The difficulty in writing a blog of this type is that you are constantly trying to find newer technology that does more and more.  So you start facing added costs.  Like I really need 6 computers.  I think it all becomes an addiction.  What can I get that is lighter and faster and, without saying it, cooler.  Por exemplo (gotta practice the Espanol), I'm at this very moment using a new Dell Mini 9. 9 inch screen. Actual dimensions about 10" by 7" by maybe 1".  Very small, keyboard is a bit cramped.  Just a bit.  But this little guy only weighs 2.5 lbs.  When you're dragging a bag through the airport, 2.5 lb. sounds and feels very good.  HOWEVER, why would that be a concern if you have a bag that has wheels on it.  Sometimes I think I get this stuff just because it's soooo cool.  I feel like I'm arguing with myself.  Who do I think I am, Barack Obama?

So what am I down to on this thing?  It may be a bit small.  I feel like I need a bigger keyboard.  BUT THE WEIGHT.  I may have this figured out. Go for something under 5 lb. WITH the adaptor. Bigger keyboard.  Bigger screen.    

O Give Me Room, Lots of Room....

One of the things I did not think about too much was the amount of space I would need to
work. I figured I would stay in bed, answer a few calls, type out some notes. I would be the David Ricardo of the 21st century. Ricado stayed in bed till about 1pm and sent runners all
over to make his day trades. Those were really day trades. He would decide what he was
going to buy (pork bellies, whatever) and send some poor young waif out to the streets, on
to the trading market. It literally took all day.

But then again, I'm not David Ricardo and this is the 21st century. Staying in bed is great
for sleeping, reading and, oh right, sex. Jeez, I'm getting old. I almost forgot about sex.

Getting scary.

So bed is not the greatest place for work. OK, let's not go there again. Bed is not the
greatest place for most kinds of work, certainly not mine. The laptop gets a little too hot
on the lap and there is a constant positioning for better position. Never really works that
well. So give me a hotel room, b&b room, never a hostel, that has enough, well, room.
It's not that I want a full blown office next to my bed. Hotels sometimes have "business
centers." What a waste. Too much room. Too much equipment. It says "office" all over it.
It says, "You can't get away from me. I am WORK. I am OFFICE. I am the 4 WALLS OF HELL."

Maybe I'm getting a little dramatic but I don't want the office as the primary focus of my
travel. Work is secondary. I'm not traveling to Madrid or Rome to be in an office. I'm
traveling to see places and people I've never seen before. Work is secondary. Five hours a
day, tops. I'll work those 5 hours the best I have in me. But I'm not in Rome to WORK. I'm
there to SEE and EXPERIENCE and make friends with a different culture. I'm there to see
what I've only read about. I want to touch a wall in Pompeii, sit on one of Gaudi's benches
in Barcelona.

I have found that a small desk off to the side is good but not ideal. You actually need a decent sized room that has a small desk and chair far enough away from your bed that you don't get claustrophobia. If you're working on your laptop and your right leg is touching the bed and left leg touching the wall, that doesn't work. I get a little crazy. I can do it but all the while my eyes are getting twitchy, my heart rate pops up a bit and I start thinking I might be better off out on the ledge of this 8 story building. Not good. Conducive to an unflattering death and more unflattering open casket funeral.

It doesn't take much room but 8x10 won't make it.

The questions that come up when you think about working away and especially working out of the country are relatively clear cut at first. You think about whether you will get a decent wifi connection and you think about phone service. That's about it. No problema. This will be a breeze. And then there's this crashing noise, metal on metal crunching sounds, glass flying. You look outside but nothing happened outside. It's you, crashing into reality.

People who own B&B's or small hotels are not really into the internet connection business. They don't really pay a lot of attention to what kind of bandwidth they have. Maybe they think that a 5 year old router is just as good as the new N routers which are much faster than the B's or G's.

Of course, the big deal is the phone service so we'll start there. Out of the country, you MUST use an internet service. Most people would say Skype. The problem is that Skype is erratic in its quality. You might be able to hear whom you have called but they might have a hell of a time hearing you. Why's that? I am told by those much more knowledgeable than me that if you are using a wifi connection, you are losing about half the outgoing signal to the router. So much for your voice. The best thing I have found is to be plugged in.

Not too long ago, I was staying in some ritzy hotel in San Diego. They told me they had wifi and plug in. I went for the plug. Couldn't get anything. Absolutely nothing. Kept fiddling with it. Nothing. I finally looked under the desk and followed the cord I had plugged into my laptop. It went about 2 feet to nowhere. The other end was literally cut off, hanging sadly, connected to nothing, maybe picking up signals from the universe but none from the internet.

When booking a place to stay, I find myself interrogating the staff. Wifi only or can I plug in? DSL or cable? Do you have wide enough bandwidth to handle all your visitors?? I am usually answered with long silences or check this out. This moment I am sitting in a beautiful little place overlooking the ocean in Mendocino, California. Gorgeous views. Waves crashing on shore. Great restaurants. Top of the line stuff. Totally cool. I called before I came out. Asked all the right questions about online connections. "You bet," I'm told. "No problem. Multiple routers. Strong wifi. Maybe a little teensy problem when everyone's online."

Let me admit right now that I did not do my best Perry Mason (tells you how old I am) cross examination. I let him off the hook too easily. Should have sent him to Guantanamo for a few days for some r&r. But I didn't. I made the ultimate mistake. I believed him. So here I am and there is no signal. ZERO. I call the front desk. I kindly say that the signal that was promised me is not here. Maybe, it's gone for the weekend. Playing golf. Or out for a hike by the crashing waves. Could be my signal is still having dinner at the cool, laid back place where Tony, the maitre'd, was last night leering down my girlfriend's dress. But, no, this lovely girl at the front desk tried to explain to me, in the kind of jargon that young girls use to mask total ignorance, that "the thing that has the lights kinda freaks out for a while then might work after you wait for about 20 minutes but alotta times it doesn't and we can't get to it anyway cause it's locked up in the shed where they keep that stuff. But I'll check with the gardener cause he gets in there now and then to get his stuff." What is really, really bad is that I am not kidding.

This is about what again????

Some time ago, about 18 years ago to be exact, I had an office with employees and lots of overhead. Boy, was I having fun. I had to make a lot of money to pay for plenty of worry. But the big deal was that I had a 1 year old boy who would stand (just barely) at the window and, crying, would wave goodbye to me. I would drive off about 10 yards, back up, pull into the driveway, get out of the car. I'd walk up the steps and pick him up and hold him till he calmed down. Then I'd go back to the car, start it up and the whole process would begin anew. I probably did this about 3-4 times before finally leaving for the office.

Well, the more I thought about this morning ritual, the more I thought I wanted to stay home, work from home and be close by the boy. I loved him like crazy then and I still do. I digress.

I let the employees go and for 18 years worked from home. In the intervening years, there was a divorce (more fun) and my boy grew up. I continued to work from home. And then the questions in my mind started pouring in.

I started thinking that just maybe, with my son grown and out of the house, I should open a new office, hire new employees. I'll try to make this brief so you don't doze off.

I could build up that overhead again. I could deal with all the complications that come with having employees. Let's not get into detail. It's an ugly picture. But briefly, I would get to deal with personalities, payroll taxes, expenses I hadn't planned on, buying huge amounts of office equipment. Are you having fun yet? Well, the thought of these lovely items and, of course, staring at a new set of walls to replace the set of walls I had stared at for 18 years but this time getting to pay every month for them, this idea did not sit well with me. In fact, I seem to remember throwing up. Kind of the same feeling I'm getting right now. Excuse me, I'll be right back.

So HOLY COW, EUREKA and GREAT CAESAR'S GHOST (thanks to Perry White at the Daily Planet for that one). I came up with a brilliant (yeas I am) idea. Why not replace the walls every month or two with new walls. Some of you might think, " Won't he be spending a lot in construction costs?" Not the kind of wall replacement I'm talking about.

I began to wonder if it would be possible to take the money I would spend on a new office and equipment and to spend that money on a trip to somewhere in the world, anywhere in the world that would have an internet connection. Of course, I also had to figure out what problems would I run into operating from wherever I happened to be.

So that's what this blog is about. I wanted to wake up some morning in another country, another culture, enjoy all it has to offer. Then I wanted to work for a few hours without missing a beat on the job. And that's what I'm doing. That's what I've done the last few months or so. And that's what this blog is about.

I want to tell you about how I've done it so far and clue you in to current travels and any new technology I learn about along the way. Maybe you can do this too. If you can't, maybe you can do this vicariously. Here we go.