Just think of this—you finish your work, send your files to your client or boss, then lean back and relax in your chair, and then stare at t...
Just think of this—you finish your work, send your files to your client or boss, then lean back and relax in your chair, and then stare at the white sandy beach and turquoise water. Well, this is not a screensaver on your computer—but a reality.
This is a common thing with digital nomads, who are not restricted to work in a real office. Besides, they don’t have to worry about commuting, since they work remotely while traveling across the world.
Working from a tropical beach is something very common for digital nomads, especially during those cold winter days. Although this sounds like fun, it does come with its challenges. Besides, the radical freedom that you get while working remotely from a tropical beach can affect your productivity. With that, let’s look at a few reasons why working remotely from tropical is a bad stereotype.
Although working from a tropical beach is possible, it’s not sustainable
The professionals at Allshore, a virtual staffing agency say that your environment matters when working remotely. Working from a tropical beach might seem like the perfect choice—thanks to the warm breeze and turquoise water. All this can make you think that you will work a bit harder. However, this is far from being true. Most people who have tried working remotely from a tropical beach say that is not a pleasant experience. These beaches are full of people, and this translates to unending distractions. Remember, you will be working, however, the people around you will be relaxing—and this is a very bad demotivator.
Besides, tropical beaches have very high humidity and temperature, things that you might be looking for now. However, the last thing that you’d like to do is to work under such conditions. Apart from the extreme weather conditions, you have another problem to deal with—mosquitos, general bugs, and sandflies, all of which can be very annoying and distractive. Also, the possibility of sand getting beneath your keyboard is very high—which is also not pleasing.
Adjusting to the food can be a problem
Most tropical beaches serve local cuisine. That means finding something that you are comfortable with to eat. All in all, adjusting yourself to the local cuisine can be a big challenge for your stomach and taste buds as well.
If you are not used to foreign food, be ready to take some time to get used to the food. However, you should note that western food served in restaurants at tropical beaches can cause serious problems. Because these beaches have infrastructure issues, power outages are very common, all of which can cause food stored in freezers to thaw and freeze repeatedly. This is one of the leading causes of food poisoning, which can be very dangerous.
You are working while all the other people are on vacation
By far, this is one of the greatest challenges. When working remotely from a tropical beach, regardless of your location, most people around you will be on vacation. As we said earlier, this brings many distractions and can greatly demotivate you.
Most people on vacation don’t understand what it means by working remotely. So, you will meet a lot of people on vacation, and they won’t understand the idea of working remotely, no matter how you try explaining to them. Yes, they will not understand—and this is not very uncommon as you think.
Finances can be a big challenge
Most tropical beaches, particularly the ones in remote locations can make your financial management a challenge. If you are used to Visa or MasterCard, or any other form of electronic payment, you will need to think twice about that.
And why is this? Most places don’t accept bank cards—meaning you will need to have money with you. Getting a place to withdraw the money can also be a big challenge, plus the ATM fees are very high. Besides, most places do not like large bills, and you will find yourself dealing with lots of smaller bills, which can be very inconveniencing. With that, you should understand that you will need to put a lot of effort when it comes to your finances. This, in turn, can easily distract you from working, thus making you less productive.
What seems simple is not always simple
There are things that you are used to back at home and most of them seem straightforward. However, things might be different on a tropical beach. For instance, let’s say it's time to clean your laundry. Unless a person recommends you or you come across a sign, you can spend a lot of time searching for a place to get your clothes cleaned. When you choose to work remotely from a tropical beach, you should note that activities that require 15 minutes back home might take more than an hour to be completed. Besides, the traffic in these areas can be very terrible, and you can spend hours sitting in traffic.
The internet is a mess—even at places with “good internet connection”
This is the sad reality in almost every tropical beach—particularly in South East Asia destinations. So, when you choose to work remotely from such a destination, you will end up spending a lot of time searching for places with good internet. Interestingly, even if you find such a place, the internet will rarely go past 1mbps. That means you will have a lot of problems when trying to be productive. You will miss deadlines, miss important meetings, and frustrate your clients. This is the last thing anyone working remotely wants.
