This year I changed my way of doing vacation. I changed my way of life. Joy is the most desireable feeling of life, and when you get it, you are able to do great things. It does not matter if you are working or not, with joy you will do things better.

I almost stopped doing the typical kind of vacation, laying on the beach relaxing. I tend to get bored very quick relaxing. This year I made a lot of small 'vacations' — I just visited other countries and cities for a conference and appended 2-3 more days to explore the site. This is the perfect mix out of work and exploring when I don't do any outdoor sports (which is the other kind of vacation I do).

But as I am a freelancer I also need to do some tasks when I'm aborad. It would work doing nothing for a few times but being at around 15 conferences a year means you need to do some work during that days, too. Working in a hotel is usually pretty boring so I decided to work in a coffee shops or even on a tower. Would you believe I am very productive on such days? I am and I will explain why…

To be honest it is exhausting to travel a lot. You need to plan things, travel, will get irregular sleep and all that stuff. And you also need to care about where to stay, how to finance it, how to get internet and where to charge your devices. Yes, this can be a big problem.

Sleep

I usually pick a good hotel for a one or two days and hostels or an apartment the other days. This means even if one of the locations is badly chosen you have no worry as you know it will be better in one or two days. While this also saves costs it has another advantage: Staying in cheaper hostels you easily get in contact with other people — and I met great people there.

Mobile Data Plans

In some countries it is not very easy to get a data SIM card for your phone but I never failed so far. Italy and Switzerland need your Passport or ID as Germany want to have to give you a card while in Poland you just pay 10 bucks to get 1GB of data. Plans are very different but it is always cheaper than your foreign contract. With a data plan in your pocket you are now set to work wherever you are. This is fun and last week I even wrote this blog post on a tower in Bologna. Pretty cool having a view over the whole city while working and writing, isn't it?

Power

The main problem I always have is battery power. My MacBook Air lasts usually for 3.5hrs now, including one recharge of my iPhone which has a pretty ridiculous last of battery when tethering. This is not very long, so take care to find a coffee shop or restaurant where you can recharge. Otherwise, you're lucky if you have chosen your hostel near the city center so you can simply go home and recharge there. In Italy I clearly prefer sitting in the sun enjoying an Espresso while charging my computer.