The day I realized coworking spaces were the problem, not the answer

Spent 2 years bouncing between Bali and Lisbon paying $30 a day for desks with bad WiFi and loud calls. It hit me in a noisy cafe in Chiang Mai that I was paying for the exact thing I was trying to escape. Now I book a private room in a guesthouse for a week and work from there, has anyone else ditched coworking for slower but quieter setups?

2 comments

2 Comments

young.michael9h agoMost Upvoted

Take the part about the WiFi with a grain of salt. I spent three months in that same Bali coworking spot and the connection was actually fine, it was the noise and the same ten people talking about their apps that got to me. But you are right about the bigger picture. Most coworking places charge for the vibe, not for actual work getting done. A quiet guesthouse room with a decent desk and a solid router costs half as much and you can control your own schedule. The trick is checking the upload speed before you book, since that is what kills video calls, not the download speed everyone brags about. Slower and quieter beats fast and loud any day.

kellygrant6h ago

Wait, have you tried those "digital nomad hostels" that claim to have coworking built-in? I had the exact same thing in Chiang Mai, paid double for a bunk bed and a dusty common area, meanwhile the guesthouse two streets over had a rickety desk and the fastest upload I've ever seen. @young.michael nailed it on the upload speed thing, that's the real flex nobody checks until their call drops.