# Workplace Surgery: Best Places to Work Remotely and Feel Inspired

- **Episode:** [208](https://agents.truthliesandwork.com/episodes/208.md) (2025-06-24)
- **Type:** workplace-surgery
- **Tags:** remote-work, workspace, inspiration, productivity
- **Time:** 33:48–41:12 (start 2028s)
- **Listen:** [https://truthliesandwork.com/208?t=2028](https://truthliesandwork.com/208?t=2028)

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[33:48] Al Elliott: Fabulous. Okay, Leanne, it's now my favourite time of the week. It's the World FM's Weekly Workplace Surgery where I put your questions to Leanne. You know all this, just tune out for 10 seconds. Leanne is a Chartered Occupational Psychologist. She's an expert in workplace culture. She's here to answer your questions around work. We tend to get questions from managers and from people who want to be managers or people who've just got problems at work. If you've got one of those problems, just send us a quick email, details in the show notes, and we'll read it out. We'll keep it anonymous, of course, unless you tell us otherwise. Leanne, are you ready for the first question?
[34:17] Leanne Elliott: I'm so ready
[34:18] Al Elliott: So where is a great place to work remotely and feel inspired again? Hi, Leanne. And Al, thank you for including me. This might be a bit outside your usual questions, but I know you've both worked remotely while travelling. We have. So I'd love your take. Oh, I see. Right. Okay. I should have read this beforehand. I thought it was like, where in the house is, where in the world?
[34:35] Leanne Elliott: The cat's in the hat. That one
[34:39] Al Elliott: I did read the other 2, just didn't read this one. I've been in the same remote job for nearly 5 years. Lately, I found the need of a change of scenery, something with nature, new people, and a bit of adventure. I'm thinking somewhere in Europe, Asia, or maybe even Australia. Okay. So you've got a small area to look at. Yeah
[34:53] Leanne Elliott: Open to locations
[34:54] Al Elliott: I'm not looking to completely quit or do the digital nomad thing full-time. We did. Um, just hoping to spend a few weeks or months somewhere that's comfortable, energising, and remote work friendly. Any tips or sharing your thoughts or experience would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. This is right up our street, Le, isn't it?
[35:09] Leanne Elliott: Yeah, it is. Yeah, it is. Oh, there's so many variables that we don't know. Um, when are you gonna go? What time of year? Do you prefer warm weather, cool weather, mountains? beach, seaside, that type of thing. You said nature. Nature can mean a lot of things. Broadly speaking, the most important thing is going to be things like your internet, isn't it? And making sure you can still do, do what you're doing. And in our experience, it's actually really surprising where you'll find some of the best internet. Obviously, you're going to have your kind of digital nomad hotspots. So, I'm talking things like Prague. Um, where else? Bali
[35:44] Al Elliott: Yeah
[35:46] Leanne Elliott: I mean, I guess anywhere around Um, Croatia has now got a digital nomad visa. There's lots going on there
[35:53] Al Elliott: Portugal
[35:54] Leanne Elliott: Portugal, of course. And that can be quite nice because you'll find a lot of other people that are doing what you're doing. There is a risk of getting a bit lonely sometimes if you go to more obscure places. So, for your first time, I'd recommend going to more of a digital nomad hotspot, or at least where there are some. So, they're probably the main ones in Europe, aren't they? Czechia, Portugal, Croatia. Poland potentially, um, are probably the main ones that you want to look at. Um, and, and I don't remember any internet struggles in those places. Croatia is a bit, bit hit and miss from time to time, but—
[36:27] Al Elliott: That was on the island. So yeah, if you stick to somewhere around Split, is a, is a cool city. Yes, I tried Split
[36:32] Leanne Elliott: Yeah, Split is really great. Beautiful coastline as well. Lots and lots of nature. Stunning. If you're going for the nature, yeah, Croatia is probably a really great Shout over Prague, Czech Republic, very built up. Portugal, beautiful nature, but very busy. So yeah, Croatia could be a good shout, but it is quite expensive
[36:49] Al Elliott: Yeah
[36:50] Leanne Elliott: Um, if we're looking east, and this is where you'll be surprised, I have had some of my strongest 4G, um, internet access network thingy going on whilst I've been on a ferry in the middle of the sea somewhere in and around Thailand. I don't understand how it works, but it did. Um, Thailand has got loads of digital nomads. I think it's a really good introduction to Asia if you've never been before. The food is incredible, lots of different islands you can go to with different vibes. So when you're feeling a bit quiet and a bit like you need some, you know, something more going on, you can go to the busier islands like Koh Samui. Um, or then you've got other ones that are a bit quieter, like Koh Lanta. Oh, that's the bigger digital nomad one, isn't it?
[37:33] Al Elliott: Koh Lanta is the one I want to go to
[37:35] Leanne Elliott: Um, so yeah, I think Thailand is a really good one. Don't go to Bali
[37:38] Al Elliott: Nope, just don't
[37:39] Leanne Elliott: Don't go to Bali
[37:40] Al Elliott: Don't
[37:41] Leanne Elliott: It's not, it's not good. And you know what gets me, Alec, if you're listening to this, you know, I have friends that ask me about Bali and I always say, didn't like it, didn't vibe with it, wouldn't go again. They always still go and then come back and go, you were so right about Bali. I'm like, I know, I know. Um, I guess maybe just have to, have to see it. Don't go to Bali. Um, Australia, yeah, we spent some time in Australia and New Zealand. Beautiful. I'd probably vibe a bit more with Melbourne than I did with Sydney. Um, again, that city. Yeah, New Zealand could be a better shout. Again, expensive, but you're gonna have some beautiful, beautiful countryside there. So they're my general thoughts. Um, I maybe have some quick tips on equipment as well, but Al, first of all, what are your thoughts on location?
[38:27] Al Elliott: Yeah, I agree. I think, um, If you really like nature, then Eastern Europe is a good place. Oops, sorry, take my microphone. You got that excited. If you really like Eastern Europe, is a good, is a good call. Uh, so you potentially, I mean, if you're, if you're intrepid, look at Georgia. That is, we've never been, would love to go
[38:43] Leanne Elliott: Spicy now, isn't it?
[38:44] Al Elliott: Well, yeah, I don't know how quite, oh yeah, I mean, I've seen that it's okay, but yeah, maybe don't take my advice on that. Do your own research. Uh, but certainly look at, you know, Bulgaria is really cool. Look at, um, Greece. Yeah, Greece, North Macedonia, Macedonia. Um, is, is a cool place. So I think Eastern Europe is really cool and also is relatively inexpensive. The internet is usually pretty cheap. If you just want beach life for a couple of months, Thailand, go to Koh Lanta, um, or Trieste, not Trieste, that's in Europe. What's the one down, uh, Trat?
[39:15] Leanne Elliott: Trat. Yeah. Trat's on the mainland, isn't it?
[39:18] Al Elliott: Yeah
[39:18] Leanne Elliott: Um, yeah. Koh Lanta, Koh Chang, we really enjoyed
[39:21] Al Elliott: Koh Chang is stunning. And you're gonna go in there, you're gonna go and buy a— so before you go, go and buy a 4G router, make sure it takes a SIM card, usually about $60. Go and get a 4G router. And then when you get there locally, there's, there's an application called Saily
[39:34] Leanne Elliott: Yeah
[39:35] Al Elliott: Which I dunno whether it works over there. We use it in Europe. I dunno if it works over there, but we just go to any kiosk and just go and buy data. And the data's so cheap
[39:42] Leanne Elliott: Yeah
[39:42] Al Elliott: It's like fast, fast. You get, at the time we were getting 20, 30 gigabyte, uh, megabyte down. Um, and that was like 7 years ago. So it's gonna be so much faster now
[39:52] Leanne Elliott: Yeah
[39:52] Al Elliott: And you're just gonna get the most beautiful experience, in my opinion, if that's your bag, if that tickles your pickle, because you can be sitting on the beach. Don't sit at the beach with your laptop, you get sand in your laptop. But you could be sitting there, you could go and have some lovely food, you'll be in shorts and t-shirt. It's just go at the right time of year
[40:07] Leanne Elliott: Yeah. Oh, I do know what I think. Yeah, I think Thailand's a really good shout, particularly if you're looking for travel, something a bit different to reset. Um, there is a digital nomad community there, there's great internet there, internal flights are really cheap, so you can bob around different islands. It's not— it's really also cheap to hire a driver, We did that a couple of times
[40:25] Al Elliott: Yes
[40:25] Leanne Elliott: It worked out about the same as a flight for both of us, just getting a taxi to, to go down to, from Bangkok to, um, one of the islands. It's fabulous. And the accommodation is so affordable, so you can stay in places that are a bit more hostel-y, backpacky, then you can go somewhere really nice. Great hack if you do go somewhere nice that includes breakfast, because they have a lot of savoury stuff for breakfast, and breakfast usually goes on till 11. We get up early, go for breakfast like 7. This is when we had a bit less money. Um, also, it's just, it's just a savvy thing to do. So we'd have breakfast at 7 and then we'd have lunch at like quarter to 11. Um, beautiful. Um, yeah, agreed. Go to Thailand
[41:03] Al Elliott: Okay, well answered. And we love questions like that. If, uh, I'd love to say if you like that, go and check out our other podcast, A Sideways Life, but don't because we haven't posted for about 18 months