Reflections on a fabulous month away in Prague

I've just returned from a month in Prague, which was a combination of work and pleasure ("weisure", as New York University sociologist Dalton Conley calls it, or "furking" (combining fun and working), as Kirsty Spraggon calls it).

Here are some of my insights, reflections and ideas.

1. Yes, you CAN do it.

Travel no longer has to be about EITHER work or pleasure, or even a work trip with a holiday tacked on to the end. It really is possible to combine work and fun into your everyday life while travelling. That doesn't make you a workaholic who can't switch off work even when on holiday. It means you're in the lucky position of being able to work in an exotic location!

I first realised this a few years ago when I started spending Fridays working outside by the river at Matilda Bay here in Perth. I pack my laptop, mobile phone and wireless Internet card into a backpack and ride my bike down there, sit myself at an outdoor cafe and work there all day. Occasionally somebody passing by would say something like, "What a shame to be working on such a beautiful day". But they were the exception. Far MORE people would say, "How lucky that you can work in such a beautiful environment". Of course, both attitudes are equally "right" or "wrong" - I just happened to adopt the more useful one!

2. Plan a soft landing.

When planning my trip, my biggest concern was for the first few days, making sure I would be able to set up everything easily in Prague for a smooth transition. It made it a LOT easier that I was staying with a friend, so I knew I would have Internet access, a desk, a local Czech SIM for my phone ... and a friendly face when I arrived.

For my next trip (next year), I won't have that luxury. So I have to do more planning ahead. But it's worth the effort, because I know if those first few days go smoothly, it makes everything else so much more relaxing.

3. Don't work too hard.

One of my goals was to spend the month in Prague doing "business as usual" - as easily as I would work in Perth. On reflection, that was an unrealistic goal. Not because it was more difficult than in Perth - it wasn't - but because I wanted to spend more time doing personal stuff.

"Well, duh!", I hear you cry - and you would be right. But it just hadn't occurred to me. I thought I could fit in a full day's work and get a full day's play as well. Something had to give, and luckily for me, my work was flexible enough that I could reduce those hours in order to give myself more play time.

4. Start before you're ready.

As I said, one of my goals was "business as usual"; and, despite the reduced working hours, I was able to make this work fairly easily. This was mainly because I had already set up my business to be able to work in this way.

Perth's isolation can be an obstacle, but it also has the advantage that if you want to reach beyond Perth, you just have to figure out ways to do it without constant travel. For me, I do most of my consulting and mentoring by phone; I do presentations by webinar and teleseminar; I do almost all my sales calls by phone; I use Skype for long-distance calls; I have a good mobile phone plan; I record podcasts and interviews by phone; I have an on-line membership site for clients; I publish e-books, online courses, blogs and podcasts; and so on.

So all of this stuff happened exactly the same way when I was in Prague - as far as my clients, subscribers and network were concerned. I do do some stuff face to face, but because most of my clients aren't in Perth, that's a minority of my work, not the bulk of it.

If you're planning this sort of trip, I suggest you start implementing some of these things as well. Don't wait until the month before your trip - that's too late. Start now, so that when you do announce you're going away, your clients and business contacts won't really be affected.

5. Stay in touch in a controlled way.

The Internet makes it so much easier now for us to stay in touch. But be careful and choosy about what you share with whom. I had four levels of contact:

1. Phone and e-mail for specific people
2. Facebook for family and friends - for general, chatty travel news
3. My blog and newsletter for my business contacts - for a more business-like tone of voice
4. Twitter for anybody else

This meant I could keep in touch, but do it in an appropriate way for each group. It meant business contacts didn't see my personal travel photos, and friends and family don't have to wade through business-related stuff. I do that anyway when I'm at home - so I was keen to keep that discipline while travelling.

Of course, sometimes I could share my communication among different groups. Nowadays, Web 2.0 technology makes that easy. For example, if I put some photos in an album on Facebook, I can choose to make that album visible to others. I used that feature, so I could share (some) photos with my business network as well, in case they were interested (If you're interested, click the pictures below to see some of my photos of Florence, Prague and Berlin).



6. Just do it.

At the start of the year, I set this goal for spending a month in Prague. But I kept dragging my feet and putting it off. Finally, two things forced my decision: My friend Brandon was going to leave Prague soon; and I read that Singapore Airlines was offering very low fares.

Looking back now, I can't believe I procrastinated so much. I'm so glad those two external things forced my hand! My advice to you is: Don't wait. Yes, do all the appropriate planning and preparation; but don't get bogged down in it. It's better to do it too soon than too late.

You won't regret it, and you'll have a wonderful experience.