WAFO-25 working from the 18th floor

I’d like to issue an honourable mention to this space at Vista 18, on top of the Chateau Victoria Hotel down on Burdett Street.

I don’t work from here often, as this is typically an after-hours place to hang out – say, a Happy Hour spot. But you know, for those times when you’d like to spend the end of your day catching up on email and such, this makes for a great spot.

This spot at the bar is nice, as it affords a high-top position on nice comfy seating. There are power-outlets under the bar, so keep that in mind should you need to borrow some juice for your machine while you are here!

Of course there are a variety of food & beverage offerings available, and bathrooms nearby. Did I mention the Wifi is also available here?

Well, looks like Vista ticks ALL the boxes! Well done!

WAFO-24 Another Moka House stop

I ended up here on a recent morning when I didn’t have enough time to reach another WAFO destination.

The Moka House coffee shop at Shoal Point is right next to Fisherman’s Wharf on the Victoria Harbour waterfront. This location is about a 2 minute bike ride from my home, so very close by.

I don’t often work here, and I’m not sure why. It’s very quiet, has coffee, power, WIFI, and bathrooms for customer use. On this morning, I was attending an online webinar, and the WIFI was OK for most of the session, but I did end up on a tether to smooth out some bandwidth bumps that morning.

I’ll likely return again!

WAFO-23 Working on a road-trip

This photo was taken on the same road-trip as WAFO-22, a day-trip to Vancouver.

When we got to our destination near City Hall, I had some time to wait in a parking lot, and the skies were clear. Instead of working from the front-seat, I popped up the hatch on our Nissan Leaf, and sort of made a standing desk out of the back of the car!

I connected to the network via a USB tether through the iPhone, which guarantees plenty of bandwidth for Zoom.

I’ve worked in the car before, but often feel cramped when working from either of the front seats, which offer ample leg-room. This arrangement is nice for short-duration working sessions when the skies are clear.

WAFO-22 Working from the Salish Sea

I feel the series wouldn’t be complete without a shot of a remote session from a workstation carrel on a BC Ferry sailing.

As a one-time frequent-floater on both Coastal-class and Spirit-class vessels, I’m quite familiar with using these spaces. You get power that is stable enough, a desk lap, and quick access to coffee and restrooms. You even get to plenty of natural light! However, you must BYON (Bring Your Own Network).

As of Sept.2021, BC Ferries no longer provides wireless network onboard, which is no real loss, as disappointed users know.

WAFO-21 Connecting in from Rock Bay

I stopped by the Union Pacific Coffee shop on Herald for the first time earlier in the summer. They were under renovation at the time, so I bookmarked a note to come back someday.

Once they re-opened, I was surprised to find that they’re offering coffee from JJ Bean Coffee Roasters in Vancouver, and quite a lineup of baked scones, and pastries! They also do a very nice breakfast sandwich, as I was to find out on another visit.

On this day, I walked over from 1515 to grab lunch, a coffee re-fill and to do 1 Zoom meeting, given the timing with colleagues past their lunch hour over in Boulder, CO.

WIFI was reachable from this charming back-patio location, but I eventually decided to return to the office building to continue the meeting.

WAFO-20 a nomination for this remote-work location

I wound up at Spinnaker’s back-patio one day recently, not to work, but pulled out my machine anyway. Such a lovely scene here over-looking Victoria’s Outer Harbour, under a clear blue sky.

This patio has potential as a remote-work location, but I couldn’t lock into WIFI waves here. I ended up tethering, and had a coffee for a short sesh running online errands before closing out the day’s activity.

I’d like to nominate this location for a future session…

WAFO-19 Cook Street village working vibes

I haven’t spent many working hours at this location since the before-times. Back in those days, I’d spend night-hours here, along with a bunch of students and entrepreneurs that turned the place into an evening study hall. After all, they had all the coffee you could drink, a soundtrack, and they were open until 11 PM nightly.

However, those days are far behind us.

On this Wednesday morning, I wasn’t sure where I was going to land, but needed a change of scenery so headed into Moka House. This corner-table only fits 1 person, and has a convenient power-plug on the wall. The WiFi was decent enough for most tasks, and I wasn’t doing any Zoom during this work-session.

I’d say I prefer this space for work during the darkest hours, so we’ll see what the future holds for returning here for evening work. For now, it was time well-spent on a sunny summer morning….