Thailand

I’ve managed to end up in Thailand every year since Brent and I first visited in 2012. This time, my visit was part of a preview trip for the TBEX Asia conference in Bangkok. It was a whirlwind one-week trip, which involved a visit to a new part of the country (Trang, which, it’s worth mentioning, has some insanely beautiful beaches and distinctive Thai Muslim cuisine). Thailand has a way of following me everywhere I go (like when one of the hotels I reviewed in Acapulco had mainly Thai staff), and although I have no plans to return right now, I wouldn’t be surprised if I find myself there again in 2016.

Mexico

Most of my other traveling this year has been on assignments as a writer/photographer for Oyster.com. The transition from traveling slowly and mainly with Brent to traveling alone with a bursting schedule has resulted in dizzying highs and dark lows. I’m unbelievably grateful to be getting paid to do things I would truly do for free (and totally have done in the past!)

My first assignment in June took me to Isla Mujeres, a low-key little island located off the coast of Cancun. It was my first time visiting Mexico, and I lucked out hugely with this picturesque, walkable, and unintimidating destination. I took lots of long beach strolls and squeezed profuse amounts of lime over endless fish tacos.

I was back in Mexico again in July — this time visiting Acapulco. Big, brash, and fringed with the kind of violence that makes many people afraid to travel to Mexico, Acapulco couldn’t have been more different than Isla Mujeres. I didn’t connect well with Acapulco, partly because I didn’t feel comfortable exploring certain neighborhoods and partly because the city’s focus on nightlife and mega resorts doesn’t jive with my locally-minded style of traveling. It did, however, provide an interesting perspective on solo travel safety. I spent several stressful weeks before the trip sorting reliable sources from hype as I tried to determine if Acapulco was a destination that I could safely travel to alone.

Aruba

In October, I kicked off what is likely to be many more Caribbean travels in Aruba. I initially felt a bit turned off by the country’s tourism slogan, “One Happy Island,” which seemed pandering, but I was pretty much sold on it by the end of my trip. There are more than 40 nationalities living on this 193 km² patch of land, and by all accounts they live peacefully together. Warm, welcoming, and multi-cultural, Aruba definitely had a Utopian feel.

The truth is that I’m still finding my love for the Caribbean. It seems like most residents on most islands earn their income from tourism, and when you add in complex histories with multiple different foreign rulers, the result is that the identity of each island seems kind of muddled and hidden. I’ve found I’ve had to work harder here than in other countries to find something real beneath the seashell souvenirs and flashy resort pools. Finding restaurants specializing in local cuisine has become part of my strategy, along with taking advantage of my rental cars and immersing myself through long drives.

Puerto Rico

In November, I headed to Puerto Rico for another two-week-long assignment. After visiting so many beach destinations, the colorful, cobblestone-paved streets of Old San Juan offered a welcome change of pace (although, of course, Puerto Rico has some awesome beaches too). The trip was also filled with peaceful drives through dramatic, hilly landscapes, including a visit to the lechoneras found along Guavate’s popular Pork Highway.

St. Martin

I closed out 2015 with a quick one-week assignment in St. Martin. Like Aruba, St. Martin is a tiny island that’s home to an incredible mishmash of cultures. The island is split into a Dutch side (Sint Maarten) and a French side (Saint Martin). The countries share the island amicably, with an open border connecting the two sides. I preferred the easy-going French side over the touristy Dutch side, which is where most of the cruise ships dock. Of course, my opinion is also heavily influenced by the French side’s lolos — casual, roadside restaurants that serve mind-blowing Creole food.

What’s Next?

I’ll be traveling on more assignments for Oyster.com in 2016. So far I know I’ll be heading to Nassau in January and Grand Cayman in February. My other trips this year will likely continue to focus on the Caribbean, but anything is possible.

I’m sure it’s obvious from my infrequent posting schedule that my relationship with this blog has changed this year as well. I’ve come to realize that this blog serves me better as a leverage for income rather than a direct source of it. I’ve been spending more and more time focusing on the freelance work the blog helps me score, and less time on the blog itself.

This said, I’ve been noticing my voice as a writer has weakened over the past year. I’m writing more than ever — virtually every day — but that writing is almost always for clients and therefore requires me to write in a specified tone and style. Now when I sit down to write for no one but myself, I feel kind of lost without a style guide. While I’ll likely never return to weekly posts, I’m aiming to write much more on this blog in 2016 — if only because I think it’s important protect and nourish my unique writing voice independent of paid assignments.

In the meantime, I’m still contributing regularly over a Twenty-Something Travel, and you can always follow along with my travels in (almost) real time on Instagram.

It’s been a while, guys! Where did you go in 2015? Any advice for Nassau and Grand Cayman?

The post 2015 in Review appeared first on Ways of Wanderers Travel Blog.

I arrived in Mexico as I arrive in most new countries: Sweaty, hair matted from dozing against the headrest during the flight, and furiously determined not to let some fast-talking cab driver grab my bags and hustle me into his taxi before negotiating a rate. For the first time (yet another first), I was going to be reimbursed for my taxi expenses but I was determined to get a fair rate anyway. I’ve taken hundreds of cabs in dozens of countries, and naively overpaid for far too many of them.

The driver asked if I wanted the air-conditioning on, but instead I wanted the windows wide open. This was in part because I was chilly from walking through the airport, which, like movie theaters, are always aggressively air-conditioned. But I also wanted to feel the humid heat, smell all those unfamiliar scents, and say hello to Mexico.

Traveling for work turned out to be both exhausting and thrilling. Thrilling because I was getting paid to travel, a true dream job. Exhausting because my schedule was packed. I usually travel ultra-slow – I’ve been more of a serial expat than a long-term travel over the last few years – and this trip was the complete opposite. It was hyper-speed.

Not only did I have just a week on the island, but 90% of that week was filled with assignments. As a result, food became my focus. I reasoned that while I might not have time to go diving or visit the turtle farm, I could instead get to know Isla Mujeres through its food. In general, I find myself increasingly drawn to food as a traveler. I rarely feel connected to a country through exploring its sites. I’m never quite sure how to properly appreciate a site. I can marvel at it and snap a few photos, but it doesn’t feel tangible somehow. But food? Food, I can take in my hands and taste. Food, I know how to appreciate. Food shows me everything I need to know about a culture. The ingredients used, the way it’s prepared, even how it’s served and eaten – all of it reveals so much about the country’s way of life, customs, and values.

Like many people who aren’t accustomed to traveling alone, food was also one of my biggest challenges. I didn’t see many solo travelers on Isla Mujeres, mostly couples and families. Going to a restaurant meant slapping on a smile and deflecting the looks of concern and direct questions from well-meaning servers wondering why I was all by myself.

I think that’s why the most magical meal I had was at a tiny open-air restaurant on the beach, called Minino’s Cocteleria. A Twitter acquaintance had recommended I try their ceviche. So I did, and it was perfectly tangy and fresh, served with thick, crunchy tortilla chips. I sat at a plastic table with my feet in the sand, and watched an impossibly pink sunset make its way over the ocean. A mariachi band came and serenaded the table behind me. Distracted by the band and the sunset, no one seemed to be paying attention to the fact that I was alone.

On my day off, I took a taxi to the south end of the island to see the Mayan temple. It was a long drive, during which my driver and I pointed at different passing objects and taught each other the words – him the Spanish and me the English, of course.

Worn down by hurricanes over the centuries, the temple is a crumbling little building covered with colourful bits of paper. It sits on the Cliff of Dawn, where frothy waves and  swirling winds batter the rugged coast. It’s the easternmost point in Mexico, and the first place where the sun touches the country each morning.

The post Alone on Isla Mujeres appeared first on Ways of Wanderers Travel Blog.

So. Much. Cheese.

I’ve always loved cheese. I’ve been known to decline a proper dinner in favour of big hunks of brie stacked on crackers or smoothed over fresh bread. After being relatively deprived of really good cheese while living in Asia over the past few years, my obsession with it has only further intensified.

Looking back, I’m fairly certain that every meal or snack I ate during my four days in Milwaukee involved cheese in some way; whether it was a crumbly mature cheddar as part of an appetizer, or even the Wac Mac sandwich I ate at the Milwaukee Public Market for lunch (and yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like – a grilled cheese-style sandwich filled with mac n’ cheese).

Milwaukee is the only place outside of Canada that I’ve ever seen cheese curds. I thought we Canadians had perfected the serving of the cheese curd – layered with French fries and gravy – but the deep fried cheese curds I tried in Milwaukee had me reconsidering if poutine is the only proper way to enjoy them. They tasted a bit like mozzarella sticks, only way better.

Cool Breweries

Aside from cheese, beer is the easily second thing that comes to mind when most people think of Milwaukee  – apparently Wisconsin is actually home to more bars than grocery stores. Although the city’s reputation for beer was built by big brands like Pabst, Blatz, and Schlitz, it’s microbreweries that have been strengthening its status in recent years.

As you might expect, a number of Milwaukee’s breweries also offer tours. You might think that once you’ve seen one brewery tour you’ve seen them all – I know I did- but tours of Lakefront Brewery of truly one-of-a-kind. Most of the brewery’s guides also work as stand-up comics and the result is informative and engaging tours that blend rapid-fire jokes with genuinely interesting facts about the brewing process.

Seriously Awesome People

I’ll admit that describing a place as offering a mix of big city sophistication and small town charm is a bit of a cliché, yet that was exactly my impression of Milwaukee.

When our BlogHouse group descended on the Milwaukee Public Market to take a paparazzi-like level of photos, I feel like we might have been met with annoyance or suspicion in a different capital; but in Milwaukee people were friendly and earnestly curious about what we were doing. Similarly, when our group hit the Uber Tap Room, a café attached to the Wisconsin Cheese Mart, a few customers sitting along the bar immediately started offering unsolicited beer recommendations.

I can remember dozens of other little moments like these ones throughout trip – moments in which the locals felt like one big family collectively welcoming me into a home that they’re deeply proud of. (Plus there’s just something impossibly disarming about those Upper Midwestern accents).

There’s A Lot More to Do

While I’m so grateful to have participated in BlogHouse, it did mean that a good portion of my time in Milwaukee was spent in a conference room and as a result, I didn’t get to see as much of the city as I would have liked. For example, I only caught a glimpse of the Milwaukee Art Museum, known for the crazy cool sunscreen on its roof which opens and closes like a set of flapping wings.

My trip also fell a little too early to experience Summerfest, touted as “World’s Largest Music Festival.”  The festival, which features performances by more than 800 different bands, is held over eleven days in June and early July each year.

Plus, let’s be honest, there was only so much cheese and beer I could reasonably consume over a few days – so next summer, I’m definitely going back for more.

Have you been to Milwaukee?

Big thanks to the sponsors of BlogHouse Milwaukee: Visit Milwaukee, Travel Wisconsin,  Potawatomi Casino, Flipkey, and the Bartolotta Restaurant Group

The post Why I’m Going Back to Milwaukee appeared first on Ways of Wanderers Travel Blog.

I’m sure we came across as even more erratic than usual as friends, family, and acquaintances continually asked us what was next and our answers varied each time – sometimes it was Germany; other times Guatemala or Ecuador – because the truth was that we didn’t have a real answer.

Brent was ready to settle in Canada for the foreseeable future, I didn’t want to give up traveling, and neither of us wanted the other to feel forced into such a life-changing compromise. We were stuck.

Big Changes

In late December I got an email. It was about a job I barely even remembered applying for – but one that now seemed impossibly wonderful because it solved our entire dilemma. Over the following weeks, I did a writing test, a photo test, and finally went to New York City for an interview.

If you’ve been reading my regular posts over on Twenty-Something Travel or following me on Facebook, you already know that I got that job: As a writer/photographer for Oyster.com

Oyster.com’s experts visit, photograph, and write unbiased reviews of hotels all over the world. Who are these experts? Well, now I’m one of them.

For the past three months, I’ve been visiting hotels around Toronto and beginning in June I’ll be going on monthly trips to other cities and countries to do the same thing.

I absolutely adore my job.

It allows me continue traveling, while also maintaining a semi-permanent home base with Brent in Toronto. Plus, as odd as it might make me, I’ve always loved hotels. Even as a kid when I went on trips with my family, I used to look forward to the different hotels we’d be staying in almost as much as the vacation itself. I loved noticing the textures of different beds, trying out the free toiletries in the bathrooms, and discovering if there was a pool or hot tub I could lounge in. Now, I’m getting paid to do all of those things.

2015 Travels

Thailand

When Brent and I left Chiang Mai in September 2014 after living in Asia for more than two years, I had no idea how long it would be before I’d find myself in the region again.  My return ended up being much sooner than I ever would have expected, because I was invited on a preview trip for the upcoming TBEX conference. I flew back to Thailand for a week at the end of March. In addition to this trip, I still have plenty of stories from our summer in Chiang Mai, so you can expect much more Thailand content here over the next few months.

 Milwaukee

© Brian Koprowski/Flickr

In June, I’ll be heading to Milwaukee to participate in Navigate Media Group’s BlogHouse. I’ve wanted to be part of BlogHouse for a few years, but the timing and location have never lined up until now. I’ll spend four days working with a group of awesome travel bloggers (many of whom I’ve admired and followed for years), plus have a chance to explore Milwaukee.

From the research I’ve done so far, Milwaukee seems like a criminally-underrated city with a fantastic craft beer scene and some cool museums.

Isla Mujeres

© i_amici/Flickr

After BlogHouse, I’ll have about a week back at home in Toronto before heading out on my first trip for Oyster.com – to Isla Mujeres! A small island located off the shore of Cancún, Isla Mujeres has a reputation for being a more laid-back alternative to Mexico’s party capital. There are some crazy beautiful beaches, fantastic snorkeling and diving, plus a set of Mayan temple ruins.

It’ll be my first time visiting Mexico and I couldn’t be more pumped! I’ll be busy checking out hotels for Oyster.com, but I’m determined to carve out some time to explore the island as well. If you’ve visited Isla Mujeres, definitely hit me up with any tips!

????????

As I mentioned above, my job with Oyster.com could take me to any number of possible cities and countries. It sounds like Mexico and the Caribbean are going to be a focus over the coming months, but my trip schedule is still in the works and the exact destinations are yet to be determined.

Aside from my trips with Oyster.com, I’m also planning to take advantage of being based in Canada for a while (the east coast has been on my list for a long time!), plus spend some time getting reacquainted with Toronto.

In the past, I’ve volunteered abroad with no home base; worked abroad while living as an expat; and now I’ll be maintaining a home in Canada while traveling for both work and leisure. I’m looking forward to figuring out how to bring my slow travel style to these quick trips, and to showing you how to delve into the culture of a destination even when you only have a short time to explore it.

Where are you going this year?

The post New Job, New Home, and Where I’m Going in 2015 appeared first on Ways of Wanderers Travel Blog.

This is a bit of a novel (by blogging standards anyway), so settle in. Here’s what really happened during our housesit in Spain.

***

“My house.”

The woman motioned towards the cottage, which was half-concealed behind gaunt trees and decaying bits of fence. I let out a terse breath. I’d been struggling to talk to this woman and her friend for more than fifteen minutes and I was getting impatient. They’d unlocked the front gate and intrusively wandered onto the property. I had only been in Spain for a few weeks, and my Spanish skills were limited to a jumble of phrases I’d learned at the market. The women didn’t know any English words beyond “my house”. I wished they would just accept that we weren’t going to succeed in communicating with each other and let me get back to writing.

My best guess was that they wanted to rent the cottage. Bordered up and set far back from the main house, the homeowners, John and Elizabeth*, hadn’t left us any specific instructions about their empty cottage.

After another five minutes of gesturing, the women seemed to understand that they would need to come back in a few weeks if they wanted to discuss renting the cottage. I heaved the big metal gate behind them with a creaky click as they left.

***

“That’s weird. The cottage lights are on.”

Brent and I stood uncertainly on the long, dirt road leading to the gate. It was 8pm and we were on our way into town for dinner. The glow of the cottage lights looked particularly bright against the dark surrounding countryside. The warm light might have looked welcoming under other circumstances, but instead it made my stomach churn until I forgot I’d been hungry only a moment ago. We turned off the driveway, trudging across the field towards the cottage, long grass brushing against our ankles. I had a brief thought that maybe we shouldn’t be going to check this out alone. Isn’t this how horror movies start? Characters innocently going to investigate a mysterious noise or weird incident?

As we moved closer, I could hear the cheerful din of conversation. The cottage door was open – a strange thing because the whole building had been locked up securely last time I had checked – and sitting casually in the kitchen were the two women I had met the day before, along with another woman and a young boy. Buckets, mops, sponges, and other cleaning supplies were gathered up neatly on the floor around them. They looked tired and at ease, their faces radiating the mixture of satisfaction and weariness that follows a day of hard work. They didn’t even seem to hear us approach.

Brent and I said “Hola” and then stood uncomfortably, not knowing what else to say. I didn’t know how to begin asking them what was going on – both because of my limited Spanish skills and because I was so completely confused. I told Brent that I recognized the women from the day before. It was starting to seem like the homeowners had forgotten to tell us they had an arrangement with these people. This wasn’t a far-fetched conclusion – John and Elizabeth already rented part of their large property to a man named Claudio*, who brought his horses into the fields to graze. We were used to Claudio and his friends letting themselves through the gate each day with horses in tow.

We knew we had no hope of figuring out what was happening without contacting John and Elizabeth, so we went back to the house to call them.

***

“They’ve taken everything.”

The homeowners’ daughter, Ally*, had driven over to check on the cottage after we spoke to Elizabeth. No one was supposed to be in there.

The women were gone, and we could now see the bolt on the front door was bent at a strange angle. They had forced their way in. The cottage had previously been filled with books, china, beds, and other items belonging to the homeowners’ and their two adult children. Now, the cottage was almost empty except for a few bed frames.

I couldn’t believe we had misread the situation so severely. Even as I hung my head and wondered how I could even begin to apologize, I still felt like the whole thing didn’t make sense: Why had the women cleaned the cottage after robbing it? Had they really brought a child to do it? Why didn’t they act surprised when we caught them?

Ally continued to assess what was missing, frantically opening draws and running in and out of rooms until we found ourselves in front of the unused stables beside the cottage. The once-abandoned stalls now contained carefully-stacked boxes. Ally tore open the boxes and surveyed a TV placed in the corner of one stall; a pile of folded blankets stored in its neighbour.

Everything was there. There had been no robbery. The women hadn’t taken anything –only cleared the homeowners’ items out of the house and stored them safely in the old stables. It made sense now. They were getting ready to move in.

***

“We’re coming home in 48 hours. Don’t let anyone in the cottage.”

Brent hung up the phone after speaking to Elizabeth. It was nearly 1am. We had been loaded with a series of high-stress instructions and a crash course on Spain’s bizarre property laws. As Elizabeth explained to us, if a house sits empty in Spain, absolutely anyone has the right to move in and take up residence. You read that right – any empty house in Spain is up for grabs by the first person to take off their shoes and call it home. If these women managed to move into the cottage, it would be very difficult for John and Elizabeth to regain ownership.

The homeowners believed that Claudio, the man who rented their fields for his horses, was involved. He was familiar with the whole property; he knew there was an empty cottage available. The most likely explanation was that he had tipped off some friends and showed them how to get in.

John and Elizabeth changed the date of their flight back to Spain from Hong Kong – instead of coming back in two weeks, they would be back in two days. Until then, the responsibility of keeping the squatters out of the cottage rested heavily on Brent and me.

***

“Policia!”

Was that even the Spanish word for “police”? I wasn’t sure as I yelled it at Claudio and the two women, my voice wavering despite my best effort to sound firm. It was the next morning, and they were at the gate with a car packed full of enough belongings to turn the empty cottage into their new home.

Brent and I had locked the front gate the night before, but Claudio came here every day – he knew how to slip his hand over the fence and unhinge the lock. Brent stood at the end of the dirt driveway leading to the cottage, blocking their car from driving closer.

Spanish and English clashed clumsily against one another yet again. They wanted to drive up to the cottage and we wanted to stop them. Our respective explanations, motivations, and everything else we might have liked to say to one another was completely lost in translation.

Claudio was an older man, but a strong one – one of those hardy men you meet in countryside with skin leathered from the sun and muscular arms strengthened from decades of labour. He lifted up those thick hands and tried to push Brent off the driveway. Brent gently deflected him and Claudio slipped in the mud, thrown off balance by the misdirected momentum of his own attack. It could have been funny – watching Claudio, puffed up with rage, trip over his own feet – but it wasn’t.

I called the police. That’s what you do when someone tries to break into your house, right? They’re supposedly to speed down the street, sirens wailing, and handcuff the bad guys. But they didn’t come.

I called the homeowners’ adult son, who said he would come with a Spanish-speaking friend. The heat of the stand-off fizzled as we waited. Waited for the police; waited for John and Elizabeth’s son; waited for the whole thing to be over. Late morning faded into early afternoon, and then into evening.

Eventually everyone came – the police, the son, the friend to act as translator. The police wouldn’t intervene until John and Elizabeth presented documents verifying their ownership of the cottage. Claudio and the women agreed they could wait for two days until John and Elizabeth came back.  Hands were shaken and truces were made.

***

“Claudio has….uh….denounced you.”

A police car rolled up to the house the following day. He took Brent’s passport number and used Google translate to haltingly explain the charge. At first we thought he was just following up with the on-going situation, but when we Googled “denuncia” it began to seem much more serious than that.

***

“We can give you a list of English-speaking lawyers in Malaga.”

As it turned out, Claudio had shaken Brent’s hand in peace and then filed criminal assault charges against him – charges that were inexplicably being taken seriously by the local police.

I thought the homeowners’ would help: They were preoccupied with getting their cottage back.

I thought the police would explain what we needed to do: They told us to go back to Canada and not worry about it (although, yes, there would be a court date and, yes, Brent would likely be found guilty in our absence).

I thought the Canadian consulate would help: They told us to get a lawyer.

There were so many simple questions that seemed impossible to get clear answers to: What should we do? When would the court date be? How would the court contact Brent to let him know if a trial was taking place? What would the consequences be if Brent was found guilty? Were we talking about a fine, jail time, a ban from Spain?

We called Spanish friends, lawyers, courts, embassies, consulates, and police stations. Each person passed us off to someone else or asked for information that we weren’t able to access, and we found ourselves spinning in never-ending circles. For three months, we pounded our fists against walls of steely bureaucracy only to gain nothing more and understand even less.

We were in Canada when we finally learned a court date had been set in February. The homeowners told us that Claudio had agreed to drop the charges. But could we trust them? The homeowners who had washed their hands of us, and a man who had already gone back on his word once before? We rolled the dice, not because we really trusted anyone anymore but because there seemed to be no other option.

***

“The charges have been dropped.”

I expected to be relieved when we finally receive the email confirming it was over, but instead I only felt angrier that the whole thing had gone on for months for no reason at all – that we’d lost so much time to a problem so ludicrous it should have been resolved before it even began.

***

Although this incident did slow us down for a while, it ultimately gave us time to think about where we were headed and what we want the next year of our life to look like. We may have had a rough end to last year and a bumpy beginning to this one, but I think this might just be our best (and most travel-filled) year yet. 

*Names have been changed

The post Where I’ve Been and What Really Happened During Our Housesit appeared first on Ways of Wanderers Travel Blog.

Last week marked my one-year anniversary as a freelance writer. I was still teaching in Japan when I decided to start aggressively and consistently seeking out freelance projects. Teaching English and participating in work exchanges were (and still are) fantastic ways to travel slowly and steadily without breaking the bank, but I knew I wanted the independence of working for myself and the freedom of being able to do that work anywhere in the world.

I think every person goes about finding clients and building a portfolio in their own way, but I also suspect a few aspiring freelancers – in any field – might learn something from  my own bumpy road to…success? On good days, I might describe it as such. So here it is in one compact post: Everything I’ve learned over my last year as a freelance writer.

How to Find Jobs

I quickly realized that finding freelance job boards was simple, but figuring out where to focus my attention was difficult. Elance was the first site I went to, and it became the site I’ve stuck with. I wouldn’t say it’s particularly superior to other freelancing sites, but for me anyway, monitoring the hundreds of jobs that are posted on dozens of different freelance sites everyday was a bit too overwhelming. In the beginning, I found it easier to work on building my reputation on a single site. Freelancer.com and oDesk (which supposedly merged with Elance, but I haven’t seen any changes to either site since this was announced last year) are also good starting points.

I also recently signed up on Write this Moment which, as the name suggests, focuses exclusively on writing opportunities; in contrast to the other three sites, where jobs range from writing to graphic design. Lastly, at the risk of exposing myself as some kind of closeted-creeper, my other tactic is to browse other writers’ and bloggers’ ‘portfolio’ pages to check out the companies they’re writing for. It’s hit-and-miss, but it’s not a bad way to narrow down a few companies that might be looking for more writers.

Over-Deliver on Everything

I’ll be honest, starting out on Elance can be a little disheartening because hundreds of people often apply for a single job and, as you may have heard about Elance, a lot of those people are willing to work for a few dollars an hour.

For weeks after registering on Elance, I applied for dozens of jobs everyday and received no responses. At the time, I was still teaching and I was more concerned with building my portfolio than with making money, so I started making low bids on projects. I’m a little hesitant to admit this or recommend it, because writers who are willing to work for ‘exposure’ or ridiculously low fees are the bane of any freelancer’s existence – they bring wages down for all of us. Ultimately, however, I had stepped into a market where I felt like I had to prove myself before anyone would take me seriously, and the only way to do that was to get a few people to hire me, however I could. It also helped me gradually build confidence in my writing abilities. The more positive reviews I received, the more I knew I deserved more money than I was asking for.

I was writing articles for pocket change, but I wrote as if I was getting hundreds of dollars. I delivered nothing less than my absolute best, even though I wasn’t getting paid to give it. The result? I received ecstatic reviews from my clients and suddenly my Elance profile was starting to look pretty damn competitive. Now, when I send out pitches requesting a rate that I can actually live on, clients read those glowing reviews and most recognize that my work is worth those rates.

Be Persistent

The bottom line is there are two kinds of clients on freelance job boards: 1) Clients looking to pay a dollar an hour for someone with the ability to fill space with semi-coherent sentences, and 2) clients that are looking for someone who can create high-quality content.

I didn’t take me long to recognize the difference between the two, and focus on the job postings that were worth applying for.

Once I had a decent portfolio of writing samples and some great reviews, I was able to coast a little more. Some jobs were one-off projects, but many have led to subsequent projects with the same client, or even a steady flow of regular projects.

Besides gaining a few long- term clients, new clients come to me now. When clients create a job on Elance, they have the option of sending messages to appropriate freelancers, inviting them to submit proposals for the job. I usually get a few of these invites every day, plus clients sometimes even create ‘invite-only’ jobs specifically for me, and reach out to me directly. My (now more-reasonable) hourly fee is listed on my profile, so when clients contact me, they know they’re not going to get me for $5 an hour.

Beyond the job boards, the more you write and the more people you write for, the more your work is out there online for other clients to find. One of my best clients – who I still work with – emailed me after reading my work on another site. I’ll admit that, coincidentally, some of my projects trailed off over the past week and I went back to the Elance job board, but it was the first time I had to actively look for new work since last June.

Reality Check

I won’ be the first or the last person to say it, but freelancing (especially freelance writing) is rarely the route to riches. In my most profitable months (so far anyway), I make about the equivalent salary of my first entry-level job back in Toronto. I have aspirations to earn more, (although that’s a story for another day) but for now freelancing gives me the freedom to travel  and if you’re willing to work hard for it, it’s something anyone can do.

Do you have any tips for taking your job on the road?

The post How to Freelance Online and Work Anywhere in the World appeared first on Ways of Wanderers Travel Blog.

“The Sheikh Zayed Mosque is the largest mosque in the UAE and the seventh largest mosque in the world. It features 82 domes, 24 carat gold chandeliers, the world’s largest hand knotted carpet and can accomodate up to 40.000 persons.The construction is a huge multi-national undertaking bringing together designers, features, materials and suppliers from nearly every corner of the globe: Italy, Germany, Morocco, India, Turkey, Iran, China, Greece and the UAE. It welcomes visitors from all over the world, no matter what religion with the aim of achieving positive interaction with other cultures.”

Have you visited the Sheikh Zayed Mosque or the UAE? 

The post Sunday Snapshot: Sheikh Zayed Mosque appeared first on Ways of Wanderers Travel Blog.

When I do travel alone, I find myself approaching each new solo trip like a wobbly-kneed calf taking its first steps. By the end of the trip, however, I always feel intoxicatingly empowered, filled with more faith in myself than ever before. Here’s why I carve out some time each year to travel alone (even though I don’t have to) and why you should too!

To Meet More People

When I travel solo, I probably talk to more strangers in a single day than I do in a week when I’m traveling with Brent. Whether I’m on a plane or at a market, people just seem to approach me more often when I’m traveling alone. I’m still not entirely sure why this is the case – I guess couples or a pair of friends come across as a closed-off unit, whereas a person traveling alone seems more accessible.

If I’d been traveling with Brent, I wouldn’t have spent the afternoon waiting for a bus with a Norwegian woman and chatted about her plans to sail to the Canary Islands; or practiced my Japanese with the cashier in an incense shop and talked about the time she visited Canada.

And ultimately, talking to strangers – whether they’re other travelers or locals – is what travel is really all about. Landscapes and monuments can be impactful, of course, but I think the real reason we all travel is to meet people with different perspectives and connect with cultures unlike our own. Traveling solo helps you do more of that.

To Prove That You Can

It’s no secret that the world views solo female travel differently than any other kind of travel. When I tell my friends and family that Brent and I are planning our next destination, they’re inspired; but when I tell them that I alone am planning to travel somewhere, they’re concerned.

To be honest, so am I sometimes.

Almost every time I travel alone, there’s at least some point each day when I think: “I can’t do this.” Solo travel can be intimidating, particularly when you’re an introvert like me. I miss the comfort of turning to Brent to confirm “We’re on the right train, right?”; or being able to laugh off an awkward encounter or stupid mistake together.

But you know what? The only way to overcome the fear of traveling alone (or any other fear for that matter) is to just do it anyway.  Even though I feel scared, I commit – I book the ticket and I make myself go. It’s only when I force myself to travel alone that I realize I’m completely capable of doing it. It’s a powerful reminder that the only barriers stopping me from doing anything in life are the ones I create for myself.

To Change Your Perspective

When I travel with Brent, I’m exuberant. I ramble on, describing everything I love about wherever we are and excitedly making plans about what we should do or see next. But when I travel alone, it’s quiet – almost reverent. I can tune into the subtle nuances of the place I’m visiting and get a clearer sense of how it makes me feel to be there.

The whole “Eat, Pray, Love” quest may be a cliché at this point, but there’s some truth to it and there’s a reason why this kind of story resonates with so many of us. When you travel alone, there’s nothing but you, the destination, and your thoughts. A deeper self-discovery arises from that solitude that you can’t really experience when you’re traveling with someone.

As cheesy as it might sound, when I travel with someone I fall in love with the world; but when I travel alone, I also fall in love with myself.

And that’s why you need to travel solo – at least sometimes.

Do you make time to travel alone? Why do you do it?

The post Why You Need to Travel Solo (Even Though You Might Not Have To) appeared first on Ways of Wanderers Travel Blog.

I’m Still Here

Before I started freelance writing full-time, I read the warnings of others bloggers and online entrepreneurs advising would-be digital nomads that this lifestyle isn’t all typing up romantic travel stories on the beach while throwing back cocktails. I believed them, but part of me still imagined that working online would be far more glamorous than it actually is.

I thought I’d have so much time to travel around Asia over the summer without the limited vacation of a full-time job weighing me down. Instead, I’ve been bound to my laptop. When I did travel, I actually felt less free than I once did during vacations. Carefree sightseeing was replaced by dashing around a completely unfamiliar city looking for a Wi-Fi signal and a quiet place to work.

The highs and lows I wrote about when Brent and I first came to Chiang Mai are still very real. Yet, despite all the struggles and successes we’ve experienced over the past few months, we’re still here and we’re still making it work. We earned enough to live, travel, and even save a bit during our time in Chiang Mai. When doubts arise, this overriding fact still trumps them all.

It’s Still Kind of Scary

It gets a little easier every day, but I still haven’t become completely comfortable with the unpredictability of my freelance income.

The inherent uncertainty of this career feels acceptable when I have more than enough work, but when I find myself without a major project, the paranoid parts of my brain start convincing the sane parts that I’ll never get hired for anything ever again. That’s about when I start accepting low-paying jobs just to tame the anxiety. It’s a habit that’s putting me on the road to burn-out, and one that I’m trying to break.

In order to make this lifestyle work over the long-term, I know I need to learn how to gratefully accept the breaks when they come, and then work like crazy when the projects roll in again.

Freelancing and Blogging

The trips I haven’t written about…yet

If there’s one thing that has universally sucked about freelancing, it’s the effect that it has had on this blog. Those of you who are regular readers may have noticed that my posting schedule has dropped from twice a week, to something more like twice a month.

It feels like every time I sit down to write a post, I get offered a new project that takes precedence over this blog. Freelance projects equal an income which the blog, sadly, does not. I’ve thought about re-focusing on monetizing the blog a little more, but that requires a major investment of time with little hope of immediate financial return in the beginning – it’s not something I feel confident or financially stable enough to commit to right now.

Beyond that, freelance writing keeps me in front of my laptop at least 8 hours a day. I find myself reluctant to try to squeeze blogging in there too, adding even more screen time to my life (because, you know, fresh air and birds and life-outside-of-cafés and all that other good stuff). I’ve also never been one to slap half-baked posts online just for the sake of churning out regular content.  I only want to post when I have time to sit down and really think about what I want to say.

I still haven’t figured out a solution to this issue. I do know that I want to keep blogging and that’s not going change. I’ll continue to bring you the best content that I can, as often as I can, while I work towards finding a balance between writing for pay and writing for fun.

Where to Next?

Me in Barcelona – almost 3 years ago now!

Returning to what I mentioned at the beginning of this post – yes, Brent and I are no longer in Asia. And we have no plans to return anytime soon. So where are we now?

If you follow me on Facebook you already know that we’re in….Stockholm! We’ll be spending a few days here before continuing on to Spain, where we’ll be doing our first-ever house sit in Los Barrios, a town found about 30 minutes away from the border with Gibraltar.

Brent and I spent 8 months in Europe when we first left Canada in 2011. It was basically my first time traveling and looking back now, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing! I’m pumped about having the chance to re-visit some places with a new perspective, plus check a few more off the bucket list.

Our house sit will last for about 6 weeks, and then, for the first time in a very long time, our plans afterwards are still completely open.  

…….Any suggestions?

The post 6 Months of Freelancing: How It’s Going Now appeared first on Ways of Wanderers Travel Blog.

“I booked a tour of the Treshnish Isles, departing from Fionnphort on the Isle of Mull. Our first stop of the day was Lunga, home to thousands of puffins and other sea birds. I squealed like a kid when I glimpsed a puffin flying over the ocean. Once on land, I climbed up a steep cliff and saw hundreds of puffins flying, building nests and just hanging out. I was able to get pretty close to the puffins since they aren’t scared of people. It was the most memorable part of my recent trip to Scotland by far.”

Tell me about your favourite animal encounter during your travels! 

Would you like to submit a photo to Sunday Snapshot? I’m looking for new submissions! Email me at  jessica@waysofwanderers.com if you’d like to see your photo featured.

The post Sunday Snapshot: Puffins on the Isle of Mull appeared first on Ways of Wanderers Travel Blog.