We Roam / WY_CO Review — Polaris Tour 2017

In January 2017, I joined the inaugural We Roam tour, Polaris. We Roam is a travel program/agency built around the growing digital nomad market, which is made up of expatriates that like to move around, and usually have a remote job they can do from anywhere (Update: In 2018 the company changed its name to WYCO, or WY_CO, but then unfortunately went out of business, and will not be conducting any future trips).
The basic model is to accommodate 20–40 remote workers in a different city each month, for up to a year.

Living all across the United States, I had grown to appreciate travel and transition, but had limited international experience, and was looking to change that. We Roam’s diverse selection of countries looked like a great crash course.
I also tend to be a little antisocial, so I’m always looking for ways to stay friendly.
I stuck with the program for a full year. Here’s a breakdown:

Value

We Roam is expensive, but so is the cost of living in the United States. For the same cost as my monthly rent at home, We Roam not only got me a place to live, but also covered flights and workspace memberships. I came away feeling like it was money well spent. As a bonus, there’s a social circle built in, and this turned out to be the best part of the deal.

Diversity

The travel market is a broad spectrum. There are vacationers vs. business travelers, enlightenment seekers vs. partiers, students vs retirees. We Roam focuses on digital nomads, and the tendency for them to be professionals. Everyone on Polaris had a job, or was pursuing some sort of professional goal or transition. Having a baseline for the group is great for social cohesion and energy level, but like other market segments, digital nomads can get a little homogeneous. I’m the standard: age 30+, white guy, tech worker. WR did a great job of not just dumping a bunch of brogrammers on a plane and sending us on our way. We had plenty of developers, but I was surprised at how often the “so what do you do?” question had an unexpected answer.

The age range on Polaris was mid-twenties to early forties. On average, we were in our thirties. I’ve always had friends of different ages and liked having this makeup, but I think it was smart of WR to limit the generational hurdles.

We Roam’s marketing is in English, and the cost of the program is incurred in dollars, so it attracts mostly Americans, and many of us on Polaris were from the coasts. We had plenty of people from all over the U.S. though, and we had enough members from other countries that I found myself the only American on a few of the day trips we took in smaller groups.

Women tend to travel more, and there were only a few of us guys some months, but over the year, we were close to 50/50 on gender.

Lastly, the breadth of the itinerary was a big plus for me. We didn’t spend too long in any one region.

Social

Traveling for a year expectedly created some strong bonds. By the end, only a handful of us had completed the marathon. Cliquishness and drama were consistently low, so we generally sent exiting roamers off with a fond farewell, and welcomed the new ones. Credit to the WR screening process.

The experience was such that even 2 or 3 months of flying to cities, living as neighbors, planning outings, chatting and joking in our Slack channels, and hanging at the workspace was enough to create friendships. Many of us are already planning on meeting up in the future.

Remote jobs are a relatively rare privilege for individuals, and even more so for couples, so we had mostly singles. We had a big range of dating expectations, from near-celibates, to Tinder professionals. Overall it was something we could commiserate and bond over.

The WR staff and owners are genuinely likable, and I count them among friends made on the trip. They were sort of like nightclub hosts, in that I wanted them to have fun with me, but I also needed them to stay sober and handle everything for me and my 30 friends. They were able to walk that line.

Housing

Bluntly, I wanted to visit developed and developing countries, and I knew housing would involve trade-offs. In general, developing areas offered us more living space, but tended to have more broken or under-performing amenities. Be prepared for toilets that can’t handle tissue paper, finicky appliances, power outages, some exposure to the elements, noise, and the like. Developed countries were obviously in better shape, but were more expensive and therefore had us in more frugal arrangements.

There were exceptions to both of these rules, but setting my expectations before the trip helped me roll with any punches. In general, programs like We Roam aim for locations that cost-effective, so the experience will tilt towards developing over developed. We didn’t live anywhere that could be called undeveloped.

We Roam puts a lot of effort into scouting locations ahead of time. Considering some of the horror stories I’ve heard from travelers about housing, I think WR hit the mark on their first run, and kept us away from a lot of big pitfalls. Where it was clear that that an arrangement definitely wasn’t working out, roamers were usually moved.

Because we were the first tour, two cities were changed out (months ahead of time) after scouting or additional research: Lima for Bogota, and Ho Chi Minh for Hanoi.

Some cities were obviously the types of places where it wouldn’t be possible to find 30+ studios in one area, and we were therefore assigned shared housing.

Don’t expect totally consistent standards, but know your limits. Do some web searches about countries and cities, watch some travel videos.

Workspaces

I was consistently happy with our workspaces. Not only do these places usually serve a demanding clientele, but We Roam also looked for the best in each city. The majority of the time, we had enough seating and reserved spaces, and fast internet. Most of the countries we visited only had serviceable residential internet, so the high-speed connections at work were essential.

Efforts were always made to make sure we had 24-hour access.

We Roam staff got ahead of some our unique needs with pre-travel surveys, but roamers were often surprised by the differences in workspace layouts and rules between countries. For example, some places had a lot of unrestricted call rooms available, others didn’t.

Travel

Almost all of our travel at the end of each month was done by air. There were some hiccups transferring people to the airport and keeping everyone effectively corralled, but we got where we needed to be every time.

We Roam is partnered with AirTreks, and books flights at a group rate. Roamers can divert with advance notice, but once the tour is booked for the next destination, it’s basically locked in for everyone.

Languages

I was not expecting to encounter so much English around the world. Where I didn’t, I felt I had the resources to figure things out (translation apps, local contacts, charades). I only got chastised once or twice for not speaking the local language. Limited Spanish and French helped me here and there. We Roam organized language introductions each month that helped us with the pleasantries. Just being able to say thanks was often enough to put us in good graces.

Food and Water

Several of the cities’ food scenes blew us away, but not everywhere was a foodie paradise. There was always something new to try, and we consistently had somewhere nearby to shop for groceries.
Where we were told we shouldn’t drink the faucet water, it was usually not too difficult to stock up on bottled.

All of our vegetarians and vegans survived, and sometimes thrived.

Most of us got food poisoning. I had it twice, and probably could have avoided it in retrospect, but it’s something to expect.

Transport

Getting around required the most adaptability month to month. Ride-hailing apps have expanded hugely in recent years and are often a first choice, but plan to get your mobility in a variety of ways.

When We Roam was organizing transportation somewhere, it almost always went smoothly.

The Locations

I won’t do 12 deep-dives here, but will try to call out stuff that was important to me.

We Roam has some info out there about the home and work life that is a bit rose-colored, but generally accurate.

January: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Apartment in a small complex. It was a bit sparse and had some faulty electrical outlets, but came with a large desk for working and solid residential internet. Oddly my WiFi was setup via an ethernet cable strung from my neighbor’s 2nd floor bedroom.
No washing machine or dryer, so I chose to hand-wash my clothes.

20-minute walk to a modern, clean, uncrowded workspace.

I made a run to the hospital for antibiotics, and found it to be generally efficient and professional.

WR has some improvements in store for the housing and workspace arrangements here, which makes sense considering it was their first go at planning a destination.

February: Florianopolis, Brazil
Visa required. I got this myself in the U.S. before leaving in January.

Nice guest-house-style apartment with a great view. More bugs than I could shake a stick at (rural area). Some noisy construction towards the end of the month, but the owner was very apologetic about it. The air-conditioning struggled a bit here, but the weather was very hot.
The Internet was very slow.
I hand-washed and air-dried laundry again.

Primarily used a bicycle here, which was not the best for trying to get groceries and water bottles home. The ride to work was a little treacherous. Sometimes took Uber.

Workspace was not the best. Makeshift furniture, and the routers frequently got overwhelmed. WR directed us to other spaces in the area, which kept crises to a minimum.

I loved our local activities here. Beaches, islands, hikes, horse riding, boat trips and more.

Florianopolis had a lot of development going on when we arrived, and WR is planning on having better home and work arrangements for 2018 and beyond.

March: Bogota, Colombia
Studio in apartment tower. Most of the roamers lived in similar towers nearby.
Not much beyond small portable heaters to deal with the chilly weather.
Slow internet.
Had a washing machine with an odd drainage setup that caused an overflow once.

Very short walk to workspace in a charming old building. A bit noisy and crowded. Very friendly, fun, and helpful owners.

Took Uber to get around the large metropolitan area.

Killer food scene that spoiled us for choice.

Joined a rigorous gym here that was welcoming despite my limited Spanish skills.

Very polluted air.

There are important safety considerations in Colombia. We had a handful of robberies and dangerous encounters, but my understanding is that law enforcement worked hard to help out.

Several day trip options outside the city, and great options for longer side trips. I had a great time in Cartagena, and particularly liked Medellin, which We Roam is making their primary destination in Colombia going forward.

April: Rabat, Morocco
This is the first place many of us were assigned shared housing. I was in a fairly spacious apartment with three other roamers.
Stiff beds, small showers.
Internet couldn’t quite handle all of our devices, so we had to manage how many were connected.
Laundry machine.
Electrical issues: After several painful electrocutions in the kitchen, and subsequent calls to electricians, we learned that Morocco is notorious for shoddy electrical work (bad grounding). Some rewiring, floor mats, and electrical tape helped over our initial weeks, but we had to avoid a couple hot spots for the end of our time there.

Local car-hailing app was needed to get to work. Memorable workspace in a converted warehouse, full of creative art. Unique tented area on the roof where many of us spent most of our time.

Our local city lead here was very involved and helped out a lot, but didn’t or couldn’t always come through with everything he took on.

We had a blast playing paintball and bubble soccer.

I joined another gym here with a super personable owner/instructor, where I was lucky enough to train with many of my fellow roamers. Highly recommended.

Interesting historical attractions in the area, but not the most dynamic city. Most everyone ventured out on side trips to get some variety. I formed some memorable bonds with a large group that went to Marrakesh.

We had several cultural misunderstandings in Morocco, including a run-in with overzealous tourism police that mistook a roamer for an unlicensed tour guide.

We Roam is removing this destination from their itineraries, which I think is a tough, but right call.

May: Barcelona, Spain
Everyone was placed in student housing tower for the month. My room was equivalent to a small hotel room, with a small kitchen. With regular cleaning services, an on-site laundry facility, and fast internet, this was one of my favorite living arrangements. Some roamers had less-than-ideal smaller rooms and shared kitchens, but it was fun to have everyone in the same building.

Work wasn’t close, but still walkable. The workspace occupied several floors in an office building. The main floor had a nice deck with a beautiful view of the city. Crowded space, with a few isolated areas we could escape to.

Cultural attractions, shopping, food, nightlife, the beach, and events all came together to keep most of us very happy and entertained during this month. It was a highlight of the trip for me.

June: Prague, Czechia
My apartment here was the most space I had to myself, and came stocked with all the supplies and amenities I could ask for. For some reason it had a very uncomfortable futon bed.
The owner was trying to split one internet connection across multiple apartments using WiFi repeaters, and it was a total fail. WR staff and I wasted a lot of time debating with him about the technicalities of the problem.

Roamers were placed in several different neighborhoods, but stayed connected through the excellent subway system, which also got us to work. This was a new and hip multilevel workspace. The only downside was the weekly events they put on that forced us out of the main work area many times in the early evenings.

We got a lot out of our time here. Ballet and opera shows, countryside excursions, a visit to a Cold War bunker, a food tour, and the Metronome music festival were all memorable.

I got a big kick out of my gym of choice here, which was made up of a bunch of stern Czechs training in what appeared to be an old gutted movie theater.

I also took dance lessons with a talented instructor, on the north side of town. Highly recommended.

July: Berlin, Germany
A roamer roommate and I shared a very nice apartment with a washer/dryer, well-supplied kitchen, fast internet, and spots for us to work when needed.

Roamer housing in Berlin was very spread-out, I assume due to availability and cost considerations. I started creating custom Google maps for the group around this time, so we could all add our addresses and find each other.

The workspace was quite far, and could get crowded, but we had multiple locations available, and the public transportation system was top-tier.

Berlin is so livable, and so important historically and economically, that it should be visited by anyone with the chance, but it was not the best fit for a large group. WR is not returning here.

This was the only place on the tour I’d been before, so once I’d gotten my doner kebab fix, I took some time away to visit Amsterdam with several others, and we all enjoyed the change.

August: Split, Croatia
Very small shared apartment here, but it was nicely furnished, had pretty good AC to combat the heat, and included laundry service.

The city is small, so most of the roamers were nearby, and we had a reasonable walk to the workspace, a small architecture office we partnered with. It was not my favorite, but we were the only ones using it, and it worked out for the month.

Internet speeds everywhere in Croatia were not the greatest, and we made frequent use of mobile hotspots.

Our city leads were exceptionally friendly and helpful. WR staff put together a very fun and memorable welcome party at the beach.

Split is small, and branching out happened quickly. National parks and the islands were the side trips of choice here, which were all scenic and relaxing.

September: Belgrade, Serbia
Upon arrival, the owners of our housing were legally obligated to have us adhere to a strange registration process involving paperwork and identification delivered to a local police station. It went smoothly for most of the group, but several of us had unprepared contacts that didn’t know the correct process. My roommate and I subsequently spent our first night on a wild goose chase, that could have been avoided had we gotten a better briefing from We Roam before arrival.

Shared apartment here with a cramped common area, but we each had bedrooms with desks, and a good-sized bathroom with a laundry machine.
Internet was finicky, but good enough to use for work.

Roamers were distributed, but close, and within walking distance of our workspace in a nearby shopping district. The layout was a little strange, and there were multiple WiFi access points to keep track of, but it came with a tasty food delivery partner.

Our city leads here were very popular, and planned a lot of classy days for us, including a winery visit, and a great food tour.

The city itself was also almost universally popular with the group. We were all surprised by the charm of the neighborhoods, people, and history. I felt like the city had just enough grit to be interesting, but still welcoming. The low cost of living was a hit too.
We primarily got around with ride-hailing apps.

Several of us signed up for a fitness pass that got us into some fun gyms around the city.

A few of us took a very worthwhile side trip to Israel.

We Roam also organized a multi-day stay at a retreat center. It was very chill and well-run, and we had the opportunity to take a day trip into Romania.

October: Chiang Mai, Thailand
Roamers were placed in two adjacent apartment buildings. The rooms were very standard, sparsely stocked and furnished, but we all had our own, and there were few complaints. There was a laundry facility between the buildings.

The nearby workspace was small and always full, so we usually took Uber to the larger main branch. It was pretty standard, and also crowded, so the group didn’t frequent it very often.

With Chiang Mai being a major digital nomad hub, and Thailand a popular vacation spot with a low cost of living, the activity and side trip options all presented themselves: temple tours, cooking classes, national parks, elephant sanctuaries, island resorts. Many in the group got scuba certified.

I joined a brand-new gym at the top of the mall by our apartments. It was staffed with several great instructors that essentially provided 1 on 1 training. I fulfilled a life goal of training Muay Thai in Thailand, and even got to attend a stadium competition.

I celebrated my birthday in October, and felt straight up blessed by the gestures and planning from my friends, and the group’s turnout for the evening. WR did a solid job ensuring that something came together for roamer birthdays each month.

November: Hanoi, Vietnam
Visa required. We Roam organized processing for this while we were in Thailand.

Again placed in a handful of apartment towers in one neighborhood, but most were shared. There were frequent complaints about cleanliness, stuff breaking, and noise.
Internet was usable for work, however my place appeared to have a dummy router that wasn’t actually broadcasting an ID, so my roommate and I were connected to the router upstairs for the month.

We had a short walk to a large, uncrowded workspace. It was a little run-down, with a lot of critters, and had a lot of intrusive events. It turned out it be shutting down towards the end of the month, and we were kicked out a couple days early.

We had a few interesting excursions here, but it was a little underwhelming compared to Thailand. The city itself was very hectic and polluted. We usually stuck around our neighborhood at the handful of quality dining and hangout spots. We used ride-hailing apps when we wanted to get out. A few of us spent a lot of time at the convenient gym next door to our apartments.

I received some run-of-the-mill medical attention here, and found it to be very professional.

WR will not be returning here on future tours.

The highlight for Polaris in November was a big, roamer-organized Thanksgiving dinner. We hosted 3 courses across 3 apartments, with contributions from everyone. Our head hosts pulled off an array of impressive logistical feats, turning their apartment into a lovingly organized and decorated dining space that fit the whole group for the main course.

Hong Kong is a short flight from Vietnam, and a few of us had a fun time checking it out, and visiting Disneyland.

December: Canggu, Bali, Indonesia
Bali’s airport was closed due to volcanic ash as Polaris was getting ready to leave Hanoi. We Roam staff scrambled to adjust our plans, but I was not a fan of the resulting changes. Our flights were changed to a different Indonesian airport without much of a heads-up, and a 12-hour bus ride was scheduled from there into Bali.
The situation was complex and fast-moving, but ideally I would have liked clearer announcements leading up to the change, and an opt-out period. Ultimately I was able to work out a hotel to avoid the bus (which I heard was not the safest ride), and gambled on the airport reopening the next day, which paid off. A large part of the group joined me, and I think more would have opted for something similar had WR offered to facilitate a bit, even if it was at our expense. Comparable situations will inevitably come up for future tours, and better contingencies should be on deck.

In the hustle to get to Bali, there was also limited communication about the confusing Indonesian visa renewal rules. The bottom line is that we should have gotten an early warning about the time-consuming process involved in extending beyond 30 days. Many in the group were only scheduled for a couple days over 30, and could have just booked flights out at the 30 day mark had they known about the rules ahead of time.

Despite the hurdles, we had a good time. We each lived in our own rooms in a few guest-house-style properties, all within a few minutes of each other. Amenities were very limited, but the places were all clean, with AC, internet, and a fun island vibe. Laundry service was available.

Scooter rental was pretty much the only transportation option, and I was glad to have gotten a little experience riding in Thailand.

Our workspace was a short ride away. The island vibe continued here, the whole place being open-air (so many mosquito bites) with a haphazard layout, but there was easy parking, convenient lockers, a great cafe, and a fun community. They also had an impressive multi-ISP internet setup, and generators for the occasional power outage.

Bali being another digital nomad hub, there were lots of trendy and low-cost spots to hang out and grab food. Overall we took it pretty easy. Beachside sunsets viewings were the top activity.

Those of us who were certified went out on several scuba dives. Highlights included a fast-paced drift dive, and manta ray sightings.

I was surprised to find a huge gym in town.

We had a couple thefts on the streets of Canggu, and received a lot of warnings about playing it safe at night.

The trip‘s last official event was a Christmas party and gift exchange at a villa. We were able to take a look back at some of the great times we’d had, and it felt great to bring it all to a fun conclusion.

Several roamers made plans to visit Australia and New Zealand after their time in Indonesia.

Improvements

For a first-run, I think We Roam succeeded with Polaris. Getting up to 40 people around the world was a huge undertaking, and I’m rooting for We Roam’s continued success going forward. Moreover, they deliver the experience I was looking for: a social introduction to international travel that wasn’t purely a vacation. I would absolutely consider doing it again, but I would like to see some changes.

Autonomy and Transparency
Ironically, most of us who had signed up to have this service to handle all the logistics of traveling for us, frequently wanted to be more hands-on with the process. Roamers wanted to change their accommodations, wanted to check into their own flights, organize special arrangements at workspaces, etc. WR hustled to respond to adapt on Polaris, but has room to grow.

If there are going to be a lot of non-standard apartments somewhere, maybe there should be visibility on that, and a cancellation grace period. Or, roamers could identify themselves as flexible or inflexible on certain factors, before the trip, and their membership fees could reflect placement on one tier or another. The WR team has indicated they are working on some upgrade options that I think could fit the bill.
A dynamic rewards program could be implemented to incentivize flexibility.
Many of the Polaris roamers felt like the monthly housing-preference surveys we took had little to no impact, and I think WR would be better served with a clearer approach. WR staff did appear to go to great lengths to make sure roommate preferences, and reasonable hardline requirements were taken care of.

We Roam has a great web portal that provides a lot of helpful visibility on what to expect in each destination, and the gaps are filled in by Slack and email communications. I think standardizing and unifying the communications, and surfacing what I really need to know each month would be the key to a 5-star experience.
- Is my next flight booked? Can I divert my itinerary?
- What cities might I have a roommate?
- Does our next workspace have a call room?
- What is my Schengen calculation? What visa rules am I about to break?
- What are the emergency contingency plans? What’s the latest status on any current contingency planning?

Consistency
Travel days initially had multiple helpful announcements in the preceding weeks, but by the last few months, although we trusted the team, we were usually in the dark until it was time to go.

Sometimes official parties and events were fantastic, other times they felt poorly planned. Often the roamer-organized events were the best in month, so maybe tours would be better served having WR operate as more of a facilitator when there isn’t an obvious fun option.

There were a handful of great volunteering and professional development events, but more often they were uninteresting. Meaningful volunteer work is hard to organize for a bunch of transients. Maybe relationships will develop over time as WR visits cities more than once, but this might be something to stop trying to do every month.
Roamer-led profdev presentations were often the most interesting.

Several people on Polaris mentioned to me that WR had done some overpromising in their initial interviews. WR seems to be moving toward having potential roamers vet the program by getting in touch with current or past roamers, and I think this is a good move.

Emergency services. In a bad situation, I probably would have needed to log into our web portal and dig through the city info to figure out what I should do. I would have liked for this info to be broken out for easy reference, and presented quickly at the start of each month.

Is it right for you?

The biggest factor for me was my job. The company’s culture, the nature of my responsibilities, and my salary were the right fit for remote work. If you’re starting a new job or career, hustling on something entrepreneurial, have timezone-sensitive tasks, or are shaky on the financials, consider alternatives before taking the plunge.

Home life. My apartment lease was ending as the trip began, and I was able to get rid of most of my stuff, but I decided to keep my car and try to leave it with family. It turned into a burden for them to manage, and we had to go through a long process of paying it off, transferring ownership, and selling it. If you’ve got more going on, like home ownership, family or other personal obligations, give yourself plenty of lead time to work things out before taking off.

Test your comfort zone. Take a short trip somewhere unfamiliar, meet new people, resolve some stressful situations. In a routine at home these things might happen infrequently, but challenges are frequent if you’re traveling every month.

Get some hobbies. Being able to participate and bond with others through the gym or dance classes, the outdoors, games, food and nightlife was a huge reason the experience was positive for me. Even if the mutual interests were limited, I had something to share.

Research and FoMO. Check into the destinations, what you might want to do there, and the cost and effort involved. I missed out several great side trip opportunities because I wasn’t prepared to take them on, or disinterested for the wrong reasons.

Tools and tips

I traveled with only two bags, and did not check luggage. We had a couple of lost baggage incidents, which can be a major hassle.

Look into a cell service that includes international coverage. Google Fi was invaluable for me. In the one or two places I couldn’t use it, I could still keep the number active, and receive texts through Google Hangouts, which was important for the verification SMSs that a lot of web services use now.
Bring a spare phone in case you lose your primary. It’s rough without one. Key apps and sites:
Google Maps
Google Translate
Google Flights
WhatsApp
Venmo (activate and sign-in before you leave the U.S.)
Opera VPN
Oanda Currency Converter
Rome2Rio
TripAdvisor
Foursquare
AirBnB
Booking.com
Safeture
CIA World Factbook
Wikipedia (check out the weather charts for cities you’re headed too)

The checking account available from Charles Schwab has no foreign transaction fees. You really want this. Don’t pay 3% on top of everything you buy. The debit card also seems to have pretty good security features and alerts, but didn’t lock me out every time I hit an ATM in a new place.

Get a good plug adapter, and don’t lose it.

Noise-cancelling headphones were a must for me on airplanes, and if things got noisy at home.

My elastic workout band was a clutch purchase, and helped me stay fit when I couldn’t hit the gym.

Get your vaccinations.

Have a backup plan. Before I left, I did some quick planning around when and where I could bail if I needed to, how much it would cost, and where I would go. Having peace of mind on this helped me enjoy myself.

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We Roam is already implementing improvements to the program based on feedback from Polaris members and others, including the option to join month-to-month. I’m happy to have been part of the pioneering group, and wish future roamers success on their journeys.