Around the World in 80+ Days Whilst Getting Paid
I’m able to work from all around the world while spending time with my wife and family. I’m more productive than I’ve ever been and I have more fun while doing it. The following is my story.
“Can we talk?”, I asked Jamon.
“Sure. What’s up?”
“Inyeong and I have been talking and we think we’d like to move back to Korea for a while. I’d like to work remotely.”
“Wow! That’s a big move. I suppose you’ll have to sell your car and your house. I think I know some people that might be able to help…”
Not the reaction I was expecting at all. I was fully prepared to argue why working remotely would be a good thing and here my boss was not just okay with it, but giving me advice on how to make the move as smooth as possible. My wife and I immediately started making preparations. Within a couple months I had sold the house, car, most of my possessions, and was working from Bonghwa, South Korea.
Korea
It was great to be back! I originally came to Korea years ago to teach English and it was one of the best decisions I’d ever made. I made friends with many other English teachers from all over the world. Many nights we’d stay out until 5am eating BBQ, singing at noraebangs, or watching the sunrise over the hillside from some pagoda. I met my wife, Inyeong, there. I was looking forward to reliving those days.
Things had changed though. I was getting along fine working remotely, but many of my friends had moved on. I was getting up at 5am to have some overlap with the west coast timezone which made it hard to meet up with the few friends who were left. Inyeong was having trouble adjusting back to her own culture too. Little things like holding doors open and waiting in line were just not as common. Nosy neighbors wondering why we were back (sure that something went wrong) were driving her crazy.
So we decided we should change it up. We planned a trip to Thailand with the in-laws.
Thailand
A couple weeks later we were in Bangkok on a guided Korean tour. The tour took us through more Korean businesses and restaurants than I knew existed in Thailand and ultimately to Pattaya (the sex tourism capital of the world). Needless to say it was a bit awkward to be walking around with my in-laws there.
When we got back from Thailand we were still feeling the wanderlust. After several months of getting up at 5am I was ready for a different timezone. We’d always wanted to go to Europe and Motion Inspect was going to be held in Paris in just a couple months. I contacted Jamon and arranged to meet up in Paris. Inyeong started planning the route, booking flights and Airbnb’s.
France
We got to Paris a couple days before Inspect and spent that time walking all over the city from Sacré-Cœur to the Louvre to the Eiffel Tower and back again. Paris was experiencing its strongest heatwave since the 40s and it was a struggle to stay hydrated. Despite nearly suffering heatstroke, we were in awe at all there was to see, often turning the corner to see a landmark right before giving up. In the end it was one of the best memories of the trip.
Eventually Jamon showed up and we spent the rest of the week attending Motion Inspect. We met lots of fellow Rubyists from around the world and enjoyed a host of excellent presentations. I was still representing ClearSight at the time and this was my first opportunity to meet many of the InfiniteRed Team who we would merge with a few months later. I was happy to discover just how fun, genuine, and passionate they were.
Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, and Austria
After an extraordinary experience in Paris, we took the short flight to Berlin. Now that the conference was over it was time to get back to work. Because of the time difference, I was now starting my workday sometime between 3-5pm. How refreshing! This left plenty of time in the morning for Inyeong and I to go sightseeing and survey the local cuisine. This was life for the next two months as we continued from Berlin to Warsaw to Prague to Budapest and finally Vienna.
Each day we’d lazily roll out of bed, grab some breakfast, and make our way out to experience the city. We toured museums, explored castles, and strolled along rivers and ramparts. We sampled as much of each culture’s cuisine as we could get our hands on. Schnitzel, flammkuchen, pierogis, trdelník, and goulash… so many new and interesting flavors to enjoy!
I continued to work in the evenings, communicating with the team via Slack, Trello, Github and Zoom. Many features were taken from development to delivery and significant progress was made on client projects. I never felt disconnected from clients or team and in fact was more productive than I’ve ever been before.
Things were going well enough in Europe that we were considering relocating permanently and were actively looking at visa options. However, we eventually had to return to Korea to attend a couple of weddings (including my brother-in-law and fellow coworker Leon’s). Shortly after that we discovered we were going to have a baby and ultimately decided to move back to the states to settle down for a while.
It’s hard to express just how grateful I am to be working for such an awesome company that makes this lifestyle possible for me. It’s because of them that I’ve been able to see so much of the world and meet so many interesting people this last year. Their focus on freedom and flexible attitude is refreshing and inspirational. The result is happier and healthier employees who get to spend more time with their families while doing higher quality work. I know I’m better for it and I hope they see it in the work I deliver.
We’ve grown a lot since I first joined ClearSight and only seem to be growing faster as Infinite Red. With fatherhood on the horizon, my family is growing too. These are exciting times and I count myself lucky to be able to spend so much of my time near to my wife and look forward to spending more time with her and our baby. It’s been an amazing year. I can’t wait to see where next year will take us!
