This month marks the five-year anniversary of LLworldtour — my first around the world trip and the start of this blog.  It also marks the fact that the last time I worked a full time job was also five years ago.  Holy cripes!  When I started blogging not only didn’t I even want to have a ‘blog’, I didn’t even like the word blog.  Blahhhhg.  Who would want that?  What is that?  It sounds like something you do after a long night of drinking.  ‘Oh, man I think I’m gonna blaahhhg.’

Like so many travelers I know, I just wanted an easy and fun way to keep in touch with friends and family back home.  Plus having a blog, gave me some structure, something ‘to-do’ as I traveled.  It gave me a home, a nucleus from which I could write and hone stories I would later pitch to publications.  It gave me some work which I like.   As a professional writer and television producer, I had already spent my career ‘telling visual stories’ and knew that travel, more than anything, would inspire me to write and share my photography with anyone who was interested.   Little did I know that this fun and easy project would become hard, at times, all-consuming, and would turn into my full-time work.

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Travel to Blog or Blog to Travel?

The Travel.

If it isn’t obvious by now, then you are probably doing less than skimming this blog.

To rinse and repeat:  I love to travel.  I got this little virus in my mid-twenties and haven’t kicked it yet, nor do I want to.  I haven’t always been a ‘round the world’ traveler, let alone a world traveler.  The idea to travel around the world by myself crept up on me in my thirties about 7 months before I chucked it all and left.  Before that, I just tried to travel when I could and go as far away as I could.  Sometimes I’d stay in a swanky resort in Mexico and I hadn’t stayed in a hostel really for about 10 years since my first backpacking trip.  Everyone travels differently and no one way is right or wrong.  Even I travel differently all the time…sometimes staying in a hostel or even in a stranger’s home and other times work has me in some pretty swank resorts or I treat myself to some hip, boutique hotel as I often did before my ‘world tour.’

Bottom line: I do NOT travel for you, sorry.  And I do not travel to make you jealous or envious.

I travel for me.  I travel to see the world before I die (life is short and unfortunately, I’m not immortal).  I travel to meet different people from different cultures.  I travel to learn.  I travel to change – myself and my own opinions and stereotypes.

The Blog.

When I started this blog in mid-2006, there seemed to be only a few of us out there.  Like many, I just wanted an easy way to keep in touch with friends and family while I was out in the world; to write my friends and regale them with some funny and interesting tales and showcase my photography.  And maybe inspire others to go travel or go after their dreams because maybe by seeing me do it, it would seem more doable, more attainable.  Fast forward four years and there is a glut of travel blogs jamming up the cyber waves and clogging in boxes and RSS feeds of those who voraciously read about others’ travels.   Some are amazingly well-written and the authors could be doing much more with their prose. Others are choppy or funny or just barely adequate.  Mine falls in there somewhere – that’s for you to judge not me.  Luckily for me, I was already a professional writer/producer in the broadcast television and media world, so I felt I had a little something extra in my back pocket as far as experience goes.  Lately there’s been a bit of a backlash because of all the travel blogs out there – good ones and bad ones; ones that stick around for years and others that are there during someone’s jaunt and then are basically abandoned; ones that have become big business and sometimes overshadow others of perhaps better quality (‘quality’ being subjective of course).  But like it or not, blogs are a real force now and are truly influencing not just other media, but our world and how we learn, debate, and relate to it all.

I personally rarely read other blogs.  I try to when I can, in order to keep up with my peers and friends, but frankly I am not even quite sure how others have the time to read so many posts everyday.   Of course I am thankful that people somehow have the time to read mine!  My readership has grown — many of my friends are still here (thank you!) reading along and many new friends have come along for the ride (thank you!).  I can honestly say, that I’ve always received good feedback and thankfully make people laugh and allow them to live vicariously through my travels or at least be inspired and learn a little about the logistics of travel and maybe about a time, place, or culture as I observed it.

Just as I did in the beginning, I blog to entertain. And I blog to share some of what I was able to see and learn from others so perhaps my readers can learn more and maybe have their curiosity piqued enough to at least look into something on their own or at best travel there themselves.

In the spirit of full transparency, like my cool friend Kirsty does so well over at Nerdy Nomad, this blog has also become a side job for me. I now make several hundred dollars a month (and sometimes more) mostly from advertising on my blog.  And I still don’t even really know much about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) or if my writing style incorporates it or not.   Nor, do I plan to change my writing style to do so.  I’m still a writer and a journalist first, not a blogger.  I also indirectly make some other funds simply because this blog exists.   People have found me and my work on the internet and hired me through this progressive and non-traditional means.  Many folks looking for content producers of different forms (writing, photography, marketing, social media) have found me because of this blog and in turn hired me.   It is certainly not enough to travel or live on so I supplement it with my television producing gigs and other travel writing/publishing, photography work, and public relations stints.  But one thing remains the same: how I write. I have not compromised my style or changed the way I write in order to make money. I write about what I want, when I want, and frankly sometimes don’t feel like writing at all.  I approve all adverts and they are blatantly just that. I never slip any businesses, products, or services into my posts that I don’t personally recommend.   And I have still stayed true to my original reason for starting all of this – to entertain, inform, and inspire you (and even sometimes myself).

There is no way I could just be a tourist in the world for 2 ½ years.  I knew I had to mix it up to prevent boredom and burnout. I craved variety in my everyday life, so why would my life on the road be any different? Yes, of course, the constant change of scenery, culture, and people was variety in and of itself, but I knew I couldn’t just keep showing up in a new town each week and essentially continue to ‘walk around the world for a year.’  I needed to do, ya know, stuff. I needed to immerse myself somehow in society and feel like a part of it.  To start this process, I did different things like a Spanish Immersion program in Costa Rica (Spanish lessons in the morning and yes, surfing lessons in the afternoon) or a two-week, several-hundred mile bicycle trip down the length of Vietnam. But I needed even more structure. I needed…a job (cue shrieking horror music).

Now, just the sheer fact that I decided to blog about my trip and also write travel articles to be published elsewhere means that I was already working. I was trying to make time each week to sit and just write – a very hard thing to do when you are sitting in Rome or Cairo or Hong Kong and there are so many things around you vying for your attention.

Besides my new ‘day job’ as travel writer and photographer, I landed a few other actual jobs around the world.

1. Barrista and sandwich maker at a café in Melbourne
2. TV producer and reporter in Chile
3. Private business English tutor in Istanbul
4. Media proofreader in Istanbul
5. Actress in American Feature film in Istanbul
6. Research Assistant at the University of Cologne helping conduct an International survey on Airline/Airport Relationships
7. Writer and proofreader at publishing company in Berlin
8. Publicist for English Immersion company in Madrid
9. Extra in Hollywood
10. Pet Sitter around the world (Istanbul, LA, Chicago)

But many have asked me how did I find all these jobs? Did I look before I went on my trip?  The simple answer is no.  I simply arrived in a new place with the random idea that I could maybe find work there. In Australia, I spoke the language (sort of), so it seemed like a natural place to find a job other than teaching English. In Turkey, it’s all about connections and once I met one person…the ball just started rolling.  Besides that, I used persistence, word-of-mouth, and friends’ connections and a lot of smiles.

So, on this adventure, I worked all over and found it to be another great way to “go local.”  I lived in one place for an extended amount of time. I had a place to live. I took public transport (or a bicycle in Melbourne) to work. I had a schedule. I had a paycheck (well, cash). I truly felt like part of the fabric of society. And I actually gained some new skills, but most importantly I made real friends.

To hear more about my working around the world, listen to this podcast interview I did for Chris Christensen at the Amateur Traveler.

Amateur Traveler Episode 194 – Work and Travel Around the World

In the humble and oh-so-modest name of self-promotion, here is what’s been floating around the internet, and the radio and television airwaves about your favorite (or 3^rd favorite? Okay 5^th?), little ‘girl in the world.’

ABC’s Good Morning America – Budget Travel: How low can you go?  March 2009
Well, I was interviewed by Bill Weir and quoted on their website. Too bad the video never made air. Read the online story here where I am mentioned in the very end.

The Trip Chicks Radio Interview
While I was traveling through the Baltics, I was interviewed over the phone by Ann Lombardi of the Trip Chicks on her USA radio show: Travel Escapes which is broadcast in Atlanta and on the net. Check it out here.

MSNBC.com – The New Nomads April 2009
Nationally syndicated Travel Columnist, Chris Elliot, talks about the “New Nomads” including yours truly.

The Daily Record – Next Stop: The World April 2009
These nice folks came back for more. They did a follow up story on me and my travels to the one they’d already done about two years ago.

2008 Weblog Awards Finalist
LL World Tour was recently voted as a top 10 finalist in the 2008 Weblog Awards.

For more stories about LLWorldTour or to see where some of my writing and photography has been published you can always go to the LL Media/Press page.

Thanks for continuing to support me and travel vicariously (and literally) with me!

Many say I’m living a dream.  And many say that quitting everything to travel around the world, is just not possible and too hard for them to do. To that I say – rubbish! I did it. You can do it.

I think in fantasy this is a dream trip for many. But in reality, the packing, leaving everything behind, quitting, figuring out finances, and saying good-bye for a year or more is just way too much of a brain drain and risk for most. But it really is just the decision to do it that is the biggest hurdle – the rest just happens, life happens, and it can be amazing.

So, if you are thinking of making a change in your life or taking off for an extended trip, put on your Nikes and ‘just do it!’ If you are already planning a trip then good for you – because the hardest part is over – deciding to do it and figuring out how to make it work for you. I would definitely say it is not that hard and is cheaper and easier than you think. If you have the opportunity and the freedom to just go – grab the chance now while you can.  Don’t put if off for tomorrow, because we all know something will always come up to get in our way. It’s easy to say ‘carpe diem’, ‘seize the day’ and all that jive or forward on the motivational emails that swirl around, it takes guts and chutzpah to try and make it your life everyday.

So, for those just tuning in now…thanks so much for stopping by.

Here’s the 30 second/300 word recap:

I am a three-time Emmy-award-winning Television Writer/Producer/Photographer. I produced a variety of shows including a lifestyles and entertainment magazine show on ABC Chicago for the last ten years. After nearly fifteen years in Television, I decided to take a sabbatical of sorts (read: I quit), which turned into 2+ years traveling and working my way around the world.  I have written about the adventures that ensued as I schlepped my bag around the globe on this website which has had hundreds of thousands of hits and subscribers from all over the world.  I was recently interviewed for ABC’s Good Morning America.  My site was listed as one of the “Travel Blogs I can’t live without” in 2008 and top twenty “most-inspirational’ blogs of 2007“ by nationally syndicated columnist Chris Elliot and I was also featured in the Chicago Daily Herald, the NJ Daily Record, Women on the Road, “Panorama Europeo,” a radio show broadcast in Italy, Spain, and Argentina, and on Chicagoist.  Furthermore, my articles and photographs have been published by Sunset Magazine, Smithsonian Online, The Dallas Morning News, The Boston Globe, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Go Nomad, Brave New Traveler, and The Savvy Gal.

During the last two and a half years, I took Spanish and surfing lessons in Costa Rica, rode through the narrow fjords and icy glaciers of Chilean Patagonia, hiked up a snowy volcano in Ecuador, swam with dolphins off the coast of New Zealand, climbed high atop the Harbour Bridge in Sydney, sand-boarded the dunes of Dubai, kayaked between the pristine islands of Belize, climbed like Moses to the top of Mt. Sinai in Egypt, and successfully accomplished a two-week bicycle tour through the countryside and rice fields of Vietnam.  I have also found work in many places-I served up coffee and sandwiches in a café in Melbourne, taught private business English lessons in Istanbul, performed proofreading work for a Turkish media conglomerate, acted in an American documentary being filmed in Istanbul, worked as a research assistant at the University of Cologne, was a pet sitter and an ‘extra’ in Los Angeles, did public relations for an English immersion company in Madrid and did some English voice recording for a publishing company in Berlin. All the while I’ve been documenting my trip with photographs and articles from the road/train tracks/rickshaw/camel.

So dive in and take a look back at the more than 200 posts here and take a ride with me on the trips and tips, the people and places, the laughs and adventures around the world. I hope it will inspire you and show you that the world in which we all live is an awesome place. And stick around…because, I promise, there is much more to come…