I recently connected with Jessie Festa, the travel blogger behind Jessie on a Journey. Jessie is an incredibly experienced world traveler whose blog focuses on budget travel, hiking, extreme thrills, and volunteering.

She asked me if she could interview me for her blog, and of course I said yes!

Head over to Jessie’s blog to check out our interview, where I discuss my favorite destinations, how travel has enriched my life, one of my most funny and embarrassing travel moments, and more.

Thanks Jessie for interviewing me!

Paul von Zielbauer

When I recently learned about Roadmonkey, I kept trying to compare it to other companies or projects I knew about, but there just isn’t one like it. Their expeditions combine outdoor adventure travel with hands-on volunteer work, but before the trip even begins, participants help raise money for their project through crowd-sourcing.

This mish-mash is what the fascinating CEO and founder Paul von Zielbauer has dubbed “adventure philanthropy.” They avoid tourist paths and welcome spontaneous diversions. They aim to be cultural explorers rather than just volunteers. They only go to countries that are a bit rough and only work on projects that the local communities have indicated they need. While they have some incredible expeditions on their schedule, they can also build a custom adventure for you.

I wanted to learn more, so Paul kindly let me quiz him for half an hour on the phone. It didn’t take long for me to be thoroughly convinced that Roadmonkey is something special. Read on for his answers about why he created Roadmonkey and what makes it unique from any other adventure travel or volunteer organization. This is a long Q&A, but I promise it’s worth it!

Emily Gerson: First, what is your background, Paul?
Paul von Zielbauer: It’s not as an adventure stud or serial entrepreneur, or anything but a journalist. Which is part of what I think is unique about Roadmonkey. It’s started by a newspaper reporter. I’m a newspaper reporter and I’m a writer by temperament, trade, and background. I got into newspapers back in 1994 because it was a way to do two things I enjoyed–getting paid to write and getting paid to go out into the world and be able to explore it and talk to people that I would otherwise never have any business talking to and exploring places where I’d have no other reason to be. Newspapers allowed me to do that. I got to the New York Times in 1999 and spent 11 years there covering the New York City jail system, the war in Iraq in 2006 and 2007 at height of the insurgency, the military legal system, and more.

A Roadmonkey expedition in Patagonia

EG: What led you to create Roadmonkey?
PVZ: The newspaper industry was changing and started shrinking. The Internet caused a lot of upheaval. The Times wasn’t giving me a lot of opportunities that I’d had up until then. I left paper because I didn’t feel like I was getting what I needed out of life and my job. I wanted to do something that would fulfill my idea of myself and push my limits a little bit. And doing it in a way that created some stability, but that got me out of an office and a routine. I’m not a guy, for better or worse, that does well with routines. I need to amplify them or change them a lot to feel engaged in life.

Roadmonkey was my solution to that. It was a way to be on my own, start my own business, which I had no experience doing or trying. But I combined two things I really love. That sort of on-fire feeling that you get inside when you’re exploring a new place—a place that’s totally unfamiliar to you. And the volunteer work, which is a way to be happy. It sounds cheesy, but volunteering with local communities in need allows to you connect to something bigger, with other people in different positions in life that don’t speak your language, come from your background, or eat your food. Yet you’re connected—it’s weird, but there’s a happiness and contentedness that comes from putting yourself out there for other people. I didn’t know it or expect it. I’m not an NGO type. This was an unexpected lesson. This was a way to start a business that I didn’t see offered previously. It was a way to do something different and not just reinvent same tired idea from other businesses. I wanted to be original. What gets me up every morning is being on fire with ideas and trying to make them into something better that inspires other people.

EG: Roadmonkey does what you call adventure philanthropy. How is it different from voluntourism and companies that offer volunteer travel?
PVZ: There are a number of ways. One of which is we create fully developed volunteer projects. Wherever we go, the way we ensure we’re substantive and help a local community in need rather than doing what we think they need is to partner with reputable nonprofit organizations that have local roots. We figure out a project with them based on what they think is valuable since they’re of that community. We work with our hands and with the local community side by side through language barriers, weather, or whatever obstacles. It’s not just to build something and say, “Ta da, here’s your new playground.” We build with local people and they help us paint, hammer, saw, and drill to make this thing happen.

The goal is to be done with the project and have it be self-contained from start to finish in three to four days so that we can see what we’ve done and they can see what we’ve done. It may be part of a larger project. Like in Tanzania, building a kitchen in a school. The schools there feed their kids lunch, so we built a kitchen with fuel-efficient stoves last August. These are all small projects but create positive change.

Building a playground in Vietnam

The other thing that makes us unique is that we bring our own funding. We don’t ask our nonprofit partners to come up with the money to build something for the community. We bring the money with us. This is part of what differentiates us. We ask clients when they sign up to raise tax-deductible funds. If you were to join, I’d ask you to raise $500 USD through your networks. We’re basically crowd-sourcing our project by tapping the strength of their social network. Even if you don’t have a Twitter or Facebook account, or even an email account, you still have 10, 20, or 30 people you can ask for a small donation. It’s relatively easy to come up with $500. People get excited to help fund this and give donations because they know unlike a cause—not to put down any cause—but you’re going on this trip yourself. They can say, “I know Emily, she’s going to go build that playground in Nicaragua, I’ll give $50 for that–it’s my friend who is actually going to do it and she putting herself out there to help others.” It makes people feel connected to you. That’s what makes us different. We typically raise $4,000-$7,000 for all our volunteer projects organizationally through clients and their hard work.

EG: How do you make the adventure aspect of the trips unique?
PVZ: I’m using my background as a journalist to create off-the-path expeditions. We aren’t on a circuit; we don’t go same places every time. Our adventures are set up to take advantage of what I call ‘planned serendipity’—we’re always open to doing something spontaneous. Sometimes that means taking a left when we’re supposed to go straight, sometimes it means stopping at a waterfall because we found one on the way. Sometimes it means having dinner with the Vietnamese guys who invited us to eat the crabs from their bucket on the beach because we’re walking by. It’s a way to make sure Roadmonkey expeditioners aren’t just doing what the previous group of Roadmonekys in the previous trip did. If you’re doing an adventure, you have to have a little bit of unpredictability, and that’s what we promise. We also don’t really go where other people go. You won’t find our groups crossing paths with other companies, whether they’re mainline adventure travel or people doing voluntourism. I don’t like that phrase. I don’t think that’s what we do because that’s what everyone’s doing nowadays. We don’t offer tours–we’re cultural explorers.

EG: Are your trips geared toward any one type of traveler?
PVZ: I would say yes, the kind of travelers who already travel a bit, though there are always exceptions to this. Sometimes the people who are the most avid Roadmonkeys are people who have never left North America before. It’s someone who has traveled with a backpack before. They’ve figured out how to be resourceful in environments. They’ve probably gotten rained on, been in a crowded bus station where they probably can’t read the signs, and had to figure it out. That’s part of what being a Roadmonkey is. It’s putting yourself in a place where you have to meet the challenge, whether it’s adventure or the volunteer project. The answer is people who are interested in pushing their boundaries a bit.

A Roadmonkey Mt. Kilimanjaro expedition

EG: Do you go on all of these trips yourself?
PVZ: Up until now, yes. That will change this year—I’ve been training co-leaders to be leaders. In order to grow and go elsewhere and do more adventure philanthropy, I can’t be doing every expedition. I’m pretty much capped out at nine or 10 a year. I’ll be hiring leaders who have been co-leaders of mine, and they’ll train co-leaders who will become leaders. The whole idea is to connect back.

EG: How do you decide which countries or projects to get involved with?
PVZ: Not every country is a Roadmonkey place. We look to explore countries where we can add value to our members’ experience. I don’t feel like Roadmonkey would offer a lot of help to a place like Costa Rica. It’s a well-known destination, and there are all kinds of groups that go there. We say we’re different, and if we can’t be different, we won’t do it. The same with new Zealand. It’s an amazing place, the beauty is off the charts, but I don’t see us being able to do better right away than any other New Zealand organization.

We go to places like Vietnam because I know it better than any other country other than my own. I speak the language OK and have explored it for 17 years now, so I feel like I can take people off the path there. We go where we can take people off the path and give them an experience they won’t have their own, either trying to backpack or with a company. Nicaragua fits the bill—it still has an edge, it isn’t overrun with resorts, and it’s small enough that you don’t need to take a tour bus to get places—you can really go off the path there.

Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania is a little bit different because we’re not going to find our own unique path up to the summit, but it’s an iconic type of challenge, and there are ways we make it unique. For example, in Tanzania when you climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, the whole plan is immersive and connected to locals. How do we connect to the local porters? We created a lunch that we all have together. Instead of the porters just cooking our meal and carrying our tents, we sit down with them and have a Swahili Q&A period with them, with a meal afterward. We get to ask people who they are, and what their goals are in life. There are more than 100 tribes in Tanzania. You could easily go through the whole experience and never know him, just a foreign guy carrying your pack. You get to know people–that’s the Roadmonkey way. It’s a way to try and be different.

EG: What are your plans for Roadmonkey’s future?
PVZ: We’re going to try to open up in Bolivia next year. Why? Because it has a lot of unexplored beauty, it’s tough to get to, and not easy to fly in or out. For that very reason, it’s still an adventure. I want to expand to Nepal, India, and Eastern Europe as well, like Romania and Bulgaria, where there’s a lot of need. We’re still looking into it. We want to go somewhere where we can add value. Our goal is to be as authentic as possible. That’s a reflection of my experience in journalism. You’re talking to people who are so full of shit, trying to tell you why they’re not guilty or why they weren’t the one who did something. That’s part of life, but I want to make sure Roadmonkey will never be accused of not being authentic.

Have you ever thought about traveling internationally for several months or longer? Perhaps for a gap year, a career break, or just an extended vacation? Long multi-country trips like this are usually called “round-the-world” trips, or RTW for short.

I’ve never traveled more than two and a half weeks at a time, but I would love to go for longer someday. While you can piece together your own flights through online discounters like Expedia or Travelocity, companies such as AirTreks specialize in arranging these types of RTW trips for travelers. Nico Crisafulli of AirTreks was kind enough to answer these questions for me about how to know if you need RTW tickets, how far in advance you should start planning, how to create an itinerary, and much more.

Emily Gerson: Can you please give me a brief description of what Airtreks does?
Nico Crisafulli: Well, AirTreks isn’t quite a consolidator and isn’t quite a bucketshop. We’re closer to a specialty or niche travel agency, one that arranges complex multi-stop and RTW itineraries for international travelers. We’re a group of travel consultants and staff that give our customers a booking experience that very few others places can provide, with expertise, patience and customer service. AirTreks has been around for nearly 25 years so we know the industry landscape very well. We can get people anywhere they want to go cost-effectively and efficiently, with a fully-staffed customer service department should something go wrong.

EG: What are the benefits of using a company like Airtreks to purchase RTW flights rather than just buying individual tickets on a site like Orbitz?
NC: It certainly is possible to buy an around-the-world ticket on your own; the DIY movement is a strong one. But there are some pretty costly drawbacks to this method and the devil truly is in the details. For example, someone may not know about airport minimum connection times or onward ticket requirements, resulting in either missed flights or denied boarding. These rules vary from airport to airport and country to country, so a lot of research would be required to keep up on it all. We also have a knowledge of combination fares that may allow for additional stops or more direct and even cheaper flights.

We take all these things into consideration when putting together itineraries so we can give our clients a better trip with fewer problems than if they had done it themselves. When you book your own tickets, you tend to settle with what you think is best whether it’s true or not.

Also, when you search for cheap one-way tickets online, it means countless hours in front of a computer screen comparing and contrasting products and routes. Some people don’t mind it, but we’ve found that most people would rather not subject themselves to that. And when you buy online, it’s not always easy to know who’s taking your credit card, who’s issuing your tickets, and who to call if you have problems on the road. Simply stated, you end up with no recourse to your tickets, your money or your security. RTW travel is already fraught with difficulties that can complicate your life or ruin your day.

EG: Is there more than one type of round-the-world ticket?
NC: In general, there are three kinds of RTW tickets: the ones the airline alliances sell, the ones people do on their own, and the ones AirTreks sells. The alliances’ RTW tickets (Star Alliance, etc.) are usually rife with rules and limitations and end up costing the most out of the three. The DIY method may be the out and out cheapest option, but also has some serious pitfalls, as mentioned above. Then comes the AirTreks ticket, which will save you money and restrictions over the alliances and give you reassurance and security over the DIY ticket. People should study up on their options before they dive into something they heard once was best. A couple extra hundred dollars spent may be very well rewarded.

EG: Is there a certain time length of travel that makes the most sense for purchasing RTW tickets? For example, does it make sense for someone traveling for two months, or is it only practical if you’re traveling 6+ months?
NC: This is an excellent question. And it really depends on what you want to do. If you have a huge list of places you must hit on your trip, you should probably give yourself the time to do it. It’s been said over and over that slowly is the best way to travel, and if you have seven or eight countries you want to explore, two months simply won’t cut it.

Our advice is to give every world region at least a month to see it right. If you don’t have that much time, better to leave that which you can’t devote the time to for another trip. You’ll be much happier with the places you do get to see because it allows for more authentic experiences. It’s absolutely possible, and common, to travel “around the world” in two months, it’s just better to limit the number of places you go. Some people swear by whirlwind trips, but to get the most out of the travel experience (and your money) our opinion is to treat the trip more as an aromatic summer breeze than a whirlwind.

EG: What is the basic process for booking RTW fare?
NC: As far as AirTreks is concerned, there are three steps in the standard booking process.
1) Visit Trip Planner: You arrange your most desired RTW itinerary on our TripPlanner application (most people do it this way) and get a price range for your route. People usually try several combinations before they decide on one. You then submit it via the application. One of our travel consultants will then get back to you within 24–48 hours by phone or email to discuss your choices.
2) Hone your itinerary: Once the process is started, this is the time to get it exactly as you want. People work with their travel consultant as a “point person” to ask questions about things like alternative routes, fares and our other products. Usually this process takes one to two weeks.
3) Finalize: After you’ve spent time refining your itinerary and everything is good to go, you will email or call with your final travel dates and passport names. Once you request a booking, full payment is due simultaneously, either online or over the phone. We then issue the tickets for the trip and email the e-tickets.

EG: How far in advance should people book RTW travel?
NC: We say the best time to pull the trigger is about four to six months prior to the travel date. This gives people the best chance of getting the least expensive ticket. There are a couple reasons why. A good lead time gives you the advantage over other people who wait to start shopping for tickets. You can get the dates you want. Especially if you’re planning on traveling in a peak season (the holidays or summer months), you’ll get your pick of the most coveted dates. Much of the AirTreks purchasing method comes with being able to find discounted seats on flights. And of course, like all cheap things, discounted seats are usually the first ones to go. To help our clients with the process we put together a complete planning timeline. You can find it here.

EG: How much room should people leave for spontaneity? I know some people are worried about over-committing themselves in case they end up wanting to stay one place longer.
NC: We absolutely encourage spontaneity–it allows for some of the best traveling experiences, which is why we allow overland travel and date changes. Sure, some of our clients like to have every leg of their trip settled before they leave the house, but other people want to have the freedom to go where the wind takes them. The nice thing about an AirTreks ticket is that it gives the best of both worlds.

Our suggestion is for people to book the long-haul flights (more than five or six hours) ahead of time, flying into one part of a region and out of another, for example into Saigon and out of Bangkok. This allows for a great deal of spontaneity within Southeast Asia and still lets you meet the onward ticket requirement ahead of time. Plus, long-haul flights are the hardest, most expensive ones to get on the fly, so it just makes sense to have them booked before you leave. Date changes usually do incur a fee, however, so we recommend people make good choices on travel dates before they book their tickets and limit the number of changes they make.

EG: What are some tips for selecting a RTW itinerary? What are some of the major factors to consider?
NC: We totally understand that choosing places to go can be the hardest part of any trip planning experience. We have a whole section devoted to this in our website’s planning section. We think it’s best to determine your “traveling personality,” or how you like to travel, ahead of time. We list the personalities as Adventurous, Romantic, Intellectual, First-timer, and Danger Junkie. These five typically encompass everyone, but also you can be more than one, which is perfectly okay. There are places that fit into each of these personality categories pretty easily. Then we ask them to list out their “must-see” destinations with their personality in mind, plug them into TripPlanner and see if their budget allows for that trip. If so, add in your “like-to-go” places. If not, start rearranging, editing and cutting.  TripPlanner is cool because it lets you play with different routes and prices before you ever even talk to anyone.

It also helps to be super realistic about your lifestyle. If you’ve never liked camping at home, you probably won’t enjoy the rugged 12-day trek up to Everest Base Camp.

EG: Any other good tips about RTW flights?
Some of the biggest obstacles people have about doing a RTW trip is it’s too expensive and takes too long, a commitment a lot of people don’t end up making. But then they’ll spend the same if not more money taking a two-week vacation that may not end up as enjoyable as the alternative.

Long-term traveling, especially round-the-world traveling, is a perspective-altering and life-changing endeavor. It can seriously change the way you look at the world, and life in general, forever. It’s something we at AirTreks wholeheartedly encourage, not just because it’s our business, but because of the benefit it gives to humanity as a whole. How can that not be something to endorse?

photo credit: Fuzzyyol
photo credit: byJoeLodge

When I first saw the trailer for Showtime’s new series, “Next Stop for Charlie,” I couldn’t stop thinking about how much fun it must have been to film it. Once I talked to the creators, I was even more fascinated when I learned they did it on such a tight budget.

This original, 10-episode series is based on a feature film they produced in 2006 called “Last Stop for Paul.”  This new travel/adventure series picks up where the movie left off, but it has a whole new storyline. It premiered on Thursday, Nov. 4 on Showtime and airs for the next 10 consecutive Thursdays, so you can catch the third episode tonight.

According to Kelly Davies, who helped produce the series, “It was shot all internationally on a micro-budget, so not only did we make it to 14 countries in less than five months, but we made a television series with a crew of three people–two of them being the main actors–and local volunteers filling in the other roles. Producing this series was a feat in itself as well!” Kelly worked stateside, finding characters, hotels, travel arrangements and locations online (and many hours spent on Skype!).

Kelly put me in touch with Neil Mandt, the Jack of all trades who plays the character of Charlie and is also the director/producer/writer. Please read on for an interview I did with Neil that discusses some of the crazy characters he met, where he most enjoyed filming, and what travel tips he wants to pass on.

Neil Mandt

Emily Gerson: How did you come up with the idea for Next Stop for Charlie?
Neil Mandt: I made a movie a couple years ago called “Last Stop for Paul” about two backpackers who spread their buddy’s ashes all over the world.  It was so much fun I tried to and eventually succeeded in selling a TV show with a similar theme.

EG: Most travel television shows are documentary style. Why did you choose to do a scripted comedy?
NM: When talking  to people about writing for “Next Stop for Charlie,” I have to make up new ways of describing the process.  Truly unique in the way it’s produced, I think the best way to describe it is that we inject narrative into pre-existing situations.  We don’t produce the baby jumping festival in Spain, it’s happening, we just write that into the adventure the characters experience.  It becomes a backdrop for the story of that episode, but also so much more than that.  Nothing we did in the show couldn’t be accomplished by an intrepid traveler, with a little luck and a lot of courage.  Being scripted allows us to take those experiences to the extreme while still documenting our “real” experience.   But honestly, some things just happened naturally and no script was needed. For example, streaking naked through an afterparty in Copenhagen didn’t appear in any  script, but was just fueled by great beer, good times, loud music and an egging on by  calls of “SKOL” from screaming Danes.

EG: How did you select the countries to visit?
NM: Festivals and unique culture are key in “Next Stop’s” story telling. The zaniness and participation element of a festival was important when deciding where we should go.  We really wanted to seek out less pedestrian festivals that we could participate in.  We also wanted to showcase some of the truly unique cultures and amazing people we met around the globe.

EG: Were there any countries you enjoyed filming in more than others?
NM: I love Thailand — that’s one of the reasons we went there without there being a traditional festival.  But I think we were all surprised at how much fun we had in Denmark and Portugal.  Typically warmer weather countries and climates ended up being more fun to film in.

EG: How did you manage to travel and film on such a tight budget?
NM: The budget was very small but in a way that worked to our advantage.  We used small cameras and had a very small crew so that allowed us to maneuver around and film in places that might not have ever been put on film otherwise.

EG: You enlisted the help of locals for many of the roles. How did you find them? Who were some of the most memorable ones?
NM: Some of the locals were friends that I’ve made traveling prior to this show.  Tony Lima, for example, was our local producer and one of the primary actors in Brazil and we’ve been friends for over a decade.  If we went to a country that we didn’t know anyone, Kelly Davies at our home office used Craigslist and CouchSurfing.org to make friends.  We discovered so many great actors in people who were cast to play themselves.  Some of the standouts were the Australian bush pilot, our Filipino police chief, the Belgium dominatrix, and the ultra suave proprietor of the hostel in Portugal. All gave excellent performances by simply being their own crazy selves.

EG: What’s next for all of you? Are you planning for a second season, or is it a one-time series?
NM: Charlie and Erik’s story is far from over.  In the meantime, we make other TV shows for ESPN, The Speed Network and the Food Network that keep us plenty busy.

EG:  Any travel tips you would recommend based on what you learned from this experience?
NM: Never refuse an invitation and never over stay your welcome.  Always bring a camera, everywhere.  500 dollars can get you out of almost any situation. Antibiotics, healthcare in general, is so cheap everywhere else in the rest of the world so stock up. Smell your water before you drink it. Never assume you can run faster than they can.  Be careful how loudly you root for your country during the world cup.  Learn how to say “Thank you” and “I’m sorry” in every language.  Bring sunscreen, dry socks, and an open mind, and anyone can have the kind of adventure we did.

Jeff Jung in the Galapagos

I first met Jeff Jung in Austin at Meet Plan Go, an event in September that encouraged career breaks/sabbaticals and extended travel. As an experienced career-breaker, he emceed the event, and he kindly invited me to the launch party for his new company, Career Break Secrets. I could tell he was up to something pretty amazing. I don’t have any immediate plans to do a career break, but I’m interested in doing it at some point in the future. Read on to learn about Jeff’s personal experience with sabbaticals, the benefits of career breaks, and tips for those interested in taking one.

Emily Gerson: Can you give me a brief bio about who you are and what you do?
Jeff Jung: I’m a former corporate consultant and marketing director. I’ve worked and consulted for some of the biggest healthcare companies in the US.  Post-career break, I’m a travel entrepreneur trying to inspire people to take their own break, whether it’s for a month, six months or a year.  I host our new video travel guide series.  Our show goes deep into a travel experience like volunteering or sailing classes. I interview the people who are doing the activity and then give travel planning tips in our ¨Top Secrets¨ at the end of each episode.  I want people to get the most out of their travel. And, to do that, what better way than to see it and get the advice of the people that have already done it?

EG: For those who are new to this concept, what is a career break/sabbatical?
JJ: A career break is a time in which you simply take a break from your professional life to pursue a personal interest. For some people it’s taking time to give back and be a volunteer. For others, it’s picking up a new skill like cooking or a language. And for others, it’s having the time to really see a country on foot, on a bike or by boat.  The great thing about a career break is that you have time to do all of the above if you want.

Jeff in Villa de Leyva

EG: What is your experience with career breaks?
JJ: I left my job in 2006 and started traveling in 2007 until 2009.  I’ve now been to 27 countries. And, it seems like everywhere I go, it becomes harder to choose the next trip. Should I go to a new country or go back to a place I’ve been to and see more of it?  I started in Argentina learning Spanish. I was determined to gain fluency. Now that I’ve settled in Bogota, Colombia, I can say that I am completely fluent.

EG: What are the benefits of a career break?
JJ: I think the biggest benefit is that you have time to gain perspective on your life. If you have a busy career, you can get so caught up in the latest fire drill at work and keeping up with the Joneses on the block, that it is easy to put things off that are important to you.  Granted, there are lots of people that maintain balance just fine.  But, on your break while you’re traveling, you have the chance to reaffirm the direction in which your life is going.  People also talk about an increase in self-confidence from having traveled. When you have to navigate a new town every night and have to figure out where you’re going to sleep, what you are going to eat, often in a foreign language, you start to feel like you can conquer just about any situation.

EG: Why long-term travel instead of many shorter trips over a lifetime?
JJ: Honestly, I think it’s a matter of personal preference. I was at a point in my life where I was looking for a change, a big one. And, I figured if I was going to disrupt my life to travel, I might as well go big.

EG: What would you say to someone who is fearful that a career break will make it impossible to find a job when they return?
JJ: First, keep in mind that you already have a career. With that, you have accomplishments, achievements and skills. Those don’t go away when you travel.  Also, most career breakers are looking to achieve something on their trip. They want to make it count. So, it is possible that you will return with new skills that you can market to your prospective employer. This is especially true if you volunteer or take a few classes along the way.  Finally, my conversations from recent career breakers lead me to believe that prospective employers are intrigued that they took time out to go travel. And, many are really envious of them. Plus, they know that since you just did it, you probably aren’t going to want to do it again in the near future.

EG: Where are the best resources for someone who wants to volunteer abroad?
JJ: There are precious few independent sites for people. Most of what you find is information from agencies wanting to sell you a trip. I like VolunteerGlobal.com, Voluntourism.org, and NerdyNomad.com, where you can find the e-book, The Underground Guide to International Volunteering.

EG: You recently launched a site called Career Break Secrets—what is it, and why did you start it?
JJ: Bottom line, I want to get other people traveling and to take their dream career break.  And, through the site, I want to show them how and that real people just like them take career breaks.

My site is for those that are planning to take a break, dreaming to take a break or simply want to live vicariously through others.  We use video to show people what career break experiences are all about. Of course we make use of blog posts and pictures too. But with video, you can see the places, hear from the people and get a much richer sense of what it’s like to volunteer in Africa, bike around New Zealand or explore Patagonia. We recently released the first season of our downloadable HD Video Travel Guides Series. It includes 18 episodes from South Africa, Spain, New Zealand, Patagonia and Colombia.  We cover tree types of activities: volunteering, things to learn like sailing lessons or cooking lessons, and cool ways to see countries like biking, hiking or trains.  We interview the people involved in those activities and get their advice for other travelers.  While I am the host, the focus of the videos is on the experience and giving people a real sense of what the experience we’re covering is like. So, I stay behind the camera mostly.  At the end of each video, I want the viewer to know if that experience is right for them to try, how to plan for it and how to get the most out of their time.

We also have lots of other inspirational content and videos like our ¨Who’s Out There Now¨ interview series, our ¨Real Stories¨ videos in which people tell their own career break story, and our ¨Rough Cuts¨ video series which are our outtakes from our filming.  Of course, I maintain a blog that includes guest posts and posts from my own career break.

Jeff filming

EG: What are you doing right now?
JJ: I am busy editing the episodes  so we can continue getting them out.  We also just launched our podcast, the Career Break Coffee Break, which are my behind the scenes reports from filming Season One.

EG: What are your future plans?
JJ: Right now I am 100% focused on finishing the editing of our Video Travel Guide Series.  We will start promoting heavily for the holiday season.  Once January hits, I’ll start looking forward to Season 2 of our Video Travel Guide Series.  There are a lot of countries I want to cover for the second season, so we’ll have to see where I land!

Jeff’s links:

• Career Break Secrets website
• Season One Trailer
• Podcast Link on iTunes
• Who’s Out There Now
• Rough Cuts

I was honored when Go! Overseas, a great website that helps people learn how to study, volunteer, and teach abroad, recently asked to interviewed me. Our interview was posted today, so I wanted to share it with my readers.

They asked for my advice for what to do in Austin, how to get started in travel writing, why I love travel, what travel means to me, and more. I hope you’ll take a second to read the interview and leave a comment to let us know what you think!

Gary Arndt

When I was considering starting my own travel blog, one of the blogs that really caught my attention and inspired me to start my own was Everything Everywhere. It is run by Gary Arndt, a man who has been traveling the globe for three years straight. I had the pleasure of meeting Gary in person last month at the Travel Blog Exchange Conference, and was thrilled when just a few days later, Time declared Gary’s blog one of the top 25 blogs in the world.

Gary was kind enough to answer some questions for me via email. Please read on to read the interview and learn more about Gary’s plans, how to avoid travel burnout, what he has learned, how to embark on your own global adventure, and more. When you’re done, you should check out Gary’s phenomenal photo collection. You can find him on Twitter at @everywheretrip.

Q: Can you summarize what your global travels have entailed thus far?

A: Since I sold my house in March 2007 I have been going non-stop. I’ve been to approximately 70 countries and territories during the last three years.

Gary on top of Franz Joseph Glacier, NZ

Q: What are some of the greatest challenges you have faced while traveling?

A: If you take your time, you don’t really have to deal with any big challenges. I suppose the biggest one I had to deal with was being denied entry into the nation of Kiribati because my passport was wet.

Q: I know you travel solo–what about it do you love, and what about it (if anything) do you hate?
A: I love the freedom. I enjoy not having to ask or inform anyone where or what you are doing. At times, however, I do wish I could travel with someone else. The longer I’m on the road, the more I think I would enjoy someone else’s company.

Q: You’ve been traveling the world since March 2007. How long do you plan to continue?
A: Forever. I do not plan to stop. At best I might get a small place somewhere to serve as a base I can work out of, but I don’t like staying in one place more than a month or two. I don’t know what I’d do now if I wasn’t traveling.

Q: What do you do if (or when) you are feeling travel burnout?
A: Burnout doesn’t come from traveling, it comes from the speed at which you travel. I find myself traveling slower and slower. If you take your time, you can avoid burnout.

Gary Arndt in Muscat, Oman

Q: What advice do you have for someone who is interested in fleeing the cubicle for a life of travel but is scared to do something untraditional?
A: Like jumping into cold water, you just have to do it. I meet people almost every day who think what I do is amazing and would love to do it. When I ask them why they don’t, they come up with a long list of excuses. The key is to start thinking, even as a thought experiment, how you could do it.

Q: Do you have any money-saving tips for those traveling on a tight budget?

A: Visit developing countries and stay away from luxury hotels. The biggest factor in how much you are going to spend is where you travel. Your money can go 5-10x farther someplace like Southeast Asia than it can in Europe. Also, luxury hotels are pretty much the same everywhere in the world. You wont find that 5-10x discount if you stay in four or five star hotels.

Q: What are some of the most important things you have learned from your travel experiences?
A: The world is very different from the view you get sitting on your couch watching TV. The media puts a sensational spin on things to get viewers.

Gary Arndt on Easter Island

Q: What is your favorite place you have visited, and what is your least favorite?

A: That is the most common question people ask me. I really don’t have a favorite place. If I did, I’d be there now. So much of what I come away with when visiting a place has to do with the specifics of my visit: the weather, the people I met and the experiences I had. Two people can visit the exact same place and have totally different experiences.

Q: What are your travel goals for the future and how do you plan to fulfill them?

A: I don’t have any immediate goals. As my blog has become more popular, I’ve been getting more and more opportunities to visit places. I will probably return to Spain later this summer and have a trip to Aruba lined up later this year as well.

I love interviewing seasoned travelers with interesting stories, so when I found Zoe Zolbrod, I wanted to learn more about her experiences. Zoe did a lot of solo traveling in her 20s. She mostly wandered about Southeast Asia, but she spent some time in Mexico and Europe, with some coupled traveling in Central America. While she’s no longer in her 20s, Zoe recently wrote a novel inspired by her past  experiences. The novel is called Currency, and according to Zoe, it’s set in Thailand and features a Thai man and an American woman backpacker who hook up and get involved in dangerous activities when their money runs out. Learn more about Zoe here and follow her on Twitter at @zoezolbrod.

I hope you’ll read on to learn about the pros and cons of female solo travel, taking risks while traveling, running out of money abroad, and more about Currency.

Traveler and author Zoe Zolbrod

Q: Why did you decide to take a solo trip through Southeast Asia? Were you scared?
A: At the time I decided to take a big solo trip, I was just getting out of a long relationship, and I had been in another long relationship before that, where we had done lots of traveling together. I wanted to get out on my own, to get to know myself better and to prove that I could do it.  At first, I wanted to travel to Central America, but I choose Southeast Asia because I heard it was safer. Also, I liked how exotic it seemed and how faraway it was. I was absolutely terrified for the first few days I was on my own, but then I settled in—and was only scared sometimes!

I would recommend that any woman who has the desire to go on a solo trip do so. It absolutely can be done, and however much of an oddball you feel when you’re planning your trip amidst people who think you’re nuts, you’ll meet other solo women on the road. You can do it. But don’t pretend you’re invulnerable. Be honest about the risks, and prepare yourself.

Q: Did you do anything risky that you regret? How did you take steps to feel safe without limiting your ability to enjoy your trip?
A: Because everything worked out for me, I don’t have any regrets. In order to feel safer, I was very straightforward in my dealings, and I dressed to downplay my femininity much of the time. That’s not for everyone, but I gained some peace of mind from being sure in myself that I wasn’t giving mixed messages with my appearance. And I was vigilant. I would say I was more vigilant than cautious, which means I used my spidey-sense to suss out situations, and I listened to my instincts, rather than following any set of rules.

Zoe Zolbrod traveling

I occasionally shared rooms with men I just met, for example, but not with ANY man—I turned some people down even if they presented the share as platonic. And I refused to share beds. (I was traveling as a budget backpacker, and sharing rooms to save money was common.) I stayed in some places the guidebooks don’t recommend for women alone—bungalows with very flimsy locks, for example, and even a hotel that was also serving as a place of business for prostitutes—but I backed away from places where the owner gave off a bad vibe. I did occasionally drink and partake in other forms of chemical recreation (ha!), but I tried to be mindful about the situation I was in before letting my guard down.

Q: You mentioned you had money troubles while traveling. What happened, and how did you resolve them?
A: I budgeted for my trip carefully and had enough cash in my bank account (I was gone about seven months), but I was lax about making payments to my credit card. It just slipped my mind, frankly, especially when I was in places that were hard to make phone calls from, like Vietnam or the Himalayas. I had just returned to Thailand from Nepal, and I found that the bank had frozen my credit card, my only access to cash at that point. Because Thailand was still on a list of drug-lenient countries at that time, there was no quick fix to my problem—my parents couldn’t wire me money, my bank couldn’t transfer funds. So my problems weren’t resolved, basically. I had to rely on the generosity of a guesthouse owner I had met—sort of an ironic conclusion to a trip that had been meant as a celebration of independence!

Q: You said you observed in Thailand and heard of it happening in Bhutan—the practice of women sleeping with their trek guides. What do you think about this? How dangerous is this?
A: I mostly think it’s fine. My sense is that it’s safe, at least as safe as sex can be between any two people who don’t know each other well and who are going to part ways soon. It’s always a little absurd to characterize a whole group of people, but the trek guides I met were basically nice, respectful guys. They were Buddhists (as they would probably be in Bhutan). They weren’t looking to drug or rape anyone; they seemed to take their responsibility for leading a group seriously. But certainly condoms MUST be involved! Condoms, condoms, condoms, even when it’s awkward. Even when you don’t have any and so you can’t consummate despite your bodies’ deepest wishes. Condoms! Which, of course, can’t protect against messy feelings.

Zoe's book, Currency

Q: What inspired you to write your book “Currency?”
A: My backpacking trip through Southeast Asia was one of the profound experiences of my life, and I kept coming back to it in various ways in my writing. One day I sat down and started writing from the first person point of view of a Thai guy, just as an exercise. I found that he had a lot to say! I guess I had spent a lot of time thinking about what it must be like to work closely with tourists who come and go—to be, essentially, the trek guide who might have the chance to get lucky with lots of Western women, but who is always being left behind. Also, the shock of finding myself in Bangkok without money was a big one, and the “what-ifs” that experience left me with gave me lots to explore in fiction.

Q: What travel goals do you have for yourself? What travel goals have you already achieved, and what do you hope to achieve in your lifetime?
A: I achieved my early travel goals of hitching across the U.S. and Europe, and my later goals of getting to Central American, mostly Guatemala. A big backpacking rip to India was on my list in my 20s, but that never happened, and now that I have kids my ideas have changed. I still hope to get there, but it’s on the back burner, and I don’t think I’d backpack; I’d probably do a yoga trip or something. Now my dream is to go with my kids and husband to Antiqua, Guatamala, or maybe Guadalajara, Mexico, and do a home-stay and study Spanish for a month or two before taking off on a trip together. I’d really like to become functional in Spanish. Also—and this will probably happen sooner—I’d like us all to go to Costa Rica together. And to the south of France and northern Italy, where we have close friends and distant family. And with all the talk about the book, my son, who is nine, really wants to see Thailand. There are no concrete plans for that to happen, but I would love to go back there at this stage in my life. It’s a place I think people can enjoy on many different levels.

Sean Robinson and Cooper with their rickshaw in Austin

I’m not sure I believe in fate, but I couldn’t believe my luck when I had a chance encounter with Sean Robinson, the man behind Rickshaw U.S.A.

I live in a duplex in an artsy area of Austin, and my next-door neighbors are a nontraditional, free-spirited family. Last weekend, they had an art show and party in our front yard. One of their guests was 31-year-old Sean Robinson, a man who is biking across America in a rickshaw with his dog, Cooper. His goal is to bike 10,000 miles in one year. They have been on the road for seven months and are spending some time in Austin to regroup and wait out the summer heat before they head out again.

When I met him, the former journalist in me didn’t skip a beat—I grabbed my notebook and camera and asked him for an interview. We sat down together on my lawn with his massive, sweet dog and I had the privilege of hearing his story straight from his mouth.

“I had never done anything like this before. I was a suburbia kid,” Sean said. After serving in the army for five years, he decided to attend culinary school and managed to land some top-notch chef gigs in New York City. “I worked at some of the best restaurants in New York, but I wanted something more,” he said. “I knew there was more out there than this.”

He was inspired by “A Walk Across America,” (affiliate link) a biography of a man who decided he wanted to learn more about America and his fellow citizens, so he took it upon himself to literally walk across the country and meet people all over. A friend gave me a copy of it in high school, and it’s a fabulous read. Robinson was inspired enough by it to name his dog Cooper after the man’s beloved dog in the book. Sean decided he wanted to do something similar and made it happen. Main Street Pedicabs in Colorado donated a rickshaw to him; this gives him plenty of room for basic belongs, and it also allows him to bring Cooper along for the ride.

“People wish and dream about doing this, but I really wanted to do it. I’m trying to get a good idea of what this country is made of and what the people are like,” he said. When he started out, he had a planned itinerary, but as he puts it, “it quickly went to shit.” He decided to throw many of his plans out the window. “When you’re traveling, you have to just go with the vibe. The best encounters I’ve had and the best people I’ve met are because I let fate and the universal power just take me where it wanted me to go.” For aspiring vagabonds or travelers, he says, “Set the date and do not deviate. That’s where most people fail. Just get on the road.”

Sean says he used to be plagued by money problems. A friend told him that money can bring you stress like no other, and that when you let go of that, things open up. When Sean let go of financial woes, support from other people poured in.

Sean will accept help when it’s offered, but he acknowledges that he chose to be unemployed and homeless. He doesn’t want other people to feel responsible for him. “When I show up somewhere, I only ask for water and directions,” he says. Despite this, he has had major success with getting by on the generosity of strangers. He believes that “positive thoughts bring positive results,” and he is a big believer in karma.

“All I have is time—and I have a lot of time—so because people have helped me, I will start volunteering wherever I go to give back what I have.” He just has good energy and genuinely kind spirit. One of the party guests who works at a sign company came up to Sean while I was talking to him and offered to replace the aging vinyl sign on his rickshaw that says who he is and what his mission is (and has a cool map of his path) with a free brand new sign. Before he left, I gave him a big sack of dog treats for Cooper. I loved the fact that he wasn’t asking for anything, but graciously accepted the things he did receive.

Sean told me that he struggles sometimes. He and Cooper often do what he calls “stealth camping” to avoid spending money. “We try to keep our footprint light,” he says. “We are very respectful; after we leave, there is no real evidence of us except for the tent marks.” While it usually goes well, they once got kicked out of the state of Mississippi for camping illegally.

I asked Sean if he ever regretted leaving his life behind and hitting the road. “I love what I’m doing,” he said. “There were a few nights in Florida with very cold temperatures, around 7 degrees, and we were shivering in our tent. But I had a grin on my face. I wouldn’t trade this for anything. I have the greatest job in the world.”

Sean will be in Austin for several months, and his next stops will be New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Nevada. He makes updates on his blog, so be sure to keep up with him! He does have a PayPal link on the site should someone choose to donate.

FareCompare.com, a travel search engine that helps you find and compare prices on airfare, asked me to be the first person to be interviewed for a new feature on their blog. I couldn’t say no!

They asked me four questions about summer travel for 20somethings. I had a lot of fun thinking about the questions and giving my answers. In the interview, I discussed the best summer travel destinations for 20somethings, recommended festivals and concerts, tips on the best time to travel, and advice on how to save up for travel.

The interview was posted yesterday. Be sure to take a few minutes to check out my interview over there!

I recently connected with Johnny Ward, an Irish 26-year-old with a raging passion for travel. He runs a travel blog, OneStep4ward, to document his journeys.  I found out that Johnny had some pretty incredible experiences, so I interviewed him. Read my Q&A with him below to learn about his adventures, how he pays for travel, tips for those who want to travel on the cheap, and advice for those considering a career break. Enjoy!

Johnny at Mount Fuj

Maiden Voyage: You have lived a very adventurous life! Can you give me a summary of your background and experiences?
JW: Yeah, but it hasn’t always been so adventurous! I lived in Northern Ireland up to when I was 18, in a town with 6,000 people and in a country of only 1.5 million, so I think maybe the limits imposed on me by that gave me the thirst for travel at a young age. At 18 I left and went to America for the first time to work as a counselor on a summer camp, and that was great. Then I went to University in England for four years, graduating in 2006 with a degree in International Economics. I have been on the road ever since, really! Coming from such a small town and a small country, you never really get exposed to any new cultures or experiences, so I have tried to remedy that with my life choices. I am trying to chronicle all the stories on my blog — there’s a lot of them and it’s taking a long time!

MV: What are you currently doing?
JW: Right now I’m in Sydney, Australia producing business conferences — it’s strange the jobs you end up doing when you arrive in a country! But I only have four weeks left, then I’m off to Africa for seven or eight months, taking in the World Cup and then setting off from Cape Town to Istanbul by land.

MV: How have you funded all your travels?
I’m not from a wealthy family at all, so I guess I have always known the value of money. When I set off on my journey after graduating, I think I had about $3,000 saved, and four years on, I actually have more money now than ever! I have never had a chunk of cash in my bank, so I try to find ‘work’ when I can (medical research, English camps in Korea, conference producer in Australia, professor in Thailand, counselor in the USA, and so on.). I don’t really see these jobs as work because they expose you to the country, get you off the tourist trail, and you get a better grasp of the country I think, and obviously give you the funds for your next adventure.

Along with that, I travel cheaper than anyone I have met on all my journeys! But I would never miss anything to save money, I just never fritter it away on imported booze and food! I have written a lot about it in my blog.

Johnny and friends at the Golden Temple

MV: What are some of your favorite places you have visited and why?
JW: This is a tough one! I guess I’ll have to say being at Mount Everest base camp; that was truly amazing, seeing Everest with my own eyes. Also, the Golden Temple in Amaritsar on the India-Pakistan border–as a structure, this is more impressive than the Taj Mahal, Statue of Liberty, Eiffel Tower, etc. You see it and you get goose bumps, really. I lived in Chiang Mai, Thailand for a year or so and I have only good memories from there, too. I could go on to list one hundred more things, but I don’t want to bore anyone!

MV: What are some of your tips for traveling without going broke?
JW: I’m not sure if I can tell people how not to be broke considering the first three years of my travels were done on half an old shoestring, but I have endless tips on how to travel cheap! First off, I would say don’t try to go everywhere on your first trip. If you only have six months, don’t feel obligated to go around the world and see every continent; you have the rest of your life for that! People flying every couple of weeks spend a fortune on a round-the-world ticket and there’s really no need. Also, eat in local places–never in a backpacker joint unless you need your Western fix (we all need that sometimes!), drink local booze (no imported beers), take local transport–it’s an adventure and one tenth of the price of a pre-set tourist bus.

Johnny and friends in Bangladesh

MV: What are your upcoming travel plans for the future?
JW: The next 18 months for me are hopefully going to be great. I am going from France to Zambia one way then to South Africa for the world cup then back up through the east coast of Africa all the way to Turkey, hopefully! Then I’m off to study my Masters in Kuala Lumpur for 12 months straight after that! That’s the next two years taken; after that, a stint in South America, probably.

MV: Did you find it difficult to take a career break to travel? What is your advice for others who want to do the same but are scared?
JW: It’s only natural for people to worry about the consequences of taking a break (am I wasting my degree, will I be outdated when I return, etc.), but we only have one life. You have to take chances and live it to the full. What will you regret more on your death bed – not seeing more of the world and experiencing things you never even imagined OR spending too much time strapped to your desk, doing a job you don’t really care about? I worked out the answer for me and left – I don’t have one regret about it, and I would wager never would you if you take the plunge! Good luck!

Alan Perlman

When Alan Perlman is not trotting around the globe as a cost-of-living surveyor, he lives in Boston, Massachusetts and spends his time reading, relaxing, and scheming up entrepreneurial ventures. When I first heard about Alan’s job, I had to know more. How do you get paid to explore the world for weeks at a time? Read on for an interview with Alan about how he landed this unique job and what it entails.

You can read about Alan’s travels and life developments on his blog, The 9 to 5 Alternative, or reach him on Twitter at @alanperlman.

Maiden Voyage: What exactly is a cost-of-living surveyor?

Alan Perlman: My company helps international organizations (private companies, not-for-profits, governmental bodies) design and support their expatriate programs. Say you work for Coca Cola, and they ask you to move with your family from New York to Buenos Aires on a three-year assignment (this happens quite often with global organizations). Your salary and benefits will be different in Buenos Aires, because the cost-of-living there is different. A cost-of-living surveyor, in this sense, collects the data necessary to justify salary and benefit changes. I travel to different cities around the world and collect prices.

AP: Sheer luck, really. It was the tail-end of college and I was talking to a friend of mine about business aspirations and travel passions. Turns out that my friend’s brother, who worked for the company, was in town for the holidays and I met him for coffee. Six months later and I moved to Boston! I started in July 2008, so as of this January I will have been traveling as a surveyor for 1.5 years, which means six different survey trips, each four to seven weeks long.

AP: I’m glad you asked this question, because this is still something I struggle with every time I’m on the road. When I first started, I wasn’t efficient at gathering information, so often I found myself pulling 10 to 15 hour days and having virtually no vacation time on the road. In places like Russia and China, where permission issues and language barriers are more of an issue, this continues to be the case. However, as I developed a knack for the work, I’ve found that I can generally spend at least some free time in most cities that I survey. Some surveys are much easier than others—Damasucs, Syria; Tirana, Albania and Accra, Ghana come to mind. Variables like product availability, communications infrastructure (use of Internet and phone), and geographic layout affect how much free time I have.

AP: Half of what I collect are goods and services prices, anything from women’s panties to granulated salt. The other half involves meeting with real estate agents and finding out what expatriate-appropriate rental units are available and what’s been going on the real estate market. Through these conversations I often learn a lot about expatriate life. This is how I discovered the Hash House Harriers, a social, non-competitive club of runners that meet up in different cities around the world.

Also, it’s always interesting to see what products end up on the shelves of Nigerian supermarkets or in Middle Eastern malls. A few random things that you can find just about everywhere: Jack Daniels (and other well-known alcohols), Marlboro cigarettes, Coca Cola, Benetton clothing, TGI Fridays and the Economist/Time/Newsweek magazines.

AP: Anchorage, Alaska — beautiful scenery, ample outdoor activities, incredibly friendly and cozy city.
Damascus, Syria — the Old City is remarkably vibrant and bustling, lots of good food and shisha
Tirana, Albania — one of the most welcoming places I’ve been, small and walkable, great Mediterranean food
Amman, Jordan — wild Middle Eastern city with lots of nightlife, also got to see Petra here!

MV: Are there any tips you would like to pass along to other young world travelers?

AP: Stay nimble and flexible on the road. Talk to as many people as possible, both before you leave and while you are traveling. The more research I do before visiting a particular city, the more I end up enjoying myself. Tools like Couch Surfing and Twitter have connected me with some amazing people around the world, and by taking a risk and meeting seemingly random people, I’ve often had the most wild and interesting experiences.

Oh, and in places where you don’t speak the language, positive body language and a smile go a long way.