Tropical Hawaii - Hilo Rainforests

For me, travel is about experiences and connecting with people. When I make a connection with people in a destination, then it will turn into one of those magical places that will be on my ‘favorite’ list for years to come. That is what the Big Island of Hawaii was for me. I made many connections while I was there that will keep me going back to revisit friends, and find new adventures.

I had eight days on the island, a car, and a passion to explore the diversity of the Big Island of Hawaii. For anyone who is looking for a Hawaiian vacation that is ‘not the normal beach vacation’ then here’s my itinerary to something different.

My Big Island Itinerary

Hilo and Around

It’s a great place to start on the Big Island, but be warned, it’s not the sunny Hawaii you may be dreaming of; it receives 75 to 125 inches of rain a year and it will rain pretty much every day at some point. However it keeps Hilo looking fresh, green, and cool. Rent a car and use Hilo as a home base for a few days. You can fly directly into the Hilo Airport.  From Hilo you can visit Volcanoes National Park in a short 40 min. drive, see Akaka Falls, or do a day drive to Puna.

Volcanoes National Park – You can drive the Chain of Craters Road yourself and stop anywhere you’d like to see the stunning landscapes, or you can take a complete tour of the park and see the glowing caldera at night with Hawaii Forest and Trail’s Twilight Volcano Tour.

From your home base in Hilo, don’t miss the beautiful winding roads of the Puna region.  If you are looking for beauty and seclusion then you’ve found it on Hwy 137. Pack picnic lunch and go eat on the secluded shore line and watch the waves crash against the jagged coast.

Akaka Falls – The biggest waterfall you can easily view on the Big Island is Akaka Falls and it a very short drive from Hilo. As you drive there you may ever get to see the summit of Mauna Kea if it’s a clear day!

Time to bid goodbye to the rain and head for the pastureland of Waimea.

Waimea and Around

Now you can use Waimea as a home base to explore the rolling hills and deep cut valleys of Waipi’o Valley. A great base in Waimea is the Aloha Vacation Cottages where you will have everything you ever needed for a delightful stay.

On your way to from Hilo to  Waimea be sure to stop near Honokaa and add a little sweetness to your day at the Volcano Island Honey Farm.  Pick up some rare organic silk honey, learn about the amazing lives of bee colonies, and meet Richard – a very unique bee keeper.

Farms & Ranches of the Big Island

Get an early start to the morning and do a little work on vacation; yes that’s right work. Be sure to try your hand at being a Hawaiian cowboy (Paniolo) and herd cattle at the Dahana Ranch.  This is the only place on the island that allows you to participate in an actual cattle drive and it’s absolutely worth it. It was the highlight of my trip on the Big Island.

Now since you’ve worked up an appetite, make a lunch stop at the Hawaiian Vanilla Company and pick up some delicious souvenirs to take home with you while learning all about how to cultivate vanilla orchids.

Take a day to discover some hidden beaches on the Kohala Coast from your base in Waimea. Stay for sunset and catch some great photo ops.

Kailua Kona and Around

Head down to your final location for the week to the pleasant beach town of Kailua Kona and use it as your last base to explore. Kona Hula Girl provides a great location to be near the famous Kona Brewery and the shops, restaurants, and beaches. (plus they will give you a discount if you mention Ottsworld!)

Lay on the beach and enjoy poke and watch sea turtles dive in the morning and then drive to Mauna Kea Summit to watch the spectacular sunset from the tallest mountain in the world. Or try to book an star gazing tour from Kailua Kona and have them take you to the peak, view the massive telescopes, and see star formations from a beautiful vantage point.

Finally, I suggest you end your time on the Big Island with a special treat that will bring the whole week long experience on the Big Island together; a helicopter ride! It’s a great way to see the ‘big picture’ of the Big Island from above This is your chance to see the lava flow from an amazing vantage point!

You can turn in your rental car at the Kona airport and fly out back to mainland having experienced the diversity of the Big Island.

The Big Island is a great place to rent a car!

What other non-beach experiences do you recommend for the Big Island?

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

An essential item in Spain

We all know how to look like a tourist; carry a camera, map, wear tennis shoes and white socks. But how to you fit into a culture?  There are a few things I observed about the locals in Barcelona and with these tips, you can fit in too.

Carry a fan.

A woman on the metro fans herself

One of my favorite things about Spain culture is the fact that everyone carries a fan. I used to think those fans were just for show – but not at all. I saw them being used on the subway, in the market, walking down the street, by women, by men, and by all ages. I even bought my own.

Stay in an apartment in a local neighborhood.

A quiet neighborhood is a great place to meet locals

I found that by staying in an apartment in Barcelona it was a great way to learn more about the locals and see how to better fit in. After all, by staying in a local neighborhood instead of a tourist hotel I was forced to get out to the grocery store, meet neighbors, and see the day to day life in Barcelona.

Stay up late.

This culture is all about late nights. People don’t go to eat here until around 10PM, which means on a weekend they go to the bars at midnight and clubs not before 3AM. All ages seem to be out late – kids, grandparents, and of course teenagers. Granted – I don’t think everyone goes clubbing, but they do enjoy the late nights and being outside.

Take a nap.

Siesta in the Sun

The Spanish really do have the right idea – you are never too old for a nap. If you are going to stay up late, then you better make sure you get your siesta from 2 to 5PM. Prior to siesta, everyone goes to the market gets what they need, goes home, makes lunch, and then promptly takes a nap. Granted – not everyone does this, but they should!

Shop with wheels.

Locals don't go anywhere without their wheelie bag!

The sidewalks are littered with bags on wheels. Since Barcelona is traditional European city, there are no real big ‘super-stores’, instead the locals simply walk to their neighborhood market and get what they need on a frequent basis. Since everyone walks, they all pull a little bag with wheels to put all of their shopping purchases in and then wheel them back home. In grocery stores they even have a little ‘parking’ area for these carts so you can store your wheelie bag while you shop.

Eat Small.

Small bites frequently

It’s all about tapas – small bites with wine. I have yet to see many restaurants where you sit down and have a big meal. Instead people tend to eat small amounts and eat frequently.  My neighborhood was full of little tapa restaurants where the locals would sit, eat, drink, and gossip.

When you travel to Barcelona, make sure you wander out of the touristy Las Ramblas and see how the locals live when in Barcelona!

What other suggestions do you have to fit in like a local in Barcelona?  Please share in the comments!

Disclosure: Oh Barcelona Apartments hosted my accommodation in Barcelona. However, all of the opinions expressed here though are my own – as you know how I love to speak my mind!

Non-verbals will take you around the world!

Sometimes I feel like I speak in mime. The universal travel language doesn’t contain words; it contains gestures. When I take a step back and see how I’ve traveled to 50+ countries without ever knowing another language – I am amazed at how far a few gestures can get you.

I’ve compiled a list of the most important and universal ones that I find myself using all the time. Theses non-verbal gestures are known all over the world and will keep you communicating with locals as if you were old friends.

Heyyyyy!

Thumbs Up

This gesture isn’t just for Arthur Fonzerelli – it is used all over the world
Action: put your hand in a fist and stick your thumb out straight so that it’s pointing upward….Heeyyyyyyyy.
Meaning: I’m good, it’s good, I like it, yes, great, I am ok
Generally it’s positive and goes along with raised eyebrows and a toothy smile.

Check Please!
I’ve eaten all over the world and one thing holds true if you want the check/bill, there’s only one gesture that is known throughout the world. I’m a bit embarrassed to say that even though I lived in Vietnam for a year I never did learn the word for bill or check – I simply used this gesture. Lazy…yes, but effective.
Action: Hold one hand as if it’s a notepad and the other hand should be miming writing on the notepad/hand. Hold it up high so the waiter can see it and make eye contact. You’ll have your bill in no time!
Meaning: May I have my bill please?, I’d like to pay now.

How Much?
I always recommend having a calculator within reach when you travel. It’s used constantly to bargain at markets or simply understand the price of something. But before you start to haggle with the calculator, first you have to find out a starting point.
Action: Hold your hand out with your palm facing up. Bring all of your fingers together so the tips are touching. Then with your fingers pointing upwards, rub your thumb and first two fingers together.
Meaning: How much does ‘X’cost?, What’s the price?

Sleep
We had a lot of trouble finding hotels and hostels during the Mongol Rally thanks to language barriers. We would get a blank stare if we asked where a hotel was, but when we used body language to try to find a hotel – we always got a smile and an answer. Granted – I can’t say that we always found the said hotel, but we tried.
Action: Put your hands with your palms together in the prayer position and then put them on the side of your head and act as if you are laying on them like a pillow. It is most effective when you close your eyes too!
Meaning: I want to sleep., Where is s hotel?, I’m tired, I need to find a bed

Conversations with a smile

Smile
This is by far the easiest and most understood gesture in the world. A smile speaks words and is probably the easiest way to get people to open up to you.
Action: no explanation necessary!
Meaning: – I like you, Welcome!, I’m happy to be here.

With these frequently used gestures, you’ll be able to communicate around the world!

What are some of your most used nonverbal when you travel?  Have they worked or do you get blank stares?

You guys can guess what this non-verbal means!

The campus of 'Iolani School in Honolulu

“What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever done?”
“So….(big pause) you don’t live anywhere?”
“What’s the grossest thing you’ve eaten?”
“What are some good volunteer programs?”
“What made you decide to quit your job?”
“Do you file/pay taxes?”
“Do you ever worry about your safety?”
“What’s your favorite country?”

For the last two days I’ve been questioned. The questions have come from some surprising characters – surfers, fishermen, librarians, teachers, Superman, Mini Mouse, and even Jesus! Instead of hitting the Hawaii beaches and hiking trails for the past two days, I’ve been hitting the books instead; at school.

I have been a guest of the ‘Iolani School, a private college prep school in Honolulu. No, I haven’t decided to start teaching again, instead I was asked to come speak to the students and faculty about my travels, photography, and online businesses. My speaking engagements spread out over two days, but one of those days happened to be Halloween – hence Jesus, fisherman, Superman, and Mini Mouse! It was definitely my best-dressed audience ever.

I love speaking at schools; influencing students when they are young and open to possibilities is the best time to plant seeds. I consider how my life might have been different if I had been exposed to travel younger or the possibilities of other careers rather than the normal career path. I wonder if I would have went a different direction outside of the ‘safe’ Accounting path in college. I wonder if I would have looked into study abroad programs or considered taking a gap year? One will never know, and I certainly don’t regret any of my decisions, but I do think that life is full of little moments which influence you and change your path; especially when you are young. The path is easy to change when you are young. But when you are entrenched in mid-life responsibilities, it becomes infinitely harder.

My teacher host, Mr. Brasher (Mark – who is a friend of mine!), suggested that I dress as I do when I’m traveling; he felt the kids would feel it was more authentic. Ok – no problem, I can forgo showering and wear sandals if I must!

I did 4 different presentations at ‘Iolani school – each vastly different and each equally fun. First I spoke to high school age Young Entrepreneurs about my online businesses and the industry behind search engine optimization, and social media marketing. I’m pretty sure they were a bit surprised to find out that all of that time they spend on Facebook could actually be used for running a business one day. Hopefully I made them think about marketing and Google Search results in a different way.

Presenting for the Entreprenuriel Students

Next up – 7th Grade Geography and culture. This is one of my favorite things to talk to kids about! I focused on the Mongol Rally and the charity work, plus what it’s like to live in Vietnam. Showing them food, transportation, and home life from countries that are vastly different than America can be mind blowing to kids! The biggest oohs and ahhs are always the motorbike refrigerator picture and the man eating a scorpion picture; guaranteed excitement for 7th graders. We do quizzes about food, country locations, and I even hand out money from around the world. The excitement of telling a kid they just won $5000 Vietnamese Dong is pretty fun…until they figure out it’s worth about 30 cents…AND they have to go to Vietnam to use it!

I then switched to Photography students, a subject that I rarely get to talk about. I carried in all of my gear and showed them everything I use. We talked about travel photography, tips for making your travel pictures more effective, composition, and how to determine what to shoot. Hopefully I gave the teacher a few good ideas for homework assignments in the future!

Me in front of the beautifu 'Iolanil landscaping...notice all of the leis!

Finally I graduated to talking to the teachers about doing meaningful summer travel and Meet Plan Go! I remind them of how lucky they are when it comes to travel. They are one of the only professions that get extended time off regularly, and get paid during that time including benefits; these are two of the biggest hurdles to career break and sabbatical travel for most people and professions! They already eliminated two hurdles…now they just need to get out and go! Volunteering, charity work, budget travel were hot topics for the teachers and I was able to provide them with some resources where they could get more information and hopefully provided them a little inspiration to start to take advantage of their summers off.

It was a full two days of presentations, but I loved every minute of being on campus. I love seeing kids who have the whole world ahead of them with so many possibilities. I love the fact that they are fearless and haven’t yet inherited all of the conservative adult ways that infiltrate us as each year passes.

I was showered with leis and applause in each class and hopefully got a few people thinking different about travel.

Now…it’s time to go work on my tan…Hawaii is calling!

Oh – and here’s the answers to those questions!

Checking out the lockers...

“What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever done?” – Mongol Rally
“So….(big pause) you don’t live anywhere?” – Yes, that’s right, I live out of the suitcase for the last 5 years.
“What’s the grossest thing you’ve eaten?” – It’s a toss up between lamb brain & rat
“What are some good volunteer programs?” – GeoVisions.com Conversation Corps, or GoOverseas.com to provide a list of volunteer opportunities by country/city
“What made you decide to quit your job?”  I realized that I even though I was good at what I did, I didn’t really like it.
“Do you file/pay taxes?”  Yes – of course!!
“Do you ever worry about your safety?” – No.  You simply have to be smart about your travels.  And know that you are never really alone unless you want to be.
“What’s your favorite country?”  Impossible to choose a favorite – but Mongolia, Nepal, Vietnam, Jordan are some of my favorites!

It's your choice.

Yesterday I had a choice to make. I went with a friend to her gym to work out quick before we explored wineries in California’s Shenandoah Valley. She thought that she could get a guest in for free, but the manager at the desk told me it would be $15 to come and work out as a guest. I was only going to be there an hour, and the thought of spending $15 on one hour was a hard thing to swallow for my budget.

I thought about it for a bit, and decided that I would save the $15 and simply run outside. Sure- it was very hot out and I didn’t really know the area, but I didn’t feel that using a treadmill was worth $15. After all, my Meet, Plan, Go! business partner had just created this cool graphic about the cost of $15 at home and abroad and I decided I would save that $15 for my next trip!

Ever since returning from the Mongol Rally, I’ve been frantically preparing for the 2nd annual Meet, Plan Go! events that happen this Tuesday in 17 cities.

Plain and simple, the events are about getting more people out traveling.

Are we going to tell you that it’s easy to leave your job and plan and big trip?  No.
Are we going to tell you that it’s possible to leave your job and take a traveling career break that will benefit your career?  Yes.

Are you spending time putting up barriers to why you can’t take a career break?

The economy is in the toilet
I’m worried about the gap on my resume
It costs too much
I have a family

Maybe you should be choosing to use that time in a more productive manner and start to determine how to overcome those barriers and move in a positive direction. That’s what the Meet, Plan, Go! events can help you do.

It’s all a question of how badly you want it. How badly do you want to make changes in your life (like budget and lifestyle), go against the status quo and take the necessary steps to follow your desires to travel and see the world.

Life is about choices.
You can choose to go out on a limb, or you can choose to do nothing, which effectively means you’re choosing to stay.

Yesterday I made the small choice to save my $15 and put it towards my travels. I choose to go.

For all of you who read my website and think, “I wish I could do that.” I have one question for you.

What will your choice be?

RSVP for Meet, Plan, Go! in 17 cities October 18th, 2011.

Austin | Boston | Chicago | Denver | Honolulu | Las Vegas | Los Angeles
Minneapolis | New Orleans | New York City | Orlando | Portland
San Francisco | Seattle | St. Louis | Toronto | Washington DC

Keep moving!

It’s my sister’s birthday today and I’ve decided to write this blog post for her birthday present. No bows or unwrapping required. Yes, this is what budget bloggers do instead of buying presents…we write. After all, my sister doesn’t need more stuff in her life, but she could use a good Facebook wall update and some tweets.

Strangely this birthday present post has to do with travel and quite frankly something you should all be interested – so don’t tune out…listen up… I promise I won’t make you sing at the end!

Do you ever feel like the universe is speaking to you; tapping you on the shoulder and giving you a stern look that says, “Hey you – pay attention!” Ever since I returned to Mongolia the Universe has spoken to me. It started with my friend David telling me about a co-worker of his who had a sister in the hospital who just had her toes amputated due to a blood clot in her leg that was found too late. Unfortunately the surgery didn’t work and she would be losing her lower leg in the coming days.

A week later I had a call from my sister. It started out normal as I was hopping on a plane the next day to go see her so I figured she was calling about picking me up at the airport. However after the small talk hellos, she said, “I’m in the hospital.” My heart sank and my voice dropped to a serious low octave. “What’s wrong?” I replied.

Cyndi and I hiking in Dali China

She went on to tell me that in the morning she had completely fainted for no reason at home and luckily came to and went to the doctor to see what was wrong. They found blood clots in her legs – Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT), and one had broken free and passed through her heart to her lungs otherwise known as a Pulmonary Embolism (PE). At the point where the clot passed through her heart and into her lung –she fainted.

Now my sister is as healthy as possible. To say that she’s a running and exercise enthusiast is an understatement…fanatic…a bit closer…addicted is probably more like it. (Yes – she’s is probably hating this birthday post right now…) So why all of a sudden was she literally floored one day before her 51st birthday?

This is where travel comes into the story…

Flight Danger

Four days earlier she had returned from a long haul flight from Singapore to Minneapolis. A flight she had taken many times before as she used to live as an expat in Singapore for years. Long haul flights, dehydration, and immobility associated with those flights are a known cause of DVT.

My sister is now out of the hospital, but DVT is not quickly fixed – it sticks with you for upwards of 9 months in the form of medication (blood thinners) that you must take to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Also, currently she has to give herself shots in the abdomen to prevent clotting. All of this medication means no drinking (or very little drinking for 9 months…boo) She joked around that it was like pregnancy…but you really get no reward at the end!

DVT Facts:
A Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) is a clotting of the blood in any of the deep veins – usually in the calf. If a clot develops, it usually makes its presence known by an intense pain in the affected calf. Medical attention should be sought immediately if this occurs, especially after a long journey. In some cases this can be fatal, if the clot breaks off and makes its way to the lungs where it can then affect the lung’s ability to take in oxygen. The DVT risk applies to any form of travel where you are stuck in one place for hours at the time (train, car/bus, or plane)

DVT Symptoms:
DVT can occur some days or even weeks after a trip. In most situations the person will have no symptoms and through normal movement the clot will break up. A large clot can prevent the blood flowing through the veins. When this happens a person might experience pain, redness and swelling in the calf – this pain is made worse when walking or standing. Complications can occur if the clot breaks off and travels to the lungs, blocking the flow of blood. Breathlessness and chest pain can occur hours or days after the clot formation in the calf. This is a potentially fatal condition and urgent medical attention is required.

Reducing your risk:
Those at risk should try to exercise at least every hour on long journeys. Get up and walk around every hour if possible. Exercise the calf muscles by rotating your ankles. Stay well hydrated. Some people also recommend to take aspirin daily 4 days before and after a long haul flight or long journey.

Strangely after this whole episode happened with my sister, I continued to hear stories of DVT from friends of friends randomly. How could these three little letters be so prevalent in my conversations where it never existed before? The Universe was speaking to me.

I’m on long haul flights frequently and I recall hearing things about this in the past; seeing little exercise and stretching diagrams in the backs of seat pockets, but I never really paid attention. In fact, I normally pop a sleeping pill and try to move as little as possible on a long haul flight. However, now I will take heed; I will get up every hour and walk, I will stretch, and I will drink liquids that aren’t solely alcohol. My perfectly healthy sister landing in the ICU was all I needed to jolt me into paying attention; hopefully it did the same for you.

FYI – I’m writing this post at 30,000 feet from the plane on my way to San Francisco; and yes I just got up and walked around and I didn’t even have to go to the bathroom. I also ordered lemonade. So my dear travelers – you should too.

A BIG Happy Birthday to my sister Cyndi who turns 51 years young today! I’m relieved you are ok. Sorry I’m cheap and didn’t get you a present!

Have you or anyone you know ever experienced DVT from long flights or travel? Tell us about it in the comments.

The day I departed from NYC on my career break in 2006

Five years ago today, August 31st, was my last day of work in the corporate world. I had a little box full of personal items from my desk, a big grin on my face, a bit of trepidation in my gut, and a one-way ticket to Africa.

It was supposed to be a career break of one year. However somehow one year has turned into five years. For the last five years I’ve celebrated this momentous occasion in places around the globe:

2007 – Delhi India volunteering
2008 – Puma Nepal trekking and volunteering
2009 – Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam living and teaching ESL
2010 – Brussels, Belgium housesitting
2011 – Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia after finishing the Mongol Rally

I don’t even think I knew some of these places existed or where to find them on a map back in 2006 when I left my office behind. And I certainly would have never expected that 5 years later I would still be traveling.

Me entering Mongolia during the Mongol Rally 5 years later

I don’t consider myself on a career break any longer; travel blogging and running Meet, Plan, Go! is now a lifestyle and a new career. However that initial career break from September 2006 to November 2008 changed my life in many ways…all for the better. It sent me on various different trajectories beyond the cube; but more importantly it changed me inside.

If you are contemplating a career break to do some extended travel, volunteering, or a long crazy adventure like the Mongol Rally then odds are you will experience some of these changes in your life:

Simplicity – a big salary, titles, and offices have little meaning to me any longer. Instead I value experiences. Even if I had gone back to a corporate job, I know for a fact that I value my happiness over a larger salary. I feel as if I’ve finally stepped off the ‘more is better’ lifestyle that we are all destined to live in the US.

Creativity – My left brain woke up on my career break. I thought I had lost my creative side for good after 14 years of conference room meetings, project plans, and bureaucratic corporations. I found new skills and interests in photography, writing, and art. I retrained my brain to make my own decisions and solutions instead of relaying decisions and solutions decided by ‘higher ups’.

Family – I witnessed family culture all over the world which has changed the way that I view my own family relations now. I see my family more often; I depend on them, and value them like I never did before.

Television/Hollywood – I am free from the shackles of living other people’s lives via television and celebrity magazines. I have cut back on the Hollywood hype at least 80%. Sure – I still watch TV, but much less than I ever did before my career break and travels.

Fear – I have learned how to face my fears and push myself beyond my self-imposed limits. The Mongol Rally is a great example of that. Instead of running from things, I face them head on. Life if short, there is no time to be scared.

Time – most importantly my career break gave me time to think. My prior life was full of commitments, meetings, projects, and plans. There was no time to actually rest, think, and evaluate my life and decisions. By stepping off the corporate track and away from what was familiar to me, it freed up my mind. You don’t have to take a long break to do this – but a break is certainly necessary. It’s natural and needed for your mind and body to slow down a bit and re-energize. A two week vacation is not enough time to do that; it’s simply an expensive diversion.

I can’t guarantee that you will have a similar experience as I did on my career break, but it will change you – that I know.

I recently did an interview with Lonely Planet about Career Break Travel Myths – check it out and be prepared to shatter some of the excuses you’ve been using on why you don’t think you can take a career break and travel!

And if you are sitting in your cube terrified by all of this talk of career breaks, but also intrigued at the same time, then be sure to check out my other travel business venture – Meet, Plan, Go!

At Meet, Plan, Go! we are leading the career break movement in North America; encouraging and teaching others how to travel the world and have it be beneficial to your career. We envision a world where the term ‘career break’ is a part of your overall career strategy.

The Meet Plan Go! website was listed recently as one of the best travel websites EVER from the Guardian online.  So be sure to check it out!

Meet Plan Go on our Mongol Rally car in Kazakhstan

Plus, on October 18th, don’t miss our North American Career Break event about how to take the big leap out of the cubicle and onto the plane. We are holding the event in 17 cities staffed with career break and travel experts to inspire and assist you towards your own career break!

What are you waiting for…time is short and the world is big!

Have you taken a career break and traveled?  What did you learn from it?  Please share in the comments below!

Zero Longitude aka Greenwich Mean Time

I was excited when my friend Vera invited me to Greenwich for a rainy Sunday afternoon. This was my chance to complete an important step in my global travels. I had already stood on the equator in Kenya when I began my travels in 2006, and now I would have the opportunity to straddle the Meridian line in Greenwich; I would experience zero longitude!

I hopped online to research the best place to get a picture of the famous line where time seems to stand still. Google delivered my answer swiftly. To get a picture straddling the Meridian line you would need to go to the Royal Observatory and head out in the courtyard where the center of world time is marked with a line and a monument. Perfect – mission accomplished.

People queuing up to get their expensive picture taken at the Observatory

Ahhhh – but wait a second. On my Google search results another headline caught my eye.

“Greenwich Meridian Line Visitors to Pay £10 – Travel News”

My mood dropped as I read the article. As of March 2011, the Observatory started charging 10 pounds to get into the facility, which was the only way you could really take a picture of your feet in two different days. I was quite upset about the whole thing. 10 pounds is 16 US dollars – all for a picture. Sure you could go visit other part of the observatory, but I didn’t really have the time or desire to do that, I simply wanted a picture; and I know I’m not alone in that desire. This new charge comes at a very convenient time as the 2012 Olympics arrive in London and specifically Greenwich in a year’s time. Sounds like the Prime Meridian Line will be prime source of income.

Being a budget traveler, I drew the line at paying $16 for a picture. Hell, the line isn’t just in the observatory, it runs from the North to South pole…I didn’t need the crummy observatory for my picture – I was now on a mission to find a way to get a picture of me on the line for free.

I continued to research online searching and studying maps of the line and where it ran through the city of Greenwich and if there were any markings. The search proved harder than I initially thought. However, I did come across a picture of a street with little dots on it representing the Prime Meridian and it had the title Park Vista. I found the street on the map and was on a mission.

Where to find the Meridian Line outside the Observatory

As soon as I arrived in Greenwich, Vera and I set out to find Park Vista. The location I had identified was just north of the children’s boating pond in the Greenwich Park. Look at a park map and go to Park Row Gate, there you’ll see the beginning of Park Vista street. Walk east on the street and watch the road carefully. You’ll come to some raised metal ‘dots’ in the road – those represent the Meridian! If you look south, you’ll see a little plaque that identified the meridian line too.

Mission Accomplished!

So, if you are heading to Greenwich for the 2012 Olympics in London and want to see and photograph the Prime Meridian, then be sure to save money and go to Park Vista and have your own personal photo shoot for FREE. That’s exactly what Vera and I did…enjoy!

Me in both Sunday and Saturday...

Vera balancing her time

Video of our free visit to the Prime Meridian:

Download a park map with the Meridian Line on it.

Live like a Local in an Apartment

I sat outside in my neighborhood in Barcelona at one of the many outdoor cafes on Avenue de Gaudi. The avenue was lined with little shoe and fashion shops I had never heard of, coffee shops, mobile phone retailers, and some small tapas cafes. I was surrounded by locals of all ages at other tables drinking coffee enthusiastically and talking to each other in Spanish at a rapid pace. The sun was shining, but everyone was protected under the café’s tents. The atmosphere seemed lazy and laid back. Most of the people were clearly friends or neighbors catching up with each other this morning before running their errands to the market.

Contrast this with the Las Ramblas – the Times Square of Barcelona where most visitors to the city stay near. Las Ramblas is loud, packed to capacity, and lined with Burger Kings and Starbucks among Zara’s and H&M’s. The place is heaving with excitement, people trying to sell you things, and simultaneously take things (pick pockets). That’s what most people see when they come to Barcelona.

Don’t get me wrong Las Ramblas can be a ton of fun and excitement, but for me it’s not really what I look for when visiting a city and it certainly isn’t where I want to stay.

My apartment

As a long term traveler and nomad, where I sleep is quite important to me. Over the past few years I’ve been experimenting with various types of accommodations when I travel. I’ve done hostels , house-sitting, couchsurfing, guest houses, and regular hotels. But with my recent trip to Spain I decided to try yet another form of accommodation – short-term apartment rental.

I stayed in an Oh-Barcelona apartment for 2 weeks in a local neighborhood near Sagrada Familia. I had ample time to explore my quiet little neighborhood and critically look at the benefits and downfalls of staying in an apartment while traveling.

Benefits of Staying in an Apartment While Traveling:

Local Culture
This is one of the best ways to meet local people, understand local culture and feel like a local. You see the real culture of the city, not the tourism culture; trust me, there is a big difference. I met my neighbors, I learned where my local markets, pharmacies, and post offices were. I even learned about the grocery shopping culture which can be quite unique to each country! It’s hard to imagine, but as I walked down the street to my apartment, I felt like I belonged. Granted, you can stay in the more touristy areas, but I really loved visiting sites and then coming ‘home’ to my quiet little neighborhood.

Quiet Barcelona

Saving Money
This is probably the most concrete benefit. Short term apartment rental might be a similar cost as a hotel, however you save money in other ways that are huge. I went out and got 100 Euro worth of food which lasted me 4 nights of dinner, 5 lunches, and about 7 breakfasts. If I would have had to go out for all of those meals and cups of coffee it would have been about 300 Euros easily. In addition, the internet access was included and it was FAST. Most hotels make you pay for wifi these days – ridiculous rates for crappy bandwidth. Here it was all included. In addition, I was able to do laundry in my apartment which also saved money and made it much cheaper than a hotel.

Home Sweet Home
Basically you have a real home, a couch you can nap on, comfy chairs and a place to really relax. When I travel a lot one of the things I miss most is a real chair. I get tired of sitting on hotel bed or uncomfortable hotel ‘office’ chairs. My apartment also had an ipod doc, dvds, and a nice kitchen. You have your privacy and don’t have to deal with any front desk clerk or common space. It’s all blissfully yours, and because of that, it’s also more secure than staying in a hostel or hotel where people come in and out of your room.

Neighborhood
You will really get to know your neighborhood. After a few days I had figured out where the post office was, running routes, grocery stores, butchers, bus routes, and the pharmacy. A few more weeks and I’m pretty positive I would have known everyone on my block! One of my big surprises is that the nightlife in my neighborhood was very quiet. I used to have this vision of Spain as the party capital of the world, and it held true in the tourist areas I went to. But in my neighborhood, it was laid back, and comfortable. Restaurants closed at midnight and few people were out.

Barcelona without tourists

Concierge Service
It’s also important to note that most apartment rental companies make sure they you aren’t missing out on a concierge serve – they provide you with loads of information to help you get around your new location. My apartment had maps, subway routes, guides, and Oh Barcelona provided me with a huge stack of discounts for tours and sites. Oh Barcelona also provided great information on their Facebook page as well as their Barcelona Blog.  I honestly used it as my guidebook and to find out what events were going on in the city during my stay.

Disadvantages to Staying in an Apartment While Traveling:

No maid service
You’ve got to keep the place tidy yourself; if you are like Pigpen from the Peanuts gang, you may be in trouble. And if you are staying for an extended time then you have to clean the sheets and towels too – or you can opt for just being gross.

Supplies
You have to remember you are staying in an apartment – not a hotel. You don’t always get everything you need and end up having to buy daily things that are expected in a hotel – soap and toilet paper for example. Most places will have some staples for cooking such as oil – but there is no guarantee. My apartment didn’t have any soap, kitchen towels, pepper, or close-pins to hang up your clothes after washing them. In this respect, if you aren’t staying in the apartment for a short time, this can become expensive. You have to purchase all of these staples and you barely get to use them. Especially when you cook, you have to buy a whole bag of sugar, but you may only need a couple of teaspoons. I look at it as karma….leave the non-perishable things for the next person!

Dining Guilt
Here you are in a new city that is known for their amazing cuisine, but you have your own kitchen in which you can save money and cook for yourself. I went out to eat at restaurants very minimally for the two weeks I was in Barcelona because I felt guilty about having this great kitchen that I should be using. I sort of felt like I missed out on the food culture in Barcelona (however my pocket book was happy about it!). My best advice to combat this loss of country food culture is to take a cooking class when you arrive and learn how to cook the local cuisines. Then you can have the joy of learning how to shop in a foreign country, get your supplies, and cook up the local food yourself immediately practicing what you learned!

Local Butcher/Ham store...yum!

Isolating
If you are a solo traveler, staying in an apartment by yourself is a bit isolating. In hostels or couchsurfing it’s easy to meet people and other solo travelers, but when you have your own apartment, it becomes harder. I honestly think this is a great lodging solution for couples and family, but it’s certainly possible to do it solo too. If your solo, you’ll just need to make some extra effort to meet others which I actually prefer to do.

Conclusion

Overall I would absolutely recommend this type of lodging for travelers – especially long-term or career break travelers. It’s a great way to slow down, save money, and feel part of a community that is very foreign to you. You’ll connect more with the country and the people.

Rating my Lodging Experiments:
1. House sitting
2. Apartment stays and Couchsurfing (tie)
4. Hostels
5. Guest Houses
6. Hotels

Have you ever stayed in an apartment as part of your travels, what was the best and worst thing about it?
Disclosure: Oh Barcelona Apartments is hosting my accommodation in Barcelona. However, all of the opinions expressed here though are my own – as you know how I love to speak my mind!

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!

“It’s just too hard…” People often say to me.
“…the airport security strip search, the extortionary bag fees, the long flight, my knees being crushed against the seat in front of me, customs, immigration, not knowing the language or the currency, the hassle of transportation, the fear of being ripped off, and then there’s the process of where to stay and what to do…it’s all just overwhelming. That’s why I don’t travel out of the US.”

Strangely – these are some of my favorite parts about international travel – minus the knees being crushed and the bag fees (which I think are robbery) . Strangely I don’t mind the security process…after all – a long-term solo traveler can use some ‘patting down’ once in a while!

However in my preparation for my Mongol Rally adventure (some would say absurdity), I had to go through an international travel process that about made me agree with all of the US international travel naysayers…getting visas.

My teammates and I are traveling through 15 countries this summer and I diligently went through the process of researching each country’s visa requirements for Americans. I was feeling pretty good when my research yielded the results of only needing 4 visas out of all of those countries…yippee!

Not too fast….

That yippee quickly turned to “Oh shit!” when I realized that the cost to get these 4 visas was be over $700 when all said and done.

Up until this experience, I had thought China and India would go down as the ‘worst and most expensive country visa processes’ – but now they were bumped by the Central Asian countries of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and the super ‘paperwork’ power – Russia. I was in the visa big leagues now.

Just when I was completely panicked looking through the myriads of forms, invitation letters, restrictions, and timeframes; ready to give up; I saw a light…a savior…a paperwork machine. Enter the Visa Machine.

A well-oiled machine?

No, this is not a George Jetson-like ATM device where you put in paperwork, scan your passport, and out spits a visa sticker (but damn that would be nice). It’s a service offered by the Adventurists who are responsible for creating and holding the Mongol Rally among other silly, absurd, scary international adventure races. They saw an opportunity and grabbed is…which is quite American of them…yet they are British. They put together a service and slick website where you can find out exactly what visa you need based on your nationality, order the visa, fill out the paperwork, mail it to them, and they will then be your bitches and run around to all of the embassies in London and get these ‘pain-in-the-ass-visas’ en mass. They are ‘experts’ at getting these hard to get visas since they have hundreds of Mongol Rally teams going through this process yearly. They know the ins and outs of the processes, forms, and silly requirements necessary to increase your chance of getting one of these visa’s issued.

I was sold. I was willing to pay a premium for them to handle this quickly as I would only be in the US for a couple of months and I certainly didn’t have plans to run around to various embassies or mail off my passport every few weeks.

As I started the process, I thought it would take a day to get it all organized and mailed to London. Five days later I realized it wasn’t as smooth of a process as I had hoped. Since I was the first of my teammates to go through this process I started taking notes for them so it would be easier. Being first is never easy. For those of you considering using the Visa Machine, here’s some information which might be helpful to you as you go through the process.

Materials Needed:

The first thing I learned is that you need some basic information prior to even being able to pay for the visas. Before you even start, you should have the following:
• A passport that isn’t expiring within 6 months with plenty of blank pages…duh.
• Access to a printer
• A glue stick
• A stapler
• Approximately 10 passport pictures 35mm by 40mm EXACTLY
• A ruler with mm on it!
• Scissors
• A copy of your resume/CV to refer to (for Russia)
• Your route for the rally with your entry and exit dates predicted for each country
• What city you will enter the border at in Russia
• A hotel in Russia and Uzbekistan with address and phone number that may be along your route. (Note that it is not necessary to have a reservation there or even stay there for that matter…you just need something close that you can enter on the form)
• PATIENCE….
• In the absence of patience…have whiskey or cigarettes available in great quantities.

What is the process?

1. Go to the Visa Machine website, choose your nationality, and then choose the countries you will be driving through (note that you must know your driving route before you can even complete step 1). It will tell you if your nationality requires a visa or not. If a visa is required, add it to your ‘cart’.
2. Then go to your cart and fill out the basic data required (name, passport number, nationality, address, where you want your passport mailed back to, the entry and exit dates for each country you are applying for, and for Russia include the cities you will be passing through and the name/address of the hotel you will potentially stay at).
3. Then get out your credit card and kiss your money goodbye.
Don’t be fooled like me and think that was all there was to it; this was just the beginning. Get your payment confirmation via email and continue…
4. Next print off all of the applications for each country as well as the instructions on how to fill out each application.
5. Read through them without filling anything out at first and learn what type of information you are going to need to gather in order to fill them out. For example, I had to get letters from my insurance company as well as bank statements for 3 months stamped and signed by my bank for Russia visa)
6. Spend the next few days filling them out EXACTLY as the instructions say.
7. Then mail them out to London along with your passport and extra passport photos.

Some issues I ran into:

Quite frankly, the Visa Machine website didn’t really have this type of info on it and therefore I wasted a lot of time trying to get everything together that I needed in a quick manner. You don’t know what you really need until you pay and have committed.
Plus, I had very slow responses to my email I sent to the Visa Machine which added at least 2 days to the process waiting to hear back from them and hounding them on Twitter.
Due to some of this delay I had to expedite two of the visas in order to get my passport back in time.

Some oddities I ran into:

I found it very strange that each of these visa applications asked my marital status and gave me the choices of married, single, widowed, divorced. It left me wondering what they would use this information for or why it was relevant. Would they be trying to find me a husband as I pass through their country? Maybe in Russia I could become an American bride – that would be a switch! Or maybe they would offer their condolences that I was an old maid. Or maybe they would require me to marry a border guard in order to enter the country? Crazy.

For the Russia visa I also needed to provide my complete work and education history complete with dates of graduation/work, supervisors names, and addresses. Were they going to hire me for a job in their country?

Final Results:

In the end with expediting some of the visa’s it cost me the pretty penny of $930 (880 for visas + 50 for Fedex to London). Of course it’s also important to understand that you may not get any visa issues at all; the embassy can reject the paperwork. And even if you get the visa issued and in your passport, this does not fully guarantee entry into these countries at the border nor will you get your money refunded. Basically…it’s a gamble…get ok with that.

Now my precious passport is living it up in London without me. I wonder if it’s having separation anxiety as I am. Has found a nice place to stay among all of those great  London hotels , is going to see Big Ben, and most importantly – will my passport attend the Royal Wedding and sit next to Elton John or Prince Harry?! I will be patiently waiting for its return into my life in a couple of months with (hopefully) 4 shiny, new visas attached to it!

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I am not simply a travel blogger and photographer traveling around the world making you all jealous.  I have another passion in life  – promoting and evangelizing the benefits of career breaks and extended travel.  Some of you may recall our big national event last year that we put on called Meet Plan Go! where we made some great traction in bringing the concept and benefits of career break travel to our overworked and burnt out culture.

Career Break Travel and our little events even made it into the New York Time Travel section! -> Making Your Dream Trip a Reality

What’s Meet Plan Go 2011 All About?

On October 18, 2011 in 17 cities across North America to learn more about career breaks and extended travel.

• MEET inspirational speakers and like-minded travelers in their area.

• Get motivation, contacts and resources necessary to PLAN the trip of a lifetime.

• And start taking concrete steps forward to get ready to GO!

Despite being common in many countries such as Australia and the UK, career breaks, life sabbaticals, “gap years” and other forms of extended travel are not currently an American or Canadian birthright…but the Founders of Meet, Plan, Go! are on a mission to change that!

At every event will be individuals who have fulfilled their own dreams of traveling around the world, or are currently in the planning stages. Their real-life stories include an understanding of the unique challenges that all long-term travelers must overcome in order to claim their freedom on the road and who appreciate the unbelievable triumphs of realizing one’s dream of a long-term international adventure.

Last year’s events were responsible for actually getting people on the road – and for that we are so excited!

“Your event convinced me that my pipe dream of traveling was actually possible… and then gave me tips and tricks on how to accomplish it.” – NYC Attendee

“I loved this event! It helped reassure me that I wasn’t crazy about thinking about quitting my job to hit the road, and it connected me with many other like-minded travelers.” – Orlando Attendee

“A life-inspiring event – covering an amazing amount of relevant material. I would definitely attend another and another until I “go!”" – San Francisco Attendee

Locations and Hosts

We are at it again.  Michaela and I area busy starting to organize and plan the Meet Plan Go! travel events for 2011 and we are starting with the locations and the hosts!  Today on our MeetPlanGo website we announced our super group of 17 hosts who will be holding this travel event around the country.  These are expert career breakers and travelers who will be a source of inspiration to their communities.

We can’t wait to inspire more career break travelers at this year’s event on October 18, 2011! So where can you attend a Meet, Plan, Go! event this year?

We are excited to have many of our original cities returning, including:
Austin | Boston | Chicago | Minneapolis | New York City | Orlando | San Francisco | Seattle | Washington DC | Toronto

And we are even more excited to welcome some new cities, including:
Denver | Honolulu | Las Vegas | Los Angeles | New Orleans | Portland | St. Louis

Meet our hosts in our 17 cities this year – it’s a super team that I’m proud to work with!

Meet Plan Go! Hosts

Finally, to stay up to date on the latest events, updates, and early bird ticket sales – make sure you sign up for the Career Break Newsletter and LIKE our Facebook page.  We’ll be sharing lots of updates over the months to come!

Hope to see you in one of our cities this year!

Books are weighty...

One of the hardest things about constantly traveling and living a nomadic life is the fact that everything you own you must carry.  This really cuts down on my shopping and actually helps me save money.  Every time I look at that colorful scarf, or cool new camera equipment I immediately think…but I have to carry it.  One of the most challenging things about carrying everything you own on your back while traveling is the dreaded ‘Guidebook Dilemma’.  I love having a real guidebook in my hands to flip through and read, not to mention the maps where I can make notes.  But they come at a big cost…they are bulky and heavy…and quite frankly my shoulders and back scream out in agony at the thought of carrying yet another book.

On my recent travels in Sri Lanka, I tried to go without a physical guide book and attemped simply have a file on my iphone.  But I’m old…and the iphone is small; I found the whole thing a pain in the ass and knew that it wasn’t the right solution even though it was the lighter solution.  While I was on that trip a representative from Sony contacted me about a contest they were running for their new Sony Reader centered around travel.  I immediately thought…this is the answer.  A light electronic file, but something that actually feels like a book.

I was really excited to be chosen as one of the few travel blogs hosting the Sony Reader contest where you can win $10,000 to travel anywhere in the world…yes you read that right.  You’d be crazy not to enter – you have absolutely nothing to lose!  It’s really simple to enter – all you have to do is imagine you’re on your dream vacation and you’re writing a postcard to me from that dream destination.  In your postcard, tell me where you are and what you brought along with you to read.

However if you are a math geek and look at the odds of this contest and think, there’s no way I can win…then consider this:

I’m also giving away a Sony Reader by handpicking my favorite entry from my website readers and giving away one Reader Pocket Edition™ and $25 gift card to Reader Store! Your odds are pretty good for this Ottsworld reader prize – there are only 10 entries so far and any statistician would tell you that these are good odds – so make sure you enter!

Entry ends on April 19th!

Winner selection

Starting April 20th, voting will start to take place at www.readergetawaygiveaway.com .  All visitors to the site will be allowed to vote for their favorite entries and you can begin promoting your postcard to your own online audiences and friends.  The person with the most votes** wins the $10,000 dream vacation and 2 Sony Reader and giftcard prizes!

**Voting runs from April 20 – 26th.  Participants are encouraged to promote their postcard to obtain votes. When voting begins, entrants will receive an email notifying them to start getting votes and will be given a unique URL for their entry.   Winner will be notified and entry will be displayed on the contest microsite at www.readergetawaygiveaway.com on or around April 28, 2011.

Please Note: The actual timeframe of this blogpost occurred in the end of January. All is currently fine in Lebanon now. My blog runs about a month behind my reality while traveling. So no need to worry about my safety – this is old news!

Modern Beirut

I looked out the window and wondered if I had boarded the wrong plane and I was actually landing in San Francisco. I quickly shook off my déjà vu and reminded myself I was landing in Lebanon. The landing approach to Beirut was exactly the same as SFO, flying low over water as if the wheels were going to dip down into it and to your left there were hills with green trees, houses, and building scattered all over them. It was lush. It was clean. It was green. It was Mediterranean. It was the Middle East….surprise.

Yola, the office manager for GeoVisions and IICExchange was waiting for me as I arrived. I had been emailing back and forth with Yola prior to my arrival in Lebanon in order to try to figure out the state of safety with the latest Lebanon political demonstrations. This whole trip was in jeopardy thanks to the latest round of political chaos which I came to learn is quite normal in Lebanon.

“Unfortunately, the situation started to get worse last night and today ,they are arranging a huge demonstration in Tripoly ( North Lebanon) . Although it is very far from Sin -El -Feel where Mira lives & where our office is located , I thought you should know about this critical situation.
As Lebanese this kind of action doesn’t stop our normal life ( Jobs ,Schools, Malls & even theaters ) remained open normally”

This was the note I received from Yola a week before I was to arrive as things were starting to heat up around the Middle East. Of course after reading the note I was more confused than ever, and I was frantically trying to get the Lebanon History for Dummies – which of course doesn’t exist (but should!). I tried to piece together the political history and how it related to present day in order to determine if I would still go to Lebanon or not. She, and GeoVisions, reassured me it had quieted down and the demonstrations were only for a day and located in Tripoli; far away where I would be in Beirut.  Little did I know that Lebanon would come to be one of the most confusing countries I had ever visited with regards to history, politics, and nationalism. This was just the tip of the iceberg that I was encountering, and I had a month full of education ahead of me.

The State Department issues travel Warnings when there are long-term, protracted conditions that make a country dangerous or unstable. They suggest Americans avoid or consider the risk of travel to that country. I appreciate and read these warnings carefully; however, you have to really do your research to understand if the conditions are unsafe for YOU. Each situation is different – and you need to know that even though there is a warning issued – it doesn’t mean travel to the country is completely out of the question at all. It just means you should be aware. Out of the 32 countries which have travel warnings currently issued on the State Department website – I’ve been to 7 of them. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not suggesting you should go to Libya now, but I have met a number of people who are living in Egypt, experienced the protests, and are fine and I even have a friend living in Tunisia and he has been fine. There are exceptions to every rule. Be smart, do your research, figure out your risk tolerance, and make your own, informed decision.

Lebanon Travel Warning from the State Department:
While Lebanon enjoys periods of relative calm, the potential for a spontaneous upsurge in violence is real. Lebanese government authorities are not able to guarantee protection for citizens or visitors to the country should violence erupt suddenly. Access to borders, airports, and seaports can be interrupted with little or no warning. Public demonstrations occur frequently with little warning and have the potential to become violent. Under such circumstances, the ability of U.S. government personnel to reach travelers or provide emergency services may at times be severely limited.

My process for determining travel safety is certainly not a science and it has a lot to do with gut feel; well-informed get feel. Reading the latest warnings is just the beginning. Next I read up on the news of what was going on in Lebanon in the English newspapers; I find the local papers/news agencies to be a little less one-sided normally. It’s good to get a local’s take on things instead of just a US Government take on a situation. Finally, I followed up with my contacts in the country and ask them questions about the situation.

I checked the Lebanon travel warnings issued by the State Department and saw there were no changes to the already serious warnings they had about Lebanon; the travel warning hadn’t been updated since October. In the last week of January, things had become relatively quiet in Lebanon so I had decided to proceed with my trip there. Things had quieted down in local papers, and my contacts in Lebanon were telling me it was ‘life as usual’. So I went. And here was Yola welcoming me with open arms and a big smile.

Beirut Street Corner

As we drove into the office my first look at Lebanon was stunning. The buildings were tall, more colorful and modern than Jordan; it felt like a big city. The architecture was still really boxy, but you could tell that the quality of living was pretty drastically different from Jordan for the middle class. BMW’s and Mercedes filled the roads. However the thing that struck me first was the driving. It was like Vietnam but with cars – no responsibility for the things/objects behind you or on your sides, absolutely no regard for lane assignments, and a lot of horn use.

My stay in Lebanon courtesy of GeoVisions was to participate in their Conversation Partner program. This is a program where you live with a host family and tutor other organizations in English. The program in Lebanon was still rather new and they didn’t have any outside organizations they worked with for tutoring, so instead my role was to go to the office and work with the Lebanese students who were signing up for the summer work program in America. I would be able to chat with them and tell them about American culture, what to expect, and help them improve their English.

After a short stop at the office Yola took me over to my new host family’s home. I had been exchanging emails with the mother (a widow) of the family for the last month and had the feeling from the emails that she had a very warm and enthusiastic personality. When the door opened and I saw Mira for the first time she squealed with delight and gave me a big hug welcoming me into her home. I felt as if I were a long lost friend, not a stranger. We sat in the formal guest room and she brought out a bouquet of flowers, Diet Pepsi, and a cake; all for my arrival. I was astonished by all of the attention I was receiving, but happily ate up my cake and had my caffeine fix for the day.

The Costa’s were a small, young family made up of Mira (the mother), Maria (14 year old daughter), and Mickey( 8 year old son). Mickey had been diagnosed as autistic and only spoke French.  I knew he was very excited to see me, but we were at a communication impasse. However as soon as I had arrived he smiled and shyly handed me an envelope with this adorable message:

Mickey's Welcome

Soon family friends started to arrive and we sat and talked for hours while more and more coffee was served and shwarma was ordered. It was a feast of attention that surprised and delighted me; such a nice welcome into this family’s home. Finally after hours of sitting, drinking, and talking I had a little tour of the apartment home and was taken to my room. I was surprised to find out that I would be staying in the kid’s room…minus the kids. I felt terrible for ‘kicking them out’ of their room, but Mira insisted that this was fine and the 3 of them would all share her bedroom for the month. They had also sent their two cats off to a relative for the month as they knew I was allergic to cats. This was my first taste of how accommodating the Costa’s would be every day, minute, and second.

Overall my entry into Lebanon was filled with attention and kindness. And to think, I just about didn’t even come here because of my safety concerns. As I lay in bed falling asleep that night, I knew I made the right decision to come to Lebanon.

Morning Lights up the Treasury and Tourists

I sighed and handed over my 55 Dinar ($77USD) to the man at the ticket counter; a hefty sum for an otherwise budget friendly country to travel through. This fee would buy me two days in the ancient city of Petra. He asked me to type my name in the computer and then handed me a ticket. I waited for more, but there was nothing more; not even a map. I walked away and thought “Geez, even at Disneyworld they give you a map!”

Luckily I had a little Jordan guide book which provided me some sort of map and I had plotted out my Petra walking plan the night before based on the guide book and some advice of people at the hotel I was staying in. It all looked rather simple. First I would go through the Siq, see the famous Treasury, then I would go to the High place of Sacrifice and down the other side to see Lion Monument, the Roman and Soldier Tomb. Next I would go through the Upper Market and head towards the Monastery, then the church, amphitheatre, and other tombs along the East cliff. That would pretty much cover Petra…a simple plan for the day.

The long, winding Siq

It was my plan until I descended through the mile long Siq and stood staring in awe of the famous Treasury Building; then I knew I needed a plan B. I felt dwarfed by the rock formations that towered above me; the place was much larger than my little guide book map appeared. I should have paid more attention to the scale of the map. This was an ancient hiking playground; trails leading in every direction and all of them leading upwards. I was starting to sweat just looking at them. This was going to be a much more active day than I originally thought.

The buildings carved into the rocks were gigantic, ornate, and were the color of orange sherbet. The light was streaming through the rock formations providing an ethereal feel to the city. Tourists groups huddled around their guides listening intently as I tried my best to avoid them. But it was next to impossible, they streamed from the Sik and into the Treasury area as if it were a giant slide depositing them all at the bottom giddy from the wild ride. Vendors were immediately at your side selling you camel and donkey rides. Men were hawking jewelry and young kids raced up to you to show you’re their postcards. I wasn’t very fond of the masses of people; but it served me right for sleeping in. I looked around at all of the out of shape tourists and I decided to stick to my original plan and start climbing to the High Place of Sacrifice. I knew I could lose them as the steep flight of stairs would weed out the old and out of shape.

The High Place of Sacrifice was worth the climb; not only did I shake the tour groups, but it offered staggering views over Wadi Musa. It was a perfect place to sit down, have a snack and breathe in the fresh, crisp air. There were few tourists up here, a welcome reward after the challenging climb. After a short rest I continued down the other side of the mountain completely alone. I found myself surrounded by ancient tombs and absolutely nothing or no-one else. No merchants, no donkeys, no tourists…just me; I felt like Petra belonged only to me…and the occasional cat. I climbed around the tombs, inside them and generally stood in awe of my solitary experience in such a touristed location as much as I was in awe of the tombs themselves.

Petra to myself

It didn’t take me long to get back to the throngs of tourists as I came around the back side and towards the Upper Market. Everyone was heading towards the Monastery, the largest tomb façade in Petra. I had another big climb ahead of me, and this time it was like a super highway of hiking; everyone was trying to make it up to the top to catch the afternoon sun and the colorful view. I couldn’t shake the tourists, but I was able to shake the vendors. Between deep breathes I mumbled ‘”No” to each jewelry and donkey offer and kept plodding away up the steps. By the time I got to the top I was sweating and exhausted.

The Monastery view point was one of my favorites; despite all of the people. They had set up couches and had a tea house at the top; allowing you to relax after your exercise and take in the view. However, be warned, if you go at the end of the day, you’ll have to make your way all the way back to the Siq and another mile to the entrance. It was about 2 hours to get all the way back to the ticket booth – and all uphill.

The massive Monastery

I had severely underestimated the size of Petra and really was only able to see a couple of the sites in depth on day 1; I knew I had to go back the next day. That night I was sore and exhausted, but set my alarm for 6AM as I had a mission to beat the crowds the next day and attempt to get some tourist-less photography.

As I walked down the Siq the second day, the rocks were grey and drab as the sun hadn’t made it’s way into the narrow canyon yet to turn the color on. However the tourists also hadn’t made their way into the Siq yet and I only saw 4 other people as I walked downwards towards the Treasury.

The best part about going early was that you were able to watch Petra wake up and come alive. It’s a pleasant introduction to Petra without the harshness of guides and big groups of people huddling around. Not only was the light and the tourists absent, but so were the Bedouin vendors. The busy entrance was all yours.

Marble Room

I walked through the Treasury area and into the Street of Facades and enjoyed the peacefulness of Petra; a view not many people get. I arrived in Petra as the Bedouin families were showing up to ‘work’. I watched the women set up their shops and make tea. Men did their morning prayers and generally no one bothered you. I felt as if I was completely behind the scenes, everyone was getting their make-up done, and the curtain was about to open.

As I was taking photos two women in a off-the-beaten path jewelry stand invited me in for tea. They said it was or “fraw”
I repeated…”free?”
“Yes” they said. “Come have tea with us.”
I told them I would have tea but I would not buy anything. They were in agreement and I sat down for 10 minutes and drank tea with them. It was lovely. I asked them questions about their family and jewelry and they of course asked if I was married. It was a completely normal exchange and never once did they try to sell me anything. It was as if they weren’t ‘on the clock’ yet and I was a guest, not a dollar bill. The whole interaction felt like the most special moment I had in Petra, because it was genuine.

I continued to watch the sun rise over the hilltops and start to shine into Petra like a spotlight announcing the big show. The curtain was close to opening; so it was my time to leave.

Petra Monastery...ready for opening night

My substitute for Gelato

What is the first thing you think of when planning a trip to Italy?

Ruins, scooters, Italian men boldly wearing red pants, wine, Tuscan hill towns, medieval towns, plump Italian mothers, wine…

If you are anything like me, your first thought is that delicious, carbohydrate filled food.

I’ve been to Italy many times and have even taken cooking and language classes there; however on this recent trip to Italy I had a unique opportunity to travel as a local and begin to understand the non-touristy side of Italy. Thanks to the hospitality of my friend Vera and her family, I was able to get a special look into the culture of Italy – and of course to focus on the food.

I arrived during the holiday season and was treated to cultural food and traditions I had never experienced before in Italy.

The traditional Christmas and New Year dish is not pasta…it’s lentils. Cottechino or Zampone is a hearty lentil dish served with cooked salami (normally the whole pig leg for a visual treat). It’s a hearty winter dish that will warm you up inside. But most importantly the lentils represent your good monetary luck in the new year; so don’t be afraid to eat a lot of lentils…your pocketbook will thank you.

Oodles of Choices

On the sweeter side, if you go to Italy during the holidays you’ll most definitely get to try their special holiday cakes – Panettone. A light bread soufflé-like creation that has fruit and nuts in it. Think fruit cake but light as air. In addition to Panettone the bakeries are filled with all kinds of special holiday confections which are impossible to pass up. In fact, while visiting Italy in winter I didn’t have gelato once, but I made my fair share of stops at patisseries that were calling me to ‘come in and warm up with a little sweet’.

A fluffy fruit cake

A non-food related New Year’s tradition I was also exposed to was the expectation to dress up for the big count down to the new year. I was totally surprised when a very casual dinner in with friends all of a sudden came to a halt when all of the Italians stopped cooking for a moment to go change into their ‘dressy’ clothes. We weren’t going anywhere, we had all seen each other in our casual clothes, but everyone insisted on getting dressed up before dinner was served. I of course was the only one that didn’t know about this tradition, so I looked like a rather sloppy American in my jeans and sweater! Regardless the lasagna and company were great.

In addition to traditions, I was exposed to Italian food etiquette too. Luckily my friends put up with my many questions in order to put together this list of etiquette rules. If you know these food etiquette rules you’ll start to fit in as if you were an Italian; ok that may be a bit much, but at least you won’t stick out as a tourist as much. Throw around a Ciao and Gazzie mille and you will be even more convincing.

Only in the PM

• Only order cappuccino in the morning before noon.
• After noon, you order espresso.
• Order espresso after your meal.
• Go to a ‘bar’ and drink your espresso standing up at the bar. After all – espresso means fast…this is not a lingering drink. Get in and get out.
• Expect to be served multiple wines for each course (main and desert) and sometimes an apertivo if you are eating at someone’s home.
• Don’t use your spoon when you eat spaghetti/noodles. Only kids and tourists use their spoon. (I must admit – I was guilty of this and was quickly corrected…and laughed at). Simply use your plate to twist the noodles on your fork.
• Don’t eat pizza with your hands. Plus, don’t be surprised when your pizza is served with a fork and knife as it never comes pre-cut. You eat pizza like you’d eat a steak. Cut off pieces one bite at a time and slowly enjoy this crispy treat.
• Eat your pasta first and then your salad second. Never put these two things on the same plate…an Italian sin. Each course is separate and gets it’s own plate/dish and it’s opposite of what you’d expect. Lasagna is served in a shallow bowl, and salad is served on a dinner plate.
• Don’t expect a choice of dressing on your salad. A salad comes dressed with olive oil and salt…simpler and tastier than you might think!

This trip to Italy was like no other for me, I was exposed to customs I wasn’t aware of from my previous trips. More importantly, I was able to constantly ask questions to my friends about cultural what and why. This was better than any tour or independent travel could ever be! If you ever have the chance to go to your friend’s home country, take it; no doubt you’ll have the best travel experience.

What food tips do you have to share from Italy?

Shopping Stampede

I used to love shopping, it was my therapy to spend a lazy Saturday shopping in New York City filling up my closets; however, these days I don’t do a lot of ‘therapy’ shopping any longer. I just get what I need and can fit into my suitcase, which generally isn’t much. But it’s hard to ignore the marketing mania of the Holiday season. So if you can’t beat them…join them.

I’ve tried to put together a list of unique holiday ideas for the travelers in your life. If you know someone planning a big trip, then consider getting them something they’ll really use instead of something that will gather dust in the far reaches of the closet.

I evaluated these on 3 traits that are very important to me:

Budget – Do you have to drop a lot of $$
Weight – is it going to take up weight/space in your suitcase
Travelability (yes, I know it’s not a word) – Will it actually help you travel

Each trait gets rated with between 1 and 5
Budget 1 = cheap 5 = splurge
Weight 1 = like a feather 5 = gives you a backache
Travelability 1 = won’t help you travel 5 = will aid greatly in your travels

Career Break Travel T-shirt from Hostel Dog

Budget 3 | Weight 2 | Travelability 1
Career Breaks are in fashion, so you might as well join the trend and show it off! Hostel Dog has created this creative new t-shirt to show off career break travel pride. “I prefer real views to screen savers” sums up what all travelers-at-heart truly feel. The shirt is cleverly designed and comes in mens and womens styles.
Product Details: Career Break T-shirt

Matador U Photography Class

Budget 5 | Weight 1 | Travelability 4
Many people ask me how I learned photography. I simply took some classes before I left on my travels and then had lots of practice! Everyone wants to take photos on their trip, but few people really know how to use their camera. Why not invest in photography lessons for the traveler on your list? Check out this 12 week online program that covers travel photography skills, equipment, building an Internet presence, and expanding your network of colleagues and markets. This gift doesn’t weigh an ounce and you’ll use it all the time on your travels!
Product Details: Matador U Online Travel Photography Class

Art of Non-Conformity Book

Budget 2 | Weight 2 | Travelability 2
The Art of Non-Conformity message is simple -‘you don’t have to live your life the way other people expect you to’. Therefore you can see why I like it! The book goes into more detail on how you can go about setting your own path, your own rules, and find your purpose in your career and life. It covers the idea that career and life don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Sure – that’s easy to say; we all strive to spend our time doing things we love, but something stops us from doing that; normally it’s the expectations of others and our own desire to conform. This book is a motivator and I loved it. It helps you crash through the barriers before you, and connects you with another way of living a balanced life. Yes, it’s a bit self-helpy – but I find it inspiring. It’s cheap, light and it might just provide the necessary inspiration to help you travel. You can read my full review of the book here.
Product Details: Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau

Career Break Boot Camp

Budget 5 | Weight 1 | Travelability 5
The Meet Plan Go! Career Break Boot Camp an 8-week course and seminar series specially designed by certified Travel Coach Tara Russell and career break travel gurus Michaela Potter and Sherry Ott (yes…me!). Each weekly lesson has a defined objective and covers key concepts for travel preparation such as finding inspiration, overcoming mental hurdles, saving & budgeting, alternatives to traditional tourism, owning your journey, essential to-do list items for the road, home & career, and preparing for re-entry. Sign-ups for 2011 classes begin on December 8th. Yes it’s a bit of a splurge, but a drop in the bucket compared to the time you’ll save getting access to valuable resources which help you plan your trip. Plus – the gift lasts a lifetime!
Product Details:  Career Break Boot Camp Online Course

CAMENAE Travel Clutch

Budget 4 | Weight 2 | Travelability 4
The CAMENAE Travel Clutch is a stylish, durable carry-on for your TSA approved liquids. It’s hard to keep up with all of the security regulations; however, you’ll at least look good as you stand in line with your CAMENAE Travel Clutch, while others around you are holding their zip lock bags. The clutch was designed to FAA/TSA flight carry-on security regulations – so you no longer have to use zip lock bags! It’s easy to clean and use on every trip. It’s light and you’ll use it constantly as you travel.
Product Details: CAMENAE Travel Clutch

The Joy of Less Book

Budget 2 | Weight 2 | Travelability 1
Francine Jay writes about living simply with less stuff. She believes that “being a minimalist isn’t only about white walls and empty spaces.; it’s about eliminating the distractions that keep us from fully appreciating life. The less stuff we have cluttering our homes (and the less “to-do’s” cluttering our time), the more energy we can devote to the things that are truly important to us. I just finished this book and loved it. It’s perfect for anyone wanting to downsize and overwhelmed with how to start. For those ready to partake on a long term trip, this is a great way to help people get through each room of their house and downsize their possessions in order to fund travel or to simply make it easier to store when they are gone.
Product Details: The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide: How to Declutter, Organize, and Simplify Your Life

Career Break Secrets Travel Video Guides

Budget 3 | Weight 1 | Travelability 5
A video travel guide specifically designed for career breakers and those taking a long term travel adventure, you can download the episodes of this program to your computer and mobile device to watch and re-watch before and during your trip. Each country guide contains information on how to give back and volunteer, how to pick up a new skill, and cool ways to see the country. The guides will help make your trip count and will really connect you to the country you’re going to. It’s reasonably priced, weighs nothing, and will definitely help you travel!
Product Details: Career Break Secrets Video Travel Guide

Air Miles

Budget 4 | Weight 1 | Travelability 5
Most frequent flier programs allow you to purchase miles as a gift for someone, or simply share/transfer miles to a specific person. Fees do apply, but it’s a unique way to help a traveler get from cubicle to Mt. Kilimanjaro. Every little bit helps! Each airline is different so go directly to their site and learn more. Miles don’t weigh a thing and will definitely help you travel!
Product Details: Here are a few lins to major frequent flier programs, however I suggest that you look yours up and see what the rules are
American Airlines Purchasing/Gifting Miles
United Airlines Purchasing/Gifting Miles

If you are looking for unique gifts for people based on a location, then you gotta check out these cool location based gift guides at BootsnAll.  They have lists for Italy, Spain, Thailand, Paris, Australia, and more!

Happy Shopping and Happy Holidays!

It's hard to ignore...

People always ask me if I’m scared to travel alone; my answer is “Not normally.” Sure there have been some crazy taxi rides and I always get a bit nervous when I arrive in a country late at night for the first time; however, overall I’ve never felt like I was in life threatening danger. Some of that might be luck, but I also believe some of it is skill. As a solo traveler, I’ve adapted my personality to avoid dangerous situations and scams.

Basically this means that I trust no one.

This lack of trust in human kind also means that I have to harden my personality in order to pull it off. Kids tugging at my shirt in India – I ignore. Aggressive shop keepers – I don’t even make eye contact. Someone comes to me to ask for something, and I generally don’t help. A nice man offers to buy me a drink – I kindly refuse. It takes a lot to get through the barrier I put up; and for good reason – my safety and sometimes for my sanity.

Yes – this sounds a bit harsh, but I think at times it’s necessary to have to dig deep and find your inner bitch when you travel. Some days that’s easier for me than others. As a traveler (solo or not) you are a target for all kinds of begging, petty theft, and scams. I’ve been exposed to my share of all of these. People simply want your money; some will just take it, and some will try to outsmart you.

In fact, while I was in Europe this summer I was reminded of how many scams a person can easily fall into. While in Paris I had someone try to pull the “Did you drop this gold ring?” scam. I answered the woman no, and started to engage in conversation with her – and then my inner scam alert went off and I simply walked away. She followed me for a short while and then gave up when I finally crossed the street.

There are hundreds of these types of scams – but how do you avoid them?

Educate yourself.  Read the guidebooks/websites before you go.

When I was in Italy a few years ago with a friend we were exposed to an elaborate scam. As we were walking to the Baths of Caracala, we had our map out and were trying to figure out how to get to the entrance – when all of a sudden a guy pulls up in a car all frantic telling us he’s from France here on business and he’s frantic because he needs gas and his credit card isn’t working here for some reason. Before we know it he’s asking us what size clothes we wear and asking us for gas money – he wants to barter with us. He obviously didn’t know he was dealing with long term travelers; we trust no one. My friend took one look at his gold bracelet he was wearing and said – “I think you can buy your own gas”. Later that night I was reading my guide book and came across this scam warning:

Your walking down the street and a man in a car with a map on the front seat pulls up next to you and says he is lost. He will say he works for Armani or Gucci. He will ask if you can help him with gas money and will trade you one of the sample leather jackets he has in his car for the small priced of 20 or 50 Euro. The Leather jacket turns out to be an extremely cheap, smelly PVC jacket not worth 2Euro

I probably should have read this before I toured around. But luckily we had our guard up anyway.

Tourists abound at Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Location, Location, Location

Scams grow like weeds around big tourist sites. It’s as if a fisherman is going to a stocked pond to fish – places like the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, or the Roman Coliseum are easy pickings. If strangers are coming up to ask you for help around these areas – put your guard up.

On the other hand, if I’m walking down a side-street in Paris and someone comes to ask for help – I’m probably more apt to trust them than if I were standing taking pictures of the Louvre. However even if you are not near tourist sites – keep in mind that it’s important to try NOT to look like a tourist – try to fit in if possible.

Don’t act like you do at home.

You don’t have to be nice to everyone asking for help. Repeat after me, “I am not a bad person if I ignore someone.”

I know, I know – ignoring people is hard and not in our natural make-up. But that’s what scam artists are counting on…the kindness of people. Most elaborate scams happen when someone thrusts themselves on you and asks for help. It doesn’t matter how well they are dressed or what kind of car they drive, you don’t have to help.

You don’t have to make eye contact, or even say thank you or hello. I give you permission to forget about all of your manners when you travel. Maybe this is the extreme, but I see more people get sucked into scams or begging by simply trying to be kind and acknowledge the scammer because it’s our natural instinct.

Some people may think this is too extreme. They feel being cordial and interacting with people is all part of the travel experience; if you aren’t cordial with people, then why get out and travel in the first place. However for me, I enjoy travel a lot more when my passport is in my possession, and I’m not spending time talking to the police.

Too good to be true

When something seems to good to be true…it normally is.

Finally – remind yourself of this…money doesn’t grow from trees and strangers don’t just give you gold rings or Armani jackets.

If you are looking for more information on this subject – here’s a pretty good article from Travel & Leisure about some of the top scams people encounter while traveling

In the meantime – stay on guard while traveling! And please share some of the travel scams you’ve been exposed to below!

Buddy, Deirdre, and Orange

Why did I go to Brussels this summer?

Was it the beer, chocolate, frites or waffles? No. Was it the history? No. The architecture? No.
It was for those 3 furballs above…

Briefcase to Backpack just covered how to travel with pets…but I was actually traveling to take care of pets. As you would expect, I don’t really need much enticing to get on a plane.

I had never met these cats before – nor the owners, but thanks to a simple Ottsworld post about How to Housesit Around the World – I landed in Belgium this summer. The world is changing, no longer do we require a face to face experience to consider someone a friend or even trustworthy. In this new world of virtual relationships strange things can happen. A simple comment on a post can lead to a plane ticket and an amazing summer of travel!

This comment started a much lengthier exchange of emails between Alison and me culminating in me stepping off the train to Allison’s warm in-person welcome. Alison, a travel blogger and photographer herself, wasn’t what I expected…she was nicer than I imagined! She lead me through the Central train station to the Brussels metro and into her home. Luckily I was able to spend a day with Alison and Andrew before they left. I feverishly took notes on site-seeing tips, restaurants locations, grocery stores, garbage days, market schedules, and of course got my cat/house-sitting instructions.

Strangely I was having so much fun with Alison and Andrew, I was actually sad to see them go. But they had a plane to catch and I had kitties to take care of; not to mention a lot of exploring I needed to do.

So – what do you do if you have a month in Brussels?

Transportation

The Galleries

First – figure out transportation and learn how to use the metro – it’s easy and cheap. However the one thing that always amazed me about the metro in Brussels is that it was based on an honor system. You filled your ticket up with money, and then validated it every time you got on the train; however there were no gates or ways to require you to validate it…it was up to you to be honest. If an official came and asked for your validated ticket and you didn’t have it validated, then of course there was a fine. But in the month I was there and riding the metro daily – I never once saw an ‘official’ checking tickets.

Of course walking is also a great option as it’s a rather small city to walk around. But, be careful where you step. For some reason I’ll never understand, people don’t pick up their dog doo….why people???!!!! However, I did notice that thanks to the land mines of dog doo on the sidewalk, it created a whole set of jobs for street cleaners (guys who wear heavy duty vacuums on their back and sucked up all the garbage and doo on the sidewalks!)

Tourists spots

I’m not a big fan of heavily touristed areas, but some times you have to wade through the sea of tourists to see a spot. I recommend seeing the Grand Place (the mecca of tourism for Brussels), but go in the early morning and it’s practically empty. I was there by 8AM on a Saturday and had the place to myself. The Grand Place is worth a stop, and at night they even have a light show on the town hall if you like that sort of thing. While I was in Brussels, I was lucky enough to catch the aromatic flower carpet event. Once every two years in August they transform the Grand Place into a work of flower art. That was definitely worth braving the crowds!

The Colorful Flower Carpet

In the name of heavily touristed spots, I would also recommend a stop at the Grand Sablon, the epicenter for chocolate shops, as well as the Galleries. The Queens and Kings Galleries are domed, vaulted arcades, which were built in 1847 as the world’s first covered shopping gallery.

Museums

The home of Smurfs

Brussels has MANY museums, and no, I didn’t go to all of them. I visited the musical instrument museum which was quite unique as you walked around the museum with headphones and when you came close to an instrument display you’d begin to hear the that instrument in your headphones. It wasn’t without some technical difficulties at times, but I liked the idea. Even if you have something against musical instruments, you should still stop by the building as it’s one of the best examples of Art Nouveau architecture in the city.

My friend who grew up in Brussels was intent on taking me to the Comic Strip Museum. I have to admit, I was kinda luke-warm on the idea – I really don’t read comics. However once we went and she started to show me around, her enthusiasm for the history of it was infectious. All of a sudden I became interested in how important comics were in Belgium and how the country seemed to be the epicenter of comic art. Then I learned the most surprising thing – the Smurfs came from Belgium…who knew?! We actually ran out of time at this museum it was so good!

Live like a Local

This is my favorite type of exploring in Brussels…in the local neighborhoods, churches, squares, and markets. I absolutely loved the Sunday Midi Market and went every weekend I was in town. Every neighborhood has a weekly market – so it’s worth it to figure out the schedule as you can always find fresh produce, cheese, meat, clothing, and my personal favorite – yummy Turkish Delight candies.

One of my favorite ways to wander was with the ‘Use It’ Map I used it until it about fell apart! It was a nicely illustrated map that identified sites by ‘tourist’ sites and ‘local secrets’. This is how I was able to really get past all of the tourist hype and find the real neighborhoods – not to mention the Best Frites in Brussels.

The parks were somewhat small, but there were many. It didn’t take me long to figure out a running route to Cinquantenaire Park near the EU buildings. I really liked the area and all of the statues and well kept buildings – they provided great distraction from thinking about running!

Running Routes

I was also lucky enough to meet locals and they took me all over the city showing off their favorite places with pride! The architecture alone was enough to keep one busy for weeks in Brussels!

The Rest of Belgium

Even though it’s quite a small country – it’s impossible to see it all in one month. However one of my favorite excursions was to Leuven – a small college town with a real authentic feel. Not to mention one of the most ornate Town Halls I saw.

The perfect storm...Knokke

Brugge is also on the list for many people yet it wasn’t my favorite place at all. I much preferred the drive a friend and I did out to the Flanders coast to the beach town of Knokke. The drive was a great way to see the countryside, but the beach itself was a surprise too. Granted – we were there on a particularly gloomy day, but you could see what it would be like if the weather were nicer….packed with people no doubt.

Short Escapes

Yes, this is suppose to be about Belgium, but remember, thanks to fast trains you can easily hop to Amsterdam or Paris for a day or weekend get away.

My eternal love goes to this machine...

Even with a month, I ran out of time to do everything I wanted to do in Belgium. I like to have balance in activities and relaxing; therefore some places like Hasselt, Dinant, and Antwerp will have to wait until next time.

I know there will be a next time as I have to get back and see those furry kitties, their wonderfully fun owners, and this great Nespresso coffee machine which became my Holy Grail for a month.

Check out Alison’s take on our house-sitting ‘union’ – Meeting Virtual Friends in the Flesh! Also – stop by and see her amazing Forgotten Postcard Art she sells – a great way to ‘see’ Belgium!

If you or someone you know is looking for a house-sitter, please let me know…I will travel for pets and some travel adventure!

A comfy couch! That's all I need.

I live my life very deliberately – and I have very few regrets. In fact, my regrets are the usual…I wish I would have kept up my violin skills, I wish I would have learned how to ski at a young age, and I really regret I didn’t learn a language in college. But now I have one more to my small list…I regret I never tried couch surfing until this summer.

The usual reaction from friends and family was, “You’re going to do what?” “Do you know these people?” “How do you know it’s safe?” Couch surfing stirs up some valid concerns in people, but I decided I needed to finally give it a test run after 4 years of somewhat traditional travel and living nomadically. By signing up for couch surfing, I was going to stay with complete strangers while in Europe this summer. These weren’t my normal complete strangers that I often meet and talk to (aka internet/twitter friends), nor were they friends of friends – they were strangers; strangers with a couch, an open mind, and a love of travel.

For those of you who have never heard of couch surfing – it’s been around since 1999 and it’s here to stay; it’s now the world’s largest ‘hospitality exchange’ network with over 2.2 million members in 237 countries and territories. This isn’t a fad. It’s the ultimate travel community; encouraging people who love to travel to interact in various ways. This can be simply meeting for a coffee, walking around a city together or welcoming strangers into your home for a few nights.

The Facts

It was my friend Lisa Lubin who was my tipping point to couch surfing finally. There are a myriad of articles that have been written on how couch surfing works, so I’m not going to re-write a fact based article – but to learn more on the ‘how’ here’s some great resources:
The couch surfing facts
How it works
How to be a good guest

Instead I want to talk about my specific experience of staying with 4 different strangers who I know call friends in the Netherlands and France.

Meet My Hosts

Before arriving in the Netherlands – I had organized 2 homes to surf in through the online network; a single man and a couple. I wish I could say that I chose them very carefully from a journalistic research point of view – but quite honestly, they were the two people who accepted my couch surfing request!

Graham and I

My first host in Amsterdam was a Canadian expat who had lived in Amsterdam for over 15 yrs. Graham was a veteran couch surfer; having played both roles as host and surfer. When I arrived at his apartment, he showed me his space, we sat and talked for a bit and then went out for an evening walk together around the city. He explained the layout of the city, pointed out buildings, things to do, explained how the transportation worked, and then we went to dinner together. That night I only had one thought -

Why did I wait 4 years to try Couch Surfing?

I quickly learned anyone with good manners and social skills can be a good couch surfer. Yes, you are getting a free place to stay, however that doesn’t mean that your host’s apartment is a hotel and they are the concierge. Since I have spent time house sitting, I simply approached it the same way I do when I stay in someone’s home for house sitting. The key is to give back more than you get.

Graham was the perfect introduction to couch surfing. I stayed on his super comfortable couch for 4 nights and he completely opened his home to me providing me a key, a large bag of maps and guides, and access to the internet! We talked endlessly about travels, cultures, photography, our families, the Netherlands, and expat living. Every time I had a simple question about where something was or how to get there, he helped me.

He accompanied me to the Aalsmeer Flower auction, on a bike ride to see windmills, and on a canal boat ride. I’d like to believe that I actually showed him things and places he didn’t know about in Amsterdam; but maybe I’m that’s a bit much to assume! My favorite times with Graham were the dinners. He made me dinner one night, and the next night I made an Asian feast for both of us; it’s about give and take. You are a guest, and you need to be a grateful guest. Considering I have no home – trust me, I’m totally grateful when someone opens up their home to me!

Akshay and Payal at the cheese shop

Next I moved on to a new home in Amsterdam for 4 more nights; the home of Akshay and Payal an expat couple from India who were somewhat new to Amsterdam. This time I didn’t have a couch, I had a whole room to myself! The first night we must have stayed up until 1AM talking and drinking beer. Payal cooked up an Indian feast including homemade roti…yum! I hadn’t had homemade roti since I volunteered in Delhi years ago. I had just met this couple but we immediately clicked. We talked endlessly about India and I had a hard time remembering where I was – India or the Netherlands; as these cultures collided in my head like bumper cars!

As we talked about our cultures and travels, I realized that one of the big benefits for hosts is they can sort of travel the world without leaving their home. By opening their lives to travelers from around the world they learn about cultures from around the world. So far, my experience with CSing hosts was they were thirsty for travel. Akshay and Payal went out exploring with me one day and in true adventurous traveling fashion I even convinced Payal to have her first raw oyster at the farmers market!

That evening it was my turn to cook. Since Indian cooking doesn’t really require an oven Payal wanted to learn how to use her new European oven. I decided to cook an American classic – my mother’s chicken casserole. We went grocery shopping together and I showed Payal how to make Midwestern American food; a processed food nightmare including canned cream of mushroom soup and Velveeta cheese. I felt a bit guilty for propagating unhealthy American food…but she said she wanted to learn it! Sharing cultural foods and stories with Akshay and Payal were a highlight for me.

Next I moved on to unplanned couch surfing for a few short stays. I stayed with a gay couple Rotterdam who opened up their amazing flat with two pudgy adorable cats. Daniel was Dutch and Oliver was Lebanese. This was perfect because I had yet to stay with someone actually from the Netherlands and I was looking forward to meeting Oliver since I was planning to be in Lebanon this winter. Daniel and Oliver treated me like a family member…cooking up a multiple course feast! They also helped me with all of my transportation for the next day when I wanted to go out and photograph the Kinderdijk windmills.

Audry and Eros

My final CSing experience was in Paris. I wanted to go to Paris to do photography so decided that I was having such good luck with CSing, I might as well continue down that path.  Audrey and her cat Eros took me into their apartment for my very quick trip to Paris. I learned that Audrey not only used hosting as a great way to ‘travel’ without going anywhere, but she also used it to keep her English language skills up to date. Another great benefit for the hosts!

I was lucky enough to experience 4 very different environments from large to small flats, men, women, couples, expats, natives – but the one thing they all had in common was their generosity and interest in the world and other cultures.

I look back on my previous travels and wonder why I never tried this before; I feel silly for waiting so long. No more regrets – couch surfing will be a part of my travels moving forward. And if I ever do own a couch again – I will be thrilled to host travelers from around the world!

The benefits to couch surfing are numerous for the surfer AND the host. Here are the benefits that I discovered:

Steep, narrow stairs...

Doing Good – Let’s face it, the sharing of cultures and love of travel creates a better world
Social outlet – for a solo traveler like myself, CSing allowed me to go out and explore on my own, but have people to come ‘home’ to and talk about what you did that day which is one of the things I often miss when traveling solo. You can share your experiences with someone!
Insider information – every host armed me with guide books, maps, and sometimes even bikes or public transportation cards. I really had no need to buy any guide books before arriving in a new location.
Local Knowledge – I learned things about Amsterdam I never would have learned if I had stayed in a hotel or a hostel – like how steep the stairways are in an average Amsterdam apartment!
Lifetime Friendships – everyone of the hosts I stayed with are now friends of mine on Facebook and I converse with them regularly in the hope to see them again some day!
Saving Time – I saved oodles of time by simply being able to ask my host questions about how to get around or ideas on what to see/do. Transportation can be tricky and time consuming…but in my situation my hosts were able to provide me the information I needed to easily get around.
Saving Money – yes, you save money…but that really shouldn’t be your motivation for why you want to couch surf else you are missing the point.

The couch surfing motto is “Participate in creating a better world one couch at a time.”
Based on my experience, I think they are achieving it.

Thanks to my awesome hosts – Graham, Akshay, Payal, Daniel, Oliver, and Audrey!

It’s projects like this that give me faith in us as a global human race. It reinforces to me that even though we all come from different backgrounds, religions, families, cultures, and experiences – we CAN all get along.

Have you ever couch surfed? What benefits have you realized from surfing? If you have a couch would you consider opening your home to surfers?

Travel's many directions...

I often get asked what my favorite country is, or what my least favorite country is. I get asked where the best food is in the world and which country has the hottest men. However occasionally I received a more unique thought –provoking question. Recently I was asked, “What is the most important thing your traveling lifestyle has taught you?”
That got my brain working…working really hard. There are so many things – but as I thought about it during a recent run in Central Park, it became clear to me.

So young...and so scared to make the 'wrong' decision!

When I was in college, the decisions of what I would major in weighed upon me heavily. After all, I looked at those decisions as how I would ensure security and entry into adulthood. This decision of what to major in was the paramount decision in my life; and I thought it would define my path into retirement.

I decided to major in Business and deliberately chose Accounting to be my focus. Why Accounting? Did I love numbers, debits, and credits? Did I love rules? No, not at all. I found nothing really exciting about accounting, but I found it to be easy to do; you follow a set of rules I memorized and ‘Presto!’ I had a good grade. Plus – the other deciding factor in majoring in accounting was because all accounting students found jobs in what was then the Big 6 accounting firms. It was a fact, in your senior year, you applied to all of the Big 6 firms and some smaller local ones, and ‘Presto!’ you had a job out of college. You passed the CPA exam and you worked and worked and had a secure life. The sole reason I chose accounting as a major was because it provided the most security and had the least risk.

(yes, I know you are wondering what this has to do with the travel question…stay with me…it’s coming!)

I started my job in accounting and then Bill Gates and Microsoft Windows 3.11 came along. As the most recent college graduate, my managers expected me to know something about this new ‘cutting edge’ application. I didn’t really know anything, but I told them I was willing to learn. Over the next 3 years I grew into a self taught IT systems analyst. I happily left Accounting behind (never did get my CPA) because I looked ahead and realized this new profession of IT had way more security, stability, and money in it than Accounting would ever have.

All of my job changes and life decisions after that were also around the idea of security and setting myself up to have some sort of perceived ‘control’ over my future. Not just from an immediate future standpoint – but one that took me into retirement and ensured that I would have a job and security until I reached retirement age.

This focus on security and stability was my primary focus as a new adult; and I think this is really the same for 90% of the people out there. I trace this intense focus back to my childhood; for some odd reason my earliest memories as a teenager include a fear of ending up jobless, penniless, and living on the streets. Strange since I don’t even think I had seen a homeless person in my home town of Peoria, IL. But my brain envisioned this worst case scenario.

It was especially vivid when I was forced with big life decisions such as college choice, college major, and job offers. I always took every job offer feeling as if I was the lucky that they wanted me, instead of me considering that the business was the lucky one for snagging me. I didn’t value what I had to offer because I was too worried about having no future and ending up hopeless and penniless.

However – something has changed, and it has changed drastically. For the first time in my whole life, I am not making decisions based on security, safety, retirement and a fear of becoming homeless. I have new confidence and feeling of invincibility that I’ve never processed before. What caused this change?

One word – travel.

Now that's the look of fear!

Once I stepped off of the ‘normal’ life highway and threw myself into the unknown of leaving my job to travel; things slowly changed. I don’t think I realized how much my mindset changed until just recently as I was preparing for Meet Plan Go in NYC. I was talking with the other panelist and we were all discussing what we were doing and how we all looked at our careers and choices differently now. Unanimously we felt we were more in control than ever of our lives. We were more confident in our abilities to find work; work we actually liked. We were confident about selling our career break experiences and parlaying that into a job. We were confident we would land on our feet. None of us seemed to make decisions based on insecurity.

Extended travel did that to us.

The act of stepping our of the conventional routines we are in and challenging our ways of thinking can be one of the most powerful ‘teachers’ there is

I also recently had someone ask me if I was worried about how I would be able to retire and support myself. Four years ago this question would have absolutely terrified me to the point that I wouldn’t have been able to sleep, and my stomach would have been in knots thanks to stress. However, now I thought about her question and said, “I don’t’ really worry about it because I know I’m resourceful and I will figure something out. I firmly believe that I’m smart enough that things will work out.”

No fear! Ok - well, maybe just a little fear....

Sure, I also have money saved for retirement from my 14 years of corporate life, so I’m not penniless in my 401k, but I don’t worry that I’m not putting more and more into it every year like I used to. I’m not rich though, and I don’t have a huge nest egg that will take care of me. I do have confidence, confidence that whatever life throws at me, I will deal with. I have confidence in my vast amount of skills and what I can offer big or small businesses if I do decide to work in a traditional role again one day. I know the world is big and there are many, many places to retire and work and live. I know that I no longer want to make decisions based on fear and security. I want to just squeeze everything I can out of life and enjoy it.

Four years of traveling the globe, living abroad, doing odd jobs, freelancing, writing 500 blog posts, and being an entrepreneur has finally undone what it took 36 year to build up. It has broken down my image of being homeless and instead given me more options than ever.

I know it’s not the answer or the lifestyle for everyone. I know this applies to a small niche of people who are looking for something different in life and would like a little push; a push to live without fear.

I had a marathon coach once tell me, “Pain is fear leaving your body.” The unconventional decisions I’ve made in the last 4 years have been painful at times, but I believe my marathon coach. Thanks to my travels, my fears have subsided.

What lessons have you learned from travel?

The best form of transportation...complete with storage.

It was 11:30AM and the man at the ticket counter looked at me anxiously and said “Are you ready?”.

I took a deep breath, tightened my backpack straps, got a good grip on my camera and said “Yes” confidently.

The machine let out a long BEEEEEP!

My I Amsterdam card was now officially ticking.

I was off to the turbo tourist races armed with my camera, map, comfortable shoes, backpack, and my I Amsterdam card.  The card was my ticket to get into numerous museums and events for free around Amsterdam in addition to discounts at tourist attractions and restaurants. What’s the catch? It’s only good for 24 hours and it costs 38 Euro. On Tuesday I told you all about how to use the I Amsterdam card strategically to get the maximum value out of the card, I was now ready to put all of my strategizing to the test.

After plotting my route out on the map, figuring out closing times, and renting my Mac Bike with my discount, I was ready to go. I normally try not to travel like a tourist if I can help it, I don’t like to go where everyone else goes; instead I like to find unique travel experiences. However, I thought I could do the traditional tourist things for a day and it wouldn’t kill me. However, I couldn’t just dive into the tourist pool headfirst – I had to do it my way; a little quirky…sort of a belly flop into the pool I guess. I had chosen some of the more small, off-beat museums as well as attractions that were a little different.

Canal Homes

Van Loon House
I started my tourism overload at Museum Van Loon, a historic old canal house of the prosperous Van Loon family. Willem van Loon was one of the founders of the Dutch East India Company. The museum is housed in a double canal house that dates back to 1672. Most of the interior has remained intact throughout the centuries.

The rooms, furniture, and art were amazing; transporting you back in time to the decadence. It made me want to strap on a corset and attend a glorious party. Actually, in the month of August they have opera performances in the garden – no corset required.

Foam Photography Museum
My second stop was the Foam Photography Museum. No surprise….I like photography – so I was quite excited to see the exhibit. The photography duo of Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin put on an exhibit titled Pretty Much Everything. They successfully intertwined art, fashion, and portrait photography works next to each other.  It was some crazy, mind expanding, work – and of course I loved the quirkiness of it all!

Museum of Bags and Purses

When I saw this on the list of potential museums for the I Amsterdam card, I had to go. Considering my prior corporate career and current freelance career is all about handbags, I had to see this. I was pleasantly surprised to learn about the entire history of the handbag, learn about how and why they were made and the evolution of materials and uses. I found it all quite fascinating and the displays were gorgeous. It made me dream of owning a vintage purse!

Houseboat with a Green thumb

Houseboat Museum
I knew this would be a quick stop – but it was on my way to another site, so I thought I could swing it. Plus – who hasn’t walked the canals of Amsterdam and wondered what the insides of those houseboats looked like? This was my chance to get a better feel for living on water would be like. It was a quick and informative stop, and yes, it did seem bigger than most NYC apartments!

Lunch break

Everyone needs a break…so I parked at a cute little café and had a late afternoon coffee and sandwich enjoying my downtime simply sitting still and breathing.

Old Church

Oude Kerk
Next stop was the red light district and the Old Church; strangely this church sits in the heart of the notorious district where anything goes. Perhaps this is why the inscription above the bridal chamber is “Marry in haste, mourn at leisure”. It was 4PM and I had to keep moving as museums closed at 5 PM. I had time for a quick look through the church and it’s magnificent organ and then had to move on.

Museum Our Lord in the Attic
A block away from Oude Kerk was the small, hidden museum Our Lord in the Attic. Yes, it’s just exactly what it says – an old canal house with a church in the attic. It was hidden in the ‘attic’ due to the Reformation, when Catholics were forbidden to hold public services. I thought this was the perfect alternative to the Anne Frank house since there were notoriously long lines to see that hidden home. I walked in 15 minutes before the hidden church closed and told the desk clerk that I would be fast. This little house was like a maze, but when you finally did get to the top floor it completely opened up into a long narrow church – quite a site. Unfortunately it was under renovation when I visited, but I was still able to get a feel for the layout.

It was now 5PM and my museum and church visits had officially ended, so it was time to go to the later night attraction – the canal cruise.

Holland International Canal Cruise
They stayed open until 7PM and the starting point of the cruise was near the Red Light District so I had positioned myself perfectly…thanks to my preplanning strategy. Even though I had been doing touristy things all day, once I set foot on the boat this was the first time I felt like a tourist. The pre-recorded tour blasted out in 3 different languages and we went cruising around the canals that I had been biking around all day. I really didn’t like the cruise as I felt like I really got nothing from it, I would have much rather been on my bike looking around. However I did use the time to relax and take some notes

A quick look at the stats – 7 locations in 7 hours…whew…I needed a beer.

Day Two:
Van Gogh Museum
I still had 1 ½ hours left on my card officially, so when I found myself near the Van Gogh Museum the next morning, I decided to make the most of my card and hop in the Van Gogh museum before my 24 hours were up. This was the best decision I had made yet as the museum was big and I definitely needed more time in it so using it as my last stop was perfect!

I felt like I had squeezed everything out of the I Amsterdam card that I possibly could in 24 hours – it was successful. I was also relieved to end my role as turbo tourist – I happily handed in my map and went back to wandering aimlessly and slowly trying to fit in with the locals.

This sign in Musemplein says it all...

Amsterdam has a lot to offer for tourists – but how do you see everything Amsterdam has to offer while on a budget?

Prior to arriving in Amsterdam, I had heard of the I Amsterdam card from many websites; see everything Amsterdam has to offer a tourist in a limited amount of time. It sounded like tourist hell to me; kind of like getting the value meal and then supersizing it. I wasn’t sold on the card, as I didn’t think it sounded like fun running around trying to see all of the popular tourist attractions in one day. Like most things, bigger and faster doesn’t necessarily mean better; but I was willing to give it a shot since I am a budget traveler and from an economic perspective, the card can be a good deal.

Actually – let me rephrase that – the card can be a good deal if utilized correctly.

What you receive for your 38 Euro

For 38 Euro, you have access to over 40 free attractions, some 50 odd discounts on other attractions, and free transportation…all for 24 hours. I was intent on getting the absolute most out of my 38 Euro, and I discovered some strategies that will help you get well over 70Euro worth of value.

The Fine Print
The most important thing to realize is that the 3 things the card offers (free entrance, free transportation, and discounts) are not tied together. Once you realize this – it opens up many more possibilities. The free entrance card (it’s plastic and looks like a credit card) is used to get into the museums and attractions free. Once it’s scanned the first time the clock starts ticking down on your 24 hours. The transportation ticket is a paper card that is separate and once it is first scanned, the clock starts ticking on it too. However – they are completely separate. Meaning if you want to use the Amsterdam card one day and the transportation card a week later – you can. Finally, the discounts can be used at any time with no time restrictions. They are simply coupons that you can use when paying for something any day you choose.

Transportation
Don’t use the public transport card. Yes, you read that right. Tuck the card away and use it another day. Instead, use the bike rental discount coupon to rent a bike from Mac Bike. Public transportation is good in Amsterdam and takes you many places, however getting around by bike is even easier and faster. You can simply ‘park’ the bike right next to the building you are going to and there is no waiting time when it comes to biking, you just hop on and go. The Mac Bike rental is located all over the city and the coupon is good for 25% off your rental.

Locations
Plan your strategy before initiating the card. The day before, research the map in the pocket guide which comes with the card; read up on what places you want to visit. Try to pick places that are in the same areas. This will allow you to utilize your time the best. You can park your bike in one area and visit 3 museums within a few houses of each other. Then go on to the next location where there are clusters of sites to see.

Timing is everything
Strategizing your location though certainly isn’t enough – you need to combine that with the knowledge of opening and closing hours of each place you’d like to visit. Most museums open at 10AM and close at 5PM; so even though you have 24 hours….you mainly only have 7 hours honestly. Some things like the canal cruise runs later than 5PM, so plan that for the end of your day (after 5PM when the museums close) instead of taking up an hour of museum time in the middle of the day.
This is when the strategy might need to actually be put down on paper…combining the sites you want to see with the closing times and geographical locations is key. You can maximize your value by having this carefully planned.

Save the biggest for last
Listen up – even though the museums open up at 10AM, don’t go at 10AM! Wait an 30 minutes and go at 10:30AM. Trust me…there is method to this madness! If you want to go to the Van Gogh Museum (which you definitely want to do since a normal ticket costs 14 Euro), then leave that for the next day in your 24th hour. The Van Gogh museum (or other large museums) is a place where you will want to spend significantly more time in; maybe even 3 or 4 hours. If you start your 24 hour card at 10:30 and go to smaller, quicker museums on the first day, then the next day you can go to the Van Gogh museum at 10AM when it opens, bypass all of the people standing in line because you have an I Amsterdam card, and get right in. Your 24 hours will run out as you are comfortably inside taking your time seeing the Master’s work.

Biking to Attractions

Using this strategy and riding a bike, I was able to see 7 sites/museums the first day in about 7 hours, and then saw the Van Gough Museum the next day – that’s 8 sites in 24 hours…not bad. Yes, I even had time to stop for a leisurely lunch for an hour in the middle of the day!

On your mark…get ready….set….GO! with your I Amsterdam card!

I had all the kids stand up and one by one they sat down…

“If you haven’t been outside of Lincoln, Nebraska – sit down.” I stated.
Everyone remained standing…phew.
“If you haven’t been outside of Nebraska – sit down.”
I lost a couple.
“If you haven’t been outside the United States – sit down.”
They started dropping off rapidly now.
“If you haven’t been outside of North America – sit down.”
There were a meager 4 students left in my nieces 6th grade class of 60.

This is how I started my presentation to the 6th graders at my niece’s school. This wasn’t to embarrass anyone.  Instead I then went on to tell them I had been to 34 countries and the first time I ever went out of North America was when I was 30 years old. Clearly, they had time to build up their travel resume; but I wanted to provide some inspiration to do so.

Letters of Thanks

I passed around my passport so they could all see what one looked like; they flipped through it eagerly.   I went on to give a photography and activity-laden Power Point presentation about 3 countries I had been to: Vietnam, Nepal, and Mongolia. I compared the countries on their food, transportation, and school/family/home life. At the end, the class had to vote where they’d rather be an exchange student.

Giving this presentation was one of the most ‘non-travel’ rewarding things I did this year. The kids loved it, and I loved teaching them about parts of the world they had never heard of and leaving an impression on them that would fuel their travel desires as students and adults.

I was thrilled when I received a standing ovation at the end and kids came to talk to me in the hall about how much they liked my travel presentation. But the real treat came when I received a package from the teachers with 60 hand-written thank you notes.

I sat up late into the night, as I couldn’t put them down. They were rewarding, funny, and passionate; and peppered with many spelling mistakes. All the notes were brightly colored with stars and rainbows; it reminded me of what it was like to be a kid again.

Some of my favorite excerpts were (I left in the spelling errors for authenticity):

“During that one hour that you were there we learned alot more geography then we were taught the whole year, no joke!”
“I also thought it was pretty cool that you just quit your job to do what you wanted to do. I think that would be fun but challenging to do.”
“You inspired me to do what I like to do, instead of what makes money. Well, you make money but not as much.”
“I think I want to be a nomad to.”
“I never thought that you were a nomad because you have nice clothes and stuff.”
“You are so courageous!”

These were lovely compliments – however my thoughts really lingered on sentences like these:

“I would have liked to live in Vietnam the most. It definally looked like a lot of fun with those motorbikes!”…”and what about them holding all those things on their bikes? If I could do that I’d love it so much.”
“It sounds like fun to try all kinds of different food.”
“I like that they ride motorbikes even though there aren’t any rules.”
“It would be so interesting to visit 34 countries. The beautiful sno-capped mountains in Nepal, the flat, sandy plaines in Mongolia would be so cool to see!”
“Was it fun to have a motorbike? I think it looks really fun to have one.”
“I think it is awesome that you got to live in Vietnam.”
“I think it would be fun to try a whole new lifestyle every day!”
“I think it would be awesome with no traffic laws.”
“It is cool, but gross how you had to eat a rat! But that’s really cool!”

I lingered on the use of words like “awesome”, “cool”, and “fun”. Yes, they screamed youth in all of its glory; but they also made me think about how most kids are fearless. I thought about the comments I would have received if I had given this same presentation to my old work colleagues. I don’t think they would have unanimously thought it was cool and exciting to ride motorbike in chaotic traffic in Vietnam; or eat rat; or live with nomads in the Gobi Desert.

When did life stop being fun and start being scary? Is there a magic age where we start to worry? Where we start to conform? Where we start to be fearful of things that are different instead of embracing them?

I don’t have the answers, but I know that somewhere along the way to adulthood we change; we become scared.

As adults we look before we leap, and kids just leap. My nieces jumped into their swimming pool when it was 65 degrees for the fun and love of swimming. As an adult – who out there would do that?

The whole experience reminded me of why I love to travel and do what I do. I want to bring you another view of the world and hopefully show you that it’s not as scary as you think. I want us all to try to embrace youthful attitude again; be fearless, be open-minded.

Back when I had a home with furniture, I used to have a magnet on my fridge that said “Do one thing every day that scares you.” Try it – it may take hold. It may make you feel like a kid again.

The experience also reminded me of why I love spell-check functionality too! I had to include this one comment from a student as it had me double-over, laughing out loud. I laughed so hard, I felt like I was 11 again!

The teacher even thought it was funny...

Pink sunset over Boston

My first trip to Boston was only 12 years ago. I was 28 and was finally starting to venture out of the ‘safety’ of the Midwest. I was excited to see the city where American history came alive; I wanted to walk the Freedom Trail, see the where all the famous events took place from Boston Common to the North Church to Bunker Hill.

Not only was I interested in the old Boston, but at the time I was interested in the new Boston. Twelve years ago Boston was better known for the setting of the TV show Cheers than the Boston Tea Party. I, like many people, was a big fan of the Cheers gang; I was excited to visit the replica TV show bar.

My style of travel has certainly evolved in the last 12 years and now the thought of going where everyone else goes, or where everyone knows my name is about as exciting as going for a papsmear. With this trip to Boston, I was ready to get off the same ole tourist trail and seek out more unique travel experiences.

Boston is visited by millions each year walking the Freedom Trail, riding on Duck tours, watching the Red Sox, drinking at Cheers Bar, and sampling the famous clam chowder. If you are tired of doing what everyone else does, then it’s time to get off the tourist track…and onto the Ottsworld track to Boston!

Juliet protecting her nest

Duck Tours? See the real swans instead

Why ride a metal car/boat when you can see the real thing? (yes, I know a duck is different than a swan – but they are both birds!) Stop by the Boston Public Garden (near BostonCommon) and you’ll find some lovely swans, named Romeo and Juliet, nesting by the serene lake. Sit and watch the swans build and maintain their nest to keep the eggs safe. Granted – the babies may have hatched by the time you read this – but that’s even more reason to go check out the young ones!

Red Sox? Watch the sand sculpting competition

Skip the green monster and go see the sand monsters instead! Revere Beach in Boston hold a sand sculpting competition each year in mid July. The sand sculptures are evaluated using four categories: (1) degree of difficulty, (2) originality and creativity, (3) quality of sculpting, and (4) overall visual impact – and to the winner goes a $15,000 check…yup – it may not be a million dollar baseball salary – but it’s no small change!

Cheers Bar? See the real brewers at Harpoon Brewery

Who needs Sam the bartender when you have the young tour guides of Harpoon Brewery behind the bar? The Harpoon brewery is located in South Boston at the seaport; an unlikely place for a brewery, but worth the trip. Tours are given on the weekends and only costs $5. The best part of course is the generous tastings you get to do on the brewery tour.

Boston Harbor

Clam Chowdah? Go for some soul…food

Sure, we all know that Boston is known for sea food and especially their famous clam c

howdah. I was also surprised to find a soul food restaurant in the heart of the city called the Hen House. No seafood here, just chicken, waffles, BBQ and greens! Open late and night and delivering to your door you can have the brilliant soulful combination of waffles and fried chicken!

Freedom Trail? Follow the stars to the Southie Trail

Each day thousands of people walk the Freedom Trail, but not far from the Freedom trail lies a real melting pot of ethnicity and architectural landscape – South Boston (aka Southie). This is where the Irish and Italians originally brought their families to settle down into blue collar Boston life. Southie is the scene of many Oscar nominated movies such as Good Will Hunting and The Departed. If you pay close attention as you walk around the South Boston neighborhood, you may even start to pick up that famous Boston accent…leave your r’s behind and fit into the neighborhood!

Break away from the tourist pack and find some new travel experiences in Boston!

View and purchase my best Boston Photography

Eating in Vietnam

Going out to eat at a restaurant is easy, right?
…not always.

Often when you find yourself in other countries, even though there’s a waiter, a table, you are putting food in your mouth, and there’s a bill – there are many things that can be vastly different. As I lived in Vietnam there were many little differences I noticed every time I went out to eat. Most of these things confused me at first, but most all of them I grew to love….really love. Now as I’m back in the US for a while, I miss these Vietnamese restaurant oddities!

If you are traveling to Vietnam, here’s a few things you can expect when going to eat in a restaurant – consider this pre-travel preparation!

It's safe to drink!

Drink the Water!

Yes, you CAN have ice in your drinks; and most of the time you can drink the water in restaurants. I know this seems strange, as every guidebook tells you not to drink the water or have ice. However, I lived there for a year crunching on the ice cubes and drinking the water they put in my glass at restaurants and was never sick.

There’s more than just luck and a strong stomach involved…the ice in Vietnam is frozen at a central plant before being distributed to restaurants, bars and street stands. The water that is used for the ice is filtered and pure, meaning you can enjoy cold drinks and fruit juices (even from street vendors) without worry about your health.

In the restaurants which cater to expats (most all in District 1) filtered water is always used. No one is bringing you water straight from the tap. At least they never did while I was there. I know this can be a hard thing to believe – as all of the guidebooks say don’t drink the water (or ice), but they are referring to drinking water straight from the tap; not the ice or the restaurant water. Ultimately though, the choice is up to you.

May I take your Order?

Be prepared, the waiter will stand by you as you read the menu hovering over you until you tell them what you want. They don’t bring the menu and then walk away; they stay there… and wait. Don’t let this phase you, take your time. If you think they are annoyed by your indecision, then realize that it’s you projecting your concerns onto them. They don’t mind waiting, they aren’t in a hurry!

Eat while it's hot!

Can you spare a Square?

Napkins are seldom provided. Instead you get a ‘wet wipe’ that you end up paying for if you read the details of the bill. Don’t worry, the cost if minimal…a few pennies. For real fun be sure to pop your wet wipe baggy really loudly…it’s customary!

Cold Beer Here!

If you order a beer, it will come with ice….and yes, you can drink it (see the first point). If you don’t want ice in your beer, then you specifically need to ask for beer without ice. However, unless you like your beer warm…I suggest trying it with ice!

Ms. Manners Never Went to Vietnam

Food is delivered to your table as it’s ready. It doesn’t sit in the kitchen until the whole table’s food is ready and then brought out. If the food is ready, then it’s put in front of you. It doesn’t matter if the other people you’re with ordered something at the same time. This also means that it’s totally acceptable NOT to wait for everyone to get their food before you start eating. Else you may be waiting a long time! It’s customary for you to start eating when the food is put in front of you. Throw your manners out the window in Vietnam.

Bill Charades

You always have to ask for the bill. You can sit there for hours and hours, but until you actually ask for the bill (or in my case, motion for the bill as if you are playing charades), it will never come. You will not feel rushed, in fact many times you will think they completely forgot about you and you may have to find them to get your bill.

Table for 5?

Table for 6

You often get seated at what seems to be too small of a table for the amount of people in your party. There will be enough chairs – but you might not be able to all fit around the table. This is normal. It’s normal because in Vietnam you seldom get a plate; there are no place settings in front of you. Instead you get a small little rice bowl and a set up chopsticks. You take the rice bowl off the table and cup in your hand. The food you ordered is on a big plate placed in the middle of the table. You reach to the middle with your chopsticks and grab a bit of the food that you ordered and put it into the rice bowl on top of the rice. While holding the rice bowl underneath your chin, you shovel the food in with the chopsticks. Therefore you never really need to set down your rice bowl ON the table and don’t need much table space!

Put your calculator away

You absolutely don’t need to tip. Don’t let your western guilt take over.

Happy to share my food learnings, but if you want to read about other things I learned in Vietnam, check out my Vietnam Learnings post.

What have your experiences been with eating in Vietnam? Any great stories to share?

Still hungry?  Then stop on by WanderFood at Wanderlust and Lipstick for more great food stories!

The McDonalds stigma is strong...

It has to be said…and this may be controversial…

Eating at McDonalds in a foreign country does NOT make you a despicable traveler.

In all honestly – up until I took my career break and traveled around the world, I would have scoffed at that statement. I thought Americans who ate at McDonalds while traveling abroad were heathens; some lower form of tourist I was embarrassed to associate myself with.

As successful as they are, McDonald’s somehow has a terrible stigma associated with it. Lazy, fat Americans going to McDonalds instead of trying a country’s local food items is often a picture that is painted. People wonder “Why go abroad?” if you are just going to eat at the same places you did at home.

However on the other side of the coin is the argument that there is something comforting in knowing what to expect and having something familiar. This is how I found myself in a McDonald’s in Luxor on one very hot day in July. I had been on the road for 11 months and had been in Egypt for a week touring temple after temple. The problem with this…I’m not a ‘temple person’. They don’t really excite me. Sure – I wanted to see the pyramids, but the other stuff was just ‘extra’.

Temples, Temples, Temples

So when the group I had been traveling with all started lathering on sunscreen and getting ready to leave to see the Luxor Temple, I decided to be different. I didn’t want to go to the temple. Instead, I wanted some ‘me time’, I wanted to sit and be lazy and not explore; a vacation from my around the world travel. After nearly a year on the road, I felt like I deserved this lazy day. However, I took it one step further, I wanted a hamburger; a ‘real’, American hamburger with pickles, onion, ketchup and proper yellow mustard.

After my friends left to dig further into Egyptian relics, I left in search of American greasiness. I had remembered walking by a McDonalds the night before and it must have triggered a craving in me…one that wouldn’t let go.

I walked inside aware of my caucasian skin and for a moment I wondered what other people thought. I wished I could be invisible. However that moment lasted about 2 seconds – until the freezing cold air-conditioned air mass hit my body and I stood motionless just soaking it in. I walked up to the counter and ordered a Big Mac, fries, and a coke. I sat at a table with my many ketchup packets and enjoyed my greasy American feast while listening to old Paula Abdule songs being pumped through the speakers. I savored every moment of this familiar feast. A familiarity I hadn’t had in a very long time.

Yearning for the familiar when you are on the road long term is normal. After all, you spend the majority of your time constantly trying to figure out how to communicate and get around in an abnormal environment; it’s exhausting. I never really got homesick while I traveled for 16 months, however I did have these moments where I just wanted it to be easy for a few hours or a day; and those days were apparently a good day to go to McDonalds. I think I can count on one hand the number of times I went into a McDonalds, but they were all pretty memorable to me.

I sat in the McDonalds in Luxor Egypt, enjoying my alone time; a time when I didn’t have to think. There was just one last thing I had to do with this perfect lazy day; order a hot fudge sundae.

Ok – time to confess…how many of you long term travelers have went to McDonalds while on the road?!

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!

Clean Water - a privilege in most countries

America is easy…yes…easy.  I think about this every night when I brush my teeth.  I run water from the tap over my toothbrush and rinse.  I never have to worry about the tap water I’m using.  This is a far cry from Vietnam where I lived last year.  I became so accustomed to brushing my teeth with bottled water that when I arrived back in America it felt practically ‘illegal’ to use the tap water to brush my teeth.  I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was doing something wrong.

The water hardships are never ending while traveling.  While living/volunteering in India we were subject to water rationing, and couldn’t use water for certain hours of the day.  We’d have to keep water in a bucket for those hours and use it only when needed.  In Nepal I had to have my water boiled before I could drink it.  In Mongolia there was no water, so we drank goat milk.

When you live in a country without a good supply of safe water, then it turns from a hardship to a potential cause of death.

Travel Tips = Clean Water

Starting with just one blog post back in November 2009, the Travel Secrets project spread quickly with 200 amazing travel bloggers revealing their most closely guarded travel secrets.  The secrets were too good not to share! So Tripbase compiled all 500 of them into a series of inspirational travel eBooks, available for free download right now!

From secluded beaches to bargain hotels, exotic foods and expert travel tips, this wealth of insider travel knowledge is available now, absolutely free!

The Cause

For every person that downloads a Travel Secrets eBook Tripbase will make a $1 donation to the fantastic cause, Charity: Water.

Our mission: to help bring clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations.

Our campaign target: to build 4 freshwater wells, providing clean water for an entire school for the next 20 years.

How it works

You, the avid Ottsworld travel reader, get a FREE ebook with travel tips from the best travel bloggers across the net (including me!).  When you download the FREE ebook, Tripbase will donate $1 to the clean water project.  Simple.  YOU click, YOU download, YOU get great travel tips, YOU help bring safe drinking water to the world.

Click away so that others can drink away!

I’ve helped, please help too

Download Free eBooks

led by Tripbase

The Iceland volcano grounded air travel in Europe last week; it was a frustrating week for travelers. I know their pain because I too am grounded…here in the US. I’m waiting to travel. It’s hard for me to stay grounded and be patient waiting to travel; I have trouble taking my own advice -> Have a Little Patience.  However there is a good reason why I’m waiting. I’m waiting because I’m working on a project that will help others travel. I feel like a martyr after writing that last sentence; willing to sacrifice for other wanna-be travelers!

I’ve been in the US now for 5 months, which is about 2 months longer than I would have liked to stay – but a new project is keeping me here. My start-up venture, Briefcase to Backpack, has partnered with Three Month Visa Coaching & Consulting to hold a national conversation about long term travel. This whole idea was sparked by the upcoming realease of the movie Eat, Pray, Love (first a best-selling book). A very popular travel book that follows a mid career woman through travels around the world as she resolves her mid-life crisis. It’s not my favorite book, but I love it for the interest it creates in long term travel.

As the movie hits the theatres in August, it will hopefully spark interest in long term travel and hence that’s how our Meet, Plan, Go! event was born.

Meet, Plan, Go! events will be held with travel experts in major cities across the country on September 14th. Each event will be designed to help participants get inspired to follow their travel dreams as well as connecting them with useful resources and contacts that will make planning that trip of a lifetime that much easier.

I get letters every week from people who read this website or Briefcase to Backpack saying, “I wish I could travel like you do.” This breaks my heart because I know that in reality most people CAN travel like I do, but they are being held back by our own society and way of thinking about work, vacations, and time off. We put so many road blocks in our way, it’s hard to accomplish anything!

It’s great to interact with people on the web and via social media – however the opportunity to have a live ‘real person’ travel discussion is another avenue which we can use to inspire people to travel and help them realize the benefits of career breaks! We can’t do it alone, so we are enlisting the help of well known travel bloggers and experienced career breakers throughout the country to facilitate these events in their home cities.

You can read all about the national Meet, Plan, Go! event being held on September 14th at our Meet, Plan, Go! website. In addition, consider joining our Meet, Plan, Go! Facebook Fan page or our newsletter signup so that you can get the latest updates on new Meet, Plan, Go! locations and sponsors.

As much as the world is calling to me to get out and see it, I’ve decided that getting more career breakers out into the world is more important.

So mark you calendar for September 14th and attend a Meet, Plan, Go! event in your city. Or consider becoming a host, a sponsor, or simply tell others about it. By doing any of these things, it will make ‘staying grounded’ worth it for me and you will be a part of a cultural shift in how we look at travel in America!

Have Visa, Will Travel

Tiger Balm Tales Vol. 21

Visa Required

Even though I didn’t start traveling internationality until I was 30 years old, I’ve done a lot of traveling; some people may even consider me an ‘expert’. I’m not real sure if I deserve the ‘expert’ title, but there are certainly a few things I’ve learned about international travel.

You need a valid passport to travel. That passport shouldn’t expire within 6 months of you traveling. You need to have at least 2 empty (non-stamped) pages in your passport. Countries require a visa to enter their country and sometimes that costs money. However, if you are only passing through the country via the airport, you don’t need a visa if you are simply transiting through the airport.

At least that’s what I thought.

Dad and I were leaving in two days on Jet Airways (an International Indian airline). We were flying out of Kathmandu together to Delhi where we would split up and then go separate ways. I was headed to Sri Lanka from Delhi and my dad was going to Singapore. The Singapore Jet Airways flight goes from Delhi to Chennai (also India), THEN to Singapore. Neither one of us were staying in India, we were simply passing through.

We had been advised to confirm out flights so Giri, our tour operator manager handled that for us. He took our passports and had someone run to the Jet Airways office to confirm our flights. We sat in Giri’s office going thru our photos of the circuit and making plans for lunch with his family the next day.

The phone rang in his office, there was a problem with our tickets; my heart sank. This is not the news you want to hear in Nepal two days before you are supposed to leave. Dad didn’t have an Indian visa in his passport. I immediately thought…hmmm…this must be a translation issue, he didn’t need an Indian Visa, he wasn’t staying there. We tried to explain that we didn’t need a visa, he was traveling to Singapore and simply had layovers in India.

Delhi Airport

Over the next hour of arguments and explanations which made little sense to me, we learned if dad was to get on a plane in two days, he would need an in–transit visa for India. Apparently, since we flew into Delhi and he needed to change planes in Delhi and fly to Chennai, his flight to Chennai would originate out of the domestic airport in Delhi. The Domestic airport is right next to the International airport. You simply go out side and into the next building.

Ah…there laid the problem…he had to go outside.

Damn.

It didn’t matter that his final destination was Singapore, nor did it matter that it was all Jet Airway’s flights. This was a strange black hole of visa requirements encountered only in odd situations like this at the Delhi airport.

We gave in, we next had to figure out how to somehow get an in-transit Indian visa in less than 36 hours. An Indian visa can normally take weeks to get and it’s never an easy process. There’s only one way to do it…you know someone who knows someone who you pay off to get it for you. One good thing about undeveloped countries, sometimes bribes can work in your favor. At least it’s a viable option that you can take.

We looked at all of our options and consulted with Giri who was intent on helping us through this issue no matter what. We decided to go the ‘pay a friend’ route. Giri knew someone who knew someone at the Indian Embassy who reportedly could get an in-transit visa for a slightly higher fee than taking the regular route. I don’t know that I would’ve went this route unless I had known Giri so well; he was a friend. I trusted that he had our best interests in mind and he genuinely wanted to help us. He had been our guardian angel so far on this trip, and that wasn’t going to change now.

The woman from the embassy came to Giri’s office, she reassured us that she could get the visa by the next day, we paid her the money, and we said a little prayer to the travel Gods that it would all work out.

Luckily – it did. Money talks.

Never again will I assume that I know about travel – at least when it comes to visas and India!

Read the complete Tiger Balm Tales from the beginning!

Vol. 1 – The Begining of a Nepal Trekking Plan
Vol. 2 – Preparing the Parents
Vol. 3 – Annapurna Itinerary
Vol. 4 – Travel Back in Time
Vol. 5 – Breathe Through Your Mouth
Vol. 6 – Road Work Ahead
Vol. 7 – Changing Rhythms on the Annapurna Circuit
Vol. 8 – And on the 7th Day We Rested
Vol. 9 – Paralyzed on the Annapurna Circuit
Vol. 10 – No Room at the Inns
Vol. 11 – A Mouse in My House
Vol. 12 – Beware of Falling Rocks
Vol. 13 – The Longest Day
Vol. 14 – Motorized Travel
Vol. 15 – A River Runs Thru It
Vol. 16 – Carbo Loading
Vol. 17 – Danger Curves Ahead!
Vol. 18 – Going Up Again
Vol. 19 – Coming Down to Reality
Vol. 20 – Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round

Maintaining the House

I’ve been back ‘home’ in the US for 4 months, yet I’m still living out of two suitcases, changing locations every week, finding unique adventures, experiencing new things. I’ve been staying on lakes, farms, and in suburbs; watching cats, dogs, chickens, horses, and pipes (so that they wouldn’t freeze); gathering mail, picking up dry cleaning, taking out garbage and transporting vehicles. All of this adventure was made possible through house sitting.

I know that many people consider house sitting as a way to travel and see the world, so I thought I would give it a go considering I really have no home and wanted to stick around the US for a while keeping my expenses minimal. I first looked into the typical house sitting sites around the web. There is a whole house sitting industry out there – but I quickly found anything which involves travel and free lodging is saturated; everyone wants to do it. The competition can be tough.

I realized not everyone who owns a house and wants someone to watch it looks to these websites to find sitters. In fact, many homeowners probably don’t even know they exist. In addition, most Americans only travel for a week or two at a time and don’t consider hiring a house-sitter through a website service as they think it’s overkill. That’s where I come in; the short term, flexible house sitter!

So, how do you go about house-sitting for short term engagements?

Be Verbal – Physically and Virtually
I decided to use my network of friends and family to put out the word that I was available to house sit, animal sit, vehicle sit or farm sit – all for two simple things; a bed and an internet connection. I’ve learned that one of the great things about being older and well traveled is that you are considered trustworthy. I put out updates on Facebook to all of my friends, I also put out updates in my monthly Ottsworld newsletter . Even in the electronic world of 2010, word of mouth is still very powerful. So when I found myself at lunch with my sister and one of her friends, the topic of my house-sitting came up and that launched into the friend needing someone to look after their house. Often people might not consider house sitting at first. But given the opportunity people prefer to have a trustworthy, referenced individual staying in their house with their pets rather than a neighbor simply looking in on the pets once a day. People feel more comfortable having someone stay with Rover or Fluffy and keeping them company. However, they don’t want strangers staying at their house – that’s why the friend of friends network becomes important; you’re not a complete stranger.

The long winter

Time and Place is Everything:
In order to housesit – you have to put yourself in places where people don’t want to be. For me this meant the Midwest in the winter. In the 90’s I lived in Minnesota for 4 years and was quite familiar with the long, cold winters. These winters make a winter getaway a necessity in the Northern US. In this part of the country, people have to be concerned with freezing pipes and other issues when they leave their house unoccupied. This is how I found myself moving from house to house in and around the Twin Cities and South Dakota for the last 2 1/2 months. In addition, if you have a network of friends that include families you can also take advantage of spring breaks. All schools have their spring breaks at different times and often families use that time to do a weekly get-away; and they leave their pets behind.

Curbside Service:
Parking in long term airport parking can be expensive. That’s where I come in. Not only do I watch the person’s house, but I provide airport pickup and drop off service; utilizing that person’s own car. Sometimes the savings of avoiding airport parking can be worth having me watch a house regardless of pets! I’ve made 12 trips to the Minneapolis airport in the last 2 months – yet I’ve never stepped on a plane myself!

Having a Home Base:
I have to admit – I was pretty lucky as most of my house sitting gigs this winter lined up perfectly on the calendar. I’d go right from one to the other as different families had different weeks for spring break. However there is bound to be a few days where you have no house lined up,which leave you homeless! You need a home base and for me I was lucky I had family in the Twin Cities. Between house-sitting I would stay at my sister’s house for a couple of days until I moved on to the next house. If you don’t have that luxury, then I suggest couch surfing or finding a local hostel or someone’s home at AirBnB for cheaper short term lodging.

Leave a lasting Impression:
While living in Vietnam for the last year, I never had to lift my finger to clean a thing. Cheap house cleaning is one of the great perks of SE Asia. However when house-sitting, my motto is to leave the house in a better condition than when you arrived. My goal is for my visit to appear invisible. I even go as far as bringing my own food to the houses so that I have very little impact on my stay. The last day of my house-sitting is always the cleaning day; sheets, towels, bathrooms, floors, kitchens, and don’t forget to take out the trash. As an added bonus I try to leave the owners a gift – the gift of photography. Since many times I was watching precious pets and animals, I used my time there and my photographic skills to capture their furry loved ones; something the owners seldom do themselves.

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Whether you are in your home country or traveling around the world, you can put these tips to use where-ever you have a network of contacts. Thanks to my travels, my network of friends reach all around the world. In fact, while in Vietnam, I also spent 3 months house sitting for expats. So, if your travels find you nomadic, but looking for something different – you may want to reach out to your family and friends around the world and try out short term house-sitting!

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.

I’ve taken thousands and thousands of photos. I’ve carried my 2 cameras and 3 lenses to heights of 18,000 ft. It has been with me every step of the way to over 31 countries. I feel like at this point I’m qualified to give out a little photography advice! I do a lot of candid people photography as well as some landscape photography. Both have its challenges when you are on the road and at the mercy of Mother Nature, geography, and human nature. I’m sure that as a traveler, you want to capture what you’re seeing and experiencing, so here are a few tips to get the exceptional shots you want on your next trip.

Nice! Except for power line in the upper right!

Scan

Before you click the shutter button, take one last look around your frame; especially the corners. Look for pesky power lines and other distractions. There’s nothing worse than trying to get a great shot of the simplicity of village life in remote areas and there are power lines running through your shot! If power lines are in your frame, then go to another vantage point (squat down or stand on something) so you can get a nice clean shot. Right before I shoot I move my eye around the perimeter of my frame to make sure it’s clear – then take the shot.

Wide

Capture your surroundings with a wider angle

I know everyone likes to have these super zoom cameras, but the more powerful photos are the ones where you can see the people relate to their environment.  Your photography will improve by widening your view. Not only will you get the environment around a person, but by using a wider angle and not relying on the crutch of a zoom lens, it will force you to get up closer to your subject. This means that you’ll interact more with your subject and that ALWAYS makes a better picture. Don’t simply zoom in and ‘steal’ pictures, they are never as good. If you use an SLR, use a wide angle lens for a day and see how your photography improves!

Memory

If you are using an SLR camera make sure you get to know your main controls by feel BEFORE the trip. While you have the camera up to your eye looking thru the view finder, make sure you can find and switch the ISO, shutter speed, aperture, and focal points by feel (without removing the camera from your face to look for the buttons!). Practice these things before you leave on your trip. Set up a shot and see if you can change all of these things quickly by feel. It may be tough at first, but with practice, you’ll get to know the locations of these buttons and wheels just as you know your shutter button and zoom. Knowing these features will help you to react quickly to the ever changing situations around you.

Crouch

Get to their level

If you don’t want to stand out as you are taking photos, then try to blend into the crowd more. I do this by crouching down/squatting and taking photos from a lower viewpoint. This way I don’t stand out as much (I normally travel in Asia where I seem to tower over everyone!). If you are photographing children, then crouching is a must to get to their level and interact more with them. It helps put them at ease. Plus crouching has added benefits – it normally offers a more unique perspective.

Wait

When you see someone doing something you want to capture, how do you go about asking permission to take their photo and not have them stop what they were doing and pose/grin into the camera? You wait. And wait. It’s inevitable if you ask someone to take their picture while they are playing an intense game of cards, they will all stop and look at the camera and smile; not quite the shot you were looking for. However take that shot of their cheesy grins and then show it to them…they will all laugh and smile be satisfied. Then they’ll go back to their game of cards. That’s when you can now wait around and get the real shots you want. Your newness will wear off and they will forget you are there and go about their intense game. Now you can start clicking.

Me up to catch the morning sunlight

These are just a few tips that you can digest for your next trip. But the best advice I can give you is to PRACTICE!
Do you have a travel photography tip to share? Speak up and help others improve their shots!

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