Guinness rocks. Yes, salutations from Ireland! I’ve been told for years that Guinness beer is “different” (for reasons not entirely scientific or definable) when you drink it in Ireland. And after much skepticism on my part, I can now say that I completely agree. As a generally dubious beer drinker, I am a Guinness convert!

I’ve been here in Ireland for a week staying with a friend, visiting new friends, and I’ll be attending a music festival this weekend. Next up: Paris! “Paris,” you say? You may muse that I’ve recently been there – why would I return so soon? Well, I’m returning on business – of sorts – to shoot the pilot episode of a travel tv show! The nature of the show still remains top secret, but I can tell you this much: September will involve adventures in both Paris and Nepal. (Nepal!) Unfortunately it means a detour from my initial September plans of visiting the Netherlands, but I think it’s a pretty worthy cause, n’est-ce pas?

Please enjoy some of my latest musings around the web:

Wise Bread

Travel & Money: Using Prepaid Travel Cards

Traveling safely and managing your money along the way is an exercise in balancing multiple risks: theft, loss, high surcharges, and confusing discrepancies. This Travel and Money series discusses various ways to address money and security issues while you are abroad.

Today, the topic of discussion is Prepaid Travel Cards, which can be a useful – and secure – alternative to debit cards and credit cards, as well as a way to hedge against currency risk.

Care One

Balancing the Needs of Tomorrow with the Desires of Today

We all have dreams – some of them more realistic than others. And we all have responsibilities that make the dreams less possible. Those dreams versus responsibilities reflect the delicate balance between the needs of tomorrow and the desires of today.

AmEx Open Forum

Be Standby Power Smart and Save Serious Money

There is a predator in your office. One that is costing you hundreds — if not thousands — of dollars per year, and unnecessarily so. It is also cumulatively costing the environment in untold ways. That predator is standby power, and if you get smart about it, you can save some serious money.

Profiles & Shout-Outs

Niche Interview conducted an hour-long phone interview with me a few months ago while I was watching the sun set one day at Mana Retreat. We talked about the emotional and logistical journey I made from deciding to travel full-time, to some of the crazy adventures (and mis-adventures) I had along the way, to my tips and techniques for traveling the world full-time for $14,000/year or less. So next time you have an hour to spare, feel free to give it a listen!

Travel the World for $14,000 per Year – Interview With Nora Dunn

About 6 months ago, Taylor and Rachel made the decision to leave their big, important corporate jobs in sunny San Francisco and travel for 6-12 months through Central and South America and Europe. They set some loose goals to learn Spanish, play guitar, and give thought to life’s most important questions. For example: Who shot JR? White or wheat? And do these pants make me look fat? Please enjoy this week-in-the-life of Taylor and Rachel in their third week of Spanish classes in Costa Rica.

Domingo (Sunday)

Start of week 3! Week 2 went much faster than week 1, mainly because we have to use our brains now.

We took a school field trip to the top of an old Volcano today. Volcan Irazu. It was huge and amazing and there were cute little animals that wanted your food and money. I’m pretty sure one of them hit on Rachel, but it’s cool, because he was so cute. See below for a picture that you can’t resist “Awwwwwwww’ing” over.

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I must confess. One of the reasons I wanted to take a day trip to Carcassonne had very little to do with the place itself, or my knowledge of this medieval walled city with a formidable history and a place on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

No. It had to do with the fact that I love to play the board game called Carcassonne. If the game was that good, there had to be a reason why they named it Carcassonne, right? Surely, Carcassonne was cool.

Lucky for me, it was.

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I’ve been traveling with a beefy book in my bag for the last little while; one called The Lost Girls: Three Friends. Four Continents. One Unconventional Detour Around the World. It’s somewhat appropriate that while I’ve been reading about three girls who circumnavigated the world on a gap year journey of inner and outer exploration, the book has been by my side through about five countries on my own journey.

But this post isn’t about my journey (so much); it’s about the journey of Jennifer, Holly, and Amanda: three New York City girls who quit their jobs and put their lives on hold to travel the around the world together for one year.

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Greetings from Scotland! Since my last update, my house-sitting gig ended (and I even kept everything alive – plants and puppies alike), my Mum flew back home to Canada, and I stayed for a few days with a friend in York. I now write to you from Scotland, a place I loved from the second I stepped off the train.

Having spent a few days in Edinburgh staying with some friends/colleagues and meeting other friends/colleagues for coffee, I moved to a hostel to experience the city’s incredibly active festival and fringe scene with a visiting friend who used to live in the city.  Now, we’ve rented a car and are exploring the Highlands.

Whew! It’s been a busy few travel weeks, and the pace will continue to be somewhat feverish for the next couple of months. But I’ll have to keep you in suspense as to my future plans, which have recently changed quite drastically. (Stay tuned!) For now, please enjoy some of my recently published pieces. Cheers!

Wise Bread

FINANCIAL IQ TEST: How Healthy is Your Life Insurance Plan?

What kind of life insurance policy do you have (if you have one at all)? Do you understand the terms? Are you getting the most bang for your insurance buck? How did you select the amount of insurance you have? How did you choose your insurance company and structure the policy? And how often do you review your life insurance needs? Check out this Financial IQ Test to see how healthy your life insurance plan is.

Care One

Take a Free Family Vacation with a Home Exchange

Instead of staying in a hotel the next time you take a vacation, why not enjoy the comforts of “home” by staying in somebody else’s home? And in the meantime, that somebody else whose home you’re staying in can enjoy the comforts of your own home. Here is a primer on what home exchanges are, along with a comprehensive list of various home exchange websites.

AmEx Open Forum

8 Hotel and Car Rental Tips for Business Travelers

Traveling for business is often seen as a high-budget perk to the job… for everybody except the business owner, that is. Despite tax deductibility of most business travel expenses, it pays to be judicious about how you spend your money on business trips. Here are some hotel and car rental hacks that will keep your team traveling in the lap of luxury without the associated price tag.

David Thompson is an International travel writer and prolific traveler who has been writing professionally since 1996. California raised, he co-founded a collegiate Solar Racing Team which designed & built a solar car from scratch. Since then, he’s been adventuring all over the world and sharing his words of wisdom at Dave’s Travel Corner.  Please enjoy this week-in-the-life of Dave as he travels through Western Africa.

DAY 1

Sunday morning is the best time to be on the road in large urban areas, especially at 5am when there is absolutely no traffic! After the early 5 hour flight from the west coast I soon find myself walking along Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC just down from the White House. Then after a 10 hour flight to Accra, the capital city of Ghana in Western Africa I am whisked away to the middle of the rural countryside far removed from the hub of activity I had experienced in the two nation’s capital cities.

I welcome the warm sun, heat and humidity that only the tropics can deliver. Somehow, I am among the first ones off the plane and quickly breeze through customs. That’s the easy part. The interrogation is the fun part though. In order to avoid tourists getting sucked into scams at the airport, cars carrying westerners with locals need to stop at the police station before exiting.

I am with John, the director of YCC Ghana (the organization I came to volunteer for). He is taken into a small room by himself and asked about me. Then I am summoned from the vehicle and two officers proceed to ask about my business in Ghana and why I am in the vehicle with the other men. After a few questions I figure out they are doing this for my own protection, trying to make sure I’m not becoming part of a larger scam. The interrogation ends on friendly terms with one of the policeman showing me how to handshake….Ghanian style ending with a snap of the fingers.

Upon leaving the airport we are bombarded with walking toilet paper vendors. Apparently this product is a hot item in the streets of Accra?!

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“Going Digital” seems to be the en vogue thing to dream about these days. And so it should be; while commuting to and from our office cubicles every day, the idea of working remotely from some isolated beach (or even simply from the comfort of home) is pretty appealing. I made the leap myself – over three and a half years ago – and I haven’t looked back.

I could have written an e-book about it (and I may yet do so with a different angle), but for now I’ve been beaten to the punch by Christine Gilbert, a very talented writer and former Fortune 10 manager who left her own cubicle in 2008 for greener pastures. And she’s a bona fide expert on doing the digital dance: as a freelancer, corporate business owner, remote employee, and now as an entrepreneur and traveler along with her husband, baby boy, and two dogs.

A Practical Guide to Going Digital is a big-picture approach to the digital lifestyle, and will guide you from your current seat in your cubicle through the esoteric process of finding your niche in the digital world.

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“Oh my gosh. I can’t believe it. Just look at that view,” I said, in awe of the vista we were driving by.

“Yup. I’m sure it’s nice. I’ll take your word for it,” muttered Mum between clenched teeth, eyes tightly closed and squeezing the door handle.

As we navigated yet another switchback up the winding cliffs above Toulon, the passenger seat where Mum was sitting once again faced the hillside. “Okay, Mum. You can open your eyes now,” I said with a bemused smile. She tentatively opened her eyes, one at a time, and breathed out audibly.

I can’t blame her. If I were scared of heights, I might not have fared much better myself. If the impressively winding roads around the south of France weren’t enough, the incredibly narrow width somehow meant to accommodate cars going both ways made the ride harrowing for anybody used to North America’s wide avenues. Add to that the fact that one side of the road entailed a sheer drop with no hope of survival, and Mum’s fear of heights was in high gear.

But the views of the seaside towns in the south of France prevented me from having any such difficulties.

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I’ve settled in to my house-sitting digs in Hampshire, England. When I arrived, I was cordially introduced to a classic English afternoon in the countryside…clay shooting! Despite my minimal experience with guns, I managed to hit three clays. (The fact that I hit any was a relative victory). I’m here for one more week before heading north. More on that in future blog posts. For now, please enjoy my latest published articles.

Wise Bread

Travel and Money: How to Get and Carry Cash Safely and Securely

This Travel and Money series discusses various ways to address money and security issues while you are abroad. Today we’ll address getting and carrying cash safely and securely while you’re actively traveling on the road.

Care One

Vacationing Without Traveling: Taking an Effective Staycation

So, you’ve got some vacation time burning a hole in your schedule, but you can’t afford to go away. If you like the feeling of escape that a vacation provides but money is tight, try taking a “Staycation!”

This article explores a few guidelines for an effective staycation.

AmEx Open Forum

Cyber Security on the Road

Whether you are on the road for a business trip or traveling full time with a location independent career, maintaining good cyber security is paramount. We have already discussed some of the essential services for the road required to keep your business going from anywhere. In this article, we’ll look at how to protect your identity and electronic data while traveling, so you—and your business—return home safely every time.

Profiles & Shout-Outs

FinanciallyFitTV recently put together an episode about Frugally Fabulous Females, and I am one of them! The episode helps women who are in debt take control of their debt – and their lives. I shot this interview while staying in a hostel in Wellington New Zealand, at the slightly uncivilized hour of 1am. Ah well…tis the biz…and the game of working with time differences when you travel full-time! I wouldn’t have it any other way. But I digress: Check out the episode!

FinanciallyFitTV: Frugally Fabulous Females

Vagabond Quest is at it again! This month I contributed my two cents to their roundup of pieces of traveling advice from some venerable world travelers.

Top 3 Pieces of Traveling Advice by Travelers Around the World

GoOverseas is a web site about teaching, studying, and volunteering abroad. They’ve got writing contests, informative articles, forums, and tons of resources. And they recently interviewed me on my last 3+ years of full-time travel!

Interview With The Professional Hobo

Stephanie Lee was born in Malaysia, and has lived in three different countries. She spent her childhood in Kuala Lumpur, and later moved to San Francisco during her teenage years. She then went on to study architecture at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.

After completing her degree, she worked in several architectural firms designing residential buildings. After six years of full-time work, Stephanie caught the travel bug and left everything behind to embark on a solo open-ended journey taking her all around the world. To date she has been to approximately 30 countries, most of which were by herself. While travelling she documented her experiences extensively and started a nomadic career as a travel writer.

Please enjoy this week-in-the-life of Stephanie as she enjoys solo travel in Egypt.

Day 1

I arrived at Cairo Airport full of anticipation and excitement. Those feelings quickly vanished when a madhouse-like scene immediately greeted me. People were yelling and fighting, mainly because for some strange reason that day, we were all part of what seemed like the world’s longest customs queue.  However, still filled with a traveler’s optimism, I joined the line at a civilized 2:45am.

After 30 minutes of waiting in the un-budging line, my enthusiasm faltered.  I noticed a few foreigners sneaking past the line at the side, and caught a glimpse of them flashing their Australian passport.  I managed to convince them to give me the same express treatment, and off I went to look for the driver that my couchsurfing host had sent for me.

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