The Luxpats

Tag: expats

  • If You’re Homesick, will a Home Base Help?

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    luxpat
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    Every few months David and I have a stupid argument. Well, we have a lot of stupid arguments, but every few months we have one particular stupid argument. It usually starts in one of two ways: either I’m sulking around, generally homesick and looking to pick a fight, or, David’s annoyed that I haven’t done the…

  • How Can We Make the U.S. Better?

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    luxpat
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    We received a lot of thoughtful feedback about our last post on why we don’t want to live in the U.S. One valid point is that in many cases it’s not an option to move. And there are ways we can fight to make the U.S. better from the inside. Here are ten things you can do while…

  • Productivity and the Power of 15 Minutes

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    luxpat
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    What happens to productivity under the constant barrage of change that is nomadic life? How do you keep working when everyone around you is wearing a swimsuit, when your arms are tired from carrying children and suitcases, when you can never quite get all the sand out of your hair, when your flight is delayed and your baby is…

  • Giving Up the Script: Selling our House to become Digital Nomads

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    luxpat
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    We were done living lives crowded into the corners of Saturdays and Sundays. But how exactly were we going to disentangle ourselves from the script and become digital nomads? What kind of effort was it going to take write our own plot line through long term travel? Between September 2014 and September 2015, we sued someone to get…

  • Giving Up the Script: The Lead Up

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    luxpat
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    On a Sunday afternoon, we stood on the side of a road above the ocean. We didn’t glance at the Camps Bay houses spread out below us, nor the sea beyond them, though I’m sure we must have been shading our eyes, for at a certain time in the South African summer afternoon, the ocean turns…

  • Poor Customer Experience is a Design Problem

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    luxpat
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    Yesterday, I had the conversation below with a Telkom customer service agent. I learned many things from this conversation, including that if you ever want to look deranged, all you have to do is laugh hysterically at the same time that your eyeball is twitching uncontrollably. Me: Hello, you just installed my internet yesterday but…

  • The Philippines: Steam and Ghosts, Part III

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    luxpat
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    The zoo is an hour’s drive in the rain, through soupy fields of rice paddies. Occasionally we pass a farmhouse that seems to float in the water around it. A family sits on the porch: a grandmother,  a mother, and a small boy watching a teenaged boy steering their water buffalo through the muddy furrows.…

  • The Philippines: Steam and Ghosts

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    luxpat
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    They send a car to fetch me in the morning, even though the call center is only a kilometer from my hotel. I am a client, and they are careful about security. On the drive we pass through shafts of dusty sun that pierce the dome above us. Even the sunny days steam here, even…

  • Dear Aboda: The Carousel of Houses Part IV

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    luxpat
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    The money they suddenly wanted to charge us is more than David makes in a month. On that restless night in windy Vredehoek before we finally moved into the mansion, David and I had been asleep when the agent called from Seattle. She wanted to confirm our move the next day. From the bedroom I…

  • The Carousel of Houses: Part III

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    luxpat
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    In the afternoon we sat together on the couch, waiting to move again. Including hotels, it would be the fifth and hopefully final move in two months. We fanned ourselves in an amicable silence. We don’t always analyze our fights anymore, at least not right away. Before Spencer, we performed constant maintenance. Ours was a…