6 Hacks to Combine Vacation and Remote Work

As I type this post I am gazing at the ocean in Bali, Indonesia, and reflecting on how I did not plan to be working remotely while on vacation. However, my flight was delayed four days and work was calling. So I decided to open up my laptop, combine vacation and remote work, and make the best of the extra days of vacation. Once I did, a whole new and amazing world of opportunities opened up.

My flight leaves in a few hours and I would love to share some lessons learned. In fact, working remotely while on vacation has worked out so great, that I plan to take a remote work vacation every year. Here are some tips on how I was able to combine my vacation with remote work. (Along with some vanity photos I had my wife take.)

Here are six hacks to combine vacation and remote work:

1. Locate reliable connectivity close to where you sleep.

This is probably the most important step. If you don’t have reliable Internet access close to where you set up base camp, whether in Canada or on an island in the Pacific, working remotely will be that much more difficult and stressful. My hotel has solid Internet and that has made working whenever I need to pretty seamless. Make life easy on yourself so you can work early or late, without having to worry about making a trip to a cafe or coworking space. Ideally, you want the option to work from bed.

Connectivity does not just mean access to Internet, it also means being able to make calls and have meetings. I use Skype for outgoing calls and Join.me for group meetings.

2. Set fixed overlap work hours.

Most work requires some sort of collaboration. Make sure you set some work hours that overlap with folks you collaborate with. There is a 15-hour time difference between Bali and my local time back in California. So I dedicate three hours of work to overlap with that time zone. Sure, overlap times are later at night and earlier in the morning (Bali time), but that is the price I pay for being across the world in an amazing place. For me, it is worth it.

Remote work vacation in Bali — Mike Gutman working at an outdoor table while on vacation in Bali.

3. Plan for asynchronous and synchronous productivity.

Some types of work require collaboration and some don’t. For instance, I am writing this post in the middle of the day and everyone in the U.S. is sleeping. This is not a problem since I don’t require anyone else’s input to write this post.

However, there are other projects where I need to go back and forth quickly with folks. I prioritize those projects for when my time zone overlaps with the people I need to collaborate with. This helps to avoid bottlenecks and keeps me productive.

4. Plan work AROUND your vacation.

Don’t forget to enjoy. I make sure to have at least three working hours that overlap with my team. The other hours of work I can prioritize how I see fit. Yesterday I made time to go surf, watch a sunset at an ancient Hindu temple, and go out for a relaxing dinner. I planned work around these activities and had an amazing day, all while getting all my work done and feeling productive.

5. Plan for the unexpected.

Plans while on vacation can change very quickly and being able to stay flexible will help maximize full enjoyment. I am on a vacation with four other people right now and getting everyone to agree on a plan is like herding cats. Often times I just stay out of the planning and let them tell me what will happen next.

As long as I set aside the three hours of overlap time with my team every day, I can stay flexible with the other work I need to accomplish. I could have never planned for our flight being delayed due to volcanic ash, nor could I have planned for us to stay out at dinner two hours longer than we expected last night. But staying flexible with my asynchronous work allowed me to get everything done, avoid stressing about having to be somewhere, and allowed me to fully enjoy the time spent with loved ones.

6. Make sure your boss is ok with working remotely.

This goes without saying, but I thought I would bring it up anyway and share the email I sent my boss and HR director to get approval and set expectations.

Hi Gang,
So… Bali has been fantastic and I am excited to return to work on Monday. Which means, yes, I am enjoying the work we do very much.
I wanted to let you know that my flight has been delayed by four days and is now scheduled to leave the island on Wednesday. There is apparently too much volcanic ash in the air for flights to travel safely and flights all over the area have been grounded. If you are OK with it, I will be working remotely from Bali. Tough life, I know.
Suppose this dramatically extends our reach as a remote team 🙂
Because of the time difference in Bali, this means I will need to work early in the morning (5 a.m. Bali time = 2 p.m. PT) and and later in the evening (9 p.m. Bali time = 6 a.m. PT). Basically, what this means is I think I can make this work by doing all my asynchronous work in the morning and synchronous work in the evening.
This also means that I will be unable to attend the current time slots for the marketing meeting and the strategy meeting this week. I can take a look at the shared docs to get that update. If you want to reschedule our one-on-one, I can make that work too. I will have to play some things by ear depending on my flight info but will keep you posted.
Regarding stuff I will be working on asynchronously… Working on partnership strategy and filling in the gaps with our success story process. Also, maybe a good opportunity to write a blog post for remote.co and include some fun photos.
Synchronous stuff will be all the partnership maintenance.
Let me know if you have any questions. If you are cool with this plan, I will update the other folks too.
Greetings from Bali and never a dull moment.
Mike

I set the expectations of the tasks I would be working on, when I would be working on them, and that I might miss a few meetings. I was actually able to reschedule some of those meetings to make those work too.

It is all about transparency and having a plan that folks sign off on.

I hope these hacks to combine vacation and remote work have been helpful and inspired some folks to enjoy the best of both worlds. Please share any hacks you have regarding working remotely while vacationing so I can use them in my next remote work vacation.

Happy travels!