Every morning, a man riding a bicycle rides through the streets of the neighborhood. Some women look out of the windows and the cats follow them everywhere. The neighborhood wakes up to the cry of "meeneah!" Meen means fish in Malayálam, the native language of the tropical state of Kerala, in southern India, where the sale of goldfish, shrimp, squid or any other gift brought by the Malabar Sea becomes a daily wake-up call. This is the place in the world where I am currently and, unlike the sirens at the school next to the flat I usually work from in Alicante, I find it even more stimulating.
And when we travel and work at the same time, only the packaging changes. The interior is not too different from the routine you maintain from your office on Paseo de Gràcia or the apartment in Lavapiés. Of course, the new office and its routines also have to be taken care of.
If you are thinking about traveling and working at the same time for a while, these are the guidelines that have worked for me.
Although it may seem obvious, when teleworking we sometimes ignore the presence of a table in the hotel room itself, since it betrays our vacation self. However, having a comfortable desk and chair, as well as good natural lighting, is essential to be able to work correctly. Of course, I also suggest checking if the accommodation has Wi-Fi, something not so common in certain lost towns or guesthouses in India itself (I say this from experience). Working with your mobile data package through your PC can save you on occasion, but it is not recommended.
If you are preparing to telework from Vietnam or the Philippines or any other Asian country, you will see that the sun rises much earlier here. This gift can be the perfect excuse to get up early - say, at six - and complete your eight clock hours throughout the morning. You'll finish in time to eat at the noodle bar on the corner and you'll have the entire afternoon to get lost in a museum or visit a market.
Before telecommuting, it is normal for doubts to assail you and even get foolishly overwhelmed: What if I don't have time to see everything? Will the time change affect communication with my office in Spain? Don't worry, you just need to transfer your usual routine to that of this new country: get up, have a coffee, a chai tea or a plate of rice with chicharrón, work, eat, visit, do a workout at the hotel (or a gym nearby) and you will see that each day the day is progressing without problem. If you follow the advice of getting up early, you can visit places every afternoon and dedicate the entire weekend to those more complete excursions.
To be able to carry out this routine, the ideal would be to work from the same city for at least a week. Following this rule, in a few days you will have adapted to the environment, you will know who cuts the pineapple best and which is the cheapest restaurant in the neighborhood. If you change places every three days, your mood and body will notice it and, when you least expect it, you will find yourself working from your mobile phone on the umpteenth bus lost in the Atlas Mountains. In addition, staying in the same place for longer gives us stability when traveling and better planning aspects of your next destination.
Before telecommuting, it is important that you make clear to your superiors or collaborators the small nuances of your new situation. Mentioning the time change to avoid future misunderstandings or evaluating possible changes in work organization are key to being able to maintain a work pace equal to (or even better) than usual. You just have to make a few adjustments.
You find yourself buying mangoes in the market or visiting the temples of Chiang Mai, a client, your boss or a colleague writes you by email to ask you a question and modify a change on the company blog. Although the ideal is that you know how to separate work from leisure, it won't hurt to have the smartphone and appropriate apps ready in case those last-minute "emergencies" arise.
Traveling means being able to enjoy those precious moments wherever we are: the rain falling in the middle of a rice field, getting lost in the aromas of a chowk or bazaar in New Delhi or ascending to Comuna 13 in Medellín by cable car. Working is essential, but I do recommend not mixing both things. Do your best during scheduled work hours, but as much as possible, try to log out of Gmail when you're ready to enjoy your daily plans.
If the connection at your accommodation is somewhat unstable, or you want to change offices, a good alternative is to work in cafes or libraries near your hotel. Think about it: you will not only be able to discover new dishes, but also meet other people and feel that you can better separate your spaces, your work space and where you sleep.
And if at any time, the movement of people coming and going, nothing better than resorting to headphones and immersing yourself in other symphonic maps. Wave and binaural music playlists work for me, although this one by Wun Two has been great for me during this trip.
When we travel, we also need to interact with other people, whether it's that new colleague with whom to go for ten o'clock coffee or the colleague with whom you can rant about your boss between afterwork beers. In another country, things change, of course, but socializing is still possible. You will not lack options: you can stay in a hostel, ideal for meeting people; or in a coliving center, designed for communities of digital nomads. Also don't rule out the option of using dating apps and having a date at the end of the work day.
Note: When we travel, we are more open to meeting people (and even falling in love).
I confess something: in the middle of the chaos of a market in the city of Jaipur, northern India, I was overwhelmed during the first day. Imagine: so many aromas, screams, flowers, colors, Where are you from? No, thank you, no, thank you (x20); a cow suddenly, the horn of a tuk tuk and thus, a sequence as vivid and exciting as it is also intense. At some point I left the market and returned to my new office, in a guesthouse.
After succumbing to silence, opening Gmail was the closest thing to starting a meditation, a link with my previous life. I even missed the Alicante school siren. Sometimes, when we travel, returning to our new routine and office means doing so to a little piece of ourselves that is always the same wherever we travel. Just change the place.
