What's It Really Like to Work and Travel?

I talk a lot about how Agi and I work while we are overseas... it's sort of the whole point of this site. We do give ourselves vacation time but usually we continue working when we are travelling. During our recent trip to Japan a thought struck me; am I missing out on experiencing the places I visit because I take time to work? Would other people actually want to do the same?

Let me start by giving an example of our schedule in Japan. This is not a fixed schedule but an approximation of what happened.

• 06:30 Wake up and shower
• 07:00 Work
• 09:00 Eat breakfast
• 09:30 Go out sightseeing
• 16:30 Get back and relax or do some work if necessary
• 18:30 Go out for dinner
• 20:00 Relax: read, watch a movie

We fit in roughly 4 hours of work and 7 hours of sightseeing without staying up late or cutting short our activities. Your mileage may vary but I think that's pretty good.

The thought I had was: would I regret using those 4 hours to work instead of seeing more sights or doing more activities? Would I look back in a year's time and think "Man, I should have got out and seen more of Japan."?

The conclusion I came to? No. I don't think so. We saw everything we wanted to in Japan and were tired out everyday from walking / cycling / snowboarding. The recommendation these days is to walk 10,000 steps per day; during our time in Tokyo & Kyoto we averaged 12,000 steps per day.

What would I have been using that working time for otherwise? If I look back on other holidays before I became a freelancer (AKA The Before Times) I don't think I did more sightseeing or activities. I probably fit in some more reading or had longer lie ins. To be honest there is a limit to how much sightseeing it is actually possible or desirable to do.

Did I feel like I hadn't had a holiday? Not at all, we loved our time in Japan and were able to spend longer there overall than we could have when we were salaried employees. In the past 6 months we have spent more time on holiday / travelling than any year of my salaried life. While writing this I just added it up:

• Koh Lanta: 5 days
• Kanchanaburi: 2 days
• Taiwan: 7 days
• Australia: 10 days
• Chiang Mai: 7 days
• Japan: 17 days
• Total: 48 days

That's on top of being based in Bangkok which is pretty cool in its own right.

I don't want to labour the point but this was a real debate I had, first internally and then with Agi. I wanted us to be honest with ourselves. We talk about how cool it is to work and travel but are we fooling ourselves and shortchanging our experiences?

I love being productive and I get bored doing nothing. I have never enjoyed holidays lazing by the pool. It's possible that our experiences are not representative of everybody but if the things I have described above sound good to you then freelancing is probably the way to go! Drop us a line and we'd love to discuss it with you.

My Freelance Tools & Tips

This week I thought I would share a few lessons I have learned while freelancing; mainly from screwing things up, and some tools to help avoid the same problems. If you want some hot tips, read on...

Where to Work?

I often proudly proclaim that "as long as I have my laptop and an internet connection then I can work anywhere!" That is true and it is great but what happens when you suddenly don't have an internet connection?

There was an article on the Upwork blog recently giving suggestions on how to prepare yourself. These are all great tips and I especially endorse the mobile tethering. Tethering is not just great as a backup when your net goes down but it also really enables you to work from anywhere. Anywhere could mean somewhere that's not your home or it could be another country. Whenever I go somewhere new these days my first step is to grab a local data enabled SIM card; in most countries this doesn't cost more than $10 - $20. Mobile data speeds are so good these days that it can often be better than a fixed line.

Another great tip is to know your surroundings and have fallback places to go if power / internet fails. I was looking on Product Hunt the other day and found Workfrom. This tool lets you search for a location and shows you all of the places that you could work. Not just coworking spaces but cafes, libraries etc. If you do want a coworking space then Coworker and the Coworking Wiki are also great tools.

Remember Time Zones

I have clients in several countries and time zones are the bane of my existence. I have an engineering degree but for some reason calculating time differences melts my brain.

Generally, I do not have to speak with clients on a regular basis but when I do time zones are always an issue. In Bangkok I am used to the time difference with my clients so it has become semi-intuitive. However, when travelling that goes out the window! It even goes out the window sometimes just because I'm stupid.

I love World Time Buddy, it's a great app that lets you choose multiple time zones and draw lines between them to see what time (or day) matches your time. I find this especially useful with my clients in the US because quite often we are working on different days; my Tuesday morning is their Monday night. If I relied on myself to work things out I would end up posting things not just at the wrong time but on the wrong day too.

The free version only(!) lets you compare 4 locations at a time. There is a paid version of the app but I have found the free version works great for me. I have never needed to compare 5 different locations at the same time. If that day comes then my life will have changed significantly and I will spring for the paid version!

These are a couple of the tools that I have found useful. What do you use? Get in touch and let me know.

Working as a Freelancer Means WORKING as a Freelancer

I read an article recently about why you shouldn’t be a digital nomad and it really annoyed me. You can read it here. The article isn't new but I hadn't see it before. The author has "done the digital nomad thing" and said that he was unable to feel content without actually working. I’m not quite sure what he thought being a digital nomad was.

Digital Nomad ≠ Backpacker

I have written a lot of articles about how being an online freelancer has enabled us to travel a lot more. This is all 100% true and I am very happy with the lifestyle we have but we WORK to support it. I went to Taiwan for a week and I worked while I was there, often getting up and doing a morning’s work before going to sightsee in the afternoon.

I love the feeling of doing a good day’s work and earning my money. I read an article years ago that said that to be satisfied at work you need the following 3 things:

1. Autonomy: Being in control of our own choices
2. Complexity: Being able to master new skills and improve
3. Direct connection between effort and reward: Seeing the payoff—whether financial, spiritual, or other—of your work

(I couldn’t find the original article but this Buffer article covers the same topics)

I have never been happier in my work life than I am now. Being a freelancer means that I don’t have a boss; I have clients. I can pick and choose who I work for. That’s Autonomy right there.

I have learned new things and been challenged in ways I never expected during my freelance career. Complexity: check.

I know my hourly rate and how many hours I’m billing. Every hour worked has a clear dollar value. The connection between effort and reward could not be more clear. And that’s only financial; the improvement in my life through not commuting to work and being able to spend more time outside is noticeable.

What’s my point?

If you’re going to be a digital nomad you will still need to put in the hours. Being able to travel doesn’t mean that you are on permanent holiday.

I love getting up early, doing a decent day’s work and going out to see something and grab a bite to eat. Living at the same pace as the local people makes me feel like I live there. Also, because you’re working and not on vacation there is no pressure to move move move, see the next sight, take a photo and continue on. You can stay longer and really soak in each place.

Don’t become a digital nomad because you hate working. Become a digital nomad because you want to work in interesting places.

Get in touch if you'd like to know more.

Also, if you're looking for work, 24 Seven is a cool new agency. The link there is to one of their blogs on a similar topic to this post.