Workcations, are they right for you?
As a luxury travel advisor I can work from anywhere in the world, is your career suited for a workcation too?
‘workcation’ - a longer than normal trip you plan to combine both time spent working and time spent on vacation.
If you’re planning to travel longer, work remotely part of the time and mix vacation with work there are some questions you should ask yourself.
Why do I feel this is right for me?
If you have a career where only an internet connection is required, it is possible to take a longer trip, where a portion of it is spent working. If you’re burning to getaway, but don’t want to truly disconnect working remotely may be a great choice. If you’re a cashier at a grocery store, a teller in a bank or a bus driver - chances are it’s not something you’ve been thinking about. If your job now allows you to work from home, does it matter where home is? Perhaps your temporary home can be an island in the Caribbean or a flat in East London. A lot of people haven’t travelled much internationally for two years, are you feeling the itch to travel? There are potential costs and steps that make travel more complex now, and perhaps you can amortize those pain points over a longer duration trip.
Who am I travelling with?
Solo travellers - your decision is relatively simple. Do I want to do this? Then let’s get it sorted! However, if your travel party is with your partner, perhaps your children or other relatives, it is best to have a direct and honest conversation before investing too much time and money into planning to work remote. Best to sit down altogether and discuss each person’s interest in working remotely and their must haves and timeline. Before you pay your deposit and other costs like plane tickets, PCR tests and work permits - ensure everyone is on the same page.
Discuss potential changes to your workcation. What would it take for you to stop and return home? What changes to work/home/school will prompt you to shift your decision making? How flexible can you be, or how can you adapt to new changes in policy at home or in your chosen temporary home country. When I was working remotely in Barbados last winter, I had planned to travel from October to January. As I thought - by then the situation at home will be less dangerous and the virus will have calmed down. But when flights were outright cancelled from Barbados to Canada from January to April, I had to choose to immediately hop on one of the last ones home, or stay longer and wait it out. The sunsets and the rum punch made my decision easy. Pivoting like this was possible for me as I did not have obligations at home I had to return to. Does your lifestyle have some flexibility built in?
Where will I workcation?
What time zone is your regular role in? I recommend you consider the time zone and if the country you’ll be visiting has daylight savings or not. When I am working remotely in Barbados, I would be on the same time zone most of the year as my home, except during winter months with daylight savings time. That extra hour in the morning I am awake in Barbados enables me to get a lot done before the phone starts ringing or travellers start to email me. I have met several digital nomads from the UK who have been working remotely in the Caribbean. They have early starts to their mornings, some have told me setting their work schedule from 4:00am (!) so that they can work consistent hours with colleagues and their office back home. Speaking with one Canadian traveler who is working remotely in France, he finds he has to work into the evening to ensure he is synced up with colleagues in Toronto.
Selecting a location is dependant on many factors, not just financially. What do you want to do, see, explore when not at your laptop? Do you want to rent a car? How reliable is public transportation. How safe and how accessible is the country you’re considering visiting? What is the cost of living in this place and what sorts of accommodation are you looking for? Spacious private villa in a beachfront area of Costa Rica? All inclusive tropical resort in St Lucia? Coworking Outsite location in Barbados? Once you know you’re going to go, the possibilities are endless. Ask me to help guide you.
What will I need to pack and access where I am staying?
Laptop, check. Swimsuit, check. Replacement iPhone when mine falls into the pool? Shoot, I don’t want to spend a needless $1300 if I can keep my current phone out of the water. With privilege and access to many things in my home country, I encourage you to consider what you may need to buy, if there is an emergency in the country you’re working remotely from. What are your essential, must have articles if you had to replace something while abroad? If your laptop crashes at home, how do you solve that problem? If you are away when that happens, where will you find resources to solve it quickly there? If you had to replace something while travelling - I recommend you seek out the costs of these items. Are they as readily available and does your budget allow for them.
Do you follow a special diet or lifestyle. For example, vegan alternatives are filling North American grocery store shelves and taking up more supermarket shelf space. Whereas the access and price of some of these products in the Caribbean is far less common and the price is at times triple or more the price at home. Gluten free alternatives and key popular diet plan foods like Whole 30 compliant products are not as easy to locate globally. If your grocery shopping list routinely has some essential items, seek out your workcation site and find out if you can get them here. If not, are they realisticaly something you can pack to bring with you?
How am I going to make this work?
Reach out to me, your trusted travel advisor and we can get started. If you’re serious about working remotely for 2, 3, 4 weeks or even 2, 3, 4+ months - start your journey with support. I plan travel for a living, and it’s likely you haven’t booked 250+ trips in the last year like I have. I will make your dream of working remotely a reality. Let’s get started today, email me travel@princeadventures.com.
I have created a free workcation checklist I will email you when you connect with me. Ask for it!
The world of travel is different since everything changed in early 2020. I will support you to navigate the departure, arrivals and returning home process. Now is the time to work with a travel advisor, even if you never have before. I have been taking personal workcations since 2012 to many parts of the world - including cruise ships! With this experience and as a professional travel advisor I know I am a valuable resource you need to speak with to plan your next long duration holiday.
Check out the latest Globe and Mail article about workcations and combining holiday time and work while abroad here. Prince Adventures is featured in this article and we are proud to meet and connect with all travellers looking to plan any vacation in 2022 and beyond.