Look At Me! Look At Me!

You’re so excited about your two week vacation to paradise and you are tweeting about it endlessly. You have tweeted the day of your departure, where you are going and when you are arriving back home.

Bad idea.

You haven’t tweeted where you live, but that doesn’t matter because you have it plastered everywhere.

Cell phone number? Got that too.

The whole world knows what kind of car you drive, your license plate number and the town you live in.

Really bad idea!

Common Sense Before Bragging and Gloating Comes First

Not only is tweeting your travel departure date to the whole world in advance every 5 minutes lame, it is also very foolish.

You are putting your own safety, your children’s safety and your home and property at risk. You are directly inviting potential criminals and thieves to your home or leading them directly to you.

Even worse you could be potentially putting your families personal safety in harms way.

Twitter: The Worlds Conversation

As you are well aware of, Twitter is a social network where anybody can sign up and follow. It is not uncommon to hear somebody yapping about “I’m going to (choose your favorite vacation spot here) this (insert your day of departure here)!”

Yeah, we got it.

Not only is it annoying as hell to hear 5o times a day that you are finally getting to go somewhere. You are also putting yourself, your family, your kids and your property at risk.

In a world where information travels as fast as you can hit enter, publish, post or tweet; please do be mindful of what information you choose to make public and share with the rest of the world.

FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY!

Travel Wise

Use common sense before you travel and heed these simple tips.

• If you have the resources, try to get a house sitter to baby sit your house while you are on vacation or extended travel. Especially if you are silly enough to broadcast to the world your exact day of departure. Family, close friends – people you can trust. The criminals already know when and where you are going, and for how long. At least give them some kind of hurdle to jump over.
• If you have them, use timers on your clock radios, stereos, houselights and televisions to come on at set or random times. It’s not any guarantee that your house won’t be broken into while you are traveling, but it is a deterrent.
• If you don’t have a house sitter, have your mail held at the post office (or redirected to your PO Box if you have one) while you are away. Nothing screams more than “Nobody’s Home!” more than piles of junk mail over flowing from your mail box.
• Be careful with this one. If you have very trustworthy neighbors than let them know that you will be traveling and that you will be gone for a certain amount of time. I’m personally not a big fan of this one.
• Last but most certainly not least. If you can’t have somebody watch over your house and your property while you are traveling than please do not be so nitwitted as to tweet your vacation dates on Twitter. The same holds true for Facebook groups and profiles whether they are private or public.

Better Yet, Don’t Tell Anybody!

I have been traveling extensively since the late 90′s and I have been traveling internationally since 2000. As much as I wanted to, I have never been so foolhardy as to simulcast my day of departures to anybody – except for family and close friends.

Save all the fun and bragging about your travels for after you return home safely to your un-burglarized home.

Safe, happy and fun travels!

The post Why You Shouldn’t Tweet Your Vacation appeared first on Money for Travel.

Microsites Can Give You Freedom

One of the fastest and easiest ways to make money for traveling is with microsites.

What are microsites?

Microsites are small information based websites with only a handful of pages on them. These microsites are monetized with ads or affiliate programs.

Since microsites are so small they can be made very quickly. Start building a lot of microsites and could start making a decent living from money being earned online.

Microsites are made with one simple goal in mind – to make money.

Without a dobut, microwebsites are one of the fastest and easiest ways to make money online. They money that microsites make is usually not very much though.

The Worst Case Scenario

Microsites generally don’t make a lot of money. They usually only make a couple of bucks a day.

Let’s use the most extreme case for example. Lets say that you have 1 microsite that makes 1 dollar a day. We’re using rounded figures to make things simple.

One dollar a day is not very much money. It’s not enough to travel on and it is most certainly no where near enough money to live off of.

However.

What if you had 50 microsites that made only one dollar a day. That’s 50 bucks a day or 350 dollars a week.

Not bad money considering you’re really not doing anything.

What if you had one hundred microsites each making only one dollar a day? Thats a healthy $700 dollars a week!

That’s not bad money.

For some $700 a week is enough to live off of. Depending on where you plan on traveling too, you could very easily get by on $700 dollars a week.

But, that’s a lot of Websites…

Yes, it is and yes it does require work.

However, there is a solution for that too.

If you don’t have the time or don’t want to build one, five, ten, fifty, or one hundred websites you could always outsource the work to somebody else.

Maybe you don’t have the ‘skills‘ or ‘know how‘.

Outsource Your Work to Odesk

A good place to look is oDesk.

oDesk is a website that allows you to hire freelancers. The rates are extremely competitive and you shouldn’t have any problems finding a candidate fit for the job.

Even if you are on a budget you can almost certainly find somebody to get the job done for you at a competitive price.

Microsites are Can Give You Freedom to Travel and Live More

Microsites are one of many ways you can make money online. They are great for entry level folks with no prior experience in making money on the internet.

What are you waiting for?

Be at service, build, work and create!

The post Ways to Make Money with Microsites appeared first on Money for Travel.

One great thing about the internet is there’s an abundant amount of creative ways to make money online.

If you are a graphic designer, web designer or just a creative person in general. Then be sure to head over to 99Designs.com and get those creative juices flowing.

What is 99 Designs?

99 Designs is a crowd sourcing design market place. Clients who are in need of creative help hold design contests. Designers then enter the contests by submitting their artwork. If you’re an artist, illustrator or designer and you are selected you win the contract and get the job, and you get paid.

Sounds pretty good!

Similar to some of the other ways to make money for traveling. The really awesome thing about 99 Designs is you can do it from anywhere. You can work from home, on the road or while traveling. Which makes it a good candidate to help fund and prolong your travels and be location independent.

What Kind of Design Contests are There?

The following are some of the jobs you might find on 99 Designs:

• Logo design
• Business card design
• T-shirt design
• Postcard or flyer design
• Brochure design
• Product packaging design
• Web page design
• Mobile app design
• Icon or button design
• Banner ad design
• Illustration
• Book cover design

As you can see there is a good variety of different job types on offer.

A quick look around 99 Designs show jobs paying anywhere from $100 to $200 dollars on up to over $1000 dollars. There are plenty of design jobs on offer and plenty of opportunity to make some extra money.

Singing up is fast, easy and painless. It only takes a moment. Once you are all signed up you can complete your profile and start browsing the jobs on offer.

How and Do I Get Paid?

• PayPal
• Payza (formerly Alertpay)
• Moneybookers
• Western Union

If you are online chances are you already have at least one of the above mentioned accounts. I for one, really like the option of using Western Union as a form of payment.

Getting paid can take up to 10 working days.

If you’re serious about traveling or making some extra money 99Designs is at least worth taking a look at.

The post Creative Ways to Make Money with 99 Designs appeared first on Money for Travel.

Vimeo’s New Tip Jar Can Make You Money

Vimeo now offers it’s creators a couple new ways to make money for it’s contributors videos. Unlike YouTube, Vimeo has also done so without adding contextual advertising to their videos.

How does it work?

Vimeo has introduced a Tip Jar for it’s paying members. The Tip Jar is just what it sounds like. A place for viewers to tip their favorite video editors and producers. If you like a video and want to support the creator, then tip them.

Vimeo has also rolling out a Paywall or a Pay-to-View service for their contributor’s content. The contributor can then set the amount that they want to charger per view.

If you haven’t heard of Vimeo before – think YouTube but with a lot more of an artistic and creative flare.

The Bad News

The flip side to this is that you have to be a Plus Member or a Pro Member. Vimeo Plus Membership is $9.95 a month or $59.95 a year. Pro Membership is $199 a year.

Clearly Vimeo Membership is not the cheapest around.

In order for you to break even and begin earning a profit from your videos. You would probably have to have a decent audience already and a good amount of videos in your Vimeo account.

More to Come

Vimeo says that there is more to come which is exciting for both it’s present and future creators. It will be interesting to see how this dynamic will change Vimeo – if at all.

Personally, I think there will be a lot less views with the Pay-to-View Model. The Tip Jar is a really cool idea, but how many people are going to actually tip and how much Vimeo creators will actually make is yet to be seen.

Either way, it’s another way for you and your videos to get more exposure and potentially more money.

My Vimeo Video

Learn How to Monetize Your YouTube Videos.

The post Vimeo Offers New Ways to Make Money for it’s Creators appeared first on Money for Travel.

Amazon Associates

There are even more ways to make money online by using the Amazon Associates Program. The Amazon Associates program is another great way for you to earn passive income online.

One of the best ways to make money online is to drive traffic from your travel blog or website and let Amazon do what they do best.

Sell stuff.

Tried and Tested

Amazon has been around for almost 20 years and is one the most trusted websites on the internet. While it’s always changing, it’s very easy to say that Amazon does over 54 million dollars of sales, each day.

That’s beyond impressive.

Amazon has anywhere from 80 to 160 Million credit cards on file and one click purchasing. Thus making it very easy for the impulse buyer to make a purchase on a whim.

It would also be unwise to at least get some piece of that.

If you are serious about monetizing your travel blog, earning extra money and further funding your travels – then you should highly consider joining the Amazon Associates program.

Several Ways to Make Money with Amazon

You’ve probably have seen other blogs and website promoting the products they use and or endorse. A good example of this is if you check my Travel Shop page.

My Travel Shop page shows all my travel gear that I use which includes cameras, my very old, but very trusty day bag, my iPhone, my Macbook, etc.

All of these products I use myself. I use them, I love them and have no trouble endorsing them and totally recommend them. Because to be frank. They’re awesome!

I then link the products back to my Amazon Associates account. What this means is that every time a reader clicks on a link through that page, they are taken to Amazon.com where they can purchase the item.

When a purchase is made from that reader I receive a percentage of the sale.

GoPro Hero2

If you have been following my blog for sometime you probably know that I am a huge fan of the GoPro Hero2 Cameras. You can tell by going to my YouTube Channel. I use them all the time for everything. They’re compact, light weight, they produce high quality video and are Full-HD. You can even wear them!

For example. If a reader clicks on my GoPro Hero2 link, they will be taken to the GoPro Hero2 page on Amazon where they have the option to buy the camera. If that reader buys a the Hero2 or anything else from Amazon, I get a commission from it.

Pretty cool, hunh?

Anything Goes

Here is a screenshot of some of my recent Amazon Associates sales.

Obviously, the bigger the sale, the more money you get. I for one, think it’s interesting to see the different things sold.

Although in once instance, it looks like one product was returned – so I didn’t receive any commission for that one.

Don’t Leave Money Behind!

As you can tell, using the Amazon Associates program is another really good way to make money online and one that I highly recommend.

Click here to get started.

The post Ways to Make Money with Amazon appeared first on Money for Travel.

Ways to Make Money Online

Without a doubt, one of the best ways to make money for traveling or anything else for that matter is through affiliate marketing.

As living proof as well as several other successful travel bloggers. Making money online is possible, safe and a worthwhile investment.

Ways to Make Money with HostGator

My travel blog, the blog that you are reading right now is hosted with HostGator. One of the reasons why I chose HostGator is because of the incredible and reliable service.

The fun part though is HostGator pays very good for affiliate sales.

I totally recommend using Hostgator for one of the many ways to making money online and monetizing your travel blog or any other websites or blog for that matter.

How Much Money Can I Make with Hostgator?

You get $50 dollars per sale.

No matter how much the sale is, you get fifty bucks. That’s totally awesome! Without a doubt being a HostGator Affiliate is a great way to help fund your travels.

You’ll find that many other very successful travel bloggers use the HostGator affiliate program to successfully finance their travels.

It’s a really cool feeling when you wake up in the morning and to find an affiliate sale(s) email in your inbox.

At $50 bucks a pop it’s definitely one of the best ways to make money.

Do the Math

By making only 10 sales a week with HostGator you make $500 dollars.

That’s a decent chunk of change which can totally help fund your travel expenses and or anything else you might be interested in purchasing.

Who say’s there isn’t any money to be made by travel blogging?

Maybe you just want to save your money and buy that special something that you’ve been waiting for?

Either way, it’s a nice piece of passive income.

Custom Coupon Codes

Another really cool feature about HostGator is the ability to create one or more custom coupon codes for your blog or business.

Custom coupon codes are a great way to pass on some savings to your blog’s readers, Twitter followers or just passers by.

It’s a nice way of saying thanks for your support.

For example, my personal coupon code is MoneyForTravelDOTnet.

Use the following HastGator coupon code: MoneyForTravelDOTnet for a savings of $9.94 when you sign up with HostGator today.

Don’t leave money at the table!

Sign Up with Hostgator and start making some extra money.

The post Ways to Make Money for Traveling appeared first on Money for Travel.

September 11 in Australia

It’s time like this that I hate living overseas, I hate being an American expat and I hate being here.

When the Twin Towers went down I was at home, living and working in Los Angeles. I remember getting ready for the day and stopping everything.

I watched live, on TV as with millions of others as a plane flew right into one of the Twin Towers.

Later, I then watched it crumble right before my very eyes.

I left work.

I remember seeing the faces of everybody on the freeway as the look of disbelief and uncertainty draped over them.

Never before had I seen the LA morning commute like this.

What is normally a fast paced, finger gesturing free for all – was not a somber and sobering tombstone.

I will never forget that moment in time and how much it changed the lives of everybody on our planet.

Fast Forward to Today

It sucks being in Australia on any given September 11, post 2001.

It’s times like this that you should be at home and on your home turf, on your own soil and with your own people, family and friends.

At least, that’s what I believe.

September 11 with an Overseas Spin

Australia’s coverage and reports on September 11 are always lackluster, snide and at times, even cynical and just a bit too shallow.

To be frank, that’s pretty much the norm anyway.

I do get it. I’m in another country – it’s not the USA. I’m quite aware of that.

I’m not asking for them to change or put on some elaborate show.

That’s just how it is.

Their country, their house, their rules.

…When in Rome…

Yankee Doodle Cepo

However, to be a Yank and or a Cepo (I’m not a Yank or a Cepo. I’m American, thank you.) during this day is painstakingly annoying and more then aggravating to say the least.

You’ll get the occasional (I’m being very conservative with the word occasional here) Aussie or two (or three) who want to rib ya and purposely rub you the wrong way on your national day of recognition and mourning.

Any attempt to defend yourself or voice your opinion will be spun around into you being angry. The degrogatory comments that were just made about you and your country will produce the result:

“Ahh, come on mate. I’m just taking the piss!”

I’ve spent far too many September 11′s in Australia. I can only wonder what or how other American Expats experience and feel living overseas on day like this?

Either in Australia any other country.

I’m numb to it now. I’ve heard it all, I’ve seen it all – I know all the angles. You can take the piss all you want, you can Yankee this, Doodle that and Cepo us all day long.

It doesn’t work so save your energy.

When the well is dry, it’s dry.

No Australian September 11 Media Coverage Today

I will watch very little, if any Australia’s spin on September 11.

I don’t want to hear it. I’m not going to listen to a bunch of people who think they know everything yet have never been to America before. I will not listen to their talk like they know everything and continue to spin their false influence and persuasion on millions more.

No thanks. I’ve had that cup of tea.

I’ve heard it all, I’ve seen it all. I don’t consume anything information that I don’t want anything to do with.

Problem solved.

Paying My Respects at Ground Zero

I’m fortunate to have been to New York a couple times before.

I won’t forget my stay in Manhattan and walking down to the gaping hole where the Twin Towers once stood.

I won’t forget the long bearded man sitting alone against a cold steel fence as he played Amazing Grace, over and over again – in a lost, trance like state.

I won’t forget the wall of flowers and notes left behind to those who lost everything that day.

I won’t forget the tears still in peoples eyes as they walked around blanketed in sadness.

I’m lucky to have paid my respects to all who lost their lives that day.

It is that gesture and that journey that helps me to remember and traverse days like this.

The post September 11 in Australia as an American Expat appeared first on Money for Travel.

Let the Games Begin - and the Opening Ceremony End!

Opening Ceremony 2012

The Opening Ceremony for the London 2012 Olympic Games in London was by far the most drab, aimless, tasteless, classless and embarassing piece of work that the Olympics has ever delivered.

This is London’t third time hosting the Olympics – hopefully their last.

London not High on My Wish List

I have never had much of a desire to visit London. Now I have even less desire to visit.

Regardless of my travel itinerary, in case you missed the Opening Ceremony – here’s the run down.

• Samsung Commercial
• James Bond Commercial
• Watch 20 minutes of the Grammys
• Tune into your Favorite Bubble Gum Rappers YouTube Channel
• Dalek Lights Torch
• Nah, nah, nah, nah…
• Queen mutters something under her breath

Games Open!

Product Placement Rules!

I hope that product placement is not fully raped in the 2016 Olympics like it was today. Not that I would ever buy any piece of garbage Samsung device in the first place.

Now, I never will.

London Sells Out

Watching the first half of the Opening Ceremony was like watching a poorly choreographed TV commercial.

The Exorcist at the Opening Ceremony

The theme to The Exorcist, Tubular Bells being played while symbolically sick children in hospital beds were being haunted and traumitized by big black demons.

How nice! Very uplifting and inspiring.

Not only is this stupid. It’s creepy as hell!

This is part of the Opening Ceremony? What a joke!

What a disgrace.

British Taking the Piss

Yes, I get it. I know Limeys don’t take anything seriously. I don’t have a problem with that. But, bloody limeys made themselves look like complete asses on a global scale.

It’s the Olympics, not Friday night Telly.

The Queen wasn’t Even Interested

The Queen not Very Engaged with the GB Team.

Even the Queen herself was caught Tweeting, Knitting or picking the dirt from her nails.

Michelle Obama was more engaged with the Opening Ceremony then her majesty was.

The whole experience was like watching a runaway train heading getting ready to impact a brick wall and there was nothing you could do about it.

Except watch in horror and sadness for all involved.

Skydiving Queen

Who cares! It was a hop and pop anyway and boring. The footage sucked anyway.

More gimmicky garbage.

Lame, lame, lame, lame, lame.

All around.

Lame!

Mr Bean Plays Chariots of Fire

I love Mr. Bean. I’m a big fan and I have been for years.

When it was announced that Chariots of Fire was going to be played, I thought this would be great. I love that song and thought that the tide may have changed.

Maybe some redemption after all.

I was wrong.

We have Mr. Bean playing Chariots of Fire while checking his Samsung.

Nice, more product placement. More reasons NOT to buy any Samsung garbage.

What a joke – a huge joke. Yes, I get it. That’s what the Limeys wanted to deliver.

The post Opening Ceremony 2012 Tasteless London Delivers appeared first on Money for Travel.

Living in the Moment. No Regrets.

Living in the Moment vs Not Doing Squat

Go out and do something. Get out of your Nerfed out house and experience life, the world and all it has to offer.

It’s not about the quantity of the years. It’s about the quality of the years.

Why would somebody want to live to be a hundred years old. Yay – good for them. They managed to last a century.

But they lived in a styrofoam box their whole lives and didn’t do anything? Sounds like a lot of fun to me.

It also sounds like a life wasted.

What does Living in the Moment Mean?

It means going out and doing things. Golfing, sewing, knitting, hiking, trekking and doing it on a whim. Following your passion in life and being free. Free from the constraints that others put on themselves.

And YOU.

Free to be you!

Living in the Moment also means not worrying about others mockery. Others will always be jealous of you and the freedom that you gain by being confident enough to live in the moment and following your dreams.

Those who point, laugh and whisper.

They’re the devils. They are poison to you and themselves. Don’t worry about them.

They are nothing.

Dr. Seuss said it best:

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” – Dr Seuss

Free Yourself

Living on impulse, feelings and emotions and always trusting your gut. That’s what living in the moment means. Go out and travel more, take a road trip, take the time to smell the roses along the way.

What about the others who lived in the moment and did what they wanted to do? They didn’t think about the future, they didn’t think about regrets. They didn’t think about the phone bill that is coming up or is a day past due because they forgot to pay it on time. They lived their lives. They traveled, they did things.

They experienced life as it mattered to them.

I’m not saying don’t pay your bills. Of course, pay your bills! I’m just saying don’t freak out about it for a year because you made one late payment.

Worry, worry, worry, worry and worry some more. Why Don’t Ya, Please.

So what! Big Deal. It’s not the end of the world. You’re not going to die. You got your health. Stop worrying and start living!

If you find yourself worrying about trivial things like that. The worry-cancer will begin to eat away at you every second, every minute and every hour of the day.

Carelessly consuming all the remaining minutes you have of your waking life.

It will consume you. It will run you and it will ruin you.

All while you call yourself living in a padded box (that is only temporarily yours), that you call home. Even if you paid off your mortgage – guess what? It’s still not yours!

You can’t take it with you!

Living in the Moment and Travel

Far too many times I speak to others about why they don’t get out and travel much or do more? The normal answer is that they can’t afford it. In the mean time they are splurging on lunches and dinners. They are also spending hundreds of dollars at the grocery when clearly there is no shortage of food at home.

In fact there is a surplus of food at home and it’s getting wasted!

The amount of money they just blew in a week could have easily paid for a couple of round trip tickets. Sure, they might have been domestic, but at least you could have gone somewhere.

This is mind boggling.

How can you say you can’t afford to go traveling more when you just blew 200 bucks on groceries? How can you say that you can’t afford to travel more when you just blew 200 bucks drinks and eating out this week?

This makes no sense.

But, I don’t have the Time to Travel

This is the other classic excuse. I don’t have the time.

You don’t make the time is what you should really be saying.

Okay, not everybody can afford to take a week, two weeks or more off of work to go somewhere. Not everybody is privileged enough to be location independent.

I get it.

You can still take a weekend and go fly away somewhere. You can even drive somewhere.

There just excuses – all of them.

Book your tickets in advance and save a little money. It’s not hard.

People Love Security

They love their comfy little couch far too much. It’s too much to sacrifice yummy meals for a couple of weeks then to go out and experience life and the world.

I know.

It boils down to you don’t want to leave your comfort zone. You don’t want to leave your warm little nest. You are far more happy splurging on overpriced meals and blowing excessive amounts of money on groceries and over stuffing your refrigerator and pantry at home.

That’s it.

That’s the truth.

The post Living in the Moment appeared first on Money for Travel.

Two of My Favorite Fruits

Fresh Apple and Fresh Coconut

Two of my favorite fruits are fresh Coconuts and fresh Apples. Yes, if you want to get into semantics I am aware that a Coconut is technically a drupe or an indehiscent fruit.

Yes, I can use Wikipedia too.

Either way, it doesn’t matter.

These are two of my favorite fruits.

And, I’m nuts for them!

The post Two of My Favorite Fruits appeared first on Money for Travel.