How I search for places to work from

Remote working has been a common thread in my life - and this blog - for a few years now. From trying to set up in São Paulo Guarhulhos airpot to do dissertation research, to working with no shoes on at Dojo Canggu to officially living the slow travel life now in Madrid.

Setting up at Second Home (Shoreditch) for a couple of hours all the way back in 2016, sparked a huge part of why I chose to up and move to London. Years of setting up in different locations and knowing I could get just as much work done, if not more, in alternative offices were a reason I chose to go freelance - and later location independent.

But what I forget is my process for finding these places is second nature to me. So when I got chatting to my lovely accountability partner, Tara, about her upcoming adventures away and she mentioned this, I felt inspired to write this post. For people who are new to the slow travel, remote working game and trying to find their preference for laptop location. Because, researching different locations for the Madrid post this week, there were plenty of places to choose from. However you distinguish the kind of environment you’re looking for very quickly.

So here goes: the Han Meets World process for finding locations to work from and things I look for when I’m doing this.

FINDING WIFI

Nowadays, WIFI is kind of a requirement for most cafes and general establishments, so actually locating WIFI is not such a tough thing to do anymore. But phone hotspots - and your data deals - are still generally worth looking into just to be safe. For example, in a busy airport, or smaller more remote locations, I typically have to rely on linking my laptop to my phone hotspot. So a good data package is helpful.

For personal peace of mind, there tends to be various cowork spaces in bigger towns and nomad hotspots. So WIFI is guaranteed overall. But if you’re looking for a specific place, there are websites like Laptop Friendly or sometimes Google will also list ‘WIFI’ on their page listing of the place.

If you find that you have an important meeting or need a secure connection the entire day though, I’d maybe recommend sticking to where you’re staying - like your hostel, or Airbnb - for peace of mind.

Depending on general culture and/or times of day, some places can get busy very quick. So if you’re really not flexible with your day, then get a good co-working deal or focus on your accommodation and the WIFI quality there.

While I’ve been out a couple of times to work in Madrid, and I could get a seat ‘early’ (I mean, to a Brit, a 10am start is not exactly early, but that’s when a lot of cafes open here) the culture of laptop working is not quite as widely accepted. So I feel a bit more of a need to move on quicker in the majority of places I’ve been so far.

Whereas London or Bali, I feel like I could set up in a couple of different places and stay for as long as I needed - providing I pay for at least a couple of coffees and a larger meal.

FINDING PLACES TO WORK

We all have our preferences for distance, Instagrammability, price range, you name it. Personally, how I used to do it - and occasionally this still helps - is to type into Google ‘WIFI cafe’ and see what comes up. Otherwise, I’ll type in ‘coffee’ and see what options come up - and generally as close to where I am staying as possible. Sometimes I’ll stretch to a thirty minute walk if I’ve heard good things or it’s peaked my interest and I’ve saved it from Instagram, TikTok or Pinterest.

It’s definitely a bit of a right of passage to pay for an overpriced coffee and pastry, and have both breakfast and lunch at a place while you’re working. However eventually the general novelty will ebb and you land with the sort of conditions you like to work in.

My ‘musts’ for a place are light, a bit alternative looking and a decent looking menu if I plan on staying for a couple of hours. If the menu is overpriced sourdough sandwiches and avocado on toast, then I’m not interested. I’ll have a quick peak at the menu on Google, or a scroll through their Instagram and get a feel for a place before I make the effort. If a place has a decent-looking social media feed, then you can guarantee they’ve got decent WIFI - not necessarily a great menu. But again, it’s all down to preference.

While I enjoy checking out new places to go, once I’ve found one or two places I like in the area, then I won’t tend to move from it for a couple of days. Or I’ll go a couple of consistent mornings for example. Especially if it’s a small business - which tends to be high on my priority list to begin with.

Reviews can also be super important to get a feel for service, waiting time and value for money. Now sure, I’m not exactly exempt from going to places ‘for the ‘gram’, however even some dishes are not worth the extra money you pay for their lack of taste. Go somewhere quieter and create your own Insta story instead!

OTHER THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR

Just to mention, there is understandably some hostility around letting laptop workers into cafes and certain locations. In theory, if you buy one coffee you can stay for hours taking up a table. So you may come up against some irritable owners - your official right of passage into the remote working community ;)

Where we might have headed to some cafes before as regular coffee-drinking, brunch-eating, stay for a while to gab customers, this changes a little once you go in with a laptop. So these are my tips for when you’re headed to your latest - or regular - place:

• Buy more than one coffee, if you’re staying for longer than 45 minutes to an hour. Unless it’s a bigger space, in which case you might get away with it for a bit longer. But don’t be rude, that space is not your kitchen or your living room where you can kick back and spend hours as you please. It’s a public space and needs to be respected, just as you would as a guest in your friend's house.

• A shout out on social goes a long way for a small business. While yes I will only post the ones I especially enjoyed visiting, the power of a gesture like an Insta story, a post or a tweet goes a long way. It’s not a lot of effort to put a video or a pic of your coffee art and yummy looking smoothie bowl.
  Although PS this does not necessarily give businesses permission to use your content for their own promotion - but that’s another story.

• If you can take a buddy, do it. Aesthetically it looks better if two people at a table are buying and staying, plus it wards off the coffee bean obsessed hipsters who moan when they don’t get the table they wanted… No, not sassing… Oh, and of course I find when I go with a friend, I’m much more likely to take breaks and take a general breather in the day.

• Do what you need to do for your own work performance. While some people thrive in bustling cafes with whirring coffee machines and gossip all around, some people need quiet space. So cafe work is not for everyone - and in case you needed to hear: that’s ok! You can meet people other ways, as long as your work environment works for you. Stay tuned for another post…

So overall, yes, there is a little more to the ‘art of finding a place to work’ when you start remote working, however it is actually a fun process. And if you’re anything like me, discovering new places and switching up your environment a little more than the average person, actually helps with creativity and results at work.

So have fun - and let me know where you discovered by tagging @hanmeetsworld across socials!

Han x

📍Peyma Restaurante, Lavapiés.