Playing Host

Trying to maintain a work-life balance whilst living abroad isn’t the easiest, I’m coming to realise this quite quickly. Whilst you’re freelancing for money, trying to find your feet in a foreign land, dealing with homesickness issues, and other problems that seem to spring up out of nowhere, you then find you have friends coming to visit, who want to head off on tourist trips every other day.

How do you deal with this?

I can’t wait for my friends to come and visit me, it’s a piece of home and I miss them, but at the same time, my life is here now, and I also have work I need to do, in order to make ends meet. It can be difficult, but it’s not impossible.

Make sure they understand you have work to do

You don’t have to get up in the morning and tell them you have no time, but just suggest that you spend the first two hours of the day working, and then you’re free to do whatever. I get up a little earlier than they do, and sit writing for a couple of hours, that way I can have the best of both worlds and no-one misses out.

Arrange a few trips together

Your friends are going to want to do the tourist things, and although you’ve probably seen them a million times over, it’s a good idea to arrange a few excursions that you can do together. If you’ve been before, or you’ve seen it, it doesn’t matter, the point is that you’re going to be spending the time together, and that’s the whole idea. Sometimes seeing your place of residence through the eyes of a tourist again can make you appreciate it all the more.

Try and save up a little spare cash beforehand

Whilst your friends are visiting, you will need more cash to be able to go out more than you would normally. The best thing I’ve found is to save up a little when you know you have someone visiting. I stay in a little more than normal in the weeks leading up to it, and then I have more spare to be able to go out. Of course I can’t splash the cash like I would be able to on holiday, but I can at least go out and nurse a drink for the evening!

Show your friends your way of life

Take your visitors to your local haunts, the local restaurants you’ve found, and let them visit the friends you’ve made out there. This will not only help them understand your new life and how you go about your business these days, but it will enrich their holiday too, because they’re getting a true sense of the culture of the area, which is what travel is all about at the end of the day.

Don’t let your work slip

It’s all too easy to think ‘sod it’, my friends are here, but you still need to maintain a work balance during this time. Like we mentioned before, set yourself a time to do your job, and make sure your friends understand, but don’t be tempted to just not do any. If you’re flexible, you could of course talk to your boss or whoever you work for and ask for a few days grace, but that would be at their discretion.