In 2008, I quit my corporate job, sold off everything I owned and moved overseas with my husband Drew. Since then we've traveled around the world, started our careers over as creative types and nurtured our love of sleeping in late. Oh and we had a baby. Cole, our almost 2 year old has been traveling since he was four months old and probably knows more Thai than me (not that he brags).
We're working on a documentary film about people who work online and travel around the world. I'm writing this blog and other projects. Cole is perfecting his ability to trash any hotel room within moments of check in.
You can find me online, constantly, and that's sort of embarrassing, but hey, it's um, for you guys, right? I frequent Facebook and Twitter. Sometimes we make little videos and post them on Youtube. And now I'm on Pinterest and GoodReads, too. (But seriously, that is it!)
Ok fine, Instagram, but only because Drew made me.
I wrote this series in Sept/Oct of this year and when I finished I realized something. I had written a small book– over 30,000 words, or about 150 pages in pdf format. That’s a lot of blog to read. So to make things easier, I put those posts together into an ebook, that you can read at your leisure, forward to friends or print out.
The price?
Free. For now. After January 10th, that might change. (So get it while you can!)
How to get it?
It’s for subscribers only. You know, folks who read this site regularly. So that means you’ll have to be signed up via the RSS or the email. Then, there’s a part two. At the bottom of every post, you’ll see the icon for this ebook. Click on it. It’ll take you to the download page, where you’ll enter the email address where you want it sent. I don’t sell or share your email, ever.
Today’s free book isn’t a new release (it was first published in 2000) and it isn’t directly related to travel. I chose to review this book based on it’s premise:
“The Tipping Point is that magical moment when an idea , trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.”
To me, it was the closest thing to answering a question I had been turning over for the past year… how does one person go from living a perfectly normal life, to deciding, seemingly out of the blue, to chuck it all and do something completely different. This book deals with that times a million. How does a fad begin? How does the massive collective eye of a society change it’s focus and decide seemingly overnight to try something unexpected?
As a writer, someone who spends most of her time thinking of ways to help people overcome their internal objectives in order to find a more meaningful life, I’m curious about how people think. Malcolm Gladwell is one of those people too. He’s incurably interested in the details of how things work, especially when it goes against the expected.
It’s soft science, a kind of weekend intellectualism that frames the entire narrative, but still deftly weaves real world examples and case studies to examine how little ideas become big changes. If you’re someone that believes strongly in the individual will, this book might shake some of that. Whether talking about Paul Revere’s midnight ride or the overnight spread of teen suicide in Micronesia or the boom in popularity of a certain shoe in the 1990′s, it might surprise you how these things begin (the power of a few) and how influenced we are by our environment and the people around us.
On the individual level it’s interesting to apply Gladwell’s concepts. In my life, I wasn’t thrust into travel by some major event. It was the smallest detail the changed me from workaholic corporate drone to status-dismissing free-living traveler. I didn’t get fired or become an alcoholic or get cancer or divorce my husband. I had a perfectly good job and a big project and about a three month period where my work slowed down from hyper-overload to almost nil. Instead of enjoying a little downtime, I plotted my escape. What was the difference in my situation? Context. My environment. The people around me. All influencing me in ways I wouldn’t have suspected. Until I tipped.
Want a Free Copy?
Leave a comment below and tell me what you’d like to bring over the tipping point. I’ll choose the winner on next week’s Free Book Friday.
Brandi who wrote, “I would love this book as I want to travel but have no single friends that I can travel with. Seeing as I live along and none of my married friends want me to tag along on their vacations (third wheel much?) I do all my traveling alone. However, I haven’t been able to travel along because of all the things I hear that happen to female travelers that are all by themselves. Obviously you can see how much this book truly appeals to me. Maybe then I could work up the courage to just leave all the happy couples behind and live and be happy being single!” Brandi, you got it– this book is perfect for you.
I was in Belize, a paid trip by the Belize board of Tourism and I’m slurping down ceviche and broiled lobster and wondering about ethics. You see the point that became clear for me, in a way that only $200/night hotel rooms and free samples of Aveda shampoo can crystallize—is that there are no writers paying for this out of pocket. I don’t dare to do that math, but a $1000 flight, $200+/night for 5 nights accommodations and 3 meals a day that included apps and dessert (yes even for lunch) plus non-stop activities, air and ground transfers from one end of the country to the other, I’d say we’re looking a $500/day budget. Easy.
The big debate about travel writing comes down to semantics. Can you be objective if someone else pays the bills? To which I ask: does it matter if the check is picked up by your publication or the tourism board? Because let’s not kid ourselves. The writers in any glossy travel mag aren’t staying at spa resorts out of pocket. Someone else is paying. Does it make a difference to the writer if a PR group pays or your boss? Not really. It’s still free. It’s still a luxury that you couldn’t afford on your own. Does it impact coverage? Absolutely. But not in the way you’d think. Most travel writers aren’t approaching the medium like a restaurant reviewer. They aren’t visiting a location to covertly judge and measure everything and produce at 1-5 star rating. It’s about the angle, the story, the bigger picture.
In short, the story is the bias. I didn’t write about where we stayed or what we ate, but rather about traveling pregnant and my take on authentic tourism in Belize. I brought my own agenda and my experiences were filtered through that lens, not necessarily the objectives of anyone who arranged the trip. What impact did the insertion of public relations into my travel have? Access. Seriously. Sure, they probably made sure that my hotel room was extra clean or that they were quick on the water refills at dinner but I don’t write about those things. The biggest difference to me, as an independent traveler, was getting to meet the chef at each restaurant. Spending time with tour guides who were willing to be pumped for information. Having an after dinner drink with the hotel owner. Finding the stories that interested me.
Is it the only way to write about travel? Absolutely not. I could have spent the entire time in Dangria, following Garifuna drummers around and trying to learn everything I could about the African influence on Belizean culture, for $20/day. I would have stayed in modest locations, spent time interviewing locals and picking up as much Creole as possible. That has value. But it was interesting to me that what some people have classified as unethical, i.e. receiving “freebies” and not paying for my travel out of pocket, actually opened me up to stories I wouldn’t have found otherwise.
It reminds me in a way of the age-old traveler vs. tourist argument, which is really about purity. On some levels I’m interested in that, the idea of the pure travel writer, gritty and determined to experience it all and report back in flowery detail. I want that ideal, but it gets in the way of itself. It romanticizes hardship and scorns comfort. It assesses value based on obscurity. It frowns on name brands. To me, it seems that sometimes a place is well known because it’s awesome. Sometimes the obscure mountain village isn’t charming but a hell-hole. If you’re fitting the “authentic” mold then you’re conforming as much as the guy writing 500-word travel filler about his last cruise.
There was one thing about this trip that made me really excited for the future. This was a group of bloggers. In some ways they didn’t know what to do with us, and having done this trip, I have lots of ideas of how we could have used our shared resources better. But we are online writers. We’re not on assignment. We’re Twittering and blogging and talking about Stumbleupon and HootSuite. I think it’s a very exciting development, and hopefully we can figure out how to make it work beyond replicating the print model and inserting the word “blogger” into the itinerary.
Did I mention I loved Belize? The only side effect is my inclination to work the phrase, “You better Belize It” into every conversation. Maybe they did unduly influence me. Or perhaps there was something in that last bite of key lime pie. Totally worth it.
I know I haven’t posted enough photos, so here’s a slideshow of all my Flickr set from the trip (double click to view in new window):
Just a quick note to let everyone know that the free version of the Twitter for Travelers ebook will be expiring Sunday, November 29. If you haven’t already downloaded your copy, it easy… just sign up as a subscriber (either subscribe via RSS, or sign up for email updates) and on the bottom of every post is a button to the free download link. (If you’re a new email subscriber, you’ll get your first email when there is a new post here at Almost Fearless).
What’s happening to the ebook? It’s going on sale for $7. Why? I need to make room for next month’s ebook which will be coming out on November 30th. It will also be free for all Almost Fearless subscribers (and being a subscriber will always be free). It’s my way of thanking regular readers and to spread the tools to help you redesign your life and travel the world– in whatever form that takes for you.
If you’re interested in being an affiliate I am offering 50% commission. You can sign up now to start selling on November 30th.
Haven’t downloaded your copy yet? If you’re reading this via an RSS reader or email subscription, the link is right below this post. If you’re new to the site, you can subscribe via RSS, or sign up for email updates.
Wanderlust and Lipstick‘s Beth Whitman wants you to travel. In this second edition of the aptly named, The Essential Guide for Women Traveling Solo, she takes the reader through the basics like: Why Travel Solo, Getting Beyond the Excuse, Let’s Get Booking, Pack it Up, and Responsible Travel. The advice is solid, the writing is clear and pleasant to read. If you harbored a desire to travel but had never done it, then this book would answer nearly every concern. But there’s something about explaining travel to this level of detail that reminded me of a how to book for sex. If you need, you’re probably not doing it.
That being said, this is the perfect book for a lot of people. If you know someone who has never traveled, doesn’t know how to book a flight or what to pack, (i.e. someone who doesn’t go far even for one week vacations) or is nervous about doing all of that alone (your best girlfriend post-big break up) this is an extremely well written and well-informed book.
Single Ladies, Give Your Mom This Book
While I was reading this, I kept thinking of how useful it could have been as an explanation to certain women in my life before I took my trip. “Are you nervous about traveling alone?” Nope, here, read this. It would have been great. “What about safety?” Read Chapter 13. Even after traveling so much, Beth has found a way to break it down for the beginner– never condescending, but rather like a good friend over coffee. Personally, I’ve lost the knack for answering the “But you’ll be murdered!” response with more than deep breathing and murmuring something like, “Yeah, probably.”
Want a Free Copy?
Leave a comment below and tell me why you’d like to travel solo (or why you’d like to leave this book tucked under a certain someone’s pillow). I’ll choose the winner on next week’s Free Book Friday.
Derek who wrote about his best drunk story, “We tell these guys to leave politely and they respond with fists. We suddenly have a five on five brawl going down. We’re in the middle of battling these guys and trying to push them all out the door when this really big girl starts yelling at us to stop.
My friend looks over and says, “Get out of here you fat b*tch.”
One of the random dudes we were fighting stops for a second and says, “That’s not cool man, she’s pregnant.”
That was the end of the fight. Everyone dispersed.” Ah, I love a happy ending.
In 2008, I quit my corporate job, sold off everything I owned and moved overseas with my husband Drew. Since then we've traveled around the world, started our careers over as creative types and nurtured our love of sleeping in late. Oh and we had a baby. Cole, our almost 2 year old has been traveling since he was four months old and probably knows more Thai than me (not that he brags).
Today’s free book isn’t a new release (it was first published in 2000) and it isn’t directly related to travel. I chose to review this book based on it’s premise:
Just a quick note to let everyone know that the free version of the 
