Planning a Workation

I did my first workation with my wife just over a year ago. We would have loved to stay longer, but in the end we were only able to stay for a month due to our circumstances. So it was perhaps a bit of a dip in the deep end as far as workations are concerned, but it was definitely a great experience that we can fully recommend. However, we found the planning challenging to say the least, so here is a short list of what you need to look out for first and foremost.

• define target period 📅
• determine target country 📌
• obtain approval from the employer ☑️
• health insurance, tax, visa 🖨️
• book flights 💺
• book accommodation 🛌
• apply for a visa if necessary 🛂
• plan activities 🏄‍♂️
• departure 🛫

define target period 📅

At the beginning of our considerations, we set a rough target period so that both of us could prepare for it and coordinate the whole thing with work, for example. It's not so much about having a fixed departure and return date, but rather a rough time frame to start planning. It is important to start planning early enough, we would recommend at least six months in advance, especially if it is your first time on a workation.

determine target country 📌

The search for a suitable destination country or region can be made as complicated as you like. The following factors helped us in our selection:

• Attractiveness
  How interested are you in getting to know the destination region?
• Internet connection/power supply
  When working remotely, a reasonably stable internet connection is crucial so that, for example, team calls can be made without any problems. You should also pay attention to the reliability of the power supply, i.e. whether there are regular power cuts in the target region.
• Living costs
  As you will usually continue to pay for your own apartment in your home country, you should also keep an eye on the costs, which vary greatly depending on the region.
• Security
  Whether it's crime or natural disasters, you should be sure that you feel safe enough in the destination region to enjoy your stay, especially for the longer period of a workation.
• Time difference
  If you work according to the working hours of your home country (or at least want to increase the overlap), you should check in advance what local working hours this means.
• Visa
  This depends on the planned duration and country-specific regulations.
• Weather conditions in the target period
  Many regions have highly seasonal weather conditions, pay attention not only to average temperatures and rainfall but also to extreme weather conditions such as hurricane season.
• Suitable workplaces
  Can you afford sufficiently large (& data protection-wise justifiable) accommodation to be able to work in it, or are there alternative co-working spaces in the target region?
• Compatibility with work requirements
  Many companies only allow working from abroad from countries with correspondingly strong data protection laws or impose correspondingly more requirements if the target region is not one of them.

You can then create a small table of potential target countries from all the factors that are important to you, which will quickly produce the top candidates. YouTube posts from remote workers who have already traveled to your target region often provide a good insight.

obtain approval from the employer ☑️

Before you make any fixed bookings, it is advisable to get the employer's final approval. Because from a data protection point of view, it is not without its problems if you relocate your work to another country. However, many employers, especially large ones, are now well prepared for this and have a process through which you can obtain approval for a workation. Here too, however, it is worth informing your own manager at an early stage, as processes are known to be somewhat lengthy, especially in large corporations. The decisive factor for the employer is usually Duration, destination country and your activity, because it makes a difference, for example, whether you need access to customer data. Once you have received your employer's approval, you should also have an A1 certificate issued for other European countries, which confirms that you will continue to pay into the social security system in your home country.

health insurance, tax, visa 🖨️

This is where the full bureaucracy kicks in and unfortunately there is no one-size-fits-all solution, but:

• Health insurance: most health insurances also cover stays abroad up to a certain duration, beyond that an extra health insurance must be taken out.
• Taxes: the most important rule for Germany is that anyone who spends more than 180 days a year abroad may have to pay taxes there, which increases the bureaucratic burden considerably.
• Visa: different for each destination country, see also the section on applying for a visa. It is important that you have found a suitable type of visa and that you are sure that there is nothing to prevent you from being issued this visa.

book flights 💺

The only difference to a vacation booking is perhaps that you should pay more attention to whether a postponement of the flight is possible (for an additional charge). If you don't need a flight at all (but are traveling by car/train/ship/...) all the better.

book accommodation 🛌

What has already played a role in the selection of the destination country is repeated a little when choosing accommodation:

• good internet connection & space for working or co-working nearby.
• if you want to see a lot, centrally and conveniently located.
• time difference: In Asia (if you work at Central European times) you will be working from early afternoon until late at night, for example, so you don't necessarily want to be in a noisy apartment in the party district.
• compatible with your planned activities (e.g. proximity to the beach or similar).
• there are countless special booking platforms, but Airbnb, for example, also offers an extra opportunity for landlords to offer discounted prices for long-term rentals. Especially in cities, it can also be worth looking out for buildings that only allow long-term rentals.

apply for a visa if necessary 🛂

This point is very individual and cannot be dealt with in general terms here. Basically, you will probably have no problems with a tourist visa as long as the visa duration is sufficient for your planned stay (no legal advice!). Depending on the country, however, you may need a digital nomad or even a work visa, which is much more difficult to obtain. It also varies whether the visa is applied for in advance or on site. In any case, clarify this early on.

plan activities 🏄‍♂️

In order to make the most of your time abroad, you should definitely think in advance about what you really want to see/experience. It can also be worth looking out for the first restaurants/delivery services in the area, because compared to a vacation, everyday life is much busier and you will be glad if you have prepared something.

departure 🛫

Everything prepared? Then have a nice workation! I have a bonus tip: if you like working on two screens like I do, it might be worth considering taking an external screen with you. I certainly haven't regretted it. And a laptop stand can't hurt either... 😉 If you take the plunge, have a great time and I hope this post has helped you a bit ✌️