How to Make the Most of Working While You Travel

When you tell people that your job allows you to travel, they probably think jetting off to a brand new destination and being able to work from wherever sounds amazing. More people are able to do it in a post-pandemic world, but are you doing it right? In a job market that has less PTO and vacation time, and more remote part-time & seasonal gig work, you’re always looking for tips for traveling to a new destination, but you don’t always think about how you can keep working while you’re away from home so you can stay away longer and keep making money. Whether you’re considering safety precautions or you’re packing your carry-on strategically, here are six methods to make the most of working while traveling.

• Consider The Security of Your Laptop

When you’re traveling and working at the same time you need to take extra care of your privacy and ensure your laptop is fully secure. Even though you may think you’re not an easy target, anybody who is connected to a local wifi network could be at risk. With this in mind, you may want to change ip on mac and make sure that cyber attackers and hackers can’t obtain your personal data and private work information. It’s especially important to when traveling because really confidential information could be at risk if you’re working remotely & telling your boss that you had a data breach is a surefire way to put a stop to working while traveling.

• Use Travel Time Wisely

If you’re in a position where you're traveling regularly, make the most of your actual downtime on the road. Use your travel time wisely- knock out work on the plane, shoot some emails on a taxi ride or work on a project on a long train journey while taking breaks to watch the view. The sooner you get caught up with your work, you can go enjoy your destination and who wants to get back from a trip and have tons of catch up?

• Pack Your Carry On Luggage

As mentioned above, it’s a smart idea to pack your laptop in your carry on if you’re traveling by plane. This means that you can make the most of your time in the air and on lay overs to get caught up before you touch down at your arrival spot. International flights often have free wi-fi & plugs at your seat for long stretches, but be sure to think in advance what work you can get done off-line in case there's connection issues. Noise-canceling headphones are finally affordable and a godsend for plane noise, crying babies and being left alone to work. Don't forget to check for packing a plug converter for your destination.

• Set Up in a Local Hang

Although it’s very important to protect yourself and your privacy, it’s also important to enjoy the culture around you and make the most of the country or city you’re visiting. Setting yourself up in a local coffee shop, bar or cafe for half a day can allow you to try the local food and drinks, people-watch, meet the locals and experience a touch of culture too. Scope out some of the local wifi hotspots nearby to where you’re staying and you’ll soon find the best spot to spend your day doing work.

• Talk to Locals and Get Advice

Being in a different country or city can be daunting, but it also presents you with a multitude of opportunities too. Talking to locals and getting advice should always be on your mind- it can give you so much valuable insight into the local living (and sometimes let you work on your language skills). Stay aware of who is around you and try to be adventurous and outgoing- growth comes from discomfort. You may meet people you would never have thought of connecting with back home and gain some excellent advice about how to enjoy their city, country & culture. Traveling provides you with so many of these opportunities so make sure you take advantage of it.

• Make Sure You Take Time Off Too!

Enjoying yourself is also extremely important and can easily be forgotten along the way. Making sure you take time to enjoy yourself and do a touch of sight seeing can completely change your day and give you a much needed refresh when you're on a "working vacation". When you work and travel regularly it’s very important to find a balance between working and being away from home. You don’t have to work at every waking hour of the day; you can find a happy medium that means you still get your work done!

By no means am I suggesting you work on your one annual week-long vacation- take the time off, it's really important! But if your job allows you to work flexibly and travel, you can use the ideas mentioned above to make the most of your time away and to stay away for longer stretches. Everyone’s goals will vary depending on the type of job role they’re in, but you can create your own personal goals for each trip. Hopefully, you can use these ideas as inspiration and try out the best options that fit in with your individual circumstances. Whether you’re trying to put security first, or you’re looking to network while you travel, you can make the most of working on the go and reap all of the rewards it has to offer!