KIRO NEWSRADIO: SEATTLE NEWS & ANALYSIS

Remote Year lets you travel the world and keep your job

Jun 21, 2017, 5:38 PM | Updated: Oct 11, 2024, 9:49 am

remote year...

Dana Reinert works in a tent in Morocco during her Remote Year. (Photo provided by Reinert)

(Photo provided by Reinert)

If you love to travel, but your pesky job keeps getting in the way of your jet setting, you can now do both. A program called Remote Year allows you to spend a year working full time, remotely, in 12 different countries around the world. Each itinerary includes 50 to 80 people, from all over the globe.

“They provide apartments, co-working spaces, local events, volunteer opportunities, growth opportunities and networking opportunities,” says Seattle’s Dana Reinert, who just got back from her Remote Year. “And they take care of all travel between countries. Say, if you’re flying to Lisbon from Vietnam or from Vietnam to South America.”

RELATED: Tourist say Seattle is too expensive, but are they doing it right?

Reinert works as a freelance design and product strategist. But she says most people on her trip weren’t freelancers or people who already worked from home. She estimates about 70 percent of her travelmates were nine to fivers who made special arrangements with their bosses.

“Customer service reps who have to be online for a set eight hours a day, analysts, we had lawyers, we had attorneys and people who are working with business development and accountants. A lot of web developers.”

Remote Year guarantees 24-hour-a-day high speed Internet and there are staff members traveling with you to troubleshoot any problems.

“We had two or three people whose CEOs and bosses commented that they were more focused and more plugged in and a harder worker and did more in the first three months of the program than the people who were left back at the office. Because when you’re working and traveling, you’re focusing on: I have a set amount of time in the day and I kind of want to make sure I get out of here at five so I can fully take advantage of being in this new country when I’m not at work.”

Remote Year

The Remote Year experience costs about $27,000.

“You put down a $5,000 deposit when you’re accepted into the program and then its a $2,000 payment every month. It ended up being almost a no-brainer to do it because it’s covering all of your flights, a lot of your activities, it’s covering 24/7 Wi-Fi and coworking access and you get an apartment. They’re taking care of all the logistics. When you show up in a new place you’re handed a key and the address. You’re given a map to the co-working space and then you’re off and running. They make sure they target neighborhoods that are filled with nice cafes, maybe some night life close to the city center.”

Reinert, who freelances with UNICEF and the UN, says she picked up new clients while abroad, and now she has a network of 50 Remote Workers living around the world who she can call on for advice and networking. But work aside, she had some amazing travel adventures.

“We went on a horseback riding trip through a national park in Portugal, I rented and learned how to drive motorcycles in the traffic in Hanoi, Vietnam. A surf trip in Indonesia. I would say in every single country there were definitely two or three moments where you look at the person next to you, who is trying to send a PDF file on a Thursday from a train in Morocco, and you’re like, I wouldn’t be doing this if I was just sitting back in Seattle. I’m having the time of my life and I’m able to focus both on my professional life and my personal life.”

Reinert is 28, but she says it’s not just for backpacking set. People in her group ranged in age from their 20s to their 50s. And unlike a yearlong backpacking trip, you have the comfort of a home base where you can relax and use it as a launching pad for trips.

train kills person puyallup...

Bill Kaczaraba

Train hits, kills person in Puyallup Wednesday morning

A person was hit and killed on the train tracks in Puyallup Wednesday morning, according to a report from authorities.

2 years ago

This photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard on Friday, Feb. 7, 2025, shows a small commuter plane t...

Associated Press

Here’s what we know about a commuter plane crash in Alaska that killed 10 people

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Authorities are working to recover the wreckage of a plane crash in western Alaska that killed 10 people while investigators are trying to determine what caused the small commuter aircraft to go down in the icy Bering Sea. The single-engine turboprop plane was traveling from Unalakleet to the hub community of […]

15 minutes ago

Associated Press

Snowy weekend in store for Upper Great Lakes, Northeastern US

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A strong storm is expected to bring moderate to heavy snowfall across parts of the Upper Great Lakes on Saturday before intensifying overnight across the Northeast. The National Weather Service said a storm over the central and southern plains will move northeastward Saturday, producing a swath of 4 to 8 inches […]

22 minutes ago

FILE - Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) participates during Super Bowl 59 Opening Nig...

Associated Press

Arrests in luxury home burglaries targeting NFL, NBA players are the ‘tip of the iceberg’

For months, daring bands of thieves linked to South American gangs have been making off with piles of jewelry and cash from the homes of the biggest superstars in sports, targeting the likes of the NFL’s Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. Sophisticated pillagers have deployed drones and signal jamming devices, sometimes posing as delivery drivers […]

34 minutes ago

President Donald Trump greets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he arrives at the West W...

Associated Press

Trump’s 3rd week saw more executive orders, a trade war that wasn’t and a Mideast jolt

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three weeks in, President Donald Trump keeps cranking out executive orders designed to remake the government while billionaire Elon Musk hunts for more ways to upend the federal workforce. Trump also provoked — then called off — trade wars with Canada and Mexico but allowed one with China to move forward. He […]

1 hour ago

FILE - In this June 14, 2018, file people stand online next to the PlayStation booth at the 24th El...

Associated Press

Sony PlayStation Network outage enrages gamers around the world

ROME (AP) — A major outage of Sony’s PlayStation Network (PSN) on Saturday has left tens of thousands of gamers unable to access online services, stores and multimedia apps. “We are aware some users might be currently experiencing issues with PSN,” PlayStation said on its social media platforms, confirming users’ mounting complaints around the globe. […]

3 hours ago

Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears speaks with a reporter at her office in Richmond, Va., on Tuesday, Jan...

Associated Press

Trump chops away at the government and the fallout is felt in the Virginia governor’s race

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The Trump administration’s aggressive push to cut government jobs is reverberating in the early stages of this year’s race for governor in Virginia. The fast-moving effort by Republican President Donald Trump to overhaul the federal workforce could have a sweeping impact in the state, home to some 145,000 federal employees and […]

3 hours ago

Remote Year lets you travel the world and keep your job