Working from Home is becoming more of the norm since we welcomed Covid-19 into our world and the pandemic became a continued mindset.  Over the last 2 years we have had to weigh the safety of the world outside our doors to our needs and desire for excitement and exploration.   Prior to the Coronavirus I traveled at least 2 times a year overseas and with each trip it required navigating PTO requests; swaps to add days before or after travel and ensuring that I remained at work leading up to the trip as to not waste vacation time on that dreaded cold!   Now with the advent of working from home; as long as I have a strong WIFI signal and a room that I can close the door than I can work from almost anywhere in the world! 

With Remote work I can predict for at least myself I will be using more “remote work vacations” versus regular old school vacations.  Being able to remain in a pay status and stay for an extended stay will make it worthwhile.  With 2 days off each week; if I stay a month in London I have 8 days off.   Take an extra day off each week and do a 2 week stay; I could explore Japan for 6 days.  It does mean taking the time to coordinate schedules with my local hours versus the hours of the location I will be traveling to.  Most recently on a 7-day trip to Hawaii it meant understanding that for 3 days of the trip I had to work at 1am HST as I normally start each shift at 6am EST.  But set that alarm and use the early out to get more time exploring.  I just was a little more tired each morning when I started than I would normally be.  

Hawaii was my “starter” trip or a test for my future remote work vacations.  Of course, for someone who is on the East Coast a “starter trip” would be something close to home.  I did that but that was a short trip to Disneyworld for the Very Merriest Holiday Party; 3 days.  Hawaii was my 1^st extended trip where I stayed over the course of 2 pay periods with my position; it was the first trip I worked consistently while on “vacation” and it was certainly what I would consider a success.   You must be prepared to be a little tired.  Close the windows and the blind and put your head down and do what you are scheduled to do when you are scheduled to do it; which can be difficult when the calm beach is calling you at 10am when someone pops there head in the room and asks when you are going to be “Done”.  But if you are motivated and have a long enough time in a location where you feel you aren’t going to miss EVERYTHING You can do it too!  Watch for all of my “remote work vacations” to see how I experience the world and all that is around me!

During this trip I spent the afternoons exploring the island of Oahu and more important the early AMs hiding in a corner in our AirBnb trying not the disturb my family who were all sound asleep!  As a single traveler who has siblings with spouses and kids; it meant the I got a room. Instead of being relegated to the sofa bed in the living room due to me being “single” and the most physically active and able to sleep on the lumpy sofa bed.  It also meant that I spent many of early evenings with my door shut and my earbuds in as the family came in from Beaches, store runs to the local ABC Store (if you never been to Hawaii make this one of your first stops!) or any other excursion they took.   During this trip I took worked 3 of the scheduled 5 days I normally worked; but worked a longer day on all 3 to ensure that I was able to accomplish all the task I had as a salaried and responsible employee!  This also meant for me that I got paid the full week salary for 3 days of work; although I did put in some time off the clock after we landed, and I got to my home office to catch up things I hadn’t been able to do on Saturday because the Island Cruise was calling me.

I still haven’t located where my 1st solo trip will be, anyone who follows me knows that I travel alone quite consistently and as such I get to do only the things that I want to do. This also means I wont know feel like a burden to my family and friends who I may travel with as they need to wait until I am off; or return early from something so that I can get rest to work the next day. I am debating between Amsterdam Pride for 2 weeks over July/August and then we as a family are planning on a winter market tour in December. I certainly can see that my Passport will be getting a few more stamps in the months to come.