Up next in 10
Tips on How to Work While Camping
9K views
May 22, 2024
If you are able to work remotely and like to camp, then it’s likely that you can work while you’re camping: welcome to "workamping"! From calls to emails, zoom meetings, writing, planning and so on, there is a lot you can accomplish while enjoying the great outdoors. I’ve been doing this for several years, and I have several pointers for work campers including one can’t-miss tip for first timers.
View Video Transcript
0:00
Hey everybody, Simon from Lake Hub. Today we're going to be talking about how to
0:04
work and camp at the same time with your family. Now I've been self-employed for
0:08
about a decade. I've been enjoying the kind of lifestyle of camping and
0:13
working to kind of at the same time for about the last three or four years with
0:17
my family. I have some small kids, pop-up camper, and I really like it. I think it's
0:22
one of the perks of being self-employed and in this new era of so many people
0:27
being able to do work remotely and having the ability to be able to do
0:33
things like that. I think it's a great time to share some helpful tips on how
0:37
I found to work and camp at the same time or work camp. So what I'm going to
0:42
talk about is going to be your workspace, your environment, a few helpful tips, and
0:48
then one critical tip for your first time out that I don't want you to miss
0:51
So the first thing to consider is what type of work are you doing? Now that
0:56
could range from computer work, phone calls, reading, writing, programming. If you're watching this video then you probably already considered that it's
1:07
possible for you to do your job. I wouldn't recommend it for a carpenter or
1:12
an electrician or something like that, but if you're in remote sales, if you're
1:17
a middle manager, it might be possible. You know, you really have to consider that for yourself. There are a few limitations. One of those is almost
1:25
always going to be power source. The second is going to be internet
1:30
connectivity. So if your job requires, you know, some type of phone
1:35
laptop, then those are going to be your biggest concerns no matter where you're
1:40
at. I made the mistake last year of booking a campsite for about four or
1:46
five days, planned on work camping, showed up, no power, no power. So it was
1:54
a mad scramble. It was this kind of harebrained solution of solar panels and
2:01
12-volt batteries and it was a lot more stressful than it had to be
2:06
if I just paid a little more attention to what we were doing when we booked. So
2:10
that's something really critical to consider. You also want to pack accordingly. So I have a setup that I, you know, I've had basically a briefcase, a
2:20
hardshell briefcase. I recommend whatever you do to make it, you know, kind
2:24
of a hardshell container. It could be a big tote bin. It could be, you know, a
2:29
briefcase or like a Pelican case. Something to protect all your equipment
2:35
and make it packable in a way that you can put everything that you normally
2:41
would need in there and get up and go. I recommend after your first couple times
2:46
you'll figure out what exactly what piece of equipment you need to take with
2:50
you every single time. Make a list of everything required. Every charger, every
2:57
pencil, every pad of paper, sticky notes, whatever you need to do your job while
3:02
you're out on the road. Make a complete list of that. Tape it to the inside of
3:06
the lid and just check that before you go. Pack it all up and you're gone. That's
3:11
the best way to do that. Another thing to consider is what is your work
3:17
environment when you are out on the campsite. For instance, it's hard to take
3:22
a phone call in the wind. So if you have, you know, if you're camping in a
3:28
tent, then you can duck into the tent to take a phone call. But make sure that if
3:35
you're expecting a call to be ready for that so you're not zipping and unzipping
3:39
and have wind blasting into your phone while you're trying to manage that for
3:44
the first few seconds you're on the call. A little bit of planning can go a long
3:48
way. Sunlight can be a problem if you are if you're working on a laptop computer
3:54
I've found that you have to sometimes you have to you just have to blast it
4:00
the brightness all the way and get in the shade just to be able to see the
4:05
screen. So if you have a camper, you know, the bigger camper, the more reliable and
4:12
more comfortable it's going to be for establishing a workspace. If not, then
4:17
find some shade. Get out of the sun if you can. If you're blasting your
4:22
brightness, it's going to drain your battery a little bit faster. So make sure you have an extension cord and get some power to it. That sort of thing. In the
4:29
wintertime, it's really really really hard to type when it's cold. You don't
4:33
really don't think about that. But when you're outside and you're like, okay I'm bundled up, it's cold outside but that's okay. You know, I'm bundled up. You take
4:40
your gloves off, you start typing, you can last about four or five minutes before these things are frozen and you can't stand it anymore. So fingerless gloves or
4:48
again, planning a little bit of shelter, get out of the wind, things like that
4:53
Just think of it. Think through all the details and it'll come with
4:57
experience too. The final thing that's a little bit a little bit more tricky and
5:04
nuanced is when to work. You know, especially if you're with a spouse, you
5:10
know, with some friends or with your kids, it can be a little bit challenging to
5:16
actually establish boundaries and carve out the right amount of time throughout the day in order to actually get some actual real work done. So to me
5:26
that can be both a blessing and a curse. Now it can be a little bit tricky to
5:30
manage and you feel like maybe you're missing out a little bit. Like it can
5:34
kind of feel like you're working on a vacation, but you have to really look at
5:38
it from the other side that you get to vacation while you work. And as long as
5:42
you keep that perspective you can kind of manage those boundaries in a healthy
5:46
way and still take advantage of the perks. Take your kids fishing on your
5:51
lunch break. Go on a little hike. Take a break. Enjoy some sunshine. That's what
5:56
it's all about. That's why you're work camping in the first place, right? So
5:59
here's my tip for first-timers. No matter what you do when you work camping, the
6:05
very first time you go, go as close to home or office as you can. Give yourself
6:12
a little bit of flexibility to be able to shoot home, shoot to the office in a
6:16
pinch, grab something you forgot, or just completely bail out on the whole thing
6:21
if it's not working out for you. Go get some work done. Come back and camp. So
6:25
leave yourself the latitude to be able to do that the first time around or at
6:30
the very least be able to sneak out to a coffee shop that has Wi-Fi. Be able to
6:34
download something or or tackle a Zoom meeting with some connectivity that you
6:39
may not have at the campsite. So there's a helpful tip. If you've got more tips
6:44
I'd love to hear them. If you've got a little bit of experience, drop a comment
6:48
Let me know and I'd love to hear about that. So stay tuned. Next time we're gonna
6:54
be talking about remote school at the campsite
#Campers & RVs
#Education
#Hiking & Camping
#Hobbies & Leisure
#Hotels & Accommodations
#Outdoors
#Recreational Aviation
#Tourist Destinations