How To Travel And Work Remotely? – 10 Tips To Work From Anywhere!

Remote working, a superb idea to work at any preferable place away from office premises, is now a prominent concept in the modern era. The remote professionals have the privilege of selecting their work locations. Some prefer working from home or a co-working space in the same location as their residence.

While others prefer travelling to various regions while working remotely for an organization. These Digital Nomads, who opt to be based at a different exotic location away from their home country and continue their remote work at the same time. They often are inquisitive to understand how to travel and work remotely without any hiccups. 

The article will share some of the interesting and essential tips as to how to work remotely and travel simultaneously. The tips will guide you to manage your work efficiently while travelling. We will also talk about remote travel programs like remote year and many more.

Remote Work Fact

Though digital nomads are privileged to travel while working remotely yet they cannot leisure out during their stipulated work hours. They need to be focused and aware of their responsibilities, investing sufficient time to complete their assigned work. There are many remote working tools like UnRemot that help them stay connected with their teams and stay productive.

Tips

Plan your trip abroad at least one year before joining the remote work travel programs. Adequate time and effort are required to settle your things at home and then venture out in a different country to carry on your remote work.

10 Tips On How To Travel And Work Remotely

How To Travel And Work Remotely

1. Arrange your passport, visa and travel insurance

Passport, visa and travel insurance are the three most essential documents needed to travel and work remotely abroad. Few companies arrange the travel documents and bear the cost for it, while some companies do not. If you need to plan it out yourself, it is important to visit the website of the Embassy or the Consulate of the particular country. You can even visit the designated Visa centers to gather information on the requisite formalities and documents.

The duration of the visa required depends on your work tenure with the company. It can be 6 months or 1 year or more than that. Different countries have varied rules and formalities for granting a visa to individuals. We must understand and act accordingly, otherwise there may be unnecessary delays in granting visas and even sometimes the visa may be rejected.

Insurance is another important element in visa processing procedures. You need to be careful in selecting the company providing insurance in terms of reliability and the chargeable amount.

Tips

Certain individuals who intend to travel while working remotely, often are eager to obtain the citizenship of that country for a long term stay or permanent residence. They need to understand the pre-requisites and procedures carefully before proceeding with the formalities.

2. Plan your Budget

Financial Planning is an important aspect when you intend to travel and work remotely. Many remote professionals are preferring to stay out of their homes and move to countries where the cost of living is much cheaper. But still, they must not neglect to save their money by cutting down unnecessary expenses.  Also make sure you work from anywhere companies are giving the space you need.

List down the immediate and long term expenses while planning for remote work travel. Estimate the cost of each of the items. Check on your bank accounts and investments for affording the cost along with sufficient savings for emergencies and other miscellaneous expenses. Reduce your expenses if needed especially on clothing or dining outside or on leisure tours. Settling down in a different country involves multiple costs related to housing, travel, transportation and infrastructure facilities. In the absence of sufficient money, you will struggle to bear the costs.

Tips

Select your credit and debit cards judiciously. Cards which have zero or minimal annual fee and ATM charges are preferable for remote work travel.

3. Select High Speed Internet Connection

Staying connected with the team is very essential for remote professionals and especially when they travel and work remotely. The only means of communication are all digital – phones, emails, Whatsapp calls, online messaging and chat platforms. Each one of these communication media demands strong and fast internet connectivity. Failing which may result in miscommunication and delay in completion of work.

Hence when you are concerned as to how to work remotely and travel, remember to select the appropriate internet service provider offering high speed network connectivity. Scan through the different plans and the review sites to understand the best options for internet connection. If you are planning to reside in any shared service apartment check on their WiFi services, whether it meets your needs.

Certain professions involve multiple interactions in a day via online meetings and screen sharing processes. They need good connectivity for seamless communication with peers, supervisors, and customers.

Tips

It is important to check the coffee shops or the café nearly on their Wi-Fi facilities. In remote travel and work, individuals often tend to log in to their laptops in a café or a coffee shop casually and continue their regular work schedule. These breaks are essential for them to shrug off monotony and to energize their mind and body.

4. Finalize your residential area

Selecting an appropriate neighbourhood for residence is a vital factor when you plan to travel and work remotely. The rent must be affordable within your earning limits and appropriate for a long term stay. Several firms now offer rental properties, fully furnished and even provide utensils and other household items for a comfortable living. You do not need to worry about air conditioners, refrigerators, dishwashers, and washing machines. 

You can opt to rent apartments or condos and furnish them as per your choice and needs. If you are selling off your house in your home country then this option is much better since you can shift your belongings through any Packers and Movers company. Alternatively, you can buy a home in a new country. There is a certain risk involved in this decision as you need extra assurance of your job and stability in one place. 

Important Fact to remember

It is always advisable to stay on rent or any serviced apartment for the initial 6 months if you are opting for remote travel and work. Once you are assured of your job stability and your motivation level then you can decide to buy a house of your choice. 

Analyzing and judging the neighbourhood is also an important factor while you prefer to travel and work remotely. You need to be comfortable with the type of people dwelling near your residence, especially preferable is a calm and undisturbed area. The transportation from your place of residence and to the prominent places in the city and the adjoining cities must be affordable and easily available. Check for hospitals, banks, grocery stores, and food outlets near the place. The distance from and to the airport must not be huge since it may pose a severe risk while travelling back to your hometown and travel for vacations or business.

Tips

Check out the residential properties review from different websites. If you have any acquaintances at your new place, then check with them first on the different areas in the city. Do not haste in renting an apartment or buying a house. It is your money so use it wisely.

5. Intelligent Packing Techniques

10 Tips On How To Travel And Work Remotely

Packing is a serious concern for professionals who travel and work remotely. Let us discuss some of the key points which you need to focus on:

  • Finalizing the duration of stay in the remote place. For the short term, it is advisable to pack light, only stuffing your bags with the emergency needs. For the long term, you need to involve the Packers and Movers company to shift your things from your hometown residence to your new residence at the remote location.
  • If you are travelling during the winters, ensure you pack your woollens carefully and for summer, do not miss out on the light cotton clothes
  • For sports lovers, it is advisable to carry the gears and equipment instead of buying them again and increase your expenses
  • If you intend to carry any fragile items then ensure you use bubble wraps to prevent any damage

Packing is essentially an art that you need to practice especially when you have preferred to travel while working remotely. How to use the maximum space of a bag requires additional skills. Creating a packing list demands a good experience. You must not end up packing items that are unnecessary or are available in plenty at the new location.

6. Acquaintance with the new location

Learning the local language, culture and habits of the people at the new location are considered essential for remote workers. This considerably helps in survival at the new place especially if the food habits and etiquettes are different. Understanding the country’s culture is also important as you need to be familiar with the different festivities and holidays and adapt to those smartly. 

It is recommended to be acquainted with the work habits and culture of the country. Insurance, medical benefits, tax rules are some of the important aspects you need to understand while dwelling in a place for remote work. The technique of welcoming and greeting people of all genders are different in different countries. It is recommended to learn those habits to enable mingling with the locals.  

Important facts to remember

  • Food habits and food availability are considered essential for professionals who travel and work remotely. You need to either sync up your food habits with that of the new location else you need to arrange for an alternate method to consume food of your choice.
  • One more important fact is the dressing habits of the locals and the permissible dresses in the country. Some regions are conservative and some are open. We need to respect the cultures and beliefs of the regions for better survival and acceptance in society.

Essential Read: Get Paid To Travel : Work From Anywhere Jobs

7. Set your work routine

Remote professionals tend to get distracted often by their household chores or from their family members. And when you are especially working remotely in a different country then the distraction may be much more. The basic reason being the temptation of visiting the new destinations or bothered by problems of settling in a new place.

If your work starts being affected by the mentioned distractions, then your concentration level will be seriously impacted. Your productivity quotient will reduce significantly leading to the deterioration of work quality and effectiveness. The remote professionals may eventually lose the trust and confidence of the company. 

To avoid such situations, it is recommended to fix a work routine daily. You must draw up a work schedule specifying your hours of work and leisure. Your family members, children, and friends need to be informed of your work hours strictly to avoid any distractions. Sightseeing hours need to be mentioned separately outside the fixed work time.

Suggested read: 8 remote work habits for higher productivity

Important Fact to remember

Though we are discussing maintaining a work routine, you must not forget to add a short break or two in between to relieve the physical and mental stress. 

Tips

Analyze, judge and figure out the times in a day when your mind is 100% active and productive. Pack your daily complex assignments into that time limit while dividing the less complex ones into the rest of the hours.

8. Adjusting the Time Zones

Remote professionals are advantageous in their flexibility to operate from places at varying time zones. You need to be updated with the time differences in various zones while setting up online meetings, discussions or training programs. If you want to arrange stand up calls daily to be attended by remote team members working at different zones, then you need to think and set up the calls at a common time frame.

10 Tips On How To Travel And Work Remotely

Some companies hence follow mostly asynchronous communication to handle the time zone mismatch issues and concerns. The remote professionals can reply at their preferred work hours with ease and comfort. For activities that need emergency interventions, you need to schedule a common working time for discussions and resolutions. For other non-critical activities, emails are the vital weapons of communication. 

Important Tips

Emails can turn out to be a powerful tool of communication and simultaneously can act as a medium of miscommunication. To avoid such situations, it is always recommended to read out emails twice or thrice to check for completeness and clarity. 

9. Effective and Uninterrupted Communication facilities

Remote professionals are required to communicate either via phone calls or online messaging and chatting platforms. They can not afford disruptive communication medium while discussing with their supervisors, team, and customers. Since they work remotely in a different location, they need to be extremely agile in their communicative power.  

To enable seamless communication, they must possess a good mobile device with the latest OS version updated and installed. Their laptops must be checked for high speed to enable faster connections during online meetings, and chats. Similarly, the mobile service provider must also be appropriate preventing call drop off and lost connection.

Important Tips

While purchasing any plans on mobile or the internet, please study and compare the different available options before the selection. Go through the reviews at different websites and check which plans or service providers are being recommended for service and quality.

10. Plan your vacations in a different way

The main reason for travel and work remotely is to be present in some exotic location and simultaneously carry out your freelance or contract work. You must not plan a long vacation as you must have been doing so before. You will be switching between your work and sightseeing not only at the weekend but on the work days too. That is the beauty of remote work travel.

Essentially it is sort of a break in between your regular work schedule, venturing outside amid the beautiful nature or engaging in any adventurous sports or simply touring cities with historical significance and architectural marvels. Hence instead of travelling frequently into one of your favourite tourist destinations, it is better to shift your residence temporarily or permanently while working remotely. You can save your money on long vacations and be rejuvenated with the short trips at the new location.

11. Remote work travel programs

To ease out the travel and accommodation headache, remote professionals often outsource these activities to companies handling work travel programs. These programs are beneficial in offering services for booking travel tickets, arranging for accommodation as well as the preferred workplace. They provide options and suggestions for co-working space too. 

The most preferred company for work travel programs is Remote Year. It helps you to plan your travel efficiently and offers a hassle free experience of working remotely in a new location. The other remote work travel programs include Hacker Paradise, BootsnAll, Behere, Wanderboss, Automattic, Buffer and many more.

Fact

Programs like a remote year and other companies offer stupendous benefits to freelancers and remote workers in fulfilling their travel needs while being privileged to work remotely. 

The privilege of travelling to a different tourism significant location while working remotely is a boon for remote professionals. They stay energized, motivated, committed and delighted.

Bonus Remote tool:

Milanote is a tool for organizing creative projects into beautiful visual boards. By design, it feels a lot like working on the wall in a creative studio – visual, tactile and sometimes a bit messy – Milanote is a great fit for designers who work in teams remotely.

Why We Love It:

  • Write notes & to-do lists, upload images & files and save things you find on the web
  • Organize visually using the flexible drag and drop interface.
  • Boards by default are a private place to think, but with a single click you can create a shared workspace for collaboration with your team
  • Milanote is filled with hundreds of built-in templates to help you get started with a variety of different projects, from creating a mood board to writing that perfect creative brief.

Free version available with no time limit and PRO version $9.99 per month (monthly and annual plans)

To know more about Best Remote work Tools, Try checking here.