I am sitting in my kitchen today with a housemate and it has just dawned on me that I am more inclined to work harder when another human being is around.

It is quite a eureka moment actually.

The truth is I have not worked so hard over the last few weeks but the days when people are around seem to be much more productive for me.

I worked for the mobile phone company O2 in the UK a few years ago and managed to work from home for two days a week. I remember at the time that I found it much harder to motivate myself at home, compared to the office environment.

My friend worked with me last November for a month and I did heaps of work. The evidence is there.

Maybe it is just me? Lots of people now work from home and telecommute and I am sure they don’t feel less motivated to work when they are alone.

I still think it would be cool to hire some offices somewhere for working nomads to work in together. There would be so many benefits in my opinion, just being able to swap ideas and compare notes would be neat.

I would be interested to hear what others think of this and whether working on the road (and presumably by yourself) is actually viable for people who are motivated more by the company of others.

It is a familiar scene across the globe. A backpacker or traveler arrives in a new city clutching the latest Lonely Planet or Frommers guide book.

I have used Lonely planets and rough guides extensively on my journey as a working nomad and despite what the purists might say I have always found them useful.

However, as someone who likes to travel light, I have always found guidebooks to be too heavy for what they are!

So I was browsing the Lonely Planet Shop the other day and found out a feature where you can purchase certain chapters under their pix and mix!

You basically download the chapters you want (I never use the whole books anyway) and store them as PDF format on your laptop (or online storage / email) and print them off when you need to. This could be cheaper too!

Having the ability to print out maps and locations is important so you can find places when you arrive. You don’t want to be getting your laptop out on a street corner in some big city in Latin America or India!

As PDAs, mobiles and smaller laptops become cheaper I think this will accelerate the death of the guide book as we know it and will mean the savvy nomad can carry more interesting books to read.

After some initial issues the working nomad ebook affiliate scheme is up and running again via e-junkie.

Check out this link for further details…

http://www.workingnomad.com/ebook/affiliate.htm

I have not reported much on earnings recently as I kind of went off the idea but I still think it provides some degree of motivation for others aspiring to this independent life.

So December was a pretty poor month relative to 2007 coming in a little over US$ 4000 but January is up over US$ 6000 so things are picking up again as they often do in January.

Shifting exchange rates and a weakening pound is starting to bite. It is definetly something you have to keep an eye on when you are a working nomad.

For instance my rent has pretty much gone up £10 GBP a week since I moved in, and that has nothing to do with the landlord! Thats just from exchange rates.

So I stress again if you are spending an extended time in a country try and transfer money when the going is favourable. It could end up making you money!