9 reasons why you should make a Workation
If these reasons don’t convince you, I don’t know what else to say …
Not sure when I had the idea of doing a Workation and what made this thought appear in my head, but I can say with total confidence that these times were the best in my life (besides the birth of my son and meeting my wife). Let me give you some inspiration in the following and make you long for going on such a trip too.
To get a primer on Workations, please check this article.
1. Get out of your comfort zone (and your house)
The most important lesson I learned in my previous Workations went is to get out of your comfort zone and not always sit at home in your lonesome home office. It’s tempting to always reach for the simplest option when needing to get some work done and always seek for the most productive and silent environment — but that’s not how life is supposed to be in my eyes, and I only discovered that through going on my first Workation (and it made me long for more!). Getting out, sitting in the middle of a crowd on some square, at the sea or a lake, or, for beginners, just in a cafè.
Actually, I only considered to do the last option more often after going on a Workation. Now I try to sit in my favorite cafè for at least once a week for at least a couple hours. Yes, it’s noisy, hectic, and sometimes hard to concentrate, but it’s SO refreshing to be at someplace else regularly, and it gets your creative juices flowing (in case you missed that a bit lately). I figured that I wouldn’t be able to concentrate well being surrounded by a chattering crowd, but actually it’s the opposite: I can sometimes concentrate even better than in my quiet room at home. And there’s is still the option to put on some noise-cancelling headphones.
It’s almost like this first Workation enabled a slight shift in my mind, I’m more adventure-seeking, comfortable with uncertainty and longing for people around me (even if I don’t know them or talk to them at all).
2. Meet people
I’m usually not the guy who talks to strangers on the street or in a restaurant, I but when I went on my first Workation to Vienna I actually set out to meet people, hear interesting stories, or just seek for these chance encounters you actually can’t plan for. And out of the blue I met this gentleman in a cafè the second day when I was just out for breakfast. I learned that he is a retired cook who knows everybody and his dog, traveled half the world and even met the occasional celebrity.
But it’s about nout the big encounters, but the small meetings every day — the bartender who mixes you some special cocktails, the fellow passengers in the train compartment or the owner of this café Triest who asked me where I’m from and although I barely speak Italian we got into a conversation and it turned out that he has another restaurant near Austria.
If you are open to such encounters a lot can happen on Workations. Do (crazy) things you didn’t even dare to think about before. Life’s boring enough already, have some fun, YOLO!
3. Experience life and visit different places
The “ation” part in Workation says it all, this is also meant to be a vacation where you are expected to see a lot of different things all over the world. I tried to make the best out of this premise and one thing I always looked for in places I traveled to was a nearby sea or lake. I just love this certain flair that surrounds such places.
Simply watching a sunrise or sundown there, these are the little things that make life huge in the end. Or meditating at the Wörthersee lake at 5:00 h once when I almost froze to death although summer was approaching. Or this other day when I took the train to the Lago di Garda (Lake Garda) after work and took a swim while the sun was going down. Still one of the best experiences I had in my life. Or this evening when I stood there in the middle of the city of Trieste, soaking in the pulsating life and watching all this young people partying. Or when I arrived by train in Verona early in the day (it must have been 5:30 h or so) and talking a walk to the Airbnb while the sun was rising behind me. So many fond memories in my head about Workations.
Just bringing to mind that you are in this different country with this whole lot of possibilities and the freedom to go, do, encounter whatever you like (without hurting people or animals of course or making a big mess). Pricesless!
4. Eat great local food (or cook)
Oh boy, and I didn’t talk about the second-best part of Workations yet: Knowing that you can dine out every day after finishing work. Of course I could also do that at home, but come on, this is totally different. All these different opportunities in a big Italian city like Verona … pizza, lasagna, Limoncello, bruscetta, frutti di mare, grilled fish, polenta, sun-ripened tomatoes, delicious olive oil, a good local Italian beer, espresso and a cornetto (croissant) in the morning, Aperol Spritz in the evening, and a simple dish like spaghetti carbonara in the middle of day.
A bonus is that you can experience all of that outdoors — I think I didn’t spend more than five minutes indoor the entire Workation, expect when working of course, but even there I tried to get out as much as possible.
Yeah, all of that sounds pretty expensive, and it can be if you choose the most exclusive food, but usually food in Italy is pretty basic, simple, and cheap. Another option of course would be to just go to the local (super) market, buy fresh ingredients like vegetables, fish, bread, pasta and just prepare your own meal. Airbnbs usually have well-equipped kitchen and it doesn’t take a lot of time to cook a basic but delicious dinner.
Italians are also pretty good with pre-packed food that you just need to warm in the oven or microwave and it tastes nothing like this frozen food that you usually get in supermarkets around here. You see, a lot of opportunities to satisfy hunger.
5. Try out different means of transportation
When I go on a Workation, my preferred means of transportation is the train. It’s not only eco-friendly, but also very convenient. On top of that I can work while the landscape passes by, which makes traveling very productive — assumed that cell reception is stable, which can sometimes be a challenge. I use the train not only to reach the places where I stay at, but also to explore the surroundings.
Another vehicle I use a lot when on a Workation is the bike. Renting one usually doesn’t take more than downloading an app and scanning a code. The most convenient way I ever experienced was in Verona, Italy. There are a lot of stations where you just grab a bike, you drive to another station and release it again. It’s locked and unlocked automatically. What I love about the bike is that lets you reach different locations quickly, you even exercise a bit, and most of all it’s eco-friendly again.
Similarly easy but a lot cheaper and dangerous (and admittedly more fun) is to rent one of the e-scooters that are scattered around most cities (not very beautiful but effective).
The means of transportation, if you can even call it like that, that I use the most are my own feet. On the first day I usually walk around a city with no clear goal, just to see what it has to offer. I love to explore all the different alleys, streets and squares, find some nice cafès and restaurants to visit later and to do a lot of sightseeing. Although I’d rather like to call it “seeing” — watching all the beautiful houses, people, and shops, the vibrant life.
6. Extend your summer (or winter)
I’m clearly a summer guy: I love hot weather, the higher the temperature the better (Central European hot not Brazilian hot, though). That’s why I usually travel in summer and to places where it’s rather warm. On my last two Workations I had a lot of luck, as it was already hot in May (which is typically still spring) in Trieste and still hot in September (where typically autumn is already approaching) in Verona. This made the journeys a lot more like vacations and a lot less like work trips, although I got my usual workload done.
This lovely weather also allowed me to make a lot of use of swimming in the nearby lakes and the sea. Or just sit in a cafè until late in the evening, dine outside, work on the terrace, and eat of lot of ice cream.
Despite all these advantages of warm weather I plan to do something that’s totally opposite next time: Make a Workation in the middle of a lot of snow in a sky resort. While I love snow, I despise everything that comes with it like cold, mudge, getting sick more easily, etc. But there’s something to it to get away into a “winter wonderland”, while at home still everything is green. I plan to go skiing before noon, work in the afternoons, take long walks in the evening, maybe sit by a fireplace, eat good food, relax in a comfy chair while it’s snowing. I hope my wife grants me this wish, and with that I’d like to continue with the next topic …
7. Get a break from your family
I’m not so serious about this one and certainly if you are a family man (or woman), it’s not so easy to get away from your family for even a couple of days, let alone a full week. However, I’m in the lucky position that my son’s already a teenager and my wife is even glad to have some “alone time”. I’m certain that every marriage or partnerships actually needs such planned breaks, to refresh yourself, to do things that you otherwise can’t (or won’t) do, and to look forward to be together again.
My wife and I for example have this ritual that we at least call each other once per day, even if just for a couple minutes, to check in with each other. Sometimes we even talk than we do when both being at home (and yes, we still speak with each other although married now for almost 20 years). “Give me a break” suddenly has a totally new meaning …
8. Collect some stories to share at the next family party (or cocktail party of BBQ)
I’m usually not the one who boasts about his adventures, but going on a Workation certainly helps to providing topics for conversations. There’s always someone who’d like to know how it was, where I went, what I did, how my experience was, or what I learned from my Workations. You may not suddenly the star of every party, but at least you can go beyond smalltalk and escape the “awkward silence.” And you may even …
9. Inspire other people
… to also go on a Workation. Again, I’m usually not someone who needs to tell everyone what a great time I had on my last trip, one goal I had in mind indeed while I was on a Workation, and that’s why I regularly share photos and stories on Instagram, is to encourage my team also to take the courage and go on such a journey too. I mean, people at Alludo (former Corel, my previous employer) are so blessed that they can basically work when and where they want, to a large extend also how, and everyone should make the best out of this unique opportunity. I’m sure not many other employees can claim to have the same freedom.
Luckily, at least three of my colleagues told me that they already plan for a vacation, and a couple of others mention that they would love to go on a Workation.
I think, in the end it just takes a small step, a little bit of courage, and some will to get out of your comfort zone. There’s not much more you need to make such a trip. And I hope I inspired you with these nine topics that you would also like to follow me on my journey. But (isn’t there always a “but”), it may also turn out that you just aren’t this “Workation guy”. Let me tell you some (maybe also not so serious) reasons in the following, check out “7 reasons why you probably should not make a Workation” below.
I’d love to share more of my experience with Workations with you and help you plan your (first … next) Workation. Please give a look on my Instagram feed and contact me there, where you can also find a lot of impressions about my past trips. I’m looking forward to hear from you.
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