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Liberation Travel Hacks 11/2025
We opened Paralelná Polis in Bratislava, Slovakia, almost 10 years ago, and successfully operated it until the COVID-19 pandemic. In Prague, as part of Ztohoven, we launched Paralelní Polis in 2014, a project of global significance as the world's first Bitcoin-only café. We perceived the concept of Paralel Polis on an agoristic, crypto-anarchistic level—to define ourselves in relation to the state, not to change it through demonstrations or voting, because we do not believe that any democratic form of state can converge towards greater freedom.
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On the contrary, thanks to crypto technologies, we can create parallel structures to live our free lives without violent interactions from the state.
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We realized that the best strategy is to use all available technological and legislative tools to achieve opt-out and become immune to political decisions, whatever they may be. Many of us have succeeded in doing so—we have canceled our residencies, legally stopped paying mandatory contributions and taxes, moved into the crypto world, and opted out at the systemic level.
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Parallel Polis in Prague and Bratislava no longer exists, but Parallel Polis Košice still exists in Košice, and it is active and alive. I highly recommend visiting it.
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Pavol Lupták, November 1, 2025, Buenos Aires
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The EU
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The EU is moving full speed ahead toward a totalitarian society, hand in hand with China.
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Ten years ago, people would have protested en masse, saying that ugly China tortures and imprisons Uyghurs, carries out public executions, and harshly censors any information through the Chinese firewall.
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Now it is "normal" for the head of Chinese censorship to meet with the Slovak government (it's called "normal diplomacy"). It is "normal" for ECB President Christine Lagarde to applaud the extensive pilot testing of the Chinese digital yuan and wish for the same in the EU.
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It is "normal" that this month the European Parliament was to vote on a ban on end-to-end encryption in messengers (which, of course, does not apply to the police, the army, judges, or politicians), something Chinese communist leaders could be proud of.
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On the other hand, crypto-anarchists, people who strongly oppose Internet censorship or advocate anonymous payments, are complete extremists.
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If you pay taxes in the EU, you support all these totalitarian practices.
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Just as paying taxes in Slovakia supports the pro-Chinese and pro-Russian government, which has no problem meeting with totalitarian bastards.
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The EU is ultra-socialist, where the state will fleece you as a productive and wealthy person (the total tax burden in Slovakia is 63%). What you may not know is that some EU countries have decided to attract very wealthy people ("high net worth individuals") and offer them a very special tax regime: you pay a fixed annual amount and that's it. Any other income from abroad (including crypto) is usually not declared or taxed, so you effectively have territorial taxation (!) within the EU, as in Paraguay or Panama. To apply for this tax regime, you usually cannot have lived in the country before, have normal tax residence there, or be a citizen of that country. Such countries include Greece, Malta, Cyprus, Italy, and Poland, which have joined them under interesting conditions.
1. If you invest at least EUR 500,000 in real estate or the Greek economy and have never lived there long-term before, you will obtain non-dom status for an annual flat fee of EUR 100,000. You will no longer have to pay any taxes on any of your foreign income (!), which is decent considering that Greece has a progressive tax rate of up to 44%. You can use this program for up to 15 years.
2. Malta has long been an attractive country for Paraguayan tax residents, where you can apply for "non-dom" status (explain to them that you don't want tax residency in Malta because you already have it in Paraguay). You can live there long-term and pay no taxes on foreign income, only on the money you send to your Maltese bank. The great thing about Malta is that you don't have to pay any annual flat-rate tax; you have to live there most of the time (which can be a bit boring).
3. Cyprus can also be an attractive country for people who are willing to live there for at least 60 days a year (it is definitely more boring than Malta). To obtain "non-dom" status, you must either live in Cyprus most of the time (more than 183 days a year) or more than 60 days if you meet certain conditions - you have permanent residence in Cyprus (you own or rent an apartment), you do not stay in any other country for more than 183 days a year and you are not a tax resident of another country. And you have your own business (company, job, office) in Cyprus. You do not have to pay any annual flat fee to avoid paying taxes on your foreign income, but you must live in Cyprus for at least 2 months a year and have your center of vital interests there.
4. Italy is now becoming a beautiful country for wealthy millionaires. You pay an annual flat fee of EUR 200,000, and you don't have to worry about any other taxes. Of course, you cannot be an Italian citizen or tax resident beforehand. And you can take advantage of this program for another 15 years.
5. And the most interesting one is Poland, where you can pay an annual flat fee of PLN 200,000 (EUR 47,000), and then donate PLN 100,000 (EUR 23,500) annually to Polish non-profit and charitable organizations or to support the Polish economy. Then you don't have to pay ANY TAXES on foreign income (so it's pure Paraguay style). You can use this regimen for up to 10 years.
So if you are a wealthy person in the Czech Republic or Slovakia and you don't want to pay any taxes on crypto or any foreign income, while living 5 kilometers from the Slovak or Czech border, with the possibility of visiting your loved ones at any time, then Poland can be an excellent destination for an annual flat fee of EUR 70,500 per year.
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Peter Hulla: News from the EU: "The last EU company has dropped out of the top 25 largest global companies (SAP 26th). The new AI model for video generation from OpenAI, Sora 2, has not been made available in the EU due to regulations, in particular the AI Act and GDPR.
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Ms. von der Leyen was unable to present her communication with Macron to the Commission because she had to free up memory on her phone and deleted it; otherwise, "her phone would have fried" (quote). Meanwhile, a proposal for "chat control," i.e., the deanonymization of private communications via chat applications such as WhatsApp, is on the table in the EU. Of course, this is in the children's interest. On the stock market, you still cannot buy many non-European shares for the official reason that they lack documentation translated into all EU languages. From the perspective of the more reasonable part of Slovakia, the EU seems like a lifesaver—when you look at the wart on the government office, everything is better. Still, in this weird form, the EU is like jumping out of the frying pan into the fire..."
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Pavel Durov: "I'm turning 41, but I don't feel like celebrating.
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Our generation is running out of time to save the free Internet our fathers built for us.
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What was once the promise of free information exchange is now being turned into the ultimate tool of control.
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Once-free countries are introducing dystopian measures such as digital IDs (UK), online age checks (Australia), and mass scanning of private messages (EU).
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Germany is persecuting anyone who dares to criticize officials on the Internet. The UK is imprisoning thousands for their tweets. France is criminally investigating tech leaders who defend freedom and privacy.
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A dark, dystopian world is approaching fast — while we're asleep. Our generation risks going down in history as the last to have freedoms — and to allow them to be taken away.
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We've been made to believe that the most incredible fight of our generation is to destroy everything our forefathers left us: tradition, privacy, sovereignty, the free market, and free speech.
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By betraying the legacy of our ancestors, we've set ourselves on a path toward self-destruction — moral, intellectual, economic, and ultimately biological.
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So no, I'm not going to celebrate today. I'm running out of time. WE are running out of time."
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UK
France
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French citizens will pay global taxes: France has just officially proposed global taxation for the 2026 state budget. French citizens would have to pay taxes on their global income if they moved to a region with a tax rate 40% lower than in France.
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At the same time, you risk being called up for military service based on your citizenship. Most European countries implement modern slavery in the form of compulsory mobilization based on citizenship.
Plus, there is the risk that the state will prevent you from traveling and force you to return (and go to war). See Ukraine, which has shut down consular services for its citizens abroad, so that when Ukrainian citizens' passports expire, they must return to Ukraine (and go to sacrifice their lives for the nation), otherwise they become illegal immigrants everywhere in the world.
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Citizenship/passport is a way for your modern state to literally hold you by the balls.
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The US
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And as Larken Rose says, the ban on burning or defacing state symbols is a post-feudal relic, on a par with banning negative comments or criticism of the king.
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This ban turns the worship of the state into a religion—in this case, the destruction of the symbol of the statist deity.
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And it's even worse than religion, because you can legally burn religious symbols in the civilized world.
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Paraguay
Georgia
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After many years of cooperation with Bank of Georgia and opening hundreds of premium SOLO bank accounts for our clients, Bank of Georgia began blocking incoming fiat transactions for dozens of our clients over a month ago, requiring them to provide a large amount of information (source of income, reason for the transaction, connection to Georgia, etc.), even for small transactions (amounting to EUR 250). This also applies to my personal SOLO account, where they blocked two small transactions. This is excessive banking harassment, which we are unfortunately used to in the EU.
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Bank accounts at the Bank of Georgia continue to function, but you have to expect increased bureaucracy and harassment from the bank.
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Despite the Bank of Georgia's aggressive demand for this information from our clients, they have simultaneously stopped communicating with us and have provided no further information or explanations.
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Therefore, until this situation is resolved, we are terminating our cooperation with the Bank of Georgia and will not be opening new bank accounts for our clients there (until further notice).
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The good news is that we are establishing cooperation with Georgian TBC Bank, which offers a product very similar to SOLO called TBC Concept, so we would like to start opening bank accounts at TBC Bank in the coming weeks.
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At the same time, we have launched non-CRS bank accounts at Kyrgyz Aiyl Bank (more information below) and Bakai Bank, which are operating without any problems.
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Kyrgyzstan
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Currently, until the end of the year, with a special bonus — a one-year VISA Infinite subscription!
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After many months, we have managed to fine-tune the opening of a non-CRS bank account at Aiyl Bank in Kyrgyzstan, with a special bonus until the end of the year — a one-year subscription to the highest VISA Infinite card, at a favorable price of EUR 1,337, and with the entire account opening process available remotely.
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5 reasons why you want a non-CRS bank account in Kyrgyzstan
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1. Kyrgyzstan has not signed and does not plan to sign the CRS, and does not perform automated reporting
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Unlike most countries, Kyrgyzstan has not joined (and does not plan to join) the global CRS spying cartel (which includes all EU countries). This means that Kyrgyz banks do not send automated information about account holders outside the country (as most banks worldwide do).
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Paraguay has not signed the CRS either, but there are the following problems you will face if you want a full-fledged bank account in Paraguay:
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- To open a bank account in Paraguay, you need temporary or permanent residence in Paraguay (we are happy to help you with this).
- To open a full-fledged Paraguayan bank account (without limits), you must declare local Paraguayan income, which is also taxed. Without local Paraguayan income, you can only open a basic bank account in Paraguay with a monthly limit of USD 1,000 (I recommend Banco Familiar, ITAÚ, or UENO).
- To apply for a USD account or a better VISA/Mastercard card at a Paraguayan bank, you must be a solvent client with a sufficiently high (declared) income.
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However, you can only dream of a EURO account at a Paraguayan bank.
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You don't have to face any of these problems if you decide to open a non-CRS bank account with the Kyrgyz bank Bakai or Aiyl, where we can open an account for you remotely — you don't need any connection to Kyrgyzstan, nor any local income. You can get a full-fledged account without any restrictions.
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2. You do not need residency in the country or any other connection to open a bank account in Kyrgyzstan
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In most countries around the world, you need either local residency or other connections, such as an employment contract, studies, or other ties, to open a bank account. This applies to all EU countries and almost all Latin American countries, including Paraguay and Uruguay. As an EU citizen, most banks in the EU will not open a bank account for you because you do not have residency in the given EU country (fortunately, I do not need an EU bank account because I have a better one :-)
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An exception is Georgia, for example, where you do not need local residence or any connection to Georgia to use Georgian banking services. Unfortunately, Georgia has signed the CRS agreement and has thus become a member of the global spying cartel with automatic reporting. If you are not a lucky tax resident in a non-CRS country, such as Paraguay, and you do not have a Georgian bank account opened in your tax residence in a non-CRS country (which we will be happy to help you with), then expect that it is only a matter of time before your Georgian bank reports you to your tax residence.
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3. Multi-currency account (USD, EUR, GBP, CHF, AMD, AZN, GEL, KGS, KZT, KRW, TRY, RUB, AED, and CNY)
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Aiyl Bank allows you to easily open a bank account (with one click in their mobile app) in the following currencies:
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- USD — US dollar
- EUR — Euro
- GBP — British pound
- CHF — Swiss franc
- AMD — Armenian dram
- AZN — Azerbaijani manat
- GEL — Georgian lari
- KGS — Kyrgyz som
- KZT — Kazakh tenge
- KRW — South Korean won
- TRY — Turkish lira
- RUB — Russian ruble
- AED — United Arab Emirates dirham
- CNY — Chinese yuan
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You can receive foreign transfers directly in all of these currencies.
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To receive EURO transactions, you can use the correspondent bank Landesbank Baden-Württemberg in Germany (SOLADEST).
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International transfers take a few days, but all of them arrived without any problems.
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4. Elite VISA Infinite card
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What surprised me most about the Aiyl bank account is the elite VISA Infinite card, which you get for USD 150/year (as part of our promotion, you get the first year free). The card is valid for 5 years.
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When ordering this card, you can choose USD, EUR, or KGS. The price of this card includes:
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- A personal manager at the bank who will provide you with advice and assistance with various transactions for all bank products
- Fast Track airport service: Expedited airport formalities
- Dragon Pass program: Free access to 1,200 business lounges worldwide as part of the Dragon Pass program, 6 times a year
- VIP lounge at Manas Airport in Bishkek
- Free baggage wrapping: Free baggage wrapping at airports in Bishkek, Almaty, and Astana
- Visa Concierge chatbot
- Insurance service from VISA up to USD 2.5 million
- Roaming service: Air Aio 3GB roaming 3QR
- Consultation with a doctor: Dariger Online—unlimited
- Discounts and other offers from companies around the world
- Booking.com — 6% discount and Agoda — 12% discount
- Discount at Avis — 35%, etc.
Kyrgyzstan does not have as developed a crypto infrastructure as Georgia. Here are ways (these options will likely expand in the future) to send crypto to your Kyrgyz bank account through:
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- Our Signal group, P2P Crypto Exchange for Kyrgyzstan users, where we voluntarily connect our clients who have accounts with Kyrgyz banks and want to trade crypto. They conduct P2P crypto transactions while clearing fiat through their EUR/USD account at a Kyrgyz bank. This is probably the safest and most advantageous way to trade crypto.
- Binance P2P, which works reliably and quickly within a few minutes. Current offers to sell USDT for KGS can be found here.
- CoinX is a local crypto exchange that operates in only one direction (from fiat at a Kyrgyz bank to crypto).
The special price of EUR 1337 includes:
- Complete preparation of the power of attorney and its legalization/apostille.
- Delivery of the apostilled power of attorney by courier to Kyrgyzstan.
- Certified translation of the power of attorney into Kyrgyz.
- Based on the power of attorney, purchase of a Kyrgyz SIM card from the provider Mega24 — a Kyrgyz local number linked to a bank account (the SIM card only needs to be topped up with a minimum amount once a month from your Kyrgyz account — you will receive detailed instructions from us).
- Opening a bank account based on a power of attorney.
- Application for and collection of a VISA Infinite card.
- Sending a VISA Infinite card + Kyrgyz SIM card by DHL to your address anywhere in the world.
- Sending the necessary instructions on how to log in and use Internet Banking.
- In addition to our Kyrgyz Signal groups, where you can do P2P crypto trading.
- One-year subscription to the VISA Infinite card (usually costs $150) and a minimum deposit of $150/€150.
What do I need to open an account?
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We will open a bank account for you at Aiyl Bank, either in person or remotely, upon receipt of an apostilled power of attorney and a copy of your passport.
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We have tested both regional and international apostilization. We need from you:
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- Your billing information (name, address) and preferred payment method (any cryptocurrency, transfer to a Kyrgyz account).
- A scan of your passport and temporary/permanent residence address, based on which we will prepare the necessary power of attorney (which we will then apostille after your signature).
- Your Signal number—we will create a separate Signal group where we will guide you through the entire account opening process.
- What primary currency do you want for your VISA Infinite card (EUR or USD)?
- The delivery address where you want your VISA Infinite card + Kyrgyz SIM card delivered (plus email and phone contact for the DHL courier).
Is it possible to open a corporate account with Aiyl Bank in Kyrgyzstan?
Yes, it is possible, though a bit bureaucratic. Aiyl Bank needs the following information about your company. If you provide us with this information, we can try to open a corporate account for your foreign company.
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Bitcoin, Monero, ZCash, and cryptocurrencies
My updated lecture How to Survive as a Digital Nomad in 2025 on crypto. Added slides about Zcash and Zashi— I definitely recommend checking them out if you are interested in anonymous cryptocurrencies. Plus links to new crypto services that will allow you to make SEPA transfers in the EU without reporting on your Paraguayan documents.
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My friend Jan Hubík on ZCash in 2017: "Now I mainly mine ZCash. It's a completely anonymous currency that behaves like cash." "Bitcoin is a bit retro now. It's not as anonymous as people think, it's pseudonymous."
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A new version of Eigenwallet (a Monero and Bitcoin wallet with native support for atomic swaps) has been released.
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Privacy
Travel Hacks
Slow travel isn't just about taking a more extended trip — it's about shifting your mindset from sprint-seeing tourist hotspots to a daily rhythm, local routines, and genuine community. In contrast to fast tourism, slow travel emphasizes taking time, living fully in a place, and often supporting the local culture and environment. For digital nomads especially, this means swapping five cities in one week for a 2-to-4-week stay (or more) in a place where you can work, play, and connect. The result? Less burnout, more meaning, and a pace that feels like home.
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How to pack like a high-tech minimalist
And travel the world with a small backpack
I have written several posts about how to pack a small backpack and travel the world with it without restrictions. In this article, I will try to summarize and update everything.
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Backpack
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The size of "carry-on luggage" (22" x 16" x 8") is too big and too bulky for me for longer trips.
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If you are a true minimalist, try packing into a cabin bag size (40 cm x 30 cm x 20 cm), which is the maximum allowed size for Ryanair/Wizzair carry-on luggage without paying any extra fees. You can even fit a 14-inch laptop in there. I traveled around Europe for months like this, and it really works, especially in the summer. The most enormous backpack that meets these size requirements is the BetWay Cabin Pro. Currently, I treat myself to "comfort" and travel with a Travel Pack 3 Small X-Pac backpack. It is durable and waterproof. I would definitely not go for a larger one.
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An essential part of my large backpack is the waterproof Travel Daypack bag, which I use for day trips or shopping.
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Electronics
I have and use a System76 Lemur laptop (now in its third generation), which is the only powerful yet robust 14" Linux laptop weighing 990 grams. As a traveler, I am not interested in laptops heavier than a kilogram. In this category, the Lemur is completely unrivaled.
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I only have one charger, the LENCENT 65W/100W GaN International Travel Adapter, for my laptop and all my USB/A/C devices, which also works with all sockets worldwide. My Lemur laptop consumes exactly 65W, so this is the smallest possible charger that can still "power" it. If you have a high-power computer, buy this 140-watt one; it can power everything (I count every gram, so it doesn't make sense to me).
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I have two phones—a Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold and a Google Pixel Fold, both running GrapheneOS and with nearly identical configurations. The Molly client can run as a Signal client so that I can respond to Signal or WhatsApp messages (Business version) from both phones simultaneously. My phone is essential for my survival (and I can't buy a Google Pixel anywhere in Latin America if it breaks). A considerable advantage is that I use the phones as power banks for each other, so I can charge one with the other and vice versa (this also works with new iPhones). I don't carry a power bank with me because it's too heavy and causes problems at airport security.
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I have two standard pairs of headphones — Shokz OpenRun Pro2, which are great for hiking and cycling (since they are high-quality bone-conduction headphones, I can hear everything that's going on around me). For swimming, I use H2O TRI 2 PRO (the quality is lower, and I don't know if it can be improved significantly for swimming). For essential video calls, I use the Google Pixel Buds Pro 2.
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Flipper Zero — the most elite, tiny hacker toy. You can make backups of your hotel cards, turn off and control TVs, turn on air conditioning (for example, I once had a cheaper room without air conditioning, but it turned out to have air conditioning after all, only they didn't give me the remote control, and thanks to Flipper Zero, I was able to unlock it :) The possibilities of this device are practically unlimited if you know them and know how to use them.
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Oura Ring — this ring annoys me a little because I'm already on my third one, and the battery still doesn't last long enough. Fortunately, it takes up minimal space.
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USB-C car charger — at first glance, an unexpected item, but I often rent cars that don't have one, and it's small and compact.
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(Optional) SmartGo Poke FI — global, cheapest Internet (I only take it to Asia and Africa, as my Paraguayan Personal operator covers all of Europe and America, where I have 80 GB/month).
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(Optional) DJI Mini 4 Pro — sometimes I carry a small 249-gram drone with me.
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(Optional) DJI Osmo Pocket 3 — the best portable video recording studio. I carry it when I might meet interesting people I would like to record a podcast with.
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Clothing
I admit that I have it very easy when it comes to clothing — most of the time I wear the same clothes and only change them depending on the weather, so that I'm not too hot or too cold. I'm a Uniqlo maximalist, so 95% of my clothes are from this brand. They are very compact, offer the best features, have the smallest cubic centimeter volume, and are priced reasonably. I usually have:
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Once a week, I wash my clothes in a public laundromat or rent an apartment with a washing machine.
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I always (and quite regularly) rent down jackets, hiking poles, and other bulky items at tourist centers anywhere in the world.
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Footwear
I am a member of the barefoot religion, so I carry Luna sandals or Wildling foldable shoes with me for walking around town/short distances. For trekking, I use Vivo Barefoot Magna Forest ESC. The black version is not only suitable for the mountains, but also elegant enough for lectures.
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Other items
- Toothbrush + toothpaste (consider whether you need an analog or electric one)
- Eye mask + earplugs (I'm still looking for some better quality earplugs)
- 2 passports (when I apply for a visa, I often have to hand over one passport; similarly, if I want to go to Armenia and Azerbaijan at the same time, I need two passports, etc.)
- All my ID cards and driver's licenses (I have a lot of them, but they all fit in one small wallet)
- Yellow fever vaccination certificate (some Latin American countries require this upon arrival)
- My personal quirk: A current apostilled extract from the criminal record and birth certificate, translated into Spanish/English, in case I want to apply for another temporary/permanent residence somewhere "along the way"
Packing optimizations
- Every time I pack, I check to see if I have anything in my backpack that I haven't used in weeks—if so, I usually throw it away.
- I try to be a completely USB-C-only device. Nevertheless, I have one classic micro USB cable (for charging on the plane, in a rental car where USB-C is not available).
- I only have one pair of pants (and shorts for when I'm washing those pants).
- I only have one pair of barefoot shoes and one pair of sandals. When they wear out, I replace them with new ones at the first shoe store I find.
- My life has also been simplified by a plastic belt that I don't have to take off at airport security checks (it's even better not to use one at all).
- Everything can be rented (I've never had a problem renting complete ski equipment at any ski center, in Patagonia I rented complete hiking equipment, including trekking shoes, in Nepal it was even possible to rent swimsuits :)
What I NEVER carry:
- A power bank, which is heavy and problematic at airport security (instead, I have two phones that I charge each other)
- Towel, shampoo, shower gel — there's always some at the hotel, and if not, I go to the pool or sauna
- Umbrella, comb, swimming cap — I don't understand these things at all :)
- No shaving kit — instead, I support the local barber scene or live the life of a lumber sexual :)
- No papers or books — I have all my tickets, certificates, passes, etc. in digital form. And if my phone runs out of battery, I have a second one to show them. The fetish for physical books is romantic, but you don't want to carry any books with you for six months.
- No medication (except for an emergency kit, at most), unless you're planning a trip somewhere completely off the beaten track where there are no pharmacies (which are almost everywhere, even in rural Ethiopia). Local medicines in a given country are usually more effective against local diseases/parasites than those you bring with you.
Where to go in the future
- Use more AI voice note apps (Voicenotes is really great, for example) and type less on your laptop/smartphone.
- Stop carrying a laptop and switch entirely to a foldable phone (with a mini external keyboard). Bitcoin Trezor Safe 7 or Nano Ledger X supports Bluetooth, so you can connect directly to your phone when signing transactions —no laptop needed.
- Stop carrying a smartphone and use something like Meta's Ray-Ban AI glasses with a display (the whole "Augmented Reality") and a wristband, which are the first "post-smartphone" devices (it's an amazing technological gadget, too bad it's backed by Meta and therefore no privacy, see review). I think these devices will eventually completely replace smartphones (glasses are "closer" to the head, after all, and we will become even bigger minimalists :)
Interesting links
A few people sent me a link to videos of so-called "Sovereign Citizens" who do not recognize the state, do not have ID cards, do not pay taxes or health insurance, drive without a driver's license, and try to live outside the system. This is nothing new—in the US, where this movement has existed for decades, these people call themselves Sovereign Citizens. They claim that the US federal government is illegitimate and that they themselves are "sovereign beings" beyond the reach of state laws. They refuse to pay taxes, driver's licenses, insurance, courts, etc. In Germany, they are called Reichsbürger ("citizens of the Reich"). They believe that the Federal Republic of Germany is just a corporation founded after World War II and that the "Deutsches Reich" (German Reich) still legally exists. In Austria, they are called Staatenbündler, Reichsbürgerbewegung, or simply Selbstverwalter ("self-administrators"). They share beliefs with the German Reichsbürger — they claim that the Republic of Austria is illegitimate and that they administer their own "states" or "communities." In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, they call themselves "living people" or "sovereigns" or use terms such as "natural man" or "man of flesh and blood." They have the same ideas as in the US and Germany — they refuse to be "persons" under the state, refuse to pay taxes, etc. Even though I agree with them ideologically on the moral illegitimacy of the state (I have a problem, for example, with the fact that in the democratic process, citizens delegate to their representatives rights that they themselves do not have — such as parliamentary immunity, the right to steal from those who did not participate in the democratic process and never agreed to it, etc.), I realize one key thing that they forget, which seriously endangers them:
THE STATE HAS A MONOPOLY ON VIOLENCE.
And it is entirely irrelevant whether you consider it legitimate or not. This means it actually punishes and imprisons people who break its laws (even if they are all non-violent crimes) - driving without a license, not paying taxes, not making social security or health insurance contributions, etc. And this is actually happening – here are a few examples from different countries:
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USA – "Sovereign Citizens" Edward and Elaine Brown (New Hampshire, 2007) – They refused to pay taxes, claiming that "the federal government has no authority." – After armed resistance, they were arrested after a 9-month siege. – Sentenced to 37 years in prison. Winston Shrout (Oregon, 2019) – A "sovereign citizen" who sold fake "financial documents" and promised that they could be used to erase debts. – Sentenced to 10 years in prison. Germany – "Reichsbürger" Wolfgang Plan (2016) – Reichsbürger from Bavaria who shot a police officer during a raid on his home. – Sentenced to life imprisonment. – This case led the state to start registering Reichsbürger as a potentially dangerous extremist movement. The "Reichsbürger – Prinz Reuß" group (arrested in 2022) – Approximately 25 people, including former soldier and nobleman Heinrich XIII. – They planned a coup and the establishment of a "new empire." – They are charged with treason and terrorist conspiracy. The trial is still ongoing. Austria – "Selbstverwalter" Fritz G. (Horn, Lower Austria, 2019) – He called himself a "living person" and rejected all decisions made by the authorities. – He refused to pay fines, taxes, and court summonses. – In the end, the authorities confiscated his house because he refused to pay taxes – the court found him guilty of not paying his obligations to the state. The "Staatenbund Österreich" group (led by Monika Unger) – They declared their own "state" within Austria. – In 2019, Monika Unger was sentenced to 14 years in prison for treason and incitement to hatred.
If you want to leave the system (as I did), then go ahead, but do it legally without violating any laws of the monopoly on violence that we have here. And it is utterly irrelevant whether you recognize this monopoly on violence or not, and whether its laws make sense to you or not. The key is to avoid any fines or imprisonment (if you end up in jail, the good feeling of being a "living person" won't help you at all).
1. Learn how to use cryptocurrencies, especially anonymous ones. How to buy them anonymously, exchange them for cash, and pay for anything with them.
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2. Learn how to take out a crypto loan with Bitcoin collateral (which is not a taxable event) and how you can live off it long-term without breaking the law and without official taxable income.
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3. Cancel your permanent residence (it is not enough to lose/throw away your ID card); you mustn't be registered with social security and health insurance.
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4. Start an offshore company. If you can operate 100% on crypto, you don't need a bank account, and the number of offshore countries from which you can legally do business will increase.
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5. Obtain the best tax residency in Paraguay (which you can have even if you do not actually live in Paraguay). As long as you have no income in Paraguay, you have no obligations there.
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6. Drive with a Paraguayan driver's license and cedula. Without it, it's really not okay, and you could end up in trouble. In Germany, you must obtain an official translation into German.
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7. As far as possible, try to plan your life so that you do not live in one place most of the time / do not have a center of vital interests, and therefore are not tax slaves of that country (if you live on a crypto loan and have no official income, it does not matter).
Talk to your friends about how to live outside of state intervention without breaking any laws. It really is possible.
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Events
27-30.12.2025 39C3 in Hamburg
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