O2T workation — the first co-working & co-living event in Transylvania

The first OFFice To Travel larger event and most probably the first workation in Romania took place at the end of August. For more than a week we lived and worked in the same villa, managed to learn more about each other but also got the chance to discover new things about our businesses and own mindsets.

Actually, even though the workation lasted for 8 days, we met before and continued after arriving in Bucharest for at least another week. This is what happens when you find great people — you want to take advantage of the community and meet as often as possible.

I had so many mixed feelings about the workation: from happiness to craziness, stress, fear, ecstasy and peace of mind. I guess from some points of view I learnt more in a week than I did in a few months. I am not afraid to say that holding a workation can be an emotion roller coaster. But it can be an amazing one with the right people.

Since it was the first workation in Romania, we wanted to offer our guests a great experience:

• amazing view (truly amazing, no doubt about it; just take a look)
• great mix of people
• a “never seen before” price for what this type of package
• great guest speakers, to help our attendees grow both professionally and personally
• one of the best offices in the world

And I think OFFice To Travel managed to offer our guests all of these. It was an amazing mix.

Nothing is perfect and being in the mountains (almost in the middle of nowhere) brings along downsides. So we encountered issues too, but the best part is that all of these turned out to be so useful and helped us connect more.

• Even though Romania has the best internet speed in the EU, not even here the Wi-Fi functions amazing (mountains’ unwritten rules). However, we ended up having 11GB for each person, which was more than enough for work and more.
• Because of a nearby storm, our village was left without power for around 16 hours; luckily just in the evening and next morning. This was actually one of the most amazing nights — it transformed into a wine & cheese event followed by deep conversations that gave us the chance to get to know each other better.
• Since in the middle of the mountain no gas company rushes to come, the heating wasn’t perfect. So, we understood that we take so many things for granted and realized that we should be more grateful every single day.

What actually happened at the O2T workation in Romania– a typical day:

Hahaha… you can imagine there was no typical day. One night we saw a perfect moonrise directly from the Scandinavian hot tub — I cannot describe that feeling of freedom, peace, harmony and friendship.

Another day we saw 4–5 full rainbows just 100 m away from us. Yes, we thought of going in search of the leprechaun and his pot of gold.

After having breakfast, most people worked, but usually a fun break was included: playing foosball and Ping-Pong, jumping on the trampoline or having a hot tub relaxing time.

Almost every evening, we had workshops on business growth or personal development.

Also, some guests wanted to visit Dracula’s castle, since we were in Transylvania. Luckily, they came back without vampire bites. :))

We also had a couple of dinners with traditional food, since it was a workation in Romania, where only a few of the attendees had been before. If you still want to know more, this was our schedule.

O2T guests:

We had guests from different parts of the world (like Germany, Canada, Poland, UK, Belgium and Brazil), but that isn’t even that important. The elements that mostly connect us are intangible and usually rely on common values and lifestyle. Freelancers and entrepreneurs got together to connect and grow in a new environment, at a workation in Romania.

OFFice To Travel guest speakers:

While Chris Senior provided a personal approach in motivating attendees and putting us in contact with our own constraints, Nicole Seelinger focused on personal development, but showed us how we should approach our businesses. We learned how we can define aspects that most businesses overlook.

Both of them had done a terrific job and made everyone think more about own feelings, taking actions and making conscious decisions.

Chris is a musician and entrepreneur who retired at 30. He drove all the way in the mountains from England to Romania and brought with him a piano and the drums, among many others. You can find out more about him in the presentation he gave on Nomad Cruise. He has such an inspiring story and I am sure he managed to help others with his words and experiences at the OFFice To Travel workation in Romania and not only. Take a look:

Nicole is an Entrepreneurship and Innovation Catalyst, and Creative Strategist who empowers entrepreneurs and helps corporations to create, clarify and strengthen business core, among many others.

She facilitates groups by using techniques that capture the power of collective intelligence, which can be applied in problem solving, boosting innovation, personal growth, and creating better connections among community members.

She helped us understand our “WHYs” and managed to make us connect and understand each other’s struggles through teamwork.

In the end, I guess we not only got what we wanted, but most importantly, what we needed. Some people thought of working like crazy and actually managed to get something more valuable — getting to know themselves; some wanted to get business tips and besides that, they ended up having valuable personal insights; while others wanted to make new friends and in the end got more in-depth connections with people they already knew.

Because not what I think it’s important, but what the attendees have to say really matters, I will let you read their own opinions and visions about the week we spent at the mountain workation.

Kamil Augustynowicz — CTO and co-founder of briisk.co

Imagine a beautiful place high in the mountains with a cool hot tub on the terrace and music playing “What a perfect day”. That is what I will remember from the workation for sure. It was a really great experience. I met great, like-minded people with whom I spent a lot of hours working, relaxing or just speaking during the workshops. I hope to enjoy this once again in the future 🙂

Mike Miler, entrepreneur

I’ve been to many workations already but I never had such a great view from my desk. Anca and Adrian did everything to make their guests having the best time. It was the perfect balance between working time, workshops and activities. I would have loved to stay longer and I can’t wait for the next workation! It was a great time and I grew personally and on my business side.

Rico Patzer — founder & coach at USP maker

For me the absolut best part of the workation in Romania was to be surrounded by so many like-minded people.
Having fun, exchanging experiences and developing ideas with other people that live a lifestyle out of the ordinary, that have a lot of knowledge and experiences from all over the world and run their own businesses — this, for me, was absolutely valuable, inspiring and motivating!

Olivier Wagner, founder of 1040 Abroad

I attended OFFice to Travel’s workation in Transylvania. My expectations were very work-focused, with work-time in an environment similar to a co-working space with time to meditate, do yoga and enjoy nature.

Instead it turned out to be something else. The experience was less structured than anticipated. I very much enjoyed the setting, the amazing view (just look at these photos), the hot tub, the trampoline. Oh, the view from the office (another photo).

I am an introvert, and I usually put work first. The key takeway from the workation for me was the connections, the interactions. It’s something that wasn’t natural to me at first but I became a more complete person as a result of it and became friend with many of the other participants at workation.

The workation helped me expand my networking skills, my horizon all the while having a good time in nature, walking in the forest, relaxing with a great view or soaking in the hot tub.

Nathanael-Osirius Woggon, Virtual assistant & WordPress websites creator

The mountain workation organized by Office to travel was the perfect reason for me to explore Romania and reconnect with other digital nomads. Anca and Adrian did a great job in hosting us! We had some great workshops, tasty dinners all together and such an amazing time. For me personally I really enjoyed the stunning nature and fresh air. Perfect to calm down and focus!

I highly recommend workations organized by Office to travel. Looking forward to the next one 🙂

Lodi Planting, entrepreneur

I had such a great time in the workation in Romania organised by Anca and Adrian. I like to be surrounded and connect with like-minded people. The group was nice and small and therefore perfect for in-depth workshops. I take the lessons shared and the advice given back with me. Thanks guys for organising and being part of such a wonderful community.

Nicole Seelinger — Creative Strategist | Entrepreneurship and Innovation Catalyst | guest speaker

Best lesson on how to turn challenges in opportunities is to be in the middle of the mountains for a workation in Romania and create ways for connection to be something beyond what we could imagine. Incredible how internet could still be great just using 4G on our mobiles and enough to serve us as our own hotspot. After all, we all end up having 11Gb each.

Moreover the peaceful air of the mountains, the dream view and the inspiring environment also did magic bringing us better connection with our inner selves, our goals and dreams and with all others in the group. Awesome opportunities for bonding, having insights and create new things, besides being productive, of course. The one night we lost power was another example of how we could turn things around and end up with an incredible Cheese & Wine in lantern lights and unimaginable atmosphere, laughs and joy. 🙂

The size of the group was perfect to be able not only get to know everyone, but truly connect and have meaningful conversations with each. Needless to say that it helps when we have workshops and group dynamics that stimulate deeper reflections and heart-to-heart discussions that makes us all learn with each other.

Certainly it wasn’t a simple workation. Some results and transformations were already evident by the end of the week and surely many seeds were planted for future reflections and growth to everyone there. I’m curious and looking forward to see how and what everyone will be doing on the coming months and years. Glad to say we will definitely keep in touch and seeing each other again. 🙂

Chris Senior, retired entrepreneur and guest speaker:

My experience was wonderful. And I mean that in its literal tense. It was full of wonder.

I saw my first ever MOON RISE (not IN, but standing next to a hot tub… Fortunately when I saw my SECOND moon rise, I was at least half in the tub!).

Another natural phenomenon was when I saw a rainbow that landed in the field about 50m away from where I was standing.

Yet ANOTHER thing was the blanket of stars I saw in the sky one night when we stopped the car at the top of a dark hill. I really got a sense of how vast the universe really is and how tiny we are in it.

These things would never have been placed into anyone’s “What I Want From This Workation” list, however these kinds of things when witnessed in person can really make someone feel alive, connected to the world around them and loved and appreciated. Especially when surrounded by the great people that attended.

To work was not why I was there. I was there to inspire and BE inspired in turn.

Therefore for me, it was totally perfect.

If you want to know more about future workation in Romania, check the co-working and co-living page or subscribe to the newsletter.

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