[am1m]

Originally Posted by dsnaveen21

Hi, Iam planning to go and stay in GOA for 2 -3 months for work, where did you stay, any contact number you can give please.

Quoting from my earlier post:

Originally Posted by am1m

Depending on your budget, there are a range of options. The fancy resorts offer packages (pretty overpriced IMHO), where everything is taken care of. If you are more budget-conscious you can find a small place and set it up. I'm seeing 'to-rent' signs all over the place. The Reliance hotspot has been showing speeds of 5-15Mbps and Airtel 20-35Mbps consistently. There is also a local service provider who provides wired connections. I'm guessing there are more options in North Goa.

If you're planning to come now, remember that summer is starting, so it gets quite hot. On the plus side there will be less crowd and better deals to be had.

If you want everything booked and arranged in advance, check out the air bnb options. There are a whole range.

Otherwise my suggestion would be to come for a week check in to a hotel and spend a few days driving/riding around to look for places that suit you. There are so many options that are not listed online, near almost every beach. And check the internet connectivity for yourself. A lot of places will advertise xyz speeds but that may not be the reality. If you're planning to stay for a few months, better to always see the place in person before deciding.

[ninjatalli]

Hi Guys,
Over the last 18 months, I have heard numerous stories of folks shifting their home for a short term (3-6 months) or more on a permanent basis shifting from metro/tier-1 cities to either their hometowns or tourist(y) locations like Goa or the mountains. When I speak to friends who are based out of Goa, they say short/long term rentals stays have been taken up by hoards of folks landing from Mumbai and Delhi (and also a cause of the increased numbers in Goa).

On a personal front, we have been on the fence for over a year and now are looking at moving closer to my wife's hometown (= Mangalore) but for a 6 month period. The plan is to move out of our Mumbai rental home completely and move to a rental setup there and then see how it goes as the year progresses (covid wave 3, vaccination drive impact, etc). Also hopefully this will allow me to continue my escapades for the phase 2 and phase 3 of this travelogue plan

While I have seen a few mentions across different threads on this topic, I don't remember seeing a thread explicitly on this area. Hence this thread.

Bhpians,
If you personally or someone you know has gone down this route over the last year or this year, please do share about your experience and the learnings from it

- Pros/cons of doing this
- What constraints did you face; on the personal front and on the work front (if any)
- Family perspective
- What to look out for if you are considering a temporary shift to the destination location.


@Mods, Didn't see a thread this post could be part of, hence seperate thread.

[ike]

What exactly is the advantage in this? I can understand travelling to hometown(like I have) to be with one's family/parents but why would you want to shift to an all new location like that especially during uncertain times? Things might be difficult if you do not have any support structure, getting medical attention and facilities will be even more challenging if you are in unfamiliar territory.

Think about the time, money and effort involved in shifting everything to Mangalore from Mumbai and then back to Mumbai after six months. If whatever you are after is worth it, go right ahead.

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by ike

Things might be difficult if you do not have any support structure, getting medical attention and facilities will be even more challenging if you are in unfamiliar territory.

Very valid point. Let me share an example of the issue our company is facing. The healthcare provider whom we have a tie-up with was chosen looking at the physical office locations. Now, many people have moved to their hometowns, areas that may not come under the coverage of the health care provider, and in case of emergency, they are not able to get proper support from the company. Moreover, the hospitals in smaller towns do not support cashless insurance and people have been forced to pay from their pocket and then reimburse.

[AMG Power]

I have been practicing this in part as a sort of reprieve from the current situation. A change of location does do a world of good.

I currently rotate between the family home which is in a Tier II city and back home once every 2 - 3 weeks. The Tier II city home is an independent house in the midst of a large compound with lots of trees around. So there is plenty of area to walk, lots of oxygen because of the greenery and it’s generally cooler. Because of the trees, one can keep the bedroom windows open and there’s lots of fresh air and oxygen from the trees and plants.

I have also been discussing interim moves to our ancestral home which is in a Tier III city but is currently kept locked with a caretaker around. This home would be ideal as it’s in the midst of a couple of acres of private compound with many trees around.

So yes, without actually following a trend I have been doing a bit of staying in different locations to sort of break the monotony of being cooped up in a single location.

The added incentive was that the travel between these locations is an opportunity for a good drive so the car gets a workout too.

[am1m]

Been working away from home since June last year. As soon as the first national lockdown was lifted, drove from Bangalore to the west coast. Since then, have moved further along the coast, sometimes staying with family, sometimes renting. (Of course, we moved around only when the restrictions were lifted.)

Positives:

• Best thing I've ever done! I'm working longer hours actually, but more productive and without any stress, unlike in Bangalore. Great beach views just a few hundred meters away.
• Definitely healthier, getting MUCH more exercise and eating healthier/better.
• Apart from rent (because we have our own place back home and here we have to rent), much cheaper than living in Bangalore.
• Seriously contemplating quitting and freelancing once the return to physical office becomes inevitable (though that doesn't look like it'll happen anytime this year). I can't do that mindless commute to and back from work anymore (stuck in traffic jams even at 7:30am or 10:30pm!). Realized that peace of mind is more important. Also decided to definitely sell the house and move out of Bangalore when I retire (I was born and raised in the city and it's been awesome, but I don't think I can go back and grow old in what the city has become!)
• Realized that I don't miss socializing with any of my colleagues, most of my extended family, and even some of my friends back home one bit! Whenever we head back to Bangalore I'm going to spend most of my time with the few people who really matter and minimize wasting time with people who don't.
• Realized how much unnecessary stuff I have back home. Almost a year living with just whatever we could haul in the car and it's been absolutely fine.

Negatives:

• Connectivity, always an issue in smaller towns and villages. Have a backup option in the form of a hotspot and a backup to that.
• Electricity - actually more reliable than Bangalore, but we don't realize it because everyone in Bangalore has a UPS/generator. But still, in the smaller places a UPS is not seen as a necessity, so that will be an issue when renting.
• Weather - just spent 2 days without power during the cyclone this week. Along the coast, remember that the monsoon too is a big factor, if anyone is planning to try moving in the next few months.
• If you have your own place back home, need someone trustworthy to go once in a while, check on the place and get it cleaned, otherwise will be a big mess when you get back. Good to have nice neighbours back home who will keep an eye on the place.

All in all, it's been totally worth it for me personally. It will differ based on what sort of personality type you have, how many family members you need to also take along and what they want, how comfortable you are about being away from home for that long, how much flexibility your company/HR/boss is willing to provide.

But there are several options and I think it's certainly very doable (when restrictions lift of course).

[Ragavsr]

Our family is looking to buy / build a small home in the hills in a village near Kodaikanal that would also end up serving as a retirement home for my parents.

Why Kodaikanal ? Because most of my dad's 6 siblings are based in Madurai which is a couple of hours away and they also own houses which they rent out as home stays. Dad chose this particular village 20 kms away because he wanted to be away from the tourist crowd and also traffic noise . Plus, the village also has an ancient temple and land prices are a fraction of what it is in town, with level land in the village a big attraction as well.

If it were upto me , I would prefer to rent , for whatever duration one wants to stay in the hills . The pain of maintaining a vacation home simply isn't worth the time and effort involved. The only positive is my dad is looking to spend 3-4 months in a year there once he retires.

[armaan_singh]

From my experience, this plan is far easier to execute when one is single as opposed to traveling with family.
Prior to this pandemic and much before the word "lockdown" was known to anybody, around 4 years ago my company's office in Hyderabad was undergoing renovations and everyone was asked to work from home for around 3 months. I saw this opportunity as the perfect time to getaway from town and I headed to Mussourie up north. My plan was to stay there for around 3 months in a rented accommodation and while it seemed quite rosy in the first few days, I eventually came back after about 15 days.

The thing is there is no doubt some of these places are extremely picturesque and serene but life is very different when one leaves the confines of a hotel and picks up a place on their own. I had a really hard time managing daily things like having the place cleaned, water problems, parking problems etc. I'm not saying it's not doable but it certainly requires a lot of meticulous planning, something which I didn't factor in given the fact that I would technically still need to be working from home.
This time around the thought never came into my mind given I would need to take Wife, Mom and dog along, it would turn out to be a logistical nightmare.

I would say first go for 10 days or so and stay in a hotel/AirBnB and mark out in detail where you would stay, check nearby grocery stores, cleaning facilities, parking and everything that one would consider before shifting houses.


The above experience was based on a typical medium budget, if you can afford to rent an apartment in a nice part of town or a loaded villa, then half the problems I faced might be inconsequential.

Take Care,
Armaan

[am1m]

Originally Posted by armaan_singh

From my experience, this plan is far easier to execute when one is single as opposed to traveling with family.

Generally yes, at least I would say all members of the family need to be on the same page as far as expectations go. It won't work if someone wants the serenity of a remote location while their kids hate the place because it's too dull. So definitely, get a complete buy-in from everyone who is going to be doing this before taking any decisions. But if everyone is on board, then it works great. I know of a couple nearby with two teenage kids and 2 dogs who have been here for some time. And another couple with a small child who arrived a couple of months ago. Traveling with pets is certainly a lot more complex. Personally, I wouldn't try it. But I'm sure there must be people who have tried it and hope they will contribute to this thread.

Originally Posted by armaan_singh

I would say first go for 10 days or so and stay in a hotel/AirBnB and mark out in detail where you would stay, check nearby grocery stores, cleaning facilities, parking and everything that one would consider before shifting houses.

Absolutely! This is the single most crucial thing to do. You can check as many places online, talk to the owners for as long as you want over the phone. But nothing beats going there checking out the place for real. If possible, stay there on a trial basis for a week and see if it works before making a long-term commitment. Plus, I've seen that the places you can book online are generally the most expensive options. Several cheaper, yet perfectly good options don't even get listed online. You can always get better rates for long-term stays.


Finally, the fact is that it's not going to work for a lot of people. The mindset, flexibility that the job offers, family situation all make a big difference. I don't think the purpose of this thread is to try and convince anyone that they need to try this if they don't want to. But hopefully, it will over time, become a repository of useful information, specific for different places. Compiled by those who have actually tried it out, for those who actually want to give it shot but just have questions. And that will be useful even post-covid.

[girishkamath]

Here is my experience -

We are a family of 3. Two of us working in IT in Bangalore and son in Grade-8. Last year, we were tired of being litterally confined to our apartment. Our home town is Managalore/Udupi but we were skeptical of going there as we felt our work can be better performed in our Bangalore apartment because of better infrastructure.

Last November there was a long weekend, and we thought we will drive home, and stay there for a week. We took our laptops but were mentally prepared to lose some productivity due to connectivity and power issues. Before going I got a local internal broadband installed there.
It is a small house with a garden and trees around it. There are 2 bedrooms and one each was occupied by my wife and son. I was left to sit outside in the verandah. I thought I would adjust for 2-3 working days and then we drive back.

Well to my surprise -
The broadband connection of 40Mbps was highly consistent and available!
The power was holding lot more than I thought. The house has a small UPS so wifi router was holding up during small power trips.

It was so much more soothing to sit outside and work, and even take calls.
I did not have to put an artificial background on my Teams/Zoom meetings, the background was natural plants and coconut trees.
Because I was sitting outside, I ordered a small USB powered fan from amazon and I was good.

Our one week ended up becoming 2.5 months!

As someone said, we dont need all the stuff we have in our houses in Bangalore. We all had one suitecase each and we did not miss anything during the 2.5 months.

So, my suggestion is -
If you have a house in your hometown, put a small UPS, may be a broadband and JUST GO. Do not analyse much. Everything will fall in place.

[yd_gli]

Originally Posted by am1m

Been working away from home since June last year.

Man, that is so awesome! I can totally relate to the positives. The WFH situation has definitely made me much more fitter and I eat better as well. I've tuned out of the whole 9 to 5 misery with commute long back. I can't imagine living in Pune for the long term even though I was born and raised here. In our case, it's just my wife and me along with our pup. I have considered moving to a location in the hills for a while now. We did drive down and spend about 10 days on the Malabar coast last October and another 10 days in Coorg during December. The change of scene did wonders and I would it for a longer duration in a heartbeat but for a few issues:

- My parents live in Pune as well and with the current situation it is difficult leaving them alone. The ridiculous lockdown rules for grocery etc make things very difficult for senior citizens living alone.
- I did notice last time around too that the locals in villages and small towns are not too fond of outsiders. A MH registered car in KA is sure to raise eyebrows. Even in December, when cases were flaring up I was advised to leave my car at the homestay and use a Madikeri registered car to go around. I have heard of similar and worse experiences in MH as well even for MH registered cars.
- Unnecessary harassment at state/district/town borders under the pretext of Covid checking.
- Medical care is limited in rural and small town locations. The current Covid strain tends to turn serious within a very short time and one cannot expect to drive back to the big cities in case of an emergency.

Given the risks, I would deem it prudent to stay in your house and ride this one out.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by yd_gli

- I did notice last time around too that the locals in villages and small towns are not too fond of outsiders. A MH registered car in KA is sure to raise eyebrows.

Great point and you are correct, that is a concern during these times.

There will always people who will play the outsider vs. insider card, however illogical it may be - a. When times are good, these 'insiders' happily rent out their homes to 'outsiders'. b. Several of these 'insiders' didn't complain when they were 'outsiders' working in other states and don't seem to realize the double-standards!

2 examples:

* A friend of mine worked for 4 years in Bangalore. After the first lockdown was lifted, she went back to her home state to live with her parents and has suddenly become very concerned and vocal about the number of 'outsiders' in her home state from...Karnataka! The fact that she spent 4 years in Bangalore and herself travelled post lockdown, potentially "carrying the virus" to her home state was apparently somehow different. I guess one strain of the virus checks domicile details and decides to spread or not based on that.

*A popular local newspaper in a district in Karnataka where we stayed for a couple of months last year used to carry headlines about 'outsiders' coming and indulging in "covid-spreading behaviour". Same newspaper published photos of an event organized by the local administration where dozens of people gathered happily to drink some "immunity-boosting" herbal concoction, all without masks or social distancing. The tone was congratulatory and appreciated the event so again, I guess it must be a new strain of the virus that checks address proof before starting to spread.



Anyway, the practical issue is that it is a factor that you need to consider for sure when thinking about something like this. We've been driving a KA registered car in another state for months now. Since we've been here for some time, and always made it a point to speak and develop relationships with the local people right from the start (actually, my wife is the one who has done that, I'm not a very social guy), people know us and don't hassle us. For months we were the only two who wore masks everywhere, when almost everyone around us both tourists and locals didn't bother. Perhaps that was noticed and that helped. Actually, the locals complain about 'too many outsiders' to us, ironic! But yeah when you move to a new place, that could be a concern. Exercise some restraint, minimize the number of trips. Try to rent a bike with a local registration, or maybe a cycle, walk as far as that's possible. Anyway during a lockdown, when such xenophobia tends to become more extreme, you can't move around much or over long distances, so a cycle is a good bet.

[papr23]

We have a holiday home on the banks of Krishna river somewhere near Vijayawada. We visit few times an year, usually over the weekend. Our closest neighbor is at least 200mt away. In August when we realized that going to office is at least few months away we considered moving to this place. However, availability of broadband is a big issue. It took us nearly a month to get the connection sorted and we finally moved in September with a plan to stay for 2 months. Its been 8 months now and we have no plans of going back to our apartment in Hyderabad!

It is not all rosy though. The broadband connection costed us 7k just for the installation as fiber-optic cable had to be laid exclusively for us! Though our initial plan was for just 2 months, we still went ahead as we knew we don't get to stay here for long, at least before our retirement age. This brought new challenges. Monkeys started hanging on this cable and had to be re-routed. Dogs chewed the cable couple of times on the terrace and the service from ISP is slow. Mobile data is not very reliable to have uninterrupted meetings. Though power supply is awesome in Andhra and Telangana, whenever there is a cut in power cables due to fallen tree branches after a rain, it takes nearly 10-15hrs to get serviced.

My 3.5 years old kid had to adjust to new set of friends here. Her friends families are all from farming background. Her vocab & mannerisms are not so polished any more. On the plus side she doesn't mind playing in the sun or getting soaked in her sweat or getting her hands dirty in the mud. She can even ID 10-15 birds!

What we miss the most here is the food. We eat out quite often in Hyderabad and the food scene is not the same here. We first had a red velvet cake with sour cream and each of us, including the kid, took just one spoon and had to leave it. Mousse cake is rock hard. And don't even get me started on the biryani. I had biryani in Lucknow, Kolkata, Delhi, Bhopal, Kochi, Hyderabad etc. I know a thing or two about biryani and you get the worst biryani in Krishna and Guntur districts. We are considering building a cob oven to make some pizzas. We have all the materials ready. Just waiting for Cyclone Yaas to pass.

The other issue is lack of proper parking space for my car. I park it under a tree and put a cover always. Birds, dogs and rats just love my car.

There is no maid here and it's a lot of work when cousins used to visit us.

If you are considering moving to a tier-II place or away from the crowd for longer periods of time, you should go- NOW! I don't think WFH will continue beyond 2021 for majority of IT folks once you and the office staff are vaccinated. Moving to a calmer place may not improve your productivity drastically. The week days are still the same for me and my wife. However, our weekends are a lot better now!

[yd_gli]

Originally Posted by am1m

I guess it must be a new strain of the virus that checks address proof before starting to spread.

True! The idiocy and hypocrisy that is prevalent nowadays is astounding. Unfortunately, this magnifies the avenues for harassment at every step of the travel experience.

My mother in-law is stuck alone in GJ for the last two months at her house. I wouldn't dare attempt to cross the state border with all the 20hour wait to cross horror stories I have heard over the last few weeks.

[anand.shankar82]

I will share a very recent experience of mine trying out this Workcation idea and how badly it backfired for me

Pune was in the grips of its second wave and almost everyone in my apartment building was falling ill with Covid

My family comprises of wife, 2 daughters and senior-citizen dad (who has many co-morbidities and had only 1 dose of the vaccine when I took the decision)

We decided to move into an apartment booked via AirBnB in North Goa, Parra area (between Mapusa and Calangute)

The rent was high but we still felt it will be safer than Pune since GA at the time was reporting 200 cases a day while Pune was well above 5000 cases a day

Anyway, we moved on 5-Apr to GA and settled into our new "residence" with the idea of being there for 2-3 months at least

The first few weeks went well, fresh air, exercise, good home-cooked food and then things went to the pot literally

Wife one day suddenly had a fever and sore throat. We knew it could be Covid most likely. Immediately me and wife went for testing. It was a Sunday in Goa

I spent almost an hour searching around for a doctor who may be able to take a look at her and suggest next action. The only doctor I found had a response "What you want me to do? Anyone with fever, sore throat etc. we do not examine. If you want you can get RT-PCR test done and wait for results that's all I can suggest you"

I agreed, we got tested, were told results will take 6-7 days since there was a huge rush. In the meantime started on the initial meds suggested by ICMR (Doxy, Ivermectin etc)

Waiting for results, the next day my younger daughter developed a fever. Now, things were getting out of hand. On Tuesday took her for a rapid-antigen test at Vision Hospital Mapusa. The line there was huge and I had to wait almost 3 hours to get her tested

Finally, all 3 positive and royally stuck in GA. Wherever I checked, no one would help. No meds would be delivered at home, no milk delivery, no veg delivery nothing. On top of it, people had suddenly changed from being friendly relaxed Goans to people who just hated anyone who was not from Goa

Finally, I decided to send off my dad and elder daughter (while they were still OK) to stay at a hotel instead of being with us. We were completely cut-off with literally no outside help of any sort. Finally elder daughter also fell ill and tested positive and came back to stay with us

We endured all this (sickness, lack of any meds delivery, lack of food delivery etc) for 3 weeks till we all finally recovered. All this while dad was staying all alone in a hotel room in Mapusa with his own problems of no food etc.

Once we had recovered, we got a RAT done immediately, applied an e-pass and though it was rejected I still drove off with family to the border. Every time I was stopped (was stopped almost 12-15 times on the way) I would show all our RATs, dads vaccine (he was fully-vaccinated by then) certificate, bribe the cops and keep moving on

Finally when I descended the Katraj ghat back into Pune, I literally stopped at the Katraj signal and knelt down to feel the Pune earth again. Thank the Heavens I was home

After reaching home and over the past 3 weeks or so, things have been running super-smooth. All vegs home-delivered, all meds delivered, milk at doorstep, super-speed WiFi, friendly neighbors willing to help always etc.

All-in-all, my summary is that never fall for those fancy Workcation pictures and experiences and move away from your home. I learned that my home is my fort where I am safest always and have all the knowledge to handle any situation

My last experience with Workcations surely, and based on my experience with Goa this might even have been my very last trip there