Isabella Feraca
All you need to know about planning a successful workcation — the trend that allows you to seamlessly balance career and adventure.
A work laptop set up on a beach. Laura Hoffmann. CC BY 2.0.
The COVID-19 pandemic altered work life immensely, with companies being forced to adapt to work-from-home situations. Five years on, remote work has been increasingly normalized and more productive than it was before the pandemic. With many having settled into this routine, doors have opened up for workers to take advantage of the freedom that remote work affords. “Workcations” are one such trend that has emerged out of this new age, as they allow remote workers to travel and explore for prolonged periods of time. This is a dream for many: imagine waking up in a dream destination, working next to a beautiful window view and exploring a new city at the end of the day without taking any time off. If you’re considering going on your own workcation this summer, here are some things to know in order to ensure a seamless and fulfilling experience.
Choosing the right destination:
The first thing to keep in mind when planning a workcation is where you will be going. While the trend does provide a sense of freedom, it is important to remember its limitations. Working is still part of a “workcation,” and the goal is to work as efficiently as you would from home. As such, choose a location where internet access is stable. This doesn’t mean you have to be in a major city, as many hotels and accommodations have reliable Wi-Fi. However, doing prior research into the area’s internet stability and locating nearby places like cafes with stable internet will ensure a smoother experience. Websites like Nomads Anywhere list destinations that are functional for remote work.
Similarly, it is important to keep time zones in mind. Consider where your company is based and when meetings typically occur before traveling so far that time differences will cause problems for you and your team. For example, if you are usually working in Eastern Standard Time and you travel to Asia, where there is a 12-hour time difference, there will be only a short window of overlap in which you can communicate efficiently with your team. To make matters worse, this overlap would occur late at night, starting around 8:00 or 9:00 PM. As such, it is best for both you and your coworkers to keep your workcation destination somewhere relatively close in time zone. Save the farther locations for when you are not on the clock.
Accommodation:
Choosing where to stay is equally important as choosing the location. Alongside keeping general internet speeds in mind, ensure that your base has reliable Wi-Fi. Many Airbnb listings state whether there is such access, and you can even filter your searches with the condition that WiFi is included. It is also possible to search the reviews for “Wi-Fi” to see if past travelers were satisfied with their online connection. You can also use the Roamer Chrome extension to see how reliable the internet is in each listing’s precise neighborhood.
Beyond having functional internet service, finding an accommodation that offers privacy and facilitates focus is important for ensuring that you are equally efficient abroad as at home. Again, you can make use of Airbnb filters and reviews to check if accommodations have a workspace or to get a sense of noise levels in the neighborhood and building. If you’d prefer to stay in a hotel or hostel, check individual websites for the same information.
A hybrid vacation setting. Mjuzikxhankej. CC BY 3.0.
Building a routine:
Once the functional aspects of a workcation are sorted, you can begin thinking about how to make the most of it and fall into an easy routine. One general thing to keep in mind is that a workcation will feel different from previous traveling. For a successful workcation, plan to do everything more casually and to embrace the ethos of slow travel. At the end of the day, you are still working, just with the added benefit of being in a place filled with potential for new adventure.
To make time management easier, keep a calendar or planner for all your daily obligations, like meetings, as well as whatever adventures you’d like to accomplish in your free time. Planning everything out in advance will make everything much more stress-free, ensuring a fulfilling experience. Similarly, plan and book any big activities for days like weekends, when you know you will have plenty of free time. At the same time, listen to your body and avoid burnout. It is okay not to do absolutely everything available in your destination, and it is also okay to take a day to relax. After all, sometimes just being in a new place can be fulfilling enough.
Isabella Feraca
Isabella is a junior at Carnegie Mellon University studying professional writing and music technology. In her free time, she can be found reading, making music, and playing shows with her band around Pittsburgh.