How to manage a location independent business while you are travelling all over the place? As you may know, this needs a bit of planning and organization. You are not at home to fix everything easily when something goes amiss. When I started out to go location independent, initially all went smooth, but then 3 months in a foreign ATM ate my credit card and my laptop broke down at same time, causing some travel mayhem. Basically these were little problems, but when you are constantly travelling, these can be quite annoying and even disruptive to your work flow.
Fortunately there are travel hacks with makes life on the road so much easier and comfortable. In this post I hope to give valuable tips about financial, security and logistical issues to come in handy for when you are on the road. Financial One of the most important things is to be able to manage your finances wherever you are in the world, and to do so in a safe way. For instance: > Notify your bank that you will be travelling. This is easy to do and can save you a lot of trouble. When your bank is not aware of your exotic trips, often they will block your debit/credit card when your try to get money from ATM’s in suspicious countries known for skimming. > Automate the payment for all your bills. And if this is not possible, ask the company to email you the bills. For most of them this will not be an issue. > Get an online banking account. I find Skrill (used to be Moneybookers) very convenient, as they are convenient and reliable, and they issue their own credit cards These work more like debit cards, limiting your risk while you can access your spending from anywhere. The credit card works just like a normal Mastercard, so you can use it everywhere. Keep it Safe Security is another issue when you are on the road. When you lose important documents or your wallet gets stolen, it is much more disruptive than in case you are at home. Some tips: > Put your important documents in a safe whenever you can, or at a hidden place when a safe is not available. > Make copies of your passport and put these copies in different places. Keep one copy in your wallet. > Email to yourself scans of all important documents and a list of important phone numbers ( this is an “old school” method I like to use) or get an online drop box for this. If anything happens you can access all you important documents online. > Keep your credit cards separated. I.e. one in your wallet, another one in a hidden place at your casa. So in the unfortunate case your wallet gets missing or stolen, you still have a way to get money via your other credit card. Online Security Online security is especially important when you working online and/or have a business online. Some things I make sure are: > Use VPN. The reason to use a VPN is that although most internet connections over the world are quite secure these days, once you hit a rotten apple you are in big trouble. It easy for hackers to get your financial details through an open WiFi connection. With VPN you connect with a safe computer first, and use this computer to use the internet. So it is extremely safe, while you can use internet everywhere. Another benefit of VPN is that you can bypass firewalls in certain countries. I.e. some countries limit the accessibility of YouTube or Facebook When you connect via VPN to a safe computer that is located in say, the US, you can access the internet as if you are located in the US. I use StrongVPN, which I find to be very reliable and cost-efficient. They also have a good choice of locations. Other VPN networks which I used and found working very well are HideMyAss and VPNworld. Setting up a VPN is quite easy, so do not bail on VPN because of this, as you will experience that it has a lot of benefits. > Get a good laptop. And try not to use public computers and internet cafes for conduction business or financial transactions. Logistics & Internet > Choose places that have a good internet connection. One of my pet peeves is the speed of an internet connection. If it is lagging, the speed with you are working with online slows down considerably. In fact this is almost the only reason that constrains my travel choices out from a business perspective (of course, personal security is also one). > After you arrived, scout for cafes/coffee shops that have a good internet connection and a good working atmosphere (i.e. good table with chairs). Going out of the house, changing environment, and working in coffee shops will give you inspiration.
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If you approach it the smart way you can save quite a lot of money on travel costs. In this post I want to give some practical tips that you can use immediately.
Before You Go One (obvious) thing to note is that the your travel costs are directly connected to the ways you travel. For example going to a place by bus is much cheaper than travelling by air 99% of the time. However, personally however I find it difficult to get work done on a bus. As a workaholic “digital nomad” my time is dear to me, and allthough sitting in a bus to get from one country to another can be a wonderful experience, it takes too much time which I rather spend on other things. On the other hand it depends on the person and how you plan your lifestyle. That said, there are efficient ways to travel and many inefficient ways. Before I book trips I often use Wikitravel for reconnaissance, as the “get in” section is always very informative about the ways a place is connected to other places. I like to have a “base” from which I visit other places in the region, which has different requirement than if you do a string of visits through a loop or route. Either way you will book differently. How to Find the Cheapest Air Tickets Often the only option to get to a place in a reasonable time period is to go by plane. Personally I find this a convenient way to travel as the market is quite transparent. There are many ways to find the best way to fly from one place to another. There are good comparison websites for this, as Momondo or Skyscanner. Try them out. You can see which dates are the cheapest to fly on and which airline. A good doublecheck is to use Google. For instance in google search type “flights from London to Rio de Janeiro” which gives you all the airlines which fly on this route (replace the city names as you may please). You can compare these airlines with the comparison websites from the last paragraph. Ultimately you should check on their airlines websites themselves before you book. Compare Hotels and Apartments the Easy Way If you are in a place for a short moment, it makes more sense to get an serviced apartment or hotel than a private apartment, which often is more time consuming to arrange and hard to come by for periods shorter than a month. A well-known source for private short term apartment in a lot of cities is Airbnb (or its copycat, Wimdu). However, in general I find their prices not lower than serviced apartments or hotels, which provide better service on average. The positive aspect about Airbnb though is that the location of the apartments can be very good, and you often have a much more “local” experience. That said, I only consider using Airbnb when I will stay in places for at least a month. In that case prices are relatively lower and easier to negotiate. If you like to find a good private apartment, you can also do a google search on it and triangulate experience and reviews from different websites. To plan my stay for short trips I use the excellent Hotelscombined website, which compares all hotels and serviced apartments from the biggest booking sites (Hotels.com, Agoda.com and Booking.com amongst others) on price and availability in one overview. Thus, you never miss out on the best offer as is often the case when you go to one or two booking site separately. I really advice you to check it out, as it never failed me. Negotiate This is more for long trips, but can also be applicable for short trips when you deal with the owner of the property directly. Always negotiate about the price and/or secondaries (i.e. cleaning). I found this really applicable to Airbnb when I book at the last moment. The owner of the apartment does not have any offers for the month and still wants to salvage some money. You just want a good price. So this is an excellent opportunity to negotiate. In Airbnb you can send a private message to the owner to inquire. What I do most of the cases (to save time) I just put my budget in the message (which is lower than the monthly price) and see if the owner agrees or not. It never hurts to ask. Of course, this not only works for Airbnb, Wimdu or other similar sites, but also any other private owners you are dealing with. If you are advanced at negotiating you can even try this at hotels or serviced apartments. Book the first night, and then after arrival negotiate for the nights after. The only risk in this regard is that the hotel is fully booked. Plan Smart – Quick List for Cheap Travel Planning smart is an obvious tip but its details are often overlooked. If you plan really smart – both for your travel as your lodging – it can save you a lot of money when you put in a little time. For instance: > Figure out when the low-season is and go then. > For discounts book either far ahead or at the last moment (more risky though it works very well in low-season). > Roundtrip tickets for faraway destinations are much cheaper than oneway tickets, so it makes sense to fly to one point, and plan your big trip from there. So book trips for groups of countries at once (ie South America). > If possible travel slow. This gives you more time for everything, a better negotiation position and cheaper options (as you stay long-term). > Travel in off-hours, so you will get to your destination much quicker. Transport will be often cheaper, including taxis. I take this quite far, for instance I plan my arrival time + luggage collection so as not the end up in rush hour from the airport to my apartment/hotel. For me time = money. > Plan your lodging to be close to public transportation. When your location is far from public transport this can be a hidden cost, as you may have to walk far or you will have to take (more expensive) private options as taxis. This list does not cover all options of course. And it really depends on your requirements for comfort and your overall budget. When you are more the adventurous type, there are also extremely cheap options as Couchsurfing or staying in Hostels. These can be real fun, but personally I find it hard to manage my business in these places. Apartment hunting can be a time-consuming tasks that is usually re-done at least once a year throughout college list. If you don’t know what you’re doing, what you’re looking for, or what you’re finding, apartment hunting can be comparable to a root canal.
Location, Location, Location: Location really is ideal when looking for a college apartment. Because moving is part of the deal and college students usually do not come with a U-Haul full of furnishings and clutter, location always trumps space. The ideal college apartment should be within walking distance of the college, this makes it much easier to be actively involved in the college community, more importantly, this eliminates the need for a vehicle, which is an additional expense. If you choose to go further from the college campus, at least be sure that the complex is near public transportation that has frequent buses to take students to the campus. Prioritize Safety: Young college students are often a prime target for crime so safety is an priority when apartment hunting. Find an apartment that is full of other college students. Students tend to group together, watch each other’s back and walk or take public transportation with each another. Be sure the parking lot and doorsteps are well-lit, in a respectable neighborhood, and provides easy and safe access to the campus. An added benefit would be an area that is regularly patrolled by campus or city police officers. Where to look: One of the best places to start is by talking to the housing office or student government offices on campus, other students can provide valuable insight and advice that you can’t find from sites like Craigslist. It’s a good idea to get an inside scoop on a few places before you start looking. What to look for in an apartment: Generally, budget trumps everything else in apartment hunting, but there are a few things to keep in mind. First, decide if you can share a room, or if you need your own. Second, keep in mind the your location, not only in a good neighborhood, but your placement in the building. First floor apartments are generally more prone to crimes, but are you prepared to walk up and down three flights of stairs every day? Ask about parking, if you get an assigned stall and if it costs extra? Ask about the necessities such as air conditioning? Heating? Do the windows open? Are there screens on the windows? Is there laundry in the building? How much does it cost? Are utilities included? Is Internet and cable already hooked-up? Is there an on-site maintenance service? Understand Your Contract: There are generally two types of contracts when looking into an apartment that involves roommates: an apartment lease, or a tenant lease. If you sign a tenant lease, you are basically agreeing to pay your portion of the rent and you have the right to occupy your room. This means that it is up to the landlord to fill the apartments, and if someone moves out, someone else can move in with or without your approval. Generally, tenant leases can run anywhere from $300+/room. The benefit of this type of lease is that you are only responsible for your portion of the rent; you’ll never be responsible to cover rent for someone who moves out or doesn’t have the money on time. If you sign an apartment lease, you are renting the apartment as a whole and you’re responsible to sublet the other rooms. The benefits of apartment leases is you have control over who lives with you, but you’re also responsible to pay the full rent amount, regardless of whether your roommates move in or not. So, you might get stuck paying $600+ if your roommates don’t cough up their portion of the rent on time. The best advice is to decide ahead of time what is the most important to you. Perhaps you prefer a tenant lease with a private bedroom and laundry facilities. Or maybe you’d really like to live in a specific block area or have a swimming pool. Make a list of priorities, check with the local students or campus staff and start searching. You’ll be moving in before you know it! |
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