Travel a summer without taking a vacation

Lena Pres changed her place of residence a whopping 14 times last year. From Munich we went to Ljubljana, via Zagreb to Athens and Budapest. In between she stopped in Split, Corfu and Thessaloniki. Vacation is out of the question, however, as she works full-time while she travels. Lena is on a so-called workation. A mix of work and vacation, i.e. job and vacation.

Unlike digital nomads, who work permanently on the go, their trip is limited in time. The HR manager was on the road over the summer with the blessing of her employer*. She enjoyed Lake Balaton in Hungary, lived in a tiny house and worked in the coworking space. “I love it and could go on like this for a long time,” she says in an interview with t3n.

With the increasing acceptance of remote work among employers, Lena’s example can now be followed without reservation in many places: tickets and hotel booked, laptop packed in the suitcase, apartment sublet and off you go wherever your wanderlust drives you. If the pandemic has had one benefit, it’s that skeptical employers have opened up to working from home and, as a result, to remote working.

While mobile working was the exception until the beginning of 2020, one in four people in Germany now works from home. According to the Munich Ifo Institute, every second person could do it. “The corona crisis has shown that flexible working does not reduce the quality of the work results,” explains Achim Berg, President of the industry association of the German information and telecommunications industry.

Booked the ticket and hotel, packed the laptop in the suitcase, sublet the apartment – but it’s not quite that easy, according to Lena Pres. So that like-minded people can get the best out of their workation, she shares a few experiences. Because it is also clear that everyday life has to adapt to the circumstances.

Above all, good advance planning is important, because unlike in the office or at home, some occasionally used utensils cannot simply be pulled out of the drawer when needed. The standard equipment therefore includes “all conceivable adapters, charging cables, headphones, power banks, mobile routers for WLAN failures and preferably always pen and paper,” says Lena Preß. She is currently HR, office and IT manager at the same time.

But also the physical well-being should not be forgotten. “After a long period in the home office, it is unusual to think further than the fridge when it comes to coffee or a lunchtime snack,” she says. Nothing is less fun than starting the first day of work in a new holiday home with beach access when the refrigerator is empty, the coffee machine is broken and the supermarket around the corner is closed.

Such things, she advises, should be clarified before the start of work. If possible, the evening before. What sounds banal at first can actually quickly turn into a mood killer when traveling – especially if the day is peppered with a lot of work. “Assume the best, but be prepared for the worst,” says Lena Pres.

Cities with many coworking spaces are worth their weight in gold.

If you do a workation, you tend to pack too many to-dos into a few hours. But working time is not free time and free time should not eat up working time. “Try to think of the working days as working days with an extra, and not to travel too much during this time.” The attraction of the mix of job and vacation lies in the exciting after-work organization and not in burdening yourself with additional travel stress.

According to the HR manager, it helps to plan a change of location on non-working days and to enjoy traveling in peace instead of making up kilometers between two appointments or the following working day. “All in good time. This also reduces the risk that you won’t be able to work while you’re on the road,” she explains. Everything is possible: from a car breakdown to an internet failure.

The local network quality is indeed an important aspect for mobile work. Just a few weeks ago, the travel startup Holidu selected the best places for a workation in an analysis. The company sorted the city ranking according to important criteria. In addition to the room and food prices, the average Wi-Fi speed is also important.

In the latter category, European destinations such as Bucharest, Barcelona and Budapest score above average. The number of coworking spaces in the respective city also plays a role: Asian metropolises such as Bangkok, Mumbai and Singapore are at the forefront here. Lena Pres also appreciates finding the right place to work and being able to switch between different modes.

Depending on the activity and the workload, different places of work would offer different opportunities. “Coworking spaces can be the ultimate boost for productivity, but sometimes too hectic and noisy for a day filled with video calls. The heavenly beach hut gives you a cool Instagram post, but maybe distracts too much from your to-do list today,” she says.

In order to be able to work in the best possible way, workation jobbers should think carefully about which environment is particularly suitable for which tasks. Lena Press also knows that the top priority is that the WLAN works. Anyone who often has internet problems in a quiet holiday home will ultimately have to move anyway: “Cities with many coworking spaces are worth their weight in gold.”

In the end, she says, travelers on a workation must always be flexible because “the ultimate plan is always doomed to fail,” she says. “As soon as you leave your home four walls and embark on the adventure of a workation, life can sometimes surprise you.” Try to think and plan flexibly, is her most important tip.

“The coworking space you’ve been meaning to visit all week is far too crowded with people? Is your Airbnb balcony hanging over the noisiest café in town? The hotel prices in your next travel destination are unaffordable? Welcome to the never boring world of travel.” If you don’t like surprises, it’s better to stay at home. A workation therefore succeeds above all with the right mindset.

*Disclaimer: Lena Pres works for yeebase Media, the publisher behind t3n magazine.