Some of Victoria’s bushfire affected areas, one year later…

Thanks to everybody who filled in my recent Reader Survey. I received some excellent guidance and pointers from readers, and I’ll endeavour to take many of the recommendations on-board to improve your experience at The Professional Hobo.

Here are a few of the things I learned from you:

Why You Visit The Professional Hobo

A large contingent of readers are intrigued by the nomadic lifestyle and are either living vicariously through mine, or are trying to figure out how to do it themselves. The fact that I’ve escaped the 9-5 routine after the age of 30 is another point of interest to many.

My Week-In-The-Life series is also quite popular, having been cited by a few readers as a favourite. I’m glad that you like it as much as I do; I love learning about the daily routines of travelers – it’s so different for everybody, and it’s worth celebrating.

I was pleased to see how many readers are in the throes of planning their own trips and read my site for inspiration and travel/travel planning tips. I write many of the travel tips for other publications, but I always link to them in my regular Roundups.

The marriage of personal finance and travel. As a former Certified Financial Planner, I’ve taken to the road armed with financial strategies and planning mechanisms to ensure I travel responsibly and sustainably. Again I don’t touch upon a huge amount of finances on this site in particular, but as a published personal finance author, you’ll continue to see lots of links to my work at Wise Bread and Amex Open Forum, with more such articles coming and new work with other financial industry leaders in the next year.

What You Think is Missing from The Professional Hobo

The overwhelmingly common response here was that I need to publish more photos. Done! I’ll post more photos of my journey along with my (witty and engaging) articles from now on!

Some people are also looking for more specific information about how I travel, how I find opportunities, and how much it costs. Although some of this appears in other articles I write (and link to in my Roundups), I can also do more of it on this site. I’ll be traveling extensively and actively this year, so I will keep track of my expenses to create profiles of how much each destination costs given my travel style, preferences, and opportunities.

And despite the request for more how-to information, I’m also being told not to deviate too far from the roots of this site – which are travelogue-based. So don’t worry – I’ll continue to share personal experiences of my journeys along with some sage tips as to how I did it.

How I Can Help You

Lots of people feel I can assist by providing inspiration and motivation to help adopt the travel lifestyle yourselves. Whew – no small task!

It gets better: The next most common response was along the lines outlining my personal challenges to living on the road. Where does my support come from, and is it sufficient? What is “home” on the road, and how do I find its comforts? And is the full-time travel life as rosy as it appears to be on paper?

I have a knack for being a little gritty with my writing (especially in times of crisis), so I find it interesting that I’m being encouraged to keep showing the less-than-perfect side of the travel coin. Without being too negative, I’ll try to objectively illustrate the full scope of full-time travel – the good, the bad, and yes, occasionally the ugly.

The third way I learned I can help you is to continue to provide tips and travel advice. As I’ve indicated earlier, people who are looking for this should pay particular attention to my regular Roundups, which contain links to articles I’ve written on many of these topics.

Reader Survey Winner

As an incentive and “thank you” for filling out my survey, I randomly drew the name of a survey respondent on March 15^th (when I closed out the survey), to be mailed a signed copy of the best-selling 10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget,co-authored by yours truly.

Congratulations to Amanda from USA for winning the draw! I’ve mailed your copy, which you can expect in the next week or so. Amanda loves global music, travel, and you can ask her how awesome my book is on Twitter @msuniqueslounge.

My 2010 Travel Plans

My travels are an ever-evolving entity. So what I say here may not actually come to pass this year. But seeing that I’ll be on the road in a day or so, it’s time I let you in on the current plan:

Kelly (my boyfriend) has a few career opportunities in Australia that he can’t ignore, which has enticed him to stay a little longer. But I have itchy feet and a business/brand name/passion/lifelong dream involving full-time travel that is falling by the wayside in the process. So we’ve come to a decision: Kelly will stay in Australia until December doing his thing, and I’ll take advantage of some travel opportunities that have come my way and do my thing. In November we’ll reunite, and in December we’ll continue our travels together.

Throw some Aussie visa issues into the mix, and the separation is going to be longer than it might otherwise have been; my visa expires before the end of March, and I don’t know when (or sssshhhh: if) I’ll be allowed to return. I am hoping that six months’ absence will suffice. I’ll be writing a post shortly about just how these visa (and other) issues came to pass, and how I planned my year of traveling in less than two weeks.

So now, where to go:

Having had just a taste of New Zealand while shooting a television show for 11 days, I’ve (unsurprisingly) fallen in love with the country, and decided to go back for a while. I already have a work-trade gig lined up for April, and some friends in Auckland, Rotorua, Wellington, and Christchurch to visit.

In June, I’ll be using the mega frequent flyer miles I earned in December to book flights to Europe and back. This is an open-jaw ticket (flying into Madrid and out of Amsterdam), and…drum roll please….is booked in business class. So I spent about $1,200(US) on Christmas presents and supplies and got over $8,000 in flights, with enough miles left over for a domestic flight. Thank you, Chris Guillebeau. Your e-book and frequent flyer updates rock!

My European plans are as yet undetermined, but I’m lining up some work-trade opportunities in Spain, house-sitting opportunities wherever, my parents and some friends may be making the trip from Canada, and I’ll stay with local friends and enjoy hospitality exchanges as I meander around over about four months.

Then, assuming a new Aussie visa comes through, I’ll return to Australia and experience the world-class train rides through the outback (The Ghan and The Indian Pacific), check out Western Australia, and reconnect with Kelly. Shortly thereafter, the world will be our oyster – once again.

I feel strange committing these plans to paper, since they were conceived only a few weeks ago, and locations dreamed up within the last week. As I’ve said before though: ‘Life Happens while you’re busy making plans’, and although these plans are best-laid – for now – they are still subject to change. I guess we’ll see how things go – as always, you’ll be the first to know!

Related posts:

1. READER SURVEY: WIN A Signed Copy of 10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget!
2. While I Travel, Do I Sell my House, or Rent it Out? (Reader Questions Answered)
3. How I Planned a Year of Travel in Less Than 2 Weeks
4. How Young is Too Young to Travel? [Reader Questions Answered]
5. Moving On….Our New Travel Plans

Tags: 2010 travel plans, reader survey

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