Today we’re back with an another #rtwsoon interview. Yes, that’s right… two in two weeks, how awesome is that?!

This week’s interview subject is a solo female traveler in Becki, a UK girl who’s finally made the decision to take on long-term travel and will be taking off in two months time.

We absolutely love her passion for volunteering and seeking out alternative adventures (Everist Base Camp, just wow!). The two of us can’t wait to catch up with Becki in Australia sometime next year or somewhere in Asia even sooner!

Who are you?

I’m Becki and I’m a PR Consultant from London. I’ve been a traveller since 2007 after visiting Vietnam and being bitten by the intrepid bug. Everything before that, bar some amazing Eastern European and Russian school trips, I class as holidays.

I’ve also been to India, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Europe, Africa (including a volunteer placement in Madagascar) and North America, but a few short weeks never satisfied my appetite for serious long-term travel. It just made me want it more and volunteering helped to re-assess what I wanted to do in life.

Where are you going on your RTW?

I’m overlanding in Mongolia for a month before I head to China, North Korea, Nepal and Tibet where I will also attempt Everest Base Camp. After that I am moving to Cambodia for three months to volunteer in Siem Reap. I absolutely love Cambodia and am sure that those three months won’t be my last.

It’s then on to South India, Burma and Thailand. I am hoping to squeeze in Bhutan if funds allow. I will revisit Vietnam and Laos as there is so much more I want to see, before heading to Malaysia, Borneo, Singapore and Indonesia. Australia and New Zealand follow where I will try to get a Working Holiday Visa to top up the funds before heading off to South America and hopefully parts of Central America and Cuba. I would love to eventually get to Canada as I have many friends there. Only time, and opportunity, will tell.

I’m trying to do something different to the regular Thailand to Australia backpacking path, to seek out less trodden paths and when there find alternative things to do and see alongside the main must-see sights. I hope to encourage and inspire others looking to do the same and find something different.

My rough route at a glance can be found here.

Volunteering defines the way I travel. I would not do it any other way.

When are you leaving?

I leave on July 21st and I don’t have an answer to ‘how long for?’ It’s indefinite and that is the most exciting part. I have only booked my flight out as I can’t qualify for a RTW ticket as they only last 12 -18 months.

I’m looking to be on the road for at least two years, and I am hoping it will be longer depending on work opportunities. I’m also looking to steer my career towards development and volunteering. You could say my RTW is more than just time out, but a chance to change my future – I have business objectives both for my blog and career. It will certainly be a life changer of many sorts.

Why did you decide to go on this trip?

I’ve always thought about travelling since my first backpacking stint in Vietnam but I was bound by stability. I toyed with going for three months or six months and even desperately tried to find jobs that offered sabbaticals after so many years of service. It kept eating away at me. It wasn’t until I spent five weeks in South East Asia in November 2010 that I came back and made the ultimate break. I broke up with a long-term boyfriend, ditched my mortgage, ended up jobless and homeless for two months whilst trying to get my life back on track – all for the want of long-term travel. I’ve been saving ever since and have absolutely no regrets. I’ve never been happier.

I treasure this photo from Halong Bay in Vietnam. I had a lot to think about and I came back from there a chnaged person, ready to travel the world.

What will you be doing to pass the time before your travels?

It’s all work, work, work. I need to save every penny and when I come home I spend most evenings working on my blog, including the weekends. People think it’s easy but it’s actually a full-time job! I use every spare moment to spend quality time with friends and family. Understandably it’s a sad time as many do not know when they are going to see me again.

If you could give just one piece of advice to a fellow #rtwsoon traveler, what would it be?

Never be a victim to regret. Follow your heart and if you are unsure about whether to visit somewhere or try something, just do it! Even if you end up disliking it, you tried, and I believe there is nothing more valuable in life than experience and making the most of every opportunity.

Helpful links for #rtwsoon travelers:

• Volunteering
• The Good, Bad and Ugly of Asian Train Travel
• Dealing with Parental Reaction to RTW Travel

Visit Becki’s Website: Backpacker Becki
Follow Becki on Twitter: @BackpackerBecki

If you’re heading around-the-world in the next 12 months and would like to be featured here, please contact us.

After experiencing everything that Fantasea Reefworld had to offer, the time had finally come for us were to jump into the ocean and see the Great Barrier Reef up close for ourselves!

Life jackets for flotation? Check. Snorkel, mask and fins? Check. Stinger suits? Check. Our underwater cameras? Check.

Yep, we were kitted out and all ready to go!

We climbed down the stairs to Reefworld’s special snorkelling platform and after preparing our cameras, stepped off the platform and into the water.

The seas were quite rough and immediately we had to contend with some strong ocean currents but fortunately there were ropes and resting stations to keep us within the vicinity of the pontoon.

The two are us are far from the best swimmers but these ropes and our life jackets made snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef a breeze! We stuck together and after getting settled in the water, it was time to start taking some photos of the action below the surface.

The first thing we noticed was just how many fish were swimming around Hardy Reef!

We were in awe of the amazing colors that these tropical reef fish possessed and the two photos above were just a small taste of what we saw while we were snorkelling around.

Even when there were no fish around, the two of us were quite happy just to observe the beautiful coral reefs that have been formed over millions of years.

There was even a coral that looked like a brain!

We snorkelled on the Great Barrier Reef for nearly an hour and probably would’ve gone back into the water if we had the time!

Our snorkelling experience was everything we had imagined it to be and can now definitively tick that off our bucket lists. There was only one real disappointment from our time snorkelling at Hardy Reef… as hard as we looked, we didn’t find Nemo! Next time we’ll find you Nemo, next time!

When we made the pledge to see more of our own Australian backyard after our round-the-world trip, one of the items at the top of the list was see the remarkable Great Barrier Reef.

For those who don’t know too much about the Great Barrier Reef, it’s one of the seven natural wonders of the world and the world’s largest coral reef system. The Reef is equivalent to the size of 70 million football fields and is actually bigger than New Zealand or the United Kingdom!

It’s also the only living thing on earth that can be seen from space… pretty impressive, huh?

The eco-certified Fantasea Adventure Cruising is the Whitsunday’s leading marine tourism operator and would be our tour guides for the day out on the Great Barrier Reef.

We hopped on their boat, the Fantasea Sunrise, at the Hamilton Island marina to begin the two-hour journey to their floating pontoon at Hardy Reef.

While we were being transported to Reefworld, the Fantasea staff on-board explained all the optional extras that you could purchase which included introductory and certified dives, a guided snorkelling tour, photography and a helicopter ride over the famous Heart Reef which we totally splurged on.

A bit better than your typical, cramped domestic flights Australia but more about that later!

The staff then gave an extensive safety briefing and the attention to detail was fantastic as they asked Amy several questions about her asthma before giving her a green ribbon to place on her snorkel.

Following the safety information, the Marine Biologist played an introductory video which gave a great summary of the Great Barrier Reef and the marine life that calls it home, which includes 1500 species of fish and 360 species of hard corals. Before we knew it, we had arrived at Reefworld!

Our first stop on Reefworld was the semi-submersible coral viewing vessel that would give us our first glimpses of the Great Barrier Reef. From the air-conditioned comfort of this vessel you can get a fantastic introduction to the Reef by looking at the corals and marine life that lie beneath the surface – plus you don’t even have to get wet!

Once the tour was done we wanted to see more of what lives on the Great Barrier Reef and went down into the seated underwater viewing chamber. There were colorful fish absolutely everywhere!

The two of us were becoming excited about getting in the water but first there was a more important matter at hand – lunch. Fantasea had a dedicated cook on board that prepared a delicious barbecue lunch which included steaks, sausages, chicken and a variety of salads. Yummy!

Remembering what our parents told us about not swimming directly after eating, we went upstairs on Reefworld to the large sundeck where we relaxed for a while and allowed our food to digest. We probably could have stayed up here all afternoon if we had the chance!

But the main reason we had taken this tour was to go snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef so we had to get moving! More about our snorkelling experience in our next post.

As you can see, there is plenty do on the Reefworld pontoon before you even get into the water. They also had a Groper viewing station where you could look down and see some of the largest fish on the Great Barrier Reef and plenty to keep the kids occupied if you’re a family.

Tips for getting the most out of your Reefworld Experience:

• Take Travacalm motion-sickness tablets 30 minutes before you get on board. The staff were great with handing out sick bags and assisting those not feeling well (including a poor little baby who threw up everywhere) but it’s best to avoid being in this situation altogether.
• Consider which optional extras you want to take before you get on board, it’ll make things a lot easier. The Helicopter Ride is totally worth the splurge!
• Make sure you bring along your credit card so that you can pay for any optional extras as well as any additional snacks/beverages.
• A waterproof camera is a must! Invest in one if you don’t have one already.

Disclaimer: We received a discount from Fantasea Adventure Cruising. As always, all thoughts and opinions are our own.

Every Friday we will feature one of our favorite travel photographs. If you want to have your photo featured here, please email it through to contact[at]donteverlookback.com.

This week’s #FriFotos theme in Paradise, which suits the theme from our recent time in Hamilton Island perfectly. It was a struggle to pick just one photo but we settled on this aerial shot of Whitehaven Beach, ranked amongst the best beaches in the world.

While we haven’t posted anything in the last week, keep on reading over the next couple of weeks for all the details from our Hamilton Island visit.

Every Friday we will feature one of our favorite travel photographs. If you want to have your photo featured here, please email it through to contact[at]donteverlookback.com.

The Big Island of Hawaii contains 11 of the 13 different climate zones in the world, each with its own unique ecosystems. Within the tropical regions grows the Heliconia, a spectacular flowering plant also known as lobster-claws. We’re pretty happy with this photo – what do you think of it?

Want to see more flower photos? Check out the #FriFotos hashtag on Twitter.

It’s been nearly four months since our last #rtwsoon interview and with our lack of travel recently, we need all the inspiration we can get!

Matt and Caro of Passport and a Toothbrush are our interview subjects and they’re setting off around the world in mid-July! That’s the same month we left on our journey last year. We’ve been interacting with this awesome couple on Twitter and would love to hang out with them somewhere on the road. How about squeezing Australia into your itinerary, guys?

Who are you?

M & C : We are Matt and Caro, founders of Passport and a Toothbrush. Caro’s had a thirst for travel all her life and Matt will be experience his 1st travel experience with this trip around the world!

C : I’m Caro, born in Montréal from a Uruguayan family and from a very early age, a nomad! I’ve taught English in Istanbul, done an internship in Montenegro, worked on a cruise ship in Europe and explored my homeland of Uruguay. Right now, I’m living in Toronto where I work in television hosting a TV show for tweens but would much rather be a photojournalist or some type of kickass videographer roaming the world.

M : I’m Matt and I’m originally from Ottawa, Ontario, but I now live in Toronto. I lived In Ottawa for 22 years of my life, but once my girlfriend Caro got a great TV job in Toronto I decided to move down with her! I’ve barely been anywhere so far. My most exotic experience being a resort in Cuba. So as you can imagine, I’m well versed in the ways of the world.

Where are you going on your RTW?

M : We’ll be mostly doing workstays during our trip and taking it slow. After starting in France, we’ll loop down through Spain and Portugal. After short stops in Eastern Europe, we’ll be visiting; Israel, Turkey, Jordan and Nepal. Then, moving across to Asia we’ll we staying in Thailand, Laos and then leaving the mainland to visit Indonesia. We’ll then be finishing or trip in New Zealand for a few months. And that’s just what we’ve planned. I’m sure those are a fraction of what we’ll actually see.

When are you leaving?

M : We’ll be leaving from Ottawa on July 11th. I remember thinking about this date a year ago, and now having it only a few months away is so surreal.

Why did you decide to go on this trip?

C : Matt and I have been wanting to travel since our college years. We were set on leaving in September 2010 but opportunity knocked and I was offered the TV job and couldn’t say no. However, when travel is in your blood, it’s hard to be happy doing something that stops you from roaming the world. We quickly realized this new life in Toronto wasn’t for us and desperately needed to leave and live the adventure of a lifetime … NOW!

Matt and I are absolute best friends and madly in love. We’re a couple of funny people who have the greatest respect for each other and couldn’t imagine a better travel partner, even if it’s his 1st time! We’re still young, oh-so attractive and ready to get going!

What will you be doing to pass the time before your travels?

C : Blogging! We launched our little website that could in December 2011 after getting hooked on ready many couple travel blogs (such as yours!) and feeling inspired to be part of this fantastic blogging community. We’ve spent this whole year living a frugal lifestyle cutting out all expenses in order to reach our savings goal of $20 000.

If you could give just one piece of advice to a fellow #rtwsoon traveler, what would it be?

M : Stop thinking about it and do it! More specifically, set a date. Once you set a date, you make it a priority to yourself that you will travel on that day.

C: There is never the perfect time travel as there are many other things you could do. But if you want to make it happen, you’re the only one that can take action!

Visit Matt and Caro’s Website: Passport and a Toothbrush
Follow Matt and Caro on Twitter: @Matt_and_Caro

If you’re heading around-the-world in the next 12 months and would like to be featured here, please contact us.

This is a guest post by Hannah and Chris from Loveplaywork. They spend at least 6 months each year travelling whilst growing their online and consultancy businesses. Visit loveplaywork.com/manifesto to learn our essential secrets to creating a business you can run from anywhere in the world, and join our free club at loveplaywork.com so we can send you our very best strategies and resources.

Most travellers are amazed how much they can save up before they head off on their round the world trip. But post-trip if you aren’t ready to pack away your rucksack yet, saving will only get you so far. Now it’s time to start earning while you go.

Travel doesn’t have to be something with a distinct beginning and end point. With travel and work much more intertwined, you can stay on the road as long as you like.

Remote Offices

Office work is a great place to start. If you’ve ever used a skill which required you to work with a computer chances are you can transfer those skills to work from a laptop on the beach. It won’t take long before sourcing high-speed internet will become as crucial to your plans as finding somewhere to enjoy an ice-cold beer!

Want to work from here one day?

Knowing you are handy with a computer is great, but how do you get clients? How do you transfer what you did in an office to what people will be willing to pay you to do now? Here are a few ideas:

Ask Your Network

Who do you regularly connect with? Online business owners? Travel bloggers? Entrepreneurs? Accountants, artists, archaeologists?!? Now find out what they need. If you do your research right you can put yourself in a position to solve their biggest problems.

A few hours here and there will turn into a steady trickle of cash coming in from people willing to hire you because they feel like they already ‘know’ you.

Case study: At loveplaywork we have a couple of random niches. We work with the fire service due to past work history; we help people prepare for selection tests because we have training in that areas; and we work with freelance coaches and consultants who want to be ‘location independent’ because we know a fair bit about that! Income doesn’t have to fit neatly into one box, so be prepared to have a diverse range of income streams.

Become An Expert

Whatever problems you are going to solve for your clients, you need to make sure you get really good at it. No one is ever going to tell you that you are an expert by the way. But pretty quickly you will have more expertise than someone out there who needs your help, even if there are also a load of people who know more than you! If you’re reliable, hardworking, care about your client’s business and are willing to go ‘above and beyond’ you’ll stand out a mile – and your clients will keep coming back.

Become an expert to stand out from the rest of the crowd!

Action: Write down a list of things you can do – even the things which you take for granted. You might be a great proof reader or spreadsheet whizz; you might be happy to take on data inputting or cold calling. There will be small business owners out there who have stuff on their list they don’t have time for or don’t want to do (check out the top skills list on elance.com). That’s where you come in; learn, develop and make yourself marketable.

Offer Locally, Even If You Aren’t!

With everything being so ‘global’ these days it can be tempting to keep our eyes on the horizon when it comes to trying to get clients, but sometimes local can work really well – even if you aren’t actually ‘local’ yourself a lot of the time! Clients can feel more comfortable working with people who they feel they have something in common with – and ‘place’ is as good as any as a starting point.

Case study: We worked with someone who set up a VA/admin support business. She decided to target very locally to one region in the UK – and her business has exploded in the last 3 months!

Set Your Own Hours

If you are planning on travelling then you don’t want to be working too much. However take on clients to fit around your lifestyle to keep the control in your hands. If you are reluctant to merge work and travel, look at it this way. If you had the choice of doing say 10 hours a week and being able to travel for 2 years, or no work at all but have to come home after 6 months, which would you choose?

You can do a couple of hours of work from your bed each day!

Action: Figure out what you need to earn and how many hours you are willing to work. If your ideal hourly rate is high, you’ll have to put the work in to be worth it!

Don’t Wait To Be Offered An Opportunity

People who have turned their round the world trip into a lifestyle created opportunities to do this. Don’t wait for someone to offer you a job; make yourself indispensible -you have a great incentive to try!

Have you earned money while traveling before? Please share your best tips and advice in the comments!

Every Friday we will feature one of our favorite travel photographs. If you want to have your photo featured here, please email it through to contact[at]donteverlookback.com.

It’s not exactly a pool but this week’s Photo Friday is of the man-made Saltwater Swimming Lagoon at Plantation Bay Resort.

We didn’t stay here while in Cebu but did take a tour of the perfectly landscaped resort and have made it our mission to one day stay in a room right on the lagoon and be able to step out our front door and into the warm waters pictured here.

Sitting still and working full-time is getting harder by the day. We’ve spent less than a week on the road since the year began and often we dream of relaxing by an idyllic beach sipping on cocktails.

Fortunately our next adventure is just under two weeks away – a three night jaunt to Australia’s Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef.

You may know Hamilton Island for running the Best Job in the World promotion back in 2008 and we’re extremely excited to be visiting this little piece of paradise in our very own backyard.

Where We’ll Be Staying

We’ll be spending our three nights on Hamilton Island at the 4-star Reef View Hotel with views of the Coral Sea and nearby Whitsunday Island.

It’ll be the perfect place to base ourselves and explore the island although it may be difficult to drag us away from the hotel with Catseye Beach located directly opposite and a large number of hotel features including water sports available to us.

What We’ll Be Doing

Our three-day itinerary is jam-packed full of fun activities including:

• Exploring the spectacular Great Barrier Reef with Fantasea Adventures.
• Spending an afternoon on the award-winning Whitehaven Beach.
• Eating breakfast with the koalas at Wild Life Hamilton Island.
• Enjoying one of Hamilton Island’s beautiful sunsets on a sea kayak while sipping on a glass of sparking wine.
• Relaxing at one of the island’s beaches or pools and simply doing nothing at all!

And that’s just the beginning! Tennis, beach sports and perhaps a scenic helicopter ride over Heart Reef are all on the agenda and we can’t wait to share all of these adventures with you on Don’t Ever Look Back over the next few weeks!

How We’ll Be Getting Around

Cars are prohibited on Hamilton Island and there’s only one way to get around… on our very own golf buggy!

We’ll be taking a self-drive tour of the island on our first day and will just enjoy cruising around from point to point in true island style. It might sound crazy but driving a golf buggy around Hamilton Island is one of the things we’re most looking forward to!

Looking at all of this, no wonder we’re getting excited about our trip to Hamilton Island!

How much would you like to visit Hamilton Island one day?

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All images used in this post are from the Hamilton Island Media Image Library.

Due to Air Asia’s main hub being located in Kuala Lumpur, we’ve been through Malaysia’s capital city on a number of occasions in the past few years.

When we venture outside of the airport and into the city, there’s always one thing that we want to see again and again – the Petronas Twin Towers.

The photogenic towers are two of the tallest buildings in the world and are the landmark of Kuala Lumpur’s skyline. The Petronas Towers look fabulous during the day and even better at night and we’d be quite happy to go back to KL tomorrow and spend hours taking more photos of these regal buildings.

Here is a collection of the best photos we’ve shot of Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Towers between 2008 and the end of 2011.

The Petronas Towers are just as impressive up close…

One of the things you’ll learn about Kuala Lumpur after you’ve spent some time here is to expect a massive thunderstorm every day. One minute you’ll have the perfect weather to snap a photo of the Petronas Towers and then the next minute…

KLCC Park beneath the Twin Towers provides greenery to the area and the view from across it is quite stunning. If only we had a blue sky that day!

A few hours later looking across Lake Symphony…

And just to finish this post off with something a little bit different, here’s one of the Petronas Towers in black and white…

In terms of beautiful buildings, they don’t come much prettier than the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Have you visited Petronas Towers before? Or is it somewhere you’d love to see one day?