My Last Week in Japan

My wife and I are frantically trying to wrap up our life in Japan. Needless to say, there are still a million things left to do and the clock is ticking. It is a lot of work to leave a country.

Less is More

It really is amazing how much stuff you can accumulate over the years. I thought I was pretty good at limiting my consumption but I have purchased so many things that I barely use or have never used. My wife and I are really looking forward to a simpler existence in the near future. Less stuff, more life will be our motto.

Travel Update

Anywhere Lifestyle, Here We Come, but I hate to give away my

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How to Make the Most of Your Air Miles Program

Despite all the popular blog posts about using air miles or frequent flyer miles for free flights, it seems many travelers still haven’t signed up for an air mile rewards program. It is not hard to cash in miles for free flights even if you travel infrequently. Here are some of the lessons I have learned with various air mile programs.

Why Use an Air Miles program?

I suspect that the reason people do not sign up for an air miles program is that they feel it is too difficult to build up enough miles to earn a free flight. It is probably easier than you think to earn flights and it is free to sign up for the various air mile programs so there really is nothing to lose. After your first trip overseas you will likely get bitten by the travel bug and fly much more frequently then you now imagine. Remember that you can still sign up after your trip for a short time. It might not be too late if you act fast.

One return flight from Japan to Canada earns…

Interview with David Lee of GoBackpacking.com

More and more people are proving that it is definitely possible to make money from travel blogs to fund an anywhere lifestyle. Dave Lee of Go Backpacking.com has created the Travel Blog Success program to help you get started. Dave shares some of his experiences from his round the world adventure in this interview.

Please tell us a little about your background

My first independent travel experience was at 21, after graduating college. I joined friends on a backpacking trip around Europe for the Summer, and had an amazing time, even after most of them went home early. After that, my attention turned to finding a job, apartment, car, and so on. Despite learning how easy it is to travel abroad, I wasn’t making it a priority, until I lost my job at 25. The layoff gave me a chance to reassess my priorities, and I decided my next job would be a means to take my dream trip around the world. I had to make up for lost time. I made a commitment to keep the same standard of living, and as I earned more at my…

New Year's in Japan

It has been just over ten months since I publicly declared my intention to leave Japan and give up my secure business. I didn’t have any clear plans or ideas on how I would accomplish the goal, but putting it out in the open for everyone to see definitely helped. My wife and I are now less than four weeks away from leaving.

We are going to start our travels by returning to Canada to spend time with family and then go to Europe for about six months. We have our tickets booked and are starting to clean out our house and pack. There is still a lot to do but it is mostly just shutting down our life here in Japan.

No More Stuff

It is amazing how liberating it is to shed material possessions. We have accumulated so many unnecessary things over the last decade.  We have a house full of stuff we saved because ’someday we might need it again.’ Well, all of those things are being sold, given away or thrown away. Since committing to our plan to leave Japan we haven’t bought any non-essential possessions. We…

Lifestyle Design is Dead - Long Live Lifestyle Design!

Corbett Barr of FreePursuits.com asked a brilliant question in a recent post: “Is lifestyle design dead already?” There is still a fantastic discussion brewing there that I highly recommend for anyone interested in the subject. The fact that so many people are discussing the topic indicates that the moniker ‘lifestyle design’ is growing old despite the fact that designing your own lifestyle is getting easier with more opportunities than ever.

There seems to be at couple of immediate assumptions with ‘lifestyle design.’ The first is that all work is some indentured servitude. Employees are all ’slaves’ sacrificing themselves to someone else’s benefit. The second is that self-employment is some sort of utopia where you bring in wheel-barrels of cash while having the freedom to do whatever you want.

If you don’t like your job, just quit

I have been self-employed for most of my life, but I know that I was never a slave to the short-term jobs I had in the past. My employers provided me with a wage I deemed fair in exchange for work. Both…

Interview with Perpetual Traveler, Graham Phoenix

Long term travel is not just for twenty-something backpackers taking a gap year after university. An anywhere lifestyle is increasingly becoming a viable and attractive option for people at any stage of their lives. Today’s interview is with Graham Phoenix, who began his full-time nomadic adventure at the age of 60. Graham is able to continue his previous lighting design career by working remotely and has been house sitting in Australia and Europe.

Please tell us a little about your background.

I am 61 years old and was born and brought up in the UK. After I left school I went off and worked in the theatre as a technician and eventually became a stage lighting designer. It was a great life and started my off travelling and working. Until I got married I moved from town to town as the work shifted around. I just took it as part of life and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Lighting design has been a critical part of my life. You can see details of it on my professional design site with Read More >>  

Around the world in one year with Coca Cola's Expedition206

How is this for a dream gig? You have to travel to every country in the world in one year in search of happiness. All expenses are covered and you also get paid a salary. That is exactly what Coca Cola’s Expedition 206 is about.

I think this is a phenomenal example of corporate marketing in this social media age. It is also a dream opportunity for the three lucky winners who have recently started their world tour. Kelly Ferris, 23 of Brussels,  Antonio Santiago, 24 of Mexico City, and Tony Martin, 29 of Washington D.C. managed to find some time to answer my questions in this interview.

Please tell us about the expedition in your own words.

Kelly: Basically, Expedition 206 is a chance for us to travel to every country in the world, plus a few territories, in search of happiness. Now we know that sounds a bit broad but it is, indeed, our actual goal. Through interviews and interactions, we are on a quest to discover happiness around the globe and then share that experience through a variety of social media platforms,…

World Traveler, Niche Marketer Karol Gajda

How would you like to make some great money online while enjoying the anywhere lifestyle?  Karol Gajda is one of those mysterious niche marketers out traveling the world. Karol offers a look into his life in this interview.

Please tell us a little about your background.

The shortened long story is: I was born in Poland, came to the US with my family (parents and older brother) at age 1, grew up in Michigan, left for Florida as soon as I graduated from University, sold most of my stuff last year, and now I’m homeless by choice.

I’m also a lifelong entrepreneur and haven’t worked for anybody since I was 19. I’m almost 29 now so it’s almost been 10 years!

Please tell us about your travels?

I didn’t start my nomadic existence until Sept 1, 2009. Before that my travels were in spurts of 1-4 weeks.

On September 1, I left for Australia, then went to New Zealand on November 15 before heading back to the US on December 10. Since I was planning on visiting India I knew I should get vaccinations so I allowed 6 weeks…

Interview with Adam Baker of ManVsDebt

It is not so often that you have a chance to see a future star before they are famous. I once saw Bon Jovi open for Judas Priest and I also had the chance to see and meet the amazing Australian rockers, Airbourne.  This interview is with Adam Baker of ManVsDebt, he is one of those future blogging stars. Baker is working his ass off and accomplishing big things even as he relocated his family to New Zealand and is living the anywhere lifestyle. If Adam Baker were a stock, I would be investing heavily because this one is going up.

Please tell us a little about your background

Usually with my background, it’s hard to only tell a little. But it basically goes, I’m 25 years old and was born and raised in Indiana. I’m married to Courtney, and we have a 21 month old daughter named Milligan!

Since failing out of engineering in college (not going to class will do that), I’ve worked in the poker, gambling, and real…

Teach English Abroad

The easiest,  fastest and safest way to leave your home country and begin a life in a foreign country is to teach English. If you have a university degree, a couple thousand dollars and about three months, you can reset your life in an exotic location. I did it and thousands of others have as well. Here are ten interviews with English teachers in various countries around the world to give you an idea of what to expect.

Teach English in Korea, Interview with Jordan Lunan

Teach English in France, Interview with Roni Weiss

What it is like to teach English in France. Covers visas, cost of living and what you are likely to expect. Roni also explains what it is like to teach in English immersion camps around the world.

Teach English in Korea, Interview with Simon and Martina Stawski

Great interview with EatYourKimchi bloggers and English teachers in Korea. Detailed advice and information on teaching…