Initial Test - Working from Thailand

Being Cautious

Technically, I don't know if work will allow me to work from Thailand.  I am afraid to ask, as I am pretty sure I know the answer is no.  I prefer to try it out, and see how it will work.  If directly asked from anyone from work about it, I will be honest with them.  I am also not going to make it obvious in any way what I am doing.

I have been working from home since the beginning of COVID.  In that time, I have been in the office approximately 5-10 times.  I have been able to do 100% of my job without going in.  My boss is a proponent of WFH, so that helps.  Of course, there are other people who are not, luckily they are not in my chain of command.

I have to set it up to work stealthily from Thailand.  But how do I do that?  That is a secret for another day.

A Plan

My Phuket trip was originally a test to see if my system I created would work.  Then I met her.  But, I was still able to do testing.  I had to be able to use the hotel wifi (notoriously bad wifi), and still be able to do my tasks for work.  Including video chatting, and sharing my screen in MS Teams.  I had to be able to do all of this, without appearing I am even away from my home in the US.

I pulled out my laptop in the Phuket hotel, and everything worked!  I had a friend who had no clue what I was doing, and asked him to look and figure out where I was logging in from by looking at the network.  He told me it appears you are in your house.  SUCCESS!!!  

A Few Issues

I did have some issues with some equipment that I could not solve while in Thailand.  Since then, I have resolved those issues, and made it so I can fix things from Thailand.  The bigger issue will be when I no longer have a physical apartment in the US.  I am still working on that.  I have a few options, but none of them are EXACTLY what I am looking for.

The Next Steps

A longer test, in the town my girlfriend lives in.  That is what is being worked on at the moment.  Keep an eye on this blog to see how things progress!