Booking a round-trip inspiration? Sounds like music to my ears, but do me a one-way anyway full-time workation. 🌴 Since September 2021, I have been traveling the world in my van camper (and sometimes by plane or train) and working wherever and whenever I want. A digital nomad, in other words. I am a busy bee and am always busy with online entrepreneurial activities. So I work freelance in web design and online marketing, I blog about earn and save money and I have all kinds of online sidehustles where I earn an extra buck. All I need is wifi! Although that can be a challenge… In this article I share some useful tips for anyone who would like to work remotely from an RV as a digital nomad.
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Don’t plan too much and be flexible
I have found that it is better to be as flexible as possible and plan as few things as possible. Things always turn out differently than you expect anyway and you stress yourself out unnecessarily. A few tips:
- Schedule your meetings in the morning so you have more flexibility for the rest of the day.
- Is the Internet suddenly not working? Does the coffee shop where you wanted to work suddenly turn out to be packed with partying students? So be it. Let it go and try another way and/or another time. Really, clinging frenetically to your plans does not make a workation more enjoyable.
- Skip all the peripheral stuff. Can it wait until after your workstation? Then let it wait, too! When you travel and work at the same time, you will soon find that there are too few hours in the day. Set clear priorities and make sure (at least) the important tasks are done.
We’re quick to make long to-do lists (maybe so we feel less guilty as soon as we sip a Piña Colada mid-afternoon?), but we end up cutting ourselves in half. Don’t get me wrong: workouts are really awesome and I recommend them to everyone. It’s just important not to come home with burnout from all the forced work.
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Leave room for inspiration
One of the reasons I try to plan little is that it leaves more room for new ideas. Because inspiration, that’s what you get on a workout, guaranteed! I don’t know whether it’s because I’m in a different environment, doing all sorts of fun activities or just getting away from the daily grind: I’m always full of new ideas when I’m out and about, and I love to work on them. instantly out. There has to be room for that. A calendar full of meetings and deadlines would ruin that inspiration right away.
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Check the wifi connection in advance
All I need is wifi, I often say jokingly. This is true, because otherwise I am completely self-sufficient. My camper van has solar panels, a refrigerator, a water heater, a toilet, etc. The only thing missing by default is wifi. And often it is really the wifi (or rather the lack of wifi) that causes problems at my workstations when I go to work from abroad. Fortunately, there are many solutions for good wifi and mobile data while traveling. Consider an eSIM, increasing your data bundle, mini router or a Starlink satellite. Keep in mind that the latter is not allowed in all countries yet, so check that well before your RV trip.
Sometimes while traveling I also stay for a while at an accommodation with a little more comfort. At some accommodations in different countries I have had bad wifi, while online it was stated that there was good wifi. So don’t just check on the website of your accommodation if there is wifi, but also read all the reviews to see what others say about the wifi.
At all Working Remotely locations, of course, you have good wifi! Specially tested by the Working Remotely team and (sometimes) by me. By the way, did you know that Sandra participated in the first group workstation that Working Remotely ever organized. That’s where Alieke and I know each other from. Then we started working together a lot and traveling together.
More vanlife tips on working online from an RV
