From Home To Homestay

Conversations with friends and acquaintances over the last year seem to have one recurring topic: a discussion about working from home. The consensus is that working from home is great, and the hope is that it will continue after the pandemic restrictions have been lifted.

Recently, I was having a chat with a good friend who is passionate about traveling. She talked enthusiastically about the hope of continuing to work from home after COVID-19 is under control and the conversation naturally shifted to being able to work from anywhere in the world. If we can work from home, why not have temporary homes wherever we want to? This of course would be more realistic for a single person rather than for a whole family to pick up and move to another country for a few months. For the purpose of this article, I will focus on the single person.

From a technical point of view, the only thing you would need is your computer and a strong/reliable internet connection. This idea was actually marketed by Barbados a few months into the pandemic and they seemed to have a good response. One downside to working from home is the isolation but what if you could find a compatible family to host you in whichever country you choose.

The idea of working from anywhere is in its infancy and there will be many bugs to iron out along the way but, it’s here to stay and homestays will play a major role.

The key to a successful homestay abroad is to choose the right homestay for you. Whether you are a student going to school during the day or working from home while abroad, you will want to start with a good homestay agency/consulting firm in your country of choice. The agency should provide you with several carefully screened and vetted families however, the final decision will be up to you.

Have you ever stayed in a homestay? I would love to hear about your experience if you have! Just send a reply to this email and let me know about your experience.

Your HomeStay Mom,