The Best Comments Of The Month: July 2009
July was one of the best months for comments both in terms of quantity and quality. These are just some of the best comments of the month. Feel free to jump in and keep the conversations going.
- How to Drink Raki Like a Turk: “You forgot to mention that you’ll be eating and drinking until 6:00 am, but won’t even feel tired because it’s so fun there!” – Mary R
- 3 Ways to Celebrate The 4th of July Outside of the US: “As a Norwegian, I do it my way: I married an American and had her come to Norway. So now we mix our culture and traditions.” – RennyBA
- An Amateur’s Guide to Location Independence Part 1: “I find that Paint and Artweaver (I haven’t used GIMP) don’t have the flexibility and usability of Photoshop. I don’t have full Photoshop because I didn’t want to shell out $600 and I don’t really need all of the Photoshop tools. Instead, we use Photoshop Elements which I think is a really good deal at $140.” – Akila
- An Amateur’s Guide to Location Independence Part 3: “TrueCrypt is a good shout. I use it for a hidden encrypted volume on my hard disk for scans of my passport, driving license, credit card etc in case I lose them and also on a USB drive which I use for backups.” – Dan
- 5 Free and Useful iPhone Apps for Travelers: “I also recommend an app called Duo which will let you update your Twitter and Facebook Status at the same time. We have people following us in different ways and they can all be in touch and up to date.” – Scott
- UFO Sightseeing Hotspots: “I’m no UFO fanatic, but I would like to visit Roswell. Seeing it would give me a story or two to tell. I’m sure after a few pints I could embellish the tale with gusto.” – Stevo
- Are You Concerned About the Environmental Impact of Travel?: “I think it’s important to travel with knowledge of our ecological impact in mind. This way, we can minimize our impact, and yet understand that there IS a negative impact to what we do. What we need to do is make that negative impact count, and not wantonly spend it away as if it didn’t matter.” – The Backpack Foodie
- Making Imaginary Posts for Your Travel Blog Work: “I do a post like that quite frequently. I call it ‘Dreaming of’. It likes a trip planning like you said. It gives me something to look forward too. And sometimes when I see a great post about a destination, I can’t help but start researching about the location.” – Amy @ The Q Family
Some Other Great Conversations
- John Bardos on Overcoming 7 Major Obstacles To Traveling The World – #2: You Think It’s Too Expensive. A very good conversation on that post.
- Fran‘s thoughts on the definition of a successful travel blog.
- Jen Laceda, you can see the Perseids in August!
- Marina Villatoro‘s looking forward to The Cheesiest Travel Photo Contest.
As you can see it’s been a busy month with so many more comments I could have listed here. Thanks to all of you who comment, I appreciate every one!
[photo by: Dr John2005]
4 Thing To Pack and Not Feel Guilty About: My Guest Post At Travel Experta
July 31, 2009 by Anil P.
Filed under Guest Post
You can read my guest post at Travel Experta about 4 things to pack and not feel guilty about. (I wonder if you can guess what they are.) Head over to Marina Villatoro’s blog to read the post and while you’re at it find out all you need to know about traveling in Central America.
The Travel Experta is an inspirational blog and if you’re headed to Central America Marina can help you plan a great trip for less than doing it yourself. Also look for a special set of guest posts here on foXnoMad from Marina beginning next Friday.
[photo by: Joseph Robertson]
Overcoming 7 Major Obstacles To Traveling The World – #3: You Don’t Know Where You’d Go
A number of you are planning to travel the world one day, which won’t happen unless you can overcome these 7 obstacles. Here are Part 1 and Part 2 of this series.
It may seem that money is the biggest hurdle to overcome to traveling the world but aside from anything external the biggest thing holding you back is yourself. You may be thinking “not knowing where to go” is a stupid thing for anyone to let get in their way but it’s a symptom of not wanting or being able to convert your dreams into realities.
From Your Head To Paper
It’s much easier to follow any plan that’s written down on paper, thought out, and discussed with those you care about. Many people say “I wish I could just travel” but few sit down and set some general plans for their journey.
- Traveling the world is not a fantasy so don’t treat it like one.
Beware that beginning to turn your dreams into realities make them a bit less glamorous and you’ll awaken to the fact that traveling the world takes work. Start off slowly and put a list of 3-5 places down that you’ve always wanted to go. Do this in conjunction with the travel budget you calculated (using an amateur’s guide to location independence part 3) and the haze will begin to get clearer.
Why Do You Want To Travel?
What are your motivations for wanting to travel around the world? Where you decide to go is a reflection of circumstances as much as it is of your personality. The entire world is open to you and that’s daunting when you’re about to leave your cubicle behind and seriously shake up your daily routine.
Ask Yourself
- Where do you see yourself – on a beach, in the mountains, a big city – perhaps a little of each?
- How long do you want to travel? Is it for a set time or indefinitely?
- Where would you not want to go?
- What are you searching for? What landmarks do you definitely want to see?
Effort In Effort Out
By now you should have an idea of which part of the world you want to go see or at least begin in and some idea of why (i.e. you’ve always been interested in Japanese culture). Grab a map and begin plotting out your journey. Don’t be concerned with how long you’ll stay at each place, or get from city to city just yet. Those are the details – have fun with this stage of planning and don’t leave anything off limits.
- Those lines crisscrossing the map will invigorate you and hurdle you easily over this obstacle.
From this point on the more effort you put toward traveling around the world, like cooking peasant foods to save money, the closer you’ll be to visiting the places you’ve decided to go.
It Starts With Dreams But Doesn’t End There
Dreams and hopes are the foundation of most great things that are accomplished around the world and in our personal lives. Planning on where to go is the obstacle to overcome that’s in between preparation and action. Saving money and letting go of your comfortable day job may not have you convinced that you can actually travel the world. Putting lines down on a map and watching them go around the globe just might.
Now that you have yourself convinced, it’s time to bring your family and friends on board. Next week in Part 4 you’ll break the news to them and find ways to keep them close even though you’ll be traveling the world.
[photos by: LuluP, dmachiavello, stevecadman]
What’s On The Back Of My Toilet?
July 29, 2009 by Anil P.
Filed under Guest Post, Links
You can find out the answer to that question, “what’s on the back of your toilet“, by reading my response to Daniel and Kathryn over at Two Go Round-The-World. Daniel asked me and several other bloggers that question to learn a little bit more about us and the answers with pictures were interesting across the board.
You can find out what’s on the back of Velvet Escape, ThePlanetD, So Not Lost, and 4 other great travel blogger’s toilets. While you’re there be sure to take a look through Two Go Round-The-World which is an excellent travel blog.
[photo by: rainspoo]
