I used to get so worked up when preparing for a long trip. This feeling of a thousand pounds would start to weigh on me as I thought about what I needed to pack and how much of it I needed to take with me. Do you ever feel like that? I am not one to just throw clothes in a duct taped garbage bag (a la Tommy Boy), so I searched for a simple, efficient way to pack my carry-on with enough clothes for a week. I tried rolling my clothes up like a boy scout going to camp, I tried folding them in little squares like the metro clothing stores in the mall, and nothing seemed to work. Everything I tried, either took up too much space or made my clothing look like I had slept in them for three days. That was until I discovered the bundling method for packing.

This process allows you to reduce the used space of your packed clothing to smaller sizes without decreasing the volume. This method also minimizes wrinkles, guaranteeing you will show up to your client meetings or presentations looking first class. Last year we traveled to South Africa and Swaziland and I was able to pack for eighteen days into a medium suitcase and a backpack. The amazing part about the trip was, I actually had room in my bag for all the souvenirs I bought to bring back.

Below, I have included a few resources that will help you learn how to save space and travel efficiently.


onebag.com



What are your methods? Thoughts?
 

While sitting on the tarmac at Dubai International Airport I wanted to check in and share some of my inflight workshifting tips.  With all of the international travel that I've been doing lately, it has become essential to develop a method for working from the tiny confines of an airplane seat.

If you have trouble viewing this video, you can also catch it over on my Vimeo channel.




Do you fly a lot?  Make sure you check about these tips from Chris Brogan about what you can do pre-flight, inflight and once you land to help for smoother travels.

What are some of your inflight workshifting tips?

Having spent the past couple weeks, working in Africa, I thought it might be a good idea to post a quick video about what it is like to workshift from this continent.

There are definitely many more challenges compared to our workshifting in the developing world.  The infrastructure is weak.  The ISP's blow. And finding a shop with WiFi that can load Gmail would be like finding a bar of gold in your next bowl of Cheerios.  However, workshifting is possible in many areas because of the significant investment made over the past five years by mobile providers such as Zain, Safaricom and Vodacom.

On the border of Kenya, I recorded some of my thoughts on workshifting in Africa.

If you can't see the video below, you can also find it hiding over here.

This is a guest post from Mark Hayward.  Mark is a former Peace Corps volunteer and he hates the cold! But he loves living in the Caribbean, being a small business owner, and trying to help other small business owners understand social media. You can follow him on Twitter @mark_hayward.

Are you thinking about packing up and workshifting from an overseas location? Do you long to have your office on the beach in the Caribbean or perhaps on a hillside in the Swiss Alps?

With a business in the Caribbean and having spent a good portion of the past fifteen years working internationally in places like Papua New Guinea, Samoa, and Tortola, I wholeheartedly support the pursuit of the international workshifting dream. However, if you have not lived internationally or worked from overseas before, I thought that I would provide you with some details that you might want to think about.

1. Are you ready for challenges that come with living in a foreign country?

Living some place is much different than just visiting for a week on a yearly vacation. This might sound like common sense, but during my time overseas I've seen many folks pack up all of their personal belongings and move 5000 miles away from home only to arrive at a destination and realize a week later that they can't stand living there. If you can afford to do so, a pre-move visit is always encouraged and could help you to avoid a potentially costly mistake.

2. Moving is stressful.

Relocating to another city within your own country is difficult enough. In fact, stress wise, moving typically ranks as one of the most difficult life changes an individual can make. When you decide to workshift internationally and move overseas you can multiply the stress factor on a scale of magnitudes. Part of the allure of living overseas can be the challenges that one might expect to face. However, you need to really consider if you are ready for the language difficulties, cultural barriers, and bureaucratic red tape that can that can be associated with an overseas move.

3. Are you ready to be away from family and friends (support network)?

Yes tools like SKYPE, Google Talk, and even Twitter make it easy to keep in touch on an almost daily basis. But, homesickness and being away from family and friends around holidays and special occasions, and during serious illness, can quickly tarnish beachside living or skiing every morning. Before packing your bags check to see if there is an existing expat or workshifting community to help act as your surrogate support network.

4. What are the immigration policies at your desired destination?

Many countries require you to show proof of an onward ticket before they will even allow you to enter. You need to find out:

• How long can you legally reside in the country you wish to workshift from? (Is it thirty days, three months or one year?)

• If you need to renew your immigration status is it as easy as crossing the border for twenty-four hours and coming back in again? Or, do you have to go back to your home of record?

• Are there any passport stamp fees associated with an extended stay?

I have a good friend who overstayed his visa in one of the countries where I was working and he wound up spending eight months in the local prison. (Hint: Watch the movie Midnight Express to get an idea of what you might be in for if you decide to overstay your welcome.)

5. Can you legally run a business or work online at your chosen destination?

Will you be required to get a work permit? Even if you are running an Internet based business, some countries do not want you working within their borders. Other countries will make you fully disclose the type of work you'll be doing or the business you will be running and may require you to get a special work visa.

6. What will your tax status be?

Although you might not be working for a local company, you should check with the country's treasury department to determine if you have to pay local taxes. Additionally, if you are a United States resident living outside of the states you will need to determine if you qualify for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion.

7. Will you have access to medical coverage and medical care?

Nobody likes to think about a serious medical condition arising. If you're heading overseas and currently have insurance you will need to find out if the hospitals and clinics in your new country of choice accept your policy. In the event that they don't, try to find out if you can you get an international travel add-on from your existing insurer or purchase supplemental expat insurance.

Once you feel secure with your insurance situation, you might want to find out what medical care is care like at the destination you are heading to. Consider the following, do you have a particular medical condition that requires special treatment or medicine? Can you get the help you need at your new location? Additionally, discern if there are any serious health concerns such as malaria or typhoid and look into proper prophylaxis and immunizations.

8. How is the cost of living?

In your home city you might be so familiar with the prices for everyday goods that you don't necessarily pay attention to the standard living costs. For your new location you may wish to research what can you expect to pay for every day essentials like rent, bread and eggs, a car, gas, and beer. Moreover, you might be accustomed to very low prices for water and electric utilities. Other costs to consider would be the price for mailing and shipping items and accessibility (and cost) of goods such as laptop batteries cell phone cables, etc.

9. Can you legally purchase property?

This question is for the hardcore, expat workshifter, but if you are going to be in a country for any length of time it certainly is one worth considering for living or investment purposes.

Although, it is important to remember three things:

• Property ownership does not necessarily make you a resident.

• In some cases countries will restrict the purchase of property by foreigners.

• Always do your due diligence to check for clear title and hire local legal counsel.

For example, in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) the government requires that you apply for what's called a, "Non-Belonger Landholding License." The whole process can take well over a year and even if you are successful at obtaining the license you are not allowed to reside there while waiting for it. Once you do have it, you are only allowed to live in the BVI for six months out of the year. If purchasing a home or property is part of your overseas workshifting dream, then check the real estate laws carefully.

10. Everything else!

If you made it passed all of the items above then you can actually begin to think about your in-country workshifting needs such as, power supply, office space, and Internet access.

Final thought, do your research and you'll make out just fine!

If you have additional tips for workshifting internationally, I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments. 

I absolutely love traveling.  Trying new foods.  Experiencing different cultures.  Meeting new people.  Trying new foods...wait, did I already say that?  

Traveling for pleasure is easy, especially for the adventurous type, just make some basic plans, do a bit of research and on you go.  Traveling for business...not so much.  Add to this, international travel, particularly multi-country trips and there are a litany of considerations and variables that one must consider.

Take the business trip that I have been on for the past three weeks.  Now don't get me wrong, I am a planner, meticulous and methodical, of OCD-esque proportions, but this trip got me good.  When working abroad, there are so many additional items to consider.  Take charging your laptop for instance.  Back home in the East Village (NYC) coffee shops I frequent for my workshifting needs, charging my laptop is a regular occurrence.  The freedom to "plug in" where ever I damn well please (one that I now feel should be embedded into the Bill of Rights) has become a fundamental element of my workshifting life.  In fact without that "freedom", I wouldn't be able to carry on as a workshifter for longer than a couple hours at a time.  However, in certain countries in Europe I have found the "Plug in for All" freedom has yet to evolve into the consciousness of coffee shop owners.

Charging laptops is just one example of the woes of the international workshifter, there are also electrical converters to consider, Internet access, tethering ability, data access on mobiles.  As you might imagine, I have now meandered into the land of business travel expert by forgetting to consider pretty much all of these variables.

So, in the spirit of community sharing, I thought I might post a video to help any other workshifter planning an international trip so that you might learn from my many, many mistakes.

What other tips do you have for workshifting internationally?  How do you prepare for traveling internationally for work?