The Digital Bedouins and the Backpack Office

PetManimal writes "The laptop and wireless revolutions have led to the rise of a new class of digital 'Bedouins' — tech workers who ply their crafts from Starbucks and other locations with WiFi access. Another article describes some strategies and tools for embracing the Bedouin way of life, and even having fun: 'If you have the right kind of job, you can take vacations while you're on the clock. In other words, you can travel for fun and adventure and keep on working. You can travel a lot more without needing more official vacation time. I've done it. In August I took a month long vacation to Central America, backpacking from one Mayan ruin to the next, and I never officially took time off. I submitted my columns, provided reports and other input, participated in conference calls and interacted via e-mail. I used hotel Wi-Fi connections and local cybercafes to communicate and Skype to make business calls. Nobody knew I was sunburned, drinking from a coconut and listening to howler monkeys as I replied to their e-mails.'"

Comments

Mayans?

[Paolo DF]

So, mayans had developed wifi technology? ;-)
This explains a lot...

Re:Mayans?

[iminplaya]

Yeah, but they're gonna have big trouble with the Y2K12 bug.

I think that's pretty rare.

[Morinaga]

I'm not sure about anyone else but that sounds like one of the worst "vacations" possible to me. Perhaps his type of work lends itself to productivity in such an environment. I wouldn't be as productive and more importantly I wouldn't enjoy my vacation all that much. I see the appeal and relative productivity of sitting in a cafe or park and getting work done but to really travel and sight-see?

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[SoTuA]

I agree - I took 'vacations' where I was supposed to keep in touch via laptop (email, skype, etc) and it made it for me impossible to create the mental disconnect that is the requisite of proper rest during vacations.

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[cascadingstylesheet]

I see the appeal and relative productivity of sitting in a cafe or park and getting work done but to really travel and sight-see?

Well, for one thing, you're already there. So at 4:00 or 5:00 PM you shutdown, put your laptop away, and walk a few feet to do something fun, instead of still having to get on a plane :)

Sheesh, if you're having enough fun on a "real vacation", you probably wouldn't wake up until then anyway ;)

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[Otter]

I'm not sure about anyone else but that sounds like one of the worst "vacations" possible to me.

I think his point isn't that it's a superior alternative to a non-working vacation, but that it's better than being at work and isn't charged against his vacation time.

Anyway, when backpacking you wind up with long stretches on a bus or ferry where a little coding wouldn't be an unwelcome distraction.

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[mindstrm]

... Says the guy who's NOT working from a tropical country sipping rum from a coconut watching beautiful dark skinned women run around in the sun...

just sayin'

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[drinkypoo]

Anyway, when backpacking you wind up with long stretches on a bus or ferry where a little coding wouldn't be an unwelcome distraction.

Unless you're in Latin America and you're two meters tall, in which case you're either riding inside the bus chewing on your knees, or holding onto the top. I'm planning to make a trip down there pretty soon and my biggest concern is actually fitting into public transport :/

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[jvagner]

Works for me. I don't like the idea of traditional "vacations", and I like involving far-flung places in my normal life. A vacation is a week or two or three (at most).. but if you want, you can go off for a month or two and really get into other places.

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[SydBarrett]

That would sound awesome except for that whole working part. I guess some people can't really enjoy the tropics without a LCD screen in your face or banging away like a crazed badger at your blackberry while shoving fistfulls of Pocky into your eat-hole.

Either work or dont work, stop half-assing it already. You dont travel to someplace nice just to do the same shit you do at the office because it's like going to England just to eat at McDonalds. You updated some dohicky from India just the same as you could from home. That's really fucking impressive. Be sure to tell us all what you DIDN'T do there since you dont have the will power to PUT DOWN THE FUCKING LAPTOP ALREADY.

You are just wasting your time. Even though you are getting paid, you are stuck someplace great that you cant enjoy fully since your bizarre nerd ego demands that you never stop working at all. I bet the grankids will love that story of how you were deep in some jungle when you BRAVELY REPLIED TO THAT IMPORTANT EMAIL. Wow, dad! Tell us again how bad the signal strength was!

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[Anonymous Coward]

Even though you are getting paid, you are stuck someplace great that you cant enjoy fully since your bizarre nerd ego demands that you never stop working at all. I bet the grankids will love that story of how you were deep in some jungle when you BRAVELY REPLIED TO THAT IMPORTANT EMAIL. Wow, dad! Tell us again how bad the signal strength was!

The strange thing is, some people enjoy their work enough that not doing it makes them feel empty. To them, the idea of going deep in some jungle without the ability to reply to email is just as bizarre as you taking a laptop with you.

And really - what place does the modern world have for exploration? What the hell is the point of going into a jungle, looking around, and coming out? Bragging rights? That's not enough anymore. It's not the 16th century, having gone somewhere doesn't improve your life, other than giving people stories to tell that will impress a certain sector of people.

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[PopeRatzo]

I've tried it, too, and it sucked. A "working vacation" is neither.

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[flyingsquid]

I'm on the other side of the spectrum, in that I prefer to travel for work. I feel that my interactions with the culture and the people are a little more genuine when I have a real reason to be there, other than to take pictures of the cute little brown children and pose in front of old buildings. Trying to live a normal, day-to-day existence in a foreign country, versus doing the tour thing, gives you a better appreciation of what the country is really like, I think.

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[Otter]

I bet the grankids will love that story of how you were deep in some jungle when you BRAVELY REPLIED TO THAT IMPORTANT EMAIL.

The point is that he is in the jungle while you and I are bitching at each other from our desks in the middle of a snowstorm!

I don't understand what is so freaking difficult about this concept -- the idea is that you get **MORE** vacation, not that you enjoy it less.

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[fishbowl]

>The point is that he is in the jungle while you and I are bitching at each other from our desks in the
>middle of a snowstorm!

Not me. I'm bitching from a rooftop in the middle of Balboa Island. My boss thinks I'm in a hotel room in Costa Mesa.

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[swordfishBob]

.. he's not saying "take your work when you're meant to be on leave", it's more "go see interesting places while you're working". If you're travelling but not taking leave, it's an entirely different perspective.

It does require a certain kind of job, and does restrict the kind of travel you do. Taking a young family to "wet and wild" restricts you to brief phone calls. You have to be making enough time available to actually do the work.

I'd give it a go, but my daughter refuses to miss a day of school, and I have 6 weeks' leave still owing.. if I don't take it as leave, it could get cancelled on me.

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[Do You Smell That]

Assuming your post isn't a joke (it is modded funny, afterall)... Recently my company sent me to Holland for 2 1/2 months of training. Never having been outside the US before (Canada totally doesn't count), this was an incredible opportunity. All the benefits of vacationing in a foreign country (when you're working, you still get weekends off and have the right to use sick days... accruing more of them all the while), but without having to worry about moving in, finding yourself a hotel, etc. Plenty of time after work every day to go out and mix with the locals, and you're in town long enough to actually find your way around and pick up a bit of the language and culture. If you look at it from the point of view of "I'm doing my same job, just from a much cooler office" instead of "I'm on vacation stuck doing work for the man", you'll feel much better about the whole thing. Then again, the more I think of it, my situation is nothing like that in the article... in his case, the vacation was his idea. :sigh: Time to go home.

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[raju1kabir]

I'm not sure about anyone else but that sounds like one of the worst "vacations" possible to me. Perhaps his type of work lends itself to productivity in such an environment. I wouldn't be as productive and more importantly I wouldn't enjoy my vacation all that much. I see the appeal and relative productivity of sitting in a cafe or park and getting work done but to really travel and sight-see?

Three years ago, with yet another business trip to the other side of the world (Asia) coming up, I decided on a whim to put all my stuff in storage and give notice to my landlord. I had a bunch of projects in Asia on the horizon, so I figured I'd just hang out there for a few months.

Well, it's been more than a few months. I am renting an apartment in Kuala Lumpur, where I spend about 1/3 of the time (those periods when I really need to sit at my desk and focus). Another 1/3 of the time I'm on-site for work, which could be anywhere in the world.

But the good part is, since my expenses are so much lower over here (I'm paying half the rent for a flat twice the size), I have plenty of money left over for plane tickets. So the other third of the year I toss my laptop in a bag and go anyplace that sounds interesting that the airlines have on sale. Australia, Bali, Spain, Morocco, Korea, to name some of the most recent. Heading to Oman in a few weeks. I find hotels with decent internet connection (believe it or not, it's usually the cheap ones where you get the best net access) and let Asterisk route my calls to me, and nobody's the wiser.

No, it's not a traditional vacation. I don't spend a rigidly demarcated two weeks totally divorced from routine, with colleagues and work a distant memory. I normally have to at least think about work every day, and occasionally I find myself doing 10 or 12 hour days in a place where I'd really rather be outside.

But when my "vacation" lasts 4 months a year, I don't mind that. The memory of a few 10-hour stretches melts away when I walk outside and spend the rest of my time being fascinated by my environment, eyes wide open and days filled with discovery and wonder. Since I buy my air tickets in Asia, I can normally push back my return to make up for unexpected work, without paying change fees.

And to be honest, the other 4 months, the ones I spend in Malaysia, are pretty vacationey too. Tropical weather, weekend trips to the beach, monkeys in the trees, exotic holidays and festivals around every corner... the thought of going back to spending the year sitting in the office unless pulled elsewhere by work, well, it's unthinkable.

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[sampson7]

Why is this a bad thing? Sounds like an wonderful vacation to me.

Option A:

Work at the office for 10 hours, leave work, go home, go about your normal life for 6 hours, sleep. Rinse, repeat.

Option B:

Work in County X for ten hours, leave work, go explore exotic city for 6 hours, sleep. Rinse, repeat.

Which would you rather have? Sure, pure vacation > working vacation. But it's just as clear to me that working vacation > staying home. And remember, he is not on vacation! He's simply remotely telecommuting and presumably, accruing vacation time, getting paid, etc. I don't understand exactly how the logistics of this works (power, communications, etc.), but it sounds like a lovely life style to me.

It's hard to take off for weeks or months at a time and still maintain a decent paying job. He's managed to compromise, and as a result is seeing and living and working in places that I, with my desk-bound job and three weeks of vacation a year will never see.

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[Nasarius]

Absolutely. It doesn't have to involve work; see Rick Steves' Europe Through The Back Door (which sounds like gay porn, but isn't) for guidebooks based on the philosophy of living as the locals do when you travel. He's geared more towards older people who travel with suitcases and stay in modest hotels, but backpacking is the way to go especially if you're under 26.

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[Anonymous Coward]

Absolutely. It doesn't have to involve work; see Rick Steves' Europe Through The Back Door There is another similarly themed travel guide: Spartacus. Its big advantage is that it covers the whole world, rather than just Europe.

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[CptNerd]

The way some employers pay, a "working vacation" might be the only way to be able to pay to go to some faraway locale. It does partially defeat the purpose of "getting away" but there is a definite fiscal advantage. The other reason would be to avoid using vacation time, or "personal leave" or whatever they call it nowadays.

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[ceoyoyo]

I've found every time I get out of the office I don't have to work very hard at all to match my "productivity."

So, do an hour of work over an extended breakfast and spend the rest of the day on the beach or hiking.

The only drawback is that you have to haul a notebook around with you.

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[Anonymous Coward]

yeah you are right, vacationing (sorry for spelling, british and drunk) can be like a different type of work.

i've worked abroad in a few countries round europe and the length of time you stay some place ingratiates you into their culture. eg. spent 6 months in Antwerp in Belguim, fantastic place. get over the 'slow' service (cultural, over there you go to restaurants for a long time), make friends with the locals, go to bars where people dance on the tables or dance or just do whatever. now THATS travel. not breezing through with a full wallet and a closed mind.

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[ghoul]

At my ex company (which I left to do my Masters) I used to do this all the time. I used to be on site in different countries for 1 month 2 month assignments. Those were the days. Stay in 5 star hotels paid by the client so no need to clean or do laundry (laundry allowance), no need to cook (per diem for dinners), no transportation problems - taxis reimbursed or rented cars with unlimited mileage. After work you can go out and party on the town and a month really lets you hit all the party spots and the clubs are not crazily crowded on weekdays. And on weekends just take the company car and drive off to see the tourist destinations. Ah that was the lifestyle. Its ideal for bachelors and if you are the right countries chicks really dig foreigners. BTW I met my wife while partying on my last assignment at which point it made sense to go get my Masters and give up the bedouin lifestyle.

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[timeOday]

Interesting, but you didn't mention anything about timezones. Isn't that a problem?

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[raju1kabir]

Interesting, but you didn't mention anything about timezones. Isn't that a problem?

I'm a night owl, so not really. I make up for missing late afternoons by my remarkable responsiveness super-early in the "morning".

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[photomonkey]

I'm a professional photographer, so I automatically haul tech wherever I go; even on vacation.

Sometimes, I can get away with the bare-minimum of a camera and a couple lenses, but more often than naught, I've got 2 DSLRs, assorted lenses and support equipment, a laptop, phone and GPS. Occasionally, I do swap an image tank for the laptop if it's a short, one-day trip or if I'm in a place where I can leave the laptop at the hotel.

I too, very much enjoy working abroad. The laptop/phone combo is necessary for me to get my photos in on deadline in a lot of cases, but beyond that allow me to stay in some level of contact with loved ones and clients, as well as stay appraised of events that may change the nature/safety/objectives of my trip.

It's one thing to plug the ol' computer in at the hotel and never leave the room, but it's entirely another to use your tech to compliment and facilitate work you may need to do abroad.

Finally, I don't go do a whole bunch of tourist shit when I'm traveling somewhere on assignment OR when I'm going solely as a vacation. Part of the reason I love traveling is living and working in a different place for a while. Working on the road certainly makes that easier.

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[Anomolous Cowturd]

Tell it brother. All these people working in pleasant environments are missing the whole point of work. It's supposed to suck. I personally won't settle for anything more than a cramped cubicle with inadequate air-conditioning, poor lighting, and an extremely uncomfortable chair. I *need* an overbearing control-freak breathing down my neck while I'm working, and lazy colleagues interrupting me to offload things they're too incompetent to handle themselves. At the end of the day, I demand an exhausting commute home of no less than two hours. If I don't collapse with exhaustion before I make it to my bed, I feel sorely disappointed.

These Bedouin jokers are missing out on the good life.

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[metlin]

Ahh, the advantages of being vertically challenged! :)

Flights are also not half as uncomfortable for me as they are for a lot of people.

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[metlin]

How's the work-load like?

I've a few friends working in SG, and they're none too happy about the crazy work hours and the 6-day work weeks.

Is that unique to just SG, or is that a characteristic of SE Asia?

As long as I can get off work early and take my weekends off, I'd be a happy camper. =)

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[donstenk72]

I think you are making a lot of assumptions that say more about you than the post you are replying to. As many have pointed out, to relax and get in a different frame of mind you need to disconnect. It also needed to get some fresh views in you work life. Having said that, the way email and voip can change operations for small business owners is simply amazing. In the old days it would have been simply impossible for me to stay in another country, with friends, family or in rented accommodation with internet and just work as usual. The difference is of course that after work you have a totally different environment to explore, and it is great if you can do that without having to close your office. I travel around with a Macbook and a bluetooth headset to answer skype and sip calls during working hours - if i think it will be calm i just forward those two to my mobile. When staying somewhere longer I take with me a dect phone and a Grandstream voip adapter. I am waiting for the wifi phones to mature. The services used are the following: Skype with UK skype-in number and Skypho.net for SIP in Italy. Skypho.net also have uk numbers now, so I might be ditching Skype-in in the future. I have tested a lot of services and hardware, for example I did not like SIP on the Nokia E61 (wifi phone with sip client), it is too early for that. I settled for Skypho and SIP hardware also for office use as it simply is the most reliable and cheapest. As a sidenote, don't ditch your landline for a sip-account over cable, I have found the latency to be a major problem. ADSL is best. Bottom line: if you store your company data on a server, have a reliable (imap, fastweb.fm) mailhost and SIP with phone number you _can_ work anywhere and anytime. That does not mean you should.... I have ditched my blackberry and IM to be able to focus on work when working, and on everything that life has to offer when i am not. My mobile goes always off at 1900. Modern technology is an enabler to a more flexible life/work-style - you don't need to be stuck in an office to work, but you will still need to take vacations without dragging a lot of gear around. I am in no way affiliated to the companies mention, just a happy customer who has done his homework.

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[aclarke]

You're looking at this from a very narrow perspective. Let me ask you this: if the only tools you needed to work were a laptop, internet connection and mobile phone, would you rather work your whole year in some windowless cubicle, or spend a few weeks of it in a luxury hotel by the beach, or at a ski resort, or whatever floats your boat?

I've been self employed for a few years. I've spent my time in various cafes for various reasons, and most of the time it was because I was going to be more productive there. Last year my wife took a course in Austria for 3 weeks. I could have stayed at home I suppose, but why? We just rented a hotel room with internet access, and I took my laptop and Vonage phone and it was business as usual. We now also got to write the whole trip off for both of us. I still got to get out hiking and exploring, I got to experience Austria to some extent, and we took 4 days or so off at the end of the trip to just have a mini vacation.

Are you seriously telling me that I should have stayed at home because going to Austria was a "bad vacation"? Come on. And no I don't take my work with me on every vacation; that was our second trip to Europe for the year. The first one was for 3 weeks and I left my laptop at home.

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[raju1kabir]

The stuff I do is based back home, so I'm insulated from southeast Asian work habits. Most of my friends with white-collar jobs have Saturday and Sunday off and leave the office by 6 or 6:30. I get the feeling people work a little harder in Singapore than here.

Re: I think that's pretty rare.

[Anonymous Coward]

Thank you SO much for telling someone else what their their thoughts and views are and what their actions should be. You should go into politics, people there get a chance to implement their "this is how you should live your life" policies.

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[Hoi Polloi]

I can only speak for Mexico but I found that the "first-class" busses there for going between cities were great. From Mexico City to Puebla was one of the most comfortable rides I've had (movie screens, snacks, clean toilet, etc). Even the local bus to a small town wasn't bad, and that included a stereotypical chicken in a cage and two teens necking in the back.

Re:I think that's pretty rare.

[drinkypoo]

Even the local bus to a small town wasn't bad, and that included a stereotypical chicken in a cage and two teens necking in the back.

I'm not worried about chickens, and the teens can be fucking if they like. What I'm worried about is that my girlfriend who is over a foot shorter than I am has traveled around Latin America a bit and everywhere she went she said she was stuffed uncomfortably into the vehicles. Which means that I am just hopelessly shit out of luck.

Need better infrastructure

[cyberbob2351]

I've tried this lifestyle as a daily campus activity, and I have noted the following observations.

• Laptop battery life still sucks. Someone start working on a solar solution :)
• Even on campus, good WiFi hotspots are few and far between. We need hotspots that permit ssh tunneling, and encryption that works...Cell phones with internet hookups are probably the only option if you are backpacking Mayan ruins...
• The home desktop will always be more comfortable, and as a result my files will always be there. Transferring them to the laptop on the fly is a pain when home upload speeds are so terrible with most ISP's
• You lose lots of weight when you are out and about, seeing as how you don't have a home food supply to compel you. A major plus.
• The public environment can be quite distracting, especially when you know people that always come and speak to you. Try and find a lonely corner, and suddenly finding a power supply and/or internet link can be challenging.

Re:Need better infrastructure

[HikingStick]

Reflections on your observations:

Laptop battery life still sucks. Someone start working on a solar solution :)

I agree that battery life sucks for most laptops, but I've got a two year old Dell 600m that still gets 4+ hrs. on the battery with the WiFi on. A bay battery is wonderful for extending your mobile time. Otherwise, learn to plot where the AC outlets are located.

Even on campus, good WiFi hotspots are few and far between. We need hotspots that permit ssh tunneling, and encryption that works...

I'm sad for you. The campus where I teach (my second job) has a great wireless network, and I can VPN from there to my office anytime.

The home desktop will always be more comfortable, and as a result my files will always be there. Transferring them to the laptop on the fly is a pain when home upload speeds are so terrible with most ISP's

I think you'll change your mind eventually. I switched to a laptop about three years ago, and now I rarely (can't remember the last time) sit down at the desktop. In fact, I can't stand full sized keyboards anymore (and I have really big hands). As a result, all of my important files are on the laptop. The desktops at home have become the kids' homework and game centers. My wife an I are both laptop-only users these days.

You lose lots of weight when you are out and about, seeing as how you don't have a home food supply to compel you. A major plus.

Only true if your preferred wireless hotspot isn't in the local cafe, or in your backyard.

The public environment can be quite distracting, especially when you know people that always come and speak to you. Try and find a lonely corner, and suddenly finding a power supply and/or internet link can be challenging.

How true! I recommend getting as far away from your regular haunts as you can. Find your own fortress of solitude. I have a friend who is a pastor, and he's invited me to use the wireless access point in his office when I want a change of scenery. Beyond that, I have a list of my favorite corners, and I love using a Verizon aircard.

Re:Need better infrastructure

[Irvu]

* Laptop battery life still sucks. Someone start working on a solar solution :)

Try here or here to start.

* Even on campus, good WiFi hotspots are few and far between. We need hotspots that permit ssh tunneling, and encryption that works...Cell phones with internet hookups are probably the only option if you are backpacking Mayan ruins...

Yeah, Thinking about the kinds of vacations that I like (long time far travel) this wouldn't work. If however you restricted yourself to day trips or the Mayan ruins located next to the hotspots (i.e. the ones right by the beach and loaded with tourists) then it might work but who wants to see that. In order to make this work and still see something you would probably be flying somewhere, working like mad in some cafe for several days and then heading out for two day trips to the outdoors. But I would still want some longer time in there.

* The home desktop will always be more comfortable, and as a result my files will always be there. Transferring them to the laptop on the fly is a pain when home upload speeds are so terrible with most ISP's

Try using something like a CVS home directory or subversion. If you have the files on the laptop but backup up to the home machine you will also be less vulnerable to sudden laptop error causing all hell as well.

* You lose lots of weight when you are out and about, seeing as how you don't have a home food supply to compel you. A major plus.

Unless you travel to places that encourage good eating (say Germany with the Chocolate) and then spend all your time sitting around waiting for the WIFi to work.

* The public environment can be quite distracting, especially when you know people that always come and speak to you. Try and find a lonely corner, and suddenly finding a power supply and/or internet link can be challenging.

Yeah being popular sucks huh? Schmuck ;)

The above of course works for some jobs i.e. those that don't require stable resources, plants, or where the required stable infrastructure (i.e. Servers and a customer base) are handled by someone else who doesn't get to do the travelling. Now, however if you could rotate travel time that would be good.

Re:Need better infrastructure

[kchrist]

You could Unison (*nix, OS X, Windows) to keep your home directory synced between multiple machines, but another option might be to just get rid of the desktop altogether. Plug the monitor and keyboard into your laptop when you're at home and you'll always have all your data with you when you take it away.

Re:Need better infrastructure

[OldHawk777]

Try [http://www.fuzing.com/]
site search enter [solar] [laptop] two words

scroll down maybe there is something that will keep your laptop charged up on a sunny day.

Re:Need better infrastructure

[Anonymous Coward]

I have some answers/tips.

Battery life- you do not need a core duo 2.13Ghz machine with a 17"lcd. get a realistic laptop for mobile workingthat takes 2 batteries. I get 10 hours run time out of my Cf-29 toughbook on a regular basis. If you are work-vacationing and dont have a toughbook then you are pretty stupid. nothing like losing everything just before that meeting because you were too cheap to spring for a toughbook.

Net connectivity, if you HAVE to have full T1 broadband everywhere you go then you had better have lots of $$$$. If you can be sane and plan where you connect in spurts it's pretty easy to stay connected. Almost nobody needs 100% coverage wireless broadband speeds. if you need 100% coverage get a Cell modem to supplement the wifi leaching. I have found that most countries are better connected than the USA. Well except africa, mexico, Lima, columbia, and Panama. but honestly you really dont want to be in those places. Oh there is crappy free wifi in Sibera as well. But again only a wierdo would go on a working vacation those places. Note: most places outside of civilized europe dont have good cellular internet, give that one up.

File sync. Come on, you can get 160gig hard drives for your laptop. if you cant keep your files with you and synced at home then you are either very lazy or need to hire some tech support people to hand hold you through how to sync things.

Exercise is good, embrace the sunshine!

Public envorinments can be distracting to some people. Many can tune out so well they dont even notice the BUS that is about to squish them.

Re:Need better infrastructure

[metlin]

As someone who travels a lot and has encountered the same problems as you, here are my solutions:

• Get another notebook battery - it's usually more than worth the cost. Also, if you like listening to music, using an iPod to do that will help save battery life. Setting your LCD's brightness to a couple of notches less than the highest also goes a long way (of course, this would require you to not be in a very bright environment).
   
• WiFi hotspots are hard to find, but for most kinds of work, the Internet isn't an absolute necessity. I have found that it is more of a comfort than anything else. Secondly, if you are travelling, you can use a wifi card through your cellphone provider, or use your PDA, or have some kind of data plan with your cellphone provider. There are always ways around, if something really needs to be done. Worst case, you get delayed a while until you can find a place to shoot that email from.
   
• Do not have a home desktop. Invest in a good notebook and it will totally pay you back. In fact, I do not even own a desktop. I have a server at home (a blade) which is useful as a proxy when I am client sites, but all my files are on my notebook and a portable HDD. Makes my life so much easier. In fact, when I travel on business, I take my personal notebook rather than the company notebook. VPN is your friend. If I really need to do something in the corporate network, I just remote-desktop on to one of the boxes at work.
   
• Actually, I gain weight when I travel - there is something to be said about the company paying for your food and drinks. There is no reason *not* to go to that expensive restaurant, is there? :)
   
• If the public environment is distracting, wear your head/earphones. Usually, people tend to leave folks with head/earphones alone. Just an observation. And while finding a power outlet can sometimes be hard, the extra battery comes in handy. And if you cannot find an Internet link, you'd just have to wait until you find one or use that PDA.
   

See? That wasn't hard now, was it?

Re:Need better infrastructure

[CodeBuster]

Laptop battery life still sucks. Someone start working on a solar solution :)

Unless the efficiency of the solar cells is massively increased (unlikely) or the power requirements of laptops are massively decreased (more likely, but still not much) then you are probably SOL (pun intended) with this one.

Even on campus, good WiFi hotspots are few and far between. We need hotspots that permit ssh tunneling, and encryption that works...

There are probably too many people trying to use the hotspot simultaneously and the bandwidth per person is getting squeezed. The fact that college campuses have very high numbers of people with wireless laptops using a very limited number of hotspots, relatively speaking, to download movies from bittorrent or playing online games probably does not help the matter either. As for why they limit ssh who knows? Maybe they don't get enough requests to open those ports and have them blocked by default along with all the rest except for http, https, smtp, and ftp. If it is your own ssh server you could try running it on one of the private high ports (between 49151 and 65535) which are not generally blocked because they are used by browsers for the return trips and also by games and such. If they have a cheap hotspot or router then they may not be blocking outbound connections on those ports.

Cell phones with internet hookups are probably the only option if you are backpacking Mayan ruins...

You would probably be lucky to get a signal of any kind, cellular or otherwise, and especially at the Maya ruins. The telecommunications services in Mexico are notoriously bad and expensive to boot.

The home desktop will always be more comfortable, and as a result my files will always be there. Transferring them to the laptop on the fly is a pain when home upload speeds are so terrible with most ISP's

So why not use remote desktop or X to have a remote session from your laptop to your desktop or perhaps transfer them before you leave your dwelling? The comfort part is probably right, after all who wants to sit in the Starbuzz armchair with its sweat encrusted and dirty fabric touching your skin? No thanks...

You lose lots of weight when you are out and about, seeing as how you don't have a home food supply to compel you. A major plus.

Sort of depends upon your lifestyle. If you sit in Starbuzz all day while eating their sandwiches and drinking their coffee then it probably wont make much difference and it could even be worse. I know that for me it would be even more tempting to buy and eat more food since it is all within reach and I don't have to expend lots of effort in a kitchen to prepare it, but your mileage may vary I suppose.

The public environment can be quite distracting, especially when you know people that always come and speak to you.

This is true but people come up and speak to you no matter where you are, unless it is in the privacy of your own home and then it is family members or friends so you just cannot win on that score unless you go to the study cubicles at the university library or somewhere else that is supposed to be a quiet area and even then the other people there usually don't want to hear your fingers clicking away on the laptop keyboard while they are trying to study.

Try and find a lonely corner, and suddenly finding a power supply and/or internet link can be challenging.

Yeah, that too or you might run into someone else who is trying to do the same thing, there are only so many good spots after all...

Re:Need better infrastructure

[njh]

The home desktop will always be more comfortable, and as a result my files will always be there. Transferring them to the laptop on the fly is a pain when home upload speeds are so terrible with most ISP's

I think you'll change your mind eventually. I switched to a laptop about three years ago, and now I rarely (can't remember the last time) sit down at the desktop. In fact, I can't stand full sized keyboards anymore (and I have really big hands). As a result, all of my important files are on the laptop. The desktops at home have become the kids' homework and game centers. My wife an I are both laptop-only users these days.

I think you'll change your mind eventually. I switch to a laptop about 7 years ago, used it (with wifi, outside etc) for 3 years, and I got such terrible back and wrist pain I hardly use a laptop any more. I've just given away my laptop completely and my wife and I are both desktop-only users these days. :)

You can have your portability, I'll keep my vast screen real-estate, ergonomics and performance.

Re:Need better infrastructure

[zippthorne]

You can have both you know. I don't think there have been many laptops sold in the last ten years without some kind of monitor output, a PS/2 keyboard/mouse port and/or several USB ports.

Oh yeah?

[br0d]

Let's see you telecommute from oblivion on 12/23/2012.

Re:Oh yeah?

[morgan_greywolf]

The end of the Mayan calendar?

A high-point in the major changes happening in our cultural evolution as a human race? Yes. Oblivion? Not so much so, no.

Re:Oh yeah?

[Anonymous Coward]

OK, First checked Wikipedia; nada. Then I googled and found this:

When I give my talks about the Maya, I am often asked about the upcoming end of the Maya long count on 12/23/2012 (12/21 if you use alternate calculation). I like to hold up my wristwatch and ask people what will happen when the hands of the clock both point upwards. If it happens to be an evening lecture, everyone in the audience agrees that it will be night, and dark. But the world will not end at 12:00; it continues on to be 12:01 again and a new cycle/day begins.
The Maya have many cycles, 13 days, 260 days, 360 days, 52 years plus lunar cycles, venus cycles, solar year and the largest cycle is their Long Count, which is just over 5,000 years. The thing to remember about cycles is that they do not have a beginning or end - they just keep repeating.

The other good thing about cycles is that if we recognize their patterns, we can be prepared for what is coming. Just as you know with certainty that when it is 12:00 PM, that it is night and dark out. So if you look at the Long Count as a cycle, you can look at what was happening in the world the last time the Calendar Round was at this position, and use that as a guide for what is to come.

So you see, there is nothing to fear! What a marvelous people the Maya are who could recognize cycles so vast! How sad that some people have distorted their ancient wisdom into a faddish cult. Meanwhile, the true Maya people are suffering oppression and extermination.

Coworking.

[Wellington Grey]

I think it would be useful to point people to the Coworking Wiki for efforts to support mobile workers with a bit of community. It looks like a great start, though sadly, my home city, London is a bit lacking at this time. If anyone knows good spots, please add them to the website.

-Grey

Re:Paranoid

[maxume]

The paranoia is because you are crazy.

Meh

[Stanistani]

>Nobody knew I was sunburned, drinking from a coconut and listening to howler monkeys as I replied to their e-mails.

If I just make myself a mug from a coconut, I'm there. I've got the cube next to the window.

*listens to the howling of middle management*

Re:Meh

[Anonymous Coward]

>> Nobody knew I was sunburned, drinking from a coconut and listening to howler monkeys as I replied to their e-mails.

> If I just make myself a mug from a coconut, I'm there. I've got the cube next to the window.
> *listens to the howling of middle management*

And here I thought you worked for Microsoft and had a cube near Ballmer. Especially because that would add a sense of danger to the whole thing--you know, gotta watch out for flying chairs...

Re:Meh

[captainjaroslav]

The Professor actually made a laptop out of some bamboo and coconuts, didn't he? If my memory serves correctly, though, the portability was compromised since it was powered by Giligan riding a bamboo bicycle nearby.

Re:Meh

[GrievousMistake]

And if he was close enough to hear the howler monkeys, why were they communicating by e-mail?

I miss it

[HikingStick]

I had a good thing (albeit not as good as the author's) going before I took a new position in December. Now, I'm paying my dues in my new area. Before, it was working from home at least two days a week. Unlike some, I didn't have a problem shutting the machine down at the end of my day. I loved sitting out on the deck (in good weather) and enjoying the sun while handling my trouble tickets. Even better was going to the local cafe (in a small exurban town, equipped with a Verizon wireless card, and doing my work from there while clogging my arteries with a 3-egg bacon and swiss omelette! Most days, I was working by 6 AM and done by 2:30 PM. I figure I'll need to wait another six months before I can pitch a similar arrangement in my new digs (once they know I can be trusted to perform, no matter where I am).

Hey, you!

[PSaltyDS]

"Nobody knew I was sunburned, drinking from a coconut and listening to howler monkeys as I replied to their e-mails."

Hey, you! Stop hanging around my cubicle!

Damn hippies!

#1 Rule of Digital Bedouin club

[CODiNE]

is you don't talk about Digital Bedouin club.

No seriously, letting your boss find out that you're doing business while on vacation is a sure way to gain lots of hate. Unless they actively encourage that sort of thing, be happy with what you've got, and keep your mouth shut.

Wha'?

[Saint Aardvark]

In August I took a month long vacation to Central America, backpacking from one Mayan ruin to the next, and I never officially took time off. I submitted my columns, provided reports and other input, participated in conference calls and interacted via e-mail. I used hotel Wi-Fi connections and local cybercafes to communicate and Skype to make business calls. Nobody knew I was sunburned, drinking from a coconut and listening to howler monkeys as I replied to their e-mails.

I'm sorry, is some strange new use of the word "vacation" I'm not familiar with? Why in the name of the eight-hour day would you go some place neat and exciting and use your time there to work? What is wrong with you? Why would you pay good money to work from exotic locations?

Put down the laptop, turn off the cel phone and leave your work behind you! That is what a vacation is for!

Sheesh.

Re:Wha'?

[Skidge]

Put down the laptop, turn off the cel phone and leave your work behind you! That is what a vacation is for! That's what your official vacation days are for. If you can get your work done in a more exciting locale than your cube, you shouldn't consider it wasting a vacation; rather, it's improving upon work.

Re:Wha'?

[nine-times]

I'm sorry, is some strange new use of the word "vacation" I'm not familiar with? Why in the name of the eight-hour day would you go some place neat and exciting and use your time there to work?

Well, it doesn't sound like a real vacation, but that doesn't mean it's undesirable. Weighing it out, I might rather sit someplace warm, near a beach, do my work there, and have a nice night someplace exotic, rather than sitting in a dank office and trudging through the snow in order to go to the same old places night after night. I wouldn't call it a vacation as much as a temporary relocation while telecommuting... or something. It's just not a proper vacation.

However, this isn't entirely new. Yes, if you're a professional blogger you might be able to get away with this sort of thing, but that's been the case for professional writers for quite some time. If you were a writer 50 years ago, and what you were writing didn't require you to be at a specific location during specific events, it's likely you could travel and send your writings in. You could even call over the phone and dictate, hence the phrase "phoning it in". Of course, it all depends on what exact work you're doing, and whether the people you're working with will tolerate you traveling around.

I wish I could do it, I really do. But assuming you're not Zonk or Cmdr Taco, I don't know what job you can get that allows you get away with doing nothing but writing a little bullshit each day. (kidding!)

Re:Wha'?

[gstoddart]

I'm sorry, is some strange new use of the word "vacation" I'm not familiar with? Why in the name of the eight-hour day would you go some place neat and exciting and use your time there to work?

As much as this guy's travel methods don't suit me, I can see the benefit to it. Time is hard to come by.

You take as much of the prime hours in the day as you can to do the touristy stuff. Then you use evenings and convenient/scheduled times to get other stuff done. Provided you can make it work, it's probably much nicer to spend an hour on a beach on a work day than to be stuck chained to your desk.

I guess if your work allows you to work from virtual locations, being able to go to those places and not use vacation time would be quite nice. Especially, if your boss is none the wiser/unaffected by the fact that you're not in any pre-arranged location.

It's probably better than not going to the tropical location I suppose. You just have to have the right kind of job (and probably, personality) to be able to keep disciplined enough to actually keep doing your work.

I know when I was in university, there was a cafe a few miles from campus where I did a lot of my thought work that didn't require a computer. Sipping on an icecd coffee on a patio while you work out how you're going to solve a couple of problems certainly seemed like a perk to me. The prof who was paying me for the research didn't seem put off when I announced I'd be at the cafe for the next few hours.

Incorporating R&R into your work day isn't an entirely bad idea. You just need the right kind of job to have it include Mayan ruins and not have anyone notice. ;-)

Cheers

Re:Wha'?

[metalligoth]

How about this... If you are able to travel, once your work for the day is done, you're already in a location that you would have had to have waited for the weekend to get to otherwise. So, in your off hours you can now travel more and actually enjoy it. During the work day, staring at a computer screen is staring at a computer screen. As long as you're in a safe environment, who cares where you are? This scenario is perfect for young professionals who aren't tied down by marriage, kids, etc.

A friend of mine is a web designer and does this. She's constantly posting blog entries about the fun she has once the workday is over from places like Montreal, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Mexico, New England, Florida...

I have the budget to do some travel, but I'm constrained by time. She doesn't have that problem because she can work wherever she wants, so long as there's Internet and electricity.

security

[mastershake_phd]

Just watch out for people sniffing your traffic on those unsecured Wi-fi connections.

Re:security

[Anonymous Coward]

That's what consumer VPN services are for...

Re:Paranoid

[HomelessInLaJolla]

Stop being so coy.

Woof

[goombah99]

The thing about the interent is that no one can tell if you're a dog.

--woof.

Re:Woof

[Stanistani]

Or even a Prairie Dog.
From Wikipedia:
"In companies that use large numbers of cubicles in a common space, employees sometimes use the term "prairie dogging" to refer to the action of standing up in one's cube to look around or converse with another employee in an adjacent cube. This action is thought to resemble prairie dogs standing in the openings of a burrow."

That's a BIG If...

[asphaltjesus]

If you have the right kind of job, you can take vacations while you're on the clock. In other words, you can travel for fun and adventure and keep on working.

I think the term is called self-employed.

Can I go to the mall and other well-covered places? Yes. Can I go to the nice movie theater with it's crappy reception? No. This kind of thinking bleeds into pretty much every "where do you want to go?" discussion.

I'm saying it certainly changes the way you think. Definitely not complaining.

Better than working in a gaming cafe

[Anonymous Coward]

Which I did while designing Bank of America's Higher Standards html. I think it would be fine as long as what you are working on is public or not confidential anyway... (and no constant fragging!)

Man, I'm working for the wrong people

[Jimmy King]

You can travel a lot more without needing more official vacation time. I've done it.

Everywhere I've worked you don't get a laptop and VPN access so that you can stay home and work. You get them so that after you've spent the day at work you can go home and continue to do more work.

The Right Kind Of Job

[Tackhead]

> 'If you have the right kind of job, you can take vacations while you're on the clock. [ ... ] Nobody knew I was sunburned, drinking from a coconut and listening to howler monkeys as I replied to their e-mails.'"

If you really have the right kind of job, you can take vacations while you're on the clock without the hassle of air travel, without the pain of the sunburn, with a slightly-modified version of the coconut, and yes, even with the howler monkeys.

I call it "reading Slashdot while sitting in a meeting".

Next time you do that

[HangingChad]

In August I took a month long vacation to Central America, backpacking from one Mayan ruin to the next, and I never officially took time off.

I want to go along with a camera crew and shoot a documentary about your adventures working on the road. And, just think, I can file the dailies, look at the rough cuts and hack out the promos while we're at the hotel. Try not to hog all the bandwidth.

This is nothing new...

[KeyThing]

4 years ago, I was working for myself as a field technician. I had basically farmed myself out to about 6 different companies, and was supporting their IT needs.

It became very obvious to me that I needed Internet Access anywhere I was. I found the Merlin PCS card (EVDO), and a PCMCIA sleeve for my iPAQ. I added "mobile professional" to my list of qualifications, and immediately cut down my response times to my customers. Now I could be stuck in traffic, and be remoted into their system. Often times, the problems they had could be resolved without the need for me to show up at their location. This, in turn, allowed me to add more customers to my base. At the high point, I was supporting 12 different customers. Each signed an agreement that provided me with desk space and Internet Access at their location, and an acknowledgment that at times, I would be physically at their locations while supporting one of my other customers.

I ended up selling my business model and customer base off for a nice profit. I now code full time, and have added the Kyocera KR1 to the mix of hardware I take with me. I just got back from a trip to Washington DC, and people had no idea I wasn't sitting here in my office. BTW, a real cheesy video of the KR1 can be found here: http://www.keything.com/tv . I highly recommend it. During my trip to washington, it didn't miss a beat.

The Oracle has spoken...

[Anonymous Coward]

"if you have the right kind of job, you can take vacations while you're on the clock."

Actually, what's really happening is that you're continuing to work while you're on vacation, but this imbecile is too self-deluded to figure that out. I've worked with tech-dorks that can't even eat lunch without expecting someone to talk shop with them. It's sad, such a monodimensional life. It's also just what Business wants from you; full-time servitude. That's why interest in CS educations is falling: The smarter people are finally getting wise to what a shitty career it is.

Re:The Oracle has spoken...

[Dunbal]

what's really happening is that you're continuing to work while you're on vacation

      Apparently not, since he said he didn't officially take any time off. So he's probably still owed his "vacation" anyway... besides, if you like your work, it's no biggie so long as you get enough pool time in in the afternoons :P

Re:Paranoid

[Anonymous Coward]

Take a shower.

Lighten up, dude.

[roberthead]

Always a cynic, huh? Looked at a little differently... Why pay rent in urban America when you can spend your evenings on the beach in a tropical paradise on the cheap?

Missing the point...

[Ted Cabeen]

This is my favorite part:

A client calls your office number and imagines you in a suit in a downtown office. In fact, you're wearing jeans and enjoying a midmorning brunch with your spouse. The client is happy because he reached you in one try and didn't get voice mail. Your employer is happy because you're providing prompt and reliable customer service. But most of all, you're happy, because you're doing your job without being chained to a desk. What about your spouse in this situation? Do you think they appreciate having their midmorning brunch interrupted by a client's phone call? Interrupts cost, both in computing and in social relationships.

Re:Missing the point...

[Dunbal]

Interrupts cost, both in computing and in social relationships.


      Nah, just push your wife on the stack, clear the registers, and pop her off when you're done and jumping back. Of course the script kiddies won't get ANY of this ;P

Re:Missing the point...

[Anonymous Coward]

The problem is she keeps taking timer interrupts while you're handling whatever other issue came up, so when you finally switch back she'll be pissed.

Re:Missing the point...

[Dunbal]

The problem is she keeps taking timer interrupts while you're handling whatever other issue came up, so when you finally switch back she'll be pissed.

      Never marry someone unless you first install your own handler at 43h...

Re:Missing the point...

[kchrist]

If the alternative is going into the office, I think a midmorning brunch with the possibility of interruptions is still better for everyone involved.

My SO and I both work from home occasionally and while that means that we sometimes have to ignore each other and do work, it also means that we can spend time together in between.

Re:Missing the point...

[gstoddart]

What about your spouse in this situation? Do you think they appreciate having their midmorning brunch interrupted by a client's phone call?

Without the possibility of receiving that phone call to interrupt your brunch on the patio, you wouldn't be having that mid-morning brunch now, would you? You'd be chained to the desk, and couldn't see her until you got home after work.

Seriously, I'm sure his wife just goes on with her breakfast, and assumes he'll be finished in a few minutes. Or, understands that sometimes that nice, civilized brunch might get interrupted as he does his job. But, depending on how many calls occur, you might be able to have a couple of brunches per week that don't get interrupted.

Cheers

Re:Missing the point...

[Fulcrum of Evil]

What about your spouse in this situation? Do you think they appreciate having their midmorning brunch interrupted by a client's phone call?

Better that than no honey at 11am. It's not like you always get interrupted during brunch.

Re:Missing the point...

[metlin]

Never marry someone unless you first install your own handler at 43h...

Or have a priority access to int 21h. :)

Re:Missing the point...

[aclarke]

ARGH!!! I'm getting so sick of people spouting this ridiculously narrowminded viewpoint! How's this for an idea: you still take your weekends off, or whatever, but Friday mornings you and your spouse go out for brunch together. Your spouse knows that he/she still gets "non-work" time with you, but your Friday morning date is shared with work. It's a win-win-win situation. Your spouse gets to feel EXTRA-special because you're taking time out of your work day to be with him/her, which you are.

I don't know your SO, if you have one, but my wife is nice and reasonable. She appreciates that when we're on vacation, the computer isn't there. She also appreciates that when I take time out of my work day to do something fun with her, sometimes the phone rings and I have to answer it. I'd still rather be out with her than sitting behind my desk, if my schedule will allow it.

not solar

[circletimessquare]

one of those cranks they have on some flashlights/ radios. crank for half an hour, work for 15... something like that. sounds a little horrendous, but if the other option is not working at all, it will do (especially if say you were in edinburgh, or somewhere else basically sunless, which means basically anywhere else at night)

i think those faraday flashlights- the ones you shake, is a principle that wouldn't scale up to a laptop, ehem. not at least until we get those solid state hard drives

Re:not solar

[maxume]

I imagine the best compromise between size and power output would be some sort of teeter totterish device that you stood on and rocked back and forth to power the generator.

Re:not solar

[veganboyjosh]

i'm still holding out for some kind of insole insert thing that works as i walk, and that i can switch out with once i get to where i'm going. 'course, dunno what the toxic smell issue might bring...

Same goes for me

[unity100]

I cant actually stay away from internet, even if on vacation. I need to be WITH people. In addition to colleagues, clients, community people, there are 'internet' and real life friends who have histories ranging from a few years to 4-5 years or more in my instant messenger lists.

Working a fraction of a day is just an addition to internet connectivity time.

Ethically challenged? Or telecommuter?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd love to do this, but my boss won't allow me to telecommute. But from the "nobody knew I wasn't in the office" comments, it makes me think that all of these people are ethically challenged and basically lying about their whereabouts. If people know you aren't in the office and don't care where you are as long as the work gets dones, you're a Digital Bedouin. If you are lying about your whereabouts, you are simply a liar.

how do you find these jobs?

[Anonymous Coward]

It sounds like this is more a Bay Area subculture focused around start-ups. How do real people get jobs like these? I'd love to spend a few years traveling while maintaining an actual job but it seems as unattainable as becoming a professional porn star.

Re:how do you find these jobs?

[tchuladdiass]

Go work for a contracting house, or an outsourcer. Esp. one that has workers in multiple locations. Only problem is that everyone is used to being connected with the company 24x7, therefore you will be expected to do the same.

I recently switched from an outsourced gig, to a regular position. This one doesn't have any telecommuting, but when I leave at 4:30 I'm off work until the next morning.

Re:how do you find these jobs?

[Anonymous Coward]

in my experience the contracting places aren't really the same. I don't want to be a mercenary working 6 months in one corporate facility before moving on to the next. Contractors seems to always be either the types who can't get hired in a real job or can't keep a real job because they're either incompetent or lack social skills. I don't want to become one of them. I'm looking for a job where 90+% of the time it doesn't matter where my body is located, and where it doesn't make a difference if I'm never in one place for more than a week or three. Being a contractor doesn't fit that criteria at all, I would still be tied down to one physical location until the contract was up.

Re:how do you find these jobs?

[tchuladdiass]

Not all contracing / consulting houses have you as a contractor. In my case, it was part of an outsourcing deal my previous employeer did, and we were all transfered to the outsourcer. But we were salaried employees of the outsourcing house, and primarily dedicated to the one customer (although there was some occassional odds and ends for other clients).

Re:Life is a Tradeoff

[PFI_Optix]

I'm curious how political positions can "destroy the lives of foreigners", and how that justifies a military attack or is the responsibility of Americans.

There are thousands of homeless people who are homeless because some rich guy's business failed or moved or just laid off a few hundred people in order to stay competitive. Their lives were destroyed by the actions of these powerful people...does that justify an attack? Are those in power not innocent simply because their actions resulted in one person's life being "destroyed"? I don't think so. Sure there are a lot of rich men who simply don't care about the workers they trod all over in search of the almighty dollar; but there are plenty who agonize over every layoff, every person whose life is affected by their efforts to maintain a healthy business.

Here's a better argument:

We are number 172 out of 230 countries in poulation density. Many of the nations below us either possess vast areas of inhospitable land (Russia and Canada). The rest...well, I wouldn't want to visit most of them. In other words, we're a nation with a lot of room to grow.

I make that point to say this: the more work we do, the more we cut down our population growth. Look at Japan with its negative growth rate; they're a nation obsessed with work. They're also the nation that reports the least frequent sex among narried couples; as a married man, I strongly object to this!

I lived in Central America

[greenguy]

...and I will confirm, this can be done. And yeah, it's nice to be in a beautiful tropical setting to do your work. But, it's also nice to just bike down to your local coffeeshop and hang out there and work. I'm in my cubicle here at work now, and the idea is very distracting...

Paranoid

[HomelessInLaJolla]

As long as everyone keeps calling me paranoid, and some of the mods with short stubby egos have bombed my posting in this thread, maybe we'll just make a race of it:

I read this headline, and this story, and I have this odd sense of paranoia.

a technology journalist...started blogging five years ago check

and last year quit his day job check and check

He now has a full-time staff...contributing to different online journals I probably write more eloquently, more insightfully, and more up-to-date than they do.

There is a downside, Malik readily admits. "I can put in an 18-hour day," he said. "You don't know when to stop." Stop being such a wussy. I live on the streets and have had fewer than a dozen hot meals in the last year and I can still do the job more effectively.

Funny he should mention Marx. Soviet iconography is popping up all over the Bay Area MH42 claims to be in Oregon.

The two have vastly different ethics MH42 preaches whichever side of the line allows him to troll today. I practice one path.

Rubyred Labs, a hip Web design shop in South Park, had its launch party there. Teams from established Web companies such as Google Inc. and Flickr, a photo sharing site that's now owned by Yahoo, meet there. "You'd never know these guys were millionaires," said Ritual co-owner Jeremy Tooker. Why do I have this odd feeling that someone has f**ked me over in the worst way?

They lined up for interviews. None were actually hired, but it cemented in Levine's mind the notion of where the talent pool lies Does my nickname not indicate where I am? Try my journal history

Kennedy, the self-professed bedouin The pampered people profess it. I'm actually out here doing it.

Kennedy said. "In cafes now, it's, 'Is there a Wi-Fi technician in the house?'" Is five years of Debian and Linuxfromscratch not enough?

Kevin Burton, an expert in blogs and RSS feeds Gah. That's like being an expert in tabloids and political circulars. If being an expert in blogs and RSS feeds provides any reasonable income then why are investors allowing me to sleep on a park bench every night?

Contact me to negotiate an appropriate laptop.

Have a good VPN

[Anonymous Coward]

VPN back to the office servers (or home computer) and your security problem is largely solved, that is, unless they're able to hack into your tunnel.

You rang?

[bedouin]

Hi.

Re:Life is a Tradeoff

[Afrosheen]

Well you know what they say (and I speak from experience as well),

"The best way to kill your sex life is to get married."

bogus

[Anonymous Coward]

I took a year off and backpacked around the world, and brought a small, wifi-enabled laptop with me. I brought it for convenience and to stay connected, and did not work a single day (okay except for teaching English on a beach in Thailand - voluntarily ;) I can testify to this:

There are no shortages of free hotspots in well-traveled cities/countries.

Global backpacking is best-experienced without having to work, unless your "job" takes 10 minutes a day or less. You will not absorb any of the culture around you if you are staring at your monitor. So many people with cell-phones and iPods backpacking - why not just stay home? Open your eyes!

Now working for a Western company while living in another, developing country (Say Peru or wherever you were), now that's an idea ;)

"Workation"

[Anonymous Coward]

Such a vacation where you keep working is henceforth to be known as a "Workation".

Rule Number 2...

[Bobby Mahoney]

The Second Rule of Digital Bedouin Club... is DON'T TALK ABOUT DIGITAL BEDOUIN CLUB.
-
Just had to reiterate.
{feel free to mod as redundant}

Re:Life is a Tradeoff

[value_added]

We are number 172 out of 230 countries in poulation density. Many of the nations below us either possess vast areas of inhospitable land (Russia and Canada).

s/inhospitable/uninhabited/

Russia's population is mostly urban, and Canada is little different in that regard. Living where the bears do can be nice, but it's a bitch getting DSL service.

McDonalds in England

[Slashdot Parent]

You dont travel to someplace nice just to do the same shit you do at the office because it's like going to England just to eat at McDonalds.

In fairness to McDonalds, the cuisine at your local neighborhood McDonalds is far superior to anything purporting to be British food.

Re:McDonalds in England

[Fulcrum of Evil]

In fairness to McDonalds, the cuisine at your local neighborhood McDonalds is far superior to anything purporting to be British food.

So go get a curry. You're in London fer chris'sake.

But can you be productive?

[Brandybuck]

If it's just email, conference calls, processing status reports, etc., then I could do this too. But when it comes to actual productive work, I can't. Airports, hotels, beaches, and all other non-home non-office locations conspire against me. I need to concentrate and think about my work, and I can't do that in a coffee shop.

Old news, been doing it since early 80s...

[BarnabyWilde]

...via "Compuserve", then Internet.

Currently, right on the beach in Mexico for the last 8 weeks, via satellite, writing open source and embedded controllers, no one else I work with knows or needs to know.

BWilde

Ah finally something that applies to me on /.

[Anonymous Coward]

I am a freelance web developer and can work virtually anywhere in the world - I have a bank account in my home country, a visa card tied to this back account and a paypal account tied to this bank account. People pay via paypal with CC, I transfer the money to my bankaccount and overcredit my credit card (it only has a 500 limit, but you can credit it with more). I then use the visa at business and atm to get cash/make transactions. You miss out on a bit of interest, BUT THAT IS NOTHING COMPARED TO WHAT YOU SAVE BY NOT PAYING TAXES. FUCK YOU GOVERNMENT, YOUR TAXES ARE BELONG TO ME AS THEY SHOULD HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAH

Re:Ah finally something that applies to me on /.

[Anonymous Coward]

Just don't come running to my embassy when the revolution comes and they start lining foreigners up against the wall.

Time zone fun

[6Yankee]

The look on my boss's face when he checked an old Subversion log and discovered I'd done a commit at 4am was priceless.

It took him a while to remember I'd been in Malaysia that week! It was worth taking the laptop all that way, just to bash out a couple of lines of CSS and mess with his head.

classified/sensitive

[Anonymous Coward]

Can't do this if you work for a TLA like DHS and your work is sensitive..... Unless of course you have those lists from AT&T or Google....

Re:Life is a Tradeoff

[rbanffy]

I'm curious how political positions can "destroy the lives of foreigners", and how that justifies a military attack or is the responsibility of Americans.

Calm down. He never said it justified. But, even if unjustified, it still happens.

When people can blame (or are made to blame) the actions of a country (embargoes, support for a dictator, support for insurgency, support to occupation) for their misery (or lack of whatever they think they need) you end up with terrorists - people who are so mad at a government, a lifestile and whatever image they make of them, they won't regard them as human and will not think twice before killing themselves in order to kill several of what they perceive as their enemies. Add to that those who rise to power by exploiting that hatred turning it into a cause and you have the present state of affairs or something pretty close to it.

It's a tragedy and it was avoidable

Why not from Bangalore?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you can do your job on the beach, someone else can do it more cheaply in Bangalore, and probably will before too long.

What do Starbucks think about this?

[BillGatesLoveChild]

Do they like/encourage digital Bedouins? You would basically be subletting 2m^2 of prime inner city real estate in exchange for nothing more than a stream of coffees. That's very cheap rent!

Re:What do Starbucks think about this?

[Hoi Polloi]

This is why I can never find a seat because of all these moochers. Don't they have homes or offices? I'd think the noise and foot traffic would be too distracting to concentrate.

I joke that the high prices at Starbucks are actually rent, not the price of coffee.

I think I'm WAAAY past this point now...

[JimMarch(equalccw)]

Let's see...I live in a motorhome, use a Verizon EVDO card plugged into a Kyocera KR1 router, the PCMCIA card is attached to dual antennas and a signal booster, I've got 100gal of freshwater storage, 120gal of waste, 660w of solar panels driving a 650lb battery and 2800w inverter, got a 4kw fuel-efficient genset for backup that can drive air conditioning all day on a gallon of gas... Basically I can go a week at a time with zero hookups, and that's with daily showers. And I was able to get a decent Internet signal deep in the AZ desert about 50 miles east of Phoenix, about as remote as I've tried. In urban areas, more like low-grade DLS speeds. Separate cellphone o' course. The back eight feet of the 36ft. motorhome is a garage with drop-down ramp door and Harley in the back. Onboard shuttlecraft baybee :). Total nomad :).

Re:I think I'm WAAAY past this point now...

[slyborg]

I totally thought you were, like, the MOST RAD DUDE EVER until you let slip about the Harley. Massive yawn and eyeroll ensued. I'd try and repost this with either a longboard in the back, or some kind of flying apparatus.

Profile of a Digital Nomad

[Anonymous Coward]

(warning : read with a sense of humor)

If you are 'digital nomad', you fall into one of these categories

A) Engineer
    - you are a technohead who is fluent in Web 2.0/2.5/3.0 lingo. You work for a company named 'Rieeroll' that does "rss-based dating via bittorrent"
(http://www.andrewwooldridge.com/myapps/webtwopoin toh.html)
    - you develop on a MacBook (Pro). You avoid even brushing up against people carrying IBM Thinkpads and Dells, like you will get infected with a rash if you did so
    - you develop using a Kool methodology like Ruby On Rails. You sneer at low-lives programming in C++ or Java
    - you practice Xtreme methodology / Agile methodology / {insert methodology of the month here} methodology
(http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2006/09/good-agil e-bad-agile_27.html)

B) BizDev Guy
      - you are a 'bizdev' guy in the company
      - you most likely have an MBA from 'B-grade' school
      - no body knows what you do, b/c the company is only 3 months old and there is not even a prototype
      - you have a laptop and a blackberry. The sole function of these two devices combined is to read/reply email
      - your current responsibility is to reply to *EVERY SINGLE* email that generates within the company. Your replies are normally some meaningless crap like:
                          > 'yeah, that will add lot of gravity to our marketing pitch'
                          > 'Great job Jim (the engineering drone); now can you make it look like MS word by adding lots of icons?'
                          > 'hey every one, today's Kathy's birthday. lets all go out for a beer after work at {insert hip local micro brewery name here}'
                          > spamming everyone's inbox about some useless blog entry and claiming 'we need to bounce ideas about moving into this space'
                          > emailing Java snippets about a performance study of 'Strings' and 'StringBuffers' and telling developers 'we need to be using StringBuffers throughout our code, look at these performance numbers' (engineers always get a good laugh out of these)

Common Traits:
                  - both of you hang out at some 'FAIR TRADING' coffee place, that only serves FAIR TRADED ORGANIC coffee from PERU or some place.
                      THe lesser hip of you don't mind hanging out at a Starbucks

                  - Both of you order a beverage that is NOT listed in the menu. It is always ordered using the following words in a rapid fashion:
                                  DOUBLE, TRIPLE, SYRUP, PEPERMINT, DASH , NOT FROTHY , NO FOAM, SKIM MILK , SOY MILK, EXTRA WHIP CREAM, MOCCA , LATTE,
                      And it costs $5.40

                  - Both of you are annoyingly LOUD on your cellphones, PDAs and BLACKBERRYS

                  - BOTH of you think you are part of the 'Bohemian scene' while you sitting there with your $3,000 MacBook and $500 iPOD and drinking a beverage that cost $5.40

jungle debugging can be a hassle

[Numbah One]

"Nobody knew I was sunburned, drinking from a coconut and listening to howler monkeys as I replied to their e-mails." do you know how hard it is to get the damn howler monkeys to stop fooling around with a logic analyzer when you're trying to debug a piece of hardware?

No, not always!

[anomaly]

I speak from experience here - father of five, happily married and a great sex life with my wife!

Just because you get married doesn't mean your sex life suffers. In fact, I'd argue that when you learn great relationship skills the frequency and quality of sex increases dramatically.

YMMV.

Anomaly

Re:No, not always!

[Afrosheen]

Anomaly indeed. :) Props for the super low user number, you must have helped father Slashdot.

When it works, it works :) (and a few tips)

[timothy]

I did this a lot until the current stretch in law school, which keeps me pretty well stuck in Philadelphia for a while.

However, there are a few things which make it easier that I recommend:

- An outlet splitter. When someone else has dibs on ("sovereignty over") the only electric outlet in a particular place, and your battery life is draining-draining-draining, you may luck out and find that he (or she) is reasonable, sharing-oriented, etc. Or, he (or she) may just be a greedy, sanctimonious ass. If you have an outlet splitter (one plug leading to two female plugs on short leashes), (a) it's hard to turn down your request to share the outlet, (b) it may gain you that cruicial 12 extra inches so's you can actually work on a flat surface and (c) it may let you plug in another device which needs a wallwart -- some of those are very finicky for reasons related to gravity, and it's nice not to block out others with your AC-to-DC bricklet. Just slightly larger, a small powerstrip does the same thing.

- A WiFi detector, if you need WiFi and work from a laptop. There are a few choices out there (I reviewed the Canary version a while back) that will show lots more than that there might be a network around -- ESSID, strength, encryption, etc. Using one of these may save you a lot of battery juice. If you already carry a pocket PC with WiFi built in, this is probably redundant.

- A USB key, kept on your person. Even moreso than in an office or at home, galavanting about with a laptop in vacationland may attract attention of the wrong sort. I've never had a laptop stolen, but sometimes that's been despite my idiocy in preferring to leave it on the table running rather than pack everything into a bag to wait in line for another cup of coffee. Alternatively, the more travel you do, the more opportunities you have to drop your laptop. USB keys are now capacious enough and cheap enough for nearly anyone whose work is mostly *text* oriented to save their important documents frequently, so if the worst happens, you haven't lost all your data. There have been a few Ask Slashdots about the most important apps and data to keep on a USB key, which are worth poring through. You could have a complete Linux distro on there, with quite a bit of room left for documents, too. The other day I saw at Target (in Pennsylvania, USA) 512MB Dane Electric USB drives for $9.99.

- A live Linux distro on CD, if not on USB key or similar. If a hard drive goes south, but you have another otherwise functional laptop, having along a Linux distro can be very handy.

- The idea of laptop-commuting from a tropical isle sounds more idyllic than it necessarily is; one of the big problems of working from "anywhere" is that you don't always get to choose the angle of the sun. For a while I used (though haven't needed and may have now lost it) an item of commercial manufacture which folded down like a diagonally disected cardboard box, made of a plasticy-cardboardy stuff, and which attached with velcro to a laptop to provide a glare blocking semi-enclosure. It folded down to the size of a thickish magazine, weighed just a few ounces. I'm sure you could improvise such a thing out of duct tape, chopsticks, and construction paper ...

timothy

Re:When it works, it works :) (and a few tips)

[Anonymous Coward]

- An outlet splitter. When someone else has dibs on ("sovereignty over") the only electric outlet in a particular place, and your battery life is draining-draining-draining, you may luck out and find that he (or she) is reasonable, sharing-oriented, etc. Or, he (or she) may just be a greedy, sanctimonious ass.

Absolutely! I haven't been doing much mobile computing recently, but when I was out and about at the local cafes while doing papers for school, I found a power splitter the most indispensable item I carried. Many times it made the difference as my WiFi downloads of IEEE PDFs from the school library rapidly drained my battery. I carried a simple three-way grounded splitter (didn't take up much space). I always plugged it in before plugging in myself, even if I was the only one there. Not only is that more friendly (other patrons didn't feel locked out), but for some reason, the splitter always got a much more reliable connection to those outlets that had been abused by the cleaning staff and their vacuum cleaners.

Those other things are great, too, but the splitter is essential. Best $5 investment you can make.

Re:When it works, it works :) (and a few tips)

[StarfishOne]

There have been a few Ask Slashdots about the most important apps and data to keep on a USB key, which are worth poring through.

One can (also) find a nice list of portable (usb) software right here at wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_portable_appl ications

Tried it, didn't work

[hcdejong]

I mean, once in a while it's fun to be working from the yard or a cafe or something, but it's disastrous for my health. After a few hours of working with a laptop at a table (as opposed to a desk set to the proper height) my back aches and my wrists start complaining.
Also, working on a tiny laptop screen sucks.

All in all, I prefer working at my desk. It's got the right ergonomics, a huge monitor etc. If I don't feel like working at the office I can always work from home, where I've also got a decent setup.

Re:Royale with Cheese

[Migraineman]

... blah blah blah ... Royale with cheese ... blah blah BANG! Oh damn, where'd all these brains come from?

Overnight accommodations

[Microship]

Of course, we prefer to stay at Bedouin Breakfasts.

You're not getting it

[JavaRob]

Either work or dont work, stop half-assing it already. Nobody works 24 hours a day. Even if you can't take *any* vacation time (because it's used up, or whatever), once your workday ends, instead of stepping out into, say, a freezing drizzle on the same old dirty city block, you put away the laptop/cellphone/etc. and walk out into the sun, onto the beach, whatever.

But people usually use this as a way to extend a vacation, not avoid one entirely. Let's say you are allowed (or can afford) 5 days vacation this spring. Instead of going someplace cool for a single week (of which 3-4 days is burnt up sitting in airports and being jetlagged), you go for a month. Use the vacation time to start your weekend early Thursday, and do your serious fun during those long weekends. Do the smaller stuff in the mornings or evenings (depending on the time difference from your workplace).

You're still 100% on vacation when you're on vacation -- you just have a lot more control over when that is. This could be vacation you wouldn't even be *able* to take otherwise, because you're midway through a big project. The other approach could be to fly to wherever you want to be a week before your vacation actually starts. Work on the plane, and work (at night, in the pre-dawn hours, etc...) while you get through the jetlag and learn your way around, THEN take your full 5 days vacation from a refreshed, pre-acclimatized starting point.

I took it a step further, actually; I moved last summer to southern France, but am still working for clients in the US. It hasn't all been easy, but overall I'm pretty happy with how it's working out. The internet cafe thing wasn't great -- I did that for a couple of months; it's hard to find good lighting & comfortable chairs & quiet, Skype often doesn't work well over wireless connections, etc.. But now I'm more settled, with a DSL connection and a normal work environment... which is like I had back in the northern US, except in the morning I look out the window and see vineyards in every direction, and I don't have to check in with work until 3pm. (On the downside, I often have to be available in the evenings).

When I do take vacation time, though, (and yes, I do put the computer away), I'm already *in* Europe. I don't have to sit in a plane all day, find a hotel, or argue with the rental car agency. I'm a 40 minute drive from the Mediterranean, a few hours from Barcelona, a bit further in the other direction to Italy, a 30 euro flight from London, etc. etc.. Probably not for everybody (the red tape wasn't fun), but it's working for me.

Re:You're not getting it

[JasonAsbahr]

That sounds great -- what motivated to move to France?

Re:You're not getting it

[JavaRob]

Largely, just to do something different. To get out of the US and stop gritting our teeth over the news every day. We don't have kids yet, and my wife's a writer. She had just finished an MFA program in Michigan and our friends were scattering anyway... it was a great opportunity to shift gears.

France was a good candidate for us because French is the only non-English language we both speak well, and living in the UK (speaking English) would have been too expensive. The dollar isn't doing very well against the euro either, but cost of living is fairly low where we are. Well, not gasoline (diesel is cheapest, and that hovers around 1 euro/liter... that's $5/gallon), but I got a '94 diesel Renault Clio that reliably gets 45+ miles/gallon to balance that out.

About working from Malaysia...

[JavaRob]

And the "fast food" is some of the best cuisine in the world, right?

My wife is Malaysian (I'm an American), and she's been talking about the possibility of living back in Malaysia for a period of time. At the moment, it won't work -- I work remotely, but my clients are all in the US, and the 12 or 13 hour time difference would make that pretty much impossible. Being available from 9pm to 5am doesn't sound great to me.

But how was it getting yourself set up there? Visa, renting an apartment, bank account, medical insurance, car, that kind of stuff. Was it tricky? Particularly assuming you didn't speak Malay....

Re:About working from Malaysia...

[raju1kabir]

But how was it getting yourself set up there? Visa, renting an apartment, bank account, medical insurance, car, that kind of stuff. Was it tricky? Particularly assuming you didn't speak Malay....

Visa: No visa required to spend 4 months a year here. Actually you can spend 5 months at a time (three automatically on entry, then a 2-month extension). But the clock resets every time you leave and come back in.

Apartment: Just found something in the newspaper. I spent about a week looking when I first arrived, but it seems to be a renter's market. My landlord says they're really overbuilding.

Bank account: Haven't bothered. ATM and credit cards from elsewhere work, and there's online banking. With a spouse visa you should have no trouble setting up a bank account. Or your wife could.

Medical insurance: I kept my insurance from home in case of emergency, but haven't used it. Doctor's visit plus prescription usually runs me about US$15. Dental - I got a crown, the full cash price was less than my deductible would have been back when I was living in the US.

Car: I don't like driving. Here in the centre of town there's little need. I can walk to most of the places I need to go. I never have to wait more than 5 minutes for a taxi and the most expensive taxi ride I've ever had, other than to the airport, was less than US$5 (most are less than $1).

Language: A considerable number of people are completely fluent in English; everyone speaks some. It's obviously a self-selected group, but the vast majority of my friends here speak it as their preferred language. Some examples about the ubiquity of English: My lease is in English; when you go to the phone company web site to read about DSL, the information is only available in English, not Malay; there are four major English-language daily newspapers in Kuala Lumpur; foreign movies are shown in their original English (sometimes with Malay subtitles) in the cinema; the Yellow Pages is in English; and so on.

I took Malay classes for 6 weeks and enjoyed it, but I haven't had much chance to use the language except for ordering in restaurants and basic polite formalities. Now I'm planning to study Mandarin instead.

Re:About working from Malaysia...

[JavaRob]

You're quite right, my wife would be able to sort out a lot of things.

For ATM cards vs. a bank account -- I've found that this approach is definitely easy when traveling, but you can generally get exchange rates a bit better using a good currency trader (I'm using XE.com to buy euros) than you'll get from your bank or credit card. (That might depend on your bank, but it worked that way for me in France). Quite probably not worth the trouble for you since you aren't there year round.

About medical insurance -- you can probably save money by signing up for expat health insurance... I set up a plan with William Russell that's amazingly cheap compared to US-based health insurance -- you don't need it to cover dental and minor things; like you said, it basically covers the base in case of disaster.

Thanks for the details!

Self Employment FTW.

[SocialEngineer]

I do this with my own design/consulting business every night. I usually go hang out at the local coffee shop, inviting disruption on occasion (I'm good at multitasking, though). In fact, my business has improved since doing this - I've met most of my recent clients through it.

When doing this for a 8-5 or 9-5, though, you have to worry about whether you are really getting the benefit of the new environment (as many other posters have ranted about) - Here is the key..

.. Don't work more than your normal hours. When you are off work at home, you go home, or to a bar, or whatever you feel like doing in the area of familiarity. When you are off work in a place you've always wanted to be, though, you can immediately enjoy something fresh and new, especially if you travel often. Get off work at 5, and head over to the local theater to take in some of the arts of the culture. Spend your lunch break at an exotic cafe with a sweet little French girl you just met (not a common /. occurance, I know, but bear with me).

They used to call themselves "The Mobility"

[Ungrounded Lightning]

... But that was a few years back.

I guess that, post 9/11, Sheiks have become Chic.

I think that is called a reporter

[bryan1945]

Which have been doing this for 30 some years. Now it is just easier. But, hey, this is the brave new world where we need to make up new words to make what people used to do seem new and neat.

Not new, actually...

[WheelDweller]

There are Technomads...not the speakers, the people. In fact, it where I got my handle. (There are thousands of "kilroys", there is only one WheelDweller- I got lucky.)

      There is a measurable traffic across the Panama Canal by foot- people *walking* from NYC to the Cape and back. The modern equivelant of climbing a mountain, I suppose. If they venture with computers, they're Technomads.

        Like Almitra the Photogypsy. She's a woman, walking alone, across the planet. She's crossed the Australian desert, Vietnam, Laos, China several times, WALKED UP TO the Dhali Lama...all on foot. Through war-zones and cannibal tribes. See http://www.photogypsy.org./

        Steve Roberts is probably the best-known of our informal clan; he was on Donahue ("The View", circa 1970's) talking about his pedaling across the USA with a recombant bike, pulling a trailer sponsored by Sun Microsystems. He's at http://microship.com./ These days he's captaining a shipful of computers off the shores of America's Northwest. (SeaDweller, though he doesn't use the name...) :)

        But we know only those that come to us; there are thousands of people in various modes of travel, using computers, that we've never seen. Truck Drivers, Celebs, lucky retirees...

        They're pretty good folks, too.

        My own journey's about to start. I'm building a 14' trailer to live in, full time, travelling across the USA. But right now I have to take care of Mom (76) until she no longer needs me.

Oops

[betong]

"Nobody knew I was sunburned, drinking from a coconut and listening to howler monkeys as I replied to their e-mails."

Well, they do now...

Travel & work or vacation - 2 different things

[donstenk72]

as many have pointed out, to relax and get in a different frame of mind you need to disconnect. It also needed to get some fresh views in you work life. Having said that, the way email and voip can change operations for small business owners is simply amazing. In the old days it would have been simply impossible for me to stay in another country, with friends, family or in rented accommodation with internet and just work as usual. The difference is of course that after work you have a totally different environment to explore, and it is great if you can do that without having to close your office.

I travel around with a Macbook and a bluetooth headset to answer skype and sip calls during working hours - if i think it will be calm i just forward those two to my mobile. When staying somewhere longer I take with me a dect phone and a Grandstream voip adapter. I am waiting for the wifi phones to mature. The services used are the following: Skype with UK skype-in number and Skypho.net for SIP in Italy. Skypho.net also have uk numbers now, so I might be ditching Skype-in in the future. I have tested a lot of services and hardware, for example I did not like SIP on the Nokia E61 (wifi phone with sip client), it is too early for that. I settled for Skypho and SIP hardware also for office use as it simply is the most reliable and cheapest. As a sidenote, don't ditch your landline for a sip-account over cable, I have found the latency to be a major problem. ADSL is best.

Bottom line: if you store your company data on a server, have a reliable (imap, fastweb.fm) mailhost and SIP with phone number you _can_ work anywhere and anytime. That does not mean you should.... I have ditched my blackberry and IM to be able to focus on work when working, and on everything that life has to offer when i am not. My mobile goes always off at 1900. Modern technology is an enabler to a more flexible life/work-style - you don't need to be stuck in an office to work, but you will still need to take vacations without dragging a lot of gear around.

I am in no way affiliated to the companies mention, just a happy customer who has done his homework.

Yes: More polution please!

[skeldoy]

Good fucking plan: take one office worker; normally not moving at all construct a stupid technoarab phrase (digital bedouins) and market a need for locomotion; one last trip before we all have to stay inside our houses all the time because the carbon emissions created by the mobile office workers flying to somewhere just for the fucking hell of it. If you do not have to move; stay put. If I see an american office-dweller "not on vacation" in my town I will leave (all) my lights on for 24 hours; it can be like a competition (chicken). Who starts caring for the environment last?

Re:Paranoid

[Anonymous Coward]

i also thought the idea of somehow linking this to marxist ideology a bit strange. these guys are essentially small businessmen, the bedrock of captialism. maybe one day, they'll wake up and realize that.