Crawford Times 60 ONLINE
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TRAVEL<br />
Meet, Play, Work Away<br />
Meet a new breed of digital nomads.<br />
One day when you have<br />
work to do, why not do<br />
it from a deckchair on a<br />
tropical island? Remote trips<br />
and tasks without borders<br />
have become just the job.<br />
By Caroline Hurry<br />
Meeting deadlines from a CBD<br />
office is so 1990s. Today’s<br />
creatives craving fresh perspectives<br />
pick up their projects and hit the<br />
beach in Bali, or wherever their muse<br />
might be. Why be chained to a desk<br />
when you can graft from a hammock<br />
under a palm tree? Goodbye work,<br />
hello workation!<br />
It’s the latest business/travel trend; a<br />
way to experience a different lifestyle<br />
without taking the full plunge. Of<br />
course, your job should be portable<br />
needing just a laptop and Internet<br />
connection. And you should be, at<br />
least temporarily, commitment-free. For<br />
those who meet the criteria, companies<br />
such as Unsettled and Workation will in<br />
return for a fee provide accommodation<br />
anywhere from Argentina to Zanzibar,<br />
a shared office space, and a readymade<br />
community for company.<br />
82 | <strong>Crawford</strong> <strong>Times</strong><br />
After a Skype interview to make sure<br />
you’ll fit in, you sign up for a month,<br />
a year, or anything in between; then<br />
pitch for work on your first day in a<br />
foreign city, secure in the knowledge<br />
that later – if you can’t face sliding<br />
a solo chop under the grill – you’ll<br />
have friends on tap to discuss your<br />
next destination over a beer.<br />
After working as a site-bound<br />
exhibition designer, Mel Cooke (28)<br />
of Cape Town, quit her job to start<br />
her own interior design enterprise.<br />
She decided to build her business<br />
plan in Bali and signed up for a<br />
month with Unsettled last year.<br />
“Working with like-minded people I<br />
could ask for guidance and making<br />
friends while exploring a beautiful<br />
island, is what I cherished most,” she<br />
says. “I wanted a semi-structured trip<br />
where I could figure out the process<br />
of my next project. My workation<br />
Mel Cooke<br />
taught me to build the life I love,<br />
instead of one I wanted to escape.<br />
Now I manage my own time –<br />
working late some nights but doing<br />
yoga until after 11 most mornings –<br />
and I feel a sense of purpose.”
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