What is something that would keep you from working while traveling? Or better yet, traveling because you have to work? For me, it is staying connected. My job, my work life and work relationships, and my team are all connected online.
My kids often Facetime with their friends and their cousins in Spain. And, even for two of their homeschool curriculums they need the internet. For my family’s lifestyle, having a reliable and portable internet connection is a necessity.
Having the internet at our fingertips is something we too often take for granted. Since I do a lot of traveling for work, having a reliable connection is something I have to think about. I’ve partnered with Karma to give you an inside look at my work life and to give you the chance to win your own Karma Go to take the WiFi with you! Giveaway details below.
While I mostly work from home, there are many times where I need to get work done outside the home. A few times a week my oldest kids have homeschool classes, so the hour wait is best spent working -they work I work, right?
And then, there is all the waiting that happens during activities, while I wait for one to finish gymnastics and the other is at art, or while voice lessons are happening. You could safely assume that I spend a lot of time in our van or car working. I usually sit in the back seat (I have more room there) and write articles, posts, watching videos, and replying to email.
To be productive on the go with my Karma Go all I have to do is connect it to any of my devices by adding a new wireless network and then it remembers the connection for next time.
Even when I travel, it can sometimes be a challenge to find a location with WiFi, and at some hotels I have to pay extra per night for internet access from my room. And at conferences hundreds of people sharing the same connection often makes any kind of browsing speed compete with a turtle.
Until recently, my only solution was to pay extra to my cell phone provider every month to turn my phone into my personal hotspot. However, my carrier is quite slow in a lot of the markets I travel to, making speed worse than dial-up, and there is also the fact that I am paying extra every month for data that I don’t always use up -and don’t get me started on the fees that occur when you go over. Sigh!
Today, I am sharing this post from Hawaii. My husband and I are on our first vacation together (no kids!) in nearly a decade; and while I’m not working much, I am still checking on a few loose ends I was not able to take care of before leaving our house. Please excuse the lack of bikini picture, I am working on my tan standing up while you enjoy the sandy beach and laptop photo. LOL!
Yes, I know I should not be working… but having portable WiFi provides me the opportunity to really work from anywhere, and it puts me at ease knowing I can get online if I want to. I love the flexibility it provides for me to work when I’m on the road!
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From time to time, I work with awesome companies to develop recipes for this website. Today’s post was brought to you by Karma. All opinions are 100% my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that encourage my creativity.
Any experience with using with driving on a roadtrip? We are getting ready move from Boston to Austin and want to take the dive slowly, but I have to work still 🙂
It worked for me in rural areas in hawaii, so I imagine it should work there!