When its time to leave
If you're reading this you're already on a platform where people are informed, and quite likely you have at least peeked into some sort of preparedness content and such.
Maybe you're already a "digital nomad", or aspire to such a lifestyle? Maybe you are even working remote, and already have started preparing, building a side hustle that can scale later.
Some of us have also put a lot of energy into research on specific countries or regions, maybe even a single jurisdiction.
But what if that country suddenly closes down or catches a colour revolution? What if an opportunity arises in a country that you never even considered, a country that you have no knowledge about whatsoever?
Plan C versus Plan B
A good plan B is well researched, fits your needs, and has no huge gotchas that you know of. Ideally you will be in control all the way, and unless something major happens you won't have to ditch it or return back to square one.
This was a good way of doing things until 2020 hit, in my own case it worked very well until it all unraveled. I had planned for close to anything anyone can plan for, with businesses that could withstand almost anything.
But I never planned for the airspace to literally close down globally...
Although I walked away from what I had built early, and by doing so preserved resources that I can still draw on, I also did hang onto my plan B at least on a subconscious level.
Flexibility and adaptability
For someone migrating in a controlled manner planning everything and following all rules makes sense. The problem is that this comes at the cost of being nimble and flexible, it can easily turn into a real trap.
In retrospect I see that I should have had a plan C all along, especially since it would have backed up my plan B by leaving me with a mindset where options are key.
This way of thinking is what I have focused on the past couple of years, in many ways getting back to a much younger self where the world is my oyster :-)
Trial runs
Since Vietnam is an option for me here in the region I did my first plan C trial runs there, starting off with a few days in Da Nang and then later Saigon, doing two separate, very improvised trips.
For my previous plan B there was a lot of planning, especially around visa and travel gotchas. This time I did things very differently on purpose, arriving with no return ticket, no hotel booking and nothing but a small backpack.
What would be the worst that could happen? Perhaps getting into a dialogue where I'd try to convince them that I can book anything right on the spot using Travala and crypto, maybe showing my dollar bills to prove that I could fund myself. Super worst case some argument around health checks and such, but likely never anything worst than having to go back on the next flight.
Still, for someone past half a decade on this planet it does something to the mind to ditch all the "what if"s, to revert back to yoloing things. All the tiny things you can read in the queue at immigration, the mental part of calming your mind and getting any dialogue right.
Of course it worked like a breeze both times, and of course I reverted to my old way of checking out any big city: just walk! Then walk for a few hours more, get some food, then keep walking! :-)
You get a much better impression of any place when walking around at random, popping up at hotels asking if they have a room or not, how is an old geezer with worn out shoes perceived? Are they able to point you to a run down, cheap place to stay?
Do those places ask you for a passport or not? Not that I was on the run of course, but what if that actually happened? Would you be able to hole up somewhere so you'd be even able to keep fighting another day?
This is what a trial run is for, do it anytime you travel and you'll build knowledge and skills that in many cases can be transferred to other cities.
Fixers and helpers
Any messy and inscrutable country has fixers and helpers. Some have very organized setups where informally appointed visa agents streamline everything for a fee, and some are far more messy, where you might have to mix them in with what you do yourself to get a footing.
Do you know how to assess these people, and the services they render?
Any experience around these things is valuable, and you really need to observe and remember each tiny detail, especially since it might make sense in retrospect when you have learnt more about the situation you are in.
Especially Saigon was interesting, walking all the tiny back streets I was met with many astonished glances, but not much hostility. Would it be possible to maybe pass down the same streets a couple of times each day, and then connect with the right people? Probably!
Passing by a rather large and polished motorbike shop I had already been going for hours, I was sweaty and getting into that meditative, slow but determined way of keeping going for hours.
And this is what the guys hanging around the front desk must have recognized, they looked at me in an approving manner, I greeted them with a tiny nod & then kept walking...
To these I was already "marked" as someone who is certainly not a tourist, maybe even someone up for rough times, but also that it was not my first rodeo!
I have no idea what they might be up to, and of course you can never just walk up and ask, all I am saying is that if this was not a trial run then I'd certainly pass by another day, and then see where things might go from there...
Something similar happened when I finally found a hotel, the owner was a guy who had broken his back when training in the US during the war, he had purchased the hotel recently, probably after saving up since he got hurt.
Once again some real interest, some tentative mutual respect, and an opening into something... Certainly a good base to get started if I had to, someone to learn from, to give me pointers...
There is a lot to be said about this of course, and lots of it is hard to sort out and categorize, so I will try to get around to this later. The important part with any kind of fixer or helper is that you have to get it right, you have to earn the trust, and also assess those that might help you, especially in the context you are in.
Of course there are no "consumer rights", no HR department, no guarantee you won't be ripped off, no guarantee that they might not fuck up landing you in trouble! Which is why you need several of these, you need to compare information, learn as much as possible in a short amount of time, and then get your decisions right, without blaming anyone else at any point. That mindset will land you in trouble for real!
Where to hole up
To get used to "plan C thinking" hotels are perfect, you can so easily do this anywhere, even in your own country or city. A hotel is always a potential base, it is a place where it is totally normal for guests to ask any weird question, and it takes a lot before they turn on a polite, quite guest that shows real interest for their country and culture.
Can you leave a bag for when you come next? This always works as a way to get yourself flagged as someone who intends to get serious about the location, merely asking might give you valuable pointers.
I have had an increasingly larger bag in an old hotel for more than a year when I was building my plan B, at a certain point I was even offered a room in the part for locals, at a price that was impossible without building that connection.
Recently I left a bag in Kathmandu before doing random legs via Dubai, Cairo and Istanbul. I even forgot to leave the key, and a very helpful immigration officer at the airport actually delivered that to the hotel, declining even a tiny tip.
Returning a month later than I had told them of course the connection was deepened, and even though I really cannot afford that hotel I feel certain that they will remember me. I never run into trouble or lose anything really, but if that happened I know where to go for the night with no passport and no cash until things get sorted out...
And now that I will return there soon I also have a few expats that have gotten to know me, one of whom has stayed there for 12 impossible years. I've even got the number to their visa fixer!
What cannot be done online
Many of these things can not ever be done online or on a phone line. Sure, you can research a lot online, you can get the general picture, but since these are grey zones you will never get the whole story, not even when you finally find the right fixers. They need to protect themselves, but also they need you not to know too much. Its a good thing if you do, but let them take the lead, use your growing knowledge to merely check off the boxes, are they doing their job right or not?
You also won't know how you function in environments like this. How do you handle the insecurity? Are you able to parse all the information, or will the need for a manual or service agreement block you from pulling the trigger?
Or maybe you're not seeing the risk, just taking the chance with the wrong things where you cannot afford to go wrong...
Even if you want to follow every rule in the book, which often just is not possible, you still need to deal with others in a very alien environment, especially if you've had to trigger a plan C to somewhere you know nothing about!
Where to from here?
I have always been a "big picture" guy, I've always seen things that others ignore, and that has been both a good & bad thing through the past decades.
But what is clear by now is that my plan C is getting better, and that simple fact makes me relax a bit in my current plan B location. There have been times & forks in the road where I have been very close to ditching my plan B forever, and we might still get to such a fork.
From here I will keep honing my skills, I will keep writing stuff like this, and I will try to get some structure to things that are seemingly chaotic and random. In reality they are not, any jungle has a very clear set of rules, what matters is to stay alive another day to learn, always...
Do you have any comments, questions or objections? Anything is welcome, this is the jungle after all!