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Today’s PrideNomad™ Quiz:

In Today’s Email:

Cultures: Toilets of the World…

Nomad Hacks: Lower your travel costs

Destinations: Bhutan’s new digital nomad visa.

CULTURES:

Toilets of the World (and the One That Almost Broke Me)

I’ve had some wild travel moments.

But nothing prepared me for a floating market in Thailand, a sudden stomach emergency, and what I can only describe as… a hole in the ground.

No seat.
No bowl.
Just a porcelain platform with two textured footpads, a hole in the middle, and absolutely no clue how to use it without falling in.

I remember standing there thinking,
What the hell is that?
And then realizing two things very quickly:

1. That was the toilet.

2. There was no toilet paper.

This was not a theoretical cultural lesson.
This was a live-fire exercise.

I survived. Barely. And once the panic subsided, something clicked.

Here’s the lens I wish I’d had earlier:

When something feels “missing” abroad, it usually means the system expects you to adapt — not the infrastructure.

That single idea explains almost every toilet you’ll ever encounter.

The squat toilet isn’t primitive. It’s resilient.
It works without complex plumbing, uses minimal water, is easy to clean, and hard to break. Paper isn’t the hero. Water is.

That’s why, across much of Asia, you’ll see spray guns and bidet hoses instead of toilet paper. It’s cleaner, cheaper, and far kinder to the pipes.

Japan takes the opposite approach.
There, the system adapts to you. Heated seats. Built-in bidets. Sound buttons. Toilets that greet you like a polite robot. In a dense society where thin walls mean your neighbor hears everything, a courtesy flush isn’t luxury — it’s social infrastructure.

Europe tends to work with what’s already there.
Older cities. Narrow pipes. Smaller bowls. Strange shapes. Not because they’re behind — but because retrofitting a 400-year-old building is expensive and usually pointless. You adapt to the system because the system isn’t moving.

And the U.S.?
They hide the system entirely. Big bowls. Powerful flushes. One button. Everything disappears so you don’t have to think about it.

None of these are better or worse.

They’re just different answers to the same question:
Who adapts — the person, or the system?

Once you start asking that, bathrooms stop being shocking.
They start being explanatory.

Next up: why Australian homes feel “underpowered” to Americans — and why they’re not.
Spoiler: the problem isn’t the house. It’s your hairdryer.

P.S. If you’ve ever locked eyes with a foreign toilet and thought, “I am not emotionally prepared for this,” hit reply. You’re among friends.

Quick question: Which nomad destination are YOU dreaming about? Hit reply and let us know—your dream just might inspire our next story.

NOMAD HACK:

Use this to make your travel life a bit easier.

✈️ The One Jet Lag Rule That Actually Matters

 Everyone’s done this.

You land exhausted.
You tell yourself, “I’ll just lie down for 30 minutes.”
You wake up three hours later… confused, groggy, and jet-lagged for days

Here’s the fix — and the part nobody tells you.

The 90-Minute Rule

If you nap after landing:

• Max 90 minutes

• Alarm set

• Before late afternoon

Anything longer and you’ve just blown up your sleep cycle.

But here’s the real secret.

👟 Keep Your Shoes ON

Seriously.

Shoes tell your brain: this is temporary.
Shoes off signals: the day is over.

Once shoes come off, your nervous system downshifts hard — and that’s how a “quick rest” turns into a trip-wrecking coma.

Shoes on keeps the nap light, bounded, and recoverable.

Bottom Line

Jet lag isn’t beaten by sleeping more.
It’s beaten by not sleeping wrong.

Set the limit.
Keep the shoes on.
Wake up functional.

DESTINATIONS:

🇧🇹 Bhutan Launches a Digital Nomad Visa. Here’s What PrideNomads Actually Need to Know.

Bhutan just opened its doors to digital nomads.

Last week, the Royal Government announced a new Digital Nomad Residence Programme through Gelephu Mindfulness City — a 12–24 month renewable visa designed to attract remote workers, entrepreneurs, and “mindful” professionals.

On paper? It sounds incredible.

No income threshold. Access to the entire kingdom. A gold-backed digital asset. The promise of sustainable development and conscious living in one of the world’s most breathtaking countries.

But before you start Googling flights to Thimphu…

Let’s talk about what this actually looks like for PrideNomads.

The Digital Nomad Reality Check

Bhutan is early-stage as a remote work destination.

The visa framework is real. The intention is genuine. But the infrastructure that makes long-term digital nomad life work is still developing.

Internet access exists, but redundancy and reliability don’t yet match established nomad hubs. Coworking spaces, expat services, international healthcare access, and social ecosystems are limited and centralized.

This isn’t Lisbon or Chiang Mai. You’re not plugging into a mature nomad network.

You’re helping build one.

That can be exciting — if you know what you’re signing up for.

The LGBTQ+ Reality

Now let’s layer on the queer part.

Bhutan decriminalized same-sex relationships in 2021. That’s real progress, and it matters. The country is also generally safe and nonviolent, guided by a philosophy of compassion and non-harm.

But safety isn’t the same as belonging.

There are no anti-discrimination protections. No visible LGBTQ+ community infrastructure. And strong cultural norms around privacy, conformity, and keeping personal matters private.

Being openly queer — dating, showing affection, building community — isn’t part of everyday public life.

For an extended stay, most LGBTQ+ nomads would likely find themselves editing, softening, or shrinking parts of who they are.

And most of us became nomads to stop doing that.

So… Should You Go?

Absolutely.

As a traveler, a seeker, a human being curious about how societies can be organized differently — Bhutan is extraordinary. It’s the kind of place that stays with you.

But would most LGBTQ+ nomads feel at home there for months at a time?

Probably not.

Bhutan isn’t Gran Canaria. It’s not Lisbon. It’s not even Nepal.

It’s a country in transition — moving forward, experimenting, and evolving. That progress is worth acknowledging and supporting.

Just don’t confuse progress with readiness.

Visit Bhutan. Learn from it. Be changed by it.

Just don’t expect to live freely there. Not yet.

Some places change you.

Others let you be yourself while you change the world.

For now, Bhutan is the former.

And that still has value.

P.S. If today’s issue hit you in a good way, hit reply and just say ‘yes’ — I love knowing you’re out there

Answer to Today’s Quiz

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