Common Misconceptions

Common Misconception—It’s all going to be so incredible!

The Real Deal—You will have challenging moments and incredible moments, and everything in between.

Those travel porn Instagram pics you’ve been seeing? Those represent about 2% of travel, not the 98% of the time when someone had to walk to the top of a mountain in the rain with a blister to capture that shot. Are you going to have life changing, inspiring, unforgettable days with Remote Year? Yes. Are you going to have really challenging days with Remote Year? Yes. Life, and all of its ups and downs, still happens on Remote Year. But with every ugly comes an upside, and the upsides on Remote Year will take you places you’ve never imagined.

Common Misconception—Remote Year provides a totally seamless experience for you to work and travel around the world.

The Real Deal—Traveling is messy. We fix everything.

Traveling the world is one hell an adventure. Living and working in a different country every month will be equal parts exciting and messy, perspective broadening and unexpected. We consider ourselves experts in the remote work and travel lifestyle, but that doesn’t mean we can control or predict everything.

We are not...

• Mother Nature—She can make it cooler than seasonal averages, rainy on a day we had a hike planned, or hotter than the sun whenever she feels like it.
• The Law—Countries have laws you may not be used to. For example, strict restrictions on prescription drugs being brought into Japan.
• The Powers of the Universe—Sometimes things happen, like a water crisis in South Africa or terrorism in Istanbul.

While we can’t control the forces that be, we plan and respond in the best way possible. For example...

• We work with the leader in global safety and security, ISOS, to decide where to go (and where not to go).
• We strive to provide information that will help you plan as best as possible based on feedback we’ve heard from the Remotes before you.
• We plan backup dates or refund events that get cancelled due to weather.

Common Misconception—Remote Year will make this experience incredible for you!

The Real Deal—We’ll create a great platform for your experience. You’ll make your experience incredible.

Think of Remote Year as a suitcase. We build you a solid suitcase—no broken zippers, no weird wheel that won’t roll the right direction. When your Remote Year program is over, you take that suitcase with you. All we can promise is a sturdy suitcase—what you put inside of it, what happens to the exterior along the way, and ultimately what you add to the contents, is up to you.

The Remote Year platform is the foundation for new achievements, new companies, new relationships, and new perspectives. However, none of this is possible without the incredible Remotes who bring them to life. Thus, a lot of the Remote Year experience is what you make it.

Expectation—You spend $2,000 - $2,250 per month on Remote Year.

Reality—Remote Year’s monthly fee is $2,000 - $2,250/mo. If you only spend that amount on Remote Year, you will literally starve.

Your Remote Year monthly fee will be a fixed cost each month, but there are also other pieces of the experience for which you'll want to budget.

Expectation—Remote Year is cheaper than your life in NYC.

Reality—The cost everything Remote Year provides is cheaper than your apartment rent in NYC.

Remote Year may be cheaper than your life in the NYC, but that depends entirely on your style of life on Remote Year. Things that tend increase spend include taking side trips, liking expensive food, taking taxis over walking/public transport, shopping, having visitors in town and participating in a lot of Plus Events.

Expectation—All travel is included.

Reality—Travel between Remote Year destinations is included, but your flight to the first city and home from the last city is on you.

We have some tips on booking that initial flight on the Arrivals FAQ page—check it out!

Expectation—All of your travel will take place over the weekends, and never interrupt your work.

Reality—We do our best to book your travel in a way that doesn’t interfere with most work hours, and guarantee travel falls between Friday evening and Monday morning local time.

Due to the length of travel and changing time zones associated with intercontinental flights, continent to continent travel days can overlap with some Remotes’ working hours.

Expectation—Travel days are quick and fun.

Reality—A part of travel that can be less than glamorous is the travel itself. We do our best to optimize your travel experience, but sometimes you’ll have very early check outs, late night arrivals or imperfect flight patterns.

The Travel Team optimizes for a bunch of different factors—overall travel time, keeping the group together, cost, airline, through tickets, and coordination between groups. Not every flight is not going twill be direct, during the most attractive hours of the day or the best one you can find on Google Flights. This also means that sometimes Remotes have to check out of their apartments a few hours before they leave for the airport so we can clean the apartments before the next group’s arrival.

Expectation—The Travel Team will change any group flight.

Reality—Our Travel Team can work with you to change your flight, but usually there are associated fees.

The Remote Year Travel team exists to help Remotes alter and customize travel to best suit each individual’s needs. If a Remote ever wants to change, upgrade or alter flights, he / she needs to email travel@remoteyear.com. While Remote Year does not charge anything for these changes, there are usually airlines change fees that get passed back to Remotes based on the route, how far in advance the change is requested and a few other factors.

Expectation—You'll rack up so many frequent flyer miles on Remote Year.

Reality—Not all Remote Year flights count toward frequent flyer programs; it's likely about half of your Remote Year flights will earn you miles.

There are a number of factors that drive this, but the main two things to know are...

1. Some Remote Year flights allow for frequent flyer accrual, and some do not.
2. Of the flights that do allow accrual, sometimes we can pre-populate frequent flyer numbers for Remotes, and sometimes Remotes need to do that at the airport when they check-in.

Expectation—You can leave your Remote Year program any month, no worries.

Reality—Sometimes Remotes have personal or professional commitments, and they need to leave the program for a month. To accommodate this, there is an Opt Out policy.

Remotes can take the month off, but they still pay a reduced rate of $1,000 / month, as long as they notify their Program Leader at least 45 days prior to transition to that city. When opted out, Remotes do not have access to Remote Year accommodations, workspaces, private events in any Remote Year city, nor SIM card services unless specifically requested. Remotes do retain access to travel between cities, Community and Nation Slack, Facebook groups, the Google Group and Calendar, positive impact initiatives and public events.

Expectation—Visitors are always able to join events or stay in Remote Year accommodations.

Reality—Visitors are welcome, we love meeting friends and family! There are some limits and additional fees for visitors staying in RY accommodation and taking part in events.

We prioritize Remotes, paying customers, over visitors when push comes to shove. A couple visitor policies to be aware of...

1. Accommodation—It is not always possible to accommodate visitors. When it is, you get five nights free, subsequent nights are $15/night up to 10 total nights.
2. Events—Generally, if there is excess space on an event, visitors can join for a fee.

Expectations— Remote year will sort out all of the visas to the countries in my itineraries.

Reality—it is not possible for Remote Year to advise on the visa process. Remote Year will provide travel or accommodation documentation when it is necessary for Remotes to secure their visas.

Consulting an immigration / visa legal professional or getting in touch with the relevant embassy is a reliable way to determine whether you need a visa to travel to the countries on your Remote Year itinerary. Each Remote is responsible for determining what, if any, visa is appropriate for them and securing their own visas for each destination on their itinerary. We will provide travel or accommodation documentation when it is necessary for Remotes to secure their visas.

Check our Travel Page on the Premote Hub for resources on visas + immigration.

Expectations— My accommodation will always be 100% impeccable and nothing will ever go wrong.

Reality— Sometimes you may see a bug or two or a whole family… 🐜

Some of the things that pop up in your apartment or house in your home country have the possibility of occurring in your Remote Year accommodations, too. For example, you may find a bug or two in your room, there could be a stain on a wall or in the carpet or your room, building may have previously allowed, or currently allows smoking.

If an issue arises that needs immediate attention, like the hot water stops working, the power goes out, or the toilet, sink, shower, etc. needs servicing, Remote Year will provide a resolution as quickly as possible.

Expectations— My Program Leader will organize absolutely everything for me!

Reality— Your Program Leader is an epic human ensuring that you feel safe, comfortable and happy while traveling on RY, however , she/he is not your secretary, therapist or doctor.

You will have a Program Leader (PL) traveling alongside you and your community during your program. PLs work with our larger Remote Year team to deliver great customer service throughout your experience. They might not have all the answers, but they can connect you to the right person or piece of information.

Your Program Leader does not work 24/7—they work normal business hours and take vacation days, too! It’s not atypical for them to work a weekend and take a week day off instead. Keep in mind that a normal response time is 24-48 hours. PLs are not doctors, lawyers or therapists. They cannot assist with medical issues (but we have a service called International SOS that can) or legal issues. They also do not book nail appointments, though you may be able to convince them to come along with you for a pedicure!

Expectations— Remote Year will help me find a Remote Job.

Reality— It is your responsibility to secure and maintain your professional position while on RY

Remote Year is a work and travel program, which means that Remotes should be working throughout the entirety of their program. It is your responsibility to secure and maintain your professional position—whether that is getting approval from your current employer, finding a new remote role, making the shift to freelancing or pursuing ongoing education. Remote Year is not a job provider, but we are happy to share how and where other members of the Remote Nation have found success.

Check out our Job Hunting Page on the Premote hub for some awesome resources on Remote Job hunting best practices.