Author, entrepreneur and media personality Zareef Minty has mastered the art of taking a workation.
The avid traveller, who has travelled to Dubai, France and New York, to name a few, said workations allowed him to be innovative and creative.
“A workation is the perfect balance between running your business and your daily schedule while still having fun. As someone who loves networking, these kinds of trips allow me to interact with different people. You never know if your biggest client is lounging by the pool deck at your hotel or is on the same hike as you are.
“From a mental health perspective, it allows you to find peace and reduce your level of stress,” he explained.
Workations helped him to refocus and find motivation from his surroundings.
“Whenever I feel overwhelmed, or I need to think of something innovative to improve one of my businesses, I book a trip to a location that inspires me. It’s always very last minute, but when I come back from the trip, I feel like I can take over the world,” he said.
Minty avoids trips that require long travel times.
“I try my best to reduce the travelling time for workcations unless I want to leave the country for a while. Most of the time, I visit nearby locations like Sun City, Durban, Cape Town and Gqeberha,” he said.
He also cited Dubai, Mauritius or any 5-star hotel in the country among his favourite workation getaways.
Minty revealed the key factors for a successful workation. He said travellers should limit phone usage.
“A phone distracts you from being innovative. For example, I have a few phones and very few people have my private number. I tend to only take my personal phone and a second phone with me on a workcation.
“I also notify my clients. While you can’t possibly tell everyone that you are on a workcation, let the people you interact with daily know about the trip.
“As much as a remote and quiet destination is great, it can get frustrating if there is no phone reception and weak phone wi-fi connection. Before you book your workation you would want to confirm that you would be able to work and have access to the internet,” advised Minty.
Read more about the workation trend in this month’s IOL Travel digital magazine here.