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Have you ever dreamed of leading a true modern age Nomad lifestyle? Do you like the thought of exploring the world leisurely without ever neglecting your work? In this day and age, there are growing legions of telecommuters who do just that. Thanks to the proliferation of on-line business models, millions of workers get to bring home the bacon while making a home for themselves anywhere in the world, provided there’s Internet access.

Are you  already part of the growing legions of Nomad workers? Or maybe you’re still dreaming of charting a new course in your life? Either way, this article will both inspire and prepare you for what’s ahead.

Lugging the office around: what will you need?

True nomads don’t lend much to obsessive planning. If you’re looking to roam the global village freely, you can just make up your rules as you go. However… for the sake of convenience, and to make sure you don’t have to sacrifice your productivity or get behind on your schedule – it’s best to be prepared.

Let’s examine the fundamentals of a fully functional office that would fit inside a rucksack.

1) Laptop

The main cornerstone of your mobile office is your laptop, of course. Will just any laptop do the trick? While it’s ultimately a matter of personal preference, there will be trade-offs you should be mindful of.

Form factor is a major consideration, here: would you rather use a lightweight netbook that can be carried around effortlessly, or do you make a point of using a fully fledged laptop with a bigger screen, as well as increased potential to strain your back? The choice is yours, and so are the consequences of it; so make sure you think things through and find a computer with a good balance between usability and portability.

Ideally, you should get a laptop that weighs less than 3 pounds; anything heavier, and you’ll regret your choice the first day you have to lug it around ten hours in a row.

2) Spare laptop battery

Your mobile workstation should have a battery with at least 4 hours of autonomy, otherwise you’ll spend valuable time hunting for a power, which you could use to actually get work done. Ideally, you should carry at least a fully charged spare battery, because when you’re out on the road you won’t always have access to electric power. The more working time you can squeeze out of your workstation without need to recharge, the better off you’ll be.

3) Internet Dongle

Are you hoping to find a wireless hot spot anywhere you go, anytime you need it? If that’s the case, you will likely be disappointed. It doesn’t matter how metropolitan the area your visiting happens to be; there will be times when you will desperately need Internet access, and none will be readily available in your surroundings. Your first line of defense against this issue will be your trusty air-card, aka Internet Dongle. Carry one of these around, get a suitable data plan to go with it, and it will make your life so much easier.

4) Smartphone

Carrying around a smart-phone will be extremely handy, when you make a living on-line and live your life on the go. You can use your smart-phone to check your e-mails without need to get the laptop out from the backpack, and even do light research if needed be – which is very convenient when traveling around. Provided you have Internet access in your phone, you can use tethering to connect your computer to the Internet when all other options seem to fail.

5) Maintenance and Repair tools

You decide to spend a few weeks away from it all, in a quiet little countryside cottage…and you love it! The weather is great, the scenarios are amazing, and the peacefulness is outstanding. But then, seemingly out of the blue… your computer crashes. Your operating system stubbornly refuses to boot, and you realize you will need to format the Hard Drive. But then you realize you don’t have the tools, and you’re hundreds of miles away from the closest computer shop. What do you do? Simple: before you leave for your explorations, just make sure you prepare a computer maintenance kit including OS disks, bootable flash drive, and whatever tools you anticipate may be necessary. You will be quite happy you’ve adequately prepared for dealing with computer mishaps, should they happen to arise.

This guest post was brought to you by the UK Holiday Places, whose crew is quite adept to the nomad lifestyle. Come visit us when looking for quality accommodation during your excursions in the UK!

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5 Fundamentals of The Nomad Worker’s Toolkit is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2011. Please link back when using this source material.

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