im looking for suggestions on where to move this October..

id be bringing my girlfriend, computer, sunglasses, flipy flopys, board shorts and not much else..

im trying to find the perfect place we can move to and live the good life for fairly cheap., the biggest catch is i need perfectly solid internet/power to grind for a living..

we want to rent a condo/apt on or near the beach..

at first we were thinking of somewhere in mexico.. but i dont wanna be worried about my 20yr old girlfriend all the time.. so a fairly safe area is important

i was also thinking about panama city..

iv been to thailand and its perfect.. besides the terrible internet/power issues.. and we would also prefer to stay a little closer to the usa as we will be returning for holidays..

any ideas/suggestions would be awesome...

keep grindin'

themaincola

San Sebastien in Northern Spain

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Sebasti%C3%A1n

Panama City Panama or Florida?

imo Panama City (Panama) is not a great place to just have a relaxing "beach life", nor is it significantly safer than most Mexican beach cities. It's an awesome city in its own right, though.

looks really nice and iv heard good things.. i imagine the cost of living is the same as the states or higher tho...

id really like to find somewhere that the dollar goes really far..

T50 thanks for the insight..

what do u guys think about Puerto Vallarta? anyone know how the internet is there?

good luck grinding if u actually find a place with a great beach and nightlife. i had the intention of doing this when i rented a flat in surfers paradise australia but once u get there u wont want to be wasting your hours playing poker, trust me. i found it very hard to stay motivated when you have so many distractions around you i.e. great weather, beach, girls, bars, restuarsnts and all other sorts of entertainment. tbh i stopped playing poker after the first few weeks as there was so just so much more to do and see then what seemed like wasting my time 6 tabling 200nl- 400nl on ipoker

yeaa it will be a hard at times to find motivation...

but when im not running cold i lovvve playing!
and maintaining the lifestyle will keep me at it..

finding a place where the dollar goes extra far will allow more time away from the comp..

and sense im bringing my girl.. that will take care of a lottt of distractions...

the biggest motivation killer would be laggy internet that disconnects, as i multi table
sngs getting kicked offline is something i just cant deal with..

the search continues...

whats ur budget for rent a month? look into panama or argentina or uruguay in latin america or search the thailand forums and look into that. ive never been to thailand but have heard nothing but good things. also the us dollar goes a long way there

thailand is amazing..
and super cheap.. but the internet (least where i was, 2yrs ago) wasnt cutting it...
the so. islands are the place to be.. and they lose power all the time..

sounds like a lotta grinders are in thailand..
but i imagine many of them play cash games (where disconnecting isnt as huge a problem as sngs) or maybe they dont play much at all and all just living off there profits..


my rent budget is around 700/month

st maarten looks awesome but too expensive..

latin america is where im mostly looking... safety (for my gf) and good internet are currently the biggest factors tho..

San Sebastian is a very good option, although probably over your price range as Its one of/the most expensive city in Spain.

I'm paying 900 euro a month for rent, for a 2 bedroom apartment, although the place is nice, central with a big deck and beach views. I think you can get as low as 600 a month but not for as nicer place.

On the plus side, with Spain being a highly developed country there is no problem with internet.

Its also an extremely safe city.

Food and other expenses are will obviously be higher than Thailand and Central/ South America, probally similar to the States. On the plus side, the quality of the food and drink is awesome.

I've been to Puerto Vallarta. I liked it but the beach is rocky and dont really know what the true local scene was like. Also didnt seem super cheap. Doesnt seem like what you are looking for imo.

It sounds like you need to hook up with hockeyshawny in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. I expect he will write a trip report soon.

Personally, probably Bondi Beach in Sydney, even though its not that cheap and busy.

phuket's internet is fine atm. you can get 2/1M adsl line for ~1000 baht ($30) a month with reliable service provider (TT&T). I also have CDMA(a usb aircard) as backup if my main line disconnects (happened once in the 5 months in my current house).

it is true that we lose power here every now and then. some areas more than others. in Karon we lost power for several hours about once a month. Now i live in Rawai and we have lost power once for the whole day(working hours). So i wouldnt call it all the time but it happens sometimes.

UPS solves that problem. i assume your sng's won't take an hour to finish ever if you lose power at the start of a sng? internet draws power from the telephone line and your laptop should have a battery that lasts an hour. the UPS is for the router and if you dont get the crappiest one you can grind 1-2 hours with no probs with it.

A decent UPS costs 1500-2500 baht ($45-$75)

i think if internet and power losses prevent you from coming to thailand i would not worry about those

More beaches to grind from please...

How about somewhere in the pacific?
Seems at least safe.

margarita island in venezuela maybe?
im living in barcelona, so for me San Sebastian doesnt sound so good... :P

I'm half american half venezuelan, and I would almost strongly suggest margarita island except that its not very safe. Large nice 1br apt with beach views can be had for starting around 500 a month. The water is crystal clear with tropical fish everywhere. Electricity and gas are very cheap, but the political situation is dangerous. Inflation is soaring, and the capital has one of the highest murder rates per capita in the world. Getting to margarita island from caracas can be done by bus cheaply, but its been getting more and more dangerous. I hear margarita island is rather safe as long as you never mention politics...although my dad got mugged there once...yet he was walking alone at night. I would be living there if it weren't for hugo chavez... instead of living in the u.s. like a chump...

Colombia was in the same situation but has been getting much safer lately. Beaches aren't as nice imo.

Isn't there a 2p2 poker house in southern brazil? Maybe there is nice...

well thats good to hear...

soo over here in the states i think im getting 5m internet speeds. with the option to upgrade to 10m (mega byte?)

do u know what the best internet over there would compare to?

also couldnt figure out what UPS is.. but i guess with just laptop batt life and no power on the island i could still finish up my games?
(i play the regulars on FTP, so they take about 55min to win)

thats pretty cool to hear...

might have to come back to thailand!

tks paranoya..

sounds really nice but as i expected sounds a lil dangerous to be bringing my girl along

bulgarian dead sea. v cheap, safe. bulgaria just joined the EU so transport and internet is good.

or a small coastal town in albania. albania is undeveloped so its likely to be very cheap and unspoiled (no tourists). its a secular muslim country so id suspect its v safe.

i cant help you comparing thai internet to us internets.

UPS = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uninter...e_power_supply

can you play 4 games at a time and not experience any lag?

also in your opinion where would u go for the best beaches/internet?

phucket kinda felt a lil expensive and touristy for me..

my fav islands were kho phangan an phi phi

kho samui if i remember correct was just coverd with lady boyz..

You can do that on a 256k connection.

2mbit connections are common in Thailand. The only problem as said above is blackouts (which only happen on Phuket and Samui due to monsoonal flooding). The other problem is simply finding a place that has a landline connected (many places use Wifi only which is NOT reliable for poker). However, that simply means you have to look around a bit more for a place with a hard connection. There are plenty around.

As I've said before in the Thailand thread, the best internet access in Thailand is found in Pattaya, which also has a beach.

Pattaya has a bad reputation because of the sex trade, but it has many advantages too:


1 Pattaya is far cheaper than either Bangkok or Phuket in terms of accommodation and services.

2 Pattaya has far more services than anywhere else in Thailand, due to it being basically a town built and run by foreigners.

3 It's only an hour drive from Bangkok airport (1500 baht in a taxi). Which makes it an ideal place to travel elsewhere in asia from.

The beach isn't as nice as the beach in Phuket or Samui, but the overall package is worth considering.

Google Images Pattaya Beach

if i didnt keep asking i wouldnt get all this great info!

cheers

sure. I 12-table all the time

i would come to phuket. i havent been to pattaya but i havent heard anything good being said about it (except from pokerspiv). beaches are not as nice as in phuket. also pokerspiv said it is built and run by foreigners. imo i would want to avoid places like that. i am sure it is cheaper though

everyone has their preferences though. IMO phuket is better choice for you

depends hugely where and when you stayed. if you stayed in patong in december i can imagine you hating it. patong/karon/kata are the main tourist traps and i try to avoid them as much as i can. i live in a bit more quieter(=less touristy) place(rawai) but i am still only 10 mins away from nai harn beach which some of us think is the best beach in phuket. there is also a tesco park and homepro complex 5mins away that have most services i need.

well i dont think any foreigners live on phi phi

it is a nice place to visit sometimes though