easyCruise from $6 per night for 3 nights

easyCruise is offering a deal on their May 1 cruise embarking in Antwerp departing in Amsterdam on May 4 starting at $6 per person per night. Rooms are standard twin with a window (a real one!).


If Belgium and the Netherlands aren't your thing, easyCruise also has cruises planned for this Summer in the Greek Islands from $38 a night or in Classical Greece for around $42 in the Fall.

Working Around the World

I have written a little about ideas on ways to work your way around the world, but Laptop Hobo, has made an entire website dedicated to the subject of continuing your career while traveling and living anywhere in the world. LH co-Founders Richard Hamel and Carmen Bolanos are both professionals and avid travelers having lived and made a living in many countries. The site is filled with great resources and information on equipment you will need in order to set-up your office while on the road.

They even have an article, The New Nomads, recently written about them in Business Week.

Life as a Deckie Aboard a Private Yacht

Found another blog from a yachtie. This time he's a Kiwi deckhand floating around the world aboard megayachts. Pretty interesting. Plus some beautiful photography of New Zealand thrown in.

Update: After checking out his website some more, I realized we used to be neighbors in St. Martin in Simpson Bay. Such a small world! Even smaller when you're a yachtie!

More Megayacht Links

Power and Motoryacht has a blog with loads of pics and information about the world's largest megayachts. Check out their blog at Power and Motoryacht Blog.

Life as a Chef Aboard a Private Yacht

I found another yachtie out there on the web. Niall's site, The Life of a Private Chef has a lot of video footage of St. Martin, Antigua and other some places in the Med. Looks like he's retired from yachting like me, but you can still follow his adventures in the archives!

Wandering Aimlessly vs. Pursuit of Purpose

I thought I would address this comment from Liara on my post Perfect Travel Dream Job

It sounds like you have visited some very memorable places. Why so many countries? Did you sense you were wandering aimlessly or were you on a quest for a particular purpose? I think readers would look forward to hearing more about what you have learned through travel.

I thought this was a really great comment. Sometimes I have felt aimless when traveling. Maybe I have traveled so much to fill a void. I look at it as I have an insatiable desire to know everything! Ask any of my friends and they will tell you how incredibly annoying this is. Maybe it's annoying for them, but it is endless for me! So the answer is both. I have wandered aimlessly and in pursuit of something. Traveling is like peeling an onion. There are so many layers to discover.

I did have a goal to travel to all seven continents before I turned 25. I made it to six. Going to so many countries has just been to see new cultures. I was not necessarily trying to break any records!

In traveling independently I have learned to rely on myself. I know what I can handle and what I can't. I know the good about myself and I know the absolute worst. In addition, I have learned the good and bad about others. I have experienced incredible kindness from strangers. Fortunately, I have never had anything truly life threatening happen to me-other than being attacked by elephants in South Africa while in my car! Mostly, I have seen how beautiful this world is. I have watched incredible sunsets while on a boat out in the middle of the ocean and felt like the time was standing still and the world was in absolute peace. Nature and people are inspiring. I have seen poverty in third world countries that would break the souls of most and in the eyes of children who lived there I saw hope.

Africa changed my life (I have heard people say the same about India). It changed how I view the world. I can't describe it now, but my way of thinking completely shifted when I was there. I wish everyone could go and experience a similar feeling. I believe the world would be so much better off if people would get out of their comfort zones and travel more. Even if they don't, I will continue to do it just for myself. Although it seems like it has been aimless, and perhaps it has been without a goal at some points, traveling has always fulfilled my own personal pursuit of purpose.

Life Span of a Travel Blog

Today I went to check up on one of my favorite travel blogs and the final post said that the author had finished up on his traveling and therefore that was the end of the blog. So, then I realized that this actually happens frequently with travel blogs. The personal journeys of the authors only last for a certain amount of time. Some people blog about their year long around-the-world trip and then when it's over the blog is over. Some people blog about being an expatriate in another country, then eventually they return back to their home country. Very few people, I have noticed, have on-going travel blogs, because at some point people just finally settle down. Andy from hobotraveler.com seems to be an exception!

I'm trying to figure out how to have a sustainable blog. I travel pretty frequently, but I am afraid my blog is getting stale. I have not even been out of the country in about a year. How sad is that?

What makes a travel blog interesting? I know I like to read about personal stories from travel blogs. Tell me what type of blog you all are reading out there and why? For travel tips? To learn about new adventures and places? What is the point?

Do It While You're Young

Kristina and I "published" our e-book three months ago and surprisingly, some of you out there actually bought it! Just in case you're wondering, it's still available and after we have traveled a few more places over the next year we will be making a second edition!

Do It While You're Young: A Travel Guide for Young Women is a how-to guide, with a dash of inspirational stories, targeted toward young women looking to travel internationally for the first time whether on a solo journey, study abroad or with other travel buddies. Travel is a life-changing experience and the book is geared specifically for strong, independent women curious to explore the world but are anxious or unaware of how to get started on a wonderful journey.

Contents

1.Introduction
2.Inspirations for Travel
3.Planning your trip
4.Creative ways to travel
5.Fiscal Planning
6.Booking your flight, hotel, and tours
7.Preparing to depart
8.Packing
9.Once you get there
10.References
11.Index

Excerpt from Chapter 2
Inspirations for Travel
Traveling is liberating. There is a realization when traveling that opportunities are endless, boundaries are breakable, and time is infinite. Why do you want to travel? Do you want to learn new languages, or do you want to meet new people with similar lifestyles and interests or just to prove to yourself that you can? Whatever the reason you must know that traveling, just taking the first step even, will change your life forever. You will leave your comfort zone and venture into an unknown world that will expand your mind, change your perceptions and you will never be the same again. Maybe you will try it, realize it is really not for you, and you will never want to do it again and that’s OK. At least you took the first step. You will never be left with regret or the sense that you didn’t try. Maybe you will fall in love with traveling and never be able to stop. That’s OK, too.

Women around the world leave their comfort zones everyday to explore the world and there is no reason why you shouldn’t, too. We’ve met girls who are biking across the entire continent of Africa to fundraise for cancer organizations, girls who were doing year long round-the-world trips, and girls who were sailing the oceans (solo!) in search for the perfect wave to surf!

What’s stopping you from taking your adventure now? Do you have a boyfriend that you don’t want to leave or who doesn’t want to go with you? Perhaps you don’t feel like you have enough money to travel. That’s no excuse! We’ll show you ways you can finance your trip. Maybe you feel it’s unsafe to travel by yourself. We’ll tell you the best ways to be safe and smart while you’re out there on your own. Kristina and Jerri have both traveled alone before and we’re still here!

My Life in the Books

Books I am truly reading now that have a very striking resemblance to my own life:

What I've Been Up To

So a lot of you have asked me what I've been up to and what is this mysterious "Travel Dream Job" that I posted about. I can't go into much detail, but I was hired as a personal assistant to a gentleman who lives in Beverly Hills. He had a private jet and among many of the job responsibilities I accompanied him as he flew to his numerous homes worldwide. The job was just temporary, but I have to say that those six weeks were memories of a lifetime!

That's about all I can say other than now that I've flown private jet and first class I am completely destroyed and spoiled...not to mention looking for a new job once again! I mean, honestly, how can any other job following this experience possibly measure up? I'm ruined.

Earth Day, April 22, for Travelers

International backpackers are typically a pretty eco-conscious bunch. It's hard to make too much of an impact on the environment when you're living on a budget of $30 or less a day. That's including food, room and board and transportation. You know the saying, "waste not, want not" could be the backpacker's motto.

I'm trying to think of other ways that all travelers can try to be a little more green. Everyone knows to support those hotels that only wash the sheets every few days instead of every day (although I believe that hotels do it to save money, not the environment), take shorter showers, turn off the lights when you leave a room, etc.

What about how much fuel it takes to fly to the places you're going? In the states, why not take Amtrak? It's cheaper, more adventures, nicer than economy seats on a plane although it takes more time, it's the journey that is the most important not the destination, right? Instead of staying at a hotel, stay at a communal site where groceries are shared and you earn your stay by helping work around the area planting trees or maintaining hiking trails.

Check out Sierra Club Vacations for trips designed for travelers looking for unique destinations that also provide a way to improve the quality of life for the people there, the culture and the environment.

Let's try to make Earth Day every day.

If you're ever in LA...

Check out my new favorite food!



pinkberry

Girlfriend Getaways

Lots of articles on Budget Travel for Girlfriend Getaways.

Today California, Tomorrow Texas, Then Florida

I'm in Beverly Hills, California right now. Tomorrow I'm heading for Houston then on to Florida and hopefully I can hop a boat to the Med, hopefully Antibes. I'll update more later with pictures!