Nerd on Tour Podcast

I'm a nerd who grew up on Game Boys and LAN parties. Yet decades of gaming taught me that digital is an enabler, not a goal. Here's how I stay offline enough as a digital nomad, without quitting the screens that pay my bills. Read the full article at: https://nerdontour.net/offline-mode-for-humans/

Check the full transcript and show notes at: https://nerdontour.net/gigi-spiritual-pro-skater-pirate-from-new-caledonia/ Gigi got hired on a superyacht after telling the captain he knew nothing about sailing. In this episode we talk about how a skater from New Caledonia ended up delivering yachts across Asia with one safety course and one good reference. Why a stranger's question in a Phuket bar changed his life, and what cutting fishing nets off a propeller at 3 a.m. taught him about work. We also go through 37 hours in a force 9 storm off Western Australia with no harnesses, the reason he finally went back to school, and why he refuses every label, flag, and "where are you from?" thrown at him. About Gigi Gigi is a Pacific Islander from New Caledonia. A sponsored skater as a kid, he left home at sixteen, hated Paris, flew back alone, and wandered Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia with one bag. After an STCW course in Phuket he spent years as yacht crew on delivery passages, a 27 meter catamaran in Pattaya, and motorboats in Melbourne. We met in 2021 at an RYA sailing school in Tenerife, where he was working towards his Yachtmaster Offshore. What we cover - Why "where are you from?" is the worst question for someone who doesn't belong anywhere - How an STCW course and one reference got him onto a superyacht - 37 hours in a force 9 storm and arriving 40 centimeters from sinking - Indra's net, Lao Tzu, Terence McKenna, and choosing freedom over labels Timestamps (00:00) - Start. (00:34) - A backlog episode from pandemic Tenerife and our RYA sailing course. (04:21) - Meet Gigi: the spiritual pro skater pirate from New Caledonia. (05:02) - Why "where are you from?" is the worst first question. (06:20) - New Caledonia: Le Caillou, the Loyalty Islands, and the biggest lagoon in the world. (10:15) - Tribal life, never quite belonging, and running away at eleven. (13:51) - No snakes, no spiders: rusa deer, the kagu, and a life lived from the sea. (17:04) - Skateboarding as an escape from teachers, rules, and authority. (21:05) - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, inline skates, and the flow of movement. (24:14) - Almost pro, then Paris at sixteen: the move that broke him. (27:57) - Selling Balinese art, sleeping on beaches, and backpacking across Asia. (30:14) - French territory, not a French state: independence and a childhood memory. (32:32) - First sailboats on sandbank motus and a dad who taught sailing. (34:44) - A Phuket bar, a stranger's question, and the STCW course opens yacht jobs. (39:49) - Free passage: delivering a brand new Beneteau yacht from Hong Kong to Phuket. (44:02) - First night watch in the South China Sea: flares, tuna socks, and "pirates". (47:09) - Thief on water, a rehab boat crew, and a hippie who hitchhiked 120 countries. (50:31) - Fixing the furler with a fork, land sickness, and a job offer via strangers. (54:56) - Staying innocent and gliding through life without expecting to get conned. (56:43) - Yachtmaster in five weeks for a free spirit who hates classrooms. (01:00:26) - The superyacht interview in flowery boardshorts and why references matter most. (01:04:29) - Keys behind the beers: alone on a 27 meter catamaran with a broke owner. (01:09:22) - Cutting fishing nets off the propeller at 3 a.m.: "That's my job." (01:10:54) - Tattoos in yachting, a 48 hour powerboat license, and collecting sea time. (01:13:51) - Perth to Bali on a tiny racing yacht and a force 9 storm off Exmouth. (01:17:57) - Thirty-seven hours without harnesses and a life raft ready on deck. (01:19:45) - Arriving 40 centimeters from sinking and the Mayday that almost happened. (01:24:52) - The wake-up call: why he finally went back to sailing school. (01:27:15) - Reading clouds like old sailors, and why the world becomes your oyster. (01:30:02) - Indra's net, fractals, and coconuts. (01:32:53) - Labels, language, and why the ocean is waving. (01:37:14) - Flags, passports, and rejecting authority with Terence McKenna. (01:42:41) - Law of attraction: all I want is freedom. (01:45:33) - Gandhi's Gita, the Upanishads, and the internet as a mind in 3D. (01:49:26) - Be like water: solitude, reclaiming your mind, and a message of love. (01:55:02) - Thanks for listening. Listen to all Nerd on Tour Podcast episodes on your preferred app Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTubeOther Podcast Apps Let's connect Threads: https://www.threads.com/@nerdontour Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nerdontour/ X: https://x.com/nerdontour LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/piotrekbodera/ BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/nerdontour.bsky.social Skip the algorithm Subscribe to Nomad Tuesday for travel stories, podcasts, and recommendations every Tuesday: https://nerdontour.net/newsletter/ Help me create more episodes Back me on https://nerdontour.net/#/portal

Grab and Bolt work with any phone number. Lazada and SF Cinema wanted a Thai one. So I typed my expired Thai number from 2013 into the cinema form. It worked! Here is how I dodged SMS verification during two months in Chiang Mai. Read more at: https://nerdontour.net/sms-verification-silliness-in-thailand/

Check the full transcript and show notes at: https://nerdontour.net/dima-pashutskii-from-stationary-sysadmin-to-nomad-software-engineer/ Dima Pashutskii spent his twenties answering support calls, watching logs, and wearing a suit in a Moscow bank. Then he got fired, learned to code, and left. In this episode, recorded on Skype from Bali in July 2020, we talk about the months it took him to land a first client on Upwork, the two-day job he did for five dollars, and why that review was worth more than the money. We also get into location-based pay, the twenty-hour week he tracks honestly instead of a forty-hour week he would only half work, and his argument against originality: nobody opens an original coffee shop, so stop waiting for an original idea. Plus Taiwan as the most underrated country in the region, and eating vegetarian across Asia with a purple cow app. About Dima Pashutskii Dima is a Russian software engineer turned indie maker. He went from technical support to server administration before teaching himself to code, then left Russia in 2018 with his wife Nika for four years of nomading around Southeast Asia. They settled in the Netherlands in 2022. He quit his job in 2024 and now builds his own products, including Influesque and Search to Play, and posts on YouTube about freedom, money, and intentional living. What we cover The odd jobs, from construction sites to McDonald's, that he does not regret Three or four months of Upwork applications before a single client replied Two days of work for five dollars, and why the review mattered more Location-based pay at Toptal and Facebook Twenty tracked hours a week versus forty half-worked ones Travel months and settle-down months, and finding your own ratio Building side projects without waiting for an original idea Timestamps (00:00) - Start. (00:36) - Why a Skype recording from 2020 is finally seeing daylight. (03:01) - Hello from Canggu: Dima checks in from the Bali hub. (03:40) - St Petersburg and Moscow: two cities, one long-distance relationship. (04:28) - Fired on a Friday; moved to Moscow the same day. (05:57) - Gatchina, Karelia, and why Peter the Great built a European city. (08:09) - Moscow's rush as a career accelerator, mental health tax included. (10:16) - McDonald's, construction sites, and Dima's stint as a children's clown. (12:01) - The case for doing manual work before you do knowledge work. (14:26) - Lisbon for three months: the Schengen ninety-day ceiling as a travel plan. (16:02) - Learning to code from a Russian site teaching SICP in JavaScript. (19:35) - Upwork: sixty applications a month and four months of silence. (20:15) - Two days of work for five dollars, and the review that made it worth it. (21:36) - Fiverr, Toptal, and where the marketplace race to the bottom starts. (23:03) - Location-based pay: your rate decided by your postcode, not your work. (24:32) - Automattic versus Facebook on pay parity, six years before everyone else argued about it. (26:08) - Off the platform: direct contract, hourly billing, twenty tracked hours a week. (27:53) - Learning Story and 100DaysOfCode: building in public before it had a name. (31:52) - One community for all your learning, instead of a community per course site. (35:14) - Nobody opens an original coffee shop: the case against waiting for an original idea. (36:58) - Indie Hackers, MakerLog, and the pull of owning your own products. (37:23) - Digital Nomad Journey: writing the visa and banking guide he needed when he started. (40:51) - Sixteen cities: Hua Hin by accident, Chiang Mai by reputation. (41:36) - Taiwan is underrated: bullet trains, west coast cities, and the friendliest people in Asia. (44:17) - Singapore for a week, Penang for months: choosing a base. (45:26) - Travel months and settle-down months: slowmadding before it had a hashtag. (48:41) - Going vegetarian on the road, and where HappyCow stops helping. (52:15) - The pizza fallback, and why nothing actually changed when he quit meat. (54:16) - Yoga in the room, meditation without an app, and cities with no pavements to run on. (56:31) - Wrap up. Dima Pashutskii and his projects Blog — freedom, travel, money, and intentional living YouTube — his main creative outlet since 2018 Now page — what he is working on today Influesque — YouTube influencer marketing platform, his current focus Search to Play — Letterboxd for video games Arcade Hub — Apple Arcade games database Taco Digest — newsletters turned into a personal email digest GitHub — his code X — the account he nomaded under as @guar47 Listen to all Nerd on Tour Podcast episodes on your preferred app Podcast Website: https://nerdontour.net/podcast/?utm_campaign=PodPlatforms&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_source=ShowNotes&utm_content=Organic YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nerdontour Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/46dwoqx Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7ncVtvERp058pd7AkIf0wy?si=hqKFLI6yT5Wt8WFF7AbApA Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/dltrbnoy Other Podcast Apps: https://podnews.net/podcast/i9n39 RSS: https://feeds.transistor.fm/nerd-on-tour-podcast Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZvspP4gu3fdAD4Nx2OQBkJi9za-qEj5G Let's connect Threads: https://www.threads.com/@nerdontour Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nerdontour/ X: https://x.com/nerdontour LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/piotrekbodera/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nerdontour/ Telegram: https://t.me/nerdontourFeed Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@nerdontour BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/nerdontour.bsky.social Support Nerd on Tour Podcast If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe and share it with a fellow nomad. Drop me a comment on nerdontour.net: I read each one and reply. Skip the algorithm

Wi-Fi is everywhere in Thailand. So I never bought a local eSIM. I roamed on a Malaysian plan for 11 USD and stayed online in cafes, the gym, our apartment. Here is what it cost me in speed, battery, and upload time. Check the full article and the comparison table at: https://nerdontour.net/esim-wi-fi-how-to-stay-online-in-thailand-as-a-digital-nomad/