u/jjhils1

I was recently laid off. I work remotely, but my permanent residence is in NJ so I will file in NJ. However, I had plans to travel abroad while being unemployed. All interviews I would have would be remote and if and when I get a new job I would be working remotely again, but would relocate to whatever State need be. However, I’m reading that I can’t apply while out of the country. I’m seeing I will be flagged and locked out and also that a VPN does not work. Is this true and is there any way around this?

I’ve lived and traveled abroad for the last 8 out of 10 years. The last 6, I’ve lived and traveled abroad earning significant income in US dollars. I recently moved back to the US in the beginning of May and this transition has not been easy.

For context, my digital nomad career of over 6 years has been around 80-90% earnings from my corporate America job. I’m truly grateful and have been blessed to have been able to live in Latin America, but also lived and traveled around the world for periods of time as well.

I have been burnt out from my job, burnt out from being a digital nomad as well as living out of a suitcase for so long. I’m 42 so felt it was time to settle, time be closer to family, time to look for growth and change in life so I was planning a move back to the US this year or maybe early next year at latest regardless. However, unexpectedly there have been massive layoffs and changes at my company and I was told abruptly I can no longer work internationally, so my time abroad was cut a bit shorter than planned.

I’m truly grateful I have been able to live the digital nomad life for so long. Something so many people dream of especially with the type of money I was earning in addition to the freedom.

But the reverse culture shock is real. I mean not to overstate the obvious, but a lot has changed since I’ve been gone and it just doesn’t seem like a great place to live anymore. Don’t get me wrong there are great money making opportunities here, stability in different ways, some absolutely beautiful nature of all sorts and I guess many freedoms that many countries don’t have and will never have. But there is just so much that is wrong with the US these days - from the political extremism & division, the insane cost of living, terrible dating scene, the crazy inexplicable gun culture - violence - mass shootings, out of control gambling, addiction, homelessness, mental health issues, and don’t even get me started on this absurd tipping culture with tipping for things that never were expected in the past. Plus this new 20-30% expectations instead of 15-20%. And spare me the, you get better quality food and service because of tipping… Because it’s not true. In many places I have lived and traveled you tip 10% or no tipping at all is expected at times and both the food quality and service is better, and the prices are cheaper. The U.S. is a great country for many reasons, but it just seems this country is headed in the wrong direction in a fast way. Not to mention countries and people around the globe no longer admire and look up to us as a country and our people like they once did. In fact, quite the opposite and many of us know who is to blame for that.

I do realize how privileged and blessed I have been, and I don’t take it for granted because while I have been able to live so good in Latin America and many other developing countries around the globe, I do realize how difficult so many locals in those places have it and often way more difficult than locals here in the US have it that are struggling. However, it doesn’t change the fact that the reverse culture shock is real and if you earn well in dollars, Euros, Pounds, etc., and have location freedom - I really don’t see the appeal to the West anymore. I know there are plenty of digital nomads who have gone through similar transitions and have similar thoughts as me.

I’m an American who has lived in Latin America for 6 years. I’ve been to most countries in Latin America, but never Venezuela for the obvious reasons. However, now I’m planning a trip to Caracas. I’m white, but I speak Spanish fluently.

I have done my research and it seems I should be ok, but I have seen some YouTube videos where there is still a lot of pro Maduro propaganda around and some locals that have made positive comments about Maduro as well as expressing their hate for the U.S. I mean separate and aside from anything going on in Venezuela I can understand why people don’t like the U.S. right now. I myself hate Trump and a lot of things taking place in the US. And no, I don’t support crazy communism/dictatorships either.

However, this is beside the point. I’m wondering from locals overall would you say it is safe for Americans to travel to Caracas right now? Also, how about going at night and trying to meet women and make friends with locals?

Good morning! I posted a couple weeks ago asking for a referral to barbershop and questioning general prices. To everyone who replied with recommendations, thank you!

I winded up going with - “Downtown Barbershop” The barber’s name is Eddie. He is originally from Uzbekistan, moved to NYC in the early 90s for 4 years and has been in Phoenix cutting hair ever since. He is semi retired so he works limited hours, but he is a stand up guy who gives a great haircut at a great price. Old school shop. He charges $30 for regular hair and $35 for long hair. I was charged for long hair. My hair is relatively short (if interested to see my public IG is in my Reddit profile) so not too sure what qualifies as regular, but I didn’t question it. I also gave a $9 tip. He trimmed my eyebrows as well. Great haircut, great conversation, clean big old school shop, and great price/value. Highly recommended.

Hey everyone - I’m new in Phoenix. I haven’t lived in the US for 6 years. I was curious as to what’s the average cost of a men’s haircut in downtown Phoenix these days. This place I was looking at online is asking for $60. I know I’ve been gone for a while, but this seems very high to me. Unless I’m just out of touch with the cost of certain things in the US now.

I had the chance to visit Yangon in April. I’ve visited temples all over Asia, but Myanmar has some of the most beautiful if not the most beautiful temples in the world.

I’ve worked remotely internationally as a digital nomad in tech sales for the last 6 plus years for a US based company. While they never formally knew I was living/traveling abroad, they knew at times I was abroad on holiday, etc. but also working. However, my direct manager made comments from time to time about my address and hinting he knew more than he lead me to believe. It was kind of like a don’t ask don’t tell situation since I was one of the top performers at the company.

However, the last couple of years the business has been really struggling and it caught up to me this year and it has been my worst fiscal ever with the company ever. There have been mass layoffs over the last year and my boss was one of them. I mean he was very toxic, but I worked remotely, made great money and had a lot of freedom…. But that has now all changed. They brought a new VP in who is my new direct report and she wanted us all to get together in the corporate office including remote employees. It was kind of last minute so I was able to dodge that. However, then in mid-March she told me she was going to come see me in April being there was a cheap same day flight and flight time is only an hour. I tried to dodge this and push to May because there was no way I was making it back in April being that I was in Asia and everything was paid for. She got concerned and called me later in the day and I already suspected she knew I may not be in the US and was probably trying to call me out on it with the coming to see me idea. So I told her the truth that I had a bunch of PTO scheduled in April (true 2 weeks spread out) plus I would be in Asia for the month, but also working because I didn’t want to fall behind on things and I have done this before. This is true and my VP even commented in a meeting 2 years ago with a client that I was working from Asia and was so dedicated. I even recently found a transcript plus recording of this call, but I’m only keeping it to protect myself if they try to fire me for policy violation.

Well, she wasn’t having it and it basically blew up in my face. She went to HR and the head of revenue and they emailed me saying I’m no longer able to work internationally and I will have to use all of my PTO and take paid time off and my target will not change. Needless to say, I have been gone for what will be a month and a half. I had a lot of PTO so I really only had to take around 7 business days unpaid.

The real issue is while I will still be working remotely, I will be US based and since I’ve been gone there have been a ton of new changes put in place company wide, my pipeline is completely shot and old opportunities are now all lost. Moreover, it is going to be beyond awkward and uncomfortable upon my return next week. I’m basically completely checked out and want out of the job at this point. However, I want some time off and want to be able to collect unemployment in my career break.

I’m wondering how long they will let me stick around till they fire me for performance and what I can do to do my job, stay compliant, but quiet quit and end this asap. From an HR perspective I’m pretty sure if I was to continue working internationally that I would be breaking company policy and would be disqualified from unemployment. Part of me wants to quit, but I think that is a bad idea regardless of savings because the job market is bad and it won’t be as comfortable of a career break without collecting unemployment. This new VP - my manager I could tell right off the bat I was not going to vibe well with and was going to cause me issues. I feel completely blessed and am so grateful for these last 6 years and knew it wouldn’t last forever, and I’ve actually been ready to retire from the digital nomad life and leave this job regardless because it has gotten so toxic, slow as can be revenue wise and I’m totally burnt out and need a change. However, not like this in the sense of how it happened with my new manager.