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Mobile Desert Couches
I’ve spent the last 4 days on these couches. They are in a camper in the middle of the desert in California. They belong to my aunt and uncle. I came to visit them and while I was here my uncle went over my car to make sure it was ready to drive across the country. He changed belts and water pumps and hoses and fluids and everything else. Things that would have costs me a LOT of money if I would have taken it to an auto shop. My aunt and uncle are awesome. Without their help, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to get the car in the first place.
Look at how pretty it is! He even waxed it! SHINY!
Now I am off to pick up Neci at the airport then headed to my next couch in LA. Whoop!
How Do You Afford This!? Part 1 Where To Start/Where To Stay
I just stumbled upon this fantastic post by another nomad where he explains in detail how he affords to travel full time. You should definitely read it.
http://www.wanderingearl.com/how-i-can-afford-my-life-of-constant-travel/
I’ve been debating about talking about this subject. Money. I’m not sure why, but I feel like it’s a subject people are uncomfortable talking about. So let’s talk about it!
Starting Off
Firstly, not having money is not an excuse to not hold yourself back from traveling. Like Earl said he started with his traveling with 1500 dollars. And that was to go to a different continent. He’s still traveling 12 years later and making a nice amount of money. When I started traveling I probably had about 500$ and a paid off credit card with a 1000$ limit.
Where To Stay
Friends, Family, Strangers. My room and board has been very low cost on my travels. Plus, when you stay with locals, they know fun, affordable things to do.
Family: Staying with family is fantastic. They generally don’t judge you if you stay at their house for a month. They’ll usually cook you dinner. They like helping you and seeing you adventure through life. (I realize many people have lame families, sorry, luckily there are still friends and strangers!)
Friends: Take a look at those hundreds of facebook “friends” you have. You probably have friends all over the country. And they would probably love to hang out with an old/new friend for a week! And if they don’t want to hang out with you and house you, they probably are lame because you are amazing.
EXAMPLE: I went to Denver in March for about a week. I knew there was a guy on my facebook that I went to middle school with who now lived in Denver. I messages him, told him I needed a place to stay and he was totally down with it. Oddly enough, we never really hung out in school, but he’s awesome, I’m awesome, BAM! Facebook friend turned into real friend.
Strangers: So you really want to go to Cityville, USA. But you have no family there and not even a facebook friend. This is when you turn to the wonderful website couchsurfing.com. A community of fellow travelers.
EXAMPLE: I had to go to Cleveland for a month-long job. I didn’t know anyone there, so I decided to finally use couchsurfing. My host was one of the most amazing people ever. I stayed at his loft for an entire month. People always ask “why would he let a stranger stay at his house for nothing in return?” Well because he’s traveled across the country before and has needed a place to stay. And once I get a place, I’ll offer it to other travelers. That’s just the way the couchsurfing community is. And they are the greatest people you’ll ever meet!
To Be Continued including: Affordable Travel, How To Make Money While Traveling
Ask me questions!
Photoset reblogged from Kung Pow Katie with 2 notes
Found this awesome store on Granville Island called Make. There was a whole craft table where you could make your own badges (buttons)! So I did… for 2 hours.
Now I have buttons that I can give to all my couchsurfing hosts :) pretty jazzed
I may steal your idea, girl!
Source: kungpowkatie
San Diego Air Mattresses
I know it’s been awhile, but I’ve been in San Diego for a long time now. I’m staying at my Pop’s house. Generally when I don’t have a specific event to work, I come to San Diego because there’s a definite place to stay and there are fantastic dance classes!
While I was here I bought a car! And it’s beautiful! An ‘87 Nissan Pulsar. It has t-tops annnnd the back hatch comes off. Pretty fantastic. (Picture soon)
Onto the couch… which is actually an air mattress…
I spent most of my time here on a twin size double air mattress. And while sleeping on this, all I could really think about was how I was going to blog about how air mattresses were the worst thing ever and I would take a couch over an air mattress anytime. The stupid thing would deflate multiple times throughout the night and I’d have to get up and put more air in it because it was just too uncomfortable to bear. It was not good news.
So finally, a couple days ago, I switched to this one:
It is fantastic. Almost like sleeping on a real bed… I think… It’s been so long since I’ve slept on a real bed I can’t be sure. There is so much room for me to flail about and I only have to put air in it every other day. It’s a beautiful thing.
Alas, Friday was my last day on this air mattress and then I am now moving on. On Wednesday, my friend from Indiana, Neci, will be flying out here to drive to Indiana with me. Can we talk about how awesome Neci is for a moment? I texted her and asked if she wanted to fly out here and do this and she called me within like 10 minutes and was like “omg. I’m so excited. Where do I get my plane ticket?” Awesome friend!
So! If you’re reading this and have a couch in Las Vegas or Kansas City or St. Louis that Neci and I can stay on, let me know! Put it in the ask box or facebook me. Whoop!
intrrrudr asked: I just read about some of your travails and respect you for it. How did you get started with the independent contracting? What do you do as a promoter for companies like Pepsi and Nike? Also, have you ever considered working on a cruise ship? What a great way to travel overseas and save an insane amount of money.
Hi!
I had always known about people who did promotions and I finallygator my first job from Craigslist. You can find stuff on there in the gigs section. Generally my job title is “brand ambassador” and I educate people on a particular product and often give out free samples or let them test it out. However, I really never know what exactly I’ll be doing. For example when I worked for Nike at SXSW, I thought I’d be a regular brand ambassador, but I ended up doing artist hospitality, setting up all of the bands rooms.
I actually have considered working on a cruise ship. I auditioned to be on a Disney Cruiseline last year. I made it pretty far in the audition but never got called. I don’t really think its something I would want to do anymore. Being stuck on a boat for such long periods of time would drive me insane. I always need to know I can go somewhere else hah.
Thanks for the questions!
This is the couch I spent last week on. It’s located in a city outside of LA. It was a moderately comfortable couch, especially considering there was a massive hole on one side of it. I actually didn’t even notice there was a hole until after the first night. (yay for being short)
I took four trains to get to this couch and hang out with a bunch of cool kids, Richie and William and Mike and Rachael and some other people who I don’t know well enough to mention.
The week involved a lot of two of my favorite things POMERANIAN PUPPIES! and sushi. Overall, the trip was a success.
Now I’m in San Diego again. (I’ll let you know about the San Diego couch later.) Not sure for how long, until someone invites me to hang out somewhere else.
***I’m still looking for a job on Warped Tour! Someone help a girl out!***
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