Tips For Travelling And Working At The Same Time

I travelled to 4 different cities while working remotely.

With my experience, I’m going to give you the best tips of how to travel and work at the same time. ↓

Ironically, I have discovered more about those cities than Sofia itself, but that is something I intend to fix this month (April) as I plan to visit the region and do some nature-walking – if the weather allows me to do it. I have some plus and minus points of each city I visited:

Berlin:

• Plus points: The organization, indeed. It’s the kind of city in where I could live longer and where every place is connected. You generally feel safe to go around and there are places open 24 hours a day.
• Minus points: Well… the costs. Scene one, at the hotel: “Look, we have tapped water in the room. It’s 3 euros per litre.” Seriously? NO WAY. Scene two, shortly after, at the brewery: “By any chance, can I buy a couple of bottles of water?” “Sure. It’s 5 euros per bottle.”

A beautiful sight in Berlin

Plovdiv:

• Plus points: It is a small city, but full of history, literally: you can go to the local H&M and get a glimpse on the buried old roman theater, right below the city pavement. Mind blowing!
• Minus points: Honestly, nothing that I could think of.

Athens:

• Plus points: Well, I simply couldn’t stop taking pictures of EVERYTHING. It’s an impressive city which basically sweats history from its skin (if it had one). Very charming. Also, the fact that you get free water in all the places you enter: bars, restaurants, etc (I’m starting to think that I am obsessed with this city!)
• Minus points: Would I live there? I’m not sure yet. The political situation makes it quite uncomfortable, and I am not exactly sure that this would be as affordable as the place I’m living in now.

An Acropolis theater in Athens

Brussels:

• Plus points: I wasn’t expecting much from Brussels. And once again, I was amazingly surprised. The city is a melting pot of languages, with people of all sort of nationalities. The guy giving the Free Walking Tour was a British and he was living there for 9 years – he couldn’t stop talking about how much this city is the political and “social” heart of Europe.
• Minus points: Well, I will sound like a complaining grandpa, but the weather was definitely not helping us. Very London-like: why having a season when you could experience all four of them in 2 hours?

Royal Galleries of Saint Hubert, Brussels

Most of the trips I took were fast “weekend” deals. Short holidays to get a feel of the city and have a look around. I am generally a solo traveler, but this time I had each time someone traveling with me, friends that I met in the most different locations (in Krakow, Gdansk, Turku… pretty much all the places I’ve lived in).

So, how did I go to four different places and still managed to work?

Just as a reminder, as you may remember from my previous post, I work as a Customer Support Advisor at 5CA. That means that I help out customers solving their problems with their products. So all that I need is a headset, a quiet space to work and a good internet connection. 

We European passport holders are actually very lucky. Plenty of places in which you can just sign in without a Visa, no need to inform our Government if we want to stay abroad for a while, and the travelling costs also go down.

Some of those tips also apply worldwide:

• If you are looking for cheap flights, check out Skyscanner. The fact that there’s an “everywhere” possible reply to the destination, makes this site one of my favorite. Set the day, the airport from where you’ll leave, choose everywhere: a list of the cheapest flight on the period!
• Not into flying? Then you need to check Rome2Rio. I mean, who said we need to take a flight each time we have to travel somewhere? Sometimes you can get better deals when you travel on bus, train, or boat. Here you go!
• Feeling adventurous and on a budget? Check out Kiwi! Time is terribly important, and generally, it’s just easier to go straight from point A to point B without any middle stops. But it’s certainly not the cheapest way. I have never tested it, but I’m planning to discover more about this platform as soon as possible!

I’ve also been facing the first Internet  related issues here in Sofia. The network went off a couple of hours before the end of my shift and no joy until the afternoon after. That after I harassed the owner of my apartment to call the Internet provider and purchasing a one-month membership at the nearby co-working space.

Coworking and coliving spaces are probably our best friends in terms of possibilities. You have fast Internet, plenty of coffee and eventually, if someone has the feeling that working from home is too isolated, can find some comfort in work on a place in which everyone has a different expertise.

Useful bookmarks:

• If you need to find coworking places, Coworking Map is pretty much the Holy Bible. They give you a MASSIVE amount of coworking places spread around the world
• Meet other nomads in CoNomads. Honestly, it’s a fresh discovery which I can not wait to test “on the field”. Set your plan and see who’s going to be around in the same period to meet like-minded people and maybe find a good house sharing deal!
• Why set for a coworking when you can do a coliving? Then check CoLiving. There are not many locations available at the moment, but it could be useful at some point!

Any suggestions from your side? Let’s connect on Instagram!