Dominican RepublicTravel Tips

5 Key Travel Tips for the Dominican Republic

by Simon
written by Simon

In early 2021 I spent 3 months in the Dominican Republic. I’m no resident but I do feel like 3 months is long enough to provide a bit of travel advice for anyone looking to visit the DR.

Tip #1 – Airport

Customs and immigration areas aren’t exactly playgrounds in any country. They are akin to purgatory. An area where everyone is in desperate need of a shower, feels dehydrated from their flight and often regret not changing into more suitable attire on the plane.

I flew into the Dominican Republic’s capital, Santo Domingo. Unsurprisingly, their customs/immigration was no different. I was one of the first people to get to immigration from our plane and it still took me over 1.5 hours to get through. There were perhaps 200 people behind me who I would guess took closer to 3 hours to get through.

Maybe there was an influx of planes at that particular time. Whatever the case, the desks weren’t fully staffed and there were only two immigration officers processing what would have been hundreds of people.

There’s a limited amount that you can do to prevent the wait. What I would say is:

  • Make sure you’ve gone to the toilet before the plane lands so you can avoid the hassle of trying to explain to people that you’re not skipping the queue when you return.
  • You can’t just barge your way through the plane. There is an etiquette to getting off a plane, you let the people in the rows in front leave before you do. There aren’t any rules once you get off the place though. Do not dawdle. Walk fast. Overtake 20 people on the way to immigration and you might save yourself 45 minutes.

Once you get through customs, just be prepared for the chaos. Again, there may have been a particularly large amount of flights arriving when I did but it was the busiest arrivals area I’ve ever seen. It was hot and sticky. My bag was heavy. I just said yes to the first taxi driver that approached me. I didn’t even negotiate. I wanted out.

Tip #2 – Electronics & Tech

Oh the heartache this has caused me.

As per the video, I’m no tech expert or electrician so I can’t tell you if it’s amps, volts, current or some other terminology.

All I know if that some things charge and others do not. I’ve met a lot of other people that have had the same issue. Apparently the plugs are only 110 (amps? volts?) so you need a suitable charger. I have a UK plug adapter which works for my laptop and phone but doesn’t for my electric shaver or my portable speaker. It says it’s charging, but then they die within seconds.

Worse, my phone refused to charge for 2 months. As soon as I plugged in the charging cable it said it had moisture in the port. I wasn’t the only one, a few others had this issue.

My remedy was to buy a wireless charger. The problem was that I had to test out 3 different chargers for that thing before it worked properly! So that sort of went against my hypothesis that it was the UK chargers….

It’s reasonably humid but not so humid that I would expect that to happen and yes I tried leaving it in a bag of rice and also in the sun. Eventually it worked fine, but that was 2 months down the line.

Do I have the answer for you? No. Suffice to say that you should expect some technical hiccups with all of your various electronics in the DR!

Tip #3 – The Dominican Republic has mutant mosquitos

Mosquitos in a tropical country, que surprise!

I’m no stranger to the tropics and mosquitos but I swear the mosquitos in the Dominican Republic are next level beasts. They are absolutely relentless.

I made the terrible mistake of not using repellent for the first few days. What followed was 2 weeks where I couldn’t sleep for more than an hour at a time. I would genuinely wake up scratching myself like a junky.

As far as I know they do have malaria in the DR, but they seem to be more wary of Dengue Fever. From all accounts Dengue is something you really want to avoid.

My mistake annoyed purely on the fact that it is so preventable. The main mosquito repellent brand in the DR is Off! and they also have a few brands of mosquito rings that you light and they smoke away for a few hours. I would highly recommend that you use both. When it rains here there are so many mosquitos that just one isn’t quite enough.

I would also bring some lightweight trousers and long sleeve tops. It may seem like overkill but it really was uncomfortable!

#Tip 4 – It’s not always sunny

Okay, so most of the time it is sunny. It’s the Caribbean after all.

When it rains though, it really does rain.

I brought a soft shell jacket that I use in London. It’s light and does the job when you’re caught in a quick shower. Sustained rain and it starts to fail.

Well……the ‘showers’ here are a little different to those in London. I got caught multiple times in these showers, often for less than 5 minutes, and I was soaked through.

I wish I had bought a good lightweight anorak and packed that instead. It’s the same amount of space, same weight, but much better performance. You might look like a bit of a nerd in one but it’s a raincoat. Any fool can get wet. I’m the fool.

Tip #5 – Transport Options

I approached the Dominican Republic in the same fashion as I would going to South East Asia. That was a mistake.

Private transport is no way near as cheap as it is in, say, Bali. Taxis are nearly European prices – I paid $150 dollars to get to the North coast from Santo Domingo but even to go 5 minutes down the road is likely to run you $7-$8.

The reason for the prices is because most people use the local buses/mini buses to get places. As an example, you can take a Caribe Tours bus from Santo Domingo to Sosua/Puerto Plata for $12. Or you can take a GuaGua (local minibus service) from Playa Encuentro to Cabarete for $0.50 (30 Dominican Pesos). The final option is a motoconcho which I did for the first few weeks. You essentially just jump on the back of a motorbike. Playa Encuentro to Cabarete would cost $3 (150 pesos) but after seeing a few accidents I decided that GuaGuas were by far the best option.

Hiring a car will cost you $40 minimum and that’s for a small car, I would take an SUV if you have the chance. A motorbike is usually $25 – $30 a day.

Of course you can get better deals for longer term hires but overall I found that unless you hired a car, getting around isn’t all that easy. In hindsight I should have bought a motorbike for $500 and sold it back but bear in mind that the roads are pretty darn dangerous, especially on the weekends with DUIs.

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RamblingsTravel Tips

Is Business Class worth it? A view from a first timer (Iberia A330 Business Class)

by Simon
written by Simon

Let’s face it. The faster check-in, lounge and separate boarding are just the accoutrement to the main course. It’s all about that lie-flat bed and not having to claim your arm rest before you have an elbow stand off with your neighbour.

For my whole life, business class was somewhat unattainable. For a number of reasons:

Firstly, growing up I didn’t have wealthy parents who paid for it.

A little later, I never had a corporate gig where I had to travel for work.

Even when I maybe had the money to pay for it, I simply couldn’t justify it. Business class is often three to four times more expensive than a normal flight. The last time I checked a flight, it was £800 to fly economy and £3000 to fly business.

I like to view things in terms of opportunity cost. To start off with, what could I do with £2200? The answer is quite a lot. More importantly though, if someone had come up to me and offered to pay me £2,200 to sit in a seat I’ve been sitting in my whole life, would I take it? That’s rhetorical question. I was blissful in my ignorance.

As I said, it never really made sense to me. Considering that my legs are like stumps it’s not like I have a problem fitting into cattle class seats.

This flight was different though. For £200 I could upgrade my flight. £22 an hour to have a lie flat bed? Sure, I’ll bite.

To set the scene it was an Iberia Flight from Madrid to Santo Domingo. Nine hours on an Airbus A330. Time to see if business class is really worth it.

Check-in and boarding

As an economy flyer I’ve always had a bit of a chip on my shoulder about the treatment of business and first class flyers. Sure, I understand they’ve paid a premium for a better service. It’s just the way the airlines seemingly idolise them.

Separate check in area.

Fancy lounges.

That’s what I got. Actually, I only got a separate check-in and boarding area. My upgrade didn’t qualify me for lounge access which was fine because I didn’t have time anyway.

Needless to say the upgraded treatment was pleasant. No standing in a check-in line having to shuffle your luggage a metre at a time as the line creeps along. Nobody in the business queue. Straight to the front. Lovely.

That’s where I was hit with my first surprise.

I was flying from London Heathrow to Santo Domingo, via Madrid. The problem was that my flight to Madrid was economy…..and my luggage was 2 kilos overweight. I sort of assumed that they would be lenient considering that the weight allowance for the main portion of my journey would accommodate my 25 kilos. Maybe the perceived business class arrogance had already seeped into my being?

TL;DR A 100 euro fee later and I was through check-in. Thanks Iberia.

Boarding in Madrid produced my second surprise.

Calmly standing in the boarding queue for business, I was quite content, if not feeling a little bit smug. Until a woman seemingly decided that I couldn’t be in the right queue, perhaps from my more normal appearance, and simply joined the queue right in front of me.

The queue wasn’t exactly long so I didn’t say anything. In my mind though it felt like a snub, a confirmation of the smell-your-own-farts smugness associated with the wealthy. Imposter syndrome was strong with me that day. The separate gangway didn’t help. It felt like segregation. “Welcome person who can spend 4 times as much on a flight as a normal person. We’ll make sure you don’t even have to see those peasants”. CLEARLY this isn’t completely true and likely unfair for the queue larger. It was chaotic at the gate and it was probably an innocent mistake. I couldn’t shake that feeling though.

The Seat

So there I was, feeling a little bit weird about the whole experience.

Until I got to the seat.

Let’s face it. The faster check-in, lounge and separate boarding are just the accoutrement to the main course. It’s all about that lie-flat bed and not having to claim your arm rest before you have an elbow stand off with your neighbour.

As I said in the video, it’s a strange one. The chances are that you’ve walked past first/business class multiple times. You’ve had a good look at the seats, you already know how much space they have and you definitely know they lie flat. So you know what you’re getting. You have a bed at home. You know what it feels like to lie down.

I entered into my new seat armed with this knowledge and yet I was still amazed.

The space and privacy is unreal.

No longer did I have to Tetris my stuff into the pouch in front of me. No longer did I have to find space near my feet for the blanket and/or bag.

I didn’t even have to worry about my feet smelling when I took my shoes off.

I just spread my shit out. Some went into the little cubby holes in the main console. Some went down the side of my seat. The rest went on the foot rest.

No champagne was served, but that didn’t bother me. Champagne is wasted on me, I’ve never been a fan. Anyways, I was too busy watching the tutorial video on the seat’s functions.

The third surprise…and subsequent disappointment

To my amazement, the seat had a massage function.

Like a child playing with a new toy I frantically searched for the button.

I pressed it….and was immediately brought crashing back to earth. It’s ludicrous to call it a massage chair. It barely moves. There’s some sort of bar built into the lower portion of the chair that moves up and down about 4 inches. There isn’t any oscillation to talk of, just an up and down movement. It does press into your back slightly, but no more than an inch.

I didn’t expect a massage function so had it been a good massage chair, it really would have blown my mind. Instead I turned it off wondering why they would even include it.

The lie flat bed

Onto the main course.

As expected for a noob like me, as soon as the seat belt signs were turned off I had to get this baby to ‘lie flat’ position. Shoes off, blanket at the ready I pressed the button that people pay a premium for.

The seat reclined. The bottom pushed forward. The back reclined further. The seat pushed forward to make more space. I was now past 45 degrees, past the position of a recliner in front of your TV.

Within seconds my seat had joined the foot rest in front of me and I was in my own little bed in the skies. A view out of the window to my right and the console to my left preventing any view outside my own private space on the plane.

A quick adjustment of the tray table to upright position and swung outwards and the cabin was complete. To call it a cabin does an injustice to the true cabin found in first class nowadays (from what I’ve seen on Youtube) but again, like a child, this was my own little cabin.

I would actually go back to a more normal seat position and wouldn’t sleep till later. To state the obvious, when I did go to sleep it was the best sleep I’ve ever had on a place. Who would have thunk it?!

Hairgate

Onto the food and I should probably start with a caveat. I’m no foodie. I like good food, but I can also be remarkably unfussy when it comes to food. In fact, I tend not to have an issue with plane food. I’ll happily eat it!

Iberia served the business class food in a box, which I don’t think is typical. I presume that it was for health reasons given the current global issues. I don’t even know if economy got the same food, I imagine not.

A few wraps, salad, cheese and crackers. Fairly normal stuff and actually quite tasty. Not much to comment on here except it would have been nice to have the normal food – which I think is served on proper plates and not a cardboard box. Given the circumstances though, there probably isn’t another option for airlines.

Surprise #5

I did have a hair on my wrap which wasn’t ideal. I tend to shed hair at a remarkable rate myself so I understand. Plus it wasn’t a short and curly so after a quick removal, the rest of the wrap was down the hatch.

Should I have complained? Possibly.

Did I complain? No. I couldn’t see how I would benefit from the outcome (except perhaps a new wrap).

Would I pay for a full rate business class flight?

How was the experience as a first time business class flyer?

Excellent.

I knew what I was getting and it was even better than I thought it would be, which was one of my worries. I’ve been perfectly happy with my various economy seats throughout my life. Chalk this down to my ignorance, or my stature. Whatever the case, I ran the risk of finding out how much greener the grass was.

Would my exposure to the front of the plane mean that I wouldn’t be able to go back?

Nope.

Don’t get me wrong, if I get another offer to upgrade a flight for a couple of hundred pounds, I won’t even think about. It’s lie flat time baby. The problem comes when you’re having to shell out a couple of thousand pounds for the privilege. Put it this way, that’s multiple custom shaped surfboards to add to my quiver. It’s a nice camera. It’s what I would call a good budget for a 2 week holiday. Would I swap any of those for more comfort for 9 hours? Not a chance.

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Dominican RepublicRamblingsTravel Tips

Travelling to the Dominican Republic

by Simon
written by Simon

The Dominican Republic wasn’t on my travel list.

Images of all inclusive resorts full of sun burnt Americans and Europeans tends to give me cold sweats.

Turns out I wasn’t the only one. The majority of the people staying in Playa Encuentro on the North coast hadn’t considered ‘DR’ before. Like me, a quick Google search of countries that were open for travel (and where you could surf) and flights were booked. No quarantine, no PCR test needed to get on the flight or enter.

Visas were fine for 30 days with a British Passport and extensions seemed incredibly relaxed. $37 dollars for an additional 60 days and what appeared to be an ability to stay as long as you wanted if you carried on paying the ~$20 dollars a month.

The Dominican Republic suddenly looked like a pretty damn good option.

Flights to DR

You’ve got multiple options when it comes to flights. There are 3 main international airports in the Dominican Republic: Santo Domingo in the South (the Capital), Punta Cana in the South East (the all inclusive Mecca of DR) and Puerto Plata in the North West.

The problem was the connections. Playa Encuentro is only 30 minutes from Puerto Plata but the flights connect in Miami which was off limits at the time. It also involved a 16 hour layover which wasn’t ideal.

I ended up settling for a flight via Madrid, to Santo Domingo with Iberia. I figured a couple of hours layover in Madrid and a night in Santo Domingo, followed by a 4.5 hour journey North was the best option for me. I also booked a flexible return ticket in case I hated it and needed to move on quickly. Return flights from London Heathrow with the flexible return ended up being just over £900. Not great, but not the worst at such short notice.

The great thing was that business class upgrades were crazy cheap. I’d never flown business before and for an extra £200 it seemed like a no brainer. I’m glad I did it, and I also regret it. The ability to lay flat on a bed was, well, a different experience. It didn’t even feel like you were on the same plane. The problem is that I was happy in my ignorance. I now know what it’s like and I don’t want to go back.

Anyway, that’s a different topic.

There’s loads of options for flights, some are direct, some need a layover. Depends on your budget….obviously. I also found out that there are direct flights from Frankfurt if you so happen to be in Germany.

Flights from London:

Travel Options to the North Coast of the Dominican Republic

Let’s skip forward.

Flights are flights. They’re not exactly a stay in a 5 star hotel, but they’re also not as torturous as people make them out to be. Your mouth gets a bit dry. You need to fart a lot. Your coccyx feels like it’s being ground to dust after about 6 hours.

Skip ahead. I’m now in Santo Domingo having spent well over 1.5 hours in customs and passing through the busiest arrivals area I’ve seen.

I’ve woken up in a cheap hotel with a free breakfast that was of the quality you would expect from such an establishment. Salt, Pepper and hot sauce was required.

As far as I know, there are 3 main travel options to get from Santo Domingo (or Punta Cana) to the North coast of the Dominican Republic, namely the Cabarete, Playa Encuentro, Sosua area (Puerto Plata province):

Private Transfer

Definitely the most expensive way to travel although if you’re in a group it may be convenient. I got in touch with Coco Tours who were offering $190 in a shared mini bus. They do offer private cars as well but this ramps up the price.

Taxi

This is the option I chose. It was $150 which is way more than I would usually spend but the idea of being in a cramped bus for 4.5 hours during a global pandemic was a little off putting. Word on the street is that prices can range between $150 and $200 depending on what taxi company/driver you choose.

Bus

Definitely the cheapest and I actually used the bus going back to Santo Domingo – I wish I’d used it to get to the North Coast. The main bus company is Caribe Tours and they leave from their central bus station in Santo Domingo. Price for a 4.5 – 5 hour bus ride….a whopping 800 pesos which is about $14. This is what I would recommend – the seats were big and comfortable and the bus was nowhere near as packed as I had feared.

Arriving in Playa Encuentro

Playa Encuentro itself is relatively small. Its smack bang in between the larger towns (take ‘larger’ with a pinch of salt) of Cabarete and Sosua. Upon arrival in Playa Encuentro the taxi driver’s sat nav didn’t take us to the correct place so it’s probably worth downloading the map or taking a screenshot of your exact location.

I decided to stay at Surfbreak which is a family run surf hostel – it’s only private rooms with no dorms, like most places in Encuentro. There is another well known hotel called El Encuentro Surf Lodge, but its about double the price. You do get what you pay for though.

I know a few people that stayed at Gipsy Ranch which is very affordable, but let’s just say that it has a certain vibe to it. You may like it but everyone I know ended up leaving pretty sharpish.

Having said that, there are a lot of other options including a whole raft of AirBnB places as well.

So this was going to be my home for the next 3 months. A 5 minute walk to the beach and 10 minutes walk from the surf spots. A small but liveable room in a quaint hostel. Tropical weather, incredible sunrises. Better than lockdown in London.

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Remote Work

I Love London, but I’m leaving

by Simon
written by Simon

Unprecedented times.

In my view, the most overused phrase of 2020. It’s true, but still overused.

Either way, I love London. When I first moved to London in 2010 someone told me that if you’re bored in London it’s completely your fault. Even if you’re broke. There are countless things to do that don’t cost anything. Of course, if you’re not broke there are even more things to do.

It truly is a global hub. A multi cultural melting pot.

It’s also been my home for a decade now. I have a flat here. Most of my friends are here, my job was here and I don’t regret my time here at all.

But it’s time to go.

In my previous post I talked about the tale of the crocodile. An inflection point for me where I didn’t want to just go through the motions in London. I wasn’t wasting time, I was still having a lot of fun but I was worried about falling into the trap of ‘just existing’. It genuinely worked me. I didn’t want the years to pass and regret the safe life I had lived.

Remote work opportunity

To provide a little context, I have a marketing agency in London so I’ve always been tied to London because of the office location. In 2019 I’d tested out working remotely for a week in Barcelona and it was the most productive I’d been for quite some time. It was also the most free I’d felt in a long time. I had planned on working remotely for at least 2 weeks every quarter.

But funnily enough, you slide back into your old routine. And time flies.

In 2019 I worked a grand total of one week abroad. One week out of a planned eight.

No bueno.

2020 rolls around and the whole world seemingly finds themselves working remotely. I know that’s not strictly true, but it got me thinking. If everyone is working remotely, and companies are still performing, surely this is going to be something that will take hold. Some employees will like this set up and start to demand that a portion of flexible working be included as part of their employment contract. It’s far from an original thought – there were (and still are) lots of people and media talking about the ‘future of work’.

I wanted to capitalise on this. I accepted the fact that my motivation to lead my company out of this period was not as high as it could have been. The team, my shareholders and myself would be better off if someone more motivated was in charge. It would also rid me of the single anchor holding me to London.

This was in my plan in a few years when my agency was hopefully bigger and more stable…Covid-19 just accelerated it. Remote consultancy work would likely be easier – or at least the remote part wouldn’t put off potential employers.

It was certainly a more risky time to leave, but it was also the best opportunity I would have for a number of years. Push the button, just go.

The thin veneer of digital nomads.

I’ve always had mixed feelings about the digital nomads that you meet, and I’ve met countless. My holidays tend to revolve around surfing and surf destinations are seemingly irresistible magnets for digital nomads.

On one hand there is the obvious jealously. Here are people that get to earn money whilst travelling, enjoying sunset beers on a beach, on a Tuesday. They get to live in shorts and t-shirts. They get to live in places that you only get to travel to for maybe 2 weeks a year (and pay a premium to do so).

On the other hand, there was the more pragmatic side of life. What job security do they have? How much do they actually work/earn? Most of them just seem to be drinking all the time. Do they have a mortgage, savings or a pension? What happens when they return to their home country? Will they be able to get a decent job? Previously, all of these factors had prevented me from seeing it as a viable route. There appeared to be a significant underlying risk profile that was veneered over by pictures of parties, babes and sundowners.

I’m glad that I did my time in the city. I have a skillset and a profile that I like to think is attractive to certain companies. As such, becoming a digital nomad should (in theory) be less risky than if I had done it at 25. I won’t labour this point because I intend on writing an article/making a video that dives into this in more detail.

The point is that I didn’t look upon digital nomads with pure jealousy. There was a considerable amount of trepidation as well. However, Covid-19 had flung that door wide open. The risk was lowered and I couldn’t resist.

Quit your job, travel forever. Kind of.

That’s what people see on Instagram. That’s what they envy.

People do that, but they are probably Instagram influencers. I’m not one of them, nor do I want to be.

Cody Ko puts it pretty well:

Instead, I simply want to be able to work a fairly normal job, just not in an office and not in London. Surfing in the morning would be preferable.

How long will it last? The plan is a handful of years at least. Moving every 2 weeks doesn’t appeal, so ‘slow travel’ is the route forward (at least for now). Getting to put some roots down in places offers a completely different experience than your more typical holiday one.

So to summarise, the craziness of 2020 accelerated me leaving my business, packing up and heading to sunnier climes. The intention is to use my experience to work as a consultant and still build for the future, instead of just going on what would essentially be an extended time travelling.

I’ll be documenting the places I go on this blog and my Youtube channel which I hope will be useful for anyone looking to either travel to the places I am, or even start working remotely themselves. I genuinely don’t think there’s been a better time to start planning this type of working arrangement.

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RamblingsRemote Work

Let’s get this started

by Simon
written by Simon

The likelihood is that you don’t know me and I don’t know you. 

I’m not promoting this amongst my friends & family which, whilst probably being a mistake, means that if you’re reading this you may have simply stumbled upon it.

Perhaps it was through another article on the blog and you’ve decided to read the first post.

Whatever the case, thank you for being here. I’ll try not to ramble too much. Here’s a breakdown of this article if you want to skip ahead at any point:

  • Who am I?
  • What’s the point in all of this?
  • What do you get out of it?
  • What’s my plan?

Who am I?

Well, my name is Simon and although I often act like a child, I’m in my mid-thirties.

I like to say yes to things that others wouldn’t.

I’m not considered overly sociable, but can be when needed.

I don’t know how to use a semi-colon. I overuse commas.

I’ve spent the last 10 years in London working mainly in marketing and for over half that time running my own marketing agency.

And I decided to leave.

I don’t want to pretend like I was stuck in the rat race, depressed & lonely. Sure it might add more contrast to the narrative but it simply wasn’t the case. Did I love my job? No. I’ve never loved a job, I’ve always viewed jobs as a means to an end. There is always something I’d rather be doing than working. But did I hate it? Absolutely not. It was challenging, it opened doors and provided me with a comfortable lifestyle.

So why did I leave?

As stereotypical as it may sound, I’ve always wanted to live abroad. I grew up in different countries and over the past few years I’ve started to get itchy feet. I had planned to step out of my agency in the next few years as this was the sole factor in my life that anchored me to London. So this was sort of an inevitability. Couple my itchy feet with a dip in motivation (work wise) alongside the Covid-19 related lockdowns and it felt like it was the best opportunity to accelerate the timelines.

The tipping moment was a random thought that took hold one day. To use a film reference, it was like the underlying concept of Christopher Nolan’s Inception. I couldn’t shake it. This was the thought:

The tale of the crocodile

A crocodile is in a river.

It’s there.

Waiting.

Eventually an unfortunate animal comes to close and the crocodile eats. As far as I know, the process is then repeated. Perhaps it mates as and when the time is right. I’m no crocodile expert but that doesn’t matter for this tale.

I started to think whether a crocodile gets bored waiting. Eventually I settled on the conclusion that a crocodile doesn’t have the intellectual capacity to be bored. It operates on instinct. The croc isn’t really ‘thinking’ like a human thinks, because it’s not capable of it.

In essence the crocodile is just existing.

It waits. It eats. It moves. It waits. It eats. It moves.

Life is great at turning people into crocodiles.

I was on the underground one day and looked at the people on it. They looked like crocodiles. In my mind they were heading to work to fulfil their duty. They would then head back home to eat again, watch Netflix and sleep. Perhaps on the weekend they would go out and party, or meet friends. But Monday would inevitably come and the whatever process they followed would then be repeated for the next 7 days. Weeks turn into months, months turn into years.

Of course, this is not only untrue but also unfair. A commute on London’s underground is dead, uninspiring time. If you’re ever going to see someone look bereft of any hope, love or happiness, the underground in rush hour is the place.

I knew that everyone on the tube that day wasn’t a crocodile. They probably had interesting lives that they were perfectly happy with. I still couldn’t shake the thought though. In some Machiavellian way I was mentally shitting on everyone else to make me realise that perhaps I was in fact the only crocodile.

This all sounds overly self deprecating. I love London, it’s a great city and I wasn’t just existing there. The tale of the crocodile had such a grip on my because I feared it coming true.

Now was the time to change. To fight against just existing. To prevent me turning around one day and wishing I’d just done it.

It’s suddenly turned from insufferable self loathing to a sickening cliche….

I sold some of my stuff, I stepped down as managing director of my agency and I became a digital nomad. At the time of writing I’m in the Dominican Republic. I’m surfing in the morning, working during the day and relaxing in the evening.

It’s still a process, just one that I’m enjoying more than London.

What’s the point in this?

Let’s start with the name.

With the Sparrows.

At some point in early 2020 during the first lockdown we had in the UK, I kept waking up at around 3.30am and couldn’t get back to sleep. After a couple of days of this I decided to venture out for a walk. I wasn’t doing anything but laying in bed after all.

Eventually this evolved into me waking up at around 4.30am and going for a 2 hour walk every morning, incorporating running into this routine intermittently. I got to be active, to think and to spend some along time every morning before the vast majority of London was even thinking about being awake.

I saw a lot of sunrises. Some of which were spectacular.

After proudly sending the pictures I took to friends, the suggestion came up that I make an Instagram page. That way they can see them if they want, instead of me incessantly sending them WhatsApps at 5am.

Long story long, there is a phrase to describe getting up really early: “At Sparrows’ fart”. It seemed appropriate.

With my digital nomad journey including lots of dawnies (surfer speak for sunrise sessions) it meant that the name could easily be used for this new venture.

That’s an interesting story Simon, but seriously, what’s the point?

Firstly, I intend on travelling for a number of years. Privileged or not privileged, that’s a hell of an opportunity. It’s a pretty good time to start a vlog/blog.

Secondly, I realised that a had maybe a handful of photos from my last few trips. Yet when I made a video edit of a surf trip to Newquay it was so much more visceral. It conjured up memories in a completely different manner. I want videos of this part of my life.

Thirdly, my profession is marketing. I truly believe that video is the future of marketing (even more than it is already). It gives me a project which will expand my skillset.

Finally, I want it to be something that forces me to explore more. To document things. To make the most of my time.

If it goes somewhere then great. If it doesn’t, I’ve learnt a new skill and I have videos that I can share with family and reminisce with in the coming years.

What’s in it for YOU?

Hopefully a lot.

I didn’t create this vlog/blog to feed my ego. This is not going to be a ‘day in the life’ style channel.

Instead, I wan’t to provide information that I would actively search for before travelling somewhere. Information that I would find useful. I’ve already met a lot of people that have confirmed my suspicions, especially amongst surfers. They want to familiarise themselves with the area before they even arrive.

So I want to base my vlogs and articles on being useful to others.

Here’s what you can expect:

  • Travel options and accommodation (including prices)
  • Surf spots
  • Issues that I experience in different places (see here for the Dominican Republic)
  • Things to see and do
  • My experience working remotely as a digital nomad

I appreciate that there are already people that do this, but honestly I don’t think they do it very well.

For example, and this may sound trivial, but very few people actually just show you a map. They don’t provide a birds’ eye view of areas and explain what transit times are or let you visualise the pros and cons of certain places to stay. I can buy a map, I already have a drone so this is something that I really want to incorporate. Again, it’s something that I would find really useful and hopefully others would too.

There will be b-roll of sunsets. There will be surfing clips. There will be blue water. There will be videos that are more #wunderlust than overly helpful.

But that is not the focus of the channel. I can’t compete with that.

I don’t want to be an influencer. I want the channel to be popular because it helps people and provides genuinely useful information. And you can hold me to that.

What’s my plan?

It’s pretty simple.

For my first year of working remotely I aim to work enough to pay the bills, but not much more. A sabbatical of sorts. I want to surf more, and hopefully get a hell of a lot better at it.

I want to get this vlog/blog off the ground.

Ideally, I want to work a 4 day week. I don’t think that I could do nothing. I want to have projects that require critical thinking, continual improvement and create a routine. However, when my working day is over (and on a 3 day weekend) it means that I’m instantly in what is likely to be a tropical location.

It’s all fairly embryonic at the moment. As Mike Tyson famously said, “Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the face”. I like that. Stay flexible. Still have a plan but be prepared to change it at a moments’ notice.

More to come.

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