Favorite Website: Indie Travel Podcast

Since the moment I started prepping for my career break in 2006, I started listening to the Indie Travel Podcast (ITP). At the time, they were only one of two travel podcasts out there covering long-term travel around the globe. Now, the market has exploded, however I still always stay true to Craig and Linda of ITP.

Through iTunes they provide easy to download 20 min. podcasts about how to pack, how to stay in a hostel, what to do when you miss a flight, the 15 essential items you need in your bag, how to buy insurance, and a million other travel topics. And you can find three years of archived travel tips, city guides, interviews, and even videos on their website.

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Travel Advice Around the Web

When we’re not busy preparing career break-related content for the community at Briefcase to Backpack, we’re offering travel advice and tips elsewhere on the web.

Sherry Ott has contributed several articles to Indie Travel Podcast, including:

Eliminating the Middle Man
Booking tours online can be a great way to organize your trip ahead of time. But it’s also a pretty sure-fire way to waste money – a fair proportion of the cost is going to the middle-man. Save money and book locally.

Travel Ink
Who needs a permanent scar when you can have your passport stamps serve as your travel memory?

Become a Vagabond Master
To determine if you can hack long-term travel to remote countries, I’ve put together a little four-week travel-training plan to prepare your mind and body for vagabonding.

Bathroom Adventure Travel
Sherry Ott explores the idea of adventure travel for the digestive system. She recommends Nepal as the ultimate place for a journey for the gut.

THE CIRCLE
We have also become online Travel Mentors for a new goal-focused social website – The Circle.

The Circle is designed to create an environment of guidance and discussion on a wide range of topics, with a primary focus on helping members to identify and reach personal goals. Each Circle features a relevant weekly blog and as mentors, we bring our real-life travel experience to the Circle community. In addition, we respond to member questions and participate in Forum discussions, hoping to inspire and guide members to reach personal goals they’ve set for themselves.

We rotate our Mentor duties with another avid traveler and fellow career breaker – Mala Mason.

So be sure to check out The Circle. There is no charge for online visitors to register to join a Circle of members who have similar interests and goals – and they don’t have to be travel-related!

Favorite Gear: Silk Sleep Sheets

One thing I don’t leave home without when traveling is a silk sleep sheet (also known as a mummy liner or sleeping bag liner). It’s lightweight and will be your savior when you check into a seedy hostel* in Greece, find yourself sleeping on an overnight train in Vietnam, or staying in a village in the hills of Thailand.

A sleep sheet is a lightweight sleeping bag minus the zipper. It’s made of silk and simply provides a barrier between you and any questionable beds, sheets, or bugs. (The silk versions are more expensive than cotton but much lighter and compact – worth the price difference.)

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Testimonial: Rebecca Zanatta

In 2006 my husband and I sold our house in Chicago; quit our jobs; hung up our tailored suits; and spent eight months on an adventure of a lifetime. We backpacked (only three pairs of shoes) and limited ourselves to one 14kg backpack each. We traversed 25 countries on four continents that included 25 flights, 46 bus rides, 12 boat trips, 11 trains, and multiple other modes of transportation including a pedi-cab my husband peddled himself in India and a donkey in Petra. Our journey allowed us an opportunity to see parts of the world many don’t ever have the opportunity to see. I couldn’t even spell Uzbekistan let alone tell you where it was located before our trip!

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Life on the Road: Staying in Hostels

When most people hear the word “hostel” they think of the run-down, over-crowded dorm rooms filled with college-aged partiers. And I must admit – I used to as well. In fact, I was one of them!

I was fortunate enough to study abroad while in college and took full advantage of that opportunity to backpack through Europe beforehand. I spent six amazing weeks Eurailing from country-to-country and was there at an exciting time to be in Barcelona for the Olympics and Sevilla for the World’s Fair. And friends I met along the way introduced me to some unique cultural experiences like watching the final day of the Tour de France in Paris and a football match in Salzburg. Read more