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My best work from ANYWHERE setup

My best work from ANYWHERE setup
Portable monitor, Flex 1 stand, Macbook air,

I’ve spent the 12 months in 2023 working from various locations around the world, usually a month at a time in one place! I like to think I’ve honed in on my essentials for working from anywhere, so I thought I'd share it with anyone also interested in working and travelling.

For me, while working and traveling, I want an ergonomic setup, with my screen at eye height and ample screen real estate. All while taking up as little space and weight as possible because I want it to fit all into one bag (alongside my clothes too). I've got my setup so compact that I've even taken the whole setup on the Camino de Santiago.

I also don't like to spend a lot of money, so I prefer if it's a reasonable price. Here are my top items for working from anywhere.

  1. M1 Macbook Air - £827 |  1.29kg

It’s super lightweight, with an extra long battery life to get you through your day without needing to sit at a power plug. It has 10-12 hours battery, though less if you are using a portable monitor. It is incredibly portable and just feels incredible to use.

  1. Apple Earpods - £19  |  12g

Everyone’s obsessed with the latest bluetooth headphones with the “best mic quality” but tbh the best mic quality is the original apple EarPods that PLUGIN. I’ve bought the most expensive bluetooth headphones with supposedly high-quality mics and I’ve always had problems with the bluetooth connection and mic quality (I think largely due to bluetooth problems). Not to mention the countless times I’ve also been calling friends using top of the line bluetooth headsets that just don’t work. I swear by my apple EarPods, no more complaints of poor mic quality. I also just love that they are £19  and recently Apple has recently released the USB-C version, which means you can use them on your phone and your laptop! Thank you EU regulations!!

I’ve tested these apple EarPods with a VACUUM cleaner in the background and krisp.ai playing and you can’t hear a thing from the vacuum, honestly incredible. 

Another bonus is that you don’t have to worry about your headphones having enough charge, corded headphones always have enough charge.

  1. 65W multi charger travel adapter - £35  |  184g

Don’t take your whole laptop charger and a travel adapter, take one that acts as both! The important difference is that the travel adapter must have +65W charging (or whatever wattage your laptop requires) to provide enough juice to your laptop. It makes all the chargers I need to bring so much more compact, since it's all in one! 

  1. Asus Zenscreen MB16ACE Portable monitor £214   |   687g + FLEXSTA stand £55  |  223g
Work from anywhere with FLEXSTA

Disclaimer, I built this! But it's honestly SO great. I use my FLEXSTA stand with my portable monitor all the time and it has been the biggest game changer. I can position my portable monitor right at eye-height to have the perfect ergonomic setup and I have double the screen real estate! The stand is fully adjustable for both height, rotation, and angle. It’s easy to set up and pack away (with a simple and sturdy metal plate and magnet attachment). The stand folds down to the size of a banana.  

Why it’s great

  • Ultra lightweight
  • Eye height
  • Super compact
  • Easy to set up and pack down
  • High-quality materials
  • Works horizontally and vertically
  • Works with any portable monitor under 1kg
  1. Apple Magic Mouse - £69  |  100g

Any mouse would probably do tbh, the magic mouse does the job too!

  1. I don’t worry about anything else!

All of my portable work setup weighs 2.5kg and takes up a tiny amount of space in my bag.

Things I might add

I'm thinking about getting a power bank to also power my laptop for times where I'm unable to access a charging port. I don't have that many troubles with this, but it seems like a handy thing to have.