Eat Pray Love is the runaway best seller about how one woman ‘found’ herself by going to other parts of the globe. Most people think it is a ‘chick flick’ about relationships and broken hearts. However, I choose to look past all of the sappy stuff and see it as a book/movie about travel; specifically career break travel.

Elizabeth Gilbert (played by Julia Roberts in the movie) is a thirty-something who left her regular life and magazine writing job in America to do extended travel for a year. Sounds like a career break to me! Granted, she did already have the book deal lined up before she left the US, so in some ways this was a working trip. However, she gained much insight into her life and career while breaking away from her normal work life in the US for an extended period. She immersed herself into cultures and really tried to learn from them going far beyond the ‘normal’ tourist trail.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZzmqHJ0gPU

To prove to you that it’s not just a love story, here are five career-break travel lessons you can learn from the story of Eat Pray Love:

Travel slow

Elizabeth Gilbert did not pack her year of travel dashing from country to country racking up her ‘countries-visited count’. Instead she chose slow travel, immersion with locals and cultures. By visiting only three countries and really living in them among the locals, she was able to experience them in a much more meaningful way.

Enjoy the local food

Don’t be afraid to really jump into a culture and its food! In Italy, Elizabeth made a point to not care about what she ate, but instead to try everything put in front of her. By immersing herself in the cultures of India and Indonesia, she was also naturally expected to eat what the locals were eating.

Choose an itinerary with personal meaning

Elizabeth chose her itinerary very carefully – based on things she had always wanted to try, but never really given herself the permission to do in her ‘everyday’ life. Whether that is eating your way through Italy, learning a language, or trying on meditation – the important thing is that this is your time to explore. If you’ve always wanted to try something – this is the perfect time to dip a toe into a new hobby (or career) – while in another country.

Build your abilities as part of your travels

Elizabeth approached her travels in such a way as to learn and further herself both tactically and emotionally. In Italy she took language lessons. In India she practiced meditation, and in Bali she originally went to help a medicine man learn English as she learned from him how to balance devotion and pleasure for a less stressful life.

You don’t always need a plan

When Elizabeth showed up in Bali she had no plan and had done no research. She hadn’t planned her accommodation; not even her visa. However, like everything in travel – it works out. By leaving herself open to possibilities, Indonesia was one of the most rewarding places she traveled to and set changes into motion in her life beyond her expectations.

One sixth thing I have to add to this list of travel lessons:

Career break travel doesn’t ruin your career, but instead it can enhance it.

Elizabeth Gilbert became a best selling author AFTER she traveled for a year. Her career successes were based on her travels. She didn’t ruin her writing career, she improved it by seeing the world and doing extended travel!

Why can’t you?

Whether you love or hate the movie, you can still take these great travel lessons away and put them to use as you plan your next big trip!

Five travel lessons from Eat Pray Love by Sherry Ott was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Press play or click here to subscribe (for free) in iTunes.

You’ll find people scattered all over the sidewalks in the morning eating their breakfast of soup and coffee and you certainly won’t find McDonalds or other big western chains. This is the reason I moved to Saigon — for these cultural scenes; something that is really dying out as Southeast Asia evolves to integrate into the modern world. This guide will hopefully get you off the tourist trail a bit and experience some of the fantastic culture for yourself!

Layout

Saigon is organized by districts. Since the city is in a constant state of growth, the districts aren’t organised in a logical fashion; they fit together like puzzle pieces. The main financial and tourism district is District 1. District 1 contains the main ‘backpacker’ area as well as the main tourist attractions and tourist markets. Other districts of interest are District 5 – the home of the large Chinese population in Saigon. District 2 and Phu Mi Hung District are the two areas that cater to the expat crowd. Phu Mi Hung District is a planned ‘city’ with wide streets and many western-type apartment complexes, malls, grocery stores, and cinemas.

Accommodation

One of the great things about Saigon is that you can really travel on any budget. Budget accommodation is found in the backpacker area around Phu Mi Hung and Bui Vien streets. Just show up with your pack, walk down the little alleys in this area and you will quickly find a myriad of budget options. Hostels and guest houses cast about US$7-$15 a night. Don’t forget that you should always try to negotiate the price!

Mid-range accommodation can be found also in District 1 around Le Than Ton street and Thai Van Lung Street. There are a number of hotels in this area. In addition, there are many rooms for rent that you can rent out for a week to a month. These rooms will cost about $30 to $60 per night for hotel and about $100 a week for a room for rent. Once again — negotiate!

Upper range accommodation can be found all over District 1. You can choose standard hotel chains such as Park Hyatt, Sheraton, and Sofitel; however there are also more upscale historical choices such as the Rex Hotel, and Hotel Majestic to name a few. These hotels have survived the war and were the home to many journalists and writers and have significant historical importance. These will all cost you about US$120-$200.

Food

You can find a wide variety of food choices in Saigon ranging from Vietnamese to French to American, to Mediterranean!

Vietnam is known for pho, a type of noodle soup with a flavorful beef or chicken broth base. Everywhere you go you’ll see the locals sitting outside on little plastic chairs eating pho. If you are adventurous, then I suggest you eat like the locals on the pavement ! If you are looking for a more sanitary experience, then stop into one of the many Pho 24′s — a fast-food pho restaurant. They have menus in English and you sit at a proper size table and slurp soup inside, with air conditioning! If you don’t want a sidewalk experience or a fast-food experience then go to Pho Hoa, 260C Pasteur Street. It’s a great local place that has ‘indoor seating’, fans, and plenty of beer; plus you’ll be surrounded by locals!

The spring rolls here are a culinary delight, they come in a number of varieties and you should try them all! You can do that at one of the many Wrap and Roll restaurants; a restaurant chain specializing in all types of spring rolls. They have menus in English and prices are cheap.

There are plenty of great Vietnamese restaurants throughout the city ranging from budget to mid-range prices. One of my favorites is Hoa Tuc. It is opposite the Park Hyatt hotel, housed in the back courtyard of a former Opium Refinery. Don’t be afraid to go down alleyways as often the best restaurants are located there. A favorite alleyway restaurant is a Mediterranean restaurant named Warda — complete with shisha pipes and Turkish decor. Also in that alley is a great Vietnamese restaurant called An.

You can also find all kinds of other ethnic food. If you want sushi, head to Le Than Thon street. If you want French food then go to the Refinery or Le Jardin; both have outdoor seating and a fabulous French atmosphere. You can even find an American hamburger in Saigon at one of the many pubs!

Finally, if you want ambience then do some riverside dining, in District 2 for a change of scenery. The Deck is an upscale restaurant with seating along the Saigon River where you can watch the big boats go by carrying cargo to and from the Mekong. It’s a great chance to get away from the hectic city.

Drinks

One of my favorite things to have daily is a Ca Phe Sua Da – meaning iced coffee with milk. It’s a refreshing, cheap, and strong drink! Vietnamese coffee is actually quite good and if you are here, then you must try some. The other drink in Saigon is beer and don’t be surprised if it’s served with ice. There are a few local beers such as Saigon, and 333. You can also find a ‘Fresh Beer’(keg beer) at many roadside bars in the backpacker area. Sit, sip beer, and watch the motorbike world go by.

Transport

Saigon used to be called the “city of bicycles” and now it’s called the “capital of motorbikes”: there are approximately five million motorbikes. This is normally the first thing tourists notice about Saigon — it appears extremely chaotic.

When arriving at the airport, simply get a taxi from the airport to District 1 (city center). It will cost no more than 100,000 Dong — which is US$6. Don’t negotiate — just get in a taxi and tell them to turn on the meter. You can use taxis to get around Saigon for reasonable prices. Always ask them to turn on the meter and everything goes rather smoothly. In my opinion the best taxi companies are Vina Sun and Malinh.

The other option for transportation is a Xe Om — a motorbike taxi. You negotiate the fare before you get on, they provide a helmet, and off you go into the craziness of Saigon traffic. Most trips anywhere in town should be less than US$3; so barter the best you can and then hop on!

Free attractions

There are a few free attractions in Saigon, but honestly even the ones you have to pay for are all really cheap! One of the best thing you can do for ‘free’ is to see the markets. The two main markets worth seeing are Ben Thanh Market in District 1 and Binh Tay market in District 5. Ben Thanh market has many souvenir-type shops as well as things for locals like fabric, shoes, fruit, veges, flowers, and kitchenware. Every night the streets outside Ben Thanh Market turn into a night market. There are things to buy and many temporary outdoor restaurants to choose from. Binh Tay market is also a huge, crowded maze of stalls containing more everyday items for the locals and less touristsy stuff. It’s a good market to take pictures at, as everyone there is a bit more laid back.

Another fun free thing to do is to simply go and sit in a Vietnamese coffee house. The coffee house culture here is quite fascinating — it’s where people go to hang out with friends, have a coffee and watch the world go by. They always have table service and a big list of coffees, fruit juices and smoothies.

You can also get a great cultural experience by getting up early (around 6AM) and walking out to the nearby park where you’ll see all of the locals out doing their morning exercises. This consists of Tai Chi, badminton, walking, running, stretching, and gossiping. I recommend the park behind the Reunification Palace — it’s one of the largest and you’ll be entertained for an hour until everyone goes home at 7AM to start their work day.

Finally, one of the best, free adventures is to simply cross the street or sit somewhere at a main intersection (in front of Ben Thanh Market for example) and watch the traffic operate in its controlled chaos. Crossing the street in Saigon is the best adventure travel there is!

Paid attractions

The main attractions are the Reunification Palace, the War Remnants museum, and the History Museum. You can also take a cyclo ride through District 1. These are all cheap attractions and can all be done in one day.

Consider getting out of District 1 for a bit and take a cyclo ride through the back alleys of District 5 and along the river in District 8 for a mere US$12. It’s a great way to do sight-seeing in the city as you get to experience the streets at a comfortable, safe pace.

You can also go to the zoo. I don’t recommend the zoo for the animals, but instead for the grounds — the flowers are lovely and it will cost you less than a dollar to get in and see the grounds.

Tours in Ho Chi Minh City

Seasonal attractions

There aren’t many festivals in Saigon. However if you find yourself here in late January/early February then you can experience the Tet holiday. This is normally a week-long holiday, and the city is buzzes in anticipation. If you come during this time, check the tours and attractions schedule carefully to determine what exactly is open at this time. Many of the shops and attractions will close for the holiday.

If you find yourself here around December 25th, they also do a nice job decorating the city for the Christmas and Calendar New Year Holidays.

Where to next?

There are three main nearby getaways out of Saigon. All are pretty easy and cheap to get to. The Cu Chi Tunnels is a large underground network of tunnels that the Vietnamese used and lived in during the war. You can visit the Cu Chi Tunnels in half a day or add on the Cao Dai temple and make it a full-day excursion from Saigon. The cost for an open tour is 130,000 dong or US$8.

Saigon is also the starting point into the Mekong Delta. On these day tours you will see the floating markets and factories along the Mekong transferring goods from boat to boat, and going deep into the Delta. One-day trips start at 160,000 Dong or US$10, including lunch and all transportation.

If you are looking for some relief from the city and want to go to the beach — then I suggest a two-day trip out to Mui Ne Beach. This beach is near the town of Phan Thiet — about a four-hour bus ride from Saigon. The area is known for its kite surfing, big sand dunes, and its fishing village. A bus ticket to Mui Ne will cost 100,000 Dong or US$6. Once you arrive there is a variety of different accommodation to suit all budgets.

Prices were quoted from Sinh Cafe, a respectable tourist operator for independent travelers in Vietnam. Their office is located in the backpacker district.

Guidebooks

You can use all of the standard guidebooks such as Lonely Planet and Rough Guides. The Travelfish Saigon guide is a downloadable PDF researched and written by a local resident. If you are looking for something upscale, you can also get the Luxe guide to Saigon which lists the more luxurious (i.e. expensive) side of Saigon. Another alternative that isn’t a guidebook, are the English magazines Asia Life and The Word. They have a ton of great information about what’s happening in and around Saigon and are found free at any bar/restaurant in District 1.

What next

After Saigon — your next stops may be traveling north up to Nha Trang, Hoi An, and Hanoi or you can easily go west into Cambodia. There are well-established backpacker routes for both.

Travel in Saigon … or Ho Chi Minh City by Sherry Ott was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Traveling culture

Why is there such a large cultural divide between how Americans, Brits, Canadians, and Australians look at travel? Americans think travel is a two-week vacation, as that’s all their time allows away from their jobs; they don’t feel like they can leave their careers behind for any longer, or it may be detrimental to their future. However, other cultures tend to consider long-term travel a ‘rite of passage’. For the few of us (Americans) who are out there doing long-term travel, it’s rewarding and can be life-changing. It’s Michaela and Sherry’s goal to inspire others that a career break isn’t a career-defeating prospect.

The social hurdles

If you do consider taking a traveling career break, then you must be prepared to face a number of social hurdles. These can include family concerns, financial concerns, feeling like your career is at risk — which all leads to an uncertain future. Michaela and Sherry share the reactions they faced from family and friends when they decided to take a traveling career break.

Inspiring other Americans to travel

Michaela and Sherry created Briefcase to Backpack based on their own career-break experiences. They share their personal experiences and the experiences of others in order to help other adults take the career break leap. The site covers the different stages involved in taking a career break as an adult; including contemplating a career break, preparing for long-term travel, dealing with life on the road and re-entering into the job market again. The site provides stories from a host of other Americans who have successfully taken a break from their jobs and traveled long term.

Interview with Barbara Weibel

Barbara is an American adult career-breaker who is featured on the site. Barbara’s career break came after a lifetime of working in jobs that didn’t satisfy her. As she describes it, she felt like the proverbial “hole in the donut” — solid on the outside, but empty on the inside. She shares the circumstances that led to her career break, how she decided where to go, and how she handled adapting to life away from the office and out on the road.

Share your career break story

If you have taken a career break and are interested in inspiring others to do the same then consider providing a ‘testimonial’ to Briefcase to Backpack. It’s a great way to relive your experience and help Americans add ‘career break’ to their vocabulary. Or, if you are one of those many people that are thinking about it, but can’t seem to pull the trigger, then visit Briefcase to Backpack and meet others who will convince you that it will be a rewarding, resume-building experience!

The best backpacks for travelling

And if you’re after the best backpacks for travelling with? Look no further.

110 – Briefcase to Backpack by Sherry Ott was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

You may wonder how on earth you can live out of a suitcase or backpack. I can’t say it’s easy, but with a few of these tips, you’ll at least make sure your whole ‘home’ doesn’t smell like your dirty socks!

You are staring at your 4,000 cubic inches of space to fill getting ready for your long-term travel; if there was ever a time to be obsessive-compulsive, it’s now.

When you live out of a suitcase or backpack, organization is key!

These are the steps I used to manage my ‘studio apartment’.

1. Everything has its place

The key to organizing your pack is to not make changes. Always put things in the same place. Decide where you put your toothbrush and always put it back in the same pocket of your toiletry case. I had a backpack pocket that was specifically for my electronics, a place where my shoes fit, a special home for my earrings, my sunglasses fit perfectly into my sneakers, and I always knew where my bikini was. This ‘same-same’ strategy not only helps you pack quickly, but more importantly it helps you keep track of things and avoid losing them. You’ll know right away if you are missing something because it won’t be in its assigned ‘place’.

2. Manage dirty clothes grammatically

One of the hardest things to do is manage the smells in your suitcase; namely the segregation of dirty clothes and clean clothes. When traveling you can’t do laundry every day, and sometimes you can’t even do laundry for a couple of weeks; therefore I advise you to manage your dirty clothes through comparatives and superlatives. This means you separate your clothes into piles of dirty, dirtier, and dirtiest; or if you prefer smelly, smellier, and smelliest. To assess this, you often have to get close to your clothes, really close — and smell them. Assess the odor, and put it in the appropriate comparative or superlative pile, then see the next tip.

3. Go green

You can save the planet AND control your suitcase odor, what more can you ask for? As you travel, save plastic bags to manage your dirty (see comparative/superlative piles above) contents. If you can manage saving different color bags, this is even better. Put your smelly clothes in the pink bag, the smellier clothes in the white bag, and the smelliest clothes in the blue bag. You may want to consider ‘double-bagging’ that blue bag.

When you pack the smelly and smellier bags, these are potentially clothes you can still wear again; dirty, but not too dirty. So, make sure you don’t just chuck them in the bag, but you fold or roll them to keep them nice. You don’t need to close up the bag, you can let it breathe; you’re just providing a little barrier from the clean items. However when the clothes reach the smelliest bag, then you know that they are done. Close it tightly and don’t take them out again until they are to be washed! I also use plastic bags to put my shoes in as they tend to carry odors with them too, so it’s a good idea to separate them if you can. This plastic bag system is cheaper then buying expensive suitcase organizers; and it’s good for the environment!

4. Smell the roses

It’s a great idea to not only separate your dirty, smelly clothes in plastic bags, but I also recommend adding a whiff of freshness to those bags. There are a number of options here for trying to keep the bags smelling nice. I used to carry a little spray bottle of Fabreeze with me to douse the clothes before they went into a bag. Another great option is to purchase the little deodorant shoe balls and chuck a couple in each bag. Actually I had about eight of these little balls that I would use in shoes, in my dirty bags, in the bottom of my backpack and other little pockets. They are cheap, light, and they make a difference! If you want to go really budget and light, then simply pick up a packet of dryer sheets. They have to be replaced from time to time, but place them between layers of clothes and it will protect your pack from smelling like your shoes!

5. Clean house

The last step is obvious. Find a place to wash those clothes and enjoy the bliss of having a clean backpack. It’s just like sleeping on clean sheets — heavenly!

Looking to buy a suitcase for travel? Start browsing on Amazon. Or if backpacks are more your thing, see our best backpacks for travelling.

How to live out of a suitcase by Sherry Ott was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Spending hours poring through millions of travel websites to find the right advice, the right tour, and the right hotel; you are essentially dealing with the middle man. The middle man is generally a travel agency which promotes the local business, hotel, or tour. These travel agencies generally know that there can be a big margin to be made selling to people who are accustomed to spending western prices. This is especially true for travel into less-developed countries where prices are vastly lower than what we are used to paying.

Price hike

For example, when I booked a tour to hike the Inca Trail in Peru, I booked it through a travel company online. There was a lovely description of the daily hike/activities and photos to ease my trepidations about traveling to Peru and doing a difficult trek. They did a lovely job of marketing the tour and I bit.

When I arrived in Peru I was expecting to meet up with a representative from the company. Instead, I met up with the representative of a local tour company that had essentially been hired to provide me the trek that was described on the website. The trek was excellent; everything I had hoped for. However, I realized that if I had simply arrived in Peru and then found this trekking agency, I would have saved over $150 on the exact same tour. Instead that $150 went to the middle man.

Go local

I decided to test out this theory in Vietnam. I did a bit of pricing research online for a one-day trip to Cai Be and Vinh Long in the Mekong Delta. I chose three companies that offered the exact same tour and checked prices. The three online providers offered this tour for around $66 per person including lunch and transportation. Not bad. However after living here in Ho Chi Minh City for five months and knowing that a nice dinner and beer only costs $6, this seemed a bit steep.

Instead I walked to my local tour company in the backpacker district and asked about their tours. Their literature even had this blurb, “We are a tour operator (International Tour Operator License No 0744/ TCDL-GPLHQT ), not a travel agency; this means that you are dealing direct with the people who provide the actual services and not through a “broker” who is selling someone else’s tour.” It looks like I was on the right track to savings!

They informed me I could join an open tour leaving tomorrow for $12 including lunch and transportation. An open tour basically means that you go with other people on a bus and travel as a group as opposed to a private tour. In the name of saving money and realizing that I would be doing the exact same things as the other more expensive website tours, I chose the open tour. I took my $54 in savings and was perfectly happy to save that money for something else!

Eliminate the middle man

Now, I’m not telling everyone to abandon travel agents and the web, some people are not ready to make that leap into the unknown backpacker world of spontaneity and unplanned travel. However, in these economic times when you are trying to pinch pennies and make your travel dollar last longer, one way to save money is to eliminate the middle man and do your research and booking once you arrive. Get to know the local companies and find out what they offer. It’s generally the exact same tour for a lower price.

The thought of hopping on a plane without a plan may be terrifying for you. However, it’s something to consider if you want to do recession-proof travel! Go local!

Eliminating the Middle Man by Sherry Ott was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

When I was a wee bit younger I always entertained the idea of getting a tattoo. These thoughts mainly came when I had drunk too much beer in my mid-twenties, or when I was doing tequila shots on a beach in Cancun. Thank God I made it through those times without a permanent scar. However, my recent trip to the US Embassy in Vietnam made me realize that I already have hundreds of tattoos. They are colorful, painless, and full of memories and meaning: my tattoos are in my passport.

I arrived at the US Embassy in order to have more pages added to my passport. I always find it fun to make a trip to the US Embassies in other countries because even though it looks like a DMV waiting room, it doesn’t operate like one; they are actually quite efficient and pleasant. The embassy in Vietnam was laid out in a segregated style. There were sections for immigrant visas and non-immigrant visas; both were waiting areas outside on stone benches. Fans blew around the heavy humid air in an attempt to give some sort of relief to the hordes of people waiting in line.

As I stared at the people all waiting patiently for their turn, an Embassy employee ushered me out of the area and pointed at a sign for American citizens. I didn’t even say a word, she knew I was American; I think the sweat dripping from me probably gave it away. The sign pointing to the American citizen services directed me inside; following the arrows I suddenly felt frigid air gush towards me — ahhhh — air conditioning. The American citizen section was situated inside a briskly air conditioned room with nice padded chairs and a little ‘take a number’ machine positioned at the front of the room. Quite the contrast from the non-citizen sections and queues! Nice to know that America is taking care of its own I guess.

As I sat there in the lovely air conditioned room for American citizens and waited for my number to be called, I entertained myself by paging through my passport. The memories came flooding back of each country, each adventure, each challenge; friends, food, and weather. For an independent traveler like myself, a passport is a badge of honor. There’s an untold prestige that goes with a full passport; it’s kind of like driving a Porsche in Beverly Hills. The more stamps you have, the more you move up the travel ‘chain of command’. As I looked at my full passport, I felt like a general in the vagabond army. The beauty is that not one of these stamps came from business travel–not one.

My choice for a travel tattoo!

This wasn’t the first time I had pages added to my passport. Two short years ago I was sitting in the American Embassy in Australia having my first set of pages added. My passport is now so thick that it no longer easily fits into its little plastic sleeve. This girth makes me beam with pride. However the thing that makes me the proudest is the fact that this is my first passport. I received this passport nine years ago when I was 30 years old for my first ever trip abroad. Since then I’ve managed to fill it with memories beyond my wildest expectations. To top it off, I’m now living abroad in a country that I probably couldn’t have even found on a map nine years ago!

I look at my travel tattoos and swell with pride. You never know where life will take you. With an open mind and patience, it will always take you somewhere good. Forget this economic recession, isn’t it time you started getting some ink?

Travel Ink by Sherry Ott was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

So you think you want to be a vagabond? Traveling around the world and living out of a backpack can sound amazing when you’re sitting behind a desk stressed out with your buzzing Blackberry and bad fluorescent lighting. However, when you really get down to the nitty-gritty, and start to consider long-term travel, you have to figure out if it’s right for you.

To determine if you can hack long-term travel to remote countries, I’ve put together a little four-week travel training plan to prepare your mind and body for vagabonding.

Water

For one month, drink and use ONLY bottled water. This includes brushing your teeth with only bottled water; don’t you dare use that tap water! I became so accustomed to brushing my teeth with bottled water that it seemed strange for me to use the tap any longer. In addition, when you cook, wash all your fruits or vegetables in bottled water. Or if you don’t want to go to the hassle of washing with bottled water — then simply stop eating raw fruits and vegetables for a month!

Language

Even though English is the one true international language, you will still have to get used to not ever really knowing what is being said around you in a foreign country. Sure, you can always find someone who speaks English if you have a question, however they will answer your question and then go back to speaking to their friends in their native language. You need to prepare yourself for never really understanding what is being said around you. So, for two weeks, spend a few hours a day in your city’s Chinatown (if you don’t have one, then go to a Chinese restaurant and try to sit close to the kitchen!). Make sure that you seek out establishments that are filled with Chinese people; then just sit there and drink tea for a few hours. In addition, for two weeks watch only the Spanish and Italian channels on cable. Sit through the news, soap operas and game shows — this will certainly make or break you! After two weeks, you will be prepared for the experience of being surrounded by constant chatter that you don’t understand.

Clothing

Choose eight items of clothing from your closet, and for three weeks, wear nothing but those items you’ve chosen. Yes, you can mix and match them, so pick colors that go together! You can also include shoes — pick two pairs and and wear no others for the same three weeks. This should prepare you for living out of a suitcase and losing the variety of items that you can choose out of your closet. As a side note, I think men are better at this task than women!

Laundry

For a three weeks, wash your eight items of clothing (see Clothing above) in your bathroom sink or tub with shampoo. Let them air dry or dry them with a hair dryer.

Lodging

If you have a house, sleep in a different room every night for two weeks. Choose your bed one night, your couch the next night, an air mattress the following night, then the second bedroom … you get the drift. You need to train your body and mind to understand that the concept of ‘your bed’ is going to disappear. I slept in a different place most nights for 16 months — some good, some bad; but rarely the same bed twice running.

Get out of touch

If you normally read the paper, stop — you won’t have the luxury of reading English papers while on the road; at least not on a regular basis. For a month don’t read any newspapers or watch television. Allow yourself to only make one phone call a day to a friend or family member. This should sufficiently get you out of touch. When traveling, you can go weeks without picking up a paper or talking to friends back home. You might actually find that you prefer this!

Be the minority

If you plan on traveling to India or other parts of Asia, I highly recommend a trip to your local zoo. Go to the zoo and stare at the animals. Not a quick look: a good long stare. Now put yourself in the animal’s position and see if you can hack it; someone staring at you for five minutes straight. Also consider what it might feel like when someone reaches out and strokes your arm because they want to touch your skin. It can be a real challenge to get used to people staring at you, but with some practice you can learn to ignore it; plus as an alternative, it’s acceptable to stare back!

Do not flush!

For two weeks, don’t flush toilet paper down the toilet. Instead, throw it into the trash bin. Flushing paper can be a hard habit to break, and it will take some practice; however it is a skill you must learn if you intend on traveling to developing countries. I had myself so well trained in India to never put toilet paper in the toilet that I kept on doing it for a few days when I got to Singapore until I realized that it wasn’t necessary any longer!

Learn to love charades

If you don’t like charades, then you might not survive vagabonding – proficiency in charades is an extremely useful skill for any traveler. For two weeks try communicating without actually speaking when you go to your local grocery store, dry cleaner, or restaurant. If you can correctly pick up your dry cleaning, find the cereal aisle and order a sandwich without speaking a word, then you are ready to travel!

Vagabond mastery

Once you have successfully completed this training regimen, then you are ready to be a vagabond master. By preparing yourself early, you will enjoy yourself even more when you get on the road! If you gave up after week one, then you’d better just go on a cruise. Happy travels!

Become a vagabond master by Sherry Ott was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

Intestinal fortitude comes in handy anywhere you go, but it’s most useful when you are traveling through developing countries such as India, Nepal and Tanzania. You never know when you are going to be able to find your next bathroom, the condition it may be in, or what may be in it. Nor do you know what new bacteria your body is going to reject, causing you to constantly think twice about what you are putting into your system. You either have intestinal fortitude or you don’t; that’s where the adventure comes in.

My recent travels have landed me in Nepal. After living the comfortable Western lifestyle, based in the United States for eight months, arriving in Nepal to volunteer teaching English was a shock to my system. Nepal is like India; loud, colorful, stinky, poor, vibrant, dirty, and stunningly beautiful. Another land of contrasts. With any third-world travel comes the acceptance of a screwed-up digestive system. Our western stomachs just don’t stand a chance against these countries; at least not at first, until they’ve adapted. It’s an intestinal game of Russian roulette.

As I sat down for my first meal in Nepal I thought about what I was ordering and how good my insides felt, while wondering what the outcome of dinner would be. I beat the odds and made it out of Kathmandu without any major intestinal issues; I had cleared the first hurdle.

A member from the volunteer organization took me from Kathmandu to the village of Puma. We caught a ‘bus’ to Beshesharha. The bus was, of course, a beat-up minivan commonly seen transporting three times as many passengers as can legally be carried. Then again, legality really has no purpose in third-world countries.

I was seated in the very back seat by a big open window pinned in by three other men in my row and a total of 19 other people in the van. I was as far from the door as I could be. I took a Dramamine and thought about what I would do if I had to go to the bathroom. I can’t speak Nepali, I was pinned in a van and couldn’t get out unless I went out the window — which was probably the best possibility. I had just had breakfast and I prayed that this wasn’t the moment that my sissy Western stomach was going to betray me. I said a silent prayer and off we went, spewing black smoke and with a constantly beeping horn.

At the lunch break, I opted not to eat at the roadside stand for fear of introducing alien bacteria into my system. Instead I had a piece of gum, and a Coke. I used the bathroom at the restaurant and was reintroduced to the Asian squatty potty. I had used these many times before and in some circumstances actually prefer them as they are cleaner. However, using them in an outhouse-type situation isn’t my favorite thing to do — but I knew this was the only bathroom break I would get on this six-hour journey, so I had to take advantage of it.

When I finally arrived in Puma a day later, some of the locals offered me a slice of giant cucumber. I looked at it and thought — this looks okay, sure, I’ll try it. I said yes and they proceeded to pour water over it to wash it for me and hand it to me. My stomach dropped as I realized that I shouldn’t be eating anything washed in local water. I thought to myself, I’m living here for two weeks, it’s inevitable that I will get exposed to the local water so what the hell, let the game of Russian roulette begin; bottoms up.

The family I stayed with was wonderful. For a house with sporadic electricity, and no plumbing, they were living the high life. They actually had an outhouse. I thought to myself that I could cope with that; it was better than the woods. Then I went inside and realized there were no lights and a huge spider the size of my hand hanging out on the wall. In charade-like actions I asked the host family about the huge spider in the bathroom and they told me that it lived there until it got cold in November. Great. Granted, I’m not someone that is terrified of spiders, but spiders the size of my hand in a dark room with my pants down isn’t my idea of fun at all.

I adopted a bathroom routine. I would look for the spider every time I went into the bathroom — I wanted to know where my nemesis was before I squatted. I tried many things to cope with that spider, I tried to give it a nice pleasant name like Charlotte, but it still didn’t work. I gave up on coping with it and instead I tried to control my bladder. This isn’t an easy feat as I had to try and make sure that I went to the bathroom right before the sun went down and then hold it for the rest of the night until I awoke. Granted, I have a strong bladder — but this was asking it to work overtime.

By some miracle, I have survived my bathroom adventure travel. I was exposed to every possible type of germ; from the kids that I taught, the water, the flies. And my insides actually hung in there like a champ. I learned an important lesson after my cultural exchange — your mind and body adapts to its environment. As sad as I will be to say goodbye to the village of Puma, I will not be shedding any tears when I have to say goodbye to my spider Charlotte. In fact, the thought of a toilet with plumbing, electricity, and toilet paper is sounding pretty nice right now!

To read more about Sherry’s travel and volunteering in Nepal, or to see the many pictures, visit Sherry’s site, Ottsworld.

Bathroom adventure travel by Sherry Ott was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

However, one of my travel creeds is that the best experiences are the ones where you simply let things happen and you put your trust in others. This is not an easy thing to do and there have been a handful of times where I’ve had to come to grips with the fact that this day may very well be the last day of my life.

I’ve been a passenger more times than I can even count. On my around-the-world trip I often found myself hurtling around a corner on a single-lane mountain pass, with no guard rails, and the driver laying on the horn to warn any oncoming traffic that we were coming through. There was also a hair-raising experience in a taxi in Naples where the driver drove down a main street the wrong way at break-neck speeds, yelling obscenities at people to get out of his way and laying on his horn. And how can I forget the time I was riding a local bus in Morocco that broke down in the middle of the desert and we had to wait for a part to arrive. It was 110 degrees outside and a decision had to be made – do you stay in the oven of a bus baking to death, or do you go outside to the desert and bake to death? It was a toss-up.

I used to think that New York taxi drivers were the craziest drivers in the world, until I actually traveled in the world and realized that riding in an NY taxi was like riding with my grandmother. I realized that seat belts were non-existent, a taxi driver that could speak a little English was a luxury, and I learned that everything – and I mean everything – was a negotiation.

Obviously I survived these encounters, but not without a few mental scars and a constant supply of Dramamine. From these experiences, I have put together a few tips on how to not only survive being a passenger, but how you can make the most of it.

Carry drugs

I learned the hard way that no matter how tough you think your stomach is, it’s never tough enough. After my experience on a ferry from Zanzibar to Dar Salaam in waves that felt 20 feet high, I learned to always have motion sickness pills with me. There’s typically an easy ‘tip off’ on the motion sickness factor of a journey; if you board a vehicle and they hand out plastic bags the motion sickness factor is high! The bag is not for you to throw your garbage in; these are puke bags. Pop your motion sickness pill or ginger candy right then, and don’t try to be a hero.

Know your co-ordinates

With a long bus ride ahead of you, think, look, and listen before you sit down. Picking a seat could be the single most important thing you do! An 11-hour bus ride with the sun beating down on you is not a pleasant experience. It can make the puke factor worse when on a winding road. If you know your direction and time of day, you can actually figure out what side of the vehicle will be baked by the sun.

Next, look and listen for kids. Steer clear of the crying/screaming kid factor; it’s not only their vocal chords you have to worry about. I was once on a bus ride in Morocco where the kids behind me were puking for hours. The smell was horrendous in the hot, non-air conditioned local bus. I happily donated the plastic bag that the driver handed me when I got on the bus – they needed it more than I did.

Bring a distraction

Sure, it’s nice to look out the window at the countryside going by. However, it’s always important to have a distraction. A distraction from what, you may ask? Seeing other vehicles hurtling toward you on a one-lane road; or worrying about how you are inches from a 100-foot drop-off with no guard rail; or other people staring at you; and of course you will need a distraction from puking kids.

A distraction gives you blinders in a way. I had a lot of practice with this as I commuted on the subway in New York for three years. You always needed a distraction so that you could ignore the crazy people around you. While traveling I often relied on my ipod; it helped drown out any noise associated with the offense. With my ipod on, I could ignore horns, cussing taxi drivers, the sound of dry heaves, or a screaming kid.

I learned that in India, it was always better not to even look out the front window of the car I was riding in as a passenger. Watching my driver play ‘chicken’ with a large bus on a one-lane road while battling it out with horns was not something I wanted to see. Yet I did watch long enough to take a photo! I thought I may need it to explain what happened to me when I was in traction in the emergency room. In case you couldn’t guess, the bus always won, as we would veer off to the side at the last minute and let the bus go by. Yet my driver was persistent and kept trying to battle the buses. Maybe he thought it would earn him a better tip?

Have a little faith

I’m not a terribly religious person, but drivers are. Every car, bus, taxi, boat, or bike that I got in/on had some sort of religious medallion on it. The normal resting place for these medallions was the rear-view mirror or the front dash. Sometimes there were multiple medallions, and sometimes they even played music or lit up.

I learned to respect those medallions, and even to believe in them at times. I always made a point of trying to ask my driver about them, what they were and what they meant; just knowing more about it made me feel safer. I even bought my own Tibetan prayer beads once.

I had them on as we drove through a mountain pass during a snow storm in the mountains of western China. A storm so treacherous that everyone on the narrow road had to get out and help push the car in front of them around the bend at 7000 feet with no guard rail. I spent that day staring at the prayer beads on my wrist as I was too nervous to look out the window. To this day every time I put on those beads and smell the familiar sandalwood, it takes me back to Dequin, China and one of the scariest days of my travels.

Open up your mind

Finally, I think the most crucial item to have when you are a passenger is an open mind. When travelling, I usually used public transportation – hours at a time on a vehicle held together with duct tape and a religious medallion, and packed with locals. I often used the time to survey the locals; talk to them, study them as they studied me. It’s a great time to learn about the culture and have a global exchange off the beaten tour-bus path. Sometimes it wasn’t an exchange of words, but more of a non-verbal recognition; an acknowledgment that we were in this together.

It’s also a time to reflect. On my memorable puke-filled bus ride in Morocco, I used the time to explore my mind and wrote this blog post titled “Pass The Barf Bag Please…Wonderings on a Bus. It was therapeutic in a weird way; or maybe the heat and the smell was making me a bit crazy. I find that I am the most creative on long journeys. The world slows down a bit and I have time to think and absorb what is around me and explore what is in my head; even if it is a little unstable. It’s strange how the most chaotic situations can unleash clarity.

Now you are ready to go out and relinquish control! Be a passenger and survive!

How To Survive Being A Passenger by Sherry Ott was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

During my travels, I met many foreigners that have traveled to America or are planning to do so. I get rather excited to show off my home country to people so I am always interested in learning about where they plan to travel to in the States. I’m not sure why I ask as the answers are always the same and I tend to be disappointed by their choices. The standard answer is a variation of two or three of these cities: New York City, Las Vegas, L.A., and San Francisco.

You may wonder why I’m disappointed by this considering I have lived in two of these cities (NYC and San Francisco) and love those cities dearly. My disappointment lies in the fact that travel to me should be about experiencing the culture of a country; these visiting travelers aren’t really seeing America. The Americans that really epitomize our culture are not found in the big glitzy cities.Instead, they are seeing the same stuff they’ve been seeing on television, in movies and in magazines now for years; big cities with a flair for showing you just how much Americans can consume. It’s these same foreign friends that also stare at me in disbelief asking me how in the world the US could have elected George Bush to a second term in office (as if I voted for him — don’t blame me). The answer is that the Americans that did re-elect Bush and the Americans that really epitomize our culture are not found in the big glitzy cities — they are found in middle America, where people seldom visit. No, and I’m not talking about Chicago … I’m talking about small towns that thrive on a sense of community and national pride. You really can’t begin to see or understand America if you just stick to the concrete jungles.

For the 80% of you who are visiting America and taking advantage of the weak dollar, here are the big-city tips you are looking for:

NYC:

Food tours, Central Park free walks, lunch in Bryant Park Monday-Friday to see all the bustling corporate Americans, and the Tenement Museum. Check for cheap New York hotels.

Las Vegas:

Stay on the strip, go to a Cirque de Soleil show of your choice, see the fountains at Bellagio, people-watch in an old casino with a lounge band.

L.A.:

Don’t even bother. You’ve seen the HOLLYWOOD sign a million times already.

San Francisco:

Definitely the better choice when it comes to California cities. Walk on the Coastal trail between the Golden Gate Bridge and Ocean Beach — it’s stunning. Have a burrito in the Mission District, and go to a Giants game at the stadium on the Bay.

If on the other hand, you don’t want to be like everyone else and instead you want to forge new ground, then be brave and experience American culture. Get out and see something different, see the Midwest, the South, or the Southwest. Rent a car and drive on highways, not interstates, stopping at small towns along the way. Visit a national park. Have dinner at local establishments, frequent the local watering holes, go to the town baseball game or sporting event. Go to a church service on Sunday (heck, you visit temples all the time while you travel the world — why not stop in at a Sunday service?). It’s these places where you will find the culture of America. Find out when and where local festivals are in small towns. I once went to a festival in a small town in Nebraska where you paid a dollar to bet which numbered square a cow was going to shit on: kind of like shit bingo. I still remember it as one of the best times I’ve had meeting locals and participating in the festivities.

As you drive the country roads you will see an abundance of American flags flying proudly out in people’s yards, you’ll see plenty of bumper stickers that state “Support our Troops” most likely because they actually know people that are in the Middle East serving in the military. In the big cities you tend to hear about these families on CNN, but you seldom come into contact with them.
You’ll come face to face with some of the nicest people in the country, but you will also come face to face with the statistic of 73% of Americans that don’t have a passport. Many of you world travelers laugh at this sad American fact, but if you want to see why it is the way it is — then come to middle America and get out of the “international American cities”. You may begin to understand how George Bush was re-elected, and why most people don’t have passports. But you will also discover that the people you meet in the more rural areas and small towns are fascinated to meet you and they will drool over your “cool” accent.

Coming to America by Sherry Ott was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.

In Western culture, it is becoming more and more acceptable to be a single woman in your 30′s. Whether it’s traveling, or simply living day-to-day on your own; being single doesn’t mean that you are a leper. However, once you step out into another culture you realize just how far our Western culture has evolved. Most countries and cultures I visited had a completely different view of unmarried women in their 30′s. As I would get to know the locals of various countries, they would shake their head in confusion when I told them I was 37, not married, and traveling alone. I could tell what they were thinking, “How could her family have let this happen?!” It made me chuckle to think that they were blaming my parents for my decisions.

There was one country, so full of truth and honesty that they did ask that ‘forbidden’ question of single people. In India one of my students asked me, “Mam, do you ever get lonely? I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. Sure, there are many people that I had encountered that had thought that before, but no one really had the guts to ask it; in front of a whole group of people! I looked out over 15 young adult students staring at me wide-eyed waiting for my answer.

Traveling solo has many benefits; first and foremost you get to do what YOU want to do. If I don’t feel like going to the Roman Forum, I don’t have to. Second, I don’t have to worry about getting separated in a crowd at a busy train station. You are truly free and unencumbered. Most importantly, I’m not on someone else’s bladder schedule! Seriously, I have a strong bladder — I’m proud of it, but most of my friends can’t say the same about their tiny little bladders. I’ve spent a lot of time looking for restrooms for them which is not the way I prefer to spend my travel time!’

I recently spent 16 months traveling. From these experiences, I was able to put some tips together for those other independent travelers out there.
A Book is Your Best Friend: Always, always have a book, magazine, or ipod with you. It gives you something to do while dining solo. It helps you feel less self conscience about sitting alone — as long as you have something to do — then no one will think you’re a loser without friends. Instead, you immediately become intriguing.

Checking In: Revert back to your teens and get in the habit of telling people where you are going to be. This can be as simple as sending a regular email to friends/family letting them know where you are or keeping a blog and letting everyone know where you are. Every time I traveled to a new country, I would send my family an email to let them know my itinerary (at least as much of it as I knew) and a way to try to contact me if I had one.

Safety in Numbers: When I was traveling into countries where I didn’t necessarily feel like traveling solo as a female (for me this was Morocco and Egypt), I would find a group to backpack/travel with. This provided me companionship, security, and drinking buddies! I often booked a ‘Basix’ (budget) tour with Intrepid Travel. This provided me backpacking companions, a guide who spoke the language, and a fabulous way to interact with the locals.

You are Never Too Old for a Hostel: The first night I ever stayed in a hostel, I was a bit intimidated, and felt a little old to be sleeping in a bunk bed again. However, hostels are great ways to meet other solo travelers in the same situation as you; plus you already have something in common: a love of travel. I also met a number of future travel companions on day tours. I would meet people on the tour, quickly socialize and end up going out with them that evening or the next day. When you travel, you tend to socialize and pick ‘potential friends’ much more quickly — there’s no time for courting, you just trust your instincts.

Give yourself an Imaginary Life: In some countries I traveled to, I felt like it was necessary to pull out all the stops, and get married. Well — sort of married — in my mind at least. In countries with particularly aggressive men, I found it easier to simply put my grandmother’s wedding ring on my left ring finger and pretend I was married. Granted this didn’t necessarily stop the men from starting to harass me for a date, drink, or purchasing something, but when I flashed my little ring it provided me some additional respect for personal space that I didn’t have as a single woman walking around alone. The most common questions I was asked in the souks of Northern Africa was first “Where you from?” followed by, “Are you married?” and the finale, “You have boyfriend?”. I hated this line of questioning — but depending on my mood and safety level I would engage in that conversation, or I would make up a romantic life and move on without being harassed.

Solo travel isn’t for everyone, but don’t let being solo stop you from doing something or going somewhere. Throughout my travels, I was surrounded by couples; most of the time I surveyed them and felt like I was much happier than the couples that surrounded me. Sure, it would’ve been nice to have a significant other with me to help shoulder the burden, carry my bags, share the rough travel times with, to kill bugs and put sunscreen on my back – but would I have been as happy as I am on my own making my own decisions? Would I feel that intoxicating sense of accomplishment that I feel solo; the feeling that I’ve made this happen on my own?

Probably not.

One Isn’t The Loneliest Number by Sherry Ott was originally published on Indie Travel Podcast (find in iTunes). They also have travel books and guides to Asia, Europe, Oceania, South America, and more.