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quitting your job

Backpacker to Business Class Part 2: The Staying

by Keith on June 22, 2011 · 4 comments

This is the second post in a series documenting the differences between traveling as a backpacker and as a business traveler.  To see the first post in the series about the differences in air travel, please click here.  Next, I want to cover the differences in accommodations.

One of the biggest questions people asked about our backpacking trip was, “What was it like to stay in hostels?” often asked with an intonation that implies that hostels must be dirty and terrible places to “have” to stay when traveling on a budget.  So I thought I would compare my Singapore accommodations on both trips.  While backpacking, Amy and I stayed at the lovely Sleepy Sam’s in the Arab section of Singapore, just down from the Masjid Sultan mosque.

We sprung for a private room ($62/night), but shared the bath, toilet and kitchen facilities with everyone.  Included in that nightly fee was a simple breakfast of toast, jam and coffee, so we never really had to use the very nice kitchen.

Compare that to the luxurious Fairmont Hotel, which is located across the street from the famous Raffles Hotel, the birthplace of the Singapore Sling.

My room at the Fairmont ran $265/night, but did include a magnificent buffet breakfast every morning (which was most likely a huge contributor to the approximately 5lbs I gained on this trip despite working out 4 days in the Fairmount’s huge gym).  The biggest difference probably has to be the beds.  At the Fairmont there was a very comfortable king size bed with fresh sheets every 3 days. At Sleepy Sams the bed was a pretty thin mattress on a small platform.  However, I will note that the free lobby wifi was MUCH slower than the wifi at Sleepy Sam’s.

All in all I am not sure that the Fairmont is worth the entire $1,100 premium that they charge over a place like Sleepy Sam’s for 6 nights in Singapore.  In fact, at the Sustainable Brands 2011 Conference in Monterey, the second stop on my business trip,  I learned about Google’s travel and expense system, Trips, that employs gamification principals to save the company money.  As it was explained, the system works by allotting employees a set amount of funding for a trip to a city or region.  If the employee is able to book and travel for less than the set amount, my understanding is that the employee has two options on what to do with the savings:

  1. Bank the savings to use on a future trip – allowing you to stay at a luxury hotel; or
  2. Donate the difference to charity.

If we had that system at Johnson & Johnson, I think that I may have honestly considered the option of staying at Sleepy Sam’s if I knew that I could bank the savings or donate it to charity.   The potential $1,100 savings would have been a bit of an inconvenience and a little less comfortable, but if I am willing to take it on, I should share in the savings, right?  What would you do?  Let me know in the comments below.  And if you work for Google (Kristin, I am talking to you) and I have this wrong please correct me.

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Goals and Objectives for Traveling the World

by Keith on January 24, 2011 · 6 comments

Being a goal-oriented, type-A professional, I always look to define clear Goals and Objectives for any significant undertaking.  I am fine with leaving the tactical elements or “details” to chance and because of that was fine with not having every aspect of our trip planned ahead of time.  In fact, one of the things I miss most about our trip is that at home we are so scheduled.  I know that this Wednesday from 12:00-1:00 pm I will be dialing in for a “Beyond Ecolabels: Green Marketing – Communicating Sustainability Initiatives” conference call, whereas most days while traveling I did not know what I was going to do that very afternoon.

While I enjoyed the freedom of a not having a detailed schedule, I could not spend a year without a clear set of Goals and Objectives to help guide our decisions while traveling.  So before we packed our backpacks, or even thought about destinations, I set out to draft a clear set of Goals and Objectives for this great investment Amy and I were about to make.  Now the time has come to see how we did.  And while we were not courageous enough to share these publically at the beginning of the trip, except for some health goals below,

I feel the need to air our successes and shortcomings now that we are back.   After reviewing below, let us know how you think we did.  The goals are italicized with the results following.

Overall Objective: Take an unforgettable RTW trip that will be a catalyst into lives and careers aligned with our passions for a more sustainable future: Result: An unequivocal success for Keith; still TBD for Amy.

Professional Goals

  • Utilize this free time to explore and clearly articulate our ideal career path and goals when we return. Keith: Result: Complete, as I articulated the “Was Our Trip Career Suicide?” post I was able to come home with a clear vision of what I wanted to do next professionally.
  • Gain fluency and demonstrated skill in utilizing social media as a way to connect with advocates creating a “tribe” of followers. Result: We were able to successfully create a presence on social media gaining a tribe of followers and friends.
  • Create a website that is credible in the travel and green space:
    • 1000 average monthly visitors: Result: 1,047 rolling 3 month average.
    • 300 Facebook fans: Result: 170, but you can still help us by becoming a fan here.
    • 200 email/RSS subscribers: Result: 154, most of which came after we were listed on almostfearless’s best of 2010 post – never underestimate the power of a fellow blogger to help drive traffic!
    • Google Page Rank of 3: Result: Exceeded, current page rank is 4.
  • Establish professional connections with key sustainability Opinion Leaders in our relevant industries. Result: Achieved, we have been able to make connections at: Masdar City, E+Co, SME-RE, KEA and other relevant companies in the business of sustainability.
  • Secure placement of our story with two credible outside publications: Result: Achieved with placement of our story for GreenBiz.com and multiple articles on other blogs including Briefcase to Backpack, Almost Fearless and eLifeMentor.

Personal Goals

  • Create a shared positive experience that we will treasure for the rest of our lives. Result: Absolutely achieved

  • To ensure we are living our lives with no regrets by “seizing the day” and the tremendous opportunity that lays in front of us. Result: By undertaking this trip, something many people talk about but never do, we have proven our ability to seize the day and pursue our dreams with meticulous planning.
  • Connect with family and friends through visits and sharing this experience through our website. Result: We were able to spend significant time with our families both before we left and when we returned.
  • Challenge ourselves mentally:
    • Read an average of 1 book per week each: Result: Total books read Keith = 48,  Amy = 68
    • Become better creative and persuasive writers. Result: The challenge of regularly writing blog posts increased our writing skills.
    • Improve ability to use technology; iMovie, iPhoto, WordPress, Still and Video cameras. Result: The challenges of developing and maintaining an interactive and visually interesting blog has increased our ability to use these software tools as well as lots of practice with the camera.
    • Learn and use key phrases in local languages. Result: We were able to learn key phases in most countries we visited including: hello, delicious, thank you and importantly for Keith cilantro.
  • Challenge ourselves physically:
    • Travel in challenging conditions with patience, humor and a positive attitude. Result: For those that have heard the story the best example of meeting this goal is traveling on in hard sleeper class on  14hr train ride from Shanghai to Xi’an where Keith had a pretty nasty stomach bug and Amy couldn’t sleep.  More info here.
    • Keith to learn to scuba dive, completing 25 dives:  Result: 27 dives completed across Egypt, Thailand, Vietnam and Australia.
    • Snowboard in New Zealand. Result: Did not complete in New Zealand, but did snowboard in Dubai.
    • Try surfing, hang gliding and bungee jumping: Result: We both surfed at Bryon Bay in Australia, but did not hang glide or bungee jump.
  • Improve physical health. Result: Keith BMI (Body Mass Index) <26 and cholesterol <200: Achieved half: BMI 25.5 cholesterol 240. Amy improved strength and flexibility:  Completed couch to 5k running course.
  • Gain a global perspective by connecting with fellow travelers and locals. Result: Connecting with Gillian and Jason from One-Giant-Step and Akila and Patrick from The RoadForks were a couple of the highlights from our trip.
  • Volunteer in 2 locations as a way to further give back and fully experience the people and culture around the world. Result: We did not complete this goal.

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Traveling the World Can Help Your Career

by Keith on January 17, 2011 · 4 comments

Despite all my concern and worry that our trip was career suicide, it turns out traveling the world and gaining a global perspective on the business of sustainability has truly benefitted my career.  I am excited to announce that today I started the next step in my professional career as Sr. Product Director – Global Sustainability Marketing at Johnson & Johnson.

In this role I will have the responsibility of assisting the 250+ Operating Companies at J&J with Green marketing by translating the value of the company’s extensive product stewardship and Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) successes to consumers and trade customers.  Johnson & Johnson is a true leader in sustainability, with outside recognition including a #4 ranking in 2010 by Newsweek among the top 500 Green companies in the U.S.  This position will allow me to combine my eight years of marketing and brand management skills along with my passion for Green marketing.  I will also have global responsibilities providing me the opportunity to work extensively in Asia and Europe, a great extension of my experience from GreenAroundTheGlobe.

I had hoped that by taking this risk and following my passions it would be the catalyst that would help me to move my career in a direction more directly linked to using sustainability as a business driver.  Having that goal from the beginning allowed me to keep a sense of purpose and motivation while we were traveling and to have a compelling story for employers when we returned.

We will delve in to a more thorough look at all of our professional and personal goals from the trip in an upcoming post, but I now consider one of the main ones, “Utilize this time to explore and clearly articulate my ideal career path and goals when I return,” successfully completed.

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