If we were to take a ride in the way back machine to 2008, I would have been a totally different person; debt coming out my ears, enough stuff to choke 50 elephants, and absolutely no direction in life.  I was eating what I wanted and drinking a bit more than I probably should have. I was getting fatter and lazier by the day.

That’s when I came across minimalistic travel by total accident. I was always in love with the idea of travel, I just never thought it possible for me until the ripe old of 200 and somehow managed to save enough to take a trip overseas. To me, extended travel was only open to the rich and the retired. After reading every book and blog I could get my hands on (some of which are listed to the right under my favorite sites & blogs), I was ready to dive in head first and never come back up for air. But where to start?

By coincidence, I had been laid off of my job and was falling behind on my mortgage payment along with everything else. I had no choice to but to start selling everything that wasn’t nailed down. Once that ball had started rolling, it did nothing but pick up speed. Fast forward two years and here I am. My debt is almost totally eliminated, I’ve gotten rid of 95% of my things, and I even have some money stashed in the bank. Actual liquid funds! Not mention, I’m eating healthier and exercising on a regular basis. It’s like I’m and actual human being!

Has minimalism and the dream of travel saved my life? Maybe not in the “OMG I’m going to bleed to death” sense but in the “I REALLY don’t want to spend the rest of my life in this cubical” sense, absolutely!

Image from Flickr

Not only has it taken care of my debt, it’s allowed me to change my habits. I’m no longer an impulse buyer and I’m much more conscious of what I eat and drink. My lifestyle as allowed me to cut my stress level by 75% or more. The environment that I try and surround myself with isn’t the toxic one of yesteryear but a much happier and healthy one.

This massive lifestyle change has taken its sweet time but now it’s time harvest the fruit of my labor. Over the next two months I will scratch off two things that are my Bucket List. For me, that is one of the best feelings I’ve had in a long time!

Don’t let your things control your life!

If you aren’t losing sleep over your dreams, then that’s all they are is dreams.

What are your dreams and goals? What are you doing to achieve these dreams and goals? Let me hear your thoughts! Plus, comments make me feel warm and fuzzy!

P.S.
I wouldn’t really choke 50 elephants. I happen to like them and think they are way cool!

Free travel, food, room and board, and decent pay doesn’t sound to bad right? Then you may be a prime candidate for life aboard a cruise ship!

I have just been fortunate enough to have a look at the new How-To guide from WanderingEarl.com titled…

How to Work on a Cruise Ship

I remember back when I was fresh out of high school and the thought of working on a cruise ship had crossed my mind. After weeks of research I wasn’t much better off than when I started. Had this guide been in my hands, things may have been very different.

Flickr – TwoBrowns

I could say this is a comprehensive guide, but that may be a bit of an understatement. This guide covers everything from tailoring your resume and getting through the interview process to what day-to-day life will be like on the ship! Not to mention all the contact info you could ever need. Combine all that with frequent updates, you’re golden!

I can definitely give this e-book two thumbs up if not for the sheer volume of content alone. It has been laid out in a easy to read and understandable format complete with embedded links. It even has a glossary of salty sea dog terms! I do think there could have been a few more words that started with “ARRRRR” but that’s just my $0.02.

Get it? Pirates? Sea? Ships?

Anyway, if you happen to be looking for work aboard at cruise ship, then this guide will give you all the info you need to get started and then much more. Besides, they have a 60-day money-back guarantee!

I think he has me convinced to start looking for a job!

Check out!

Awhile back I wrote a post about Google Voice and the Vagabonder and I just wanted to say…

Things just got better! Google has just announced that you will now be able to make calls from you computer via Gmail. All you need now is a headset and a internet connection and you’re set!

If you are calling in the U.S. and Canada it’s still free. International calls are charged at Google’s low rate. I’d be curious to find out if while out of the country and you make a call to U.S. phone number you have to pay a rate or if it’s free. Google expects to roll this out over the next few days so keep an eye out for it!

I’m glad to see that Skype has some competition now. Hopefully this will do wonders for the advancement of VoIP.

Be sure to check it out here: Google Voice via Gmail

Hopefully the next step will be to make calls from you handset via WiFi while overseas.

Author and world traveler (Vagabonder) Rolf Potts is planning a trip around the world without carrying a single bag or backpack with him. How you may ask? I’ll tell you.

He’s wearing a speical vest with some awesome pockets. The vest is a ScotteVest Tropical Jacket and is pretty freaking awesome. Rolf will also be wearing some cargo pants for some extra space. I personally learned years ago how valuable cargo pockets are and I think every pair of shorts or pants I own have cargo pockets.

Rolf’s journey will take him through 12 countries in 42 days. His pack list is about as minimal as one can get. A few extra pair of socks and underwear (he doesn’t say but I would really recommend ExOfficio)  along with a t-shirt is about all he’s taking for clothes. He’ll also be bringing a few packable toiletries and a few electronics plus his all his paper work. Other than that, he’s ready to go!

I will definitely be following his journey and I hope it will serve up a nice helping of inspiration and maybe even some useful travel tips! You can follow his jorney over at his blog.

http://www.rtwblog.com

I want to wish Rolf the best of luck with his travels!

Ohh and I really want one of those freaking vests! They look incredible!

I came across this book while browsing the travel section of my local library and thought I’d give it a read in hopes that I would be able to learn a thing or two. If not, maybe at least hone my packing skills. I however, wasn’t able to learn any new tricks. I spent around an hour flipping through this book hope I would be able to pick something up. I tried to keep in mind that not everyone is the same and not everyone wants to fit everything into a 40 litre backpack. Then I thought, well that is kind of what the site is all about.

Who is this book for? Well, this book is for someone who knows virtually nothing about packing or for people have major issues over-packing. Now that I got that out of the way I will say the author does offer some decent pack lists for many different occasions. I would however take the pack lists with a grain of salt and know that each list isn’t going to fit every situation. This book is only a few years old but you can tell the author isn’t on top of the latest technology.

For my specific needs, the pack lists have more clothes than one would need. The author suggests you have something in the neighborhood of five t-shirts. I don’t even wear that many when I’m at home! The author also suggests you take a rain coat, wind breaker, and poncho when a single packable jacket would be just fine for most situations. Not having to carry around a poncho and a windbreaker will save a fair amount of space in your bag.

The author does offer some valid information carry-on size limits, luggage and document security, and if you ever need to know how to pack a suit. My view of this book might different if I was writing for a site that was dedicated to “Minimalism Travel – Go Anywhere with a Suit” or something of the sort.

I can’t recommend this book but if you happen to be at the library and come across this, take a peak and maybe you’ll find a little bit of useful information.

If you find yourself in a must have situation, you can pick this book up from Amazon here: http://amzn.to/aeDbQL

So the last few months travel and all my grand plans have kind of taken a back seat and the hum-drum day to day actives have taken the front seat. Working a regular job, paying off the rest of my bills, and just forgetting about my dreams. I guess that’s what happens and before you know it you’re middle aged and forgot about what you wanted to do.

That’s why I’ve taken the next step in my minimalist world travel plans and have brewed up my version of a minimalist round the world travel packing list. This is list of items is mainly geared toward warmer to slightly chilly at night type of climate. I don’t plan on hiking over the Alps with what I have listed. I also tried to make sure everything fit into my 40 litre carry on backpack.

I’ll break things down into a few different categories. Read the rest of this entry

This is a great post from the blog of Anderson Cooper. He makes some very great points on his list.

Check it out!

http://bit.ly/asssgx

Yesterday, myself and a few others headed up to Mt. Bachelor to try out their Snowblast Tubing Park. We had an absolute awesome time! The weather was a bit to be desired but overall a good time was had by all.

The way the park works is probably like most others. There is a mini lift that you attach your tube to and it pulls you up the mountain and automatically disconnects you from the line. Read the rest of this entry

This weekend myself and the little lady took a short trip to the Oregon Coast. It was a last minute “I need to get out of town” kind of trip. After searching and searching for a nice little hotel room we were coming up with a lot of the same generic stuff for about $60-$80. Then the misses and I had an idea. Why not make it fun? Get a room with a hot tub/Jacuzzi? We did some searching and found a few that sounded promising. Read the rest of this entry

On a normal workday you will find my daypack no further a few feet away from me.  When I leave in the morning it’s on my back. When I come home at night, it’s on my back. While I’m at work it sits on the floor next to me. My daypack has become my best friend. If I had a briefcase it would have replaced that or if I ever wore a fanny pack it would have for sure replaced that. My backpack has come in handy more than I would have ever thought. More so now that I have refined its contents.

With my backpack I have fixed ripped clothing, taken pictures of crazy things, prevented myself from falling on my face in the dark, and countless potentially lifesaving actions. Read the rest of this entry