Workation in Georgia – how to organize it, what to plan and what to prepare. That’s what we’ll cover in this episode of the Caucasus Podcast. I will talk from my own experience and will answer the questions I got from our Caucasian Mail newsletter subscribers. So if you consider going to Georgia for workation or to work and travel this episode is for you.
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What is workation?
Let’s start with short explanation what workation is. It consists of two words – work and vacation. So you rest and travel a bit and work as well. This is the theory. And the practice may look really different depending on how you prepare for it.
My experience with workation in Georgia and in other countries is that I tried to do it all – have one week of holidays and one week of work and all of this in… yes, one week. I ended up being even more tired than I normally am after a working week and a bit frustrated as well.
Before we dive into it just one remark – we get many questions from you, our subscribers of the Caucasian Mail, our newsletter. Some of them were related more to the workation in Georgia, so shorter vacation like stays in Georgia and these we’ll cover here. Some were more about coming to Georgia for longer, e.g. several month or a year to work remotely form Georgia. This topic is a bit different and we’ll cover it in a separate episode of the Caucasus podcast. Nevertheless, there are common parts of both stays so if you are so called “digital nomad” you’ll find many useful tips today as well.
How to organize workation in Georgia?
My suggestion would be to start with setting up the realistic expectations and a realistic plan. It means that you need to decide when you work and when you have holidays. Additionally, take into consideration, that after intensive sightseeing you may not be able to work as efficiently as you would normally.
Especially, if that’s your first time in Georgia. Take into consideration that all the transportation activities may be more time-consuming than you expect or as internet maps say. So if you plan to travel from one place to another and then make it for a scheduled video call, you may need to plan some buffers.
Do you need any additional visas or permits for workation in Georgia?
We got this question a lot so decided to cover it a bit here as well. As far as any official documents are concerned when entering Georgia the best would be to check with your ministry of foreign affair or other official source on what is in this moment expected from you to have. It varies from country to country and it may change in time as well so official websites are always the best sources of information.
When we talk about workation in Georgia you are not employed here you are on holiday and work from remote destination so look at these options.
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What to take care before starting workation in Georgia?
We have prepared a list of things you need to consider, plan or take care before starting your workation in Georgia. This way you will avoid many unpleasant surprises and will be able to use the time as efficiently as possible, which in case of ‘work’ part means you’ll work less and have more time for vacation in Georgia.
Where to work when on workation in Georgia?
There are several options where to actually work during your stay in Georgia. I will mainly focus on options in the big cities, e.g. working from Tbilisi, Kutaisi or Batumi but will add some options for other destinations during your stay in Georgia.
There are four main options where you can work depending on the type of work you have. In Tbilisi, Kutaisi and Batumi there are some coworking places where you can rent a desk or a conference room for a day or longer. I used this option in Kutaisi and Tbilisi and had mixed fillings. One of the places was quite close from the place I stayed so it was fast to get there and I didn’t waste any time for commuting. The other one looked nice but it took me 30 minutes to get there, so I see it as a waste of time and next day I decided not to use that place anymore.
Also, coworking is a good opportunity to meet other foreigners – because here there are not so many Georgians using coworkings – and not to live and work in the same place. Normally it’s not that expensive, however this is an additional cost of your trip. There are also different style coworkings – more office like or more hipster – digital nomad style. I usually prefer the first ones but it’s good to choose whatever suits your needs.
The other option is to find a hotel with good desk/working space facilities. That’s what I choose in Tbilisi once for example and I was working from hotel room. With desk, air-conditioning and good internet connection I could hold classes, business calls and work as I normally do from home. And then leave room to have a walk, food or when I finish work I could have the vacation in Georgia part of my workation in Georgia.
Other option is to rent the whole apartment in Georgia which may work especially if your workation in Georgia is longer than a week or two. If you travel with others make sure you pick the apartment with a separate room or space for work and the one with table or other working place you can sit comfortably. That may sound silly to you now but talking from my own experience you may forget about it when choosing the apartments to rent in Georgia. The apartments you may look for e.g. home.ss.ge or booking.com or myhome.ge
If you know a bit of Georgian it’s better to try renting in Georgian because not only you’ll have more offers but also some of them may be cheaper. There is a quick tutorial on our blog with the most commonly used phrases in Georgian when renting an apartment so you may use it as a starting point.
The last but not least option, is to work from a café and I will come back to his option a bit later.
Which internet to choose when being in Georgia for workation?
The internet question is one of the most common ones and also the most important when being on workation in Georgia. If you decide to go to Georgia and work from there, even for a week or two you probably use interne heavily in your work. And with Internet and computer comes electricity you need to work.
My suggestion would be to buy a sim card with unlimited internet so you can use it in case the internet connection in your hotel, apartment or coworking is not working properly, e.g. is to slow or it broke. I always use Magti and I have the best experience as far as internet availability is concerned, even outside urban areas, but you can test it on your own which works for you best.
Mobile internet will be also useful in two situations. Firstly, you book an apartment, a flat or a room with the internet WiFi and it is available but … too slow for you to have a video call. This happened to me countless times so I am always prepared for it.
The second situation is that the WiFi works, the bandwidth is ok but … the is an electricity shortage and WiFi stops working. This may happen quite often so you have to be prepared for it as well. Then if your mobile is charged you still can work for some time without any big problems.
With the power shortages in Georgia comes also the need to have some power banks just in case and charge your phone, computer and other devices you need before starting your work slot. I’m not sure how it looks like in your country – I can compare it mainly to European countries and Korea, where I was on workations as well and in Georgia the internet, power and even water shortages happen much more often.
Today in the Caucasus Podcast we talk about tips and tricks how to organize the best workation in Georgia. If you want to prepare even more or you plan a longer stay you may want to learn the Georgian alphabet in less than 4 hours with our study book “Let’s learn the Georgian alphabet”. Then you will be able to read the invoices, receipts if you can add it to your travel expenses and will not be dependent only on someone nice enough to read and translate everything for you.
The alphabet study book you can combine with the English Georgian phrasebook At a Georgian market which consists of e-book and online course with not only lists of phrases but real-life examples, model dialogues and… several exercises so you can actually learn how to do shopping at the market in Georgian which will make your stay in Georgia even more authentic Georgian experience.
How to prepare for workation in Georgia in winter and in summer?
Depending on the time of year you plan to go on workation in Georgia you may prepare differently. I would start with checking the standard temperatures in internet in the month you prefer to go and compare it with what you are used to. When workation in Georgia is panned for summer, I would check if there is an air conditioning as summer in Georgia is very hot and many Georgians take August off if they can, due to the weather.
If you plan to organize a workation in winter I would check if there is heating system in your hotel, apartment or coworking, so you will not be freezing instead of working. Depending on the region of Georgia the winters may be more harsh or mild so there is not one standard of heating systems in the houses. Also if you plan to travel as well in winter you need to add additional buffer time for this and plan for unexpected e.g. the snowed, closed roads for few days if you go to higher mountains, e.g. Bakuriani or Stepantsminda.
Is working from a café in Georgia a good idea during your workation?
I tried it, many tried it and many still do it. Working from a café has some advantages and some disadvantages. Firstly, if you need to work for an hour or two it may be an option to go to a café in Tbilisi or Kutaisi with your laptop and complete your work. Then please remember that this is not a free table to work so order not only the cheapest coffee or tea but also something to eat etc., so the café will not be at loss after your stay.
There are even some cafes in Tbilisi that introduced a policy of limited time you can spend working there. This happened exactly because many people were sitting ordering just cheapest drink and occupying the table for long hours.
If you are to work for longer, have some online meetings or work on confidential data it’s better to go to coworking or book a hotel room with the dedicated space to work. When I have to write something, e.g. new podcast episode or manage my mailbox during workation in Georgia I can go to a café and work from there. However if I have to work on any client data from your purchases in our shop or I have Georgian classes with you etc.
I always choose a calmer space and safer one with lower risk of being hacked or overheard. You may even not know how often I could by accident hear or see confidential data of someone else’s work because they were working from the café.
How to plan holidays in Georgia when being on workation?
The last part I want to cover is to organize the relax, holiday part of your stay in Georgia. It all starts with realistic planning how much time you have to devote for work. One of the options that worked great for me was to have some days I worked 8-9 hours and then I could take the whole day off and go for a one-day trip. You can then visit a bit remote places or see more in one day.
The other option was to plan working in shifts, e.g. some days I worked from the early morning as Georgian start their days after 8 normally and many places are closed early in the morning. Then after 3-4 hours I could have the rest of the day for holidays, for sightseeing etc. Some days I would cumulate all my meetings for the afternoon and have whole morning for myself and my holidays, e.g. to go by mini bus to some nearby town like from Batumi to Gonio or from Kutaisi to Tskhaltubo. Other option is to join half-day workshops, e.g. Georgian cooking class or Georgian dance classes if you prefer more indoors activities.
These are the main topics we wanted to cover when thinking about workation in Georgia. I hope now you can prepare better for such an endeavor and use the time spend in Georgia to your fullest.
If this episode was useful, you may let us know by ranking the podcast in the podcasting application you use and sharing it with your friend, who also think about workation or works remotely so they will be better prepared for such a trip.
If before your trip to Georgia you want to learn the basics of Georgian or the Georgian alphabet check out our study-books, online courses and English-Georgia phrasebooks with which you will actually learn how to speak Georgian.
The Caucasus Podcast is brough to you by publishing house and school Języki Kaukazu – Languages of the Caucasus. My name is Asia Dziuba, and I’m the Caucasus specialist, Georgian language teacher, business trainer and owner of Jezyki Kaukazu. Thank you for being with us in this episode about workation in Georgia and I hope to meet with you in the next episode of the Caucasus Podcast.