The combination of having two jobs, living more than half an hour from Barcelona and also not having a car gives an inevitable result: I travel a lot by public transport. And the time I spend mainly on trains is time that I prefer to take advantage of, so as not to fall into the infinite scroll that is vertical videos on social networks.
The tools I have to achieve this: my iPhone 15 Pro and my MacBook Air M2. But getting to work with them as if you were in an office or at home is not enough: Here are some tips to make working while traveling more productive.
Using a Mac on a plane or train: tips and tricks to make the most of every minute
The main obstacle you will have if you travel on a train or a plane will be the lack of connection. Yes, it is true that some airlines already allow you to use WiFi mid-flight; or that on the AVE there are areas where coverage is decent enough to work well. But a priori We have to assume that we are not going to have that connection.
Taking this into account, we can take several measures so that we do not get “stuck” in the middle of the trip.
- If your job involves being in constant communication with colleagues through emails, WhatsApp or specialized services such as Slack or Microsoft Teams, let them know that you are going to travel and that therefore your availability may be limited or non-existent. As long as the trip is made during work hours, of course.
- If you have active sound-cancelling headphones like AirPods Pro 2, use them even without playing music. The more silence around you, the better.
- If you work with files that you store in iCloud (or any other cloud), Download them before you start your trip. Save them in a local folder so you can consult them without consuming data.
- If you do not have Wi-Fi at hand, remember that you depend on your mobile data. Therefore, if you are not sure, you should check your data plan and check that you have enough GB left to “last” several hours with them.
Services like Spotify allow you to download their songs and podcasts so you don't depend on a connection when you travel.
- For the same reason, refrain from being distracted by applications that consume large amounts of data such as YouTube or Instagram. Their videos with real data devourers.
- If you want to listen to music with services like Spotify or Apple Music during the trip, download playlists first that you use the most so that they consume more data. Oh, and remember to charge your AirPods.
- You may have a WiFi network at the airport or in a hotel, but don't trust its security too much. In that case, a recommended measure may be to use a VPN.
- It doesn't matter if it's the suburban subway or an AVE: traveling on a train forces the iPhone to constantly search for coverage from several antennas as it passes by them. Plus, it goes the extra mile by sharing the internet to the Mac you may be using. That makes the battery drains very quickly, so you would do well to carry an external battery with you. Not all trains have plugs in their seats.
Last but not least: invest time in find a posture that is as correct as possible to work. Putting your MacBook on your lap may be enough for short trips, but your back may suffer on a trip that lasts several hours. If the seat does not have a table or tray, a trick can be to place something between your Mac and your legs to elevate the computer and correct posture. Thick coats can help here.
Do you work on regular trips? Then you can tune even more
If you live around Barcelona and travel on Rodalies, perhaps you have seen me one day writing articles in seats like these.
The trip you have in hand may not be punctual, but rather you do it daily or a minimum of times a week. If you have to get used to working more than an hour a day on a train as has been the case with me, then there are some additional tips worth noting.
Make the commute on the train means carrying a backpack with the Mac and its accessories, so make sure that Getting them in and out of the backpack is as quick and easy as possible.. The more comfortable it is to take your MacBook out of your backpack, the less lazy you will be to get to work with it. If you have an external battery, a good idea is to leave it in a compartment in your backpack but so that you can easily remove its cable to charge the computer on your lap if you need it.
And if you want to refine the game as much as possible, you can see how by repeating the same route over and over again you will learn to know which areas have the best data coverage. Take advantage to do tasks that depend on internet connection in those sections of the tripsuch as sending emails, and leave other tasks such as writing for times when the connection is weaker.
Above all, in any case, make sure everything is well stored if you use online storage services. Sometimes poor coverage can play tricks on us that waste time, so it's a good idea to make frequent backup copies of your work.
Image | Generated with Bing, Lucía Garó
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