Green Around the Globe » Travel Challenges

Dealing With Tragedy Back Home

Amy — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 23:56:24 +0000

I’ve already written briefly about our decision to come home early upon receiving the news that my step-father, Lewis, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. In today’s guest post on Briefcase to Backpack, I write in more detail about the process we went through before we even left on our adventure to plan for the curve balls that life will inevitably throw, and how doing so eased us through a very difficult time on our trip.

Have you change your plans while on the road because of something going on back home? Any ideas on how our fellow travelers can better prepare themselves to handle bad news from home? If so, we’d love to hear about it in the comments below.

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Also, Keith’s most recent post discussing if our trip was career suicide, was picked up and re-posted on yourSABBATICAL.com. today. yourSABBATICAL.com offers great resources including e-books for people that are considering trips like ours. Be sure to check them out and have them help you plan and negotiate a sabbatical from your employer.

Was Our Trip Career Suicide?

Keith — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 16:14:43 +0000

Let me be clear, I do not think that this is the case at all, but now that we are back in Philly, in the midst of a full-time job search, during the worst recession of our lives, the market (employers and clients) have yet to make a definitive call on the matter. So I thought it was worth a post to explore the issue, hopefully providing insight for other travelers on what you can expect when you return, thus making it less unsettling, as you will be better prepared.

First let me provide a little context for this post. One of the most unsettling interactions we had happened almost immediately upon returning to Philly. It was hearing the personal story of another world traveling couple while at the Meet-Plan-Go event. This couple was from New York and had been back from their trip for over a year. Much like Amy and me, they also had left successful careers with large companies to travel for a year. Upon their return to the States, they struggled for months to find work. The wife eventually found a position with a large company in her previous industry, but it lasted only a couple of months, as she was so miserable she eventually left. Since then, they had been surviving on some freelance work here and there but are really struggling. Hearing this only three days after we returned caused a restless night of sleep or two for us. Like our trip, though, I looked at the job search as another goal that could be successfully achieved through diligent planning, hard work and persistence, so we dived in.

My Pitch

The first task was crafting my story. What was my pitch, my 30-second elevator speech? How could I engage people in helping me to find that perfect next career? Getting this right is tough and it was through lots of feedback from friends and family that I landed on the following:

Hi, my name is Keith Sutter and I’m a Business Development and Marketing professional. I spent the majority of my career in Brand Management at Johnson & Johnson. Most recently, though, I undertook a more entrepreneurial venture, launching GreenAroundTheGlobe to document businesses that are using environmental sustainability as a way to succeed in the market. For this research, I traveled to 18 countries on five continents interviewing sustainability thought leaders from around the globe.

I think that this pitch works because it does three things well. First, it takes less than 30 seconds to deliver. Second, it begins with the key things I want people to associate with me: Business Development and Marketing. Third, it provides enough of a teaser about our trip to get someone to ask a follow-up question. That follow-up question is the key, as I need to get them to engage with me quickly, and asking questions accomplishes that.

But who cares what I think. What do you think? Is this a compelling way to engage prospective networking contacts? After all, the data suggests that a job search will live and die by networking. Over 85% of jobs are landed through networking. Only 15% are landed exclusively through applying to job postings, online or otherwise. I believe that effective networking is critical in securing a job in my target industry and company type, which is:

Small to medium-sized;
Entrepreneurial-minded;
Fast-growth;
Employs sustainability as a core strategy for growth; and
Is in need of effective Business Development and Marketing to propel them to the next level of growth.

Before diving too far into my networking strategies, I want to open this up for discussion. Let me know in the comments below what you think. Is there a more effective way to communicate our trip? A better approach to my elevator pitch?

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I also wanted to list a couple of the practical things we did right while traveling and some that we could have been better about in hopes that it will help other travelers and job seekers.

Some things we did right:

Establish a safety reserve of at least one year of savings. We reserved enough of a financial safety net to support our living expenses for at least a year upon our return. Anything we make in consulting fees or freelance work extends this. I highly recommend that anyone contemplating extended travel build this into your budget. You don’t want to come home and have to live with your parents because you are dead broke.
Having a professional purpose for the trip. Ours was for the trip to serve as a catalyst into careers that were more focused on sustainability. For me it was also a way to gain creditability for a move to a more entrepreneurial company. Having that guiding goal helped us make decisions while planning and along the way.
Postcards to professional connections. This tactic was a great way to stay connected with professional contacts back home. While an email is easy to delete, a colorful postcard from China is a something that tends to catch attention sitting in your snail mail in-box. It also makes reconnecting when you get home easier.

Some thing we could have done better:

Networking while we are traveling. Amy hates the idea of us having dedicated even more time during our travel to staying connected and broadening our network back home. But I think I would have spent more time establishing additional professional connections through twitter, linkedin and facebook while we were traveling.

Back on the Travel Horse

Amy — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 10:00:37 +0000

It is not the decision to come home early when a family member gets sick that is hard. It’s the decision about what to do once you are there, months before you expected. Months that your condo is occupied by a tenant, months when that car your sold right before you left would’ve come in handy, months when the prospect of finding employment again looms large.

It took a few weeks of visiting friends and family, sorting the piles of mail that awaited us and fielding the endless questions of what we were going to do with ourselves before we made the conscience decision to treat these months as merely the next part of our year around the world adventure. Same trip, different itinerary. Instead of southern Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, we’d continue to travel in the US and Canada. And we’d start immediately, two miles south of the home I grew up in, at the George Washington Bridge.

It might sound strange, but in the 30 years that my mother has lived in that same house, I had never once walked across this iconic bridge. Sure, I’d driven across it a million times, admiring the views of the Manhattan skyline and the Palisades cliffs while sitting in traffic. I’d watched joggers out on their morning runs, commuters walking briskly to the other side, bicyclists rolling along the narrow pedestrian walkway, and think to myself that one day, when the weather is fine, I should do that. That day arrived on a relatively cool, clear June evening.

We waited until the sun started its western descent and hit the road, arriving at the bridge to catch the end of rush hour. We parked, grabbed the camera and wandered down to the pedestrian entrance on the Fort Lee side of the bridge. In between snapping pictures and convincing security who were less than thrilled with our picture taking that we were just tourists out for a stroll, we laid out the tentative plans that would become the route of our US and Canadian road trip.

Amidst the scent of car fumes and the grit of debris that lined the walkway, we allowed ourselves to fall back into travel mode. Destinations that at the same time seemed close to home but that we hadn’t yet made it to swirled in our heads. Mt. Rushmore. Glacier National Park. Banff. Victoria. Anywhere not as hot as summer on the east coast!

It’s not the adventure we had originally planned, but if we’ve learned anything during our 9 months abroad, it’s that nothing ever goes as originally planned. And yet everything seems to work out for the best. That’s the beauty of travel, and so the adventure continues.

Australianisms

Amy — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:25:47 +0000

After eight months on the road, we both let out a subtle sigh of relief upon landing in our first English speaking country. How nice, we thought, to have conversations more complex than the requisite Where are you from? Where are you going? What am I eating? exchange. We’d be able to read street signs and advertisements. Ask for directions when lost without having to engage in complicated hand rituals. Read labels on items at the grocery store.

For the first few days, our excitement was transformed into delight as our ears were suddenly immersed in the familiar. We could pick up bits of interesting conversation at the coffee shop, listen to the radio news reports and easily navigate our way around.

But then slowly, words that seemed familiar but not quite comprehendible began creeping up around us.

GFC?
Cracker?
Esky?

While Australia sounds like an English speaking country, and technically it is an English speaking country, to our American ears, it’s not quite the English that we were used to. Australians abbreviate EVERYTHING. I’m not sure how they evolved to be the most linguistically lazy people on the planet, but it seems that nothing and no one in Australia is called by its/their full name. The GFC that we kept hearing about on television ads against the newly proposed mining tax? That would be the Global Financial Crisis, Australians’ catch phrase for the worldwide economic recession. A tour guide named Shazza? Her birth certificate says Sharon but no one has ever called her by her given name. Not even her mother.

So here for your amusement (or in case you ever find yourself struggling to understand what an Aussie is saying to you) are a few of our favorite Australian words and phrases, translated for your American English ears:

How ya’ going? = How are you?
Love/Mate = Mr./Mrs.
Bikkie = biscuit = cookie
Iced Coffee = ice cream coffee float
Reckon = I guess
GFC = Global Financial Crisis
Capsicum = bell pepper
Beautiful (adjective applied to food) = delicious or good
Footie = Australian Rules Football
Cracker = great, wonderful, fantastic
Esky = cooler
Joey = baby kangaroo
Rego = car registration
Ute = utility truck. Sort of like a 1970s low rider pick up.
Zebra Crossing = pedestrian crossing
Mozzie = mosquito

What are your favorite Australianisms (or other isms from the many English speaking countries around the world)? Share in the comments below.

Change of Plans

Amy — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 21:42:04 +0000

Amy and Lewis

In case you did not see it on Facebook, we are back in the States. While in Australia, we received the news that my stepfather, Lewis, has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Two weeks later we were on a 27-hour plane ride from Sydney to New York and the next day we caught a flight visit Lewis in Charlotte, North Carolina. For now, we’re bouncing between family and friends while we figure out our next move. We still have stories to tell from our three weeks in Australia, so stayed tuned for tales of catching our first waves, wining and dining our way through the Hunter Valley and cheering on Australia’s Union rugby team.

The Truth About Travel in China – Part Three: People

Amy — Tue, 18 May 2010 10:00:18 +0000

This post is part of a series on our experiences while traveling independently in China. Click here to read Part One: Language and here to read Part Two: Food

The people are pushy and rude. And you can forget about personal space.Sorry, folks, but after nearly a month in China I can tell you that there is no way around this one. You will be pushed. You will be cut off. And that cute old grandma over there? She’ll throw you an elbow in a heartbeat if you come between her and that bus.

You will also have your Western sense of personal space violated in any and every crowded public space. We experienced this for hours on end during our two days standing in line at the World Expo in Shanghai. If there is an inch of space between you and person behind you, the line is too drawn out. Instead of withdrawing from contact, it seems to be sought after.

And it wasn’t just us. While eating lunch outside the Terra Cotta Warriors museum in Xi’an, we witnessed what to us was the most bizarre scene. A young Chinese woman is sitting on bench eating her lunch. Other empty, equally shaded, equally scenic benches surround her. Along come three elderly Chinese women, who all decide that it is time for a rest. The three of them squeeze onto the bench where the young woman is eating her lunch. The young woman packs up her lunch and moves the 3 meters to the next bench to eat her lunch in peace. Thirty seconds later, the elderly women leave.

So how do you deal with the constant chaos and touchy strangers? We decided that rather than get upset about what is really nothing more than different cultural norms, to take the approach of cultural anthropologists and make stuff up about why the Chinese do what they do. Rubbing up against us? Must be that touching a Westerner is good luck. Cars that plow into crowded crosswalks? Perhaps they are just doing their part for population control. Rushing the gate at the airport as soon as it looks like they might begin boarding? Everyone is so excited to be flying for the first time they cannot wait another minute.

Adjusting you perspective is the key to enjoying your time in China. You are not going to instill Western norms of personal space in the 1.3 billion Chinese. So instead of having them wonder why that white person (you) is so upset standing on the crowded subway, stand back (in the arms of a stranger) and enjoy the ride.

The Truth About Travel in China – Part Two: Food

Amy — Tue, 11 May 2010 10:00:38 +0000

This post is part of a series on our experiences while traveling independently in China. Click here to read Part One: Language.

The food is terrible. That is, if you can even figure out what it is you’re eating.

Let’s be clear about one thing here. The food in China is not New York take-out. It is not unusual to meet your meal before you eat it, and the concept of careful trimming or deboning meat does not exist outside of a few tourist restaurants. Many menus are only in Chinese, if there is a menu at all. And let’s be honest – even if you stumble upon a picture menu, it’s far from easy to determine what you are about to order based on a small blurry photograph. On occasion, you may even find yourself in a food desert where your best option is Western fast food. But that didn’t stop us from eating some of the most enjoyable meals we’ve had on our trip.

Steaming soup dumplings. Cold noodles slick with spicy peanut sauce. Braised eggplant in a slightly sweet brown sauce. Tender, succulent bullfrog. Seriously, people, it’s good stuff.

So how did we uncover these culinary treasures? Mostly, it was by accident and observation. We’d hang back and watch how other people ordered. If we were lucky and the food was on display, pointing and pantomime worked fairly well, and even misinterpretations resulted in deliciousness. We discovered our favorite pork dumplings sold by a street vendor by ordering just one, tasting it, and going back for seconds. And then thirds. They were that good. And by the way, dumplings in China are served with a dark vinegar, not soy sauce, and all the better for it.

The peanut noodles were a fortuitous accident. In a crowded Shanghai metro station eatery, we pushed our way through the masses to the display case. Filled with freshly prepared dumplings waiting for the steamer, thick white rice noodles piled high and various sauces and vegetables, we decided on two different types of dumplings for lunch. After getting the attention of the man behind the counter, Keith pointed to the dumplings we wanted to order for lunch. Within seconds, noodles, peanuts, tofu and vegetables were being heaped into a plastic container and passed to us over the case. It looked and smelled delicious, so we just shrugged our shoulders and figured we’d have noodles for lunch. Turned out to be the best peanut noodles either of us had ever had.

Bullfrog was part of a fantastic meal with had with Ed and Joshua, some locals we met through my dad. They took us out to dinner at Szechuan Citizen, and we let them do the ordering for us. Out comes steaming bowl of spicy broth filled with vegetables and unidentifiable pieces of meat. Do you want to know what you’re eating, or just try it first? We decided to be brave. Bullfrog. It takes like chicken. I let Keith try it first, and upon his approval tried my first taste of this amphibious creature. It tasted like no chicken I’ve ever had – it was incredibly moist and tender with a mild flavor. I wish chicken tasted this good!

So while looking your dinner in the eye before eating it might make you a bit uncomfortable, and you might not be sure of what you are ordering when it’s a point and hope for the best situation, it’s worth persevering for the incredibly fresh and new flavors you’ll experience. Trust me. I was born and raised on New York Chinese take out, and if you keep an open mind when eating in China you will not be disappointed.

The Truth About Travel in China – Part One: Language

Amy — Thu, 06 May 2010 02:21:44 +0000

China’s really difficult for Western travelers.
No one speaks any English.
The menus, trains and street signs are all in Chinese.
The food is terrible.
The people are pushy and rude.
Good luck with that one.

- Advice we heard on the road before we arrived in China

It was almost enough to make us pay for a package tour. Everywhere we went it seemed someone had something scary to say about traveling in China. Anytime we mentioned our future plans for a month in China, faces would turn serious and travel terror tales would abound, filling my head with doubts. Were we really hardcore enough to backpack through China? Will it really be so hard to get around? How much is that Intrepid Travel tour?

We have now been in the People’s Republic of China for two weeks, and it is time to separate the facts from the fiction about independent travel in China.

Yes, it is true. Many Chinese, and most taxi drivers, do not speak a word of English. Tourist sites often cater to Chinese tourists, with signage and tours only in Chinese. Announcements in bus stations and metro stops are not always translated into English, and can be confusing even when they are. And unless you have been studying the language for some time, the characters are completely indecipherable.

So communication in China is not as simple as it was in many other parts of Asia. But with a little forethought and a sense of adventure, it’s really not so tough.

First of all, street and directional signs are increasingly being translated into English. In Shanghai, for example, all of the street and metro signs are translated. Even the bus route signs in Guilin were occasionally written in English. This might be a recent phenomena rooted in the Olympics and the World Expo, but as more and more Westerns travel to China, I think it is a trend that will continue.

But of course not all signs are in English, so for us, the key has been to ask someone, either the staff at our hostel or someone in a tourist office, to write out our destination or request in Chinese. This is how we got from the train station to our hotel in Shenzhen, mastered the bus system in Guilin and purchased train tickets in Shanghai. It’s kind of like being back in kindergarten, when your mom would write a note and leave it in your backpack – you know, the one that said, “If I am lost, please call my mom at…” – only in Chinese. Carrying the business card of our hostels has also been invaluable, and we highly recommend it no matter what country you are traveling in.

It has also been the case that we have been sought out by English-speaking locals anxious to practice their skills and share their culture more times in the past two weeks than in the six months prior. In Guilin, we met John, an English tutor who spent a few hours with us walking around the beautiful lakes and chatting about what it is like to be a young entrepreneur starting a business in China. In the hostels we’ve stayed in, we’ve often been asked by staff to correct vocabulary and grammar errors. We’ve also been the recipients of cheerful “hellos!” and smiles as strangers on the street practice their greetings.

We have found that most communication is nonverbal, and the Chinese have been extremely friendly and helpful even when they don’t speak any English. While biking around the Yangshuo countryside on our way to the Dragon Bridge, we stopped to consult our highly inadequate map. The rocky dirt paths crisscrossed through the rice paddies in all directions; the map showed one straight line directly to the bridge. Within a minute, a man on a motorbike approached to help. He spoke no English, but through a series of hand gestures and head shaking he let us know that he was going to the bridge and offered to lead us there. He’d ride along ahead of us, waiting at each intersection for us to catch up. We never would have found the bridge without him. A little charades can go a long way. My sister-in-law Jenn, a charades master, would have no trouble getting around here.

And there is Chinglish, perhaps the best and definitely the most entertaining aspect of the language barrier. Our first encounter with Chinglish was at the Shenzhen railway station, listening to the translated train announcements: This train will be leaving in…no time at all. Please, all passengers get on board. While the word “immediately” is what was meant, it just cannot compete with the current translation when it comes to the amusement factor. It has been nearly impossible to travel around China without finding some funny sign or announcement that brings huge smiles to our faces. Thailand might be the land of a thousand smiles, but for English speakers, China is the land of a thousand giggles.

Stay tuned for The Truth About Travel in China – Part Two: Food

Denial Day

Keith — Sun, 02 May 2010 12:46:42 +0000

While posts here usually run a week or so behind our actual travel, today was such a crazy day I felt compelled to write about it right away, so here it goes. Sometimes the travel gods seem out to frustrate and befuddle you at every turn, and today was one of those days for us in Shanghai. We left our hostel this morning with a great plan and a long list of sights to hit during a full day of sightseeing. Little did we know it was not to be. Nevertheless we still had a great adventure in this amazing city. Below is a list of our intended destinations and the end result.

Souzhou, a smaller town outside of Shanghai known as the “Venice of the East” because of its many canals and gardens. Our original plan for the entire day, we tried buying train tickets yesterday, but apparently all trains for the next few days are fully booked. So instead we headed on the metro to the crowded ancient town of Qibao for a short boat ride on a canal right here in the city.
Art Scene China, an art gallery in a trendy neighborhood. We never got there due to a wrong address in Lonely Planet (though we did disturb some poor man who answered the nondescript door we knocked on). Instead we went to the Xuhui Art Museum that had an interesting exhibit featuring two Chinese artists with their initial sketches along side the finished works. All in all it was a nice substitute for the intend destination.
Charterhouse Booksellers, looking for an English language Japan guidebook in preparation for our next destination. Again, with Lonely Planet’s guidance deception, we were led astray. There is no Charterhouse in Pudong’s massive Super Brand Mall, and according to the woman who answered their phone, there never has been. There was, however, a totally different bookstore on the top floor where a nice man pointed us in the direction of the foreign language bookstore on Fuxong Street back across the river.
Bund Sightseeing Tunnel, a pedestrian tunnel/ride that connects the Bund with the Pudong area. It crosses under the Huangpu River. When we first got to the Pudong area, the tunnel was closed, but after our unsuccessful search in the Super Brand Mall we found the tunnel re-opened. While we were triumphant in getting through the tunnel, I was left really wanting my $7 back for the ridiculous 5 minute ride that consisted of a seeing a couple of flashing lights in a dark tunnel while riding in a driver-less capsule that smelled like it would benefit from a good cleaning with strong bleach.
Foreign Language Bookstore, while not on the original list, it was attempt #3 at finding a Japan guide book, preferably not a Lonely Planet since they had been the source of two of our denials so far. Fate struck again and no English language Japan guidebooks were to be found. Exhausted, we staggered out in defeat.
Bookstore #4, across the street from the Foreign Language Bookstore. Finally a success, as it had two Japan options, Insight and Lonely Planet. After 20 minutes of debate we went with Lonely Plant, despite the let downs earlier in the day. If there had been a Rough Guide we would have gone with that, but beggars can’t be choosers.

Despite the frustration we did walk through some beautiful sections of Shanghai and met some very friendly Chinese. Accepting what comes is a vital skill on a long trip and one we patiently practiced all day long.

Ever had a day when the gods seemed out to get you (or just mess with you)? Let us know in the comments below.

Creating High Resolution Travel Slideshows

Keith — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 10:00:48 +0000

Warning: this post is nerdy and technical. If you are interested in how I learned to upgrade the quality of the videos on the site read on, if not feel free to come back in a couple of days for another, more traditional post.

How do you know that you are on the verge of becoming obsessed trying to solve a technical issue? One clue is when you find yourself on Skype at 10pm with an Apple tech in the States discussing export setting for iMovie. While it is great that Apple has this level of support for free, I was really frustrated as our regional summary videos were playing with low and grainy resolution. There is nothing more frustrating than going to the effort of lugging around a big SLR camera, two lenses, a laptop and external hardrive so we can capture high resolution pictures to then have them show up in your slideshows as grainy and out of focus. Not good enough for me!

At first I did not know where the problem was. I initially suspected that YouTube was lowering the quality after uploading, so I tried Vimeo; no improvement. Then I tried playing the exported files from my hard drive; they were also grainy with jerky movement. Next I experimented with the export settings in iMovie. It did not seem to matter what settings I used when exporting using “export using Quicktime;” they all seemed to result in mp4 movies of low quality despite being relativity large files with export times of over 8 hours.

The most exasperating part was that when I exported and played the movies in iTunes they looked wonderful, clear, sharp and maybe not quite as good as the still images but pretty close. That is when I finally realized that those iTunes shared files were “.m4v” files. And despite being about the same size as the “.mp4” movies, they looked much better when played in iTunes. I finally tried uploading one of these .m4v files using Vimeo’s handy flash-based uploader and what do you know they uploaded just fine and looked great.

So while I recommend using iMovie to create slideshows of your travel pictures and video clips due to the much better selection of map animations, transitions, titles and audio setting options than iPhoto, be sure that you are exporting in the largest size available. I have detailed this process below with screen shots. I hope that this helps others with similar problems. After Googling this problem I was only able to find others complaining about it, never any solutions.

Details:

After the slideshow is complete go to Share -> Export Movie

Next be sure to select the largest size iMovie will allow, point it to where you want the file saved and a couple of minutes later you will have a high res .m4v file ready to upload to Vimeo or YouTube.