Travel Q&A with Ottsworld

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

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

 …the list can go on. 

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

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

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

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

2. How did you learn photography? Its amazing.

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

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

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

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

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

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Filed Under: Q&A • Travel Advice

Tags: Photography • Solo Travel • Travel Tips