WORKING FROM ABROAD,
here's how you do it
As I have loudly and clearly (perhaps too loudly and too clearly) proclaimed, I am abroad and for the last month of this trip I am ‘just’ working. As in: I am writing again for Amayzine and other things, but I am physically not in the Netherlands. People like this are called ‘digital nomads’ and even though I have a reasonable aversion to such trendy words, the definition of it is indeed my biggest dream in life: working from anywhere in the world.
Not every profession is suitable for this, of course. First of all, you need to be able (and willing) to work freelance, and secondly, you need to have a profession that can mostly be done alone. Writing is such a profession, but freelance marketers, designers, illustrators, investors, or some form of consultants can also get started as digital nomads. I meet quite a few while traveling and they all say the same thing which boils down to the following: I think my work is great, but I am happiest while traveling and since I only live once, I have decided to say goodbye to stability and choose adventure. And this is how you do it.
Ensure good equipment
To start with the most important thing. You cannot work from crappy computers in lousy internet cafes. There are fewer and fewer of those in the world anyway. So invest in a good laptop. A good small lightweight laptop. I am accompanied on this trip by a beautiful super lightweight gold MacBook and that thing is the best ever. You don't want to lug around a big clunky device and really, take my word for it; a small laptop will make everything so much easier. Especially the mini versions, mine fits in every bag (even in my beloved Marc Jacobs bag) and so any terrace table or beach bed can serve as an office. What you also need is a good phone. In my hand is an iPhone 6S and with the large nice screen, I can do a lot from my phone. Maybe a Plus is even better, but I get nervous from so much screen real estate. Anyway, it may cost a bit, but once you are a full-time digital nomad, these things will be used the most and therefore they are always worth the investment. Oh, and make sure to have a good pair of headphones, indispensable when you need to be optimally focused.
Don't forget to charge everything every night
Every night I am almost panicking charging everything (MacBook, iPhone, and power charger) so that I don't run out of battery the next day. Charging and backing up, also very important. So that you at least don't lose all your work if something gets stolen or breaks. Long live the cloud and Dropbox.
Set strict requirements
For the place where you sleep I mean. You need good wifi and working power outlets. I had booked a very nice hostel here in Sri Lanka, but once I arrived, the wifi turned out not to work. So I seriously turned around and looked for another place. Look in the reviews about hotels/hostels/apartments/waddanook for comments about the wifi and if it is often mentioned as bad: don't book it. During a regular vacation, that wouldn't be a problem, but now it is.
Take your time
If you are just traveling or on vacation, you have full days to go exploring. If you are going to work abroad, you have to keep in mind that you will spend a large part of the day just sitting behind your laptop and therefore won't see much of the surroundings. Suppose you would normally give yourself a week per place, double that now. Then you won't be in a hurry and you don't have to feel guilty if you stay inside all day.
Use the advantages
Or well, staying inside, the first piece I wrote when the deadlines came ticking, I typed from a beach bed on a beautiful beach, and the second and third in a train that chugged through amazing landscapes for four hours. The reason I want to work abroad so much is not because I am a lazy bum who prefers to be on vacation forever, but because – and I hope you don't see me as a crazy airy fairy hippie now – I experience a kind of euphoric happiness while traveling that I don't quickly have at home. An intense satisfaction, peace in my head, hardly any sleepless nights, interspersed with almost ecstatic moments of happiness. And as many say: you only live once. I get restless from being in the same place for too long and so I happily type a piece in a wobbling train, swaying boat, or turbulent airplane. And so far, I can wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone.
