There’s only so much you can learn from a guidebook.

In an attempt to pull travelers away from their Lonely Planets, to help focus one’s reading of particular cities and countries, I have created a new page on this blog, “Location Reading.”

My list of fiction and non-fiction books is far from complete. That’s where you come in. Please comment below, or better yet, on the Location Reading page, with your favorite travel books and authors.

Eventually I will create a review/ranking system, and I hope to format the list in a more user-friendly way.

Let me know what you think!

[photo credit to Lochaven]

Book Details
Title: Deep Survival
Author: Laurence Gonzales
Page Count: 318
First Published: 2003

The principles apply to wilderness survival, but they also apply to any stressful, demanding situation, such as getting through a divorce, losing a job, surviving illness, recovering from an injury, or running a business in a rapidly changing world.

It was the summer of 2004, just outside of Aspen, Colorado in the Maroon Bells wilderness. Two friends and I were hiking the Four Pass Loop, a 25.4 mile trail that traverses four different mountain passes, each over 12,400 feet.

I’m no stranger to the outdoors. I was suitably apt for the challenge. My friends Brandon and Perry, both accomplished hikers, were right there with me. We had plotted and scouted out the hike beforehand, deciding to spend an extra day attempting to summit Snowmass Mountain, at 14,092 feet Colorado’s 34th highest peak.

In the summer, in Colorado’s mountains, the middle of the afternoon is the most likely time for the orographic lifting of warm, moist air. If you find yourself above treeline (11-12,000 feet) in the afternoon, you can expect storms. Quick-moving, wild and violent storms. It’s remarkably predictable.

The altitude made us sluggish and lethargic. We had neither a turnaround time nor backup plan. We underestimated how difficult and technical the ascent and descent would be. By the time we reached the summit, it was just before noon–clouds were rolling in. The sky, deep gray, ripped open. Rain and hail and snow, all at once. Lightning flashes and subsequent crackles.

As we scrambled down the other side of the mountain, I slipped. Luckily my 50lb backpack wedged itself into some rocks, so I only rolled about 15ft. My knees and arms were bloody, my adrenal glands operating at full capacity. It was only at that moment, staring at the red streaks on my limbs, the mixed precipitation still crashing down, that I realized–I could have died. This could have..been it.

After that experience, I never thought about survival the same way again. I understood how quickly one can be thrust into another environment.

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In his book Deep Survival, Laurence Gonzales explores survival–why is it that only 10-20% of people can stay calm and collected in the midst of a survival emergency? He interviews F-18 Hornet fighter pilots, cites drowning statistics in Hawaii and mentions a Japanese Imperial Army sergeant (Shoici Yokoi) who lived in the jungle, by himself, for 28 years before being told that World War II was over.

It’s a quick and entertaining read, a personal tale about the author’s relationship with fear and survival. Ultimately, Gonzales explains, a deep knowledge of the world around us is the best survival out there. “In certain kinds of systems,” he writes, “large accidents, though rare, are both inevitable and normal. The accidents are a characteristic of the system itself.”

What I Learned

I learned that when a decision to act must be made instantly, it is made through a system of emotional bookmarks. In nature, in business, in relationships–we all have to make tough decisions. It’s important to understand how the brain, the only organ with no clear function, Gonzales explains, processes these decisions. How to slow your thoughts down and make an intellectual and emotionally rational decision.

Psychologists who study survivors–of shipwrecks, plane crashes, prison camps, you name it–conclude that the most successful survivors are those open to the changing nature of their environment. Be flexible. Laugh. Stay curious and interested in what’s happening around you.

Would I recommend this book to you all? Absolutely. It’s full of unique tales of survival, and Gonzales is quite good at explaining the science behind the stories.

Notable Quotations

Survival is a continuous spiritual and physical act that spans a lifetime…nothing can truly be said to happen by chance, which is just a word we invented to explain the troublesome boundary between order and chaos.

There is evidence that laughter can send chemical signals to actively inhibit the firing of nerves in the amygdala, thereby dampening fear. Laughter, then, can help to temper negative emotions.

Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as a “beginner’s mountain.” It’s a concept that doesn’t work, like beginner sex.

Psychologists who study the behavior of people who get lose report that very few ever backtrack.

Miscellaneous Notes

-U.S. Army Ranger School is INTENSE—we’re talking eight weeks, 3.5 hours of sleep a night, eating only 2,200 calories a day on average

-St. Elmo’s fire: sailor term for when the negatively charged lower portion of a thunderstorm attracts a positive charge from the Earth as it moves over it. Anytime that charge reaches anything that can conduct electricity, such as a person, it moves up through the person and creates what’s known as a corona discharge (called “buzzing”)

-Risk homeostasis—people tend to keep the risk they are willing to take at about the same level; if the conditions are perceived as less risky, the person will take more risk, and if the conditions more risky, less risk is taken. [example: when antilock brakes were introduced it lead to an increase in traffic accidents!]

-Case study in not updating your mental model—Xerox. It ignored cues from a changing world and from inside its own Palo Alto research facility, nearly destroying itself in the process.

-Add “survival school” to my bucket list!
Have you read this book? What are your thoughts?

When I travel, I rarely gallivant–you know, wonder aimlessly, jazz around with no particular purpose in mind.

Weeks before a trip, I look up specific sites, research what languages are spoken, what foods to expect. I try to familiarize myself with a location’s particular history and culture. By doing this, I can travel more optimally. I can have a more fulfilling trip.

Yet many of the elements in a city, in a country, are often overlooked or simply cannot be researched beforehand–things like air and road quality, perception of foreigners, smells, small and subtle cultural innuendos. Do I shake hands? Do I nod my head up and down to signify “yes?” Do people…smile here?

It was with these thoughts that I entered Algeria.

Ten minutes into my first taxi ride, my driver, teetering through the wide-laned rush hour traffic of Algiers, was flagged down by a policeman.

C’est le dérangement! Un barrage police.

An inconvenience, annoyance, or disorder–a police roadblock. Oh to be speaking French again!

The driver and policeman exchanged a delicate combination of French and Arabic. I picked up the word “Michael Schumacher” and looked over at the policeman. He was laughing hysterically. I guess the roadblock wasn’t as serious as I had originally made it out to be. The driver displayed his paperwork, smiled, waved, and drove off like nothing had happened. C’est le dérangement, he repeated.

Known for the flickering white of its seaside buildings, Algiers is often called Alger la Blance, or Algiers the White. The city, a series of potted one-way roads that meander up and down hills, past mosques and minarets and small shops like Alimentation Generale and Fruits et Légumes, is the second largest city in the Maghreb, an Arabic term for the five countries–Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania–that compose North Africa.

The port of Algiers, situated on the west side of a Mediterranean Sea bay, is the most important port in North Africa. Perhaps this explains why it’s also the most expensive city in North Africa, and interestingly enough, the 50th most expensive worldwide.

Unfortunately, a combination of work, weather and serious jet lag prevented me from properly exploring the city. In my one free afternoon, eager to escape the hustle and bustle of central Algiers, I spent an hour walking through the Jardin d’Essai, a nearly 200-acre park/garden with exotic plants from all over the world. I walked through bamboo groves, past towering fountains, looking at plants from Australia, Mexico, Brazil and Southeast Asia. It was pleasant and serene, just what I needed after a hectic schedule of road-darting and price-scribbling.

I let my mind wander. Signs in Arabic, like the one below, took on wild, dangerous meanings. Man-Eating Dandelions! Stay on Path! Folks, this is what happens after traveling alone for so long. You start to…lose it a bit.

I think there’s a reason that Anthony Bourdain hasn’t filmed his travel show, No Reservations, in Algeria. Besides several roasted chicken stands like Le Roi de Poulet, Algiers’ gastronomic culture leaves much to be desired. Street food, at least in my short, week-long experience–and that’s what travelers do, we draw conclusions on limited observations–consists of roasted chicken, burgers, kebabs and fries. Typical fast food fare–here, the McDonald’s is Quality Burger.

Though I must say, after a bit of research, I found a couple of restaurants worth writing home about. El Djenina was fantastic–the best cous-cous I’ve ever had. And they even served Tango, Algeria’s only local beer! Another restaurant, Le Taj Mahal, was completely empty when walked in. I wish it werent, because the Indian food was sumptious and spicy and all kinds of good. If you ever find yourself in Algiers, craving Indian food (am I the only one?), Le Taj Mahal is your place.

Algiers, to sum it up, is an interesting place–certainly not a hub for tourists like Casablanca or Tunis, but I predict that they’re on their way. Give them ten years. Lots of exciting new development projects in the works, and plenty of culture and good-natured people. I hope to return!

I’ll leave you with a short clip of Algerian television, brought to you from room 630 at the hotel El-Aurassi.

Camel tricks! Enjoy

Consider a business incubator. Or a seed-stage accelerator. Or a startup program. Whatever you want to call it.

Here’s the gist. Each of these 6 programs is specifically designed to help early-stage startups get their idea up and running…the right way. From help with paperwork and business plans to access to VCs (venture capitalists) and entrepreneurial professionals, these programs are an amazing avenue for startups that haven’t gained traction, that are looking for a way to take things to the next level.

I first learned of these programs back in 2005, when I read that an old hiking buddy of mine, Sam Altman–founder of Loopt–had dropped out of Stanford and hooked up with Y-Combinator for additional support. Read about Y-Combinator and 5 other programs below.

Y-Combinator

Location: Mountain Park (Silicon Valley), California
Website: http://www.ycombinator.com

Certainly the most well known seed-stage accelerator company, Y-Combinator–founded in 2005–offers two 3-month programs each year to its applicants. In exchange for acception into the program, Y-Combinator takes on average about 6% of the company’s equity; $17,000 for startups with 2 founders and $20,000 for those with 3 or more.

As of early 2010, Y-Combinator has funded 172 startups, including Loopt, reddit and Justin.tv. Check out this interview (courtesy of mixergy.com) with front man Paul Graham to learn more.

Business Tips via Mixergy, home of the ambitious upstart!

Seedcamp

Location: London, England
Website: http://seedcamp.com

Seedcamp was created to “jumpstart the entrepreneurial community in Europe by connecting next generation developers and entrepreneurs with over 400 mentors from a top-tier network of company builders; including seed investors, serial entrepreneurs, product experts, HR and PR specialists, marketers, lawyers, recruiters, journalists and venture capitalists.”

Their flagship event, Seedcamp Week, takes place each September. At the end of the event, 5 teams are selected to receive an investment, typically €30-50k. These winning companies are invited to stay in London for a further 3-month period to develop their idea with Seedcamp’s support.

TechStars

Location: Boulder, Colorado; Boston, Massachusetts & Seattle, Washington
Website: http://www.techstars.org

Founded in 2006, TechStars provides seed funding for teams forming web/software companies.  Similar to Y-Combinator, companies receive up to $18,000 and a flat 6% equity stake. Here are a few companies that went through the TechStars program: Travelfli, oneforty, DailyBurn.

NextStart

Location: Greenville, South Carolina
Website: http://www.nextstart.org

From the NextStart website:

Do you have a creative and unique idea for a new product, new venture, new business model? Do you dream about getting to know people who want to help you, provide a little bit of money, and teach you what to do next? If so, we invite you to apply to the NextStart program. If you are one of the start-up teams selected, we will provide you with a small $5,000 initial investment per entrepreneur (maximum $10,000 per start-up), office space for the summer, access to workshops and programs, and a network of experienced mentors who will help you refine your ideas and launch your business. At the end of the summer, you will have an opportunity to present your business plan to potential investors.

I haven’t heard much about this particular program, but if you’re in or around South Carolina, it appears worth checking out!

Bootup Labs

Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
Website: http://bootuplabs.com

Taking founders from “concept to company,” Bootup Labs offers an 8-month program with intakes of 6 startups in January and May. Based in Vancouver, Bootup Labs targets  consumer internet, mobile, gaming and enterprise internet businesses. Like other incubators, Bootup Labs offers a $100,000 convertible line of credit for 5-15% in equity.

The Difference Engine

Location: Middlesbrough & Sunderland, England
Website: http://www.thedifferenceengine.eu

What looks to be a spanking new digital acceleration program (and claims to be the first major one in Europe), The Difference Engine is a 16-week program that “combines investment capital of £20,000 (for 8% of the business) with mentoring, support and office accommodation with various other services provided by our partners.”

Their very first program starts this month (February 2010)! I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out.

Imagine this: it’s three in the morning and you’re plodding through knee-high puddles. You’re hungry. The last time you slept was twenty six hours ago, and that was only for twenty minutes.

The pre-dawn air is heavy. Lengths ahead, past a patch of Alaskan fireweed, you hear distant ruffling, darting your eyes just quick enough to see bodies scrambling up the ravine. The first six checkpoints were tough, but this last one has taken nearly a day to reach. With seventy hours of racing left, it promises to be an exciting finish.

Welcome to the world of endurance racing, where elite athletes navigate and compete in courses hundreds of miles long. Equipped with ultralight, weather-resistant gear and using tools most laypeople have never even heard of, like UTM Grid Readers, prusik loops and gaiters, these athletes battle their mental and physiological limits for a first place finish. Training is intense. Strategy is meticulously rehearsed. As competitors plot through the course, bodies become nature-beaten and sleep-deprived.

In college, I raced a few Bonk Hard events in Missouri’s Ozark wilderness, and boy was it fun. Planning food, clothing and gear for a nearly 18-hour day–not to mention the training beforehand–was a downright awesome challenge. Never have I understood the term “fatigued” more than I did at the end of one race, the Bonk Hard Chill. My 4-person team, MAKE WAY, was the last able-bodied team to cross the finish line at 17h 40m. I remember eating cold spaghetti and having a hard time walking. And this was me in excellent shape.

Receiving course instructions the night before the race.

Endurance racing, or adventure racing, is a quirky subculture of ultra athletes that has, over the last thirty or so years, developed into a highly competitive sport. There are small adventure races like the Bonk Hard Chill, and there are ones much larger and more elite. Seemingly impossible events like the Vendée Globe, a non-stop round-the-world yacht race that can take upwards of three months to finish.

Thought by many to be the world’s toughest ocean race, the Vendée Globe takes place every four years. Leaving port off the coast of western France, crews head straight to Antarctica, where they circumnavigate the continent, always clockwise, and race back to France. Over the years, yachts have capsized. Competitors have been lost at sea. In the most recent 2008/2009 race, eleven teams finished. Nineteen did not.

Last-minute gear checking the morning of the race.

Land races are just as ruthless. The Badwater Ultramarathon is a 135-mile course that climbs from Death Valley to Mount Whitney; from 282 feet below sea level, the lowest point in contiguous America, to 8360 feet above sea level, the trailhead to the highest. Due to the intensity of the foot race (again, deemed one of the world’s toughest), entry is by invitation only, and if you can believe it, demand to participate each year typically exceeds the number of available spots.

While the race organizers do not award prize money, any runner who completes the course in sixty hours or less receives a commemorative medal, and anyone strong (and crazy) enough to finish within forty-eight hours gets a belt-buckle. Yes, a measly belt-buckle. Year after year, even some of the most elite ultramarathoners are not able to finish.

In 2009, nearly forty teams of four competed in Primal Quest, one of the most prestigious expedition-length races in the world. Racers gathered in the Badlands of South Dakota to mountain bike, paddle, swim, climb, cave and foot-race their way across 557 miles of remote and unforgiving terrain.

What drives these athletes to endure such harsh conditions? How do they stay alert and focused? What does it feel like to complete an endurance race, to cross the finish line with your limbs still intact? I imagine only a few people in the world are qualified enough to answer these questions.

Let the training begin.

Note: those who know me well will realize that the majority of this post was published already on TheRugged.com, a new men’s lifestyle magazine. I’d like to do a more in-depth look at some of the particular races, maybe even a comparative study. What do you think?

Katie Sorene, author of the original blog post on Tripbase, writes:

Been somewhere amazing you’d never even heard of? You want to let your buddies in on the secret, right? Read on for my top travel gems!

What’s interesting about travel is that the places / hotels / restaurants that everyone agrees are fantastic, are often not so fantastic.

And even if they are, it can all be a bit predictable.

Now what’s really fun is when you find somewhere obscure that is truly out of this world.

You can’t believe your luck to have stumbled across this travel gem. How could you not have heard of this place before??

You want to shout it from the rooftops.

So here goes… these are My 3 Best Kept Travel Secrets

Fortunately, my job has taken me to some fairly wacky destinations. Below are three that I would like to share with you.

Akagera National Park, Rwanda

An offbeat, cheaper alternative to the traditional African safari.

From Kigali, Rwanda’s capital city, Akagera National Park is only a few hours away. Why pay $700+ to see Silverback gorillas when, for a third of the cost, you can hire a private driver and guide for a personal safari?

Last February, I found a hotel employee in Kigali that had access to a four-wheel drive vehicle and negotiated a $200 day trip to Akagera. We left at 6am, and on arrival at Akagera learned that the ~$30 entrance fee included a complimentary guide. SWEET.

The safari was amazing. We drove around for 5ish hours and saw a herd of elephants, a Masai giraffe, several Cape Buffalo, Oribi, Reedbuck, and an Olive Baboon that tried to climb into our car! If you have more time, you can arrange to stay overnight–lion spotting anyone?

Click here for: my blog post on Akagera National Park

Chernobyl Day Tour, Outside of Kiev, Ukraine

An intimate, exotic and informative tour of the world’s most infamous radioactive disaster zone.

Many of you out there have taken a group tour. I’ll go ahead and say it–Chernobyl is the wildest and most fun tour I have ever taken. For $180 you can hitch a ride from Kiev with Solo East Travel. During your1-2 hour drive, you’ll watch an American-made documentary about the Chernobyl disaster.

The tour group was small–no more than 17 people. We drove into the zone of exclusion to take pictures and to Pripyat, the ghost town next to Chernobyl known for its abandoned school, hospital and playground.

Click here for: my blog post on Chernobyl

Old City, Damascus, Syria

The most vibrant and dashing city I’ve ever been to.

Get lost in the narrow and twisting conduits of colors and smells and shops. Become wildly intoxicated with the periodic call of the muezzin–an exotic soundtrack of sorts, a strange, permeating presence you have to hear to really..well..feel. Take a trip to Damascus’ Old City, the oldest continually habituated place on Earth.

Syria is an enigmatic country, psychologically inaccessible to most of us Westerners. Hop off the beaten path and travel to one of the world’s most interesting places, bar none. Take it from me; the culture is overwhelming in the most pleasant of ways, the food (and sheesha) is ambrosial.

Click here for: my blog post on Syria

Wad of Turkmenistani Manat
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan 11/08

If there’s anything I’ve learned since stepping outside the college bubble and into the real world, it’s that financial literacy in America is piss poor. Every day, personal budgets are neglected, debts are magnified and irrational decisions are made. Did you know that at the end of 2008, the average credit card debt per American household–regardless of whether they had a credit card or not–was $8,329? Pretty wild, when you think about it. Given that the average interest rate on a credit card is roughly 15%, a household with that much debt can generate over $1,200/month in additional interest debt. Yikes.

Just over ten months ago I wrote Mapping Your Financial Infrastructure, an article about the importance of deconstructing your finances. You know, where money comes from. Where it goes. How much (and in what capacity) you save and invest. It was a good first-step in my adult life–systematically observing how money flows in and out, looking for ways to optimize.

In a continous effort to stay on top of my finances, I recently reread I Will Teach You To Be Rich, my choice when it comes to all things “personal finance.” Yes, the title is scammy-sounding and seemingly presumptuous,  but trust me, the author knows his stuff. Over the last month, I have taken his advice to heart and made a few infrastructural changes.

Credit Cards and Frequent Flyer Miles

I applied for a new credit card, the Citi® Platinum Select® / AAdvantage® World MasterCard®. Long after my career as a cost-of-living surveyor is over, I still plan on traveling. This card has a much better airline rewards program than my previous card, the Bank of America WorldPoints Rewards Visa. I get 30,000 American Airline miles for signing up, and the annual fee is waived for the first year. Normally I’m against the idea of an annual fee (in this case $85), but all the best credit card reward programs have fees. Note: I did not close my BoA Visa! It has a really high credit limit ($13,600), so closing my access to that limit would significantly and negatively impact my credit score.

From Bank of America to Schwab

I moved checking accounts from Bank of America to Schwab. Lately I’ve had a couple of situational issues with Bank of America and I’ve been looking for a reason to move on to greener pastures. I chose Schwab’s High Yield Investor Checking account. Schwab comes highly recommended for a variety of reasons; customer service, the fact that they reimburse ATM fees and a strong paperless system, to note a few. I was also attracted to Schwab because they make it easy to set up and fund a Roth IRA.

Opening a Roth IRA

For the last few years I had been investing $100/month into Class-A American Funds. While the American Fund family consistently outperforms its peers 1-2% each year, each Class-A fund has a 5.5% load, or fee. This means that for every $100 I invest, I’m only really investing $94.50. It’s not much, but with so many other no-fee options out there, I want to capitalize on compound interest.

I stopped putting $100/month into the American Funds and chose to open a no-fee Roth IRA instead. If you’re not familiar with the benefits of maxing out your Roth IRA contributions, read this.

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The point I want to make is this. In today’s digital age, tracking and controlling and optimizing your personal finances has never been easier. The tools are there. The Internet makes it…so…damn…easy.  Over the last month, the two or three hours I spent making the changes above will no doubt save me thousands down the road.

Do yourself a favor this week. Take a peek at your financial situation and see if there’s any room for positive changes. Do a little research. Fill some holes. I’d be happy to entertain any questions you have about credit cards, savings accounts and the like. I’m no expert, but hopefully I can point you in the right direction

Welcome to a series of profiles on alternative lifestyles. If you think that you (or someone you know) would make for an interesting interview, then drop me a line. I know there are plenty of you out there Hope you enjoy!

Meet the Redpaths. Living proof that just because you’re not a 20-something doesn’t mean you can’t travel! The Redpaths are a full-fledged family, four total; Brenna and Bob, Owen and Eleanor. Brenna reached out to me via email, and when I checked out their site, From Here to Uncertainty, I discovered that the Redpaths homeschool their children.

Truthfully, I knew very little about homeschooling when I asked Brenna about her family’s experiences. Methods. Perceptions. The logistical and psychological trials and tribulations. Brenna was more than happy to answer a few questions for us. If you’re interested in learning more, check out her post on homeschooling or her  interview with Christine at Almost Fearless.

Brenna, let’s get started!

Had you always wanted to homeschool?

We started thinking about the idea of homeschooling when our oldest kid was 3. I did a lot of research, and went to some homeschooling conferences to learn more. By the time he was school age we had decided.

What prompted the decision?

Not any one thing really. Our decision was never about avoiding public school, it was more about being able to dive deeply into interests, and follow passions. Here’s a quote that has helped to form our home school philosophy: “Education is not the filling of a vessel, but the kindling of a flame” -Socrates

Where have you traveled so far?

We have a pretty short list for our 7 months on the road! We slow travel, renting an apartment for a month or two in one city, and taking smaller trips from there. We started our trip in Serbia with friends. We spent a few weeks in Belgrade, and a few weeks in the Serbian countryside. We’ve “lived” in Krakow, Poland; Bamberg, Germany; Perth, Scotland; and Edinburgh, Scotland. We’ve spent a week or less in Vienna, Budapest, Venice, Stuttgart, Isle Of Skye, Oban, Rothenburg, Dresden, Germany’s Romantic Road, and taken day trips to other places.

How long have you been homeschooling?

Owen is 11, and Eleanor is 8, so 6 years (which some days feels like 60).

Are certain countries more kid-friendly than others?

Not in our experience. We’ve only been to relatively tame countries, and we tend to seek out more family-friendly places. We have been surprised at how much our kids have enjoyed more typically “adult” things: the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice for instance, and the ballet in Stuttgart.

Every country does have it’s own way, of course, and the kids have taken a watch-and-learn attitude. For instance, we lived very close to the Town Square in Krakow, where there was a large sculpture by Igor Mitoraj. Local kids as well as tourists climbed all over it, using it as a jungle gym and for photo ops. Coincidentally, just down the street from our apartment in Bamberg, Germany there was a similar sculpture by the same artist. No one even touched the sculpture in Germany.

As far as homeschooling, it varies. Most people assume we’re on vacation until we keep showing up at their cafe day after day. By then they know us. Scotland has a wonderful homeschooling community, and people are really open to it. There is a spectrum of homeschooling acceptance throughout Europe both socially and legally, but from our experience the US is one of the countries at the forefront of homeschooling.

Are there any countries you wouldn’t take your family?

Sure. Safety definitely comes before adventure, and we’re not “Adventure Junkies”, although it does sound fun! Having said that, one person’s prudent destination is another person’s nightmare. We had some family members who weren’t wild about the idea of us starting our trip in Serbia. We try to be smart. For instance, we’re planning a trip to Morocco in March. If we didn’t have kids we would probably fly into Marrakesh and then just figure out the rest. Instead we’re making reservations. We’re planning a month of volunteering in the spring, and I’m looking forward to venturing more outside our comfort zones. It will be good for all of us.

What resources do you use as curriculum?

Owen and Ella both use an online program for basics. We keep notebooks for their work. We do a lot of reading out loud on our Kindle, choosing books that are set in the places we’re visiting. We read The Thief Lord just before we hit Venice. Owen has become addicted to the  Sherlock Holmes series now that we’re in Edinburgh. He loves reading, and I build around that. For instance, we’re going to Stonehenge in a few weeks, and he is super excited. I made him a deal: I’ll spring for the tickets that get us inside the stone circle, and he reads up on Stonehenge so that he can be our tour guide. Ella is pen pals with a 2nd grade class in Illinois. We help her write emails about her adventures, and they tell her about what they’re doing in school. Ella is a lover of art, and I link as much to that as I can. The paintings in a church lead to a conversation about the social climate of the time. History and Geography, obviously, come pretty naturally this year.

Any specific companies, websites, social gatherings?

Time 4 Learning is an online curriculum, and it’s terrific in many ways. The presentation works well for my kids. They can advance as fast as they like, or as slow as necessary. They aren’t held to a certain grade level. All progress is documented online and accessible anywhere.

Handwriting Without Tears has been a great program for my kids for learning both printing and cursive.

Starfall is a learn-to-read website geared for younger learners.

And then of course there’s Google for all of the obvious reasons. I can’t imagine doing what we’re doing, the traveling OR the homeschooling, without the internet and Google.

We mentioned the Kindle, which we all fight over. It’s a hell of a lot lighter than the wall of bookshelves we had at home.

As far as social gatherings – it depends on where you live. In Southern California there is a vibrant homeschooling community (which I miss very much). Some areas of the US, and of the world, have more going on than others.

What’s the hardest part of home schooling for you, the teacher, and for your kids, the students.

Such a good question! The hardest part for me has changed over the years. I think that in the beginning I didn’t have a fundamental trust that kids learn because they’re built to. Give them the opportunity, and they’re sponges. These days it’s juggling everything: working, traveling, teaching, mothering. Just like everyone I guess.

Owen says: The hardest part is when there’s not always someone available to help me. I’m impatient.
Eleanor says: I don’t know – it’s not really hard.

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You can follow the Redpaths’ adventures in world education at From Here to Uncertainty. If you have any additional questions or comments, feel free to comment below and I’ll do my best to make sure they see them!

Soon I’ll be traveling back to survey-land. Back to a world of bribes and border crossings, Embassy escapades and interesting transits. A world of pseudo-espionage, where pussyfooting supermarket aisles for 4+ hours is the norm.

Can’t wait to get back on the road. I’ve been itching to cause more trouble out there. Here’s a brief outline of my trip. If you or anyone you know would like to meet up in the following 4 cities, get in touch!

Charlotte, North Carolina

First stop, Charlotte! I hope to take a 1/2 day and drive to Asheville, a town known for its local culture, seasonal festivals and arts and crafts. Just my kind of place to explore. I’ll also be meeting up with a friend I used to row crew with back in college. Since my brother will be living here over the summer, I’ll do my best to scout out Charlotte’s finest dive bars and cheap eats.

Cincinnati, Ohio

Barbecue! I’ve already got a place picked out. I’ll also be meeting up with a good friend from college who, from what I hear, lives in a happening part of town.

Algiers, Algeria

Have never been to North Africa before, so this should be a pretty wild experience. Hoping to practice my French and digest Algerian culture and see some sites. There’s a part of town called Casbah which dates back to the 17th century and has some fun-looking mosques. There’s also a Serbian cemetery. More research to be done..

Tripoli, Libya

I still have my fingers crossed for the visa. First time I have ever had to translate my passport into another language (Arabic). My faith is strong–if my company can sneak me into Turkmenistan, then I’m sure I’ll have no problem with Libya. Right?

A lot to do here, and with a Mediterranean climate, I’ll be spending as much time outside as I can. I hope to sample Libyan cuisine and wash it down with a selection of non-alcoholic beers. They’ve got quite the selection from what I understand.

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I’ve got a few posts left in me before I go, so stay tuned. In other news, tomorrow morning I will take part in the 21-Day No Complaint Experiment. Click the link for details. What better way to kick off my 24th birthday?

What is a Niche Market?

One of my 2010 goals is to make at least $500 in supplemental income. While there a million and one ways to do this, I thought it would be an interesting (and ultimately beneficial?) experiment to focus on online niche marketing.

The core idea, from what I’ve come to understand, is a three-stage process:

1. Pick a niche
2. Build a website for the niche, focusing on search-engine-optimization (SEO) strategies
3. Monetize the website

Matt Kepnes (of nomadicmatt.com) and Kirsty Henderson (of nerdynomad.com) are good examples of people who have made this system work. By creating highly specific, keyword-optimized sites, both Matt and Kirsty generate enough money each month to sustain their world travels. Pretty remarkable, when you think about it. Oh, another thing. Once the site is set up, little to no maintenance is required. It’s a textbook example of passive income.

To give you an idea of what a niche site looks like, check out How To Teach English Overseas. It’s simple, mostly text-based and brimming with relevant information. Throughout the pages you’ll find Google Ads, but on the home page you can also see a small affiliate banner. One website, two different sources of monthly income–good work.

Picking and Evaluating a Niche

No one can tell you how to pick the right niche. There are several different strategies. That being said, the following steps should help get you started.

Step 1: pick keywords
Choose too broad of a niche and your site won’t stand out in the search engine’s algorithm. An example: “water bottle.” Type it into Google and you’ll see 22,800,000 competing sites. Yikes. Think about keywords that are smaller in scope. Instead of “water bottle,” try “thermos flask.” Or “stainless steel flask.” You’ll see why this matters in steps two and three. Of course, if you choose too narrow of a niche you won’t get any traffic!

Step 2: evaluate keyword metrics
Check out Google AdWords: Keyword Tool. Type your keywords into the search box and you’ll see a ton of information. Concentrate on the Global Monthly Search Volume. That tells you how many people are searching for those keywords in Google, around the world, each month. Write that number down.

Step 3: determine competition
Go to Google.com and type in your keywords. In the upper right part of the screen, do you see where it says Results 1-10 of about…? That tells you how many sites are competing for the same keyword set. Write that number down as well.

The key, you might have realized, is to find a set of keywords with high monthly search volume and low competing pages. If you’ve done that, you already have a huge advantage. Of course, there are several other elements to consider, but these are the basics.

At the moment, I’m working on building content for two sites of my own. Here are the statistics for both keyword sets.

Keywords 1: 22,200 global monthly searches / 291,000 competing sites

Keywords 2: 40,500 global monthly searches / 98,400 competing sites

Once I finalize my content (at least the first stage of content), I will show you both sites and walk you through my efforts at SEO, marketing and monetization.

Have you had any experience with niche marketing? Any tips you could provide? Did this post even make sense?