My GF and I just opened the Digital Nomad House in Malta on a tiny rocky island | Hacker News Reader

My GF and I just opened the Digital Nomad House in Malta on a tiny rocky island

digitalnomads-malta.com

83 pointsdagoebel59 comments

lol, what a ripoff. They claim they are "just covering costs" and the fee is more like a donation.. I just did 5 minutes of research and you can rent a nice 45 sq. m. 1-bedroom apartment on a daily basis, in a more central location of Malta, for 1/2 the price they are charging for a "single private bedroom". What a joke. Should call it what it is, a "hipster trust-fund kid house".

Yeah, I don't know about the pricing but as I was reading through the site I couldn't figure out if it was real or satire. It certainly checks many of the tech culture stereotype boxes.

Just skimmed quickly and they do not seem so expensive... Compared to the competition.

Months ago I wanted to leave London and spend a year in accommodations like this, with "like minded" remote workers. There are plenty in Europe and they are RIDICULOUSLY expensive. The average from what I recall is about €2500/month, to live (rent) in the country somewhere, probably with shitty internet. But "like minded people".

Are all freelancers making €10k a month? I have an average salary (compared to my freelancing peers) because I work 4h/day and I don't know who can afford such prices, honestly.

I'd understand those prices in major cities, not in the middle of nowhere.

If you are looking to live with "like-minded" people, it does not take much effort to organize a shared-house rental. I've been living around Asia for the past few years, and have lived in mansions with up to 5 other expats (each with our own huge private room and bathroom) for no more than $300USD/month + ~$50/month for all other bills including high speed internet. Malta is more expensive than most of Asia, but what these guys are charging is ridiculous and by no means are they "just trying to break even".

That's really interesting.

Are there any websites you'd recommend for information about how you have set this up or found this?

Just look on the local craigslist, expat facebook groups, or other expat forums for the area you are looking to stay. There are usually plenty of expats looking to fill a room in their share-houses.

At 50% occupation, alleged 8 beds, and 28/bed=224/day (underestimating, as the single private beds are more expensive). 15days/month is €3360 per month, double that at full occupation. Those numbers might sound reasonable in the US, but in southern Spain that's about 3x the average income.

Hey Amgin,

Thank you for your honest replay. Those prices are just for short stays of 2 days to 1 week.

For longer stays, like 2 weeks to 1 month, we are charging a MUCH lower rates, see the website.

"If want to to stay longer then 2 weeks with us in the "Digital Nomad House", just ask us and we will be happy to share our monthly expenses with you, which will result in a much lower costs, compared to the ones stated below."

>Thank you for your honest replay. Those prices are just for short stays of 2 days to 1 week

I realize that. The examples of better places I found were for daily rentals, the most expensive option. I bet if I were to look at similar places for longer periods of time I could easily find for an even lower price than what you are offering.

I don't have a problem with what you are trying to do, my issue is that you are advertising this pretending like you are a non-profit and just trying to break even, when that obviously cannot be the case when you are charging at least twice as much as better housing options.

There is a difference between summer and winter time, especially in places which depend enormous on summer tourists, just like this f* lil island ;-) So check again in two month, when summer is coming. Just me 2 cents.

===> TL;DR: My Girlfriend and I opened the first "Digital Nomad House" in Malta, a tiny exotic island belonging to the EU, 150km north of Africa.

We can host up to 8 digital nomads, who can work, live, sleep and enjoy their "workation" in our Coworking-Coliving-Community-House in Malta. We are the perfect place for bloggers, coders, hippies or all other remote workers who just fast internet and a comfy desk to get into their zone. Plus the sun. Plus the beaches. Plus the peace of one of the smallest countries in the world.

Merħba? What's that? Maltese! It is the officially language, next to English, of Malta - one of the most exotic islands in Europe. Just 2 hours away from all major European airports via RyanAir, most people never ever heard of this country before, where everyone speaks English, living costs are low, internet is ultra-fast (fiber everywhere!). 8 month of Summer a year, average yearly temperature of 18°C. But what makes the Digital Nomad House unique is clearly the sense of family and friendship - this should be not another fancy soulless coworking space. #NoLatte #NoBikesOnTheWalls

So what's the idea: Coworking + Coliving + Community!

You will live in a charming Maltese house with spacious rooftops overlooking the whole island, where we are having BBQ's in the evening and enjoy the sun during the day! Whether you want to have your own private room (+ desk) or prefer to sleep in our dorm, we’ll have you covered. If your brain shuts down after 8 hours of hacking / writing, just dive into the clear blue water and you feel refreshed for the next day.

Nevertheless, while spending more than one year on the island we couldn't find a place of retreat for digital workers. That’s why we created the "Digital Nomad House" in Malta in order to establish it as a long term hotspot for digital nomads in Europe. Prices are fairly low, as we just try to cover our costs as a non-profit.

Insellimlek (this is Maltese, too!)! Paula and Daniel

> But what makes the Digital Nomad House unique is clearly the sense of family and friendship - this should be not another fancy soulless coworking space.

The irony.

Merħba? What's that?

Arabic loanword

I thought there was a gnat on my monitor. What is that thing on the "h"?

It's how Maltese represents the Arabic ح in the Latin alphabet.

H with stroke: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H_with_stroke

On the contrary. Maltese is an Arabic language; the only one written in the Latin alphabet. Similar to the relationship between English and the old Germanic languages, most of its vocabulary (about 80%) has been replaced by loanwords (in Maltese, mostly from Italian and English), but the most commonly used words are disproportionately Arabic.

There are a few differences between the Maltese-Arabic and English-Germanic relationships. First, while the Germanic substrate of English is itself a blend of Anglo-Saxon and Nordic languages, the Arabic substrate of Maltese is a pretty well-defined Arabic language/dialect - the now extinct Sicilian Arabic, itself a close relative of Tunisian Arabic. Second, while in English the use of Latinate roots is considered high-status and eloquent, in Maltese a higher proportion of Classical/Quranic Arabic words is considered high-status.

Are you actually a legal non-profit entity?

If it meets the guidelines, this should likely be a "Show HN":

https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/08/519273713/...

IF I weren't already married and firmly attached to my current location, I would love to be a Digital Nomad.

I think the idea is wonderful, and I'm sad that it came along too late for me to enjoy. Maybe after the kids are grown I'll try extended world tour vacations that include work and play...

I moved to San Diego the day working from home could pay the rent. Haven't regretted it at all.

I've lived all over the world, including San Diego.

San Diego is what I miss the most. Yes, it is crazy-expensive to live there. Dollars well spent as far as I'm concerned. Some day I will return.

The traffic is at least twice as bad as you remember it. In other words, the San Diego you remember living in no longer exists. I'm talking hour long commutes to traverse 6 miles.

Sucks to hear, although I am not terribly surprised. What part of town are you in? I used to live in Clairemont, then later in Ramona.

Is San Diego cyclist friendly? A ride would be about 1/2 that commute time!

The problem with bicycling in San Diego is geographic more than infrastructure. If you live and work in the same area, usually bicycling is fine. But the entire city and surrounding areas are segmented off by large mesas, hills, and mountains, with the connections between the areas mostly done by freeway or 50+ mph access roads. So if you live and work in Mira Mesa, fine. If you live and work in Clairemont, fine. But if you live in Clairemont and work in Mira Mesa, forget it.

Do you work as a consultant? Or freelancer?

When I was doing my 10 year work through Europe thing with my young family I think our favourite time was the 2 lots of 3 months I worked at Bank of Valletta. We lived in an apartment opposite the beach in Sliema.

The island was quiet, the people fantastic and the lifestyle amazing. Even the massive storms smashing the water over the road and ground floor apartments were incredible. We were also there when Etna went up, and had mounds of ash banked against our balcony door.

Although looking at that photo, it looks like there has been more than a little bit of development since were were there in the early 2000s. We left just as they agreed to join the Euro zone, so I suspect the lovely old buses and quaint roads may be gone.

Still, A+++, would live there again.

2/3 of Malta's east coast is pretty much a continuous sprawl of villages that have evolved into your typical tourist traps, exactly like what you find everywhere else in the world, with main strips lined with junk stores that sell the exact same mass-produced souvenirs, and sports bars and McDonald's and clubs and big, loud hotel complexes. (Meanwhile, a lot of shady stuff going on in the background. Crackdowns on Italian mafia have seen a lot of organized crime set up their base of operations on Malta.)

If you venture outside of these areas, Malta is beautiful. For me, Gozo (the northern island) is where it's at. Quiet, authentic-feeling, adult, not a lot of tourism. All the best diving spots are there, too. I hope it stays that way and the big developments are constrained to the main island.

I don't get this. Is this a hostel/guest-house? What's with the "Digital Nomad" thing, what's special about it?

> I don't get this. Is this a hostel/guest-house? What's with the "Digital Nomad" thing, what's special about it?

Hostels are for the poor students who want to see Europe. Digital Nomads are the traveling full stack developers building microservices out of the latest cool frameworks you read about on HN :P

It's the same as saying "here is a restaurant, lunch will be $7" or "here is a bistro, lunch will be $40".

But aren't digital nomads on the whole cheapskates, trying to arbitrage their big paychecks against low cost of living?

I wish I could start something like this in Nicaragua, Panama or El Salvador (countries I know very well) but people are too concerned about safety.

Only in El Salvador! That's the one country, I will not go to. (I've been living in Mexico and Guatemala the last 2 years)

Panama City, is basically the US. Very modern, safe, and hell they even use the US dollar.

Nicaragua is ok and similar to Guatamala.

> Panama City, is basically the US. Very modern, safe, and hell they even use the US dollar.

I've spent time in the US, Colombia and Panama City. 'safe' would not be the first word that springs to mind, neither would be very modern. Definitely doable but 'basically the US' is sugarcoating it to a degree that does not match my experience there.

I used to work with a guy from El Salvador. Great fellow, liked to talk about how he walked to the US back in the 70's, and the difficulties and little victories he had along the way.

He misses a lot of it, but told me straight up not to go there. The sadness in his eyes when he said I shouldn't visit his home country is something I will not forget.

funny how all those places were 'liberated' by the CIA

Costa Rica would work (I think some people have done it). Panama might work.

My friends launched a similar thing in Sagres Portugal a while back with an emphasis on surfing if that's your thing!

http://www.coworksurf.com [shameless plug :-|]

Spent 3 winters in the Algarve, near Sagres, waves vary between epic and chop/slop depending on where you go.

Great thing about living on the tip of southern Portugal is that when it's onshore on the west coast, hop in the car and you get cross/offshore on the south coast and vice versa ;-)

Weather's of course great in the winter, tons of sun, dry and 16-20 degree daytime temps. Internet's decent enough, and housing can be quite cheap if you manage to avoid Airbnb (may it go down in flames). Rented a beautiful, modern apartment with 15 foot high ceilings for 500 euros per month.

Gah, makes me wonder why on Earth I'm escaping to rainy super expensive Japan...

Looking to do a far east trip starting later this spring. Have heard Japan is indeed expensive, but don't want to skip it -- life is short.

As for cheap, have been in Mexico this winter staying at a boat-only accessible village near Puerto Vallarta, $275 per month. Of course, since I've been here the power has gone out (for hours at a time), and the 4G connection is more like 3G+, which is better than the village internet that can't stay connected for more than a couple of minutes at a time.

Price of paradise I guess (dry, has rained once, no mosquitos here in a mountain river fed jungle on the Pacific).

Looks fantastic, I read it all so you'd have me sold if my current situation allowed me to nip down there!

But the reason I chime in is because I could not find an email address to just say that there's a typo here: "Finding a save haven with a fast and<snip>", save should probably be safe.

Sorry, just fixed the type and added the email address.

The most important question is, of course, what's your Internet connection like? :-)

I think this is awesome. If this were one year ago (when I was newly single), I would've been on the first flight out to come visit for a month or so!

> 100 / 10 Mbit/s fiber internet

That doesn't answer jitter, reliability, packet loss... There's lots of less than stellar ISPs doing 100Mbps fiber with 1+0 everything and no UPS on any of their nodes.

I did a brief search for the top ten Maltese ASNs, and there are not a lot of routes in and out of there, and not much submarine fiber. This is to be expected with any small island nation, however.

> That doesn't answer jitter, reliability, packet loss...

But what answer does?

My question is sincere.

When I ask someone -- friend, coworker, ISP -- about internet quality, what's the answer I should be looking for? Always seems like a crapshoot to me.

It is indeed a crapshoot. I'm lucky enough to work in network engineering in an area where I can contact the tier-3 support for most of the local last mile ISPs if something has gone seriously wrong. But there is immense variation in residential internet quality even within the same company and AS. Some parts of the Comcast network are rock solid, others are shit. Same for many adsl2+, vdsl2 and docsis3 operators.

The other problem is that one person's perception of shit internet is very different from another's. Less than 0.1% of ordinary internet customers know how to use tools like smokeping and test to their own wholly controlled iperf server on a 10GbE connection.

> Less than 0.1% of ordinary internet customers know how to use tools like smokeping

Even if they could, is there really anything to be done with that information?

> test to their own wholly controlled iperf server on a 10GbE connection.

Well, bouygues.testdebit.info, ping.online.net and speedtest.serverius.net are on 10 Gbps, and only test one peer at a time.

https://iperf.fr/iperf-servers.php

Talked to some Spanish girls two weeks ago that moved their office from Malta to Lisbon, because Malta was not exciting enough. Maybe it was because they were single ;-)

So on the positive side, Malta is a good place to get some real work done :-)

Malta is beautiful. Best of luck!

I'm seriously considering doing something like this in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

typo here: "Daniel, kind of a coder for more than a decadem but dreams to be the next Elon Musk, wannabe"

Why is this downvoted? There is, indeed, a typo there.

EDIT: Alrighty then.

Seriously using the term GF? What are you 5 years old? Hey guys, I can't spell out the word girlfriend, and like to use GF instead.

HN titles have a limit of 80 characters.

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