I worked 3 weeks on trains traveling around Europe - report

Intro

Hey, I come to you with a report from working remotly from the three-week train-only euro-trip I took at the begining of July. Below you can find all LinkedIn posts I was writing during the trip. I decided to put all updates in a one place here. Maybe some of you find it interesting or even motivating. Enjoy!

1/7 (07/02/2022)

Today, I’m starting a three-week train-only euro-trip through Poland-Germany-Netherlands-Belgium-France-Italy while still working 20h/week at Dataedo.

I decided to document this journey and share the lights and shadows of working on a go. I’ve always wanted to do something like that and now I have a chance to try it out!

Is it all going to be easy and without issues like on digital nomads' Instagram posts? Probably not, but I believe it’s going to be a great time and valuable experience. Right now I’m heading to Berlin to stay there for a couple of hours and then move to Hamburg for 2 days.

2/7

So the week has started with some small defeats in terms of working from the road.

Every Monday we have a team meeting to summarize and plan our work. Today, even though I was willing to join I couldn’t make it. My train was supposed to depart 15min before a meeting. I thought I could set everything up and join from the train, but there was a 20min delay… So I was already late. Then I was in rush to set everything up just to find out that the Internet connection is too slow for a video call and what’s more the only place I can seat is in a quiet zone.

Going back to the Internet connection in Deutsche Bahn. It’s great for me to work - browse the Internet, and download small files, but most of the time not enough for a video call.

I also experienced some weird and even potentially catastrophic situations. My colleague sent me a file I downloaded while connected to the train's Wi-Fi. The downloading was completed successfully, but I found out not all content appears. The file had drastically different sizes with every download (?!). After a few tries, I used my hotspot, and the size was correct, and everything was there.

Today I came to Amsterdam from Hamburg and stay there for more 2 days.

Key takeaways:

• Make sure I won’t be on a train during next Monday's meetings
• Working from the DB is completely doable for me
• Check if everything is fine with files I download via public Wi-Fi I guess 🤔

3/7

Quick update from the road.

I really feel like I’m getting used to it. I found out it’s really important to look for great places to work (cafes) ahead of time. Finding a good spot is harder than I thought, so it needs a bit of planning.

What makes a spot good for me to work?

• Wi-Fi (most of places have it)
• Good location (not too far from the central station)
• Power sockets (of course)
• Good overall vibe (not too loud, more cafe than bar or club)

Key takeaways:

• Flexible working hours rules (thank you Dataedo ❤️)
• Charge everything whenever it’s possible
• Plan where and when to work ahead

Although so far it was awesome to see all the places and meet all the people, I need to admit I’m a bit of tired and my back hurts 😅

After Amsterdam I was in Haag for 3h then Breda 🇳🇱 and spent the night in Antwerp 🇧🇪. The next day I moved from Antwerp to Paris - it took 7h and 4 trains, but I did it 😄

PS
Our Airbnb host canceled the reservation in Brussels 3h before arrival. We needed to find a new stay ASAP. Didn’t find in Brussels, but did in Antwerp so we must have changed our plans. No regrets though 😃

4/7

Top unconventional workplace? For me working from the boat in La Rochelle 🇫🇷

There was a WI-FI and electricity so why not to put together couple lines of code 😄

5/7

It's been 11 days since I've been traveling through Europe while working remotely.

I've learned my lesson from the previous week and this Monday I was prepared to join our weekly meeting. I was in a hotel room with fast WI-FI so the video call went smoothly 🎉

Most of my stays I find on Airbnb. It has really neat filters you can use. For example, I always try to find a place with fast WI-FI and an available workspace. It can save me some mobile internet I have on a local SIM card and it's much more convenient to work at the desk.

Before I departed Dataedo provided me with a mobile router so I can work wherever I want to 🚀

In terms of the trip, I encountered some difficulties. We couldn't leave Toulouse because of the French rail strike. Our train was canceled and there was just one train from Toulouse to Marseille that day. We were waiting at a station for 3h and finally continued our journey.

From La Rochelle, I've moved to Bordeaux then Toulouse, Marseille, and now I'm heading to San Remo.

Below you can see a king-size desk in one of the Airbnbs I was and trip stats as well.

6/7

Next update from working remotely during a train-only euro-trip 🚊

Firstly, I wasn’t aware that Italy has some different power sockets and it may be a problem to charge my laptop there. I’m not an electricity expert and can’t tell you much more about it than the typical Italian power socket has 3 holes in one row and it isn’t compatible with my laptops charger 😕

Fortunately the guest house I was in had adapters, so It didn’t cause many troubles. Anyway, it’s something I should consider while planning to work in another country.

The next thing I want to share is that working from the southern countries is much harder for me. The temperature is very high so it’s difficult to take my thoughts and stay energetic and motivated.

In the beginning (Germany, north France) I was usually working during the first half of the day. I had to adapt and change my schedule a bit. In Italy or south France, it’s much better for me to work in the afternoon when the temperatures are the highest in a cafe or a hotel room. You can’t do much sightseeing anyway so it’s great to do some work at that time. Then around 8/9 pm go to eat dinner and see the city.

Key takeaways:

• Do some research on power sockets in the country you go to
• Have in mind you probably will have to adapt to the conditions of the country you travel to (climate, temperatures, habits)

From San Remo I moved to Pisa, then Roma and Naples. Now I’m heading to Florence.

In a photo, you can see an adapter to the Italian power socket I got

7/7 (07/22/2022)

It's been a couple of days since I completed my working-remotely journey. This post is my reflection on this whole trip.

Positives:

• The main advantage is I could see all the beautiful places and cities while still working and having an income stream. This is the reason I decided to do that so I'm delighted It worked!
• I'm up-to-date with all the current tasks and issues. I can't imagine going back to work after nearly a month off. That would be stressful.

Negatives:

• Being in one place just for one night and moving to another is often too short, especially in big cities with many attractions and can produce some stress.
• Uncertain Internet connection. You can try to prepare (mobile router, hotels with WI-FI), but it's not your home or office, there always may be some issues.
• Lack of day plan = chaos = less effective work and lack of rest.

What would I change if I did it again:

• Stay in one place for at least a couple of days.
• Improve planning. When you plan to combine work and vacation being spontaneous is not gonna work.
• If you move to a different climate (much hotter/colder, with different humidity, etc.) it'd be best to take one or two days off to get a bit used to that.

Thank you for following this series! I hope you found it at least a bit insightful 😃

In the photos below you can check out trip statistics.