Individuality by Gretchen Wilson-Kalav

Who’s fooling who? Whether the question is (grammatically) correct or not doesn’t really matter. (That grammatically incorrect question worked very well for Eric Clapton so I stole it. Thank you, Eric.) What does matter is the essence behind the question. Are you happy with the life you lead or are you just fooling yourself into believing it’s all good? Do you like the 9:00-5:00 routine? Letting someone else write your playbook? Being a follower rather than a leader? Putting off what you really want to do for something you have been told needs doing?

If the answer to these questions are all “big fat yeses”, then it’s time to read The Art of Non-Conformity: Set Your Own Rules, Live the Life You Want and Change the World by Chris Guillebeau. I’ll just leave it at that…

About the Author:

Chris Guillebeau is the author of the online manifesto A Brief Guide to World Domination. Besides running ChrisGuillebeau.com, he is a contributing author to several other publications, such as Business Week and Huffington Post. He is also on a mission to visit every country on the face of this earth – he’s closing in on the final stretch. Though he makes his home in Portland, Oregon, you’re more likely to see him on the streets of Hong Kong or Madrid. His other book titles include The Unconventional Guide to Discount Airfare and The Unconventional Guide to Working for Yourself among others.

The Review:

As I read the first few pages, I began to experience a mild case of deja vu.

Chris’ book came with me when I was called upon to care for a close friend over a few days. The thought of being able to read without my normal daily interruptions was a very agreeable one and I proceeded to open the front cover. As I read the first few pages, I began to experience a mild case of deja vu. The content was quite familiar – ideas and concepts I had encountered several years ago. In reflection, The Art of Non-Conformity was echoing the teachings of Werner H. Erhard (Erhard Seminars Training aka EST) and those of Kurt Goldstein who coined the term “self-actualization”. Abraham Maslow proceeded to expand on Goldstein’s “self-actualization” theory a few years later.

All three put forth the concepts of personal transformation and taking responsibility for one’s own life. By doing so, such actions would not only create positive personal changes but also generate positive changes in a larger population simultaneously. As I kept reading The Art of Non-Conformity, I thought “Come on Guillebeau, give me something new here”. (Sorry Chris.) This feeling continued through more than half the book. Not until my (above-mentioned) friend and I started discussing things we would love to do but probably would never do them, did I get something new. It wasn’t a new concept or idea – it was the realization that three generations have come into this world since my encounters with Goldstein and colleagues. Three generations have not necessarily gotten the self-fulfillment messages yet.

This revelation allowed me to view the book from a different perspective. Though Chris’ messages are similar to those mentioned above, he has taken them in a different direction – one which incorporates the modern day internet world, people’s wanderlust (for travel or other endeavors) and the generating of change across the globe.

Rules to follow if you decide to off-road in the Outback, Photo by mmb856

Chris defines various techniques for breaking down the wall of conformity most of us bang our head against daily. It is a playbook that really says don’t play by me, rather play by the one you create for yourself.

Using his own personal experiences and those of people he has encountered along his many journeys, Chris defines various techniques for breaking down the wall of conformity most of us bang our head against daily. It is a playbook that really says don’t play by me, rather play by the one you create for yourself. Here is how I “wrote” mine – if it helps – wonderful, but if not, that’s okay too. This book is for the individual who believes maintaining their individuality is paramount to living a full and fulfilling life. A life where everyone can hold the keys to the kingdom they have designed and built for themselves.

Buy now: Amazon, Borders, Barnes and Nobles, Chapters or your local bookstore

Editor’s notes: This article contains affiliate links. The book was also received compliments of the author for review.

© Gretchen for TravelBlogs, 2010. | The Art of Non-Conformity: Set Your Own Rules, Live the Life You Want and Change the World | 6 comments |
Post categories: Book Reviews
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My husband and I have been traveling with our laptops for the last eleven months. We’ve visited sixteen countries, taken eighteen flights, fifteen trains and eight long-distance buses, not to mention numerous subways, tuk tuks, long tail boats, scooter taxis, local buses and lots and lots of walking.

And throughout the whole journey, a pair of MacBooks have been along for the ride.

For us, the question of whether to bring our laptops wasn’t really even a question. But it is something we get asked about a lot by other travelers – so here’s my take on whether or not it makes sense to bring a laptop on your journey.

The first thing most people ask when they hear we’re traveling with a pair of fairly expensive laptops is, “Are you insured? And aren’t you worried about theft?” No, we don’t have insurance on them, and yes, we are worried about theft. That’s probably why they haven’t been stolen yet.

No, we don’t have insurance on them, and yes, we are worried about theft. That’s probably why they haven’t been stolen yet.

Getting your laptop covered by home or travel insurance is pretty unlikely if you’re going traveling. Most insurers won’t cover you unless you pay a very high extra premium. Our insurance agent told us that we would have to “self insure” them – meaning if they get lost or stolen, we pay for new ones.

To reduce theft, we bought combination cable locks that plug into a slot in the side of the laptops. We use these whenever we stay at bungalows, hostels, or slightly sketchy hotels. While traveling, we always keep our laptops with us in our carry-on bags. Sometimes we’ll lock them up if we’re on a train and we’re both planning to take a nap.

Should you bring a laptop when you travel? It’s a highly personal question that depends on a lot of things – what you’ll be doing, where you’re going, for how long, and so on. In the rest of this article, I’ll share my own impression of the pros and cons of traveling with a laptop, then share a few guidelines that might help you decide whether to take one with you the next time you hit the road.

10 reasons you should bring a laptop

1. You can blog. Even when we were offline for days at a time, my husband and I could write new posts for our blogs. If the only local Internet access was at web cafes, we’d save the posts on a memory stick, lock up our laptops, and head out to the internet café.

2. It makes travel planning way easier. You just can’t plan twelve months on the road before you leave – you have to do much of your planning on the go. For our trip, we booked intercontinental flights, then planned and booked everything else as we went.

We researched destinations on Wikitravel, Travelfish, Lonely Planet, TravellersPoint, and lots of other great sites. We arranged free couch surfing accommodations with wonderful hosts in four countries. We researched and booked hotels on TripAdvisor. We found long-term apartment rentals on Owners Direct. We booked flights on Air Asia, Ryanair, and EasyJet. We booked bus and rail tickets on SNCF (France), DB Bahn (Germany), and lots of others.

And we did most of it from wifi-enabled cafes, hotel rooms, and apartments, often on rainy days when we would have just been killing time without a laptop. We’ve been able to avoid travel agency fees and save countless thousands of dollars by comparison shopping and finding discounts. The Internet has been the ultimate travel planning tool.

3. You can keep up with friends and family by email. Email has been a great way to correspond with future landlords, as well as with loved ones back home. Obviously, this is something you can do at internet cafes, but it’s so much nicer from the comfort of your hotel room or lobby or from your rental apartment. A lot of rentals come with free wifi.

4. You can call home for free (or very cheap) with Skype. We’ve enjoyed Skyping with friends and family — it’s always great to see each other while you talk. We even bought webcams for our parents before we left to make sure we could keep in touch. Plus, we’ve made tons of calls to landlines and cellphones all over the world using Skypeout, which lets you call from any web-enabled laptop for mere cents per minute.

5. You can store your trip photos. You can download digital photos to your laptop – where they can later be uploaded to photo sharing services like Flickr, Picassa, and Facebook. Saving them on a laptop gives you way more storage so you don’t have to worry about filling up your camera’s memory card.

6. Keeping a trip journal is easier. If you’re keeping a separate trip journal (aside from any articles or blog posts you’re writing), a laptop can be handy. I type a lot faster than I write, and stuff written on a computer is much easier to edit.

7. You get a lot of information storage in a small space. My laptop has maps, directions, bus and train schedules, must-sees for key cities, and lots more. Considering how much information I’ve got saved on it, it’s much lighter to carry around than several big guidebooks!

8. It’s an entertainment alternative. Sure, you’re traveling, and you should be out interacting with the locals and having adventures. But everyone needs some downtime. When you get stuck inside your bungalow during a rainstorm, or if you’re just too hung over to do anything else, you can watch all those cheap DVDs you bought in Asia.

9. You can work. If you’re a writer, a designer, or do any other kind of work that can be done from a computer, you can work and earn some money online.

3 reasons you shouldn’t bring your laptop

1. It’s a timewaster. You can get sucked in to online life and waste time on Facebook or surfing the web when you should be out experiencing the foreign city you paid so much money to get to.

2. It’s extra weight. If weight is an issue, you’ll lose a few pounds by not bringing your laptop, power adapter, and any other plug-ins and devices you use with it. (This point can depend on how many places you’re visiting, and for how long. For our yearlong trip, a laptop makes sense because it’s lighter than even a few Lonely Planet guides and novels stuffed in a bag.)

3. It could get lost, damaged, destroyed, or stolen. Depending where you’re traveling, the risks range from mild to extreme. We’ve made it through five southeast Asian countries, Australia, and eight European countries with no damage or theft issues. (Knock on wood!)

Only you know the answer for what kind of risk you can tolerate. If you do bring your computer, I recommend a soft case to keep it safe – we use water-resistant neoprene ones – and a good lock. And don’t do anything stupid like stow your computer in the luggage bin on that $9 bus ride through Cambodia.

Making the decision: Other factors

I’d say the biggest consideration is whether you feel you actually need a laptop. Are you a writer? Someone who works online? Someone who absolutely needs to stay connected? Then you probably never seriously considered the possibility of not bringing it in the first place.

Are you a writer? Someone who works online? Someone who absolutely needs to stay connected? Then you probably never seriously considered the possibility of not bringing it in the first place.

Your decision also depends on where you are going. The more remote your travel destination, the less likely it is that you’ll find a wifi connection. We visited a few remote islands that were lucky to have super-slow dial-up connections, never mind a wifi signal.

You also can’t assume that the wifi is free when you order a coffee or food. There are plenty of cafes and restaurants around the world that do offer free wifi when you order something, but that isn’t always the case.

(For example, Starbucks has free wifi in Kuala Lumpur, but in Sydney, they charge $12 an hour! If you’re in Sydney, I recommend the free wifi and internet at the public library. In Bangkok, Starbucks at MBK mall charges for access, but you can head upstairs to Coffee World and get it free.)

Depending on your needs, there are other choices too. If you want a smaller, lighter, less expensive alternative to a laptop, consider bringing a netbook like the Asus Eee PC. These are smaller, lighter, and cheaper, with less storage and processing power, but if all you’re doing is a bit of blogging and web surfing, they might be the best thing for you. (Also, if your netbook gets stolen, you’re not out as much money!)

Personally, I love my Mac for the big storage capacity, and because I can use iPhoto to sort and edit and store photos.

Finally, if your needs are minimal and you’re just using the web occasionally, you might find that something like an iPhone or other smartphone does everything you need. Personally, I don’t have one, and I hate the idea of the huge service charges you can rack up on them, but if that’s your thing, it’s a lot lighter than a laptop.

If you aren’t blogging, don’t like to write and the majority of your accommodations are in 20-bed dorm hostels – don’t bring your laptop. But if you want to keep a travel blog, take a stab at that novel you’ve always dreamt about writing or can make money online – having a laptop along is a necessity.

© Gretchen Wilson-Kalav for TravelBlogs, 2009. | The Pros and Cons of Travelling with a Laptop | 17 comments |
Post categories: Articles
Post tags: flashpacking, freelance work, laptops, working for yourself, working on the road

The train from Battambang to Phnom Penh. By sorella.

Chris Guillebeau has just released The Unconventional Guide to Working for Yourself, the second ebook in his series of Unconventional Guides (his first was a guide to discount airfares I reviewed last month).

In the new guide, he shares how you can set up a small online business to earn at least $200 a month.

About Chris: If you’ve ever dreamed of travelling long-term while living off a small perpetual income, you need to know this about Chris: he’s on a mission to visit every country in the world over the next five years, and has visited 100 so far. He doesn’t have a “real job”, but he’s been working as an online entrepreneur for 10 years. He speaks with a voice of experience, not only as an online entrepreneur, but also as a traveller.

The biggest hindrances to travel are not having enough time to get away and not having enough money to get there. With a “very small business” that you operate from anywhere in the world, you’ll be able to work on attacking both of those problems.

What you get: Chris doesn’t give you just one way to start up a small business: he gives you eight ways. This is one of the guide’s strongest features, as it allows you to see the wide range of possibilities on the internet. Too many guides try to play the one-size-fits-all trick; not here. While I knew about several of the tactics Chris shares, his guide was full of fresh ideas for me personally.

Chris’ realistic, down-to-earth approach makes his guide one of the best ebooks about making money I’ve read (and I’ve read a bunch!).

Here’s what Chris covers:

• How to write and sell your own information products
• Building an information portal
• Two ways of selling digital photographs
• Building an eBay business
• Blogging for money
• Consulting
• Creating a membership site
• Setting up an Adsense-earning site

For each one, he gives you a specific action plan, so you can start implementing his principles immediately.

The action plan is vital, because this guide is designed to get you started earning money online as soon as possible. In fact, if you find Chris’ tactics don’t work for you, he has a great money-back guarantee: if you are unable to set up a $200-a-month business using the advice in The Unconventional Guide to Working for Yourself, Chris wants you to ask for your money back.

The guide only costs $58 $52.20 for TravelBlogs readers (see below) and includes three 25-minutes MP3 audio teaching sessions, a bonus ebook about Search Engine Optimization and free updates for 6 months. You can also purchase additional material: an audio segment on Creating a Brand to Build a Lasting Business; and a detailed guide to earning income through travel. I haven’t had a chance to check either of these out, but given the quality of the main guide, I don’t doubt that you will find these additional materials very valuable.

After reading the guide, I asked Chris a few more questions about how he thinks his guide can benefit travellers.

How will this ebook help travellers?

Generally speaking, it will help anyone interested in creating more personal freedom for themselves, so that certainly includes crazy travelers like me. The biggest hindrances to travel are not having enough time to get away and not having enough money to get there. With a “very small business” that you operate from anywhere in the world, you’ll be able to work on attacking both of those problems.

How have you personally used the tactics and strategies you write about to help you travel more?

Through trial and error (including much error, let there be no doubt) I’ve been able to construct a work/life balance that allows me to travel for much of the year. In 2007 I visited 26 countries, and it looks like I’ll break that record in 2008. I would never be able to do that without a source of income that was somewhat passive, or at least that allowed me to work from anywhere.

For the guide, I wanted to write everything down that I’ve learned along the way, including a lot of the mistakes I made so that other people could avoid as many as possible. I want to be clear that this is not a “get-rich-quick” plan — I know of no such thing. But for those willing to learn and work hard, I believe it’s completely possible to use the information to begin a very small business that helps create personal freedom within a few short weeks.

Can TravelBlogs readers get a discount? (Pretty please:))

Sure, use coupon code TB to get 10% off the guide, the additional material, or both.

Order The Basic “Just Getting Started” Version of the Unconventional Guide and quote TB for the discounted rate of $52.20:

Order The Upgraded “Escape Artist” Version of the Unconventional Guide, which includes Additional Materials, and quote TB for the discounted rate of $70.20 :

***

Other e-books written by travel bloggers:

• The Unconventional Guide to Working for Yourself by Chris Guillebeau
• Travelling Europe: Indie Travel Guide by Craig Martin (currently priced at only $5.95!)
• How to Find Cheap Airline Tickets by Elizabeth Sanberg

© Gretchen Wilson-Kalav for TravelBlogs, 2008. | The Unconventional Guide to Working for Yourself (E-Book Review)- | 3 comments |
Post categories: Book Reviews
Post tags: entrepreneurs, freelance work, long-term travel, working for yourself, working on the road