If You’re Going to Work on Vacation, Here’s How to Do It

Working on vacation seems to be a contradiction. If you’re working, you’re not really on vacation, right? And certainly, if you work in a traditional on-location job, you are entitled to your time off.

But for some of us, the lines between work and vacation can be blurry. Many remote and hybrid workers, plus the self-employed, find that they can spend more time away if they’re willing to do a little bit of work during what is, theoretically, time off. I often get away with my family for six weeks or more per year, but the trade off is that I tend to do 5–10 hours of work during each of those weeks.

If that’s also the case for you — or if you’re swamped in a traditional job, but want to keep your commitments with family travel — then your best bet is to find a way to work without driving your loved ones crazy. Really, you don’t want to be that guy on a conference call in the amusement park line. Instead, try one of these strategies.

Become an early bird. If you’re traveling with adults or kids who are over age 7 or so, most likely no one wants to get out of bed with the sun. That means that if you get up early to answer emails and provide feedback for your team a few mornings a week, no one will be the wiser. Set your alarm for 5:30 a.m., work until 7:30 a.m., then cook everyone breakfast in your…