Amsterdam (10-14 August)

Claire

Hey there, this is Claire! I'm a short-documentary film maker working from La Coroutine coworking space (Lille, France). Few months ago Cecile proposed me a remote working session. Whassat?! A what?!

Remote working

Let me (re-)introduce you the concept: as a freelancer, you go to work in another country or city than your usual working place. I immediately loved the idea!

Why?

First, I like to wander around and meet up people. And last but not least, I'd like to know more about this new working habit that facinates me: yes, coworking.

Claire with her english breakfast

The plan: Amsterdam

No problem! This summer, I'm editing a short-documentary. I'll work on it but… abroad!

"So. Where do you want to go?" — asking Cecile
"Amsterdam!" — was my answer

Definitely! It's a pretty city, close to Lille and not that expensive.

So one week before our departure, we booked an Airbnb room, looked for a place to park our car and sent emails to 2-3 coworking spaces. On the next monday, we were on the road to Amsterdam!

Cheese store

Coworking spaces

Coworking Visa

We found the first coworking space via the Coworking Visa initiative. As an active member of a coworking space that participates in Coworking Visa, you can use any other participating space. Thanks to Marieke, founder of Boven de Balie and Launchdesk we were able to crash at her coworking space for free.

Boven de Balie coworking space

Boven de Balie

So we discovered Boven de Balie, a classy and quiet coworking space. Based in Leidseplein, this space is exremely well situated.

Tea is really good, plants and geek jokes are decorating walls. Oh and every day at lunch break, they all share the typical Dutch lunch: cold sandwiches.

We worked there 2 days and 2 mornings.

Dutch lunch at Boven de Balie

Hackers & Founders Building

Cecile, the geek girl of this trip, is using a service called AppSignal. She was in contact with Thijs, one of the co-founders, that introduced us to Hackers & Founders Building.

They're located in a fabulous, old and so typical building from Amsterdam: narrow, tall and sometimes leaning over like all these buildings at the edge of canals. Bonus point for their nice garden!

Hackers & Founders Building

Here we talk about IT. Events are often organized around technical stuff where people share best practices, knowledge, … but not only! In fact we've attended a Yoga course with an Irish teacher. True story guys!

People (mostly men) are really kind. They offered us tea, beer and took time to answer to our questions. Even better, they recommended us the best bars and restaurants we can find in town.

Best floor of Hackers & Founders Building

Visiting

We didn't split our trip by work / visit days. Instead, we've planned to work every day but worry not, we had time to visit the city. In fact, dutch people stop to work between 5 and 6 pm. So we followed their habit.

We enjoyed restaurants and parcs, a lot of parcs!

Cecile in Amsterdam

To sum up

With a blazing sun and a welcoming atmosphere, we spent 4 days working, wandering, loosing ourselves in streets, parcs and restaurants of this wonderful city.

Remote working is such a great concept! I think it's just the beginning of my journey in the joyful world of coworking abroad. It's really interesting to see how other freelancers actually work and how other spaces are managed.

I have a ton of new ideas and can't wait to go on a new remote working trip!

Fun facts & Hints

Don't try to be a hero and walk accross the city by foot. Just rent a bike!

It looks like Dutch people love Satay sauce. You can find it in restaurants, snackbars and even supermarkets!

I was editing a documentary on our coworking space (FR only) from Lille. That was funny to see our usual coworkers on my laptop. It's like a part of La Coroutine was there with us in Amsterdam. So we brought back a gift!

Plant in La Coroutine

But what about YOU?!

We'd love to meet you and go for a ride.

Join us