Nomadhouse - freelancing from Budapest

After trying out freelancing from Berlin and Lisbon, I was searching for a new place to explore and freelance from. Then a couple of months ago, in one of those strange serendipitous moments life throws up every now and then: I discovered NomadHouse.

The concept was simple: 10 days in a Budapest, co-living, working and exploring a new place with 16 other freelancers/entrepreneurs/remote workers.

I just had to try it, it was effectively the same thing I’d been doing solo, only this time I’d have other people to explore the city with.

I’m so glad I went for it.

The view across Budapest!

The trip was without a doubt one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. I could write for days on every little detail but I’ll try and give a quick run down.

The heart of nomadhouse was without a doubt the people. Meeting 16 other like minded people from all over the globe, all in the same mindset of taking full advantage of being able to work remotely was truly priceless.

Don’t get me wrong travelling and working solo is fine, I’m used to it as a freelancer, but it’s the community aspect of nomadhouse that really worked. It’s the friends from work vibe that’s sorely missing from freelance life. Even just being able to go and have breakfast or lunch with a few other people was ace.

Over the course of the 10 days there was of course work to be done, some chose coffee shops, others chose the superfast wifi of thehub co-working space (shout out to Gabor for sorting us out!).

Inevitably there was quite a mix of work hours and styles, I prefer not to work weekends, whereas others had deadlines for the week. If at any point people needed to knuckle down they were completely 100% free to do so. There was never any hassle. If any of us wanted to explore we’d just send a message to our group facebook chat and see if anyone was interested.

The relaxed nature of it all was fantastic.

Halfway through the week there was a group discussion, we all talked about the projects we were working on, our different backgrounds, and where we could help each other. If anyone had a question there was someone in the group who could help out. Incredibly valuable feedback and support.

The mix of people was spot on; designers, developers, entrepreneurs, copywriters, all sorts. Get a good mix of people like that in a room and ideas just spread like wildfire; throughout the trip there was constant talk of new ideas, new business plans, new opportunities worth exploring, using the skills of the group. It’s going to be exciting to see what happens in the future.

A view from the courtyard of the nomadhouse

It wasn’t all just work though, we couldn’t spend 10 days in Budapest without exploring the nightlife and seeing the sights, we even threw in a group workout session for good measure. Throughout the whole retreat there was definitely a good work life balance, something which can be easy to forget as a freelancer.

A particular highlight was definitely relaxing in the thermal baths, perhaps the most relaxed and chilled out I’ve been in a long time, ultimately made me more productive over the next few days. Being with other people who are all working and having a good time just lifts the spirits no end.

I really could go on for a long time about the entire trip, but I’ll wrap things up by saying that the entire nomadhouse experience has pushed me to keep exploring, I’ve gained some great new friends, and it’s opened my eyes to the digital nomad community - a community I now feel part of. I feel incredibly lucky to have a job that allows me to work and travel, I’ll never stop appreciating that.

It was difficult to leave Budapest, the entire group is now spread out all over the world. I’m now in Copenhagen carrying on the journey, who knows where the next location will be. All I know is I can’t wait for the next nomadhouse retreat.

To everyone from nomadhouse: thanks for having me.

Extra reading

Keep up with my travels over on Instagram

Check out nomadhouse on twitter and Instagram too!