Swim and beach breaks: the best place I've worked from as a digital nomad is... Tahiti!

Remote work is not always easy, and that is for many reasons: it's easy to get distracted, difficult to ensure proper work conditions in unknown environment, nearly impossible to find the right work-life balance right away in a new place, and that's not even all!

However, I have been working remotely in dozens of countries, and have mixed experiences with most of them, as there is always something that isn't right, would it be food, timezone, weather, work conditions, ... but if the main criteria for defining the best digital nomad place is productivity, then my best place is... Tahiti. And here's why!

Tahiti got the best weather

Probably the most important part of working remotely and especially as a digital nomad, is to have an adequate weather that allows for proper work conditions. And Tahiti got the exact perfect weather to work on the terrace the whole day, provided that you can find a shady spot to protect your computer's screen from reflections!

This weather allowed me to have the ideal work-life balance, which is in my opinion the following, have an easy access to a swimming area, in order to turn regular office coffee / lunch breaks into digital nomad swim breaks!

My days therefore were generally organized that way:

• before 8am: breakfast and swim,
• until 10am: work,
• around 10am: swim break,
• until 12pm: work,
• between 12pm-2pm: lunch and swim,
• until 4pm: work,
• around 4pm: swim break,
• until 6pm: work,
• after 6pm: swim, chores, relax, or finish work.

This was possible as I was staying in the amazing Carlton Plage Tahiti that got a direct beach access, and most importantly for my work-life balance, a large swimming pool right by the terrace, making it super easy to quickly dip into it for a long enough swim !

Secure your workation trip - and even win one!

If you're going in a workation, and even if you don't plan on doing some activities, do not forget to get coverage for any activity you might do - in my case in Tahiti, stepping on an ursing while snorkeling in the Pacific ocean in the backyard during a coffee break would have been a disaster, especially without a proper coverage!

Therefore, I recommend creation a SafetyWing account and getting the right coverage for your trip, even if you already left. Please at the moment, until 16th May 2024, you can even win an all expenses paid Nomad Workation in Mexico City, all you have to do to participate is to create an account!

Tahiti got just the right timezone

For me coming from Europe, Tahiti is exactly on the opposite side of the world, both geographically and in terms of timezone, with minus 12 hours. Meaning I am still able to work with America or Asia, while if you're in American or Asia, it's feasible to work with Europe, but nearly impossible to work with the other one, as they are on the total opposite side of the world.

As my partners are mostly in US or Asia, that made it pretty easy for me to work, and contacts with Europe were easy at the beginning or the end of the day, in my case they are mostly private so it isn't a big deal.

Tahiti got good enough connection

Internet isn't the best part of this remote island, however it's possible to find a good enough connection to work for most jobs, maybe not to deal with volumes of video or data transfer, but for some low bandwith occupations such as blogging as it is my case, for which most activity is local on the computer and not so much needs bandwith, it's more than fine.

Even without a hotel or accomodation real connection, it's possible to get a mobile data connection that will be enough to work in good conditions and make the most of the stay.

Tahiti got the best food

Getting good calories is important to work well, and one advantage of this remote tropical island is the amazing locally grown products, especially fruits and vegetables, which are of amazing quality, and unbelievable size: all of them seem crazy big for travellers like me coming from Europe! And that makes it not only a bonus for feeling well, but also to work better, as they are full of vitamins, and much better than anything I could find back home.

On top of that, they are pretty cheap, especially when you factor in the quality, and just getting them at a street stall vendor is enough to save some bucks despite the overall very high price of everything on this remote island.

Tahiti got everything nearby, and everything away

Working remote usually means having lot of distractions, and it's easy to skip working by enjoying the local activities instead. Which is even more difficult work-wise if these activities are far away and require long commuting time to get there, time that is basically lost in transport.

However, in Tahiti, as it is a small island, everything is basically nearby, at most at a few hours drive, and that is if you're located on the opposite side of the island compared to Papeete, the capital, on north-west side of the island.

That means that there is very limited time lost to go food groceries, or to join activities, as most of them are basically located in the same district of the main city, and it makes it pretty simple to organize your days and minimize time lost in transport while maximazing the time spent working and enjoying my precious free time.

Conclusion: Finding the perfect workation

Finding the perfect workation depends mostly on the work-life balance you want to achieve, as each location as pros and cons. In my personal experience, the best place I've ever worked from is Tahiti due to easy access to swim area, good enough Internet connection, simple groceries, and good timezone. However, to each of us their own preference, but I definitely recommend trying Tahiti as an ideal workation area!