I apologise for the delay in this instalment of the Weekly Squeak, I let various things get the better of me in the past weeks and am annoyed that I did. First the madness of a series of events, conferences and travel and then I got hit by a crippling cold-flu thing that has made me struggle to get even the work I needed to get done complete, let alone the things I wanted to do. I had a topic I wanted to cover in this post, but I think I will save it for the future and instead talk about some of the questions and issues that have arisen as a consequence of these past weeks.
Many of these fall loosely under the banner of a project I started some time back, but never completely finished, my ‘Lean Traveller’ project. This was due to be a selection of blog posts, tips, how-tos and advice on living on the road, as a nomad, a frequent traveller or however else you might label a ‘life less settled’.
An Unhealthy Travelling Chinchilla
Staying Healthy Whilst Travelling
This is something I have often struggled with. When at home I have foods I eat, routines I follow and things I do and don’t do in an attempt to keep myself healthy. When on the road, this isn’t always possible, with time, space and convenience restrictions often conspiring against your ideal lifestyle.
In fact, with many attendees at conferences and camps in ‘holiday’ mode it can be all too easy to fall into bad habits of diet, drinking and late nights. These are fine in moderation but if you’re at a different event each week or so, they can take their toll.
Travel itself is inherently unhealthy, frequently squashed into rooms or moving containers of strangers with coughing spluttering germy ‘goodness’ everywhere. I don’t want to sound like a prude when it comes to germs, because I am not and find modern cleaning product adverts spreading paranoid propaganda about ‘germs’ distasteful. If your immune system is already poor or weakened, then these are not good environments. In the past I have been skeptical of those who ‘fist bump’ instead of shaking hands, but I am starting to understand the motivation.
Finally, there is a big dilemma of what to do when you fall sick. Do you return home? Do you keep pushing forwards? How practical is to just stay in bed all day when on the road? This wasn’t the first time I fell ill traveling, and in relative terms I wasn’t that sick. One friend mentioned to me contracting chicken pox whilst staying in a youth hostel. That would suck.
Working Whilst Travelling
In theory, modern technology, jobs and companies make it possible to work anywhere and any time. There are global networks of coworking spaces, work-friendly cafes and accommodation with wifi that make it possible to grab your laptop and work wherever you are. In reality though I have found working on the road to never quite as effective or efficient as a more permanent setting. This is likely more just me, I am a mixture of contradictions. I like my screen, decent office chair and graphics tablet, but also like to move around during the week. But there are two main problems for me working on the road. One is feeling comfortable enough in a location to spend several hours concentrating on a task. When in a café, you feel somewhat obliged to keep buying things (well I do) and the setup isn’t always optimal for working. Co-working spaces are more conducive but can be expensive for one-off visits, and whilst many have trial days, you feel a bit of a phoney when they ask, “so will you become a member?”. Libraries were always a popular choice to work in for me, but countries are inconsistent with if they allow non-locals to use them and wifi can be sketchy. If you are staying in an Airbnb or apartment that has wifi, you can have the best of both worlds, but that leads to my second problem working on the road. When I am in a strange city, I feel like I should actually experience it in someway, not just stay indoors working, I don’t know if I will return. These are all of course my own opinions and hang-ups, but hey, this is my blog.
Inefficiency of Travel
As a non-driver and as someone with no direct experience of that form of travel (i.e. when I completely call the shots), to me it seems the most flexible way of getting around. It’s not the fastest or cheapest, but you can leave when you like, travel as fast as you want (within legal limits), stop when and where you want etc. Planes are fast and cheap methods of getting around, but you do waste a lot of time getting to and from airports, waiting to go anywhere and you are locked into an airlines schedule. I find these periods of delay never quite enough time to get that much done, and half a day can be lost on a 90 minute flight. It’s for these reasons I am starting to prefer train (and even bus travel), it takes longer, but there is less time wasted around the actual journey and they’re kind of like mobile offices. If only train travel in Europe were cheaper and better connected from East to West, I would use it much more.
A lesson I learned on my last trip, ironically waiting in Brussels for two days to enjoy the novelty of getting a train to London, is not to squash too much in. If there is time to go home between legs for at least a day, then it’s likely worth it and cheaper to do so. Hanging around in a city for no particular reason (and Holiday is a valid reason) gets tedious and lonely quickly.
Podcast
All of the Weekly Squeak posts are accompanied by a podcast where I go more in-depth into the topic, subscribe here or listen to the individual episode to the left.
Thermometer icon in Chinchilla from Freepik from www.flaticon.com and licensed by CC BY 3.0. Suitcase is public domain.