Image: Laura Tiensuu
When Laura Tiensuu’s employer switched to working remotely, instead of setting up a home office, she saw a chance to do what she had always wanted to do: become a digital nomad, working, traveling and living in a van.
Since last year, Tiensuu and his partner have been traveling across Europe in their personalized custom van, working on their various jobs during the day and climbing and exploring places like the French Alps and the canyons of northern Spain. in their free time.
“Being entirely remote has given us the opportunity to combine our personal and professional passions,” says Ms. Tienssu, head of marketing data and analytics at tech firm Aiven. “I find it so much easier to disconnect from work.”
Breaks in nature
Tienssuu’s working day is mostly spent inside the van, but she takes breaks throughout the day to walk or explore the beautiful landscape surroundings in which she is temporarily settled. Although work is a priority, she tries to take advantage of the good weather when it comes and changes her working hours to have more time for her favorite hobby: climbing.
“I try to spend as many windows of good weather outdoors as possible and try to work when it’s raining – any day of the week,” she says. “When the weather is nice and I’m working, I often work with the van door wide open or even from outside the van.”
The digital nomad lifestyle, where a person works remotely while traveling to different locations, has increased among young workers since the pandemic began. In 2021, there were 35 million digital nomads worldwide, including Tiensuu and its partner.
The van lifestyle is not without its problems
Becoming a full-time digital nomad took nearly a year of preparation. The van project had to be worked on in the evenings and on weekends to make it a space where they could both live and work. In particular, they installed an external antenna on the roof of the van, as well as a Wi-Fi box inside so that they could access the Internet whether they were in town or parked in an off-grid national park. “We also buy a local SIM card in each country we visit, which allows us to have a fairly good connection,” explains the young woman.
The van lifestyle is not without its problems, however. Tiensuu says they once broke down on the side of the road and ran out of solar power in the middle of a Zoom meeting.
The two lovebirds also had to make concessions to work and share such a small space. Tiensuu says that when fitting out the van, they made sure they had enough office space for both of them, as well as investing in the right tools like noise canceling headphones and microphones so they can have calls simultaneously without any problem. “There’s a lot of planning involved in all of this,” Tiensuu said. “Adequate work space is super important, so we set it up first and then everything else around it.”
Farrell and her then-fiancé stopped by 17 different locations around the country
Tiensuu and his partner continue to travel in Europe, lately in Spain. She says she wouldn’t trade this lifestyle for the world. “It had a positive impact on my motivation and my commitment to my work,” she said. “I would like to see as many people as possible have this experience.”
Remote work used to be an anomaly – if you had a telework policy at your job, you were one of the lucky ones. But once the pandemic forced many office workers to work remotely in one way or another, it quickly became the norm for companies like Tiensuu’s to go remote.
According to the 2021 State of Remote Work Report from Owl Labs, 90% of full-time remote workers surveyed said they were more productive working remotely than in an office. Additionally, 74% said working from home was better for their mental health, and 84% said a permanent work-from-home option would make them happier, even if it meant some reduction in salary.
21% of digital nomads are like Tiensuu and work in a van, 27% choose to work in Airbnbs. Kelly Farrell, technical product manager at Vista/Cimpress, is one of those digital nomads who wanted to take advantage of remote work life by traveling while enjoying some luxury.
“We stayed in Airbnbs in different places around the country that we wanted to experience,” she said. “We were able to get out more, we were healthier and happier, we ate lots of different foods and we took more steps every day.”
Farrell and her then-fiancé stopped in 17 different locations across the country, over a five-month period, while working weekdays and exploring whenever they could after hours and on weekends. ends. In just two weeks, they were able to explore three US national parks when they weren’t working in their Airbnb.
What preparations for working in a motorhome?
“I’ll never forget driving through Montana and stopping to look at dinosaur bones at a museum near a well-known dinosaur migration route between Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks,” she said. “Sometimes it felt surreal waking up on a Monday morning, calling in for a daily update and pretending like I hadn’t just been driving through incredible terrain and seeing places I didn’t really know the existence.”
Much like Tiensuu, Farrell’s travel logistics also involved preparations – from booking places to stay to figuring out how to get to a destination and properly fitting in work when your office space changes frequently. . For example, Farrell said they DIY bedrooms or kitchens to serve as offices, and they use things like Bluetooth keyboards and mice, and noise-canceling headphones to turn those spaces into offices. .
And since they were never in the same time zone for long, they always worked on East Coast time, which allowed them to soak up the sun and make discoveries after work if they were on the coast. West of the United States. “After a day of work, we’d get out and explore where we were. In Austin, we’d go to concerts or eat tacos; in Tucson, we’d go play tennis or hike,” Farrell said.
According to Nomad List, an online resource for digital nomads, Spain’s Canary Islands, Lisbon, and Cape Town are among the top-rated places to work remotely as a digital nomad.
“I think most people have to wait until they’re retired to take a road trip like the one I had the privilege of doing while working at Vista/Cimpress,” Farrell said.
Despite the unconventional aspects of life as a digital nomad, those who have experienced it say it has changed the way they compartmentalize their work and personal life, blending the two into one experience. “I saw some pretty significant benefits, especially in terms of appreciation to my employer,” Tiensuu said. “I find that kind of flexibility much better than all the more traditional perks you see.”
Farrell agrees with Tiensuu and says workplace flexibility has become too important for many remote workers to give up on. “I think employees with more flexibility are probably the future of work, being able to live the way you want,” she said. “I think you want different things from work at different times in your life, so having that flexibility is super important.”
To go further on this subject
You can read about Sophie Gironi’s adventures on her blog “Gari the truck”, who spends a lot of her time developing her business from her motorhome.
Source: “ZDNet.com”