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 Here’s my third interview with a travel blogger (check out Phil and Shannon if you haven’t yet), but this time you get a two for one! Jack and Jill just started on their global adventure, but they are already having fun. Fortunately, they are travel veterans so they have a realistic though optimistic view. I want to thank them so much for giving me time while they’re on the road!
1. To Jill: Tell us a little about your background. Why did you leave Indonesia?
I was born and grew up in Indonesia until I was 16. Then we had that big riot in Jakarta where they were targeting the Chinese minority? Well, my parents had always wanted to send me abroad for college, but decided to do it a couple of years early because of the riot. But instead of sending me to cool, multicultural cities such as Melbourne or Sydney, they sent me to podunk Adelaide instead (no offense, I ended up really liking Adelaide).
But I guess it turned out for the better. There was only one other Indonesian in the whole school and it forced me to pick up English much faster than I would have if I had gone to one of the bigger cities.
After I graduated high school in Aussie, I studied art in Seattle and graduated. Then I realized I missed science and decided to go study engineering in California. Which is a very nice segue to your next question.
2. How did you and Jack meet? Was it in Australia? Continue reading Jack and Jill Around the World
Are you  worried about natural disasters, crime or terrorism? Neil Strauss was. He tried to prepare for everything, but ended up finding himself.
Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life is an informative, funny, and sometimes disturbing memoir. It details the transformation of the author, Neil Strauss, a music critic and writer who admittedly has few practical skills at the beginning of the book. Strauss’ family lived in a high rise apartment building, so he never learned about nature or how to fix things. By the end of the book, he’s able to care for both himself and loved ones in areas ranging from wilderness survival to hand to hand combat.
The book immediately draws you in with Strauss’ moral dilemma of whether to slaughter a goat in his quest for survival skills. Emergency then bounces back and forth in time, from location to location, and from factual narrative to analysis. This stylistic choice holds the reader’s attention, but is confusing at times. Continue reading Just In Case
 Shannon above Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina This is the second part of my interview with Shannon O’Donnell, travel blogger. To read the first part, click here.
Jennifer Barry: So what are the differences between Chiang Mai and the south of Thailand?
Shannon O’Donnell: Chiang Mai is much quieter than Bangkok, even though Chiang Mai is the second biggest city. It’s much smaller. Everything is motorbike-able within about 20 minutes here. But the north has a somewhat different culture, with different food than you see in the south. The islands in the south have so much Western influence in them.
JB: Really?
SO: Oh yeah. I went to the Thai islands on my visa run last month and it was so expensive and so Western. Continue reading A Brand New Role, Part 2
 Shannon on Isle of Skye, Scotland Interviewing Phil Paoletta last month was so much fun that I decided to interview another travel blogger, Shannon O’Donnell. She left Los Angeles, California in November 2008 to travel around the world by herself. Shannon is currently taking a pause from long term travel in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and rooming with Jodi from Legal Nomads. I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did!
Jennifer Barry: First of all, thanks for doing the interview! So, why did you decide to leave LA and travel for a long period of time?
Shannon O’Donnell: I was in LA and I felt like the city was crushing my soul. If you read the blog back then, like some of those earliest entries, I hate on Los Angeles so much. I really wasn’t pleased with how things were going and just the style of living. You have to be in your car all the time. I thought to myself, I’ve told everybody, I love traveling, I’m a global citizen, and all I had done was a study abroad program in Italy. That’s it. I had done a little bit of Europe, and then I came back home, and I hadn’t been anywhere else. So I asked myself, do I want to be in Los Angeles and do I want to be an actress for the next 10 years, or do I want to leave and travel for a while and maybe go back there later? And then the next day I got a one-way ticket to Australia. Continue reading A Brand New Role: An interview with Shannon O’Donnell
 US citizens can leave, but they still have to pay taxes. I continue my interview with Adrian S., a married man with a family who sold most of his possessions in search of a better life. He is disturbed about the direction the US is taking, politically, economically, and socially. Links to earlier parts of the interview can be found at the end of this post.
Jennifer Barry: I’m very concerned about the effect of the housing bust on the US. The people who bought near the top could wait more than a decade to see the prices rebound. Too many won’t be able to hold on that long. A lot of these middle-class families aren’t middle-class anymore, they just don’t know it yet.
Adrian S.: Yeah, I feel like a whole new system is being put into place. But people are buying into this idea that it’s all just a big accident, we didn’t realize what was going to happen if we had all these crazy derivatives and such and that the bankers were just a little over-enthusiastic and they’re sorry. Continue reading Stranger in His Own Land, Part 12
 I like to interview interesting people for my blog who are a bit off the beaten path. Phil Paoletta caught my eye when I read his post about the serious problem of malaria. At the same time, I often find myself laughing out loud at his posts. He is the only blogger I know who’s done long term travel in West Africa, and he’s a camel artist as well. Phil was kind enough to answer my questions during a break in his road trip.
Jennifer Barry: What did you do before you started slow travel?
Phil Paoletta: I was teaching middle school in Washington, DC.
JB: I first got interested in your blog because you were traveling through West Africa. Was there a special reason why you chose that part of the world?
PP: I studied abroad in Ghana in 2005. I was a big fan of afrobeat and highlife music in high school and college, and I wanted to go to the source. While there, I fell in love with the people and the vibrancy of life. When I returned home I became deeply nostalgic. I had to go back. Continue reading Living the Highlife in Africa: Bean Eaters, Minibuses and Seductive Camels
 Image courtesy of http://www.blondeepisodes.com I think it’s sad that older people are frequently overlooked in American culture. After all, they have a long life full of experiences, and a lot of wisdom to share. I would like to give you a peek into the life of someone very close to me, Ruby. Due to privacy concerns, I’ve changed the names of the people involved, although the details are true.
1. Pursue Your Passions – Ruby was one of 6 children born into an Italian immigrant family in Boston, Massachusetts. Her parents barely spoke English and they were far from rich. That didn’t stop her from realizing her dream to be a dancer. As a young child, she took lessons to improve on her natural talent. She started performing at the young age of 6 as an acrobat, eventually moving up to be a chorus girl at a club run by Lou Walters, the father of Barbara Walters. Ruby later performed in the Ziegfeld Follies, as a showgirl in Las Vegas, and as a member of the world-famous Rockettes.
2. Don’t Quit – Being a performer is hard on your body. You are expected to give 100% and smile while doing it, even if you are in pain from injuries. Ruby frequently had to use her willpower to get through a hard night, and that reliability is what kept her steadily employed in a field she loved. Continue reading 8 Life Lessons from Ruby, Age 94
 Retirees cut foreign vacations when the Dow falls. This is an excerpt from the October 2010 issue of Global Asset Strategist.
I continue my interview with Adrian S., a married man with a family who sold most of his possessions in search of a better life. He is disturbed about the direction the US is taking, both politically and economically. Links to earlier parts of the interview can be found at the end of this post.
Jennifer Barry: Bill Murphy has been saying for a while that he thinks the average American’s standard of living is going to fall 30%.
Adrian S.: Yes, I agree that I see that coming. The middle class is being cut at the knees right now. We look at the people that we’re staying with, our family, and they’re working very, very hard to keep things afloat. Looking years ahead, I believe there’s going to be war. It happens when you have these kinds of social cataclysms, and our son will soon become just the perfect age for a fighting young man, and so that’s one of the reasons that we want to get out. Continue reading Stranger in His Own Land, Part 9
This is an excerpt from  the October 2010 issue of Global Asset Strategist.
I continue my interview with Adrian S., a married man with a family who sold most of his possessions in search of a better life. Links to earlier parts of the interview can be found at the end of this post.
Jennifer Barry: I know that you’ve been farther head of the curve than your wife Karen has been on a lot of things. Was she really as gung-ho as you to sell the house and travel around, or was she a little bit more skeptical than you were?
Adrian S.: No, I was the driver initially. I was the one who was always promoting the idea of making a break and she kind of went along with it, at some point she said that she agreed that we needed to sell our house. And then things just kind of fell in place after that. Continue reading Stranger in His Own Land, Part 8
 This is an excerpt from the October 2010 issue of Global Asset Strategist.
I continue my interview with Adrian S., a married man with a family who sold most of his possessions in search of a better life. Links to earlier parts of the interview can be found at the end of this post.
Jennifer Barry: How long have you been home schooling your kids?
Adrian S.: It’s been a progression, so we started home schooling about 3 years before we left in 2007. So, once, it’s been a steady series of steps of getting further and further outside the box really, because once we started home schooling, that opened up whole new questions to ask. It’s a healthy thing, we should all be trying to question why we do what we do. Continue reading Stranger in His Own Land, Part 7
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