Regularly we share stories of people who have been on a workation. This time the great story of Eros Beijer-Basut, mother, employed and on an adventure for 2 months during a workstation in Valencia with her family. She is a CDD Analyst at Rabobank. Below is her inspiring workation story.
From April 1 to May 29, 2023, we (my husband Jeffrey, me and our 4-year-old twins) will be on workstation in Valencia. For two months we will combine (remote) work and vacation in Spain.
How did we come up with the idea of a workation?
The urge to work from another location and go on an adventure did not come out of the blue. We had been toying with the idea of working from abroad before. Last summer, during our vacation, we started dreaming of working from abroad again. Once we were back in the Netherlands and I went back to work that Monday after returning and opened my email, one email message immediately caught my eye: working temporarily from abroad. I thought. this can no longer be a coincidence! I immediately opened the article and read that it is possible at my employer to work temporarily from abroad. Of course, I immediately shared this with my husband and together we tied the knot: we are going on this adventure! Life is too short and after all, we only live once! My husband also works a lot from home and can also do his work abroad.
Workation in Valencia it is! 🇪🇸
Once we decided we wanted to embark on this adventure, I first discussed our plans with my team leader(s) and after my TL agreed, we could slowly make our plans more concrete. We first started by choosing a destination and then the time period. After holding several options side by side for a long time, we made a decision: We are going on workation in Valencia when spring comes! Period April 1 to May 29, 2023. In this period it is not only very sunny there, but it is also ideal in terms of temperature, about 22 to 25 degrees, not too hot and certainly not too cold either. In addition, there are also many holidays during this period which means we have extra days off.
The distance is easy to cover by car and there is enough room in terms of luggage, especially with 2 toddlers of 4. After we decided on the country and period, we still had to make an official request to HR. That same day I received approval from HR and via Airbnb we managed to arrange a small apartment with 2 home offices and good WiFi in a quiet, child-friendly neighborhood and close to the famous Turia Park.
“How do you arrange that with the children?”
The most frequently asked question! Our children are 4 years old at the time of departure and therefore not subject to compulsory education. We could easily make arrangements with their school without the intervention of a school attendance officer. They were happy to think along with us, for example by giving us a lot of school work. Every week the children have a Teams Meeting with the class. This way they still have some connection with their teachers and classmates and they can join in with the work from school.
“And how do you arrange childcare during your workation in Valencia?” Working and at the same time also taking care of 2 toddlers of 4 is not a desirable situation and especially causes a lot of stress. We noticed this during the Corona lockdown. Ideally, we wanted to enroll them in an international school or a nursery in Valencia, but this was almost impossible for us. Either the location of the school was too far, or we had to deal with a long waiting list and school uniforms, or they found the period (2 months) short etc. etc.. In other words, we did not succeed in arranging a school.
Eventually, I got in touch with a Dutch expat in Valencia via Instagram. She confirmed that (international) schools are very difficult to arrange in Valencia. Given their age, she advised me to arrange a “nanny” for our twins. Through a private facebook community we came in contact with an English-speaking 26-year-old student with a lot of experience with whom we had a good feeling because of the many facetime conversations. She joins us as a nanny four mornings a week. So far we are very happy with her. She playfully teaches the children the English language and takes care of all school work, super handy 😉.
Over a month now in Valencia. How do we like it?
Once the time came, I did begin to find it very exciting. Going abroad for two months with 2 small children is completely out of our comfort zone. Once in Spain, we love working in a totally different place for a while where the sun shines every day until now. The surroundings are enormously inspiring, the sun gives a lot of energy and I notice that it makes me more productive. At one point I even started working out, 5 days a week. And that while in the Netherlands I hardly work out twice a week.
I have arranged my work activities as efficiently as possible, allowing me to work just fine 2 afternoons a week in front of my children during this workation in Valencia. Just a morning from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. a lot of hard work behind the laptop and then in the afternoon a nice walk through the park with the children or to a playground where they can burn off their energy.
In case I don’t finish my work that day, I do some catching up in the evenings in the balcony. On Fridays, Jeffrey and I are both free. The long weekends really feel like a mini vacation. We play the tourist; we go to terraces, go shopping, have tapas, visit museums, rent bikes and if the temperature is good, we go to the beach. Because the kids here only wake up around 9:00 am, they go to bed late and eating out is not an issue, since most restaurants don’t open again until 7:00 pm. Except for the siestas, we have adopted the Spanish way of life a bit 😃.
Are we missing the Netherlands?
Yes, there are definitely times when we miss Holland. We miss spontaneously meeting up with family and friends. And even though the kids are allowed ice cream (almost) every day, they miss their friends. Fortunately, we live in a digital world where we regularly face-tune with the home front. The children love to write and send cards to their friends in the Netherlands. And every now and then we have visitors from the Netherlands which makes the loss a lot less. We also celebrated King’s Day in Valencia, which was great fun! 🇾🇪 👑
It’s a great experience to have some quality-time with the four of us in a foreign country where the sun is shining. It really gives a lot of positive energy. We are thoroughly enjoying it and making memories forever. We are super grateful to be able and allowed to do this workation in Valencia as a family. While we are still sitting here, we are already secretly fantasizing about our 2nd workation.
Monday, May 29, we will drive back to the Netherlands and as a finale we will visit Mickey and Minnie Mouse at Disneyland Paris.
If you want to follow Eros and her family on her workation adventure in Valencia, follow her on Instagram: @er0sje. Find more tips on a workation in this amazing city in this blog about Valencia.
