New Travel Reads: Quit Your Job and Other Inspirations

Pam — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 09:47:03 -0600

The Traveler's Notebook is hosted by Matador Travel and features a great piece on How to Bag Your 9 to 5 Job and Write / Travel Full Time. This is one of the best lists I've seen on this topic because it's so reality based. Instead of fuzzy "you can do it" rhetoric, blogger Julie advises things like assessing your skills, being realistic, considering security... this isn't gap year advice, this is for people who want to go in for the long haul, for a lifestyle change that accommodates more than your two-three week vacation package. Bravo.

Among the many people who have commented that they’re envious of what they view as my freestyle life, there are a couple who have acknowledged that they’d never be able to follow in my footsteps because they need a boss, they need the predictability of a regular paycheck, or they need someone to assign tasks to them. I admire these people because they know themselves and make their career and lifestyle decisions realistically according to their own personal and professional needs.

Go Girlfriend is a fun community site to inspire your next solo or girls only getaway - though there's more on the site- ecotourism, dining, family travel, gay and lesbian travel...the post Climb Everest Naked is inaccurately titled but oh so clickable.

There are some new individual bloggers that I'm digging lately. Hole in the Donut just posted travel safety advice,something that's on the front of my mind as we head off to exotic locales.

The experience taught me a lot of lessons, the most notable of which was to never ignore my inner voice. I KNEW I shouldn’t have been in that campground - it was full of negative energy - but I ignored what my gut was telling me because I wanted to “wake up to the sound of the waves.”

It's easy to find concrete stuff about travel safety - get your shots, divide your cash, and that's here too, but I like that blogger Barabara voices something that we don't give enough cred to as travelers - our instincts.

Erica from Blissful Travel contacted me with a question about cake, something I admit to knowing a thing or two about, but then I had the opportunity to click back to her blog. Erica and I are up against each other (and a handful of other bloggers) in a writing contest (yes my entry is about cake and I'm not saying you should vote for me, but I'm not saying you shouldn't). Oops. Diverted. What I meant to say was that she has a great piece of advice up for wannabe travel writers - write about where you live. Now.

What many people seem to forget is that no matter where you live, people visit. Even if you haven’t even been outside your hometown, you can break into travel writing.

Also new to me? Less Than a Shoestring, a blog about, yup, budget travel. I love this statement from the about page (and could not agree more with the sentiment).

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of budget travel advice from newspaper writers with $100/day accommodation budgets.

I was overwhelmed with new discoveries this week and to put it inelegantly, totally psyched by the quality of the writing I stumbled over. If you've got travel reads you think I should be following, don't hesitate to let me know.

Pam blogs about travel and other adventures at Nerd's Eye View.

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New Travel Reads: Quit Your Job and Other Inspirations