There are a lot of travellers working on the road these days. They are juggling the desire to see and experience everything with the need to make enough money to support the travels. Their needs are simple. A safe and secure place to stay where they feel comfortable leaving their electronics when they’re out and about with their camera and a descent internet connection, preferably wifi to easily connect mobile devices like tablets and smartphones.

If they’re lucky their hostel, hotel, guesthouse or B&B will provide this for them. If not, they have to search further afield. Even if it is possible to work from a bunk bed, a lot of working travellers prefer to head to coffee shops. It’s more comfortable and they can enjoy watching the world go by as they do it. It’s a very different local cultural experience to wielding a camera and visiting temples.

Chiang Mai is known for having workable coffee shops with decent wifi. The majority of them don’t seem to mind how long you sit over a cup of coffee or iced chocolate and some serve free drinking water. All of the ones we worked from have proper tables and chairs (sometimes sofas and low coffee tables as well). Most are located north of the Old Town, around Nimmenhaemin Road. Here’s our thoughts on just a few.

Bitter Sweet

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I thought it might be useful to give a breakdown on what we’re spending our money on so that you can plan and save for your own travels. We’re on a pretty tight budget and watching the pennies so you can easily spend more than this. We’re travelling as a couple so things like accommodation can be cheaper than travelling alone. We do, however, require our hotels to have halfway descent wifi and a working space. We’re also working on the road so we’re not necessarily having as many of the ‘tourist experiences’ as others might.

Although we’ve since moved on from Chiang Mai, it was only a few weeks ago so the figures are still relevant and useful.

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