A lot of us have a travel bug that’s been, well, squashed for the last year. But we’re still itching to get out. To experience the thrill of exploring new places and seeing locales that aren’t a part of everyday life. It’s a dream many of us have.
You can live a life of never-ending travel if you can make the circumstances in your life work just right. Not just a life of regular vacations or being a digital nomad. Rather, how you can live while you travel on a regular, but not constant, basis.
Maybe you want to go for long weekends to another city, and just spend a day or two working. Or maybe you want to spend one week a month on the road, still working, so you’re never actually “taking” vacation. Or maybe you need to care for relatives for a few weeks or months, even while still working.
Here are a few things to consider to have that life of constant travel, spending time out on the road, without actually using up your vacation days.
Is your job conducive to that lifestyle?
Do you have the kind of job where you can work remotely? If you’ve been working from home since 2020, the answer is already yes. That means there’s no reason to stay home.
If you’re a writer, graphic designer, software engineer, or your typical knowledge worker, you can work from just about anywhere. If you’ve been working remotely for the last year, you can continue to work remotely until you get called back to the office permanently.
Does your life offer that flexibility?
One common benefit of working remotely, owning your own business, or even working while you travel is that you get to do a lot of things on your own terms. You can do personal things in the morning or late at night, and do your work when it’s more conducive to your schedule. You get to organize your time off. And you get to wear what feels comfortable.
When it comes to taking a working vacation, you can schedule longer times away from home when you need to do some work. For example, if you work remotely in Florida, but want to visit Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, schedule a two-week working vacation instead of a one-week “out of pocket” vacation. Doing so will still like you’re taking a longer vacation, even if you’re working by the beach, because you may spend the days working, but you can head outside at the end of the day and look at the ocean.
Or if you want to spend a few weeks visiting family in your old hometown, you can work from your Airbnb, childhood home, or even a coworking space or coffee shop. And as long as you’re getting your work done, why does it matter where you actually got it accomplished?
(This is why we’re also seeing a lot of people move out of New York City and Silicon Valley: Their remote work arrangement is permanent, so they’re moving to cheaper cities.)
What does it take for never-ending travel?
While some people embrace their life-on-the-road lifestyle by selling nearly everything they own and becoming complete digital nomads, that’s not necessary for everyone.
You can pay for your lodging, but your food will be part of your normal budget if you stay somewhere with a kitchen. Take your pets as long as the place is pet-friendly, and stay semi-close to the big attractions you want to see, whether it’s theme parks, the ocean, mountains, or wherever you’re staying.
You will need solid access to the internet. You can’t rely on spotty wifi and poor cell phone coverage to reliably to get any work done. Basically, if it’s fast enough to conduct Zoom meetings, it’s fast enough for what you need.
You also need the right technology. Basically, if you can live like a digital nomad, you can work remotely. Essentially if you’ve been able to work remotely thus far, you can work remotely from anywhere. However, if you have a lot of hardware you require to function, like a massive desktop computer and three 40-inch curved monitors, you may have some problems hauling everything around. That’s not to say you can’t haul all of that around, but just ask yourself if you want to haul that much equipment around every time you travel. Maybe if you’re going to stay somewhere for a few weeks or even a couple months, but maybe not for a week at a time.
Upgrade as needed. Make sure you have the latest software and hardware as well. If you use Photoshop regularly, make sure you’re using the latest version. If you’re going to a city where 5G is available, upgrade your phone if you use a smartphone for work. And make sure you’re going to be within your calling area, and that you have unlimited data and texts on your cellular plan.
Find the right lodging. Hotels are fine if you’re only going to be in them for a few days, spending your daylight hours outside and only coming back to sleep and change clothes. But they may not be so pleasant if you have to spend 6 – 8 hours a day working, especially if you travel with your family. Look at renting a house or condo, whether it’s through a rental agency or an Airbnb, to give yourself and your family a more homey feel. You could even work out of a glamping site as long as you had electricity and wifi.
Look for a coworking space or coffee shop. You don’t have to work out of your lodging space either though. You can find a different space, like a coworking space, that will have all the amenities you need: high-speed wifi, power, printing, and even conference facilities.
A life of constant travel doesn’t mean being a digital nomad. The point is to be in another location even while you’re working, and living in such a way that you can still get your work done without anyone knowing you’re not in your home office. You can travel as much as you want, wherever you want, as often as you want. Just remember to keep working so you can continue to afford this life of constant travel.
How often do you travel? Are you able to work from anywhere? Where would you like to go for a week or two? How would you create a life of never-ending travel? Share your ideas on our Facebook page, or on our Twitter stream. You can also find us on our Instagram page at @TravelproIntl.
Photo credit: Peggy_Marco (Pixabay, Creative Commons 0)