Everyone says I'm running away...

My dad always asks what I’m running away from with my travels. A few weeks ago, a commenter told me to stop running away and live life. And I once came across a blog called “Mom says I’m running away.”
I’m not sure why, but there is this perception out there that anyone who travels long term and isn’t interested in settling down or getting a conventional job must be running away from something.
They are just trying to “escape life.”
The general opinion is that traveling is something everyone should do—that gap years after college and short vacations are acceptable. But for those of us who lead nomadic lifestyles, or who linger just a bit too long somewhere before reaching that final homestretch, we are accused of running away.
Yes, travel—but just not for too long.
We nomads must have awful, miserable lives, or are weird, or have had something traumatic happen to us that we are trying to escape. People assume that we are simply running away from our problems, running away from “the real world.”
And to all those people who say that, I say to you—you’re right.
Completely right.
I am running away.
I’m running away from your idea of the “real” world.
I’m avoiding your life.
And, instead, I’m running towards everything – towards the world, exotic places, new people, different cultures, and my own idea of freedom.
While there may be exceptions (as there are with everything), most people who become vagabonds, nomads, and wanderers do so because they want to experience the world, not escape problems. We are running away from office life, commuting, and weekend errands, and running toward everything the world has to offer. We (I) want to experience every culture, see every mountain, eat weird food, attend crazy festivals, meet new people, and enjoy different holidays around the world.
Life is short, and we only get to live it once. I want to look back and say I did crazy things, not say I spent my life reading blogs like this while wishing I was doing the same thing.
As an American, my perspective might be different from the rest of yours. In my country, you go to school, you get a job, you get married, you buy a house, and have your 2.5 children. Society boxes you in and restricts your movements to their expectations. It’s like the matrix. And any deviation is considered abnormal and weird. People may want to travel, tell you they envy what you do, say they wish they could do the same thing. But really, they don’t. They are simply fascinated by a lifestyle so outside the norm. There’s nothing wrong with having a family or owning a house — most of my friends lead happy lives doing so. However, the general attitude in the States is “do it this way if you want to be normal.” And, well, I don’t want to be normal.
I feel like the reason why people tell us we are running away is because they can’t fathom the fact that we broke the mold and are living outside the norm. To want to break all of society’s conventions, there simply must be something wrong with us.
Years ago, at the height of the economic boom, a book called “The Secret” came out. According to “The Secret,” if you just wish for and want something badly enough, you’ll get it. But the real secret to life is that you get what you want when you do what you want.
Life is what you make it out to be. Life is yours to create. We are all chained down by the burdens we place upon ourselves, whether they are bills, errands, or, like me, self-imposed blogging deadlines. If you really want something, you have to go after it.
People who travel the world aren’t running away from life. Just the opposite. Those that break the mold, explore the world, and live on their own terms are running toward true living, in my opinion. We have a degree of freedom a lot of people will never experience. We get to be the captains of our ships. But it is a freedom we chose to have. We looked around and said, “I want something different.” It was that freedom and attitude I saw in travelers years ago that inspired me to do what I am doing now. I saw them break the mold and I thought to myself, “Why not me too?”
I’m not running away.
I am running towards the world and my idea of life.
And I never plan to look back.

Original post to be found at:
http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/everyone-say-im-running-away/

House Sitting Job in South of France?

I have received an email this morning from a lady in South of France, regarding a house sitting job. She has got three dogs and one cat. She recently had a nasty accident, leaving her slightly immobilised. She's still at home, and expected to remain in the constant therapy for another 6 months. But she has to travel for regular checks to the hospital. Now she needs someone to walk the dogs regularly (since she cannot do it herself) and look after the house, keep it in good condition, probably maintain the garden, water the plants, answer the door etc.
She sounded very keen, and the assignment would take three months, from mid September till 15 December. That would be such a perfect solution, as that way I could go to Brazil afterwards straight away. My main target is to arrive in Brazil before the end of December, to celebrate NYE in Copacabana - and celebrate the brand New Year of travelling in style :)
Let's hope it will work out, the location sounds idyllic, tucked away in the middle of nowhere, in French countryside. I can see myself wandering around vineyards, going on long sunny car rides and stopping for occasional coffee, or a glass of wine, bliss...

First Pet Sitter Job!

Today I had my first interview for the house and pet sitter job. It's in the place not far away from me, about 15min drive, so absolutely perfect. It's lovely cottage tucked away in the countryside, with private 1.5 acre of land and gorgeous garden with the pond. Lovely couple with 4 Labradors, which are all related. Mother, two daughters, and one baby. Sweet kind Labradors. The guy has got very interesting job, as he is a professional yachtsman - so he's often away and travels for a living - a dream job! The lady works from home, advising people on packaging solutions for the grocery products that are being brought to the market - rather complex and interesting job. The house is fantastic, they do have two self-catering cottages on the back, that were made from converted barn, and now they rent them out.

So they need someone on various dates, to come and stay with the dogs while the lady needs to go away for the day, and the guy would be sailing. That would be staying there just for the day, and come home in the evening, or stay overnight, maybe over the weekend, if they wanted to take some short break, weekend away.

That works for me, the garden looked so fantastic, I can see myself having a morning coffee admiring the views, or enjoying the glass of wine in the evening - I will actually start having drinks just because it's called for!
Now, the best thing is, they want to pay me for that! Yes, absolutely! They will pay me for sitting in their place and walking the dogs. Absolutely amazing, and I'm so grateful, as there's so many house sitters applying for the jobs, so the owners have got rich pickings from all that are happy to do it for free. It's a bonus, and not bad for a first assignment!
Now, the plan is to meet them next week and come with them for the walk with their Labradors. It will be also a chance to see if the dogs will react to me calling them, as I'm the new person in their life, not their owner, so they might not feel the authority. But hopefully we'll work something out, that will be all my dearest, have a good life!

Time Is Money - How To Deal with a Mad Workload

My laptop is finally running faster, yes! After days of struggling to reset it myself, I called today for a help of professional. It cost me £25, ok, but I figured out - time is money, and the time I am spending trying to work out this thing, could be spent on my online projects, taking photos of new stock etc. So, I have done rare thing for me and I outsourced. Normally, I like to think of myself as a self taught and self-sufficient, but this time I thought I will speed my work load and increase a productivity tenfold if I leave it to a professional.

And it was such a great move, the guy turned up within an hour, cleaned the laptop within 10 minutes, and then re-installed my Windows 8. I will leave it as it is, don't want to install 8.1 as I had some issues resetting it myself after it was installed. Although I prefer the simplified 'Power-off' access in 8.1 I'll make a conscious compromise.
Ok, so here I am whizzing off on my shiny new operating system, and the laptop that makes no noises whatsoever. What a pleasure!

Can't Fight (Online) Fate...

Online work seems to be etched in my life line. It is an inevitable part of my being, no matter how much I try to drift in other direction, it always seems to find me. My affair with working online started in 2007, when I set up my first business, Little Black Cherry. It was (and still is, up and running, yet under different management) a Scene Emo clothing shop - who remembers that trend? Pete Wentz, Fall Out Boy, Hayley Williams... These were the days. I have discovered a fascinating phenomenon called 'teenagers' and loved researching this market, what trends they loved, which idols they followed, and all about their culture. I really enjoyed doing that job, photoshoots, fashion shows, it was fun fun fun.

But after 5 years, I struggled to motivate myself to keep doing the same thing, I lost this passion I had in the beginning, my research was less thorough, my blog posts were more lame, and you could definitely see it in the shop, with the product descriptions, layout etc. I needed a change, I think I have a bit of Short Attention Span, this thing you see in some of the children. I love the change, I crave a challenge. So after meeting my partner, I moved to Cornwall, and was happy to get a break from the livelihood online.

But this crept back into my life, somehow, someday, like unwanted STI. Yes, it was back, I found myself writing Facebook posts again, sharing blog content all over the place, basically trying to leave a trace wherever it was permitted. This time, my online business was focused on selling furniture online, and I'm still doing it today. It's not bad way of making money, and with the minimum wage being rather steady, and commodities and cost of living going constantly up, it does make sense to take charge of your earnings.

Now, planning a move to South America, another subject seemed to find me, online blogging. I caught myself watching YouTube videos on how to make your blog successful, how to start earning money from your blog, and it feels like I'm heading this direction. I don't mind, I love writing, I think I've got a bearable readable style, and so far I know a thing or two on sharing content, getting traffic and researching the market. So that's my new career goal, to become a professional blogger and be writing for a living. It won't happen overnight, and it probably will take few good years, but I don't mind doing it, even if I will have to find a full time job in the meantime - boohoo :/

Vaccinations for South America

I'm in the process of sorting out all the necessary vaccinations before leaving UK, luckily NHS has got plenty of free jabs for South America. Hepatitis A and B as standard, but mine could still be valid since my trip to Sri Lanka, Rabies jab I  sorted in 2010, and got a booster, which covers me for 10 years - really worth doing for few quid extra. The ones they also offer at no extra cost are for Typhoid, Tetanus and Polio. You would simply need to sort out the Yellow Fever jabs yourself, but there's always some specialist clinic in every area that can offer that for a small amount. Basically none of these is mandatory before entering any country in South America, but from time they might require a certificate of vaccination against Yellow Fever when arriving in Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador and few others.

Hepatitis A and B is rather important, as it protects you from most common stomach bugs when eating foreign food. It worked so far, we even ate street food in Sri Lanka, and I drank a water from the stream (no purification), although it was in the mountains, so that's this water had no chance of any contamination yet.

Rabies is recommended for your own peace of mind, if you get bitten by a stray dog, bat or a monkey, as they might carry the infection. Rabies can cause inflammation of the spinal cord and the brain. It is not transmitted by bodily fluids. Read more about Rabies here.

If you will be travelling to the rain forest jungle and stay in remote areas, it is also recommended that you get the Malaria protection too. You cannot get the vaccinations, but you can protect yourself by avoiding the mosquito bites. Mosquito net and the Citronella spray has been a godsend on our trip to Sri Lanka - the mosquitos absolutely resented the citronella spray, so yay for that!
Also it is recommended that you start taking malaria pills on a regular basis three weeks prior to your trip. In UK chloroquine and proguanil can be purchased from a local pharmacy. Read more about malaria prevention here.

Can you smell a memory?

Smells carry enormous amount of emotional information. We associate them with certain events in our lives, and some particular smells can bring so many clear and strong memories. It is incredible how our brain works.
I remember the first day when I moved to Plymouth, and on the first evening I went on the Hoe, where the grass was being cut earlier that day. The Sun was shining, the Drake Island was on the horizon with plentiful of boats around and the strong smell of freshly cut grass was in the air. It was such positive sensation, which gave me a feeling that moving here was great decision and only amazing things will happen from now on. Plenty of amazing things happened in Plymouth, and the freshly cut grass still brings this positive energy and memory of the first evening in Plymouth.

When a small shower comes on a sunny Summer day, sometimes you can smell a butter in the air. It's the rain water mixing with the hot tarmac that creates this unusual fragrance. Whenever I smell it, my memories take me to the P.E. lesson in my primary school, I must have been about 7 or 8 years old. We were jogging in the local playground, and it was a very hot day. Suddenly few clouds appeared and there was a small shower. This buttery smell hit my nostrils and I remember thinking how strange it is that you can smell butter here in the park. But I remember it vividly.

Sometimes a smell of ginger cake can take you to the Christmas at your Grandma, when you were a child. It can transport you to this moment, and you can see it all again so clearly, it is absolutely fascinating.
Have you got some unusual smells that you love and that carry some vivid memories?

Do you delete cookies before searching for flights?

Did you know that when you research flights online, the websites you're visiting store cookies (of course), but then they track your steps online, and when they spot you search for similar flights, they work on commission with flight operators and increase the prices? It is true, and the price can suddenly increase for up to £200 - £300, depending how expensive the flight initially is. It is not a housewives' tale, it is an actual fact. I remember when I started looking at the flights to New Zealand, the cost was about £800 - £900 from UK, then I was reading New Zealand guides, blogs etc. and after 2 weeks I looked at the flights again, suddenly the prices jumped up to £1000 - £1100, no joke. At that point, I was like 'oh, well it's not £800 as I thought'. And left it at that. But after viewing few travel videos and blogs, this was mentioned by few people. It is all to do with your IP address.

So, the best way, is not to research the flights on a regular basis using laptop at home, but leave it for one day (let's say 2 months prior to your trip, when apparently that's the best time to book), and then either block cookies on your laptop for the whole day and focus on searching the flight. Why can't you block the cookies for good anyway, and live in privacy? Unfortunately it doesn't work that way. Cookies allow you to view the majority of websites, remember passwords, display content etc. so they are essential for everyday surfing. But, if you block the cookies for one day only, and don't do anything else online until you find the flight, you should be ok.
Another option is to use different laptops when searching for the flights. E.g. use computers in the library, our library has got at least 10 different computers. Just come one day, use one, the next day use another one. Genius! And don't trust the comparison sites exclusively. They work on commission, so might not show you all the flights, and you might find cheaper flights directly on the flight operator website. Don't shy away from 2nd, 3rd, and (yes it exists) 4th page of Google. They can contain a highly valuable pieces of information, and when you're on a mission to find the best deals, venture there too - Good Luck :)

Got 2 Be - Beach Waves!

Since I have cut my hair two months ago, I do love trying new texturizing products. There's so many on the market, and by that I mean Superdrug in Liskeard. It's hard to choose from what they've got on offer, and I suppose the selection would be even harder in bigger shop. But, I prefer the products that give a tousled, messy textured effect. I discovered that texturizing sprays work better then gels, moulds or waxes. I think these work on shorter messy styles on men, they don't seem to work on longer hair.
I wanted to try the Texturizing Salt Spray for a while, as I'm devoted to Got 2 Be by Schwarzkopf, I absolutely adore their products. I like the shape of the bottles, the eclipse line is so elegant in my opinion.

This spray - 'Beach Matt Mermaid Look' gives effect of beachy waves - texturize, body and tousle.
The instructions on the bottle say to spray it evenly on dry or dry-towel hair and scrunch or tousle-style as desired. I have used it as soon as I came home, on dry hair, with some products already in. I have flip my hair down and sprayed all layers evenly, from bottom to top layers, messing and scrunching the hair. I don't like to over-do it, but allowed the hair to take the product in. Then I have sprayed plenty of extra hold hairspray over all layers, and the look was really impressive, the wavy messy look I absolutely love, and it doesn't go flat or lose volume - well done Got 2 Be :)

IT Jungle Treck

I've been fighting all day with resetting my Windows 8 (or is it 8.1 in the end?). What a pain... I cannot honestly understand how you can consciously apply for an IT job, it's a pure nightmare! I still haven't sorted it out. The thing is, my brother is an IT genius, and he loves nothing more than a computer enigma waiting to be solved, me not so much. But he pre-programmed the laptop I'm using, and it apparently came with original Windows 8, but then it was upgraded to Windows 8.1 Pro. I do have the original product key to W8, but not to the other one. So when resetting Windows in the current state, the system goes bonkers and shows the error message all the time. 

I have dealt with this issue once before, when I cleaned my whole system last year. All I needed to do was to uninstall Windows 8.1 and install Windows 8, and all went smoothly, now for some reason I cannot do it.

I have spent about 3 hours this morning researching these problems on forums and YouTube, yet still cannot find the right solution for me... I might leave it is it is for now, and try again tomorrow.

On a better note, I have started learning Spanish from the phrase book I bought yesterday. I start to recognise the pronunciation system, 'll' is 'y', 'c' is 's' and 'qui' is 'ki' :) Some of the words are quite similar to Polish words, like bileto 'ticket' is Polish bilet. I am fascinated learning new words, and cannot wait to use them in practice. Listening to the rolling 'rrrr's of the Spanish people - or more so Ladinos - and hear their passion, I'm wondering how their temperaments differ from Polish or English? Look forward to making some discoveries :)

New Travel Books

 

As my friend used to say, the way to achieve your goal is to follow KAP routine: Knowledge - Action - Perseverance. I've already started the first stage - Knowledge, and it involves reading plenty of books relating to the countries I want to go to, travel guides, tips on what to pack, how to keep your things secure etc. Today I have found few books in my favourite recycling centre in Chagford, if you ever wander to that area, I strongly recommend it. A browsing heaven, run by a team of new hippies, who love to collect, and people ever so often donate to them unwanted items. I never left empty handed, and they've got separate sheds for books, clothes, kitchenalia, furniture, crafts - you get the idea. But now... I'm drifting away from the topic...

Well then, I have stocked up on some vital literature on the Gap Year subject - I think it will be widely useful, more then the guides targeting tourists, as obviously tourists will be focused on sight-seeing, going to fancy hotels and restaurants, and if they spend a week in a tropical place, saving money is not their priority. So I think this book will be focused on more practical issues, as to how to save money on accommodation, how to look for jobs, what to pack and so on.
Another book is a South American handbook, written for people who want to explore this land and want to get to know it to really enjoy it. It has got over 1600 pages, which are very thin, that's why this book doesn't look bulky, but could be the one to take with me, as it's all in one, but won't take much space. I will leave a decision until last moment, as will probably go through many more books by the time I leave.

The third travel book is a Latin American Spanish phrase book. I know that Spanish that is used in Spain and Spanish in Latin America differ, I suppose like British and American English, maybe even more. I remember when I arrived to UK I used to hang out with some Spanish friends and they used to giggle when we were watching 'Desperado' as it was set in Mexico, so they used Mexican Spanish. Anyway, this phrase book covers all the places you might find yourself when traveling, so obviously the restaurant menus, hotel accommodation, bus tickets, camping, but also phrases relating to sport, post office, health and emergencies. It is pocket friendly, and I will definitely make a room for that.

One more thing I would love to get, is a 'Point It' booklet, where there are various pages with images, like children books, but for people who don't know local language. What you do, is simply point to the image you are interested in, like apple, when shopping, or bus stop when asking for the direction. Could be useful, but I like to think that I'm super-fast learner, and might not need it in the end? I could pick up phrases by talking to people, listening to the local conversations etc. by the end of the day that's how I learned majority of English when I arrived to UK. Should be fine.

Now the last book, is not a travel guide, but a wonderful biography by Nelson Mandela 'Long Walk to Freedom' - I have heard about it many times, and finally found it today, it will be a wonderful read, let's just hope I find sufficient time to go through all these books now! I have currently 10 lying on my side table :)

Preparing for a Big Journey...

So I have been away - not blogging here on this site, although I have been running a regular blog relating to the furniture business on a separate site. But diversity is key, variety is a spice of life and all that... I cannot stand in one spot, and I need a change to breathe. This blog continues - so apologies for readers who started reading from the first post, as my attention flicks to different subjects. Yes, I have been pregnant, when I lived with my partner. Unfortunately we lost a baby, and in the end we split up - It was not meant to be, so they say. I'm currently in the place in my life where I apply a major change. Leaving England by the end of November, and my efforts focus around that. I will be traveling around South America and Caribbean for a year or two, wanting to utilize a beautiful opportunity of house-sitting. It can be a wonderful way of life, and is for many people, perfect for wandering souls like mine. So this blog will be focused on my preparations to the big leave, and then act as a diary to the journey - I hope you stick with me, and look forward to hearing from you!

Maggie x

Inspired by awesome DIY guide in Pinterest I have decided to try it myself and make recycled woven coasters out of the old magazine. My partner, Peter, has got many surf magazines lying around, and they do have many beautiful artistic photographs. So here is the final product :)


 

Old Cork Board Upcycled as Jewellery Holder and other Ideas

 

Old Cork Board Upcycled as Jewellery Holder

 

 Chest of Drawers Decoupaged with Music Note Sheets

Box filled with skewers makes unique knife holder

 

Wooden Key Hanger Decoupaged with Antique 1950s Portsmouth Map

Key hanger decoupaged with antique Portsmouth map I have found in local antique store - in the making, but taking shape presently. I really love the decoupage technique right now, any simple piece of furniture can look incredible when decoupaged with old postcards, pieces of newspaper, adverts, posters or wallpaper. It's really rewarding seeing how little work can add so much style. Don't get me wrong - I still love painting and distressing furniture, but with the decoupage the effect is constant and it significantly cuts the time spent on making the single piece. As with the painting you always have to wait between applying next layer of paint, where there are always two layers of primer plus two layers of paint on top. And I always try to distress the piece afterwards to add extra 'zing' where with decoupage the 'zing' is already there the moment you glue the first piece. I love it right now :)