinted windows
• Knee airbag on the driver’s side
• Rear-view camera
• Ultrasonic parking assist system front and rear
• USB port
• Passenger airbag: can be deactivated
• Hazard indicators and door handles in body colour
• Hazard indicators fully in body colour
• Lighting: ‘follow me home’ function
• Lighting: automatic headlight activation
• Lighting: Bi-LED headlights
• Lighting: front fog lights
• Lighting: LED headlights, LED daytime running lights, turn signals, headlight washers
• Lighting: LED taillights, third brake light
• Lighting: LED daytime running lights

The post 85. | I am selling my car first appeared on Digital Nomad Blog.

List of my questions

The night before visiting the bank I finalized the list of questions I had created in the post titled The Bank Job, so I went to the meeting with these points:

1. Brief outline of the situation: starting a permanent life abroad in September 2025.
2. Is there any form/obligation to report this to the bank?
3. There will be no monthly payments on the account: will the repayment amount increase?
4. Bank card questions:
   • How do I indicate that I want to use my cards anywhere?
   • Can I use my cards abroad? EU? Outside the EU? Are there any restrictions?
   • My debit card expires on July 2025. When should I apply for a new one, if I want an embossed one instead? What should I do?
   • The credit card expires on April 2026. Here too, a renewal is required by September. How can I replace the card?
   • How many years is a card valid for? Can it be more than two years? What is the card replacement fee if I replace it prematurely?
5. Question about USD and EUR accounts. How much can I open one for, what are the costs, etc.
6. Can we work together on insurance?
7. I would like to give my confidant a power of attorney. How can I do this?
8. Is there anything you can bring to my attention?
9. Let’s stay in touch, I’m sure I’ll have more questions.

To start the conversation, I said that I had a list of questions. It wasn’t the first time that I had experienced that if I arrived with a list and a notebook (Remarkable in this situation), the person sitting opposite me would get a little embarrassed. This time was no different. After the word list was mentioned, the consultant apologized in advance, saying that she might not be prepared enough. I reassured her that I didn’t think I would ask her anything that she wouldn’t be able to answer. By the end of the conversation, it turned out that I was fortunately right.

The idea expressed in point 8 accompanied our conversation throughout. The lady told me a lot of little things and details, and drew my attention to quite a few things.

The first thing we clarified was that even though I would not be living here, I would remain a partner of the Hungarian bank.

The Answers

2) Notification requirement

There is no such thing. The only thing is that, based on point 4.1, it would be good to let the bank know where I am so that my card is not automatically blocked after the first transaction due to the unusual location.

3) The repayment amount

I was reminded that there are two conditional discounts attached to my account. One is that a minimum of 1.250 USD is received on it, and the other is that at least 250 USD in salary appears on it every month. For the sake of the example, a salary of 1.250 USD satisfies both conditions. (Of course the amounts are in HUF, but I wrote USD for ease of reading.)

As stated in the post titled The Decision, I will have a spending package to cover my expenses in Hungary, which I will debit from my Hungarian bank account. This way, I will be able to meet the two conditions above. There is no further action required.

4) Bank Cards

As you can see from the post titled The Deck of Cards, I am quite equipped with bank cards. Now, however, I have received answers to all my questions on the subject.

The card that is about to expire will be automatically renewed. Moreover, it will not be valid for two years, but for four years, fortunately I remembered the duration incorrectly. I do not need to apply for an embossed card, because these are already embossed, even though it is not visible on them. They are called laser engraved cards and their technology corresponds to embossed cards.

Instead of the card that will expire next spring, I will have the opportunity to apply for a new one this summer (application before expiration), so I can set off on the world with two Hungarian cards that will be good for four years.

I have already experienced in recent years that I can use these cards anywhere in the EU without any problems, but I can also be sure that they can be used at Mastercard acceptance points in other parts of the world, there are no restrictions.

5) USD and EUR accounts

Thanks to my premium banking membership, I have the opportunity to open two foreign currency accounts for free, without a monthly fee. Accordingly, we did this during the consultation.

So at the moment I already have 5 HUF, 3 EUR and 3 USD accounts at 3 financial institutions. That’s almost a dozen.

6) Insurance

I have to look elsewhere for this. The bank’s insurance was not designed for what I need. This is approximately what I expected, and I don’t want to diminish the bank’s merits.

No problem, it will be another post.

7) My confidant

He will be the one who can act on my behalf in official matters. I asked if I could give someone a power of attorney in advance, and then it turned out that I have more options than that. These are the following:

a) Power of attorney.
b) Involving a co-owner of the account.
c) A death provision.

Each solution has its own authorization and framework. I don’t know which one I will use yet. However, we discussed during the consultation that there is almost no matter that I cannot reach via the internet. Most options are available via the banking application, and there are also person-identified video calls, telecenters, and email inquiries.

And besides all that (point 9), the lady repeatedly said that I can turn to her with confidence at any time, and she will help me.

I am grateful for the love of the bank. The mutual and disinterested friendship between us is now complete.

The post 25. | Premium bank guidance first appeared on Digital Nomad Blog.

Summary

What bank cards will I need?

As I prepare for my finances, I’m starting to feel like I’m going to need a card deck holder. I currently have three active bank cards, a debit Mastercard, a credit Mastercard, and a Revolut Mastercard. My Wise card, which I ordered the other day, will arrive in nine days. They’re all traditional, non-embossed cards. They’re all standard Mastercards. Below, I’ll summarize what I’ve learned about bank cards, so you can get an idea of ​​why I’m afraid I’ll end up with a deck of cards.

Before going to the bank, I definitely wanted to prepare myself for the spiritual life of bank cards. During the preliminary searches, I noted down three pages, with the help of which I started tonight.

I have read about three types of cards so far:

• Visa
• Mastercard
• American Express

At this moment – not knowing the details of the future – I accept the opinion that these are exactly the types I will need in order to have at least one card in my hand in every corner of the world that I can use in a given situation.

So let’s look at the 3 types!

Visa

I started my acquaintance here: Visa card benefits: What you should know

The random choice was good, wise.com not only provides information on the subject of Visa cards, but also offers a wide range of knowledge related to them.

First, we will group the cards. There are debit cards and there are credit cards. Each type is made into embossed and traditional cards. We can use the embossed card where there is no possibility of POS payment, that is, the payment is made using the old card swipe (imprinter) method. Most Visa cards have a chip, and are supported by the Google and Apple pay systems. There are also electronic cards.

What is Visa good for?

Visa is the most widely used card type worldwide for both debit and credit cards. Visa card transactions are available in 220 countries, at more than 44 million terminals worldwide. This means that if I have such a card, there is a good chance that I will be able to pay with it in many places. There are also all kinds of membership and rebate benefits, but these are not interesting to me for now.

What should I look out for with a Visa card?

The number of questions listed in the post titled Bank Job is already starting to grow. It is worth checking whether the card can be used abroad? What about the EU and non-EU use? It is worth noting in advance with the bank where I want to use the cards in the other half of the world, so that the security system does not block it after the first use.

On this site I found a Visa ATM search page where I can check right now where I can find a Visa ATM in Bangkok.

Here I was also introduced to the concepts of dynamic currency conversion and double conversion. I was able to read about cash withdrawals abroad. I received a direct link to the reference to the mid-market exchange rate.

As is usual, I also checked the links of the linked pages, which is how I came across the Wise system exchange rate monitor, where I can see nice graphs of the daily exchange rate of each currency, but what was even more exciting was that I was able to sign up for a daily exchange rate monitor, which sends an email every day about the USD and EUR exchange rates for that day.

I found a money transfer calculator, where I can clearly see the costs incurred when converting. I was forced to familiarize myself with the concept of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), as well as the essence of the Swift method.

Mastercard

I already have three Mastercard cards, so I don’t need to worry about purchasing this type now. I’ll find out at the bank how I can use them abroad.

Coincidence brought me to this site so that I could deepen my knowledge of Mastercard cards.

Here too, I read the explanation of credit and debit cards. However, here I learned that there are other types, such as prepaid cards, which can be used up with the amount loaded in advance, or charge cards, for which the money spent during the month must be fully repaid at the end of each month. (In the case of credit cards, only a minimum amount is required.)

The site also gave some information about blocking the card and its costs, but I couldn’t find anything else here.

So I looked for other information sites. I read some slightly shocking information on Wikipedia:

MasterCard Incorporated is an American financial company that issues bank cards. Its biggest rival is also the American Visa, but American Express and Discover, as well as the Japanese JCB and the Chinese UnionPay (the world’s largest bank card issuing company) are also rivals. It also has subsidiaries under the names Maestro, Cirrus, Mondex and Masterpass.

I hope I won’t get advice to have a Discover, JCB, UnionPay, etc. card too!

Interestingly, Google lists the Mastercard pages of Hungarian banks, but you can’t really find any meaningful information about the type itself. So after a slightly more complex search, I ended up on the Wise page again. From now on, I’ll quote from them.

Visa vs Mastercard: What’s the difference between the two?

Finally, we have the answer:

Both providers are present in more than 200 countries and have nearly 40 million acceptance locations each. However, based on purchase transactions, Visa has a share of $2 trillion worldwide, while Mastercard has $1 trillion.

The main difference between Visa and Mastercard lies in the currency they use. Visa uses US dollars, while Mastercard uses euros in the eurozone and dollars outside of it.

Visa or Mastercard abroad: which one should you use?

There is no clear answer to which one to use abroad. Your personal preferences, the destination, and your budget can all influence your choice.

Both Visa and Mastercard are widely accepted, but some countries or regions may have more popular or widespread use of one than the other. In general, Visa is more common in the US, while Mastercard is more common in Europe, but this is not always the case.

It is worth researching which cards are accepted in your planned destination.

American Express

It seems that I can’t get such a card as a private individual here. This was the first piece of information I found.

While searching for the question “what is it good for?” I found this:

American Express is a bank card company based in the United States of America, but it not only issues bank cards, but is also a travel company. In fact, the bank card was born from the travel business, since international vacations and business trips departing from the United States required a means of payment that could also be used abroad.

Although American Express has a significant bank card history, it is a less widespread brand globally compared to Mastercard and Visa card companies.

In Hungary, K&H Bank and then OTP Bank initially issued American Express cards, but they have now ceased to exist. American Express is present in Hungary and its cards can be applied for, but only to corporate clients.

With this, I will put the bank card question on hold for a while. I have two of the three recommended brands. I will look at the others later.

The post 22. | The deck of cards first appeared on Digital Nomad Blog.