Here comes 2025/6 winter season in Siwa

September 12, 2025September 12, 2025

TIME TO FLY SOUTH

We have had a great summer here at Somewhere Different in Blackpool. Camping in the Lake District, some tasty dinners and great company from all over the world. Alex, who runs Blackpool, is here for the winter, and we are open 365 24/7 in the UK – but the desert is cooling, and it’s time to fly south and get open in Siwa Oasis.

We land end of September and the new Siwan team meets in Cairo on 26th beofre heading down to Siwa for some deep cleaning and a lick of paint before opening the doors on October 5th to you, our nomadic guests.

JOIN US IN CAIRO?

If your schedule allows, why don’t you join us in Cairo for a day at the pyramids and some supply shopping before we all head down to Siwa together? The internet will not be live when we arrive, and the summer dust will still be on the kitchen table. Give us a day or two and the villa will come alive and you can crack on and work smart in the week and explore somewhere different at the weekends 🙂

WE ARE OPEN ALL WINTER

If you’re interested, please get in touch; the best way to reach me is through my personal WhatsApp. +44 and then 756 246 6016. If you can’t join end of September, we will be open all the way through the winter to next May. See you in Siwa 🙂

Coliving now open in Egypt 2023

December 21, 2022December 24, 2022

WE ARE OPEN IN SIWA FROM 15TH JAN 2023

Somewhere Different Siwa is now open for 2023. Go to bookings and select from the Sunday 15th of Jan to check availability as it’s all blocked off before then. Coworking and coliving in the Berber town of Siwa in the Western Desert of Egypt is now possible.

Our internet connection is good

We fully tested the internet connection last year and had a stable 37 Mbs for months. We did have a few power cuts. It’s Egypt, you will get this everywhere. What you won’t get everywhere in Egypt is the following.

An Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) is being installed. That means when you are on a zoom call and the power goes, the internet will keep running and not cut you off your call. It keeps the network up and running long enough for us to fire up the generator to power the network for as many hours as needed if/when the power is down.

Ubiquiti Wifi network

We will also have a new Ubiquiti network being installed providing strong wifi & CCTV throughout the villa, the roof terrace and all coworking areas. I installed one in Somewhere Different Blackpool 3 years ago; it’s had 100% uptime so going for the same setup in Egypt. So yeah – good reliable internet out in the desert for your coworking/coliving trip to Egypt is now an option.

From January 15th 2023 you can book to stay up to three months with us. Working smart in the week, exploring Somewhere Different at the weekends. To see prices and availability check the Egypt Booking section. To see what our coworking / coliving offering in Siwa looks like, see the Siwa Gallery section.

PCR test for the UK – no longer required

January 6, 2022January 6, 2022

PCR NO LONGER REQUIRED

From 04:00 GMT on Friday 7th 0f Jan 2022, fully vaccinated travellers coming to England will no longer have to take a test before they travel.

That means no worry about paying for your flight and booking into Somewhere Different and then not being able to to show up.

Full details from the BBC are here.

NO QUARANTINE IN UK

When you arrive, you do not have to quarantine in Somewhere Different. You can go out on the beach, super market etc.

You do have to take a lateral flow test and as long as you are negative, that’s it. You are done and can focus on your work and exploring.

10 Reasons Why Blackpool is the Place to be this Winter

November 1, 2021December 13, 2021

Are you looking for a place to spend the winter with that Christmas feeling without it being too cold? The place that is easily reachable, has a lot of entertainment, has an ice skating rink, Christmas market and all that without breaking the bank? Then you should come to Blackpool. Why Blackpool you say? This is why:

And a one more extra reason why:

Private rooms at Somewhere Different start from just £300 a month!

Coliving UK: Digital Nomad accommodation outside of London

October 4, 2021October 5, 2021

Coliving UK: Digital Nomad accommodation alternatives to London in UK - 2021

Coliving in the UK is often not seen by the Digital Nomad community as a destination option; because it’s ” too expensive”. With all the quarantine rules and double PCR tests you had to book for most for 2021, it kind of was. From October 4th 2021 you can now come and work from the UK on cheap flights due to the pandemic with no more quarantine requirements. With most of Asia still closed the UK is now a good option for people not looking to roast themselves under the sun this winter.

United Kingdom is not London, so the “It’s too expensive” is not true for all areas of the country. Yes, it’s not super cheap by any means, but many places shown below are several times cheaper to live in that are just a few hours away from London by train. Have a look at this guide produced by me, a native Londoner on coliving accommodation around the UK for Digital Nomads. Come and experience some homegrown British culture this winter. Starting from as little as £350 a month for your own room.

Looking to work somewhere different? Why not try Coliving in the UK?

Updated on Oct 5th 2021. We jumped out; we jumped back in and now with the lifting of the quarantine rules and the need for pre flight PCR tests things are pretty much back to normal. Due to some Co Living places in the UK getting wiped out by Captain Corona like the Collective in London that closed recently, it’s best to do your research to see who is open before you book your flights. Somewhere Different UK was lucky and we were able to stay open all the way through and are very much open now for the winter season.

Below are Coliving UK opportunities for visiting Digital Nomads to England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Look back regularly as I will update as and when Corna rules change and new places open.

Coliving UK: where can you stay? - Updated Oct 5th 2021

Coliving Manchester

Manchester is one of the clubbing and going out capitals of the world. It was also the hub along with Liverpool for the Industrial Revolution in that took the world by storm from 1760 onwards.

With regards to Digital Nomad accommodation in Manchester. Selina pitches themselves to Digital Nomads and is expanding all over the world. They are in London, Brighton and Manchester in the UK.

On selecting 1ts Dec to 31st Dec it does not give any prices other than “we are not available for these dates” It let me book from September earlier this year, you can see what they offer for a 4-week stay below. It’s best to email them to see if they are currently open under Tier 3.

8-bed dorm for £411 for 4 weeks. Is more than Somewhere Different – £300 a month for you’re your own room, but it’s more like it away from London prices and includes the use of their coworking area. They have an update for staying post corona here. They are promoting families for now as they can all share one room so you might want to remember to bring your noise-cancelling headphones with you till the vaccine is rolled out. Here is a blog post from someone living in Manchester as Digital Nomad.

I hear good things about CoCoHub who have a place here. I know their London manager who is very passionate about the whole movement. They are focused on mid-term stays for 3 – 6 months.

Coliving Liverpool

Lime St Station is 1.15hrs from Somewhere Different and 2.15hrs from London. Liverpool to me is like a Mini London. The Victorian architecture dominates the centre and like London, you can see the town properly kicked arse over 150 years ago. Livinc is a coliving offering in Liverpool from £169 a week as well as several other towns in the UK. That’s a bit steep for as you can read here in a blog written by a travel blogger who is from Liverpool you can rent a whole house for £500 near the football ground.

Cocohub has a presence in Liverpool along with many coliving apartment offerings. I won’t list all the apartment offerings as they are more for people looking for 6 months lets who have a new job in Liverpool and not accommodation just for Digital Nomads.

Coliving Edinburgh

These guys are up in Edinburgh in Scotland. You can get there in just under 5 hours from London’s Kings Cross by train. £99 a week for a shared dorm room. £300 a week for an apartment with your own bathroom. They mention they cater for Digital Nomads and that they focus on communal areas. There is no discount for longer stays however so if you book for 2 months that still £800 for a dorm bed.

There seems to be no restrictions on the type or person staying, so you may find many people are using the space as a place to live whilst working in Edinburgh and not Digital Nomads.

Euro Hostel is in Edinburgh and Glasgow and is pushing the Digital Nomad offering they have. From £20 a night for a dorm bed is more like it, though if you stay for a month to two that’s still pretty expensive I think.

The fact they know what a Digital Nomad is and are writing articles about being a Digital Nomad helps, so they will get why you do not sightseeing and sitting in the lounge all day.

Coliving Yorkshire - The Fort

The Fort York up in York say they welcome Digital Nomads on their web site and have beds in their dorms from £10 a night, but they also welcome school groups so you could be in for an interesting group of co-workers in the wifi area. They do not mention any separate coworking spaces in the hostel. But at least they will understand you want to sit in one place all day and not be disturbed and not keep mentioning the city walking tour every morning.

Coliving Lancashire

When I set up my coliving place in England this year, I didn’t expect Captain Corona to visit and I didn’t expect to find that there are no real alternatives to what I offer Digital Nomads up here on the beach in Blackpool. I knew I was potentially the first in my region but it seems I really am the first offering for Coworking Coliving UK has seen outside of London. I have tried to add in all the other cool places in the UK where you can get super-fast internet and your own private room in a coliving house for Digital Nomads and… I can’t really find anything else that is 1005 focused on Digital Nomads. All of the above is either a hostel or way too expensive for someone used to Bali rates.

So my post has kind of failed. I will do my best in the next year to update this page with other Nomad dedicated places that I assume will be opening up now remote working is the new norm.

If you are thinking of coming to the UK to experience some British culture at the weekend and get some work done in the week. If you like the idea of your own room for £300 a month, 5 minutes from the beach with a 1,000 Mbps connection and your own desk – I suggest you have a look at Somewhere Different in Blackpool as from Nov 1st we have been open and as long as the rules do not change, we will be open all winter.

1.15hrs from Manchester Aiport, same for Liverpool. Lake District is an hour away and we have a LOT going on right on our doorstep with more live entertainment that any other town in the UK.

If anyone is aware of any other coworking/coliving UK locations, not separate offerings, please add them in the comments below and I will check them out and add them to the lists.

See you on the beach

Coliving Wales

I checked ‘coliving wales’, ‘digital nomad accommodation wales’ ‘location independent wales’ etc. Nothing. It’s early days for the Digital Nomad community to venture this far it seems. The Uk is seen as too expensive for Digital Nomads but as you discover there is more to the Uk than London.

Below is what the official tourist information website for Wales recommends Digital Nomads to do when visiting Cardiff.

Check out one of the many nomad friendly cafes and find a room on Airbnb or bed on Hostel World and off you go.

Coliving in Northern Ireland

It does not look promising for Digital Nomads in Northern Ireland just yet.

Belfast is voted as being one of the best cities for Digital Nomads by Spot a Home – no idea who Spot is when at home, but it puts Belfast as no.1 for Digital Nomads in the world.

London based Cohub has a place here in Belfast and is probably the best offering you will find if you are looking for longer-term stays of 6 months or so.

Out of Belfast, currently in oct 2021, not much going on. I will check and update throughout 2021 and hopefully be adding some cool destination locations that Somewhere Different can work with.

Coliving London - The Collective

This article is about coliving UK locations outside of London. This is why. London is just too expensive. It’s shame as they where great ambassadors for the industry, but the collective was full before lock down, and then when London closed, every one realised there where better alternatives in the UK. A few came and stayed with use here. As they where going for it some what and opening other places all over the UK, the elastic snapped and then went bust 🙁

The Collective was the Coliving brand in the UK – not so much about Coworking Coliving and more for longer-term folk who may well be working in London and want to colive for a year or two. As they are classed as Homes of Multiple Occupancy they did not have to close under Captain Corona as hotels did. Minimum stay in their North London location is 4 months. Different offering to a Coworking Coliving Hotel just for Digital Nomads who are coming for a month or two in total in the UK to experience the culture and move on.

The minimum stay cost is £4,332. Sure it’s for 4 months, so a snip compared to Roam but if you are used to renting a nice room in Asia with OK wifi for a few hundred pounds a month that’s nearly two years rent for you. Their place in Canary Warf does shorter stays but starts at £80 a night.

Coliving London - Roam

If you search “Coworking Coliving UK” you will find the following. Apart from Somewhere Different the only other offering that calls itself Coworking Coliving in the UK is the well-known Roam in London. They say they are moving location and will welcome people next year so it’s not clear if they are open post-Corona. When I selected to stay Dec 1st to Dec 31st – I had to do a screen grab as you would not believe me.

Yeah it says ‘We have discounted your rate’ £12,000 is the discount rate…. OK. I am sure the place is great and way better than my humble offering up here on the beach, but at that price… you could stay at my place for over 3 years. I bet my internet connection is faster too!

Coliving.com - UK

Many Coliving places in the UK will be open this winter and throughout the 3 tier system that is currently in place due to Corona. Many are based in London, the minimum is £1,000 a month and is all about short term lets in terms of the number of months for people physically working in London and not really for digital nomad travellers passing through.

Nomad List - UK

If you check out Nomadlist for the UK, you will see London gets a big whack whack on cost. They calculate you need £3114 a month to live a Digital Nomad life in London. I am from London and think that’s a bit steep but yeah, it’s one of the most expensive places in the world you can choose to work remotely from. Is that not the whole point? You don’t have to pay crazy big city costs when working remotely?

Hence Nomad List’s no. 1 recommend destination is Canggu. Even with only 19 Mbps as the average. Why? Because it has wow and you need £1061.43 a month to live there. Less than 3 times the cost of living in London and why my home town comes in at no. 37 after Ploiesti in Romania that is best known for not being anywhere worth writing home about. Ask any Romanian and they would say “You are thinking of living in Ploiesti for a month? Really? Why?”

As you can see London is not a Coliving UK destination, not because it’s a dull place but because it just too expensive compared to other places a Digital Nomad can work from and experience the wow the world. You only colive there if you have a job there or use a coworking space if you live there long term.

Outside of London things get better and the prices drop. The Nomad list for the UK

ranks Edinburgh and Glasgow as no. 2 and 3. As you can see they are significantly cheaper than in other cities in the UK. Somewhere Different is located between Liverpool and Manchester in the seaside town of Blackpool that has an even lower cost of living than Liverpool, that comes in at no. 4. Rent for your own room is £300 and includes a 15^th share of a 1,000 Mbps connection. There is no city on Nomad list that has a cost of living similar to Chiang Mai and a connection speed of one Gig. Food is cheaper in Blackpool than Chiang Mai if you are eating in. We have a good selection of supermarkets that enables you can eat healthy food for not a lot a month.

Coworker.com - UK

Coworker.com Has 658 coworking spaces in the UK listed. You can’t search to see if any have accommodation included. As far as I am aware none of them do. Like the Coliving places in London, the coworking spaces only provide half the jig saw puzzle for Digital Nomads who’s home town is 5,000 miles from the coworking space. Most coworking spaces in the UK are around a similar price to Somewhere Different so if you had to add accommodation costs as well it would work out more.

Booking.com - Digital Nomad Accomadation

Booking.com recommends some off the beaten track coliving UK places for digital nomads but none even mention if they have good wifi, let alone the speeds and latency.

See for your self on the link above, but I dought there will be a digital nomad community in any of these places or a backup ISP in place when the connection goes down.

Captain Corona has left the building

August 23, 2021August 23, 2021

It's over in the UK.

It’s been a few weeks now, but the novelty of going out to a packed bar, theatre, football ground, people dancing, no masks, no 2m etc, all having fun and no one reporting the daily deaths from corona anymore, as it’s single figures.

It’s finally over for good in the UK.

We are open as normal. The town, the beaches, shops, trains etc, all open and running smoothly. The conversation has moved to Afghanistan and the premier league. There is just one little part that still reminds us Corna is still lurking in the background.

UK quartine rules

As if 23rd of August 2021, getting to the Uk is still cheaper than normal, £28 one way to get here, 448 flights a week now. That’s just to Manchester which is 1hr 15 mins away on a direct train from the airport to Blackpool town centre.

That’s because no one is going aboard this year for holidays due to the uncertainty of quartine and PCR tests. As you are a Digital Nomad, it’s just you not the whole family to get swabbed. You still need to have a positive test to get on a plane to come here. Once here, you glide through passport control, have a test kit sent to Somewhere Different in advance and that’s it. Everything else is normal. You don’t have to quartine when arriving if you are double jabbed and not coming from a red zone country. You just do the test and send it off and you are done.

Come work from Blackpool

When you are ready to move on from where you are currently working, check us out and how easy it is now to get to, and move around in the UK post corona.

See what availability we have here over the next few months. We are getting booked up but there are still some places in September when we have hug firework displays on the beach every weekend.

Digital Nomad Christmas: Where to work from this winter?

November 13, 2020November 15, 2020

5 coworking/coliving ideas for Christmas 2020

Let’s face it, 2020 was not the best. If you are a digital nomad and looking to not spend Christmas this year on your own, again… now is the time to make plans on where you want to be working from in December and avoid the Captain Corona blues.

BACK HOME

If it’s an option, Mum will be double pleased to see you this year. Depending on where you are, flights are cheaper this festive season than normal. That’s if they keep running. A quick check on Skyscanner and you can fly from London to New York in December for £134 one way.

Not bad

But once you need to be back at work and Mum is asking if you are finally coming home for good, you need to get back out there and… quarantine and… who knows what the rules will be in January 2021. Hopefully not as bad now

UBUD - BALI

Um, nope. The Uk foreign office website explains unless you are;

Foreign nationals with limited (KITAS) and permanent stay (KITAP) permits for foreign nationals with diplomatic visa and working visa holders of diplomatic stay permits and business stay permits those working on medical and food assistance transportation (air, sea, or land) crew foreign nationals working on national strategic projects.

Only talking with people in a Facebook Digital Nomad Bali group, they say you can use a b211 visa to get in.

You have no chance of getting in on the old. “ I am on a tourist visa and on holiday honest, not working”. It simply will not cut it these days.

CHIANGMAI - THAILAND

Nope, again, same… just slightly different rules. You can only travel to Thailand if you tick one the really hard to boxes below.

If you are on a diplomatic or consular mission, belong to an International Organisation, are a government representative performing duties in Thailand, or have permission from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This includes families.

If you hold a work permit or have already been granted permission from the Thai government to work in Thailand or have the Certificate of Residence and a valid re-entry permit. This includes families.

If you are the spouse, child or parent of a Thai national.

If you are seeking medical treatment in Thailand (except treatment for COVID-19), or are caring for someone seeking medical treatment in Thailand.

If you are an international student or the parent/guardian of an international student.

Some Digital Nomads mentioned that the 60-day Thailand visa is back on as from 15th of Nov.

Digital Nomad on a one-month tourist visa, is um – not on the list.

MEDELLIN - COLUMBIA

The official line is this:

Entry to Colombia by air is permitted. All arrivals are subject to mandatory entry requirements:
For air travel into Colombia, a negative PCR test result is no longer required by the Colombian authorities.
Between 24 hours and 1 hour before departure, you must fill out the ‘Check-Mig’ form, available on the Migración Colombia website. You will receive a confirmation email that you will need to present upon arrival in Colombia.
Regulations are subject to change at short notice and you should check with your travel provider before your journey.
Colombia’s land and sea borders will remain closed until 1 December 2020. Internal travel within Colombia is permitted.

Sweet

As long as you plan to arrive and leave by plane, all seems fine….

It’s the same for American citizens travelling to Columbia too as from Nov 5th, there is no need for a negative test taken 96 hours before flying now. It’s all looking good.

Ah hang on. Accept if you are from the UK the rules say:

From 5 November to 2 December 2020, travelling away from home, including internationally, is restricted from England except in limited circumstances such as for work or for education. Different rules apply in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. You must follow all the rules that apply to you.

Its catch 22, if you are currently in England it’s illegal to go abroad on holiday. As you know, working as a Digital Nomad if you say you are working when landing in a new country, they will ask you for your work permit, employer details etc. You never say that right… you say you’re a tourist, ah… I am not allowed to travel as a tourist, round and round.

BLACKPOOL - ENGLAND

England opens up again on December 2nd if all goes well. Once lockdown is over you should be able to travel again. If however you are here in the UK and don’t want to deal with possible LockDown extensions / cancelled flights and delayed Skype calls with your clients – what are your options in England this Christmas?

How about this?

Somewhere Different is now open in the North of England. From Dec 2nd we can accept working Digital Nomads and you can say for the whole month. That means mince pies and stuffed turkey on Dec 25th with like-minded nomads.

We are the first Digital Nomad House in the UK and the Location Independent workers who are currently staying with us are planning the big day’s menu. Brazilians main Christmas meal is on Christmas Eve. Italians have lasagne on the day. All that and turkey? We will see. What’s your input for the big day? Can you cook a mean dish and like the thought of being part of a Nomad family 5 minutes from the beach for the festive season with 1,000 Mbps connection for the call with Mum?

If you do… let us know as we only have 3 places left at the dinner table.

Where ever you spend Christmas working this year, remember this – next year for sure will be better 🙂

Remembrance day – Layton Cemetery, Blackpool

November 8, 2020November 9, 2020

Weekend walks in Blackpool

Layton cemetery in Blackpool was opened in 1873 and has over 17,000 grave stones in various states of repair. I visited today just hours after 11.00am on Remembrance Day Nov 8th 2020. Scattered through the grave stones, many read “ Died in France in the Great War” and so on. A whole section dedicated to Polish airmen based here in the second world war.

The last survivor of the ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ is buried here, he died in 1927 aged 97.

30 acre plot and we were the only people there, but you could feel you where not alone.

Lest we forget.

Digital Nomad project on beach in UK

August 12, 2020August 12, 2020

BUDDING DIGITAL NOMAD?

Are you willing to get your hands covered in paint?

We are launching the first Digital Nomad House in the UK on the beach up here in Blackpool. The design is a mix of classic Victorian seaside colours mixed in with splashes of modern design. The main coworking space needs someone to own making all the desks ‘pop’ with colour. No experience needed, though is obviously preferred. A want to learn how to be a digital nomad and/or upcycle furniture & creative flair is all that is required.

FREE UK ACCOMMODATION

Want to take off full time nomading but can’t – due to Captain Corona? This opportunity may be perfect for you to being the first step in becoming a full time Digital Nomad. Or maybe you already are a full time Nomad and want to come and live in the UK for a few months but up to now can’t see how you can afford to. Well now you can.

WHAT YOU GIVE

5 hours a day, 5 days a week 8.30am – 1.30pm. You will be guided on what to do yet expected to be able to manage yourself and get things done on your own.

WHAT YOU GET

Your own private room in the hotel + £80 a week for food and pocket money. You get taught how to restore furniture and learn about an industry that will boom now remote working is becoming mainstream. Helpful skills when traveling the world. Plus access to our super-fast internet and coworking space to do your own online work every day after lunch.

THE DETAILS

Please do not apply for this if you are looking for local laboring / building work and don’t need the accommodation / fast internet & coworking space as part of the remuneration.

The finer details for this work placement and others can be seen on our WT profile here.

We assume you are a traveller and can cover your expenses to get here.

If you like the sound of this opportunity, little tip, applications through the Working Traveller web site are given priority.

See you on the beach 😊

Russian Travel Blogger in Blackpool

July 27, 2020July 27, 2020

OUR FIRST GUEST

Diana Garri is not your average Travel Blogger. She is originally from Siberia in Russia and now travels in Europe building her following on Instagram. You can see her profile here @heyy_di. She contacted me and suggested she stay for a week and we make a joint promo video for Travel Bloggers and Digital Nomads who will be visiting Blackpool whilst taking some pics for her Instagram. It’s much better to show pictures and watch video than to talk about it. So here goes J