Last year, I had the opportunity to spend two weeks in Vietnam in a personal context. The idea was not to take a vacation but to work remotely from abroad, with an organization designed to stay aligned with my team and my company in France.
My objective was simple: to see whether it was possible to combine efficient work, time difference, and discovering a country, without sacrificing the quality of communication and work, nor the pleasure of being there.
Time difference: the real challenge
The first obvious thing to take into account in this kind of project is the time difference—in my case, it was 6 hours. So you need to think about adjusting your days and working hours to stay as synchronized as possible with your team in France.
In Vietnam, I worked from 1 PM to 8 PM. This corresponds to 7 AM - 2 PM in France, which allowed me to:
- have 2 hours of solo focus, as the French team starts at 9 AM
- have 5 overlapping hours with my team
- attend important meetings
- enjoy the morning and evening for visiting
Luckily, all my important meetings were in the morning, so I didn’t need any specific adjustments on that side. But it’s an essential point to anticipate:
- Do you have meetings at inconvenient times?
- Are they mandatory?
- Are they flexible? Or do you need to adjust your schedule?
Example: a meeting at 3 PM in France corresponds to 9 PM in Vietnam.
You can imagine that a meeting with three or four colleagues can be exceptionally rescheduled, whereas a guild involving dozens of people cannot.
The 2 hours alone: constraint or opportunity?
The 2 hours alone at the beginning of the day might seem like a constraint, but it was actually a major advantage for me.
Of course, it allowed me to stay focused for a long time and make progress on my tasks, but there were other benefits.
The project POs tended to start their day earlier than the development team. This 2-hour window allowed me to interact much more easily with them before they got overwhelmed.
Another positive aspect was my availability. At the time, we had just released the application to production, so we were in a stabilization phase. Knowing that I was connected from 7 AM and available to handle feedback or emergencies reassured the team.
However, this advantage requires anticipation. If I got stuck at the beginning of my day, I had to wait 2 hours before asking someone for help.
👉 Every day before leaving, I did a quick check to make sure I had everything I needed for the next day.
A well-structured day
My days were organized as follows:
- Morning: visits, exploration, and lunch
- 1 PM - 8 PM: work
- Evening: restaurants and walks
I respected my 7 working hours per day without neglecting the tourist aspect.
👉 It wasn’t “working between visits,” but a truly structured day.
Equipment and working conditions
From a hotel to a seaside restaurant
To stay reliable remotely, you need to anticipate two things: a connection… and a backup plan.
Concretely, that means:
- Selecting hotels with Wi-Fi
- Buying a Vietnamese SIM card with unlimited 4G (easy to get and with excellent coverage)
This way, I could use hotspot sharing if the Wi-Fi weakened.
It may seem obvious, but it’s an important point to study to ensure you don’t miss any meetings and avoid the anxiety of an internet outage.
Not to mention the freedom that comes with having a stable connection—you might even end up working in a seaside restaurant… 👀
What do you bring?
Equipment is a key point, but on a plane you can’t bring everything. Every gram counts, so more than ever I asked myself: what do I REALLY need?
Here’s what I brought:
- Laptop and charger - obviously
- A lightweight wireless mouse - I’m used to working with a mouse
- A hub - smaller than the one I usually use
- A compact noise-canceling headset - useful for working in noisy places and staying focused
- A suitable bag - not something you think about immediately, but taking care of your equipment and your own comfort matters
This list reflects what I personally need to work, but depending on your computer or your habits, it may vary: maybe you wouldn’t bring a mouse or a hub, maybe you’d bring an extra portable screen—anything is possible.
👉 The most important thing: don’t travel heavy, travel optimized. Every item must have a real and regular use, not just be there “just in case.”
Working alone… but as a team
We’ve covered the time difference, the equipment, and the working conditions, but there’s one important point left: your team. Because yes, you’re alone on the other side of the world, but the project still needs to move forward collectively. So how do you do it?
First, you need to anticipate the distance. In my case, part of my team was already working from Morocco, so we were used to it and had processes in place to work with people without being in the same office. Distance wasn’t a challenge for me, but it’s something to consider depending on your situation.
The real challenge for me was the time difference. And the most important thing to make everything work smoothly is communication.
Here are a few examples of what I put in place:
- Clearly stating my working hours (local and French)
- Posting a message every day to say “Good morning” when I start working
- Posting a message to say “Goodbye” when I stop working
- Keeping my calendar updated to avoid surprises
- Scheduling meetings during overlapping hours
- Switching to asynchronous communication for certain topics
🎯 Goal: be geographically far, but stay close to the team.
A good experience?
Such an experience highlights many positive points:
- Long focused work sessions where I could make progress on my tasks
- A “natural” motivation linked to the change of environment
- A real balance between tourism in the morning and work in the afternoon
- Maintaining discipline and personal rigor
But it’s not all ideal either:
- Fatigue due to the time difference and the intense daily rhythm
- The urge to do everything (especially sightseeing), you also need to rest to avoid burnout
- Constant logistics to manage
- The need for strong self-discipline
👉 In reality, it all comes down to a mindset: it’s not “working on vacation,” it’s working in a different environment.
Summary and advice
Even though the experience was tiring, it remains extremely positive. It allowed me to discover a country, continue working efficiently, and prove my ability to adapt and maintain self-discipline.
👉 I highly recommend the experience.
But as you’ve understood, none of this happens without planning and anticipation. Here are, in my opinion, the most important tips to remember:
- Check and define the organizational agreement with your company
- Get a SIM card with unlimited 4G to avoid any issues
- Define fixed working hours and stick to them
- Reduce your equipment to the essentials
- Invest in a good compact noise-canceling headset
- Think of your backpack as a portable office
- Don’t hesitate to take a few days off to fully enjoy the experience
Working from the other side of the world without losing efficiency is possible.
And above all: I would do it again.