Ever had one of those dreamy “what if” moments?

For example, what if I didn’t have to come to the office every day? A bit unreasonable and rose-tinted spectacles for mere mortals like me!

We all have to earn a crust. But what if we changed that picture slightly so that you still did the same work, but just from a different place?

And Then I Met Dan Pennington From The Foreign Property Shop

Dan is a member of a weekly breakfast club I attend (yes, I’m one of those insomniacs who has a sickeningly lively weekly meeting with fellow business people).

So I was sat there on a dreary Tuesday morning at 8:30, sipping tea and chatting to Dan with the rain and cold blasting the window in the Piazza (next to the Wig Wam cathedral).

And Dan was talking about foreign property investment. As he was chatting about the various developments they were marketing or having built, I started wandering off into my little dream-world.

“What if..” I thought “…I had my own little retreat abroad.”

Perhaps during half-term, I could have the odd holiday and really get to know a new and fascinating culture and region more intimately?

“But no” I scolded myself. That’s silly. The odd holiday? Why bother buying? I might as well get a timeshare.

I’d never really considered a foreign property as an investment, so a holiday home I thought of as an outrageous extravangance.

But then it struck me. If it only costs a few quid on Easyjet, it may just be worth it? And then the penny really dropped.

Hang on a minute, I work for an IT company. If one of my colleagues can work easily from Sydney Australia, why can’t I spend the odd “working” week or two away?

Is The Question “Why Choose Flexible Working From Abroad”, Or Is It Why Not?

The answer I really want to arrive at is why not?.

If you’re not an IT nerd like me, then you may want to know what sort of stuff you need in your suitcase to make flexible working abroad possible.

Or let’s cut to the chase and call this list the stuff that you will have permanently there in your holiday home!

Well one of my first questions to Dan was about broadband. For any flexible worker, this is a must-have at the top of your list.

I asked him to tell me about two places I’d never been - Bulgaria and the Ukraine.

Apparently, if I’d asked the same question as little as a year or 18 months ago, the answer would have been “maybe” to broadband availability.

But nowadays, broadband is rampant right across Europe. And in fact, new builds and developments have wireless Internet access built-in by design.

Great! A big tick in the box.

Now, one of the biggest questions is the dreaded telephone.

Regular calls to and from your office back in the UK are going to bite into your budget. Mobile or land-line the costs soon add up and would make a huge dent if you make or receive as many calls as I do during a typical office day.

And remember, the dream is to be able to work from abroad without hindrance or excessive cost!

But if you have the Internet, you can make calls on that - for free.

Most people have heard of Skype, but maybe not everyone knows quite what it is. For those who know, bear with me for just a brief sentence.

Skype is a service which lets people call each other for free over the Internet. You can even make and receive calls from normal land-lines or mobile numbers. And you often pay less for those calls than you would normally.

But, and this is a big but, it’s not as friendly for business use. In my little dream world, I want people to be able to call the normal office number in the UK and be put through to my extension.

And that’s where Internet calling can really help. Instead of using a service like Skype, you can actually get telephone systems which allow you to transfer calls to an extension, as though it was internal, over the Internet.

What you get in the real world is a telephone hand-set that you can plug into a broadband modem or router. And hey presto! The telephone system back in your office shows that your extension is live and ready to take or make calls - and it doesn’t matter where you are in the world.

BIG TIP THOUGH - choose a holiday destination close by so you are in a relatively similar time-zone!

Let me run that by you the way I see it as being really useful.

You’re sat in your lovely new apartment in the Water World complex in Bulgaria (see below).

You dine on the best fare your local eaterie can proffer before returning to your apartment to start the working day.

You switch on your PC and hand-set.

You log onto your office network and check your email. A client has called and left a message. You pick up your hand-set and call them.

What is actually happening, it that you are making a call through the telephone system back in your office and on your office phone bill.

In your swanky new apartment, all you are paying is a fixed broadband cost.

So your list of things you need in your new apartment and back at your office are:

- A VOIP (voice over IP) module added to your telephone system or a new system with VOIP built-in

- A PC or laptop

- A broadband connection

- A file server in your office running Small Business Server 2003

And that’s pretty much it!

Back To The Dream - Indulge Me For A Moment

So Dan’s politely watching my eyes glazing over. Probably thinking I’m being really rude and not listening.

Snapping back into the real world. Or rather the caffeine had possibly started to kick in, I sparked back to life with a few questions my dreamy self had been thinking up.

Come to think of it, Dan must have spotted the thought bubble flickering to life above my head.

So what it’s like in Bulgaria? Well apparently incredibly popular. Just take a little look at this development:

Waterworld

BEFORE I CARRY ON…

…I wasn’t being pitched by Dan. We were chatting about the line of work we were both in and it was me asking the questions!

But I started researching it to find out what would get in the way of making this a reality.

Firstly, I suppose you need to know whether you are buying a holiday home, investing for a return or a bit of both.

Bulgaria is becoming incredibly popular. It’s still a great place to invest apparently, but if you’re looking to maximise returns, then somewhere like the Ukraine is probably going to appreciate far more rapidly than Bulgaria.

Don’t get me wrong, Bulgaria appears to be popular and will still get you growth, but I suspect you also need to consider it as a more established holiday destination.

It is well served by airlines directly. Only 3 and a half hours away, a return flight can be had for around £130. There are also flights from Luton. With a little shopping (I didn’t delve deeply) I’m sure that price can come down signficantly.

I must admit, after looking a little deeper, I can feel myself being reeled in. The things is I don’t mind! Judge for yourself and take a peak at this: Working From Home In Bulgaria

The Ukraine? If Skiing Is Your Thing Or You Just Want Be Really Different Before It Becomes Really Trendy

I know next to nothing about the Ukraine. What I do know is that the budget airlines are looking at it now, and you do have to get a connecting flight perhaps via Prague.

But it’s just as intriguing to have a tidy little retreat in an up and coming region, again, only around 3 and half hours away.

I also understand that the Ukraine is a far wealthier country, so rental income and the upside appreciation of the property market makes it suited for the serious investor.

This is another architects mock-up of a development Dan’s company is involved with. It looks like this development is already sold, but it’s well worth a look.

Same as Bulgaria - everything ready-made in terms of broadband coverage to make flexible working a reality!

Working From Home In The Ukraine

Eagle Valley:

What Do You Think?

I know working from home has taken off hugely of late. But will working from your holiday home come into vogue?

Hit the comments button below to let me know!