I left Canada for Bangkok and now work while the city sleeps. My quality of life has never been better.

Francis Cloutier is a digital nomad based in Bangkok, where he works Eastern Time from halfway around the world.

Provided by Francis Cloutier.

In 2019, Francis Cloutier left Canada to pursue a life of remote work and travel.

Most of his travels took him through South America until a friend invited him to visit Bangkok.

He now lives in Thailand with his wife and keeps Eastern Time hours, working through the night.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Francis Coultier, 39, who is originally from Canada but now lives in Bangkok.

It's been edited for length and clarity.

The first time I learned about about digital nomadism, I was around 29 and living in Canada .

I remember seeing people on the internet working remotely or starting businesses in places like Chiang Mai, Thailand .

I started following some of them online and knew I wanted to find a way to do it, too.

At that time, I was working in corporate sales and ended up starting my own furniture business in Toronto.

I hoped to scale it enough to manage remotely, but because it was a physical business, I had to be on-site.

I eventually sold my share to my business partner and got a job at a marketing software startup based in Toronto instead.

The company was fully remote and didn't have an office, so that's when I started traveling.