Travel Q&A

I constantly get questions about my travels and I do make an attempt to answer them all back. However when someone asks a question that I think others would really benefit from hearing the answer, I like to share them for my entire Ottsworld audience (my mom + 20 other people)

I had a recent question from a reader Helen from Colorado who is planning her upcoming year long career break trip.

Q: How do you like HTH Global Citizen medical insurance? I read your comment on a Meet Plan Go article and saw you use them. I’m leaning towards them as they offer unlimited maximum, renewable, coverage inside & outside US, travel benefits, etc. I’m generally healthy but want that worst-case-scenario coverage. Also just turned 40.

A: I have been happy with HTH and have used them for a couple of years now. I am 41 and wanted to be covered as I continuously go back and forth in and out of the US and didn’t want to deal with changing insurance all the time. I haven’t had to use the insurance yet overseas, however I have used it back in the US through the Aetna network and it all worked smoothly. Had pap-smears and mammograms and was referred to dermatologists no problem.
So far so good for me with HTH. My rates even went down this year strangely.

Should you pack the bulky hiking boots?

Q: Regarding packing… I’m traveling for a year and plan to do some major trekking along the way (New Zealand, Nepal). No set itinerary really – following summer! I’m at a loss how to travel as a trekker/backpacker and be ready to head out at any moment, versus bringing along more worldly items of DSLR, storage, iPad, phone… that I won’t lug into the mountains. Seems I’ll always have to check in somewhere and separate out backpacking needs and store whatever I leave behind.

A: I had/have this problem all of the time – and I still sort of struggle with it – there are a couple of ways I handle it. I take my good hiking boots with me…suck it up and have them take up a lot of space. Then I buy whatever else I need in the way of hiking clothes when I arrive. In Nepal this will be super easy – and cheap. You can find North Face jackets (knock offs), fleece, hiking pants, socks, mittens, hats, and sleeping bags for cheap – also a walking stick. It’s cheaper and easier than bringing it all with you. Then I generally try to sell it to someone else when leaving or donate it to porters as it wasn’t that much money.
In New Zealand that’s not as easy…so I took a few layered things and still bought other things I needed when I got there.

Just remember the cardinal rule about packing is that you can buy anything you need at your destination – so don’t worry too much about forgetting something or packing something that you will only use for one activity.  Finally – really, really consider if you need your hiking boots or if you can hike in tennis shoes.  Pretty much every place I have hiked, including New Zealand I could hike in tennis shoes.  I needed my hiking boots for the Annapurna Circuit, but that was a 3 week hike.

However hiking boots are a bit challenging. If you don’t bring them with you, then you can always leave them with a friend all packed up and then when you need them have them mail them to you! I’ve done this before too – and it’s worked just fine!

Q: I was wondering about storage when/if you take extended backpacking treks/circuits (ie, Milford Track, Annapurna Circuit)? Where do you store the items you do not take along with you (ie, laptop)? When I did long trips in Patagonia I was able to store unnecessary items within the park’s hostel systems. Just wondering what has been your experience in this regard? Do you feel safe leaving valuable items behind in storage?

A: I never feel safe leaving my valuables behind when I trek – however it’s something that’s necessary else I’d never go anywhere! Sometimes the company will store them. Sometimes I store them in a secure room at the hostel or hotel. You can always find somewhere to put them – and simply try to make sure it’s a locked area. I’ve done this all over the world and so far it’s been fine. You just have to remember – if something gets stolen – it’s not the end of the world…everything is replaceable. It would suck, but it’s part of life, it happens.

Here are a few other resources out there regarding packing. It’s personal to everyone, there is no right or wrong way to pack. Yes, you should try to pack light without a doubt, but make sure it also fits your style. Some of these resourcesPacking Resources:

Pack light - I'm not a great example of this!

http://www.bootsnall.com/rtw/faq-packing.html (includes a male and female clothes packing list with links)
http://www.poweredbytofu.com/how-to-pack-for-a-1-year-round-the-world-trip/
http://alittleadrift.com/rtw-travel/rtw_packing/ (includes a female packing list)
http://blog.hostelbookers.com/travel/how-to-pack-your-backpack/ (how to best pack your backpack)
http://www.travelindependent.info/whattopack.htm

How will we stay 'connected' on our epic adventure?

The Mongol Rally is the ultimate road trip for 4 plugged in travel bloggers and social media addicts. However traveling across 15 countries for 10,000 miles presents some challenges for even the best techie geeks. I decided to enlist the help of Anil Polat from FoxNomad and Tech Guide For Travel to be our official Mongol Rally Team IT Manager – no geeky glasses or pocket protectors required. He’s an expert at managing your bits and bytes while traveling but we’ll put him to the test in this interview…

CONNECTIVITY

Q: We need to stay plugged in during this 6 to 8 week journey across 15 countries. Our goal is to still put out one short daily blog post, and be able to tweet regularly and update facebook (including uploading small images). What will be our best solution to accomplish this as we cross countries? And what is the realistic solution to accomplish this as we cross countries?

A: I’d first start by checking out WeFi and Jiwire to map out free wifi hotspots and other open connections along your way first. I would also be sure to have Ethernet cables with you for the wireless connections you have to pay for, so you can share a paid connection with one other person . Although that tactic makes for a slower connection for both people, it cuts your Internet costs in half.

For more desperate times – A phone cable might come in handy as well, as you can probably find dial-up connections in all of the countries you’re traveling through. You can search ahead of time to keep a few handy. Furthermore, on the hardware side you can dish about $30 to get a strong USB wireless antenna, effectively widening the range of wifi signals your laptop can reach by several times.

To further Internet-prepare, I’d recommend learning how to, and enabling tethering on each of your mobile phones. Tethering allows you to use your mobile phone data plan to connect your laptops to the Internet. The method varies by phone and it’s almost always an expensive way to get online. However for a few minutes of urgent connectivity it might be worth having the option at hand. There are two good apps for tethering, one is MyWi ($10) and the other is PdaNet ($30). There are free methods as well but they’re very cumbersome and take some time before each connection. AT&T has enabled tethering on their phones if you happen to be using them, so you wouldn’t need an app in that case.

There are also USB modems which let you connect to the Internet over 3G mobile connections that will likely cover much of your route. The major drawback being the price. Generally such services run for $250/month with a limit of about 500 MB. A more expensive but reliable connection would be a portable satellite kit. You’d have a solid Internet connection practically anywhere, even in the most remote of locations. This solution is expensive though, starting at $2,500 for the hardware and costing about $1,000 per month for the data connection itself.

POWER

Q: How can we stay ‘juiced up’ with power during our travels? Most places will have limited plugs and sometimes we’ll be camping with no plugs. I expect we’ll have a minimum of 3 laptops, 4 smart phones, 2 SLRS, and a video camera. Is there one solution that could potentially charge all of these things? Wishful thinking?

A: I would suggest making your laptops the “power stations” if possible – so we’ll work on getting them outlets. All of your other equipment and batteries should be chargeable by USB. Just about anything has a USB-to-most-anything-else adapter so try to get the SLR batteries, smart phones, and video camera compatible with USB. (Something like this can give you even more USB charging space ). Charging over USB slows down the process for the devices (and laptop as well) but saves you precious outlets when they’re at a premium. A power strip with surge protection can also give you more plugs when there’s only one available. Neatly enough, some even have USB ports as well for even more charging options

When you’re using your laptops and have limited access to a power, make the most out of what you have. Give yourself more battery life by shutting off wifi (use only as needed), dimming the screen, and keeping you laptops cool by not putting them on your lap, aka. warm legs. Running only one or two applications at a time will also make your computer processor work less, run cooler, and extend battery life ever so much. When you’re not using your laptops, shut them down or put them in hibernate (not sleep) modes so they don’t leak power while you’re driving.

Finally, I don’t know if any of you are on the laptop market, but an inexpensive netbook (~$200-300) would be a good choice for the trip. They typically have nearly twice the battery life of a standard laptop.

We will have more electronics than camping gear!

SECURITY

Q: Any recommendations on how to keep all of this expensive equipment safe, secure, and hopefully not stolen? We’ll be staying in a new place every night and sometimes will be camping by our car. There will inevitably be times when we have to leave the items in our car. In addition, we will want to be discrete at border crossings.

A: A good laptop lock goes a long way and I would also recommend encrypting each of your laptop hard drives or at least the sensitive folders. TrueCrypt is not only free, but easy to use and very effective. Additionally, ProjectPrey can help you track, lock, and delete any laptop data remotely if you are unfortunate enough to have them stolen.

Good physical storage would be a safe bolted somewhere into the car itself. Several companies make these (for typically guns) and a large one installed by a professional would at least be a major obstacle for a thief in a hurry. It’s not discrete of course, but smaller ones for your passports, money, and other valuables might be worth considering.

BACKUP

Q: Since we don’t have a ton of space, do you have any ideas for backup solutions for all of this digital data we will be capturing. Is there a solution that we can all use so that we can save space in the car?

A: I’m a big fan of CrashPlan and would suggest you use it in two ways. This first method is free – CrashPlan lets you set up other computers as backup destinations. You can all designate each others’ laptop as a destination for part of your data, as well as any desktops you might have access to (for example sitting at your parents’ house.) Since you’re all using Macs, it’s even easier to set up the local network for backup sharing. You just select “Create network” under the Airport wireless icon – on the upper right of the top menu bar. Once everyone joins that local network, CrashPlan will be able to send the backup information between you all. Also Crashplan encrypts all of the data so each backup can’t be read by the host.

The second backup setup involves purchasing their Unlimited Family Plan. It’s $12/month or $119/annually for unlimited online backup storage for up to 10 computers. Yes, it sucks up a bit of bandwidth and requires an Internet connection but runs quietly in the background without interaction after the initial setup.

Another reason you overlap the two methods. Depending on the specific operating systems you’re using, it’s possible to setup a wireless local area network (LAN). That way you can backup to each others’ machine when you don’t have Internet for extended periods of time.

CLEANLINESS:

Q: We will be going where there are no roads which basically means there will be a LOT of dust. Is there any way that we can keep our equipment clean in this type of crazy road trip environment?

A: Dust is a tricky one but by using cans of compressed air regularly you can prevent the buildup around sensitive components. Most electronics manufacturers will have specifications on where focus cleaning in their manuals or will tell you if you ask. For laptops that’s usually around the air vents but for all electronics equipment any openings (e.g. around buttons) should be cleaned often. You could also consider anti-static and dust wipes.

Dust storms are common...and may kill our electronics!

MY CONCLUSION

A super ebook for any tech savy traveler

I loved all of Anil’s advice – I have a lot of follow up to do! If anyone has any leads or names of companies who provide portable satellite kits, please let me know! Else – we are definitely looking into a USB modem and 3G connection. I love the idea of the Ethernet cables as I think it’s always good to have one in your pack. Also I did phone tethering for the first time in Sri Lanka – and it was awesome – and quite cheap there.  Love the power strip idea – will look into it. Plugs are a hot commodity when traveling with bloggers! Also like the idea of physical storage box somewhere in the car. I think the car is less likely to get stolen than the electronics in the car!  I will make sure to write a follow up to this post with what we all decided to do  – what worked, and what didn’t.

Anil not only consults for us when I ask him nicely, he also does other IT consulting and has written a great ebook that every traveler with laptops should have – The Ultimate Tech Guide for Travelers. You can read the review of it on my career break travel site.  The best part though is the book comes with Anil – the tech geek himself!  For a full 6 months after purchasing The Ultimate Tech Guide For Travel you get one-on-one technical support for anything you read in the book.

If anyone else has advice or gear leads for us – please share it in the comments!

Travel with excessive photo gear!

This week a friend and I are actually traveling on a ‘hi-speed’ roadtrip through the National Parks of the Southwest. We are stopping at major photography sites such as Death Valley, Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Hoover Dam, and Antelope Canyon to name a few. My friend is a photography enthusiast so as you can guess our rental car is full of photography gear!

Doing a simple one week road trip with camera gear is pretty easy compared to how I normally travel (remote countries on a tight budget). When traveling by rental car, I always have a place to lock away my equipment, I don’t have to carry it all with me and only take what I need at a particular site.

A couple of months ago I had a question from a reader of Ottsworld about how I travel with my photography gear. It was a great question and I’m guessing more of you out there may want to know the answer – so in honor of my National Parks photography road trip, I thought I’d feature it in Q&A this week!

Q: From Jason
I’m a newcomer to the career break world, I’ve wanted to do this for many years, but it wasn’t until now that it became a real possibility. I’m very excited about it. Like you, I have a passion for photography. I plan on taking advantage of the opportunity to enjoy this photo hobby of mine as much as possible, of course.

My question is: how do you transport your photo gear? I know you use a backpack for all else; but do you typically carry a separate day-pack/bag for your camera and lenses / tripod / whatever?

Basically, I’d hate the chance of being forced to check in my photo gear on a flight! But at the same time, I’m thinking it may be difficult to move around with a big back, plus another smaller backpack with photo gear.

A:
As for transporting my gear – my gear consists of my DSLR, 3 lenses, cards, battery recharger, sometimes a flash, sometimes filters, and a point and shoot camera that does video. Plus my macbook, iphone, and a card reader and backup 500 G drive.
I NEVER check any of this stuff- I always carry it on – I’m way too paranoid!

Carrying everything and still a hand free for a cup of coffee

I have a couple of different methods depending on how long I’m traveling for. On an around the world trip for a year – I have a rolling suitcase for my clothes, a daypack for my laptop/books/etc, and my camera case that I sling across my chest. That way I can carry everything. I always carry-on the backpack and the camera case on the plane.

My backpack (daypack) is AWESOME – great for the techie gear – It’s a Brenthaven Expandable Trek Laptop Backpack

It actually will fit my laptop plus my camera and lenses (in their cases) if I want – it still has room for a couple of books and other small travel stuff though.  When I do fill it up and carry it on, it is most certainly over weight restrictions – but I’ve never been asked to weight it!

My camera case is very simple – like this one – Tamrac 515 Compact Zoom Pack (Black) Then I simply hang my lenses (or flash or filters) off the sides of this holster and remove then when I don’t want to take them with me. I love this holster concept and just add the pieces you want to the sides – it’s perfect for me when I don’t want to take everything, but at the same time it can easily accommodate a camera and 2 lenses off the sides.

No airline has ever stopped me for taking a backpack and the camera case as a carry on – not sure why – but it has worked for 4 years!

How do other people out there carry their photo equipment?

Camera Gear

Getting the shot at Horseshoe bend this week!

To view the shot of Horseshoe bend that I was risking my life for…check out my Photo of the Week!

Please send more questions that you want to ask me about my travels or living abroad – I’m always happy to answer them!

Me traveling near Ubud Bali

The movie Eat Pray Love has hit the big screens around the world (yet sadly not where I’m currently at in Belgium), however it has caused a flurry of activity in the world of travel writing as people pick apart the adaptation of the book-to-movie, Julia Roberts’ laugh/smile, and the story in general.

When I first started travel blogging in 2006, every other email I received compared me to Elizabeth Gilbert – I was flattered, but also a bit jealous I didn’t have a book deal! With the movie being released, it has brought up all of those questions again. I recently was asked to answer a few questions about EPL and my relation to it for another website, so I decided to share my answers with my readers too since you all seem to be so intent on comparing me to Elizabeth Gilbert!

How often has someone recommended EPL to you?
Quite often. Many women who read my website will often start off with the sentence “You are just like Elizabeth Gilbert”. This always confuses me because I don’t think I’m anything like her – except for the travel part. And the fear of commitment part. And the wanting no kids part. Hmmm…maybe I need to give this more thought.

Have you actually read EPL and what did you think?
Yes, I read the book before it really became a phenomenon in early 2006. A friend who knew I was preparing to take a career break and travel gave me the book as a gift. I didn’t really know a thing about it at the time, but was immediately absorbed into the story. I loved the first part, ‘Eat’, so much I would highlight sections I felt I could relate to or agree with. I was skeptical about ‘Pray’ since I’m not really into yoga or meditation, but it surprisingly won me over. However the book lost me at the ‘Love’ part. I honestly loved the book so much up until that point and then I thought Nooooooo – don’t do this…don’t make this about a relationship and finding a man! It pained me to think the story about a thirty something woman going out and finding herself through cultural travel wasn’t enough; they had to throw the romance in. I have nothing against romance, but I thought it was good enough to stand on it’s own before the ‘Love’ section.

How often has someone compared your travel experience to EPL?
Many times people try to compare it but I’m not thrilled when they do it since my 15 months of travel certainly had no love connections in it. I used to have people tell me before I left that I would meet a husband somewhere exotic in the world. But when you travel solo, I find that it’s hard to meet the opposite sex as you always have to have your guard up, be in control and aware. That’s especially the case if you move around a lot.
I think if you slow down and spend more time in a place like Elizabeth did, then you an start to let down your guard as you become familiar with the area and make friends.
I’ve had many people tell me I should write a book about my travels like Eat Pray Love; this makes me laugh because I know it’s already been done and my story doesn’t have a Hollywood ending which is really appealing to the general public who are always looking for fairy tale endings. However, I think if I did write a book it will be called Eat, Pray, Reality.

What makes your travel experience different from EPL?
First, I didn’t do it to run away from anything, I did it out of a huge sense of curiosity and an overwhelming desire to live every day to the fullest. I thought there must be more to life than my commute and cubicle. Second, I was on the move a lot more covering 23 countries in my career break travels. I also did a variety of cultural exchanges and volunteer work.

Is there any book, movie or traveler that inspired your own journey? If yes, who/what?
My inspiration to travel evolved over a long time and many different small inspirations. It started strangely with the adventure race show called Eco Challenge which in which people would do adventure racing in parts of the globe I had never heard of. Since I was a marathon runner I was intrigued by the athleticism AND the strange, exotic places they raced in. Then I read the book Honeymoon with my Brother and loved the thought of escaping it all. I loved reading about Africa. But most of my inspiration came from my short ‘vacations’ abroad where I would meet Australians or Europeans who were traveling long term. They fascinated me and I realized how narrow minded my culture had made me. I looked up to these grizzled travelers and then it became a challenge to me to see if I could do it. I wanted to really understand the mindset of traveling long term and not worrying about what was to come next. Ultimately it was the mix of curiosity, desire to be different, and the mental/physical challenge that were my inspirations.  However, I will admit that I did go to Ubud in Bali thanks to reading EPL – so I guess it did have some influence on my itinerary!

In addition to this interview, I recently did a guest post on how the story of Eat Pray Love teaches you 5 important travel lessons. Please go check out the post and leave some comments on The Indie Travel Podcast – it has sparked some good conversation!

Finally –Eat Pray Love was the inspiration for my co-creation of Meet, Plan, Go! If you are looking for more ‘real life’ travel inspiration, then check out Meet, Plan, Go! events happening in 13 cities across the US and Canada. For those of you longing to take a career break and do extended travel, this is your chance to meet real life people who have done it and learn how they accomplished it. You may never get to meet Elizabeth Gilbert – but you can meet our wonderful Meet, Plan, Go! hosts in your area!
Find information on Meet, Plan, Go! locations and sign up at our site – www.meetplango.com

Travel Questions? Ask Them!

I get many emails from travelers all over the world asking me questions about my travels.  Here are some of the recent ones that are great to share with everyone!  If you have a question, don’t hesitate to ask!

Q:  From Anna in New York city – I’m planning a trip to start in December ’10 and have questions…
Did you travel with a laptop? Was that a good idea or bad?

A:  Yes, I travel with a laptop, however I use it to write and blog while I’m in the road. So I’m probably not the average traveler when it comes to carrying a laptop.  First I would recommend really considering what you want to use a laptop for while traveling.  Once you can answer that, then you can start to figure out what type of equipment is right for you.  For me, a long term traveler, it is really nice to have your own laptop to use for skype, travel research on your next destination, upload photos as a backup, and to simply stay in touch without having to use an internet cafe. However if you’re not a travel blogger, then I would recommend getting a cheap travel netbook (mini laptop) to simply have some internet access, and upload/backup photos.  If it’s cheap, then you won’t feel as bad if it’s lost or stolen. You can now get little travel laptops for about $500 and they are really just used for internet and some storage space.  That way it won’t take up much room, if it gets lost or stolen you haven’t invested a ton, but easier to use than an iphone or droid as you’ll have a full keyboard. Here’s a recent review from PC World about The Best Laptops, Netbooks, and Smartphones for Travel.

Here’s another good post about 7 tips for taking a laptop traveling, the author lists some good things to consider if you considering taking hardware with you!

If you decide to take it with you – then here’s a must read from my friend Anil at Foxnomad (he’s a security guru!) – The Traveler’s Guide to Locking Down Your Laptop

Blogging in Action at an airport in Vietnam

Q:  How did you get internet access?

A:  Depending on where you are going wireless internet may be free, or you may have to pay for it. I can safely say that all thru SEAsia(and most of Asia) – you can find it for free. Also – unlike America, most coffee shops, hotels, and airports also have internet and it’s normally free if you are a ‘guest’ there. Sometimes in Europe you’ll have to pay. If you know where you’ll be staying – you can contact them and find out if they offer internet. When I stay in hostels or choose hotels, I only choose places that offer wireless internet – else I won’t stay there. That way after touring around all day I can sit in my room and write or catch up on emails.

A decent source to find public access Wifi spots is Wifinder – just put in your location and see what’s around you.  It’s not completely up to date, but it will give you a good start if you are researching a travel location.

Finally, I would also highly recommend bringing an ethernet cable with you as you never know when you’ll have trouble connecting wirelessly on old routers, etc.  By bringing an ethernet cable – you may just be able to directly ‘plug into’ the internet and skip the wireless hassles.

Q:  Did you really write and upload photos in the internet cafes?

A:  When I first started traveling, yes, that’s how I did it. – I had a little card reader and would plug in via USB port at internet cafes and slowly try to upload my photos. It was painstaking. Once I started taking my laptop with me, I could at least get the photos on my laptop, even if the internet connection was too slow to upload them to the photo site I keep at Smugmug. So at least I had a backup – which was important to me. Yes, I also did the writing in internet cafes. Which the amount I write now, I don’t think that would ever work for me again. I find it so much easier to have my own laptop to travel with. However it is extra weight and security concerns. That’s why I suggest getting a cheap one for travel.

Q:  What blogging software do you use for Ottsworld?

A:  I use WordPress. We also use it on Briefcase to Backpack, Meet Plan Go, and Auraliya (my many sites!). It’s a great free software that is constantly updated and provides a lot of flexibility – and most importantly you don’t have to be a tech genius! You can have a free acount on WordPress - or simply choose your own host and download WordPress for free and then customize it.

Keep the questions coming!  Or if you have experience traveling with a laptop and want to provide Anna with more info – please leave a comment below!

I get many emails from travelers all over the world asking me questions about my travels.  Here are some of the recent ones that are great to share with everyone!  If you have a question, don’t hesitate to ask!

Q:  from Dave – Brooklyn

I came across your blog and was very impressed by your decision to leave your corporate life and travel. My wife and I are planning a similar trip next year and would like to spend some time in SE Asia. I have a question regarding how you managed your cash while in Vietnam.  Did you use ATMs primarily or is there some other method. I bank with HSBC which is pretty global but I would like to avoid ATM fees. Also, did you use a special kind of mobile phone. I’m wondering if I should get an AT&T travel plan and then use my phone abroad.

A:

You ask a great question – and I have some good news – there are HSBC ATMS’s all over Saigon (and Hanoi).  I ALWAYS manage my cash via ATM when traveling – it really is the easiest way and you get the best conversion rate – plus you don’t have to carry so much cash with you at once.  Nearly everywhere I’ve went in the world I’ve been able to find ATMS that work (Peru and parts of S. America and Africa were a bit difficult to find an ATM that took Mastercard backed debit cards).  ATMS’s in other countries rarely charge transaction fees – or you can talk to your bank and see if they can waive it somehow while you are international.  Don’t use Travelers checks – they are certainly a thing of the past.  I normally simply travel with ATM card and carry a bit of emergency US dollars (in new bills as some countries won’t accept old bills) just in case I can’t find another alternative.

Regarding your question about cell phone – my best advice is to use your existing phone – but unlock it from your US carrier so that you can add other SIM cards.  When I arrive in a country – I just buy a SIM card from that country (if I plan to be there for a while) and use that – it’s so much cheaper.  The US carriers will still charge you way too much; even on their ‘international plans’.  I can’t stress enought the benefit of an unlocked phone.  The US is the only place in the world that locks their phone to specific carriers and it’s really frustrating.  If you need to unlock your phone – just do some searches on craigs list and you’ll find people that will do it.  I went to China Town in NYC and had mine unlocked – there’s a hacker somewhere who will do it!  Or just buy a cheap simple phone in a different country and use that as your ‘travel phone’.  If it’s cheap enough…no one will want to steal it!

Q:  from Susan – Ireland

Wondered if you can recommend specific TEFL programmes? I have a ton of work experience, including teaching and training, as well as a good educational background, but I assume for most positions now days, you must be TEFL certified? and i hear that CELTA is the best?

A:

I can’t say that I’m any expert on ESL certification.  I can only tell you that I did some research and decided to get my CELTA certification as I had also heard it was the best.  Yet in retrospect – I don’t think it CELTA vs. TEFL matters at all – especially with your other credentials.  I took my certification while in NYC – but it’s much more expensive to do in the US.  The school where I taught in Vietnam actually offered CELTA certification there for half the price and then you could apply for jobs with them.  So – it’s good to potentially research potential certification options (TEFL or CELTA) in the city where you want to travel to.  Also with credentials like yours – you may not need any further certification  - you may be able to apply for university ESL jobs in various cities…which would pay better!  CELTA certification doesn’t teach you anything about grammar…it teaches you how to teach and manage a classroom – these are skill you likely already have!  A good place to look for what jobs are out there and what the requirements are is TEFL.com – I get their daily newsletter about openings around the world.

Ottworld Q&A is Back!

Real questions from you…the lovely people who actually read this blog (thank you, thank you!!) These people contacted me through email and I’ve received permission to reprint their questions and my answers on my site so that everyone can benefit (even you shy people that are too scared to comment or send me an email!) If you have questions for me about travel, Vietnam, Asia, expat living, solo travel, career breaks, photography, flashpacking, female travel, thirtysomething trials & tribulations, ESL, how to eat noodles with chopsticks, or how to remove leaches – please leave a comment and I’ll add your question to my next segment of Q&A!

Blogging

Q:  Did you have the foresight to create your website as it is today when you started traveling?

A:  I definitely didn’t have any foresight when I started my blog 3 years ago! I simply started it as a way to let my family and friends know I was ok AND as a way to share my photography. It was started on a free blog on Bootsnall and that’s where I kept it for the 14 months I was traveling. I noticed that I seemed to have a lot of people reading my stories and I started to try to organize the stories better, make them more readable, and offer information I thought people would want to know. The whole thing completely evolved as I traveled. If you look back at the first posts - they were quite different!

Q:  If you did start out small, how and when did you decide to transition to the more professional format you have now?

A:  started to get a bit frustrated that I couldn’t do as much with the blog as I wanted to (adding features and functions – I needed more flexibility). I wanted to break out of the template that Bootsnall provided and do my own thing (yet I really didn’t have any technical ability!) In addition, I was tired of Bootsnall making money from the ads that they placed along the sidebar of my site. I wanted more control – so I decided to educate myself on how to go about all of this myself. I bought a book “WordPress for Dummies”  and used that to choose a host, chose a theme, and then I actually hired Nomadic Matt  to help me move my old blog to my new one and redesign it a bit. I had met him via my blog and we had exchanged some emails. This was when Nomadic Matt was just starting out, so it was fun to work together and assist each other.

Q:  When were you able to start writing for other publications – and how were you able to bridge to that work?

A:  I actually started writing for other travel websites about 3 months after I started traveling. I first submitted some articles to Bootsnall  since I was familiar with them. Then I found another new website (at the time) InTravel  – and started submitting things to them. I would mainly take things I had already written and reformulate them a bit. Granted – all of this writing was for no money; just the joy of having my work and stories read by a bigger audience. Once again, at the time I had no big blogging or writing expectations. I also started submitting photo essays to Pology – one of my favorite online travelizines. I kept getting rejected – but I kept trying. After about a year they finally accepted my photography of Laos!  At that time I also sent emails to some of my favorite podcast hosts to simply let them know how much I loved their shows and how they were an essential tool for my travels around the world. They wrote me back and asked me to be on their shows…which also helped get my stories out there to a new audience. This all came from a simple kind hearted gesture – no grand plan.

A few questions about the language and cooking school I attended in Italy.

Q:  I’ve been reading your site for a while and I was reading your latest post and wondering if you could let me know the name of the Italian school you went to for language & cooking. I have a few weeks coming up with nothing to do and would love to do something like that!

A:  The Italian school I attended in Sorrento was called Sorrento Lingue – here’s the link – http://www.sorrentolingue.com/ They organized the cooking class with the language class – but you could do both separately if you want. You can also stay at the cooking class place as it’s a little guest house too and they are so nice – it’s a short bike ride to the school each morning. The cooking school is called Mami Camilla’s - http://www.mamicamilla.com/

Q:  I somehow stumbled upon your story about your time spent at Mami Camilla. I am thinking about taking the pizza classes that they offer. Can you add a little more insight about the place……also where did you stay for the month that you were there?…Is staying in a room at Mami Camilla an option?

A:  Mami Camilla’s is superb! I really felt like I was part of their family for a month. I was there 2 years ago – but at that time, yes you could stay in a room in their guesthouse/dorm if you are looking for a budget place. I think they also have other rooms too. I actually highly recommend staying there – it’s nice as you meet so many other travelers, you have an instant Italian family, and you can eat there at night for a great bargain and the food is amazing! Best deal in/near Sorrento. You are about 5 km from Sorrento – but they have bikes there you can rent/borrow and you can easily get into the beach/town, etc. I rented a bike from them for a month and that’s how I got around everywhere. The classes were really fun and laid back for the amateur cook definitely.

I’ve been blogging now for close to 3 years and I get questions from strangers weekly.  The questions range from

“Are you rich?”
“How can I do what you are doing”
“How did you come up with the name for your cat?”
“What did you pack?”
“At what point did you know you were going to take a career break?”
“Where should I go in SE Asia?”
“How do I become certified to teach abroad?”

 …the list can go on. 

I always take the time to answer these questions to the people individually, however I realized that there’s a lot of good information in those answers that other people might want to know.  So I decided to post some of the recent questions that I’ve had as a little Q&A section.

If you have questions for me – please don’t hesitate to send them to me via comments on this post, or just send me an email!

1. Would you write an article on the safety as a women solo traveler- are there any precautions you had to take, or did you feel safe everywhere? If not, can you give me some pointers? I have been traveling solo in Europe (Paris, Prague, Ireland, and Poland; living in London as an American to be able to afford my travels) but want to go to South America, Asia and Africa in the next few years. Should I take any precautions? Thanks!

I can consider trying to do an article specifically on safety – I’ll put it on my list of future posts. You are the first reader to ever made a recommendation…I love it! A quick answer though…I felt pretty safe everywhere. Eygpt and Morroco were probably the hardest for me. It’s just a different culture when it comes to women in public, and they have some pretty screwed up notions about western women in general. As for Asia – it’s actually very, very safe. Sure, there’s petty theft , but nothing major at all. You just need to be smart and a bit ‘cold’ sometimes. I actually took a lot of boxing before I left on my trip…not for the trip, but because I loved it, but it did make me walk with more confidence for sure. My one piece of advice is to leave your hostel/hotel with only minimal things…not too much cash, not too many electronics, etc. I always walked outside and thought to myself, if all of this gets stolen, will I be crushed…if so, then I went back inside and downsized and then came back out!

2. How did you learn photography? Its amazing.

I took a couple of great photography classes the year before I left on my trip at PhotoManhattan. The teacher was great and it was certainly a class about photography, and not just how to use your camera or how to take vacation snapshots. It was really thorough. I practiced a ton before I left doing little exhibitions for the school, and then when I started traveling I was taking hundreds of pictures a day. You are bound to improve when you do that! If you look at my first pictures of Africa and my last ones of Laos - they improved immensly!  In addition, while traveling I did hire a professional photo journalist in Thailand to travel with me and help me improve my skills – he did a great job!

3. Any tips or ideas for income for us non-writers, non computer wizards? I would like to learn a new skill to take with me on the road, so if you have any tips let me know.

First of all, I would like to stop and consider the fact that you think I’m a ‘computer wizard’….wait a minute while I stop laughing.  I’m sure all of my past colleagues are also laughing…really, you can stop now, it’s not funny any longer. 

I’m actually far from being a ‘computer wizard’, but thanks for thinking that I am! 

This was a great article about how to travel and work abroad…I loved it – so check it out, it will give you many ideas! It’s from the Professional Hobo, Nora Dunn, a good writer that’s on the road now living what she preaches about!