7 things you should NOT pack for long-term travel

1 Comment

21 days to go and I’m already packed. I am ready to get out of here! Winter wonderland though it may be, cabin fever hits hard in less than 24 hours. Besides, although I’m making efforts to be productive (we may have a different version of what that word means), I feel like I am just trying to make the time pass more quickly.

Isn't it magical?

Isn’t it magical?

To make the time pass faster I’ve been browsing through some blogs, where, shocker, I’ve come across the ubiquitous “what to pack” list filed away under travel tips. I’m gonna do you one better and tell you what NOT to pack when you’re traveling, and better yet, I’m going to talk about personal effects and equipment AND the mental baggage that you should make sure to leave at home (see what I did there?).

This is a general list and it’s going to depend on your circumstances, but since I’m a single gal traveling, you can bet that it’s going to be pertinent to at least this glorious and savvy demographic, if I do say so myself.

Let’s start with the obvious, your physical luggage. Do not bring…

  1. Too many clothes. We’re all guilty of this. Whether you’re going away for a short trip or a long trip, try and pare down your wardrobe so that you don’t exceed any weight limits–for the plane or for own back. Black, white and neutrals are almost always appropriate for any time of the day, with a splash of color in the form of a scarf, t-shirt or an occasional accessory. Stick with comfortable, more conservative basics that you can layer easily and mix and match. Go for comfort with shoes for the activity you’re going for. Note that this recommendation might go completely out the window if you’re packing for a long weekend trip and/or need to pack a variety of 6 inch heels for Las Vegas. Been there, done that.
  2. Too many electronics (and/or physical books)! We live in an age of data overload, and in my opinion gadget overload. If you’re not traveling for business, you can leave the laptop at home–actually, even if you are traveling for business, you likely can get all your e-mail and apps on your phone or a tablet. Laptops are bulky and just not that portable compared to other options that you probably already own or could access at a hotel business center, if you’re traveling for business. But aren’t you on vacation…? And unless you’re a pro photographer, you probably want to limit your recording equipment. Let’s be honest here, you’re probably just going to to use your smartphone anyway, but if you’re a klutz like me and would feel more comfortable toting a camera instead, go for a small digital camera. If you’re a bookworm, let’s not overlook the bulk of books. I’ll be the first one to agree that I prefer the patine of real book, I love the smell of the pages and the sound of the paper when you turn the pages, but for practicality, it pays to go digital and go with the least paper possible if you absolutely must bring a hard copy (travel guide, favorite novel or inspirational reading). It always depends where you’re going and what the activity is, but for long-term leisure travel, whether luxury or backpacking, a good general principle is to limit yourself in electronics to three big ticket items. Likely your phone is in the list, so you really have two more–think tablet, camera. Or camera plus big ass Bose headphones. And so on and so forth. And, don’t forget the chargers and converters if need be (whomp whomp). AND ALWAYS, ALWAYS keep your gadgets with you on your person when in transit (NOT IN CHECKED BAGGAGE!) and locked up somewhere safe when not in use. 
  3. Going to sound silly, but leave the food at home! One of the best parts of traveling is eating EVERYTHING (mostly). I won’t forget that I made this mistake with my mother, traveling to Japan, where we wanted to save on costs by bringing some snacks with us since we were under the impression that food costs would be astronomical. We brought a bunch of Cliff bars and granola bars with us–needless to say, we were GIVING them away only a few days into our trip, and couldn’t stop eating all the goodies around us no matter how hard we tried. I’ve also met some people (hi sis!) who survived in Mexico on only Snickers bars. Her girlfriends all got sick with food poisoning on that trip so I guess there’s a lesson in there somewhere–and while you SHOULD DEFINITELY pack for a Montezuma’s Revenge or Delhi Belly moment (to all you Brits), that shouldn’t deter you from trying something new and, hopefully, delicious.
  4. Excessive beauty tools, accessories and grooming goods–ok so I lumped a few categories together, potato po-tah-to–if it’s not something you would wear or use on a regular basis at home, or even for a night out at home, think again before taking it with you. Bringing your own make-shift salon with you, complete with blowdryer, curling iron and curlers? If you’re going that fancy, I think you’re better off splurging for a professional than schlepping that with you and still having to do all the work! Glitzy, glamorous jewelry? If you’re going to the Oscars, I say. Enough makeup to turn you into all of those girls I envy on Instagram? Girlfriend, start embracing your natural beauty, all your goods are going to get tossed around and melty on the road anyway… but seriously bring a little for yourself. Since men only have something like 4 or 5 tools anyway (unless they are from New Jersey, of course), this doesn’t apply to them too much.

    Nothing good came out of that rock around her neck.

    Nothing good came out of that rock around her neck.

Physical baggage, check. Now, onto your perceptions and attitudes, don’t take with you–

  1.  Preconceived notions that you are any better than the people or the country you are visiting! Especially if you are going from a country of privilege, Westernized nation, or developed nation, whatever jargon you prefer for it, to a less privileged nation. Don’t make the assumption that the people around you are idiots, as so many Americans people tend to do when they travel. Even going from one developed nation to another, you should be careful of criticizing the country you are in–you would be amazed at how patriotic you become when someone slams the politics of your country, whether you personally agree with it or not. You should treat people as you want to be treated, and it goes a long way. One precaution…
  2. Don’t leave your wits at home! When meeting people abroad, you don’t want to be entitled, but you don’t want people to walk all over you either. If you think I’m telling you that there are people out there who want to screw you over while you’re away from home, then you’re 100% right. Especially on WOO-WOO Spring Break(!) vacations, we feel immune on foreign soil. You shouldn’t be paranoid but you should follow the same reservations as you would when at home when dealing with strangers, and if you subscribe to the Julie philosophy of travel–no sex with anyone!   

    And from personal experience, your caution should extend to locals as well as expats–just because someone moved out of their home country doesn’t revoke the asshole card if such is their actions and personality towards you. In fact, there is a distinct possibility they chose to emigrate BECAUSE of asshole tendencies; while the cool expats left because of their coolness. Unfortunately, there is no litmus test; there is no asshole border control, either. 

    You feel wonderfully free when you’re traveling, and that’s one of the beautiful truths about going away in the first place, but just don’t be stupider than you would normally be. And if you would normally be really stupid and a risk taker, just try and take it down a notch.

  3. Last but not least, don’t pack an aggressive agenda. I’m not against making plans, but I believe that you have to budget some time for your trip to just roll along naturally, AND for hiccups along the way–missing your ferry, train, bus, whatever. Bad weather, unexpected travel companions (good or bad!). If you go on a trip with a precise military regimen, you might be so engrossed in keeping up with your schedule that you don’t really get a chance to “soak in” your environment and you cut off your chances of being surprised–hopefully for better and not worse. You should definitely budget time for your must-see’s and must-do’s, especially if that requires coordinating a booking in advance, but leave yourself a healthy buffer to enjoy the place at an enjoyable pace.

 

There are travel tips innumerable from here until the end of time, but for those who are just getting started on their journey, I hope that these can help you in your trip-planning as I keep them in mind for my own trip coming up, and that this is a little nudge in the right direction for those of you who are procrastinating hesitating about your own trip!

Creating Content with Personality and Avoiding the “Live, Laugh, Love” Trap

2 Comments

This past Friday I had the opportunity to attend the New York Times travel show and boy am I glad I did! Not only is the family business a travel agency, but here I am trying to figure out the life I want to live while traveling and not working for the man. I got a lot of information on destinations & networking for the travel agency, but the most important part was sitting in on some travel media sessions–learning what’s going on in the fragmented world of travel journalism and how important social media is in reaching consumers (no one killed any brain cells coming up with that conclusion, myself included).

For the most part, the presenters were entertaining, a couple of them a little high-falootin’ with a lot of statistics and professor-speak about the trade, but then there were three–three muses, three wishes, three bears, three whatever-you-like–that gave me some perspective, and would inspire me with a go-out-and-get-‘er-done attitude (for at least the next 48 hours).

The first was a girl, one woman, who stood out above them all, a person from whom I’d stolen a moniker (totally by accident), and who fits the personality of said nickname just as much as I think I do – A Broad Abroad.

You see, for some reason I was missing the agenda and speaker bio for the event, so I just went along it since I knew that’s where I needed to be, anyway. She couldn’t show her presentation, but she had me at “I’m a Mac girl” (me too, me too!). She then had us (me, at least) forever with the challenge for each of us to become OUR OWN Influencer. She spoke with the audience as if she was conversing with a group of old friends. When she revealed her name, A Broad Abroad (and it’s a tumblr account- just like my A Broad Abroad is/was!), the heavens opened up over the Javitz Center and put a spotlight on her!

She spoke for maybe 20 minutes or so at one of the topics in travel media and then sat on the panel for some Q&A. She even talked about an excellent engagement program where Yahoo! Travel (and she’s the one in charge, people!) will be seeking out contributing content creators for the site. I was happy to listen at her and made a beeline to her spot when the session closed, propelled even faster by the 16 oz of green tea in my body, gave her my card, and showed her a nifty little screenshot from my e-mail that showed that my own account, A Broad Abroad, on tumblr, had celebrated its own 4-year anniversary a few months ago! The words just kind of poured out from there, and though she might not see me as bestie status just yet, I gained a lot from her about travel but more importantly, how to captivate an audience AND keep your voice. To paraphrase some of her closing comments, there is nothing worse than boring content with no point of view; it needs to have a title or topic that sucks you right in, and content should make you feel something: laugh, cry, get angry, but feel something.

The second, was when I spotted Mark Murphy chatting with some suits during the catered lunch. Now, I’d never met him before in person, but my mother (the travel agent) refers to him like they are BFF’s, so whenever I talk about my own travel project she always tells me, “YOU’VE GOT TO TALK TO MY FRIEND, MARK MURPHY!” I added him on LinkedIn a little while ago, and since I have one of his books, Travel Unscripted, I thought I should read that as some background before reaching out to him.

I have to say, I was a little hesitant to go up to him since he is one of few people in this industry who’ve “made it” and in any industry that profile might make them dismissive…? but I managed to insert myself into a conversation and meet another 3 or 4 people in the process of doing so! As for Mark, I was blown away by how down to Earth he really is, nice but straightforward. He indulged me with at least a good 20 minutes of his time, extremely generous for me being a virtual stranger! I didn’t get just a nugget of good advice, I got a gold mine–on branding, publication, the works. I really can’t say thanks enough.

The third good omen actually preceded the other two chronologically, and that belongs to Mr. Sree Srinivasan, linking to his Twitter account and rightfully so since he was the Tweet-Master that day. Very useful tactical advice for how to develop and deliver content. Really likable guy, only reinforcing the main message that I got from it: to be great in social media, you need to be great in real life. I gotta work on both!

So now you might be wondering, what the heck was she talking about with that “Live, Laugh, Love” trap?!

It may be partially that I’m a noob, but I find that in producing content I often struggle with two issues:

  • Wanting to seem proper and politically correct
  • Wanting to be likable by writing with an unchanging positive tone and wrapping up my stories with “happily ever after” endings

I call it the “Live, Laugh, Love” trap for obvious reasons. The common message between my three saints on that day is to “be yourself” and “be authentic“–in and of itself that could be a little cliche, but the results–stories, photos, etc., won’t just take on a human quality, they will be actually, really, vividly, human.

You don’t always need to have a picture perfect day where everything goes right and everything is on time and structured (that business is otherwise called PR…) I think that our lives are messier and more complicated, and infinitely more interesting because of it.

The same conflict going on in our personal lives and experiences is the exact some conflict that is a key ingredient in storytelling–no conflict, no story. That’s not to say that once in a while you really are dancing on a cloud with unadulterated enthusiasm! But, there’s only so many rainbows, cotton candy, unicorns and daisies that one can take before they start to tune out. Be relatable. And don’t be the boring friend (yes, we all have one).

I don’t have the heart to kill my darlings (first posts) just yet, but I expect that they will be tailored shortly and that from here on out, I am doing myself a favor and simply being Jetset Julie, with no apologies or excuses. Cue sassy photo once more for reinforcement.

We_Can_Do_It!

HOLY CRAP. 29 days to go before I’m Asia bound!

1 Comment

My mind is scattered in a million different directions, I have so much to do and so little time to do it in (not like I have any less time than anyone else, but you get the gist…)

I’m officially outta here in just 29 days… Here being the good old US of A, on to my travels throughout Southeast Asia, with stops in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. I don’t really have any more plans besides that except that I want to make this trip count. A big juicy chunk of time – 5 whole months of waking up and experiencing truly new and novel settings and characters.

5 Months time, equating to about 145 anti-malarial pills (the not-so-hallucinogenic kind), prescribed to me today as I began my battery of vaccines, reading like an alphabet soup of insidious, tropics-borne diseases–Hep A, B, shots for TDP (that’s Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pertussis), an oral vaccine for typhoid, and the very icky-sounding and rather painful vaccine for JE (that’s Japanese Encephalitis). Actually, painful is way too bland a description for that last one, it felt like being injected by radioactive goo and having the flesh and muscles slowly melt and collapse from the inside (at least, I assume that my description is fairly accurate?).  Unfortunately, nearly all of these are going to require some kind of follow-up shots over the next few months, and I’m in it now for the long haul.

Today was definitely a day for ice cream.

And since I’ve packed and repacked the backpack a couple of times, I think it’s time for me to repack it one last time and get that errand off my list.

SO MUCH TO DO!

And I’m looking forward to all of it. ‘Cept for the remaining shots. Those suck.

Being Grateful and Getting Personal

1 Comment

So, I’ve started my project to get to know my networks! Slowly but surely, but the most important part of any project is actually beginning. I think I’m going to call it Project NYE for short. I hope to get greater momentum going in the next few days, since I am sure that it’s going to be harder to reach out to everyone when I’m engrossed in my SOUTHEAST ASIAN EXTRAVAGANZA – 5 months of traveling starting in mid February….

Both people that I’ve spoken to are friends from my Facebook community.

One is a girl that I haven’t spoken to in years, since middle school, actually. I’m always intrigued by her own interesting series of posts, travels, and general bad-ass optimism and feminist qualities of independence, that is to say that her life (and newsfeed) are never overrun with “coupled” activities, of which I find many girls falling into that pattern of co-dependence. And I’m from New Jersey, the most bad-ass fucking place of them all! Like other people from the state, we imagine that the most important places in the US consists of the frigid North East, Florida (read: Miami, also note that I personally hate Miami), and the state of California; whereas all of the landlocked places of the US consists of severe weather shifts, serious issues involving guns, teen-moms-ville, and Republicans… So, yeah, if there aren’t strong independent women in this part of the country, then where are they? If not us, who? If not now, when?

Forgive the tangent! Anyway, she is doing great, and now that the ice is broken, I can see myself talking with her more in the future. Whether that amounts to meeting up, I can’t really say for sure, but I feel incredibly great for opening the door to our communication.

And now a turn towards the more serious. Another contact reached out to me, a person several years older than myself, an acquaintance from a former country. Trying to keep their identifying details confidential, this person confessed to me that over the holidays they returned to the US and went for a battery of tests with their physician, and testing positive in 50% of them for a certain type of cancer. To say that this caught me off guard is a gross understatement. When I say that this person is an acquaintance, it’s true – we’ve only talked online or on the phone and have never met, we are certainly not best buddies, and yet… I have a hard time describing exactly what I felt during our conversation. At one point, hearing their perspective, concerns, and anxiety for making a full recovery, I caught my own throat tightening up and feeling as much sympathy as I could for this person’s situation. The lighter side of the news being that the likelihood of inoperability is very low, a single-digit percentage; but when it comes to life, death, or health, even something as trivial as 1% sounds like something risky to me.

We talked for a little while, as this person is back from abroad pursuing treatment with doctors in the US, and seeing family. I’m no doctor, of course, so every bit of advice pertaining to what they should or shouldn’t do, I precluded with this disclaimer, or emphasizing it with “in my opinion”. But what I do know is that it’s important for my friend to stay positive, to believe that things will work just fine, and to make every effort to live as healthy of a life as possible right now, pertaining to stress, diet, and other lifestyle habits. I’m not a religious person – far from it, in fact – but this person asked me to pray for them. Since I have no deity to ask, I will keep this person in my thoughts in my own way, and believe in the powers and miracles of medicine.

These stories only reflect the tellings of two people in my network so far, and I’ve got roughly 1300 more to go… Their stories are powerful and have moved me. And while I thought that in the best case scenario I would hear back from a couple of people, with mostly positive things going on in their lives, I am kind of amazed at how I feel much closer to the second person in this example. I am flattered that they let me into their world and confided in me about this personal matter, and I hope that, at the very least, I was able to make this person feel a little bit better, a little more cared for.

And when I hit a wall in the future, I’ll make sure to come back to this post to remind myself how good it feels to reach out to people personally, to be there for them in their proudest moments and even more importantly, to be there for them in their worst.

And honestly… one of the reasons I’ve hesitated with this project is that I’ve been worried about coming across “fair weather” friends, the “yes men” friends, the people that are friendly with you when all is well and when it’s convenient, but slip out the back door when hard times come (and they always come). Fair weather friends, not to be confused with long distance friendships, since I’ve managed to hold my ground with many friends around the world, even when we seldom talk or don’t see each other for years. Character is consistent. But now, I feel confident in separating the wheat from the chaff, the real from the opportunists. I’ll move forward with my project, with occasional updates for myself and the blogosphere, along with getting more involved with my other passions, almost all of which are somehow combined with travel!

Thanks for reading, let me know what you think in the comments, and ta-ta for now!

You Get What You Give

Leave a comment

Ok, so I don’t have any news to report on the progress of my New Year’s Resolution (unfortunately, one of my resolutions has never been about procrastination!). BUT, I have started to cultivate new friendships, online and offline, and I’m pleasantly pleased with the potential for each of them. Even though I haven’t pressed into my current social media friends or connections, at the end of the day, the point of this is to come away with more quality friends after all, isn’t it?

Online, I’ve interacted with my local community in a dedicated Facebook group, asking questions and answering questions, especially when it fell into my expertise of travel, and even more into my niche of all-inclusive travel in Mexico and the Caribbean. I didn’t live there for nothin’!

Also, as the days tick closer to my Asian Extravaganza (arriving in Singapore just in time for the Chinese New Year!), I have been looking for some people to host me on Couchsurfing, and it is so heartwarming to be welcomed into a stranger’s house, for no reason other than an act of kindness and good will. Well, actually, the dark side is that there are some creepers whom I’ve connected with, and our conversation part deux begins with “so why don’t you have anymore pics on your profile?” -.-  I’m not really interested in those kinds of meet ups.

OH! And also, a friend of a friend of my sister is offering to host me in Singy for my few days in town whilst I acclimate… offering me my own separate guest room and bathroom… an iMac (!!!)… and even a driver to pick me up at the airport in the middle of the night, after crossing half the world and traveling forward in time one, no, two days! She also seems like a lovely lady who will adventure around the island with me and be my lunch date, at least. So, *I* feel like THIS:

Now, offline is where things are a bit more interesting.

And again I have to credit the Couchsurfing community, since I’ll be meeting a bunch of them starting in just about six weeks.

The other day, I went to the library to relax and read through some of my SE Asia guidebooks–sometimes I like the patine of turning pages. After about an hour, someone tapped me on the shoulder from a neighboring table and asked me if I was, indeed going to Thailand? I smiled and said yes, whereby she told me that I am going to LOVE it! I mentioned I had been there for a couple of days, and we swapped some travel stories – and I’m realizing more and more that the secret keyword that not many people know of IS, in fact, “travel” (seriously, try using it as an icebreaker and see how far it goes). She was one half of a lovely older, retired couple that has visited about 40 countries (and counting), including some more extended tours into Asia, which is really a region that I am more passionate about, more on that in other postings. We exchanged e-mails and I told her that I hope to keep in touch.

Still, I met another person I’m interested in getting to know this week, while setting up an international, fee-free ATM card (yes, such a miracle exists, check it out at Charles Schwab). Something I really should have done YEARS ago to be totally honest. We met coincidentally, and I found out she is fairly new to the area and looking to make friends, and has quite an interesting history of travel and emigration herself. I love it and am looking forward to befriending a fellow nomad in this world, where sincerity and integrity are the stuff that long-lasting, long-distance friendships are made of.

And last, but certainly not least, I am elated that “Tales of a Female Nomad” author Rita Golden Gelman wrote back to me, in just under 24 hours, to my fan letter thanking her for publishing such a beautiful memoir. I would wager that if you enjoyed reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, this one would easily please you just as much. (Let me make a quick book review aside here, I find that Tales of a Female Nomad is more episodic, in that she catalogues her visits and experiences across several different countries, achieving something new in each country. While Eat, Pray, Love, does this as well, I think of that particular memoir as more of a three act play in how it is sewn together. Both were phenomenal and worth a read, in my opinion).

The point being – no, I haven’t advanced on what I’ve promised so far regarding reaching out to Facebook and LinkedIn people (yet), but yes, I have been cultivating more friendships as I move along. 

The Resolution Worth Keeping

Leave a comment

Ping! The familiar notification from Facebook Messenger alerted me to a new message, a simple “Happy New Year!” from a friend in Mauritius, whom I’d met incidentally on a trip to Japan more than two years ago.

We haven’t seen each other since we met, and yet we’ve managed somehow to stay in touch and stay current with each other’s life events. And then it hit me all at once, what I should really resolve to do this year that would be meaningful to me and different from the last years’ half-hearted declarations. I even made a (rather witty, in my opinion) Facebook post about it! And I certainly don’t think I need any bad karma or credibility issues from the all-knowing, all-seeing internet Gods, so here it is: what if, instead of just beefing up my personal network and brand via social media, I took all of my “friends”, “followers”, and “contacts”, and actually built a real, personal, relationship with each of them, or at the very least attempted to?

In other words: Hi, I’m Julie and I like warm hugs!

I realize I’m the one who’s going to have to seduce my friends to, you know, talk to me… And while it’s a small gesture, I think it’s a pretty decent goal. A S.M.A.R.T goal if you will (that’s Smart, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely – said every modern business book ever). So here’s the fine print.

  • Who’s involved? For now, I am targeting my Facebook buddies, LinkedIn contacts AND OF COURSE, EVERYONE WHO CORRESPONDS WITH ME HERE ON MY BLOG! since these networks involve direct relationships and identities, as opposed to Twitter and Instagram, which focus mostly on producing content and material.
  • What am I talking about? Transform social media friends into social media friends. And since we don’t live in a world of rainbows and lollipops (although that sounds delicious), it may ultimately lead to–nay, it SHOULD lead to–cutting out some dead weight in my life. You know the types. And believe me so do I–should make for interesting fodder for later…
  • Where? On the Internetz. Or should a live opportunity present itself, I wouldn’t say no to seeing an old friend.
  • When? 364 days remaining, or a churn of 3.7 people per day. If this little experiment works out, maybe it’s something that I could carry over on a rolling basis.
  • How? Let the message fit the medium–a quick, personalized note if ever and whenever possible, informing the recipient of my project and with some fun questions to get the conversation rolling. “Fun” is rather subjective, but I think I will omit such goodies like what is your favorite sexual position… for now. 
  • Why? Because this.

Also, I’m sick of creeping on your profile in private! Let me in, or let me out. I’m sure there’s much more to you than 142.3 GB worth of media of your children spitting up/hitting each other/pissing off the family dog. I bet you’re a far better person than all of your shared pop quizzes and personality assessments would otherwise indicate. You are more than the sum of your buzzfeed parts.

And, like the protagonist of this video, I think my life would be better with better friendships. It’s important to remember that it’s not about quantity, it’s about quality. In keeping this resolution, I will consider myself successful it it produces even one stronger friendship than before, or removes (or heals!) even one toxic connection from my past.

Any advice for me?

It’s almost 2015… tick tock, tick tock

5 Comments

2014 has been a pretty unpredictable year for me with some definite highs and lows. I’m really looking forward to 2015 as a way of starting over with an exciting and experimental year, where the only one who calls the shots in my life is me (and fate) and I can enjoy myself outside of an identity forged by a career descriptor. SPOILER ALERT — I’m going backpacking in Asia!

I hope to accomplish more in this one year; that I am more driven and with more guts and conviction than I have ever had in my life. To whittle down my bucket list (note to self, make bucket list, and learn how to use other text formats besides italics and bold), since everyone knows that when you turn 30, inevitably, you melt. I’m just here trying to outrun the storm!

Looking forward to sharing my moments with the blogosphere — before I melt. Happy New Year!