freelance travel

Amazing, Wondrous, Unexpected Vietnam

05 Dec 2016 14 Comments

Amazing, Wondrous, Unexpected Vietnam

It is April 2016. I leave the overwhelming heat of Cambodia by cruising down the Mekong River on a comfortable yet noisy speedboat for three hours and head into the just-as-overwhelming heat of Vietnam. At least it is cooler on the river.  The boat pulls to the shore in the middle of nowhere. We step off the boat and trek a few dozen yards to a little ramshackle building tucked into the jungle where a tiny Cambodian man in a tiny hut stamps our exit visas. We walk another few dozen yards up the bank of the river and get our Vietnam visas checked and stamped by a tiny Vietnamese man in a tiny hut, who spends his entire day checking and stamping visas in the middle of the jungle.

Mekong River

Boating from Cambodia to Vietnam

We all pile back onto the boat, and a couple of hours later I check into the Floating Hotel in Chau Doc, Vietnam. Right away I meet Steven, the owner of the hotel. Steven is Vietnamese and lived in California for many years before returning to Vietnam in 2003. He has become a successful business owner, having opened the Floating Hotel, two restaurants, and a large tour company, among other ventures.

The Floating Hotel, Chau Doc, Vietnam

The Floating Hotel, Chau Doc, Vietnam

As we chat, one topic of conversation leads to another, and I end up agreeing to Continue reading

by Vagabond Queen in Around the world, freelance travel, Long-term travel, Mekong Delta, Mekong River, RTW travel, Solo female travel, Southeast Asia, Travel blog, vagabonding, Vietnam, Wanderlust, World travel Tags:

31 Mar 2015 10 Comments

25 Countries in 12 Months? Good Luck with That!

Well, this is weird.We travel not to escape life, but for (1)

I was talking to a friend the other day. She pointed out that I had not written anything about what, exactly, my plans were for traveling the world, only that I was doing it.

I feel silly. Stupid. Completely missed the boat. 

So thanks, Julie, for helping me write my next blog post!

But what can anyone say who has a nebulous, grand, visionary plan to slow-travel—vagabond, really—across the globe for months on end? How concrete can a year-long adventure really be months before departure, if at all?

Still, the point is well taken. Surely I must have some idea of where I’d like to go, right?

Sort of, I guess. Okay, yeah.

While I still have a while to purge, prepare, and pack before I depart, I am collecting information on places I want to investigate further to see if they will make my final list of where in the world to go.

My general itinerary at this point is incredibly ambitious. It includes the following regions of the planet: Keep reading!

by Vagabond Queen in Around the world, freelance travel, Preparing for travel, Travel planning, vagabond, World travel Tags: , ,

22 Mar 2015 17 Comments

I Give UP! Details Overwhelm Sets In

I quit.

What have I been thinking?

Who do I think I am, chucking my entire life, pretending I can travel the world for a year?

I can’t even imagine how I’m going to deal with my stuff and figure out what to do with my house, let alone have enough money to live and work from the road.  I’m 58 years old, for Pete’s sake. I give up. I’m not going.

These thoughts pass through my mind whenever I think of everything I need to get done to realize my dream of traveling around the world for 365-ish days. And the more I read other world travelers’ blogs, the more I realize that this is perfectly normal, this not-knowing-what’s-going-to-happen fear, this there-are-so-many-things-to-do/plan/decide/buy overwhelm.

Yesterday I was feeling that overwhelm in a pretty major way. My mind whirled with the myriad details of what travel bag to choose, which walking shoes to buy, whether I should sell or rent my house, what to keep and where to keep it, how I’m going to manage mail, how I’m going to deal with taxes, and on and on and on . . .

Then I remembered about lists.

Before I started hyperventilating, I grabbed a pencil and notepad and began writing down everything that was streaming through my mind like a high-def Bruce Willis action movie. A peaceful calm immediately started trickling through my manic brain. Oh, right, I thought. At this age I have tools to deal with fears, anxiety, and overwhelm. I just have to remember what they are and how to use them when I need them most.

I realized then that I actually had a list of lists constantly running in the back of my mind. I am astounded that I had not yet started a real, physical, long-term list of things I need to do/research/buy before I go. So now I have the beginning of my list of lists and a place to jot down all the random thoughts that come into my head when I read a blog about dealing with taxes while traveling or what mail service to use. Lists Fix Everything

Here is the very beginning of my list of lists: Keep reading!

by Vagabond Queen in freelance travel, Planning a Year Ahead, Preparing for travel, RTW travel, saving for travel, Travel blog, Travel planning, What to pack, World travel Tags: , , ,

25 Feb 2015 4 Comments

I’m Packing My Laptop and Hitting the Road

Working as a vagabond traveling the worldearth

Three and a half years ago, in late 2011, I took the first hard steps toward liberating myself from a job that would tie me down. I deliberately chose a new career that would be portable, knowing that some day I would move from the Rogue Valley in southern Oregon, where I have lived for nearly 22 years. Much has changed in those years, myself included. The life I thought I was going to live in Oregon, after living for 17 long years in southern California, didn’t last. I changed careers more than once, reinventing myself each time. I broke hearts, including my own. Once someone broke my heart. (Isn’t that odd, to use the term “broken” for the heart, which must continue to function for us to even exist?)

All of that is in the distant past. I am happy, healthy, and ready to hit the road. I am a freelance editor by trade (my business site is http://www.redletterediting.com/), although, like many entrepreneurs, I also do things like coach public speaking, teach astronomy, and create PowerPoint presentations for clients. The best part of what I do, to my mind, is having the freedom to take my work on the road. Keep reading!

by Vagabond Queen in Around the world, dreams come true, freelance travel, freelance work, laptop travel, Paleo living, Primal lifestyle, RTW, RTW travel, travel and work, vagabond, vagabonding, Wanderlust, working on the road, World travel Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

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