It has not been just one long holiday in Bali despite what many of you may think. Our visas do not allow us to work while here, but we still need to regularly get online to “maintain our investments” and for study.
At our villa, the wifi has not always been reliable and definitely not fast. In addition, for much of the year Casper was at home during the day and provided too much distraction. We needed an office.
There is always plenty of cafes to do our thing, step 1 order a coffee, step 2 access the hotspot and get online, simple, but it can be distracting too. So we made good use of an even better option, a co-working space in Ubud called Hubud (The Hub in Ubud).
Hubud provides plenty of desk space with a reliable and fast internet connection. It also provides the opportunity to work alongside others in a similar situation (the so-called ‘location independent’ workers or ‘digital nomads’). They hold regular education and sharing sessions, and social meetups with the chance to connect with like-minded people. There is free tea and coffee provided, even better coffee from the raw food café on site as well.
There is no aircon, so at times it can get hot if it is full and you can’t get near a window or fan. It can get a little noisy too in the busy season, but there is usually a quiet corner to find so you can knuckle down. There are different desk options to choose from, the standard seated position, standing desks, the swinging chair or even a beanbag on the grass out the back.
You can sign up for blocks of hours each month as we did, or go full-time. It is not cheap, but the benefits make it worthwhile for many people. You can pay monthly for 25, 50 or 100 hr blocks, or unlimited. For more information see their website www.hubud.org.
Bali, and particularly Hubud, is getting a reputation as an exotic place for this modern way of working, and we have been thrilled to be a part of it.