Entries about talkingtravel

"Mike at Singapore's Jurong Bird Park"

In this month's Talking Travel series, we chat to long-term TP member and travel guru Mike Riley aka vegasmike6. In Mike's profile, he describes himself as an ex casino dealer who now travels to Asia every winter and likes to hit the beach, go diving and hit golf balls when in Pattaya. When doing the interview, Mike mentioned he edited his profile. When he joined TP in '05, he wasn't sure he wanted his real name out there... "I chose Mike Lake for simplicity. As all of us on the internet know, it is not always smart to have your real identity out there for the world to see. I now realise Travellerspoint is a safe place to be and decided to update my profile. I was just too lazy to change it until now. Doing this made me rethink that decision and I have now used my real name: Mike Riley."

You've reach the exclusive status of Travel Guru on TP – how does one get there?!

I just started out trying to help members with advice on Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. I have been in all three many times by the time I found TP in '05. I keep a daily journal when I travel and had a lot of info stored in those notebooks. I could offer advice to those new to Asia: where to stay, eat, what to see/avoid, what buses, trains, ferries, etc. I think members rated my advice as helpful and you were moved up by positive feedback. I then signed up as a 'travel helper' for the US and started getting PMs asking for help with their US trip. By then I realised I liked posting on TP and started posting advice most days. Next was posting my travel photos from my Asia trips. I have been taking travel photos since the '70s, so I started scanning old photos of previous trips and putting them into folders. I picked the ones I thought were worth posting and added them to my TP gallery. Soon I had over 1,000 photos. This is when I noticed I had become a 'travel guru'. I sent Gretchen (Isadora) a PM and asked how I made guru status. She told me that TP had a formula that counted up your posts, positive feedback, photos in your gallery, blog entries, etc. and they decided who was worthy of the guru label. There were a limited number of gurus in '05 and TP had to drop one member in order to move another member up. That has changed. Adding to the 'wiki travel guide' can move a member upwards very quickly. I saw one member who was labeled guru with less than 100 posts. That was impossible a few years ago. Now there are many more gurus than back in '05. Of course the guys that started TP decide, but if you have too many 'travel gurus', I think it takes away the cachet of being a member of an elite group. My two cents.

You travel to Asia every winter – where's your favourite place to date?

I first went to Thailand in 1990. My uncle was stationed in U-tapao, Thailand during the Vietnam War and raved about it. He went over to Pattaya for the clear water and beaches, but the beautiful Thai ladies is what he kept talking about. He married a Thai women and brought her to the US. He kept telling me that if I ever got the chance to visit Thailand, go for it. Finally in 1990 I had some money and enough time to visit. I looked for a cheap airfare and found Jupiter Courier. They flew LAX-SIN for very cheap rates back in the '90s, usually under $400 return. My first trip to SEA I got lucky and met another courier named David. He was doing the same thing I was: bouncing around SEA with a pretty thin wallet. We took the overnight bus up through Malaysia and hit Thailand, trying to see as much as we could while spending as few baht as possible. We hit the Krabi area, Phuket, Koh Samui and loved the combination of beautiful beaches, low prices and pretty women. David became a lifelong friend and ended up living and working in Singapore. That was perfect for me. Jupiter Courier flew LAX-SIN and would let you stay for a month. I would stay with David for a few days before taking the bus through Malaysia to Thailand.

My uncle had visited Pattaya in the '60s when it was an R & R spot for American servicemen getting away from the Vietnam War. Of course Pattaya had changed tremendously by 1990 but it still catered to single guys. After hitting the south islands, I went to over to Pattaya. Pattaya was almost all bars, go go joints, adult shows, massage parlors, street walkers, etc. With great nightlife, decent beach and cheap prices, I stayed longer than I planned. I met some guys from the UK and the US that showed me where to stay, eat, rent motorbikes, etc. We became friends that first trip and I now had guys to help me every time I hit Pattaya. This started my annual trips to Asia. I would contact Jupiter and try to book a courier seat to SIN. Once I had a flight, I would email my Pattaya friend Roger. He would reserve a room for me in the same hotel they were staying at then, Sutus Court. Sutus rented by the day, week, or month. Some guys had been there for years when I started staying there. I would fly into SIN, stay with David a few days and head for Thailand on the bus. This was years before Air Asia and the bus was the best option. This was years before Sutus had a website as well. Jeff, one of my US friends helped me start a small motorbike rental business in Pattaya in the late '90s. It basically allowed me to stay in SEA without spending any of my own money for a few years. Then the Thai authorities found out about it and that took care of my moto business!

"Pattaya motorbike business"

In the mid '90s, all of us started to go over to Cambodia to renew our visas. Phnom Penh was really wild back in the mid '90s. The streets were almost pitch black because of power failures. If you went out at night, there would be a pool of light where a generator was running and the rest of the street was dark. Police set up check points and had to be bribed in order to pass. Our motodops would know the best routes and would dodge the police whenever possible. It was very dicey to move around back then, but it was fun. Very different than Pattaya. Gordon was one of my UK friends from Pattaya, but he moved to PP around 1997. Roger, Jeff, Bruce and I now had a friend in PP to visit ever time we went for a visa run. All of us would hit Martini's Bar in PP most nights when we were on visa runs. Since many of the cute Martini girls were from Vietnam, I decided to visit Vietnam in 2000. I met Ann Soldner on my first bus ride to HCMC and we are still friends. I also met a Vietnam girl that became my GF for a few years. That did not work out, but I did return to Vietnam several times because of her, so I now count that as a positive thing. I now had friends in SIN, Pattaya, PP and Sihanoukville and when Gordon relocated to the beach. Add my GF in Vietnam, and it was just plain fun to hit SEA every winter. From about 1996 to 2003 I was spending most of every winter in SEA. Great memories and many good friends to this day.

"With my ex-GF at DaLat Vietnam waterfall"

I would have to say that Thailand is my fave country, but I love Vietnam as well. I will visit both again and decide which one I want to spend my remaining years.

"Go while you still can" is listed on your profile – what advice do you have for the first-time travel jitters?

When you are past 60, you realise that there are only so many years left to accomplish your travel goals. I don't think older travellers should keep putting off their travel plans or their 'bucket list' either. Illness, injuries, financial setbacks can and do change our plans. "Go while you still can!"

My advice to first time travellers: decide where you want to go and do your research. There is now just heaps of information on every country at your fingertips. Of course TP can get them headed in the right direction. We have 'travel helpers', the 'wiki travel guides' plus asking questions on our forums. Another valuable resource for a jittery first time traveler is our 'travel companions' forum. With a little luck, they will be able to hook up with another TP member and not have to go it alone. Even if they travel to their destination alone, there is still a very good chance of meeting someone that is doing roughly the same route. Just be friendly and willing to alter your plans if you meet someone that they would like to travel with. I have travelled alone and with friends and it is just more fun to have another person along to share the experience.

You live in Vegas – what's the real Vegas like behind the neons?

I was born and raised in Las Vegas. Millions of visitors a year think of it as an adult playground, but to me it is home. Of course Las Vegas is one of the premier vacation destinations in the world, but it also a regular city to most of its residents. The vast majority of Las Vegans do not go out to the Strip very often and live their lives the same as if the lived in any other US city. We have the best of both worlds IMO. Las Vegas is a regular city if that is what you want. But we also have world class hotels, casinos and entertainment available 24 hours a day. I am lucky that I am retired from the casinos and can take advantage of the bargains available to local residents. Many shows offer free or reduced prices to locals. Because of this advantage, I have seen almost all the shows in Vegas that I wanted to see. I have been to 49 of our states and Las Vegas has advantages that few cities can match. I consider myself lucky to have been born and raised in Vegas.

Where's next?

My next travel goal is an around the world adventure. I should of done this years ago, but for a variety of reasons, I just did not get it done. I think I will purchase one of those tickets that allow you a year to go around the world. Now that I have joined couchsurfing, I can stay in Europe much longer than I originally planned. From Europe I will head for the Middle East, then India, back to SEA to visit my friends. After Asia, perhaps New Zealand and Australia. Then back to the USA.

"Buddha Hill, overlooking Pattaya Bay"

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Check out these recent interviews in the Talking Travel series:

• Talking Travel with Margaret Metcalfe (margaretm)
• Talking Travel with Tammi Jonas (tammois)
• Talking Travel with Bill Lehane
• Talking Travel with Inspiring Travellers (JohnAndrea)
• Talking Travel with Andre Frieden

Margaret at Yosemite National Park

In this month's Talking Travel series, we chat to prominent and respected TP blogger and photographer Margaret Metcalfe aka margaretm. Margaret has travelled, lived in other countries and learned foreign languages for as long as she can remember. Her nomadic beginnings conditioned her for the rest of my life and since then, she's lived in eight countries and travelled extensively, working as an English teacher and translator, and doing voluntary work. Broadly speaking, she believes in making things happen and making dreams come true ("even if others think you are crazy"). Her experience is that travel is one of the best teachers you can have in life.

Her husband is Catalan, they have two teenagers and her home is a multilingual environment where they speak a mixture of Catalan, Spanish, English and Cataspanglish. They moved to Mexico City a couple of years ago where, among other things, she works with Casa Daya, a home for abused teenage girls with their children.

With some of the children at Casa Daya

You've been travelling since you were eight months old - is there anywhere you haven't been?

Although I’ve travelled widely, there’s still so much of this world I haven’t seen and would like to. For example, I haven’t stepped foot in South America or Australia yet and I would definitely love to see more of Africa. I actually like taking the road less-travelled so am happy to end up where there aren’t many tourists.

Some of my travels have been planned but others have just fallen in my lap unplanned, like our current situation, in Mexico or the time my parents unexpectedly went to work in the Seychelles for a year. I was able to spend a couple of months with them and get to know a country I otherwise would probably never have visited. That’s why my blog is titled: “Wherever life takes us”. I’m not sure where I’ll be going in the future but I’m open to new experiences.

You're a resident and travel helper of Mexico City – what are you favourite things to see and do there?

Mexico City, one of the world’s largest cities, is an extraordinary place packed with Aztec, Spanish colonial and Mexican culture. There are more than 152 museums in DF alone and I’ve probably only been to about 15 of them so far! Cycling is one of my favourite sports and about eight months ago, I bought a mountain bike so I now go cycling around the Historical Centre with its thousands of colonial buildings and its Mexican character. Another of my favourite places is Chapultepec Park, an enormous park with boating lakes, a huge well-kept zoo, America’s only real Castle and the Anthropological Museum where I often go to find out about Mexico’s past. I really like Coyoacán, home to Frida Kahlo’s museum, which still preserves its character as a small colonial town, especially eating delicious tostadas Mexican-style in the market there. The canals and colourful boats of Xochimilco and the Aztec Pyramids of Teotihuacan are also well worth visiting. I’ve written about some of these places and what life is like in Mexico City on my blog.

Cycling in Mexico City’s Zócalo

You have over 1000 photos on Travellerspoint, what do you love about travel photography?

Looking back, I remember from a very early age flicking through travel books and poring over the photos and maps and having a burning desire to go and experience these places for myself. My parents also took slides of our early years in Asia and on our boat journeys and as a family, we loved to have regular slideshows and re-live those experiences. A photo can convey so much and it’s been a natural step for me to record my own travels using photography. I’m a very visual person so now when I look back at photos I took months, years or even decades ago, I can re-live the whole situation... the sights, the smells, the sounds, the heat, the event as a whole. For me, it’s a bit like writing a visual diary of my experiences.

I particularly like to document a country or culture, not just take photos of the main sights. It’s often the small details which make up the uniqueness of a place and that’s what I try to capture in my photos and share with others. I also like my pictures to reveal the best of a place… if you look hard, you can always find beauty, sometimes in the most unexpected places. Someone once asked me if I thought I could make Bradford look great and I hope I could! Photography has made me much more observant and curious and through it, I have discovered a great deal more about the countries where I’ve lived or travelled.

Your blog 'Wherever Life Takes Us' is updated every couple of days – what tips do you have for other bloggers struggling with updating?

I’m a new blogger myself and am experimenting and learning as I go along. My advice would be to focus on one or two aspects in each post, and not to try to include everything. Select just a few interesting stories, anecdotes, or experiences. It’s probably better to write several shorter posts on specific topics, events or places than one very long one on everything you’ve done in the last two weeks. That can be very daunting. I often spend time thinking beforehand about what I want to include in my next few posts (while sitting in the traffic in Mexico City!!) and that makes it quicker when I actually have to sit down and write or decide which photos I want to upload.

You don’t even have to wait to go on major trips or travels to start blogging about your experiences. Sometimes writing about things which are ordinary or everyday for you can be interesting and even exotic for others. Also most people have digital cameras nowadays so include photos... let your pictures speak for you and avoid having to write long descriptions. On occasions, you may just want to upload a series of photos and put captions to them. That’s also a valid way to share your experiences with others.

What inspires you about travel?

I’ve always been fascinated by the incredible diversity of this world in all its forms, whether in the natural world or among different cultures. The more I travel, the more I’m amazed at the new things I discover and had no idea about. Over the years, I’ve also met people from different walks of life and learnt that it is often the poorest who are the most generous and hospitable. Seeing the deplorable conditions that some people live in also makes me very thankful for all the opportunities I’ve had and encourages me to do something positive to help others who aren’t as fortunate as I am. I’m constantly inspired by the exceptional people I’ve met who have dedicated their lives to making this world a better place.

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Check out these recent interviews in the Talking Travel series:

• Talking Travel with Tammi Jonas (tammois)
• Talking Travel with Bill Lehane
• Talking Travel with Inspiring Travellers (JohnAndrea)
• Talking Travel with Andre Frieden
• Talking Travel with Vagamos

Tammi's Trip Map

In this month's Talking Travel series, we had the pleasure of chatting to Tammi Jonas aka tammois. Tammi is a travelling mother, a studious traveller and a well-travelled cultural theorist from Melbourne, Australia. As well as working on a PhD on the role of food in cosmopolitan, sustainable societies, she and her husband have just purchased a farm near Daylesford, Victoria, where they intend to farm free-range pigs and advocate for sustainable, ethical agriculture and a low-consumption lifestyle (which helps fund their incessant travels). To give you another insight into Tammi, her email signature reads: "I awake each morning torn between a desire to save the world and a desire to savour the world. This makes it hard to plan my day." ~ E. B. White

Tammi and her partner Stuart at Canyonlands National Park in the US

You're a few months in to what's been dubbed 'RoadTripUSA', tell us more about this? Including info about the shipping container!

RoadTripUSA is one of those things I guess people now refer to as an item on a 'bucket list' – we've wanted to drive across the States (and Australia) with our brood for a while, and a mystical alignment of events led to our current adventure:

1) We were evicted from our rental in Melbourne so the landlord could renovate;
2) Stuart and I had solar and food and ag conferences to attend in the US in May and June;
3) We said, 'what the hell', booked flights, bought a 1977 GMC motorhome on Craigslist, and commenced planning for RoadTripUSA;
4) We bought a farm near Daylesford, Victoria a fortnight before we flew to San Francisco;
5) We bought a 40-foot shipping container, packed all our worldly belongings into it and dropped it off at the farm a few days before we flew.

The trip was all about spending a solid few months on our own as a family exploring and discovering America up close. We wanted history, culture and nature, and we wanted to learn how they vary from coast to coast. RoadTripUSA has hugely exceeded all our expectations for family fun, learning and adventure, as you can read on the Crikey Back in a Bit travel blog.

The shipping container we bought will be converted into our bedroom/study/bath to supplement the existing three small bedrooms in the farmhouse as soon as we move onto the farm. Stuart's just ordered windows from a supplier in China (good to have a man with a useful skillset - he is importing things directly from China at a quarter of the cost we'd pay in Oz, plus the ability to then build us a home!), and we hope to be in it within six weeks of moving onto the property.

The 'RockVan' courtesy of Craigslist

What do you hope to have learnt by the end of your trip?

One of the things I like to learn on every trip is just how little I know about the world. Even though I'm a west-coast American who migrated to Australia 20 years ago, I have loads to learn about this complicated, confounding and beautiful country full of people who floor me with their constant acts of personal generosity yet who are collectively individualist to the detriment of the greater good, in my humble opinion.

Travel helps me better understand my own contradictions as well as others, and so hopefully serve as a sort of cultural translator at times – a latter-day Atticus Finch who probably just irritates the crap out of everyone with my 'it's just their way, Scout' attitude about difference as I experience it.

This trip in particular though is intended to help my children understand the American side of their heritage better, and to give Stuart and I insight into the 'rebel farming' movement, including real knowledge about raising pasture pigs and running a small family farm.

You're travelling with your partner and three children, what advice do you have for families on the road?

We've travelled with our kids since they were bubs – I remember flying to Europe with all three of them when they were four, three and three months old. People said, 'how do you cope?' My response was always, 'I'd rather they have a tantrum somewhere new and interesting than at home in the lounge room.' We only had one 'international incident' on a flight from London to Paris that challenged that view.

I guess the most important things we've learned from travelling with little kids are to be flexible, manage our expectations, help them predict what will be happening in the days ahead, and when all else fails, say yes to pancakes. As for expectations – in Paris we had this silly idea that we'd revisit and recapture our youthful experience of falling in love in Paris – yeah, right, 'cos that was going to happen with three kids aged four and under! So instead of long days at galleries, we plan a couple hours, and instead of lots of cafes, we picnic in parks more. When they were very small (they're 11, 10 and seven now), I'd make pre-trip scrapbooks with them – we'd cut or print out photos from the internet of places we'd be going, people we'd be seeing, foods we'd be likely to eat, etc, and make up a timeline (even if rough) so they could see at each stage what to expect next. I knew it was working when we walked into our courtyard apartment in Paris for the first time and Oscar exclaimed, 'this is it!'.

The ages they're at now, I think the most important thing we have to remind ourselves is that they still need play time. If they don't get a couple hours of adult-intervention/direction-free time each day, they're more likely to resist our attempts to expose them to culture or go for long hikes. Their play time also gives us time on our own (sort of), which means that even after two months 24/7 together in the RockVan, we still love each others' company. ;-)

The non-troublesome trio

You're currently doing a PhD on the role of food in a cosmopolitan, sustainable society – what role does travel play in your research?

I've had the privilege to travel a fair bit for my research – to both Vietnam and Italy for fieldwork, and to India, Finland and the US as well as domestically in Australia to give conference papers. I've had to self-fund a lot of it as universities keep decreasing funding to research students (and even tenured academics, actually), but as I've always valued travel enormously I certainly haven't regretted the money spent.

Before I commenced this PhD Stuart and I had been keeping a 'food diary' when we travelled for a number of years – when I'm too busy to keep a 'proper' journal of my travels, I simply note down what I eat each day. It's an incredible mnemonic – I know exactly what I ate the day I met Stuart in London – mushies on toast.

So my research has simply honed a travel technique I'd been using for a long time – but it really has sharpened my insights into what I'm eating, why, and how it's affecting me and everyone I'm with. I love what my PhD has given me personally, especially when travelling!

It's hard to ignore the impact of food in your life, why are you so passionate about it?

Food is central to everything. One of my greatest pleasures is simply to cook and feed others. To do so, I am conscious of my connection to so many people, places, and animals – it helps ground me and understand my part in the world, as well as simply providing an intensely pleasurable creative outlet.

I figure if everyone was more knowledgable about and connected to food – where it's produced, by whom, and to what effect on the local environment and economy, as well as how it's prepared and consumed, again, by whom, under what conditions, to what cultural norms, with whom and why, everything would really be okay. Until everyone 'gets it', but especially those with the economic, political, social and cultural power to do something about it, we will still have obesity epidemics, hunger, and famine, often in the same country at one time. And we will watch our soils die before us as agricultural workers are poisoned and impoverished. And the wealthiest nations in the world such as America will continue to dive on 'happiness' ratings, at least partially because we've outsourced the things we need (to do) daily, such as cook, eat, and spend time with our families and friends.

Where's your favourite place in the world?

Wherever I am at the moment.

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Check out these recent interviews in the Talking Travel series:

• Talking Travel with Bill Lehane
• Talking Travel with Inspiring Travellers (JohnAndrea)
• Talking Travel with Andre Frieden
• Talking Travel with Vagamos
• Talking Travel with Tracey (TTG)

Bill at White Sands National Park, New Mexico

In August's Talking Travel we chat to Bill Lehane (BillLehane), a journalist and writer from Dublin whose hobbies include: "Hanging out with Megan, writing in all its forms, drinking coffee, visiting art galleries and churches, and seeing the world."

You're a Dubliner living in Prague who's also lived in the US and China, where's been your favourite place to date?

I think I would have to say New Mexico, my wife Megan Eaves' home state! We spent almost a year there after a six-month teaching stint in China, it was really great to see the American Southwest – still a bit of an unknown for most Europeans, I think - and get to know all of my wife's family at the same time. But no-one can go to China without being wowed I think, it was great to be able to do that as well. I really enjoyed seeing places like Shanghai and Beijing, as well as our little port of call for most of our time there, Lishui City.

As a journalist, how does your travel affect your writing and perspective on the world?

That’s an interesting question. I think that you grow as a person as you see more of the world, and of course that helps mature your writing. My experience as documented on the blog has been more about living abroad than just visiting new places however, which is definitely a different kind of travel. I think when you stay longer in a place you get a better sense of how people live in that city, and it's always different.

What are your must-sees for the Czech Republic?

The best is probably the most obvious – Old Town Prague. The Old Town Square itself is just magnificent no matter how many times you step on to it, I was just thinking the same the other day when walking out onto the square and seeing the Týn Church (we have nicknamed it the Disney church J ) - it still amazes me how great it looks after a whole year living here.

Aside from that, I would have to say the historic medieval town of Český Krumlov, a fresh pint of Svijany - Prague's beer of the moment – and getting a sausage at one of the outdoor markets (that are most famously at Christmas but actually pop up regularly throughout the year.)

Bill and Megan outside Prague Castle

Tell us more about book 'Interculturalism in Irish Public Service Broadcasting' and your inspiration...

Well back in my home town of Dublin there's been a massive immigration boom linked to the Celtic Tiger economic boom where the foreign population that was basically at next to nothing in 2000 rose to 10 percent of the population by 2006.

I was inspired by this change, and while I was working for the website of Ireland's biggest TV network at the time I completed a Masters in Intercultural Studies and wrote a dissertation on that part of the issue. That was in 2007.

A German academic publisher then called me out of the blue nearly three years later when I was staying in a historic hotel in downtown El Paso, Texas (where my wife was researching one of her books) and offered to publish it in paperback format. So that was just fantastic.

Speaking of Germany, I would just like to note that while the poor Irish economy is obviously doing really terribly at the moment, the German immigration experience does show that immigrants do not leave their adopted homes in significant numbers during a recession, so hopefully this is a text that will still be of some small use in the years to come.

You're an active member of the Travellerspoint community, what do you like about the site?

I think the Wiki Travel Guide is a great idea because it gives travellers instant access to all the relevant info they need without having to scroll through pages of stuff that doesn't interest them. It's a bit of fun as well just to update the various pages by spotting things you know that haven't been mentioned and adding them to the rundown.

Where are you off to next?

Well as it happens I just took a job in London, so I'll be there by early September. I think while Prague has lots to offer in terms of historic sights, beer and so on, myself and Megan will really relish the huge selection of dining and cultural things going on in such a large, multicultural city. And of course we’ll be there for the Olympics!

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Check out these recent interviews in the Talking Travel series:

• Talking Travel with Inspiring Travellers (JohnAndrea)
• Talking Travel with Andre Frieden
• Talking Travel with Vagamos
• Talking Travel with Tracey (TTG)
• Talking Travel with Zero Dean

In July's Talking Travel we chat to Andrea and John Spirov of InspiringTravellers.com (JohnAndrea), a self-described "couple of nomadic thirtysomethings currently travelling the world full-time".

John and Andrea Spirov in Torres del Paine in Chile

How did you guys meet?

John was at the very end of two years of work and travel in Europe and had returned to a tiny little town at the bottom of Crete called Plakias. Andrea was visiting the same hostel with some friends from New York and we ended up in the same dorm room. We still find it incredible that we found each other there because the place is so remote.

We've been drooling over your mapped trip on Travellerspoint – what does your itinerary look like for the rest of 2011?

We've added Colombia to our itinerary and are looking forward to a couple of weeks there before we head to Europe. We're planning 10 days in Portugal, three weeks in Ireland, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, a month in Croatia and almost three months in Central and Eastern Europe. In December we'll head to Japan.

How do you stay connected so you can blog on the road - especially in remote and developing locations?

We travel with a netbook and have found wireless internet to be pretty universal. We were able to stay connected even in some of the smaller towns in Bolivia. It's interesting how internet is a priority in developing countries - we see more internet cafes in South America than in Australia and parts of the US.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to travel around the world for a year?

If it's something you've been wanting to do, just plan it and go. Many people get weighed down with concerns about what friends and family will think or whether their career will be affected. Many employers today are sabbatical-friendly and travel can provide knowledge and skills that are invaluable in the workplace. We also recommend that you stay flexible. You may plan to visit several specific places but then discover that you love one part of the world so much that you want to spend most of your time there.

We meet you at the Travel Massive (formerly Travel Tribe) Christmas meetup in Melbourne. What did you think of the event and how important is connecting to a community while travelling?

We really enjoyed the event. It's always great to catch up with fellow travellers and having such a nice mix of bloggers, industry professionals and travel enthusiasts made for some very interesting conversations. We feel very connected to the travel community through our blog and have been fortunate enough to catch up with heaps of incredible people that we already felt like we "knew" from online. It's so fantastic to arrive in a city and meet up with someone to show us around the city or get together for a drink. We're always happy to do the same for fellow travellers when we're living in one place.

~

If you'd like to check out more of John and Andrea's inspiring content, visit their site or find them on Twitter and Facebook.

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Check out these recent interviews in the Talking Travel series:

Talking Travel with Andre Frieden
Talking Travel with Vagamos
Talking Travel with Tracey (TTG)
Talking Travel with Zero Dean
Talking Travel with Vicki Hatfield