Rita Golden Gelman, Female Nomad, has been traveling for 24 years. She is the author of Tales of a Female Nomad, Living at Large in the World and Female Nomad and Friends, Breaking Free and Breaking Bread Around the World as well as 70 other children’s books. She is currently spearheading the Let’s Get Global operation, a program designed to help integrate the gap year into the American lifestyle. You can also find more information at her personal website: Rita Golden Gelman.

Just a couple of days ago I had the pleasure of Skyping the lovely Rita Golden Gelman, a female nomad with an incredible passion for people and personal connections. I found her to be vivacious and lively, exuding a level of wide-eyed engagement not found in most people. Her enthusiastic approach to life seemed to thrive somewhere between life experience and a thirst for excitement. I found her to be a true inspiration, not only as a traveler, but in finding the sunny-side of life. With every question that I asked, she had more stories to tell; there simply wasn’t enough time! Rita, it was a pleasure. To my readers, I’m sure you’ll find something to love.

What made you want to give up “real life” in the first place?
My kids were gone and I was divorced. My question was, “what are you going to do with the rest of your life?” My answer: “live the dream!” I sold everything I owned so I had the security of knowing that if anything ever happened I had some backup. But I never touched it–I lived on what I made. I knew I could write more. I had 50 children’s books but lived with very few royalties.

One of the things that makes your travel experiences so different from those of most people is that you embedded yourself in the cultures you visited. How can a traveler best experience a culture if s/he is finding it difficult to embed him/herself in it as you did?
When I travel I like to stay with families. I don’t stay in hotels or hostels. People ask me, “How do you connect with people? How do you find places to stay?” In Bali I met a Balinese guy on a plane who asked me where I was going to stay. I said I was going to go to Ubud. “He said no, that’s much too touristy!” So he wrote something in Balinese on a piece of paper and I said “If I give this to the taxi driver will he know where to take me!?” He said yes, I did exactly that and an hour and a half later I arrived at a royal palace where this man was a prince! I lived there for four years.

In one of your stories you wrote, “Laughter is the same in any language.” How important is it to interact with others during one’s travels? Do you have any words of wisdom for those traveling solo?
Smile! Be the first one to say “hi!” Respond when people talk to you. If they say “come sit on my porch,” go sit on their porch! Sometimes you have to be careful, but just be wide open! Tell secrets so they will tell theirs. Talk their language, wear their clothes! When I was in Tanzania I wore a big long colorful thing that the women wear. Just interact. When I was in Mexico, the first place I ever went, people weren’t talking to me–they ran away. One woman in the village came over to me and said, “why don’t you wear these clothes instead?” and she loaned me a skirt and a number of other items. All of a sudden the people who were running away were saying “Buenas dias!” If you try to tell people you know better, a) it’s arrogant, b) you’re not learning, and c) you’re maintaining a position that you’re better than them. Get involved with the people, learn their cultures. If something funny happens, then it’s funny and they’re laughing at you and laughing with you!

You have an ethos that reads as a creative, adventurous, welcoming and engaging spirit. How can people adopt this idea into their own lives?
You have to take the first step. It’s not easy…it’s scary! If you do it once, and you do it again and again you realize it’s easy. When I published my first book in 2001 I put my email address in the back. My publisher told me “no, you can’t do that–your email address is a very private thing!” I told my editor “you can’t have the book if I can’t put my email in it!” Since then I’ve gotten thousands of emails and invites! I’ve been to New Delhi, Tanzania, Suriname. I get invitations and I go! People write me all the time asking how I do it, saying “it’s so courageous!” Really, it’s not. Once you’re out there people are good! They’re honored and asking about your customs and food. For me connecting is joy! Even here, in this country, I work hard at talking to people.

It’s also important to try new things! I even did clown school for a week! I learned how to do balloons, paint faces and do makeup! It’s wonderful. In New Delhi I became friends with a lot of the local kids. I had a day where all the boys came over and I pulled out my clown makeup. I had half a dozen early teen boys in clown makeup and it was such fun! In Tanzania I taught goat herders how to make animal balloons! It’s absolutely wonderful and fun!

I think that anybody can do it but you’ve got to get yourself out of the “I have to be a good girl” mentality. I’ve made a list of travel tips…ways to bring joy into your life by stepping outside of the box (see it here!), but you feel naughty if you’re doing them!

What is your Let’s Get Global program and how will it change the world? What is the goal and how do you intend to reach it?
After 25 years moving around world and not having a home or a place, I come back to the US frequently, about once a year, and more and more every day I see intolerance. I see a fear of the unknown out there…a fear of so much. I’m working on a non-profit to create a gap year in the States. I want to get lots of high school graduates, before they go to university, to spend their year traveling around the world. We would have a different country if more people spent time abroad. We have a very unethical mentality in this country, not caring about immigrants and education. My goal is to get the word out and let people all over the world know that there is another option. I don’t want to run programs, I want schools to tell kids that they don’t have to stay on track. It’s an informational, educational idea. When parents speak to their school counselors I want them to know that there’s another option. It will put your kid ahead, not behind, if you get them out there in the world.

What have your many experiences in traveling taught you about the nature of human beings?
Most people don’t have joy. They’re content, maybe, but joy comes from taking risks. The other day, here in Seattle, WA, I walked down to the water and there was a picnic bench and there were some men sitting there, one with darker skin and one with a slightly lighter dark skin. I wondered who these men were and where they were from so I abused my white hair, walked over and asked if I could rest here for a while. I spent an hour speaking with them! One was from Ethiopia and the other was from Somalia. People are welcoming!

What are the most valuable things you have learned about yourself from traveling? How do you feel travel has empowered you as a woman?
Just doing it. Most women are afraid to go out alone. When I’m alone and having a great time, there’s not much that I wouldn’t do! I’m missing two genes: one is the organizational gene, the other is the fear gene! I’ve never been afraid of people or experiences. I’m not afraid to talk to people. I spent many years living in New York City so there’s an instinct as well. You have to have some kind of intuitive sense of which people to smile to and who you should cross the street to avoid. I have that, it’s a part of me. It disarms people if somebody with a big smile walks by and says “hi!”. If you smile a lot you live in a world that smiles because most people smile back. It’s pretty nice!

Not everyone could be content to live without a home, as you have done. However, do you think everyone can learn from your story that we need a lot less than we think we need in order to be happy?
I think that’s going around all by itself in this country. Absolutely, we need less than we have. I don’t own a sheet or a chair or a towel. I don’t even own a spoon!

After this many years as a nomad, do you think you will want to settle down with a home, or do you think you will want to remain peripatetic?
I’ll do it for as long as I can move! When I’m stuck in bed then I’ll stop but then I’ll have all my emailers to connect to! I don’t want to stop; I want to keep going. And I want to create a legacy of the gap year in this country.

Is there anything else you’d like us to know?
I have a second book (Female Nomad and Friends, Breaking Free and Breaking Bread Around the World) and all the royalties are going to help slum kids in New Delhi go to vocational school. The proceeds go from my publisher to my agent to Rotary International who then sends them to New Delhi. $46,000 have already been sent! There are 41 authors, none of us have seen a penny and everybody is thrilled to be doing it.

For more information about Rita Golden Gelman, visit her at http://www.ritagoldengelman.com or http://www.letsgetglobal.org!

This past New Years I attended the Rhythm and Vines music festival in Gisborne, New Zealand. Gisborne is the most easterly city in the world, meaning it’s the first city to welcome the sun every day, and the New Year every year! From Wellington, Gisborne is about a seven hour drive. Hitch-hiking, though, turned this journey into more of an adventure. My friend, Gavriel, and I set out to explore the north island and meet fellow travelers, locals and festival-goers along the way.

Hitch-hiking can be dangerous, but in New Zealand it’s a reliable mode of transportation! When living in Queenstown, I stuck my thumb out almost daily and never had much of an issue. Sometimes you end up in the passenger seat with a slightly crazy person behind the wheel, but there’s always a new story to tell.

You never know who you’ll end up with, and at times this can be nerve-racking. But it’s fun, and I like to live on the edge.

It took us three rides to get from Wellington to Gisborne, and six to make the journey back. There are heaps of people who have hitch-hiked the whole country, and many people even include this on their bucket list. Gavriel and I decided that a five-day adventure would be suitable enough for us.

Ride Number One

I received a text message the night before we were meant to leave from a man who had seen a notice I posted on a message board:

As luck would have it, no, we did not, so this was a Godsend. He was going half as far as we were but there would be plenty of other festival-goers on their way to Gisborne who would pick us up and take us the rest of the way.

Getting there wasn’t the issue.

After meeting this man at 8am the next morning and discovering him to be an incredibly friendly 40-something year-old Kiwi, we jumped in the dilapidated old Nissan ready for an adventure. The second thing out of his mouth: “So uhhh…do you guys smoke weed?”

“Oh brother,” I thought, as I replied “no.” My friend shook his head ambivalently.

He downed his can of Red Bull with an incredible enthusiasm and determination, crushed one end of the tin and started poking holes in it. It’s 8am and this man is keen for a wake-and-bake in front of two strangers before a five-hour road trip. Perfect.

Chris was an extremely neurotic, only slightly-educated, older-generation Kiwi party boy who had a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that we had only had four hours of sleep the night before. We were not in the mood to chat about nonsense. But, despite us, he did plenty of it on his own.

Seemingly in his own world, this man had continual conversations with himself, rambling off on generally nonsensical tangents, stringing thoughts together that would beckon any red-blooded human to question what might possibly be wrong with this man.

Never cracking 80kmh (50mph), we moved at a slow and steady pace, stopping frequently for smoke breaks and bakeries. Though the trip had taken two hours longer than it was supposed to, I was happy to finally stumble out of this peculiar man’s car and hold, high over my head, our sign reading “GISBORNE.”

Ride Number Two

An elderly woman in a Lexus with a backseat full of fresh produce drove us about 15 minutes up the road. She was a lovely old woman who seemed to know a little bit too much about music festivals. We stopped for petrol, she pumped, I washed the windshield. My friend and I chuckled as she walked barefoot into the petrol station to pay.

Ride Number Three

Good old boy Tim, on his way to the festival, pulled over to pick us up. In his mid-twenties, with three cases of beer and a bottle of tequila next to his bed in the back of his campervan, we knew he was headed up to Gizzy for a good time. Also a resident of Wellington, we’ve shared a few beers with each other since then. An all-around good lad who spoke of music, women and life. Having just departed a ten-year relationship, Tim had a lot on his mind. There’s something about the company of strangers that provokes deep conversation.

Rhythm and Vines came and went. On our way up we found the Kiwis to be generally quite friendly and helpful, recognizing that we were only trying to get from point A to B. It wasn’t until the mission home from the festival, however, that we truly unearthed the Kiwi hospitality.

Ride Numbers Four and Five

Walking out of the festival, covered in mud, with the mid-day sun shining exceedingly bright, the two of us were left in quite a state. The majority of people had already left that morning and we were to be the stragglers, left on a vineyard in the-middle-of-nowhere-New Zealand. A friendly couple in a wonderfully clean Volvo had no problem with us soiling their leather seats. Another festival-goer kicked his sleeping friends out of the car so he could drive us ten minutes down the road.

It’s frustrating to rely so heavily on others, but the kindness and understanding of these people helped us mission through the day.

Ride Number Six

After a quick wash in the water at the Gisborne beach, the most lovely Maori lady, with a motherly guidance and strong moral compass, offered us relief from the sweltering sun. She obviously had a big heart, sharing her stories of other hitch-hikers and how she rescued two other girls from the night as they huddled together, hobbling down the street, very, very far from home. This woman was the epitome of Kiwi hospitality. Her demeanor was endearing, and she was well-versed in the idea that “we’re all just doing the best we can.” She was a true believer in helping others and she obviously lived this way on a daily basis.

She dropped us off outside her house, a small cottage next to a magnificent corn field. She offered us a cold drink, which we graciously declined, and told us to pop in if we needed anything. Enough time in the sun persuaded us, so we grabbed our bags and headed down their overgrown driveway. We were greeted by three slightly drunk Maori men, smiles wide, enjoying life in the shade. Their toothless grins indicated we were more than welcome. They loved how American we were and cracked some jokes when we mentioned our hunt for sun cream. Our poor, pale skin!

We refilled our water bottles, grabbed our bags and headed back out to the street. We weren’t standing there for more than a few minutes when these two boys, just some little eight year-old rugrats, came running to our rescue. “Hey you guys!” We turned to find their arms outstretched. “You want some ice pops?”

These little guys put smiles on our faces. They offered us ice pops, drinks, even a swim in their pool! As much as we would have wanted to, we had an agenda. Their mother joined us a few minutes later, fondly stroking both of her sons’ heads as if to let us know just how proud she was of her children. Her smile put me at ease, reminding me of my own mother. “Do you want some food? How about a swim? Do you need anything else?” She even texted her mates who often drove that road to see if they could pick up some random hitch-hikers. The level of hospitality that this woman and her family showed to us was beyond any I’ve encountered elsewhere. Truly, a top lady.

Ride Number Seven

A man, his son and a dog. Highway 2 just outside of Gisborne is curvy and hilly, leaving many cars on the side of the road. Including theirs. As we watched the temperature gauge, all of us rooting in positive anticipation, “you can make it!”, we heard a pop. And then a hiss. And then we smelled it–the engine had overheated. This man, well-prepared for situations like this, hopped in the back, grabbed a towel and big bottle of water, then got to work on the engine. Proving his thrift he guided his son through it. “Well, there’s only one thing we can do now!” Clambering through the backseat he cracked open the case of Steinlager Pure and handed one to each of us.

“Cheers boys!”

We finished our drinks and got back on the road where came across another man fervently trying to cool down his engine. With no level of hesitation, we pulled over to help him. It was like these Kiwis couldn’t NOT help.

Eventually, two more rides and one day later, we returned to Wellington, feeling refreshed by the essence of the people and the land. Never in my life have I endured such a hectic and marvelous week. The festival was fun but my remembrance of the journey there and back far eclipses the extraordinary party that was Rhythm and Vines.

Life is about getting out there, journeying and experiencing. And, luckily for me, I’ve been left with an extensive story and a few handfuls of memories.

And I love it.

Due to my lack of a camera during this adventure, I would like to thank http://rachygal.blogspot.com for the use of her photos.

Travel blogging is the buzz activity of the moment. But it’s a lot harder than people first imagine.

Managing a site, writing content and constantly updating it is more challenging than it looks. Make no bones about it. That’s why every day we see new blogs pop up on the web with the intention of being bigger and better than ever before only to die just a few short months later.

What are the tell tale signs calling for you to pull the plug on yours?

Scope

Deciding what to focus your travel content on is crucial to long-term success yet so often overlooked by new bloggers. It’s easy to say to yourself that you’re just going to begin writing generally about your travels (and for some bloggers this does work), but more often than not failing to have a narrow scope is the first tell tale sign that suggests your blog might well be dying.

Look around at your favourite travel blogs and you’ll notice each has a certain niche. If you haven’t managed to fit yours inside one then it might be time to think it over and have a crack at something different.

Commitment

Going hand in hand with the issue of scope is the problem of commitment. If the last entry on your travel blog is from more than two months ago you should probably admit to yourself that you’re not in it for the long haul (and ask any travel blogger and they’ll tell you that running a blog is a very slow process!).

Even bloggers who aren’t travelling continuously still come up with fresh content consistently – some even on a daily basis. If you haven’t found new ways to keep writing and putting out your ideas you should probably consider calling it quits now. You’re not likely to suddenly spring into action.

Not Adding Anything

There are a million sites out there that offer tips on budgeting, making money while working abroad or suggesting places to stay in say, Sydney. Each of these sites probably offer information on these subjects a lot better.

If your site doesn’t add anything new or useful to travellers then you need to question exactly why it is that you’re writing. You can’t compete with Trip Advisor, WikiTravel or Lonely Planet after all.

Not Networking

If you’re blogging silently into the ether with no one around to see or hear you speak then you’re not likely to last long.

Been a while since you exchanged tweets with a fellow traveller? Been an age since you last posted a travel piece to your Facebook page and got a discussion going? Not networking is another tell-tale sign that your blogging career might be coming to an end.

Travel blogs are there to provide information and to facilitate discussion. All the best ones provide some type of platform for a community. If yours is lacking comments, or, more obviously, traffic, it’s most likely due to your lack of networking.

Even the worst travel blogs can gain a legion of fans and sustain themselves by communicating regularly with others. If you don’t do this ask yourself the question: “is it worth continuing?”

No Fun

Perhaps the biggest (and most important) tell-tale sign of them all surrounds the issue of enjoyment. If running your travel blog is no longer fun then what would be the point in continuing aimlessly onward? Even if you were to gain success you’d still feel like you had to bust your balls doing it.

Travel blogging and everything else that goes with it should be an exciting and rewarding task. The moment it stops being that is the moment you should pull the plug once and for all.

I’ve hopefully helped to illustrate that there is a lot more to travel blogging than people might first think. If you find yourself suffering from the five symptoms listed above, it’s more than likely that this isn’t the pursuit for you.

Don’t waste your time and effort if it could be better spent employed elsewhere in the travel community. There’s plenty else you could be doing which can help fulfill your passion!

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Will Peach is one of the site editors over at Gap Daemon, the gap year travel website for backpackers and young travellers. You can also catch him writing on My Spanish Adventure about what to see in Spain while learning the language and living on the cheap.

It’s almost too easy for a vacation to turn into a staycation. Plans change, (too much) money gets spent, jobs are found, new interests become stimulated. It’s happened to me more than a few times so I know how quickly plans can change. As a traveler, even when we’re staying in one place, it’s important to feel like we’re still traveling. Waking up in a fairly new city and feeling complacent can get even the most industrious of travelers down on themselves. It’s important to keep yourself interested in what’s going on around you and it’s important to keep exploring. Every city or town, even the one you live in, is hiding things you haven’t discovered yet.

Budget

It’s easy to get a bit spend-happy and start dropping cash on every activity and doo-dad that tickles your brain. Work out how much cash you can afford to spend and prioritize what you want to see. I spent an insane amount of money traveling the east coast of Australia. I can’t say I regret it, but I sure wish I was able to say I had a little bit left over when I was done. Had I been a bit more frugal and sat down with a pen and paper to balance my finances and interests it might have been a bit more financially feasible.

Plan ahead

If there’s a time frame, sort everything out first. Figure out what you want to see or do and make a schedule! Though you’re on vacation, you can’t afford to be 100% spontaneous. Plan what you want to do, apply a budget for each expedition and, most importantly, spread it out!

Don’t overdo it

This can destroy you! Take your time. Slow down for a moment. There’s no need to get ahead of yourself! Give yourself something to look forward to! Don’t try to fit everything in immediately. Keep things interesting by always having something planned. Why do everything in the first few weeks when you could do just as much (and more!) in a few months? Though it can be exciting, doing everything all at once can be exhausting. I was in Queenstown for five months before I did the world-famous bungy jump!

Find a hobby or join a club

Get yourself involved! Even though you’re only settling down temporarily, it’s important to get active within the community. Make some friends, get out there, do something you enjoy. Whether it’s a social club, poker tournaments or weekly salsa dancing, find some mates and keep busy with an old (or new!) hobby.

Remember, it’s only temporary

After all, it’s still a vacation! You won’t be here forever, so don’t sign a lease or job contract. Enjoy the impermanence but keep your head wrapped around the fact that, in some indeterminate amount of time, you’ll be leaving. Maybe you’ll be back but it’s likely that you won’t. But that’s why we travel: to see and do what we can while we still have time. It’s a big world and life is short so make the most of every second!

I sure am.

It happened quickly and was over before I even had a chance to process what had just happened. It didn’t ripple through Wellington, splitting sidewalks and battering buildings, but the earth literally shook underneath me. And I felt it.

Ever since the big New Zealand earthquakes earlier this year, I’ve been a bit fascinated, perhaps in some twisted sort of way, by earthquakes and what it might be like to live through such an event. To feel the earth’s wrath, its power over mankind and to witness mother nature’s ability to uproot and destroy the world as man knows it has got to be, at the very least, a thrilling experience. Of course I didn’t want to end up a “survivor” (or worse). Just a little brush with danger was all I needed. This particular one took place in the middle of the afternoon, rocking a magnitude of 5.7 just 60km deep and 30km away. Luckily that’s considered to be quite a depth and distance, but when you consider the size of the earth, that’s practically directly beneath me.

At first I heard a howling. As if the wind were crashing against the outside walls of my building. “It’s just windy in Wellington,” was my first thought. After all, aside from being the capital of New Zealand, Wellington is next known for its brute force winds. The howling quickly turned to a roar, the clandestine rumble of the earth overtaking my world. The ground shook, the building swayed, the desk rattled, and then everything stopped. I couldn’t quite believe that I had actually felt an earthquake until a text message came through from my friend across town saying “did you feel that!?”

YUP! Sure did. And I’m still alive!