Is this it?!

1) Just Go.
Don’t over think it. Today’s world can feel like it is built on series of rules. There are not rules, and you truly can do, whatever you want.

There are no rules. Go Long-Term Travel. You will thank-yourself later. In many cases, its a better investment that a college education. I’d like to see GAP years and around the world trips be as ubiquitous as a colleage education one day. I suspect it will be better for humanity, and the world than just sending more kids to college for an often times, over priced. education.

2) Bring 1/2 the stuff and double the money

3) Start somewhere comfortable to get your mojo going. If you are from the USA, start in Australia, NZ, or the EU, instead of sub saharan Africa (Do go though). You will build confidence and better habits building up to places that are more shocking to you culturally

4) When/if you are saving to go, get down and dirty and cut, cut, cut non-necessities. $5 bucks a day for your skinny latte can go a lot farther in places around the globe.

5) Take one of BootsnAll’s Long-Term Travel Courses. These 30 days of free emails, were built to get more people on the road, because I believe that is the best thing for humanity. We do link to some of our products throughout, but we also link to many more products/services that we don’t have an interest in. We build this to get you on the road…it’s free, use it and give us feednack after so we can continue to make it better. It will be worth your time.

QUESTION:
What are your top 5 travel tips you’d like a new traveler to know before going abroad

Even if you haven’t been on a RTW trip, we bet you’ve traveled some. To family for holidays, camping with friends, or exploring your hometown by bike. Tell us 5 things you’ve learned during your travel experiences.

When I think of today’s prompt, I’m thinking about all the information out there and available to travelers. Even though I co-created the Indie Travel Manifesto with Rolf and colleagues at BootsnAll in February 2012, when I read this value, it makes me think.

“Indie travelers value local information over received information”

I like what the full value says. It doesn’t mean “received” information is bad, it just super duper awesome to get a local view or interaction.

Think about it, do you want to travel the world, and hang out with people from your city/country? It feels safe to do so, but is it as expansive?

For me, I just love and feel loved when I put myself out there in other places and take that risk. Say Hi. Ask a question. Get out of the major tourist hubs where the local interactions are more often “built” for you.

I’m recovering from a quick bout of stret throat, so I’m not able to try the challenge just yet, but I intend to.

QUESTION:
Tell us about an experience you had from information you got from a local.

CHALLENGE: Pretend you’re a first-time visitor to the city/country you are in. Walk up to 5 people on the street and ask them their favourite thing to do in the city (restaurant, park, place to ride bikes, etc).
Now pick one of those things and go do it!
Did you learn somewhere new? How was it asking a stranger for local information? Where did you go and what was it like? Tell us all about your experience and how local information can help you learn about a place.

As I’ve been doing, I’m changing the prompt to suit what I want to write about. 🙂

What is HomeTown Travel?

Simply: Getting out of your comfort zone, ie. doing things that you don’t EVER do, in your hometown. Your more likely to have a travel like experience in this case versus:

– going the same way to and from work
– hanging out with the same people, doing the same things
– watching the same “shows”
– getting into patterns that create comfort, and in my experience, less challenge.

The answer to today’s prompt, is of course, yes.

QUESTION:
Is there an awesome coffee shop, a local festival, or a place to get away that locals know, but many visitors don’t? Tell us a place in your hometown, or in the town you’re in now, that you think more visitors should experience.

1) My way is not the only way
2) Humility
3) Beauty
4) Love
5) Endurance
6) It’s not about the sights, its about the people
7) Breathe, slow down.
8) Everyday is Saturday – Here’s a movie about long-term travel
9) There is not a “wrong” way
10) Let go of control

QUESTION 1:
What has long-term travel taught you?
QUESTION 2:
What do you hope to learn from a long-term or RTW trip?

Today’s question presumes that the reader/writer thinks that options are better than possesion.

QUESTION:
How is having experiences better than having possessions? (From the Indie Travel Challenge)

I do prefer options over possessions. I’m unsure if everyone else in the world, or at least the people that read/participate will think so. 🙂

The discussion on the Indie Travel Manifesto page has a few thoughts on why?

Here are a few pieces about this exact topic:

The Freedom of Travel vs the Paralysis of Stuff
Collect experiences, not things
Thoughts on minimalism

As for me, “stuff” weighs be down, both in a physical and emotional sense. You’ve probably heard this before, but the idea that the more keys one has on their key ring is a sign of how tied down one is to “stuff”

One of the biggest possessions that it appears Americans and many other countries “love” – is Love of home ownership. And in many cases, multiple homes, multiple cars, more clothes, more shoes, more, more, more!

I’m not denying that one needs a home, and the potential benefits of owning some assets. At some point, they can become a yoke.

I read a book in early 2015 that is all about this idea “options over possessions” called Essentialism

I read dozens of books per year, and this book described what I was already thinking and doing in my personal and business life which was.

Simplifying the crap out of it.

As I was in the divorce process, I made a dozen plus trips to Goodwill. The idea being, if I did not LOVE this item, get rid of it. At this point, I don’t LOVE any “thing” – I love people, animals, and the world around me.

Essentialism also justifies the idea of saying “no” more. As the subtitle of the book suggests, “The Disciplined Pursuit of Less”

When I saw the question “Why I Travel” – I immediately thought of the series that BootsnAll published in 2010/11 called How I Travel. Friend of BootsnAll, Steve Bramucci conceived and wrote this series.

And 1 HUGE reason why I travel, is to meet folks like Steve. Passionate, caring and out there in life going for it.

More Why I Travel

– Feeling a sense Freedom
– More exposure to raw experiences
– Stretch myself (physical, mental, social, and emotional)
– To continually learn and re-learn, that my way is not the only way
– It’s fun – often time feels like I’m riding on a “joy train”
– to feel connected to the world
– to learn
– It’s simple (Just me and a backpack or Van Living)

I changed today’s Indie Travel Challenge to “Why I travel”.

The prompts were:

QUESTION 1:
Why did you first start traveling? Why did you continue to travel?

QUESTION 2:
Why do you want to travel?