Diani Workcation

Say Yes To Adventure –

How I hacked Diani

Working from home was becoming unproductive so I decided to venture into Digital Nomadism. Sounds fancy and easy right? Well its not as easy as it sounds. Its a tough but exciting learning curve.
For my first intentional staycation I decided to do it in Diani. I have done locations like Sagana and Naivasha but they weren’t really planned to details.

Here’s how I hacked Diani:

1. Location Scouting

My Diani stay was 5 days 4 nights, from Monday to Friday. One of the budget hacks for any travel is that week day rates are cheaper than weekends. My pockets did thank the gods for remote working situation I have.

As I was searching for a house there are amenities I wouldn’t compromise on. The first thing is internet connection. I had to get a house with Wi-Fi connection. I’d however recommend having a MiFi device for your internet connection.

The second thing was air conditioning and proximity to the beach. The Coastal Region can be unforgivably hot. Since I would be working half of the day indoors, comfortability wasn’t a compromise. Also the beach was the entire reason I chose Diani.

The next thing was workstations. I can easily work from the couch or the bed, however, I get easily distracted. I got lucky to get a location with two workstations in my room and several outside. My personal favorite was the one next to the pool.

2. Timing

Everything about the Diani Trip was time. My work finances my lifestyle so I had to arrange everything around work. I choose the time of the month when we are least busy and scheduled travel time with my meetings.

We missed our train to Mombasa (I don’t regret it) So my 8.00 am meeting had to happen right outside the SGR station. I was so frustrated but work had to be done. We took the bus to Mombasa, the longest 8 hours of my life.

As much as there was no table top, I managed to get some design changes done on our way. It was one of those easy Mondays. On our way back to Nairobi we didn’t miss the train this time. But the bus was much better compared to SGR.

3. Work and Play

This is where the challenge comes in. As much as you are in the most amazing location, you are still at work. You heavily need to balance the two. I find it easy for travel bloggers but for a designer like me… Ngori

I managed to sneak in some fun in between my work schedule. I had wisely chosen a low season for me work-wise so it wasn’t as hard. It however involved a sleepless night sacrifice. The beauty of not having an 8-5 job is that as long as you meet your deadlines, you are not answerable to how you spend the rest of your time.

I tried to finish up as much as I can by Wednesday so I can have Thursday for adventure. I didn’t have meetings that day so it worked perfectly. We went for a boat ride to Wasini Island, saw dolphins, did snorkeling, a village tour and some drinks to wind up the staycation.

From Monday to Wednesday I had to be up by 6.00 am take a short stroll at the beach by 6.30 am I am back in my room. I’d work till around 2.00 pm then the rest of the afternoon I’d be in the pool or at the beach. After dinner, I’d work for like an hour then watch a movie and sleep. That was my perfect work and play balance.