Here's how to find a good remote workplace abroad

Hasta la pasta, off to a remote workplace abroad. Laptop under your arm and go. You book a plane ticket and your accommodation and you’re ready to go. But I hope you’ve thought about your workplace? Because it’s no ordinary vacation. You will be working from a different location and so you need to do some homework for that. That doesn’t have to be very difficult, but is something you need to have figured out beforehand. Or on day 1 you should start arranging right away, before you have to go to work, for the last minute arrangers among us.

Good wifi during your workation

First things first, wifi. How could we still live without it? Wherever you go to work, without wifi you are nowhere. And now I regularly shout that it is everywhere these days, but was last week in Granada in southern Spain, where it is virtually nowhere haha. I should have known, because the nice thing about this historic place is that time has stood still here. So always check in advance if there is wifi and it works well. Whether in your own apartment, hostel or flex workspace. It is often mentioned on the website or socials. And if the wifi is bad somewhere, you’ll read about it in reviews soon enough.

You can always fall back on your hotspot. Then you connect to your laptop via the phone and thus use your phone’s network. Again, make sure you have that taken care of, this is your responsibility. Check if your subscription is sufficient, or if it might be useful to increase it temporarily. Your hotspot does not work equally well everywhere abroad, I have experienced this too. No disaster, but then you have to look for another place to work.

Your own workation apartment

The easiest way to get a nice remote workspace is to book your own apartment, with a work or kitchen table where you can work well. And preferably not a teeny tiny desk in a sad corner of the room that barely fits a laptop. It’s a bit more expensive, but that means you don’t necessarily have to look for an external workspace.

Decide for yourself whether you want to be somewhere alone or with others. There are organizations (like me!) that offer full-service workation or co-living spaces, including accommodations, activities and other like-minded people.

Through that, I found out for myself that Valencia, for example, is a great city for remote work.

Remote working in a hostel

When I go away for a long time I often alternate between my own place or a nice hostel. Sometimes nice and quiet, and sometimes some coziness. For a week it can also be both. For me, a good hostel is preferred, with the emphasis on good. I was in a hostel in Barcelona that is geared towards working travelers, therefore the target group is a bit older and also working during the day. It has its own office space where I could work quietly and at the end of the day I went to explore the city with the new people I had met. Super fun!

Tips for flex workplaces abroad

In many big cities nowadays, good many flex spaces can be found. A simple google search on co-workspace will take you a long way. Or use Google Maps to see right away which one is close to you. There are workplaces that focus mainly on a month’s subscription, but if you search well you will also find places for a day or a week. Sometimes you pay a daily rate here, but often it’s enough if you order some coffee or maybe a nice lunch. And how bad is that!

You can also go to a cute cafe to work. I can always greatly look forward to going to a cute coffee café. Those are so nicely decorated and cozy. Do look for a quiet corner and always check if it’s okay to work on your laptop. Not all places allow working, but want to keep the tables available for people who just come to eat and drink. You might be unlucky enough to have a family with whining kids sitting next to you, and there goes your peace and quiet. I do this myself only on days when I don’t have important meetings or deadlines, just in case.

A quiet remote workspace

A remote workplace where you can work nice and quiet is not always within your control. If you work outside, you don’t have control over who sits next to you, and in your own apartment, the neighbors might just start renovating. Which, by the way, can happen just as well at home.

The invention: noise-canceling headphones!

Or just earphones, so you can put on some music and concentrate on your work. You really need these for meetings, too, or your colleagues won’t be able to hear you properly because of the background noise.

More workplace tips on Instagram

On my Instagram @workingremotelynl you will see in the highlights per city tips for nice workplaces I have been to. There are many blogs, websites and Instagrammers who went before you and so there is a lot to find about great workplaces all over the world. My favorite? The blogs and the book Work Hard Travel Harder by “Free Girl” Suzanne van Duijn.

You can also follow Facebook groups for travelers and digital nomads. There, someone is regularly looking for people who want to rent an apartment together or you get tips for great flex spaces. If you enter your destination and type in digital nomad, you’re bound to get a hit right away. For example, I followed the Digital Nomads Croatia group when I went to Croatia.

There are so many useful hashtags! On Instagram, one of the things I follow is #workation. That way I get some inspiration and save fun tips. There are also lots of fun bloggers and travelers to follow. That will make you want to leave tomorrow!

Tip: Do you like to work with 2 screens? There are workplaces that offer this, you’ll find it on their website. But recently I met someone who had THE solution. He used Mobile Pixels, a separate screen that you connect to your laptop and use as a second screen via a cable. Very light and therefore easy to take with you. I have no experience with it myself, but he had tried several things and thought it was great.