The culture of coworking has redefined the way entrepreneurs, startups, and independent professionals approach their work and their lives. Lessons learned in the coworking space have more far-reaching effects than growing one's business: they just might help you negotiate the headache of holiday travel. Here are 4 1/2 Holiday Travel tips learned from coworking.
1) Schedule Your Travel for Off-Times
Coworkers at Workbar embrace the idea that they choose "where, when, and how they work.” It says so right on the window. No one frowns if you come in at eleven; almost no one judges if you eat a roasted chicken over your laptop. So break free from the bonds of traditional travel and decide where, when and how you road trip. Treat your journey like a startup and time your release before the market is flooded. Thinking like an adventure capitalist will keep you out of traffic jams and impress the in-laws with your ability to find their house in the middle of the night.
2) March to the Beat of Your Own Drum, and Go at Your Own Pace
The best coworking locations have a variety of work spaces to choose from, and you’d be remiss to just plop down at the closest desk like the new kid in school. No, the place is your oyster. One day you can recreate “A Beautiful Mind” across the dry erase wall, and the next you can curl into a ball and binge-listen to TED talks in the Zen Room. So instead of stampeding toward the boarding pass scanner like she's the last Cabbage Patch doll, take a page from coworking’s unwritten rule book and choose your own seat on an uncrowded plane. Because passing through the security line has already reduced the human passengers to mute beasts, the jockeying to be first in line is as serious as it is senseless: people in wheelchairs and the pregnant will just cut in front of all of them, anyway. But like a seat panther, you wait. Wait until they’re all good and seated, and then waltz aboard like the guest of honor, make a joke with the steward about airplane food, and proceed to those empty seats by the window.
3) Use Your Travel as a Networking Opportunity
Along with Listerine in the bathroom, the element of networking is one of the included perks of a good coworking space. So instead of wondering which passengers you would eat if you went down in the Andes, maybe network with your fellow travelers. If they are reading a magazine from the seat pocket, then this is probably their first time on an airplane. But if they bust out a computer and begin working in earnest, then their time is important and you should strike up a conversation immediately. “Is that eczema on your elbow? Do you like Bloody Marys?” The modern worker is always on, and you never know who you will meet in the air.
4) Travel Light
Coworking spaces are mobile; you can sit in a different place everyday, and most people learn to bring only the real necessities to and from work in a backpack. Packing for the holidays is even easier for the coworker, who has been forced to make real, impactful business decisions above an open knapsack every day. A tight, light holiday packing job is the surest way to finagle the Holy Grail of airport travel: skipping the baggage carousel.
4.5) Invest in Quality Headphones
And lastly, buy headphones. This coworking hack predates the Beats movement, and your time in transit or at the dinner table will never be the same.
About the Author:Dave Gentry is a fan of progress and recess. He believes in old English, new fortune cookies and he answers to #davertido.
About Workbar:
Workbar operates coworking locations throughout greater Boston (Boston Back Bay, Boston South Station, Burlington, Cambridge, Arlington, Brighton, Danvers, Norwood, Salem) and several other partner locations throughout the state. Want to keep up with the world of Workbar? Subscribe to our mailing list for the most up-to-date information about our upcoming events and community news. You can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
