Remote lifestyle must-haves
Today’s post will (hopefully) be useful to you, dear reader, and cathartic for me.
Why? Because this post comprises four years of on-off trials and errors and discoveries of remote working equipment. A journey that officially began back in 2016 when I realised “digital nomadism” was a ‘thing’ and leads us all the way up to the end of 2020 where, even after this pandemic, I am a full time remote worker.
What began as some paid research and an Instagram account, has now turned into the ultimate dream fulfilment. The ultimate dream that, when I set out to build Han Meets World, was my one final and biggest goal: to take my work (and life) on whatever road I fancied.
So it’s not that I probably couldn’t have figured out a way to do this earlier - because I know people of course have. But as with a lot of things, it took some trying on different things, listening to the right (and occasionally wrong) people and also trying on some other dreams first like living in London full time and doing press for Fashion Week shows.
Yet from making these little shifts, I’ve been able to try on working independently. From working remotely occasionally on a full time contract, simply because the wifi was better away from central west London to being invited to trial new workspaces thanks to my Instagram content at the time.
After a year of being based full time, looking at the same four walls more or less all day, five days a week however, I realised this was not for me. So began the intentional road of designing a fully remote work life. Which, after a couple of years, I’m really excited has become a full-time thing.
Opinions are certainly varied around the topic of remote working. While I couldn’t imagine a better way to stay creative and motivated, others prefer to have one base where they can leave files, tech (and in the case of marketing and events teams) spare shoes.
For me though, it was always about being able to pick up from one place and put down in another, depending on what I fancied. Coffee shop in the morning, maybe a train somewhere in the evening, who knows!
So with that I went through various stages of carrying too much to very little. From oversized bag of many things for just general London “city life” to literally putting my Chilly bottle in my coat pocket and taking the necessities in a tiny laptop sleeve.
Whatever the scenario though, I’ve found there are a few key things that, you really cannot do without and worth the investment for a “smarter” product.
Laptop: if your office is literally wherever you want, investing in the right laptop for you is crucial. Sounds simple, but it needs mentioning. While I preferred the slightly larger screen of my old MacBook for designing, it was rather a sign when it finally died and purchased my current 13 inch screen MacBook Pro. It’s light, fits in every bag i’ve tried so far and does all I need it to. Find the model that works for your work needs - but also fits for being carried. I will never forget the days of lugging the literal brick of a computer I had at uni on long haul flights… The same goes for phones. I need to be able to run big parts of my day to day on my phone as well as put together content on the fly, so updating my phone (Apple again) is important to me. Something that is quick to react and store a lot of files.
Chargers: but try to carry as few as possible. I have two USB plugs, and that’s it. Cameras nowadays plug into a USB plug so it makes for light travel. I carry the necessary chargers per device when I’m away and that’s it. Lots of people rate carrying an external charger, which, i’ve definitely found helpful for when I can’t put my phone down during an event, for example. But generally so many places have plugs now and if I can’t find a plug, i’ll carry my little external USB connector. Useful for memory cards (because new MacBooks don’t have this anymore) and slowly charging the phone back up.
Hard drives: something I didn’t realise was super crucial until I had large files like videos and photo folders that I suddenly needed to back up in London. I generally make it a habit of saving my work from projects anyway to share if i’m ever asked, but you forget how quickly photos take up space now. Like, I don’t remember the last time I kept full albums on my laptop. Having had a couple of laptops crash and nearly loose four years worth of content on one and all my email files wiped from another, I learned my lesson. Plus it’s worth investing a little more in the most secure option, like the LaCie pictured below. Tech evolves quickly and you don’t want cheap hard drives to struggle with it. You don’t necessarily have to carry this with you every day, but it’s worth having one to hand as a back up.
“Smart” luggage: as much as I love handbags and old school satchels, they’re terrible for your back, shoulders and posture when you are on the move. Personally, I want my hands to be free and not thinking about what’s on my person. Mat and Nat always used to serve me well, but i’ve since also used a PacSafe (gifted through a job) rucksack obsessively and I’m about to try a Douchebags backpack.
Which leads nicely into a spare tote bag: a good tote folds down into your coat pocket or laptop sleeve. Which if you’ve ever been given things from events or meetings, is worth having on your person. Or just to generally pick up whatever you need to on the way home… I’m currently working on a design myself for the remote worker, which I hope you’ll like! (See the initial thoughts below! And check out the Han Meets World shop here).
Reusable water bottles/coffee cups: my reusable water bottle is a must. No question. Even if i’m carrying it around in my coat pocket for the day. So many airports, and even some train stations, provide water stations nowadays, there really is no excuse in a lot of Europe anymore. Similar for the coffee cups. It’ll definitely be interesting to see how this is accommodated in the post-pandemic world. I get the caution behind it at the moment, but there must be some way we can make it work. I currently use a couple of Chilly bottles I’ve picked up from events, but you can pick these up in more of less any supermarket or coffee shop.
Phone data: one of those things that might not feel too important, but has saved me more times than I can count. Whether the public wifi is down, a team member needs to connect or you’re on public transport or abroad. Being able to use your personal hotspot is important. (Although again, will be interesting to see how that will likely change after Brexit). I personally am on a Virgin Mobile contract and have been for five years.
The key for me here is to keep things condensed and streamlined. There really is no need to carry any more than the necessities these days. From having the least amount of tech on you, to switching to reading and watching things on one device. Life is busy, but there are so many ways to keep it simple.
I’ll leave it there for the moment, but let me know if there is anything you would add!
Han x
