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I just spent a four day weekend down the coast at Byron Bay, a well known backpacker holiday location about two hours drive south from my hometown of Brisbane. Byron Bay was once a very hippie-centric town and it still carries some of the vibe from days gone by, but today you are more likely to meet up with an international traveler sporting a European or North American accent fresh from learning how to surf or a skydiving jump.

I hadn’t been to Byron since I was kid, so I was eager to remember the place and more importantly, test out a remote-working lifestyle and answer the question - can I actually have a holiday, write blog articles and run a membership site all at the same time?

I’ll be honest with you, as much as people proclaim how great the Internet business lifestyle is, taking your work with you anywhere in the world and of course, sitting on the beach with your laptop, it’s not always as easy as the image portrays.

In previous years I’ve had many a mad dash to an Internet cafe to answer customer support emails for BetterEdit while supposedly on holidays and spent nights at my hotel blogging or responding to emails, with people around me complaining about my inability to properly take time off.

My “holidays” involve my work because I enjoy what I do - I don’t require a “break” from it - I want to do it, however it’s not quite perfect yet. I still get a sense of stress when I travel and feel a need to check the Internet just to make sure everything is okay.

I don’t quite have all the systems in place to cover everything I do, however things are different now because I don’t have as many time pressure deadlines as I did in the past when I was the only person in charge of everything. Now I can let things run without me, but I still have to play catchup when I get back, which is something I want to change so I can actually leave the computer for a few days - even a week - without coming back to a day’s worth of email and helpdesk queries.

Byron Is Seriously Wired

Byron Bay is a fantastically well wired little town, in fact there is better wi-fi access in Byron than there is in Brisbane, but that’s not surprising since Brisbane is absolutely terrible for wi-fi Internet access. All of the cafes and restaurants I went to in Byron had free wi-fi access plus we had it in the apartment we rented too, although it wasn’t free.

If all you wanted to do was head to the beach, spend some time writing articles to your blog and enjoy great food, Byron is a fantastic choice. The great thing about just blogging is that it really is just an hour or two a day activity. If your income is driven solely on publishing a one thousand word article every day or two, then you could certainly make a holiday work easily and get work done too.

Some of you might think I’m strange, but here’s a photo of what I enjoy doing on my holidays (and that’s green tea I’m drinking by the way)…

What To Do When News Breaks While On Holiday

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