Howdy co-remote workers of the Triangle!

I hope summer is finding you well and you're managing to take some good vacations, as well as using your location-independence to maximize your travel time with "workations."

That concept often gets a bad rap – as if vacationing should be sacrosanct and not to be spoiled by any whiff of work. But the longer I remote work, the more I'm coming to appreciate workations...not just for the practical utility of increasing the length and frequency of travel beyond the few weeks of PTO I get each year, but as an experience in and of themselves. I'm finding that they can sometimes actually make my trips more enjoyable and, counterintuitively, less stressful.

Studies have found that while "vacation anticipation" (aka, getting excited for an upcoming trip) tends to make people happier, the vacation itself sometimes turns out much more stressful than you expect and doesn't leave you any happier than your non-vacationing colleagues when you return. This resonated with me. When I take a standard weeklong vacation somewhere interesting, I often get stressed trying to pack in as much as I can – hustling from one attraction to the next to fill my days, not wanting to waste my precious PTO, and getting bogged down in the logistics without really taking time to sit back, actually connect with people, and take it all in.

Conversely, I'm finding that when I decide to plop down somewhere on the road and work some, play some, it forces me to slow down. I can hang out somewhere like a café, hostel or co-working venue during the day to work, meet people, and learn about what's really worth doing in the area. The quantity of attractions I hit decreases, but the quality of the overall trip goes up. Furthermore, being in a novel new location seems to improve my work by getting my creative juices flowing more than they would be if I was confined to my home surroundings – an anecdotal realization that also appears to be backed by science.

Workations are also becoming more enjoyable because, as the remote work revolution gains steam, I'm meeting more people on the road in the same boat. For instance, at hostels – long associated with gap-year 18-year-olds and backpacking hippies – I seem to be running into more 20, 30 and 40-something professionals booking the private rooms and hanging out in common areas to work during the day and have fun in the evening. Hotels are similarly increasingly catering to workationers with their amenities, and AirBNB says more than half the nights booked on its platform are now for stays of seven days or longer, and one in five are for 20 days or longer...prompting the company to add features catering to roaming remote workers. Perhaps most interestingly, groups like Remote Year, Wifi Tribe, Work Wanderers and Hackers Paradise are growing – groups that host extended co-working retreats in enticing locations around the world that enable you to work alongside one or two dozen fellow remote workers for two to four weeks or more, giving you time to develop meaningful friendships while on a working mini-sojourn.

Fortunately for you, the Triangle is the perfect launchpad for taking such workations. Within a 4-hour driving circumference, you can enjoy dozens of beautiful beach towns, gorgeous forested mountains, wine country, charming small towns and a lot more. So don't spend this summer cooped up at home remote working in isolation. Hit the road and see what's out there!

What we're up to

The last few months have been exciting for our humble remote working group. We recently changed our logo and name from Durham Remote to NC Triangle Remote Workers to reflect the fact that we're operating well beyond Durham now, with events and members all over the Triangle. We also now have half a dozen organizers hosting these events, so shout out to Melody, Logan, Max, Carlos and Aria for helping to extend our reach!

Furthermore, we're now 500-strong in our Meetup group and have more than 100 in our Slack community, so if you haven't joined one or the other, please click those links!

As you also might have noticed, I'm planning to start making this newsletter a bit meatier. Of course, I still want to highlight our own events, but since we have to stick mostly to larger venues with lots of reliable seating for 'official' meetups, I also want to start highlighting other venues that may not be great for big groups, but are wonderful for getting out of the house to remote work on your own (or with smaller groups you can organize in the aforementioned Slack community!). And, like in the the opening section of this newsletter, I'm planning to start including more about the remote work lifestyle in general...in the Triangle and beyond.

What do you think? Do you like this new format, or not so much? And what else would you like to see...in this newsletter and in the group in general? Let us know at durhamremote1@gmail.com.

Our upcoming events

Reminder that these are only the events already planned, and they are subject to change. We often post new events less than a week ahead of time, so be sure to follow us on Meetup to stay up on them as they're posted.

• Thursday, July 21 (9:30am-5:30pm) - Co-working at Frontier RTP + lunch at Boxyard + free booze (See Meetup listing)
• Friday, July 29 (3pm-7pm) - Co-working and fine wine at West End Wine Bar in Durham (See Meetup listing)
• Wednesday, August 3 (2pm-5pm) - Co-working at Moge Tee in Raleigh (Listing coming soon)
• Tuesday, August 9 (12pm-7pm) - Co-working at Durham Bottling Company + drinks at Ponysaurus (Listing coming soon)
• Wednesday, August 17 (1:30pm-5:30pm) - Co-working at Brecotea in Cary (Listing coming soon)
• Thursday, August 25 (9:30am-5:30pm) - Co-working at Frontier RTP + lunch at Boxyard + free Booze (Listing coming soon)

Other events of interest

Not affiliated with us in any way, but you might be interested in:

• Friday, July 22 (9am-5pm) - Free co-working + community day at Raleigh Founded (Event listing)
• Monday, July 25 (8am-5pm) - Free co-working day at Blush Cowork in Cary (Event listing)
• Wednesday, August 10 (8:30am-5pm) - Free co-working day at Spaces Magnum Street in Durham (Event listing)

Venue spotlight: Cloche Coffee

This tiny coffee shop in Durham is a wonderful getaway for an afternoon of remote working. Indoors, you'll be surrounded by floor-to-ceiling plants (which you can pluck off the wall and purchase if you're so inclined). And outdoors, you can sit on a cool patio that's just across the street from Duke's beautiful East Campus. It can get crowded sometimes, especially when school is in session and Duke students are shuffling in and out, but if you can find a seat, that only adds to the vibe. But the thing that keeps bringing me back is its tea menu, which is one of the best you'll find in the area.

Outside the Triangle: Fayetteville

To check out one of the most interesting tea selections in the STATE, you might consider a short workation to Fayetteville and an afternoon session at Winterbloom tea house.

A little more than an hour drive outside the Triangle, Fayetteville is a small city of about 200,000 with lots of history, natural scenery and dining options. Check out the Airborne and Special Operations Museum, stroll through the Cape Fear Botanical Garden, have lunch at Fuller's Old Fashioned BBQ buffet, or go for a walk on the Cape Fear River Trail. When it's time to get some work done, hang out in the cool downtown area on Hay Street where you can work at Winterbloom or Rude Awakening coffee house, then grab an after-work drink at Gaston Brewing Company or Huske Hardware House. And if you want to stay the night, consider the historic MacPherson House bed & breakfast. All in all, Fayetteville is a very pleasant experience, an easy drive and a great choice for a cheap workation from the Triangle.

July remote work reads

Featured: ‘Workcations’ Aren’t an Escape. They’re Practice - The Atlantic

• ​Remote work may be an unlikely ally in Federal Reserve’s inflation fight - CNBC
• ​Lean Out: Employees Are Accepting Lower Pay In Order To Work Remotely - NPR
• ​Is That Remote Job Opening Really Remote? Check the Fine Print - Wall Street Journal
• ​How a Recession Could Weaken the Work-From-Home Revolution - The Atlantic
• ​COVID-19 Pandemic Continues To Reshape Work in America - Pew Research Center
• ​As office-centric downtowns struggle, suburbs cater to the laptop crowd - Washington Post
• ​Millennials drive remote work push - Axios
• ​‘The office as we know it is over,’ Airbnb CEO says - Washington Post
• ​Airbnb is betting that the future of travel is work - Quartz
• ​Some Minority Workers, Tired of Workplace Slights, Say They Prefer Staying Remote - Wall Street Journal
• ​Is the ‘workation’ here to stay, even post-pandemic? - South China Morning Post
• ​Remote work drove home price surge - Axios
• ​Move over digital nomads, the anywhere worker has arrived - Lonely Planet
• ​For Weary Workers, Video Backdrops Are Becoming Too Close and Personal - New York Times
• ​Rising gas prices are making remote work even more attractive - CBS

Thanks for making it to the end. If you enjoyed this newsletter, send this link to a friend so they can sign up too. Happy working!

-Eric

Note: We have no relationship – financial or otherwise – with any of the establishments mentioned in this newsletter. All recommendations are our genuine, unpaid opinions!