July 7, 2024 • 44 mins
Can you imagine giving up a successful career and selling everything you own just to travel the world? Meet Nora Dunn, aka the Professional Hobo, who did just that in 2006 and has never looked back. In this episode, Nora takes us through her bold decision to leave a thriving financial planning career in Toronto and embrace a life of adventure. We uncover the fascinating story behind her unique moniker and its connection to historical hobos who roamed the rails, seeking work and new experiences. Nora shares her early train travel memories across Canada, emphasizing the profound impact of cultural immersion and the invaluable relationships fostered through organizations like Rotary.
Ever wondered what it’s like to embark on an epic train journey across continents? Nora’s tales are nothing short of spectacular. From a three-day adventure from Darwin to Adelaide in Australia to an 11,000-kilometer round trip from Melbourne to Perth, and an awe-inspiring 30-day expedition from Lisbon to Ho Chi Minh City—her stories brim with stunning landscapes, intriguing encounters, and the simple pleasure of watching the world unfold from a train window. She also reflects on the iconic Trans-Siberian Railway, sharing the culinary delights and cultural exchanges that make these journeys unforgettable.
Slow travel offers a unique charm and numerous opportunities for digital nomads, and Nora is a master at it. She discusses the benefits of establishing home bases for extended stays, sharing tips on securing free accommodation through house sitting, volunteering, and home exchanges. We also chat about balancing travel with personal relationships and careers, offering practical advice on efficient packing, cultural immersion, and building a global network. Nora’s personal travel stories, bucket list destinations, and favorite travel snacks add flavor to her adventures, inviting listeners to explore the enchanting world of long-term travel.
Noras' Book: How to Get Free Accommodation Around the World, 3rd Edition
You can find Nora:
On Facebook.
On Twitter.
On her YouTube Channel.
On Pinterest.
And on Instagram.
Follow this link for a free gift!
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Hosts
Carol Springer: https://www.instagram.com/carol.work.life
Kristen: https://www.instagram.com/team_wake/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Hi, welcome to our podcast when Next Travel with
Kristen and Carol.
I am Kristen and I am Carol,and we're two long-term friends
with a passion for travel andadventure.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Each episode, we interview people around the
globe to help us decide where togo next.
Today, we discuss train travelwith an avid traveler and
influencer, nora Dunn, who isthe creator of the Professional
Hobo YouTube channel and blog.
Did you know that it's Possibleto Travel by Train from
(00:47):
Portugal to Vietnam?
This was an eye-opening episodeand we learned why train travel
is so amazing and how it helpsyou get a more local experience.
So if you're interested in slowtravel, this is a must.
Listen, enjoy.
Today we have the pleasure oftalking with Nora Dunn, also
known on YouTube and her blog asthe Professional Hobo and has
(01:09):
been a content producer for many, many years.
I saw like 2014,.
Or how long has it?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
been Longer than that .
I have been the ProfessionalHobo since 2006.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Oh, my goodness, wow, og big time.
Huh, you've seen everythingchange, probably in this whole
content space.
That's a whole nother bigdiscussion.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
I was a content creator before content creation
was a thing, so I didn't evenknow I was a content creator
when I was a content creator.
That's how long ago it was.
I like to call it theprehistoric era of being a
digital nomad.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Oh, fantastic, all right, and so today we're going
to talk about train travel, andyou've done some train travel,
what you like about it, adviceand so much, but, kristen, I'll
let you.
You always have some reallygood opening questions.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
And so Carol knows more about you than I do.
But curious the nameProfessional Hobo, where that
came from.
What sparked you in 2006 towant to create this lifestyle?
I had heard that you were afinancial planner before how
that started.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Well, the Professional Hobo actually
earned a.
It will actually, ironicallyand interestingly, tie into our
conversation about trains, buttrains were not on my mind when
the professional hobo came to be.
It was 2006 when I decided tosell everything that I owned in
Toronto, canada, and that didinclude a busy financial
planning practice, and the nameof the game for me was just.
(02:36):
I wanted an open-ended ticketand ultimate freedom to travel
long-term in a culturallyimmersive way.
But because 2006 was theprehistoric era of any of this
lifestyle, I'm sure I wasn't theonly person in the world to do
what I was doing, but it surefelt that way because, of course
, there are no blogs or coursesor communities or forums or
conferences to connect peoplelike me.
So I found myself learningeverything from the ground up
(02:59):
and stumbling my way up thelearning curve with all the
grace of an elephant and reallyjust trying to figure out how to
do it, like I didn't know whereI would go, what I would do,
how I would earn money along theway.
I just had this burning desireand a lifelong dream to crack
the code of countries andcultures around the world, and I
just wanted to experience lifeand live around the world.
(03:21):
Now I started in North Americaand I actually, when I left
Toronto, I took the train westacross Canada and I ended up
spending a little bit of time inthe mountains of Alberta.
Now, I used to be a Rotarianand so one of the ways that I
like to travel the world andmeet people is through going to
Rotary meetings, where I wouldmeet people who I wouldn't meet
anywhere else, and we are allconnected with the underlying
(03:43):
love of being of service to ourcommunities and to the world at
large, so I would show up tothese rotary meetings.
And still, being North America,one of the defining questions
that people ask you when theytry to get to know you is what
do you do?
Well, I just finished sellingeverything that I own to travel.
(04:03):
I hadn't yet figured out how towork remotely, or that that was
own to travel.
I hadn't yet figured out thatyou know how to work remotely or
that that was even possible.
So I was kind of like homeless,but I really felt like I needed
to keep up appearances withthese people, so I wanted to
make homeless look good, so I,so I, I made fun of myself and I
called myself a professionalhobo, okay, which, which of
course, everyone loved, and itstuck, and then that eventually
(04:25):
became the name of my websiteand onwards.
But it does have, all theseyears later, some really
additional poetic loveliness forme, because if we look at the
actual origins of the word hobo,which is a homeless bohemian,
these also.
This also refers to thehomeless people or the, the
migrant workers, uh, in theunited states, uh the 1930s,
(04:47):
when they would just hop on afreight train.
They would get on the back of afreight train and get and take
the train to the next town, getoff at the town, look for work,
and they would work a season inthat town and then, when that
worked right off, they'd hopback on the train and go to the
next town.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
And I do job placement.
I've been a recruiter foralmost 30 years and just
thinking about that, you know,it's just mind boggling to think
that you know, we get so caughtup in our day to day and our
live and what that looks likeand how society, everything
looks like in society.
To know just a generationbefore, two generations before
(05:23):
it, that was totally different,right?
It's such a trip.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Exactly exactly.
Yeah, and that's also, too, agreater extension.
Not only can we look into thepast to see how things have
changed, but we can also lookgeographically, across borders
to see how things are different,and that's one of the things
that I love doing is exploringall these differences in how
people live and choose to livearound the world, but then also
how, despite all thosedifferences, there are so many
(05:48):
similarities as well.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Wow, that's really cool.
So how was it your first trip?
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Absolutely there is fear and even to this day, when
I take a trip on my own, orbefore I'm about to take a trip,
I'm nervous and sometimesscared.
But it is an excitement, it'skind of a butterflies in the
tummy sort of thing, and one amone of the one of the
fundamental principles, or oneof the fundamental things that
happens to most of us when wetravel is we get out of our
comfort zones.
That inherently means we'reuncomfortable and if we know
(06:15):
that that's going to happen,we're going to be a bit scared
because it's like wow, I'mintentionally putting myself out
of my comfort zone.
So I'm intentionally nervousand scared because I don't know
what to expect.
I don't know what's going tohappen.
It could be good, it could bebad or it could be otherwise.
So that aspect of travel reallynever goes away.
I mean, when you get a lot moretravel sense and travel
(06:36):
experience, you might feel moreconfident, especially if you're
going to a destination thatyou're familiar with.
But even if you're not familiar, you know there's certain
things that you can do to beconfident.
But I would I don't know, Iwould be hard pressed to find a
traveler who really trulyhonestly, deep down inside,
doesn't feel a little bitnervous before they get on that
(06:57):
plane, train or automobile to anew and different place where
they don't know what to expect?
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Right, okay, and so as far as train travel, like
it's where would you like tostart, like maybe talk about it,
places that you've lovedtraveling by train, or how you
decide if you're going toincorporate train into the
travel.
I'll let you kind of lead that.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
So my love of train travel is.
I mean, listen, if I look backat all the train travel that
I've done around the world, Ithink we could call my love an
unhealthy love of train travel.
But for all the vices that wehave in life, I'm pretty sure
it's a healthy one, so it's bornto.
For me.
My grandparents lived about 400miles away and I took this
(07:39):
train every summer to go seethem.
So ever since I was, you know,even barely able to walk, I
found myself going on these longjourneys by train and there was
something that I loved aboutthe experience of being on a
train.
I would lose hours just lookingout the window.
It's just so.
There's something about therhythm almost the rhythm of the
train on the tracks is lullingand everything.
(08:00):
But as I grew up, I was able toput more words to why I loved
train travel, and it has to dowith a variety of things Like
it's kind of an ironic way totravel the world these days
Because if you want to getsomewhere quickly, you fly.
If you want to get somewherecheaply, you take the bus of
(08:25):
these.
It's not as cheap as a bus.
It's not as quick as flying.
In many cases it's much moreslow, but it also kind of means
that anyone who's on the trainhas an interesting story for
being there and you have theluxury of time when you travel
by train so you get to meetthose people.
But then also you get to reallyexperience your destination,
versus flying, where basicallyit's a truncated experience,
(08:45):
where you get into a cylindricaltube, you go up, you go down
and you're suddenly in a verydifferent place.
When you're on the train you getto see how everything changes
between your origin and yourdestination.
You see how the landscapechanges, you see how the weather
, all the things.
And then the last aspect that Ilove about it while you're busy
looking out the window lookingat that landscape changing and
(09:05):
feeling the distance that you'reactually traveling, because in
some cases it can be days orweeks to get your destination by
train the other thing you'reseeing is the inside or the
backside of everywhere you gothrough.
Nobody builds their house toface the train, but what you're
(09:25):
seeing are their backyards.
What you're seeing are thebacks of businesses.
What you're seeing is theinside scoop of how people are
living their lives, poeticallyand literally, and it's not
always pretty.
There's not a lot of garbageback there or there's tagging
and graffiti and whatnot.
But that's also the story of aplace, and seeing that and
(09:47):
experiencing that as you goalong the way for me is part of
this.
You know this lifelong desire Ihave to see the inside scoop to
crack the code, and that for meis like an almost like
voyeuristic peek into the placesI'm going through.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Wow, this is really neat.
Nora, so is tagging done acrossthe world?
Just an American thing?
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Oh, it's everywhere, I'm sure, tagging like graffiti.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Yeah, yeah, that happens everywhere.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Wow, we're all reminded of boys and people.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Well, and street art onto itself is a really
interesting way of understandingwhat are the issues that people
are dealing with, because it is.
I mean, there's tagging is onething, but graffiti as a form of
street art, there are peoplewho are they're often activists
and they're speaking about theor illustrating some of the
(10:42):
issues that are happening, whichcan be also quite interesting
when you travel the world.
So I have a friend of mine whoI didn't understand really the
nuances of street art until Istarted traveling with him for a
little while and he wouldinsist that we went go on street
art tours wherever we went.
So we would go on thesegraffiti tours and it was like
it was legit.
We like it was reallyinteresting artwork that we were
(11:04):
going to see in these citiesand it gave me a different
perspective of what washappening in those places.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Did you notice any types of differences between
them, or are they all prettylike the look of them and the
message of them, or were theyall kind of universal, or are
there ones that stood out?
Speaker 3 (11:19):
No, Um, I haven't, probably I can't speak with
enough authority on this topicto be able to say Better than
probably all of us.
There's definitely nuances,there's definitely different
aspects of it and, of course,the most famous street artist in
the world is Banksy.
So if you're able to go see aBanksy piece, then you're,
you're gonna, you're gonna seesomething different in a, in its
(11:41):
own way.
So he's got pieces around theworld, okay.
So, uh, so anyway, this love oftrain travel started when I was
a child and then it continued.
So the first thing I did when Isold everything and started
traveling full-time was I tookthe train across canada and I
went west and I had a rail passso I could use as much rail.
You know, I could ride as muchas I could in 30 days and I went
for it.
I mean basically from tor, fromToronto West, I did it all.
(12:03):
I went from Toronto to Winnipeg, to Edmonton, to Jasper, to
Prince Rupert, to like all theway down, and then from
Vancouver back to Edmonton.
I covered it all and I loved it.
And then I in other countries,obviously, when I found myself
in, when I was in Southeast Asia, I took the train through
Thailand, malaysia and Singapore, and then I was, so I
(12:25):
experienced trains.
And then when I was in Europe,I took the train in a bunch of
countries there.
So as I kept doing this, mylove of trains and the
experience of train travelaround the world became more
expansive.
And then when I got to Australia, I was, you know, well and
truly developing my contentcreator career at this stage of
the game.
So great Southern rail, whichwas the main rail company
(12:47):
Australia, gave me a free railpass which again gave me the
ability to, in 30 days, ride therails.
But not only that, it was justan economy class rail pass, but
they, because I was a journalistonce they found out that a
journalist was on board.
If they had space, they wouldoften upgrade me to the cabin
experience.
So it was delightful.
(13:08):
I mean, it was, it wasincredible.
So I started off with a threeday train trip three days solid,
from the top to the bottom ofAustralia, from Darwin to
Adelaide, and I was like, okay,this is the longest trip I've
done by train in one go, threedays.
I'm gonna get bored, so I'mgonna bring books and music and
work to do and all kinds ofstuff.
(13:29):
And I was just like I broughtall these accoutrements to fend
off the boredom I would surelyexperience, and at the end of
those three days I hadn't doneany of that stuff and I hadn't
experienced a moment of boredom.
Now, it was also helped by thefact that each day the train
would stop for a few hours in aplace where we could get off and
wander around and discover it.
So it was an interestingexperience in that sense as well
(13:49):
.
But I thought after thatthree-day trip I'm like, wow,
three days and I didn't even geta little bit bored.
I'm like I got to up the antehere and there's some more
trains I can do in Australia.
So I became the engineer, so tospeak, on a trip that took me
from Melbourne to Sydney, whichis 10 hours or so, and then I
hopped on the Indian Pacificfrom Sydney to Perth.
(14:12):
Oh, my goodness, I was going tosay did you go three days, four
days yet?
And then, and then I got backon the very same train and
retraced all my steps.
In all, I did 11,000 kilometersin 11 days, and my mission was
to see if it's possible to getbored on a train.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
And didn't work.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
I didn't get bored.
I loved it.
I love chatting with all thepeople along the way.
You know I did have my booksand my music and there's
something again for me justlooking out the window.
It was so just relaxing andhypnotic and beautiful and
amazing to see all these scenery, the Nullabar desert and
(14:56):
everything.
So it was amazing.
And then this, like this,wasn't enough.
This became the fodder for thenext major adventure I did the
next year, which was the world'slongest navigable route by
train.
In 30 days I went from Lisbon,Portugal, to Ho Chi Minh City at
(15:16):
the bottom of Vietnam.
It was 25,000 kilometers in 30days, all by train.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Portugal to Vietnam.
Yeah, so did you have to buyyour like tickets through
multiple different resources?
Because, like you're in Asia,you're in Europe, so there's
different trail.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
So I got a Eurail pass to get me through most of
Europe, although I did have tobuy some additional single train
tickets to get.
Ultimately my destination wasMoscow, where I hopped on the
Trans-Siberian, and that was aweek solid 153 hours not that
anyone was counting 153 hours bytrain from Moscow to Beijing
(15:56):
and then from Beijing South.
It was another bunch of days toget all the way through the
rest of China and down from thetop to the bottom of Vietnam.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Wow, so this was 30 days total.
Okay, and did you make a lot of?
Speaker 3 (16:13):
stops or were you like, pretty much on the train
most of the time?
So in Europe I made lots ofstops, I stayed, I got off the
train a bunch of times, I got onand off a bunch of different
trains, but I planned a routethat would allow me to visit
some friends along the way.
So I visited some friends inGranada, in Spain, in Zurich, in
Switzerland, in Prague, inUkraine.
I actually got off for a fewdays and did some hiking in the
Carpathian Mountains and thenMoscow.
(16:36):
So those are the major stopsthat I made, but I also had some
time in Lviv and somewhere else, in Barcelona, I think.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Wow.
And so when you stop and youspend a couple days, the train
doesn't wait for you.
You just grab another train orsomething.
Are they constantly going?
Speaker 3 (16:52):
well, in europe it's not one train it was it was
piecing together the roots ofmany different trains yeah, yeah
the one train was thetrans-siberian, so that is the
world's longest train ride youcan do do, because it is one
week straight from Moscow toBeijing.
There's a bunch of differentroutes too, like there's the
Trans-Siberian and then there'sthe Trans-Manchurian, which goes
(17:12):
through Mongolia, and sothere's a couple of different
routes that take you ultimatelyall the way through Russia and
into China.
Certainly, if I were I mean Iwas on the clock because I was
doing this challenge.
I was doing it with a couple ofother friends of mine who were
content creators, but if I wereto do it all again, I would get
off the train.
(17:33):
We didn't get off the train,except for if there was a
station stop.
And there was a half hour stopat the station, we would get off
the train to stretch our legsand to buy some food from
whatever babushkas were on theon the platform selling their,
selling their homemade food.
You know so, but I would, youknow, I would definitely take
the time if I were doing thatagain.
(17:53):
I would definitely take sometime to get off at one or two
stops along the way and explore,you know this, this place that
you wouldn't otherwise gothrough.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Yeah, and when you bought the babushka, the
homemade foods and stuff, didyou get sick at all?
Or they would have.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
They would make you know dumplings and pierogies and
breads and maybe cheeses, um,they'd sometimes have some
(18:31):
homemade meats.
Um, what else would they have?
Yeah, like, um, yeah, a littlebit of candy, yeah, so well,
that was the other thing.
There would be.
There's there always would be alittle sundry place like some
kind of convenience store styleplace that sells, you know,
packaged food, and those wouldbe the stops.
(18:52):
If that was all we had, thosewere the less exciting stops
Because of course that meant nowwe were limited, we were
relegated to crackers and cheeseand meat sticks, you know, and
maybe ramen, like it was.
It was, it was a little meagerat times and does the train?
Speaker 2 (19:10):
do trains often have decent food.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
So it's a grab bag.
It's a grab bag when it comesto food on trains.
So in the Trans-Siberian inparticular, we visited the
restaurant car once.
I paid I paid dramaticallyoverpaid for a cup of borscht uh
, it was really just chickensoup masquerading as borscht.
I didn't like it, so I didn'tgo back to the restaurant and
(19:34):
this is why I gave myself thischallenge of seeing what I could
find on the platforms along theway, so that, again, not
everybody needs to be, as youknow, crazy and adventurous as I
um.
But if we look at other trains,especially if they're overnight
trains, there's always going tobe some kind of food car, almost
always going to be some kind offood car, and that food will
vary.
But if we look at some of thetrain rides where I've had some
(19:57):
epic meals, like all throughAustralia as well as through
Canada and the United States,which I've also done, every
single inch of rail on, if youdo a long distance trip and you
pay for the cabin, you're goingto get a lot of benefits that
you wouldn't get if you were ineconomy.
So A, you've got a cabin,you've got your own space.
(20:18):
That also means that for theovernight portion of that
journey.
You've got a place to lie downflat, which is very valuable,
but then also you get mealsserved in a special dining car,
three meals a day, linen tableservice meals made to order and
in some cases by like a properchef.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Wow, and what's the difference?
Like I don't need quotes onprice, but is it like double the
price, triple the price to havea cabin versus a coach in US,
Canada and Australia?
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Good question.
It all depends the earlier youbook, the less you're going to
pay, but you are going to payfor it.
So you may also get somesticker shock when you're
looking at it.
But the way I look at it is ifyou're taking an overnight train
to somewhere, right, If you aregetting accommodation, you're
getting meals and you're gettingtransportation.
So if you itemize thoseexpenses, if you just flew
(21:11):
instead and got a hotel and thenpaid for your meals and
restaurants, how much would youpay for that experience versus
having the experience of doingit on a train?
Yes, and that's how I justifythe cost of getting a cabin.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Okay got it, yeah, all right.
Okay, and is it for?
Speaker 3 (21:30):
me, because I just love train travel is it just?
If it's even more, it's stillworth it.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
For me is it cabins or not?
Cabins, or is there like mediumcabins and first class cabins
also?
Speaker 3 (21:39):
again.
Again, it all depends on thetrain, but if we're looking at
amtrak, uh, then yes, there's.
You're going to be able to getwhat is called a roomette, which
is a very small cabin.
It has the ability to sleep twopeople, but, man, you better
know that other person reallywell, because when the beds come
down, they're like bunk beds,they're like single beds that
come from the wall, but theyalso take up the entire room.
So the roommate, when it's inthe daytime, is basically two
(22:04):
seats facing each other andyou're knee to knee, and then at
nighttime they come down intotwo beds and there's no extra
space.
So, like I said, okay, but thenthere are on your bag larger
beds.
They're larger.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
There's bedrooms and then full bedrooms with uh
ensuite bathrooms as well okay,I was thinking like the cruise,
like cruise, you get, like youknow, a full room.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
So trains have like full rooms, nice they do yeah
okay, I was just looking atcosts.
I was just googling what the uh, what trans-siberia train, um
would be, and it looks like um.
Well, one says for 30 days, uh,1094 dollars.
And then, yeah, there's anotherthing that that's um, I don't
know if that's the euro, it's1006.
(22:49):
And then it says anotherindependently train costs 250 to
500.
So I don't know if that's asmaller, like without the cabin
or with the cabin or whatever,but um, 30 days for a thousand
bucks.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
I mean, that's nothing compared now I'm not
sure what that 30 days means,because you wouldn't be 30 days
on the train, but maybe thatgives you the option to hop on
and off within a 30 day period.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Yeah, it says average daily spend $36.
Wow.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Brilliant.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Yeah, not bad at all.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
I'm about to.
In a couple of weeks I'm goingto finish off the last of, or
almost the last of all the railacross Canada that I haven't
done.
I'm going to take the trainfrom Toronto to Montreal.
That's just a short train ride,and then I'm going to do the 24
hour train ride from Montrealto Halifax.
And I got I got a bedroom forthat.
(23:40):
I'm traveling with my partner,so we got a bedroom for that.
And that's the other thing too.
If you are traveling with apartner, you will.
You're splitting the cost ofthe bedroom, so it's actually
much more economical when you'retraveling with somebody and
staying in a room.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Okay, and is that Amtrak in Canada or something
else?
It's via rail Via rail.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Okay, and are you in Canada?
So you're in Canada.
You're back in Canada right now.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Yes, so after 12 years of proverbial homelessness
, I did come back to Torontowhen I got an apartment.
But to be honest, I'm heremaybe.
I mean I use it as a place tounpack, unwind and repack.
So I'm here, maybe cumulativelya few months a year, like tops
Wow.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
There are certain uh year or time of year that you
try to stay there versustraveling, or is there any
strategy on what months are bestto travel or what's worked for
you?
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Generally speaking, I try to avoid the winter here.
It's not.
It's not Toronto, where Toronto, not where Toronto shines by
any stretch of the imagination.
This summer definitely is awonderful time to be in Toronto
and Canada in general, althoughthe shoulder seasons are also
great.
So it really depends more onwhat other destinations are
calling me or what opportunitiesI have abroad as to when I'm
(24:51):
going to be here and when I'mgoing to be abroad.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
So when are you going next abroad?
Besides the, train trip.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Besides the train trip I will be I'm attending a
conference called Camp Indy inJune.
It's fantastic, it's likesummer camp for unconventional
minds, for adults, and then fromthere I'm going to head to
Europe for the summer.
So I expect that I'm going tospend I'm speaking at Bansko
Nomad Fest in Bulgaria oh nice,that's at the end of June.
(25:17):
I expect that I'll be inBulgaria for a couple of months
and then I'll probably spend thenext couple of months between
Croatia and England, and then Imay spend November in Tanzania.
It's not finalized yet, butthat's the idea at the moment.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Nice, it's slowing down, huh, doesn't it?
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
This is a fast year of travel.
I often I'm a big proponent ofslow travel, though, especially
if you're a digital nomad as alifestyle, you do need to go
slowly if you want to sustain it, and I have been known to
travel so slowly.
It was imperceptible Like Ispent a couple of years in
Australia on and off.
I spent a couple of years inGrenada in the Caribbean, on and
(26:00):
off.
I spent a couple of years inPeru on and off.
So I've definitely establishedbases around the world that I've
been able to use as a as kindof like a home base for further
exploration, but then also tojust slow down, like I would
have found a monthly rental thatI can just call home for a
little while, and those arereally important stops along the
way.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Oh, my gosh, very good.
And then do you see a lot ofplaces where there's like day
trip trains, and do yourecommend those?
Are we just mainly talkingabout trains for transportation,
versus no?
Oh, if you go to Switzerland,you should take the train.
You know, there's like fun,shorter trips.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
If you go to Switzerland, you should take all
trains, All, Just every one ofthem but yes, there are some day
trains that are really good.
So in Switzerland, as anexample, the Glacier Express is
like that's an iconic train thattakes you through the beautiful
mountains and the scenery is soepic you don't want to sleep
through it.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
So I don't believe they run an overnight route
through there, because it's justso epic.
Oh, wow, okay, how long is thattrain that goes through the, I
don't know.
Oh, I mean, is it multiple daysor is it just a couple of hours
?
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Oh okay, sorry, I haven't done it.
It's on my list.
Oh, okay, okay.
Yeah, I did do a two-day trainride from Jasper to Prince
Rupert in Canada.
It's a very obscure train ridebut for anyone who knows trains,
they'll also admit it's one ofthe most scenic train rides in
the world.
And it's another one of thesetrain rides that they actually
(27:26):
stop when the sun goes down andthey make you sleep in the town
that night because you don'twant to miss the scenery.
That is happening between thesetwo destinations.
So it's really that's afantastic train ride.
What to Jasper?
Jasper to Prince Rupert, princeRupert Okay, it's super obscure
.
It's, you know, for trainlovers only.
It's got a great.
It's got a great cabin.
(27:48):
So, like you, it's got thislike observation deck.
So, above, where the yourassigned seat will be, you can
take a staircase up and you'llsit in this domed like at the
very top of the train car andit's it's glass everywhere, so
you get these 360 degree viewsof the train, of the mountains
all around you.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
It's pretty Wow.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
Yeah, I spent most of my time on those two full days
just my nose rest to the glasslooking at the amazing scenery.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Wow, canada is pretty amazing.
I have family up there and wedrove from Seattle to Vancouver
to Banff and drive in juniorhigh.
It was a long time ago but justthe scenery was just epic, it
was beautiful.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
That's an incredible road trip.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Yeah, it was a lot of fun and also well, I'm sure you
did no trains in the Caribbean,but you said you stayed there.
You lived there for a couple ofyears too.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
I did.
Indeed, it was a house sittinggig that lured me to the
Caribbean, and it was on Grenada, and so I did three months of
house sitting there and I reallyliked it, so I went.
You know, that gig ended butthe homeowners wanted me back
for another stint.
But I had three months to kill,so I went and lived on boats
throughout the Caribbean forthree months.
So I was volunteering.
(29:02):
I stayed on.
One of my other claims to fameis I wrote a book literally on
how to get free accommodationaround the world.
In my first 10 years abroad Isaved over a hundred thousand
dollars on accommodation bygetting it for free.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Is it for, like the house sitting, dog sitting all
that there's.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
House sitting is one way to do it, but there's
actually five different ways toget free accommodation.
Okay, it's house sitting,volunteering, couch surfing or
hospitality exchanges, homeexchanges and living on boats.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Okay Living on boats.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Okay, but you have to rent the boat or Exactly, yeah,
you're you're an extra set ofhands helping out on other
people's boats.
So whether they need to sailfrom A to B and they need more
people on deck or watch, orwhether they were like my gigs,
I didn't know how to sail.
I don't recommend this.
Most captains are not going totake someone who knows how to
sail and doesn't know how tosail on their boats.
But I found somebody through aconnection and through one of
(30:09):
these boat there are websitesthat connect boat owners with
people who will volunteer and hehad a boat moored in St Martin
and he was also getting a videobusiness off the ground.
So my role was helping him withhis video business and that was
my.
That was what I did in exchangefor my free accommodation.
So we worked on his videobusiness together and I had a
(30:30):
place to stay on his boat and itall worked out well.
And then, through him, I metanother person who was sailing
to the BVIs and needed someoneto help out with the charter.
And then from him, I metsomeone else who was, and it was
just.
It was a really small communityand it just.
One boat led to another toanother and suddenly, three
months later I hadn't spent anight on land.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Oh wow, and what's your what's is and what's your
what's?
Is your book still out there?
Is it what's it called?
Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
It's called how to get free accommodation around
the world.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Okay, we'll put a link in there.
Thank, you.
Show notes for you.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Everyone likes to know that Christy Teglow and she
would cat and dog sit aroundthe world.
I can't remember the name ofthe website, but you know they
kind of screen.
You know you go everywherearound the world, which is it's
amazing because you I mean meetsome pretty incredible people.
I mean, I'm sure I I don'tthink you've had a bad
(31:19):
experience in any of those, orhave you had any kind of.
I don't think I'll go backthere again, or is it?
Speaker 3 (31:26):
pretty.
I've definitely had a few ofthose, but I haven't had any
experiences where my safety wasin jeopardy or anything was
catastrophically bad.
But yeah, when you go to stayin someone's place for either to
house it or to volunteer orlive on their boat or whatever
you're dealing, there's alwaysgoing to be personality
(31:48):
differences or clashes orpotential issues that might come
up.
But that's one of the reasonswhy I'm pretty militant about
making sure that due diligenceis in place.
So you know you take the timeto get on the video call.
If I'm going to house sit orpet sit, I get on a video call
with the homeowners.
I make sure we get along.
I also have them walk methrough the house.
(32:09):
I want to see the place, I wantto meet the pets, I want to
make sure that I know what I'mgetting into before I get on a
plane, because it's a leap offaith for both parties, right.
So it's a leap of faith for thetraveler because I'm getting on
a plane to go to a place tostay in some.
(32:31):
You know there's a certainamount of accountability that
people have on these platforms,but it's also a risk for them
because they're about to welcomea stranger into their home to
take care of their beloved petsand make sure that things are,
you know, go okay in theirabsence.
So it is based on trust.
There are some, you know,fundamental, and that's again
kind of a metaphor for travel ingeneral.
I mean it is that there istrust.
(32:51):
There are some, you know,fundamental, and that's again
kind of a metaphor for travel ingeneral.
I mean it is the there is anelement of trust.
There's a saying trust in Allah, but tie up your camel.
So you know, like, let's trustthat the world is fundamentally
good and I really do believethat 99% of the people in the
world are amazing.
But I'm also going to make surethat I have an anti-theft
(33:11):
backpack and I'm not allowing,you know, I'm not opening myself
up to undue risk in one way oranother.
And in the case of housesitting, I make sure that you
know, I read the reviews of thathomeowner and I meet them and
make sure that it's going to bea good fit.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
What was your best experience and where was it?
Speaker 3 (33:28):
I had so many you know.
Actually, probably one of mymost memorable experiences was
volunteering at a retreat centerin New Zealand and I
volunteered in exchange for freeaccommodation and food.
The retreat center was calledMana Retreat Center and it was
amazing.
I went back multiple times tovolunteer at this place and it
was just.
(33:49):
I mean, the group of peoplethat it attracted was amazing.
The scenery was epic, the foodwas beyond epic and, yeah, it
was just a lot of fun.
It was one of those placesagain where everything just kind
of came together and it wassynergistic and beautiful.
And I will also say like thefirst time I was at Manna it was
amazing.
The second time maybe not somuch.
Third time was a little better.
(34:09):
So one of the other things thatI learned in travel is you
can't ever go back to a placeand expect it to be what it once
was do not ever try to recreatean experience by going back to
that same place, because it willbe different every time, and
that's that's half the fun aswell all right, all right.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Also quick question is now that you have a partner,
and has that changed your travel?
And I don't know if know if heor she, I guess, is coming with
you on those adventures, or howhas that been?
Speaker 3 (34:39):
So I have had a few partnerships along the way, and
they have all looked verydifferent depending on where
they were at in terms of howthey met me and what their life
and lifestyle was like.
But my partner is we have anactually pretty complimentary
lifestyle.
So I have a base in Toronto, hehas a base in Bulgaria, and so
we're able to spend time here,we're able to spend time there,
(34:59):
but then we also have careersthat allow us to travel, so
we're also able to spend time onthe road together.
So it's the best of all worlds.
And then what do you doprofessionally?
What does he do?
Speaker 1 (35:07):
professionally.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
So I'm a content creator still 18 years and I'm a
travel content creator.
I help people design theirlifestyles and arrange their
affairs so they can travellong-term while working remotely
.
My main platforms are mywebsite, which is
theprofessionalhobocom, and alsomy YouTube channel, which you
can find me by just GooglingNora Dunn.
But if you go to my websitealso, you'll just find links to
(35:31):
all the places where I am anyway, because I'm kind of everywhere
and my partner manages and ownsproperties, mostly in Bulgaria,
but in a couple of othercountries as well, so he owns a
few of them himself and then hehelps other property owners rent
them out.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Fantastic, all right.
Well, we're getting close tothe time, so I have a few rapid
fire questions.
If you're ready to go, okay.
What is a top travel tip forpacking efficiently?
Okay?
Speaker 3 (36:01):
Take less than you think you need.
If there's any question aboutwhether you need it, if it's a
just in case item, don't take it.
Chances are you can.
If you do actually need it, youcan get what you need on the
road Nice.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
Okay, what is the best way to immerse yourself
into the culture of a newdestination?
Speaker 3 (36:19):
So earlier I mentioned rotary as a way of
traveling the world andsomething that I do in local
places where I am, Because,again, every time I walk into a
Rotary meeting, I'm now in thepresence of people that I
wouldn't meet otherwise and weall share a common bond and a
common of being Rotarians and abeing of service.
But it doesn't have to be that.
It could be, you know, whatevercommon interest you have, dig
(36:41):
down with that common interestIf you play volleyball.
Dig down with that commoninterest If you play volleyball.
Find a way to play volleyballaround the world If you like.
Public speaking, join aToastmasters meeting anywhere
around the world If you like.
There's lots of different waysthat you can mine through and
meet the people that youwouldn't meet otherwise, by
attending meetings, games,whatever it is that pertain to
(37:02):
your common interests.
So then, that way, the peopleyou meet you'll, you'll be able
to transcend cultural andlanguage barriers by virtue of
enjoying your passion together.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
I've actually done that with wake surfing.
I went wake surfing in SouthKorea and it was incredible.
And actually this yes, tomorrowI'm going to be going to
Arizona.
I do competitions and clinicsand stuff, and so the South
Korea guy he's going to be there, which I can't wait to see him.
It's from surfing in Bali andwith a pro surfer, with a pro
(37:33):
surfer and he taught my kids andit was just.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
It definitely makes it a lot of fun.
That's great.
And now you have a worldwidenetwork of people that you know
and you share this commoninterest with and you would
never have met them any otherway, and you potentially have.
They will lead you to new andother opportunities to travel in
this really immersive way.
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
Yeah, Competitions.
We have people coming fromJapan, China, Korea, Russia, you
know all over the world thisweekend, so you then meet them
and then you go over to see themand when people say to me
they're like oh hey, if you'reever in my neck of the woods,
you know, let me know I you canstay with me.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
I always look at them and I go be careful what you
offer, because I might actuallytake you up on that.
And if they reiterate and go,no, no, really for sure Come,
then I'm like, all right, well,I'll be there.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
Okay, yeah, just put it on my list, all right.
So what's on your bucket listdestination that you're itching
to visit next that you haven'tbeen yet?
Speaker 3 (38:30):
So I don't tend to choose my destination so much as
they choose me, and theyusually choose me in the form of
an opportunity, so something todo some people to see, but
whatnot?
But two things potentiallycoming up this year that are
places that I would like to gocoming up this year.
That are places that I wouldlike to go.
I haven't been to Croatia yet,so that would be really nice to
see that.
And if we can make Tanzaniahappen, that would be.
That's that.
We could call that bucket liststuff for sure.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Okay, very good.
And then, what is a favoritego-to travel snack?
Is there something that youalways like have to have with
you while you're traveling?
Speaker 3 (39:01):
Nothing that I necessarily have to have, but if
I can stock up on Lara bars, Ireally like those because they
can, they'll just help me getthrough that hungry bit whenever
I need them.
And they travel.
They're super small, theytravel really easily.
But I'm also a sucker forwhatever snack foods I can find
in the countries I'm visiting.
So like if I could find apacket of nuts or whatever
(39:21):
random thing like it's.
Like if I look at a packet ofsomething and I'm like I have no
idea what that is, I have tobuy it because I have to see
what it is and how it tastes.
I've definitely had some fails,but I've had a lot of really
great successes as well.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Okay, nice, okay.
And then how about?
Is there a must carry on item?
And Rick on our team said hesaw some on one of your YouTube
channels that he's like wow,that was a great idea.
But I'll just see if you have amust have travel item in your
carry on bag.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
I'm pretty sure I have a great answer for this,
but I'm not sure I know whatthat is.
Well, actually, if you'reflying, my new favorite piece of
teeny, tiny travel gear that isa lifesaver is called earplanes
, and they're they're things,cause I have trouble with my
ears on descent.
I get a lot of ear pain, andapparently I'm not alone.
(40:10):
So you put these little thingsin your ear and it helps you
equalize the air pressure.
So you put them.
You put them in your ears whenthe plane is descending and then
you don't have any pain in yourears.
So I now will not fly withoutthese.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
It's amazing.
That's huge.
Yeah, and Rick said you hadtalked about like having an
extension cord, because we allhave so many devices.
He's like that's brilliant,because I never would have
thought of that.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
I never, ever travel without my extension.
And it's not only an extensioncord, but it's also a surge
protector and it has multipleoutlets that you can plug
anything into.
Great.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
Okay, a little power bar, it's perfect, laura bar and
power bar.
Okay, one word to describe yourtravel style Wrap it up Slow
Nice.
Speaker 3 (40:51):
The slower the better I like it.
I have no problem taking mytime into destination.
A grocery store is the besttourist activity you can
entertain me with, so I'll spendhours in the grocery store just
wandering around, seeing howthings are sold, seeing how
people buy stuff, observing, andthose are the sort of
experiences that I really likeis again learning to just live
and see how other people livearound the world, and the only
(41:12):
way you can do that is if you goslow.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
I don't get the same experience, and to see the
different brands, I'm like, oh,I don't even know that brand.
What is that Right?
What is on the shelves, thepeople.
It's very interesting as well,absolutely.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
Well, thank you so much, Nora.
Yes, We'll put your, yourwebsite, your YouTube channel,
those links and the link to yourbook in the in the show notes
for everyone.
Speaker 1 (41:36):
Well and I did have one quick question too is as if
someone wanted to hire you, whatdoes something like that look
like?
Cost-wise, time-wise,experience-wise, what?
What-wise?
Experience-wise, what wouldsomeone?
Speaker 3 (41:54):
if they needed your services.
Well, I used to do privateconsulting and I had to stop
because the demand was a littletoo much, unfortunately.
And I do have designs onputting together some group
courses and cohorts, but Ihaven't yet done that, so
unfortunately there's no realway to hire me.
However, I do have a ton offree content that I can help you
sift through, so I actuallyhave a free gift for anyone
(42:16):
who's listening to this.
If you go totheprofessionalhobocom slash
free gift, you can sign up todownload a checklist of 10
things to do before you travellong term, and these are the
sort of things that you want tothink about to cover your bases
so that you can hit the roadstress-free and effectively
right from the start.
That will also put you on myinsider scoop email list.
(42:39):
I send about one email a month,so it's hardly onerous, but
those are the most personalupdates.
So if you want to know kind ofthe inside scoop of what life is
like from month to month andyear to year on the road, I
share it good, bad and otherwisein my insider scoop emails and
then, of course, at any stage ofthe game, all you have to do is
hit reply and you're in myinbox and we can have a
conversation and I can helppoint you to whatever it is that
(43:00):
you're looking for.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
Oh, that's awesome that you're looking for oh
that's awesome, and now justcurious.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
So how does that?
Curious in terms of how doesthat translate financially for
you?
How wonderful it feels like youfigured out the matrix right.
Well, thank you so much foryour time and safe travels.
Enjoy.
Sounds like you've got somepretty amazing trips coming up.
Speaker 3 (43:22):
Thank you very much.
Thank you, kristen and Carol,for your time.
This was a lovely chat and Ihope that your listeners enjoy
it as well.
Speaker 2 (43:27):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
Okay, bye.
Speaker 2 (43:32):
Thanks for listening.
If you enjoyed the podcast, canyou please take a second and do
a quick follow of the show andrate us in your podcast app, and
if you have a minute, we wouldreally appreciate a review.
Following and rating is thebest way to support us.
If you're on Instagram, let'sconnect.
We're at where next podcast.
Thanks again.
Hi, welcome to our podcast when Next Travel with
Kristen and Carol.
I am Kristen and I am Carol,and we're two long-term friends
with a passion for travel andadventure.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Each episode, we interview people around the
globe to help us decide where togo next.
Today, we discuss train travelwith an avid traveler and
influencer, nora Dunn, who isthe creator of the Professional
Hobo YouTube channel and blog.
Did you know that it's Possibleto Travel by Train from
(00:47):
Portugal to Vietnam?
This was an eye-opening episodeand we learned why train travel
is so amazing and how it helpsyou get a more local experience.
So if you're interested in slowtravel, this is a must.
Listen, enjoy.
Today we have the pleasure oftalking with Nora Dunn, also
known on YouTube and her blog asthe Professional Hobo and has
(01:09):
been a content producer for many, many years.
I saw like 2014,.
Or how long has it?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
been Longer than that .
I have been the ProfessionalHobo since 2006.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Oh, my goodness, wow, og big time.
Huh, you've seen everythingchange, probably in this whole
content space.
That's a whole nother bigdiscussion.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
I was a content creator before content creation
was a thing, so I didn't evenknow I was a content creator
when I was a content creator.
That's how long ago it was.
I like to call it theprehistoric era of being a
digital nomad.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Oh, fantastic, all right, and so today we're going
to talk about train travel, andyou've done some train travel,
what you like about it, adviceand so much, but, kristen, I'll
let you.
You always have some reallygood opening questions.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
And so Carol knows more about you than I do.
But curious the nameProfessional Hobo, where that
came from.
What sparked you in 2006 towant to create this lifestyle?
I had heard that you were afinancial planner before how
that started.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Well, the Professional Hobo actually
earned a.
It will actually, ironicallyand interestingly, tie into our
conversation about trains, buttrains were not on my mind when
the professional hobo came to be.
It was 2006 when I decided tosell everything that I owned in
Toronto, canada, and that didinclude a busy financial
planning practice, and the nameof the game for me was just.
(02:36):
I wanted an open-ended ticketand ultimate freedom to travel
long-term in a culturallyimmersive way.
But because 2006 was theprehistoric era of any of this
lifestyle, I'm sure I wasn't theonly person in the world to do
what I was doing, but it surefelt that way because, of course
, there are no blogs or coursesor communities or forums or
conferences to connect peoplelike me.
So I found myself learningeverything from the ground up
(02:59):
and stumbling my way up thelearning curve with all the
grace of an elephant and reallyjust trying to figure out how to
do it, like I didn't know whereI would go, what I would do,
how I would earn money along theway.
I just had this burning desireand a lifelong dream to crack
the code of countries andcultures around the world, and I
just wanted to experience lifeand live around the world.
(03:21):
Now I started in North Americaand I actually, when I left
Toronto, I took the train westacross Canada and I ended up
spending a little bit of time inthe mountains of Alberta.
Now, I used to be a Rotarianand so one of the ways that I
like to travel the world andmeet people is through going to
Rotary meetings, where I wouldmeet people who I wouldn't meet
anywhere else, and we are allconnected with the underlying
(03:43):
love of being of service to ourcommunities and to the world at
large, so I would show up tothese rotary meetings.
And still, being North America,one of the defining questions
that people ask you when theytry to get to know you is what
do you do?
Well, I just finished sellingeverything that I own to travel.
(04:03):
I hadn't yet figured out how towork remotely, or that that was
own to travel.
I hadn't yet figured out thatyou know how to work remotely or
that that was even possible.
So I was kind of like homeless,but I really felt like I needed
to keep up appearances withthese people, so I wanted to
make homeless look good, so I,so I, I made fun of myself and I
called myself a professionalhobo, okay, which, which of
course, everyone loved, and itstuck, and then that eventually
(04:25):
became the name of my websiteand onwards.
But it does have, all theseyears later, some really
additional poetic loveliness forme, because if we look at the
actual origins of the word hobo,which is a homeless bohemian,
these also.
This also refers to thehomeless people or the, the
migrant workers, uh, in theunited states, uh the 1930s,
(04:47):
when they would just hop on afreight train.
They would get on the back of afreight train and get and take
the train to the next town, getoff at the town, look for work,
and they would work a season inthat town and then, when that
worked right off, they'd hopback on the train and go to the
next town.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
And I do job placement.
I've been a recruiter foralmost 30 years and just
thinking about that, you know,it's just mind boggling to think
that you know, we get so caughtup in our day to day and our
live and what that looks likeand how society, everything
looks like in society.
To know just a generationbefore, two generations before
(05:23):
it, that was totally different,right?
It's such a trip.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Exactly exactly.
Yeah, and that's also, too, agreater extension.
Not only can we look into thepast to see how things have
changed, but we can also lookgeographically, across borders
to see how things are different,and that's one of the things
that I love doing is exploringall these differences in how
people live and choose to livearound the world, but then also
how, despite all thosedifferences, there are so many
(05:48):
similarities as well.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Wow, that's really cool.
So how was it your first trip?
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Absolutely there is fear and even to this day, when
I take a trip on my own, orbefore I'm about to take a trip,
I'm nervous and sometimesscared.
But it is an excitement, it'skind of a butterflies in the
tummy sort of thing, and one amone of the one of the
fundamental principles, or oneof the fundamental things that
happens to most of us when wetravel is we get out of our
comfort zones.
That inherently means we'reuncomfortable and if we know
(06:15):
that that's going to happen,we're going to be a bit scared
because it's like wow, I'mintentionally putting myself out
of my comfort zone.
So I'm intentionally nervousand scared because I don't know
what to expect.
I don't know what's going tohappen.
It could be good, it could bebad or it could be otherwise.
So that aspect of travel reallynever goes away.
I mean, when you get a lot moretravel sense and travel
(06:36):
experience, you might feel moreconfident, especially if you're
going to a destination thatyou're familiar with.
But even if you're not familiar, you know there's certain
things that you can do to beconfident.
But I would I don't know, Iwould be hard pressed to find a
traveler who really trulyhonestly, deep down inside,
doesn't feel a little bitnervous before they get on that
(06:57):
plane, train or automobile to anew and different place where
they don't know what to expect?
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Right, okay, and so as far as train travel, like
it's where would you like tostart, like maybe talk about it,
places that you've lovedtraveling by train, or how you
decide if you're going toincorporate train into the
travel.
I'll let you kind of lead that.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
So my love of train travel is.
I mean, listen, if I look backat all the train travel that
I've done around the world, Ithink we could call my love an
unhealthy love of train travel.
But for all the vices that wehave in life, I'm pretty sure
it's a healthy one, so it's bornto.
For me.
My grandparents lived about 400miles away and I took this
(07:39):
train every summer to go seethem.
So ever since I was, you know,even barely able to walk, I
found myself going on these longjourneys by train and there was
something that I loved aboutthe experience of being on a
train.
I would lose hours just lookingout the window.
It's just so.
There's something about therhythm almost the rhythm of the
train on the tracks is lullingand everything.
(08:00):
But as I grew up, I was able toput more words to why I loved
train travel, and it has to dowith a variety of things Like
it's kind of an ironic way totravel the world these days
Because if you want to getsomewhere quickly, you fly.
If you want to get somewherecheaply, you take the bus of
(08:25):
these.
It's not as cheap as a bus.
It's not as quick as flying.
In many cases it's much moreslow, but it also kind of means
that anyone who's on the trainhas an interesting story for
being there and you have theluxury of time when you travel
by train so you get to meetthose people.
But then also you get to reallyexperience your destination,
versus flying, where basicallyit's a truncated experience,
(08:45):
where you get into a cylindricaltube, you go up, you go down
and you're suddenly in a verydifferent place.
When you're on the train you getto see how everything changes
between your origin and yourdestination.
You see how the landscapechanges, you see how the weather
, all the things.
And then the last aspect that Ilove about it while you're busy
looking out the window lookingat that landscape changing and
(09:05):
feeling the distance that you'reactually traveling, because in
some cases it can be days orweeks to get your destination by
train the other thing you'reseeing is the inside or the
backside of everywhere you gothrough.
Nobody builds their house toface the train, but what you're
(09:25):
seeing are their backyards.
What you're seeing are thebacks of businesses.
What you're seeing is theinside scoop of how people are
living their lives, poeticallyand literally, and it's not
always pretty.
There's not a lot of garbageback there or there's tagging
and graffiti and whatnot.
But that's also the story of aplace, and seeing that and
(09:47):
experiencing that as you goalong the way for me is part of
this.
You know this lifelong desire Ihave to see the inside scoop to
crack the code, and that for meis like an almost like
voyeuristic peek into the placesI'm going through.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Wow, this is really neat.
Nora, so is tagging done acrossthe world?
Just an American thing?
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Oh, it's everywhere, I'm sure, tagging like graffiti.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Yeah, yeah, that happens everywhere.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Wow, we're all reminded of boys and people.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Well, and street art onto itself is a really
interesting way of understandingwhat are the issues that people
are dealing with, because it is.
I mean, there's tagging is onething, but graffiti as a form of
street art, there are peoplewho are they're often activists
and they're speaking about theor illustrating some of the
(10:42):
issues that are happening, whichcan be also quite interesting
when you travel the world.
So I have a friend of mine whoI didn't understand really the
nuances of street art until Istarted traveling with him for a
little while and he wouldinsist that we went go on street
art tours wherever we went.
So we would go on thesegraffiti tours and it was like
it was legit.
We like it was reallyinteresting artwork that we were
(11:04):
going to see in these citiesand it gave me a different
perspective of what washappening in those places.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Did you notice any types of differences between
them, or are they all prettylike the look of them and the
message of them, or were theyall kind of universal, or are
there ones that stood out?
Speaker 3 (11:19):
No, Um, I haven't, probably I can't speak with
enough authority on this topicto be able to say Better than
probably all of us.
There's definitely nuances,there's definitely different
aspects of it and, of course,the most famous street artist in
the world is Banksy.
So if you're able to go see aBanksy piece, then you're,
you're gonna, you're gonna seesomething different in a, in its
(11:41):
own way.
So he's got pieces around theworld, okay.
So, uh, so anyway, this love oftrain travel started when I was
a child and then it continued.
So the first thing I did when Isold everything and started
traveling full-time was I tookthe train across canada and I
went west and I had a rail passso I could use as much rail.
You know, I could ride as muchas I could in 30 days and I went
for it.
I mean basically from tor, fromToronto West, I did it all.
(12:03):
I went from Toronto to Winnipeg, to Edmonton, to Jasper, to
Prince Rupert, to like all theway down, and then from
Vancouver back to Edmonton.
I covered it all and I loved it.
And then I in other countries,obviously, when I found myself
in, when I was in Southeast Asia, I took the train through
Thailand, malaysia and Singapore, and then I was, so I
(12:25):
experienced trains.
And then when I was in Europe,I took the train in a bunch of
countries there.
So as I kept doing this, mylove of trains and the
experience of train travelaround the world became more
expansive.
And then when I got to Australia, I was, you know, well and
truly developing my contentcreator career at this stage of
the game.
So great Southern rail, whichwas the main rail company
(12:47):
Australia, gave me a free railpass which again gave me the
ability to, in 30 days, ride therails.
But not only that, it was justan economy class rail pass, but
they, because I was a journalistonce they found out that a
journalist was on board.
If they had space, they wouldoften upgrade me to the cabin
experience.
So it was delightful.
(13:08):
I mean, it was, it wasincredible.
So I started off with a threeday train trip three days solid,
from the top to the bottom ofAustralia, from Darwin to
Adelaide, and I was like, okay,this is the longest trip I've
done by train in one go, threedays.
I'm gonna get bored, so I'mgonna bring books and music and
work to do and all kinds ofstuff.
(13:29):
And I was just like I broughtall these accoutrements to fend
off the boredom I would surelyexperience, and at the end of
those three days I hadn't doneany of that stuff and I hadn't
experienced a moment of boredom.
Now, it was also helped by thefact that each day the train
would stop for a few hours in aplace where we could get off and
wander around and discover it.
So it was an interestingexperience in that sense as well
(13:49):
.
But I thought after thatthree-day trip I'm like, wow,
three days and I didn't even geta little bit bored.
I'm like I got to up the antehere and there's some more
trains I can do in Australia.
So I became the engineer, so tospeak, on a trip that took me
from Melbourne to Sydney, whichis 10 hours or so, and then I
hopped on the Indian Pacificfrom Sydney to Perth.
(14:12):
Oh, my goodness, I was going tosay did you go three days, four
days yet?
And then, and then I got backon the very same train and
retraced all my steps.
In all, I did 11,000 kilometersin 11 days, and my mission was
to see if it's possible to getbored on a train.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
And didn't work.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
I didn't get bored.
I loved it.
I love chatting with all thepeople along the way.
You know I did have my booksand my music and there's
something again for me justlooking out the window.
It was so just relaxing andhypnotic and beautiful and
amazing to see all these scenery, the Nullabar desert and
(14:56):
everything.
So it was amazing.
And then this, like this,wasn't enough.
This became the fodder for thenext major adventure I did the
next year, which was the world'slongest navigable route by
train.
In 30 days I went from Lisbon,Portugal, to Ho Chi Minh City at
(15:16):
the bottom of Vietnam.
It was 25,000 kilometers in 30days, all by train.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Portugal to Vietnam.
Yeah, so did you have to buyyour like tickets through
multiple different resources?
Because, like you're in Asia,you're in Europe, so there's
different trail.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
So I got a Eurail pass to get me through most of
Europe, although I did have tobuy some additional single train
tickets to get.
Ultimately my destination wasMoscow, where I hopped on the
Trans-Siberian, and that was aweek solid 153 hours not that
anyone was counting 153 hours bytrain from Moscow to Beijing
(15:56):
and then from Beijing South.
It was another bunch of days toget all the way through the
rest of China and down from thetop to the bottom of Vietnam.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Wow, so this was 30 days total.
Okay, and did you make a lot of?
Speaker 3 (16:13):
stops or were you like, pretty much on the train
most of the time?
So in Europe I made lots ofstops, I stayed, I got off the
train a bunch of times, I got onand off a bunch of different
trains, but I planned a routethat would allow me to visit
some friends along the way.
So I visited some friends inGranada, in Spain, in Zurich, in
Switzerland, in Prague, inUkraine.
I actually got off for a fewdays and did some hiking in the
Carpathian Mountains and thenMoscow.
(16:36):
So those are the major stopsthat I made, but I also had some
time in Lviv and somewhere else, in Barcelona, I think.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Wow.
And so when you stop and youspend a couple days, the train
doesn't wait for you.
You just grab another train orsomething.
Are they constantly going?
Speaker 3 (16:52):
well, in europe it's not one train it was it was
piecing together the roots ofmany different trains yeah, yeah
the one train was thetrans-siberian, so that is the
world's longest train ride youcan do do, because it is one
week straight from Moscow toBeijing.
There's a bunch of differentroutes too, like there's the
Trans-Siberian and then there'sthe Trans-Manchurian, which goes
(17:12):
through Mongolia, and sothere's a couple of different
routes that take you ultimatelyall the way through Russia and
into China.
Certainly, if I were I mean Iwas on the clock because I was
doing this challenge.
I was doing it with a couple ofother friends of mine who were
content creators, but if I wereto do it all again, I would get
off the train.
(17:33):
We didn't get off the train,except for if there was a
station stop.
And there was a half hour stopat the station, we would get off
the train to stretch our legsand to buy some food from
whatever babushkas were on theon the platform selling their,
selling their homemade food.
You know so, but I would, youknow, I would definitely take
the time if I were doing thatagain.
(17:53):
I would definitely take sometime to get off at one or two
stops along the way and explore,you know this, this place that
you wouldn't otherwise gothrough.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Yeah, and when you bought the babushka, the
homemade foods and stuff, didyou get sick at all?
Or they would have.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
They would make you know dumplings and pierogies and
breads and maybe cheeses, um,they'd sometimes have some
(18:31):
homemade meats.
Um, what else would they have?
Yeah, like, um, yeah, a littlebit of candy, yeah, so well,
that was the other thing.
There would be.
There's there always would be alittle sundry place like some
kind of convenience store styleplace that sells, you know,
packaged food, and those wouldbe the stops.
(18:52):
If that was all we had, thosewere the less exciting stops
Because of course that meant nowwe were limited, we were
relegated to crackers and cheeseand meat sticks, you know, and
maybe ramen, like it was.
It was, it was a little meagerat times and does the train?
Speaker 2 (19:10):
do trains often have decent food.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
So it's a grab bag.
It's a grab bag when it comesto food on trains.
So in the Trans-Siberian inparticular, we visited the
restaurant car once.
I paid I paid dramaticallyoverpaid for a cup of borscht uh
, it was really just chickensoup masquerading as borscht.
I didn't like it, so I didn'tgo back to the restaurant and
(19:34):
this is why I gave myself thischallenge of seeing what I could
find on the platforms along theway, so that, again, not
everybody needs to be, as youknow, crazy and adventurous as I
um.
But if we look at other trains,especially if they're overnight
trains, there's always going tobe some kind of food car, almost
always going to be some kind offood car, and that food will
vary.
But if we look at some of thetrain rides where I've had some
(19:57):
epic meals, like all throughAustralia as well as through
Canada and the United States,which I've also done, every
single inch of rail on, if youdo a long distance trip and you
pay for the cabin, you're goingto get a lot of benefits that
you wouldn't get if you were ineconomy.
So A, you've got a cabin,you've got your own space.
(20:18):
That also means that for theovernight portion of that
journey.
You've got a place to lie downflat, which is very valuable,
but then also you get mealsserved in a special dining car,
three meals a day, linen tableservice meals made to order and
in some cases by like a properchef.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Wow, and what's the difference?
Like I don't need quotes onprice, but is it like double the
price, triple the price to havea cabin versus a coach in US,
Canada and Australia?
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Good question.
It all depends the earlier youbook, the less you're going to
pay, but you are going to payfor it.
So you may also get somesticker shock when you're
looking at it.
But the way I look at it is ifyou're taking an overnight train
to somewhere, right, If you aregetting accommodation, you're
getting meals and you're gettingtransportation.
So if you itemize thoseexpenses, if you just flew
(21:11):
instead and got a hotel and thenpaid for your meals and
restaurants, how much would youpay for that experience versus
having the experience of doingit on a train?
Yes, and that's how I justifythe cost of getting a cabin.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Okay got it, yeah, all right.
Okay, and is it for?
Speaker 3 (21:30):
me, because I just love train travel is it just?
If it's even more, it's stillworth it.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
For me is it cabins or not?
Cabins, or is there like mediumcabins and first class cabins
also?
Speaker 3 (21:39):
again.
Again, it all depends on thetrain, but if we're looking at
amtrak, uh, then yes, there's.
You're going to be able to getwhat is called a roomette, which
is a very small cabin.
It has the ability to sleep twopeople, but, man, you better
know that other person reallywell, because when the beds come
down, they're like bunk beds,they're like single beds that
come from the wall, but theyalso take up the entire room.
So the roommate, when it's inthe daytime, is basically two
(22:04):
seats facing each other andyou're knee to knee, and then at
nighttime they come down intotwo beds and there's no extra
space.
So, like I said, okay, but thenthere are on your bag larger
beds.
They're larger.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
There's bedrooms and then full bedrooms with uh
ensuite bathrooms as well okay,I was thinking like the cruise,
like cruise, you get, like youknow, a full room.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
So trains have like full rooms, nice they do yeah
okay, I was just looking atcosts.
I was just googling what the uh, what trans-siberia train, um
would be, and it looks like um.
Well, one says for 30 days, uh,1094 dollars.
And then, yeah, there's anotherthing that that's um, I don't
know if that's the euro, it's1006.
(22:49):
And then it says anotherindependently train costs 250 to
500.
So I don't know if that's asmaller, like without the cabin
or with the cabin or whatever,but um, 30 days for a thousand
bucks.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
I mean, that's nothing compared now I'm not
sure what that 30 days means,because you wouldn't be 30 days
on the train, but maybe thatgives you the option to hop on
and off within a 30 day period.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Yeah, it says average daily spend $36.
Wow.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Brilliant.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Yeah, not bad at all.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
I'm about to.
In a couple of weeks I'm goingto finish off the last of, or
almost the last of all the railacross Canada that I haven't
done.
I'm going to take the trainfrom Toronto to Montreal.
That's just a short train ride,and then I'm going to do the 24
hour train ride from Montrealto Halifax.
And I got I got a bedroom forthat.
(23:40):
I'm traveling with my partner,so we got a bedroom for that.
And that's the other thing too.
If you are traveling with apartner, you will.
You're splitting the cost ofthe bedroom, so it's actually
much more economical when you'retraveling with somebody and
staying in a room.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Okay, and is that Amtrak in Canada or something
else?
It's via rail Via rail.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Okay, and are you in Canada?
So you're in Canada.
You're back in Canada right now.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Yes, so after 12 years of proverbial homelessness
, I did come back to Torontowhen I got an apartment.
But to be honest, I'm heremaybe.
I mean I use it as a place tounpack, unwind and repack.
So I'm here, maybe cumulativelya few months a year, like tops
Wow.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
There are certain uh year or time of year that you
try to stay there versustraveling, or is there any
strategy on what months are bestto travel or what's worked for
you?
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Generally speaking, I try to avoid the winter here.
It's not.
It's not Toronto, where Toronto, not where Toronto shines by
any stretch of the imagination.
This summer definitely is awonderful time to be in Toronto
and Canada in general, althoughthe shoulder seasons are also
great.
So it really depends more onwhat other destinations are
calling me or what opportunitiesI have abroad as to when I'm
(24:51):
going to be here and when I'mgoing to be abroad.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
So when are you going next abroad?
Besides the, train trip.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Besides the train trip I will be I'm attending a
conference called Camp Indy inJune.
It's fantastic, it's likesummer camp for unconventional
minds, for adults, and then fromthere I'm going to head to
Europe for the summer.
So I expect that I'm going tospend I'm speaking at Bansko
Nomad Fest in Bulgaria oh nice,that's at the end of June.
(25:17):
I expect that I'll be inBulgaria for a couple of months
and then I'll probably spend thenext couple of months between
Croatia and England, and then Imay spend November in Tanzania.
It's not finalized yet, butthat's the idea at the moment.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Nice, it's slowing down, huh, doesn't it?
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
This is a fast year of travel.
I often I'm a big proponent ofslow travel, though, especially
if you're a digital nomad as alifestyle, you do need to go
slowly if you want to sustain it, and I have been known to
travel so slowly.
It was imperceptible Like Ispent a couple of years in
Australia on and off.
I spent a couple of years inGrenada in the Caribbean, on and
(26:00):
off.
I spent a couple of years inPeru on and off.
So I've definitely establishedbases around the world that I've
been able to use as a as kindof like a home base for further
exploration, but then also tojust slow down, like I would
have found a monthly rental thatI can just call home for a
little while, and those arereally important stops along the
way.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Oh, my gosh, very good.
And then do you see a lot ofplaces where there's like day
trip trains, and do yourecommend those?
Are we just mainly talkingabout trains for transportation,
versus no?
Oh, if you go to Switzerland,you should take the train.
You know, there's like fun,shorter trips.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
If you go to Switzerland, you should take all
trains, All, Just every one ofthem but yes, there are some day
trains that are really good.
So in Switzerland, as anexample, the Glacier Express is
like that's an iconic train thattakes you through the beautiful
mountains and the scenery is soepic you don't want to sleep
through it.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
So I don't believe they run an overnight route
through there, because it's justso epic.
Oh, wow, okay, how long is thattrain that goes through the, I
don't know.
Oh, I mean, is it multiple daysor is it just a couple of hours
?
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Oh okay, sorry, I haven't done it.
It's on my list.
Oh, okay, okay.
Yeah, I did do a two-day trainride from Jasper to Prince
Rupert in Canada.
It's a very obscure train ridebut for anyone who knows trains,
they'll also admit it's one ofthe most scenic train rides in
the world.
And it's another one of thesetrain rides that they actually
(27:26):
stop when the sun goes down andthey make you sleep in the town
that night because you don'twant to miss the scenery.
That is happening between thesetwo destinations.
So it's really that's afantastic train ride.
What to Jasper?
Jasper to Prince Rupert, princeRupert Okay, it's super obscure
.
It's, you know, for trainlovers only.
It's got a great.
It's got a great cabin.
(27:48):
So, like you, it's got thislike observation deck.
So, above, where the yourassigned seat will be, you can
take a staircase up and you'llsit in this domed like at the
very top of the train car andit's it's glass everywhere, so
you get these 360 degree viewsof the train, of the mountains
all around you.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
It's pretty Wow.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
Yeah, I spent most of my time on those two full days
just my nose rest to the glasslooking at the amazing scenery.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Wow, canada is pretty amazing.
I have family up there and wedrove from Seattle to Vancouver
to Banff and drive in juniorhigh.
It was a long time ago but justthe scenery was just epic, it
was beautiful.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
That's an incredible road trip.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Yeah, it was a lot of fun and also well, I'm sure you
did no trains in the Caribbean,but you said you stayed there.
You lived there for a couple ofyears too.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
I did.
Indeed, it was a house sittinggig that lured me to the
Caribbean, and it was on Grenada, and so I did three months of
house sitting there and I reallyliked it, so I went.
You know, that gig ended butthe homeowners wanted me back
for another stint.
But I had three months to kill,so I went and lived on boats
throughout the Caribbean forthree months.
So I was volunteering.
(29:02):
I stayed on.
One of my other claims to fameis I wrote a book literally on
how to get free accommodationaround the world.
In my first 10 years abroad Isaved over a hundred thousand
dollars on accommodation bygetting it for free.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
Is it for, like the house sitting, dog sitting all
that there's.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
House sitting is one way to do it, but there's
actually five different ways toget free accommodation.
Okay, it's house sitting,volunteering, couch surfing or
hospitality exchanges, homeexchanges and living on boats.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Okay Living on boats.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Okay, but you have to rent the boat or Exactly, yeah,
you're you're an extra set ofhands helping out on other
people's boats.
So whether they need to sailfrom A to B and they need more
people on deck or watch, orwhether they were like my gigs,
I didn't know how to sail.
I don't recommend this.
Most captains are not going totake someone who knows how to
sail and doesn't know how tosail on their boats.
But I found somebody through aconnection and through one of
(30:09):
these boat there are websitesthat connect boat owners with
people who will volunteer and hehad a boat moored in St Martin
and he was also getting a videobusiness off the ground.
So my role was helping him withhis video business and that was
my.
That was what I did in exchangefor my free accommodation.
So we worked on his videobusiness together and I had a
(30:30):
place to stay on his boat and itall worked out well.
And then, through him, I metanother person who was sailing
to the BVIs and needed someoneto help out with the charter.
And then from him, I metsomeone else who was, and it was
just.
It was a really small communityand it just.
One boat led to another toanother and suddenly, three
months later I hadn't spent anight on land.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Oh wow, and what's your what's is and what's your
what's?
Is your book still out there?
Is it what's it called?
Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
It's called how to get free accommodation around
the world.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Okay, we'll put a link in there.
Thank, you.
Show notes for you.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Everyone likes to know that Christy Teglow and she
would cat and dog sit aroundthe world.
I can't remember the name ofthe website, but you know they
kind of screen.
You know you go everywherearound the world, which is it's
amazing because you I mean meetsome pretty incredible people.
I mean, I'm sure I I don'tthink you've had a bad
(31:19):
experience in any of those, orhave you had any kind of.
I don't think I'll go backthere again, or is it?
Speaker 3 (31:26):
pretty.
I've definitely had a few ofthose, but I haven't had any
experiences where my safety wasin jeopardy or anything was
catastrophically bad.
But yeah, when you go to stayin someone's place for either to
house it or to volunteer orlive on their boat or whatever
you're dealing, there's alwaysgoing to be personality
(31:48):
differences or clashes orpotential issues that might come
up.
But that's one of the reasonswhy I'm pretty militant about
making sure that due diligenceis in place.
So you know you take the timeto get on the video call.
If I'm going to house sit orpet sit, I get on a video call
with the homeowners.
I make sure we get along.
I also have them walk methrough the house.
(32:09):
I want to see the place, I wantto meet the pets, I want to
make sure that I know what I'mgetting into before I get on a
plane, because it's a leap offaith for both parties, right.
So it's a leap of faith for thetraveler because I'm getting on
a plane to go to a place tostay in some.
(32:31):
You know there's a certainamount of accountability that
people have on these platforms,but it's also a risk for them
because they're about to welcomea stranger into their home to
take care of their beloved petsand make sure that things are,
you know, go okay in theirabsence.
So it is based on trust.
There are some, you know,fundamental, and that's again
kind of a metaphor for travel ingeneral.
I mean it is that there istrust.
(32:51):
There are some, you know,fundamental, and that's again
kind of a metaphor for travel ingeneral.
I mean it is the there is anelement of trust.
There's a saying trust in Allah, but tie up your camel.
So you know, like, let's trustthat the world is fundamentally
good and I really do believethat 99% of the people in the
world are amazing.
But I'm also going to make surethat I have an anti-theft
(33:11):
backpack and I'm not allowing,you know, I'm not opening myself
up to undue risk in one way oranother.
And in the case of housesitting, I make sure that you
know, I read the reviews of thathomeowner and I meet them and
make sure that it's going to bea good fit.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
What was your best experience and where was it?
Speaker 3 (33:28):
I had so many you know.
Actually, probably one of mymost memorable experiences was
volunteering at a retreat centerin New Zealand and I
volunteered in exchange for freeaccommodation and food.
The retreat center was calledMana Retreat Center and it was
amazing.
I went back multiple times tovolunteer at this place and it
was just.
(33:49):
I mean, the group of peoplethat it attracted was amazing.
The scenery was epic, the foodwas beyond epic and, yeah, it
was just a lot of fun.
It was one of those placesagain where everything just kind
of came together and it wassynergistic and beautiful.
And I will also say like thefirst time I was at Manna it was
amazing.
The second time maybe not somuch.
Third time was a little better.
(34:09):
So one of the other things thatI learned in travel is you
can't ever go back to a placeand expect it to be what it once
was do not ever try to recreatean experience by going back to
that same place, because it willbe different every time, and
that's that's half the fun aswell all right, all right.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Also quick question is now that you have a partner,
and has that changed your travel?
And I don't know if know if heor she, I guess, is coming with
you on those adventures, or howhas that been?
Speaker 3 (34:39):
So I have had a few partnerships along the way, and
they have all looked verydifferent depending on where
they were at in terms of howthey met me and what their life
and lifestyle was like.
But my partner is we have anactually pretty complimentary
lifestyle.
So I have a base in Toronto, hehas a base in Bulgaria, and so
we're able to spend time here,we're able to spend time there,
(34:59):
but then we also have careersthat allow us to travel, so
we're also able to spend time onthe road together.
So it's the best of all worlds.
And then what do you doprofessionally?
What does he do?
Speaker 1 (35:07):
professionally.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
So I'm a content creator still 18 years and I'm a
travel content creator.
I help people design theirlifestyles and arrange their
affairs so they can travellong-term while working remotely
.
My main platforms are mywebsite, which is
theprofessionalhobocom, and alsomy YouTube channel, which you
can find me by just GooglingNora Dunn.
But if you go to my websitealso, you'll just find links to
(35:31):
all the places where I am anyway, because I'm kind of everywhere
and my partner manages and ownsproperties, mostly in Bulgaria,
but in a couple of othercountries as well, so he owns a
few of them himself and then hehelps other property owners rent
them out.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
Fantastic, all right.
Well, we're getting close tothe time, so I have a few rapid
fire questions.
If you're ready to go, okay.
What is a top travel tip forpacking efficiently?
Okay?
Speaker 3 (36:01):
Take less than you think you need.
If there's any question aboutwhether you need it, if it's a
just in case item, don't take it.
Chances are you can.
If you do actually need it, youcan get what you need on the
road Nice.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
Okay, what is the best way to immerse yourself
into the culture of a newdestination?
Speaker 3 (36:19):
So earlier I mentioned rotary as a way of
traveling the world andsomething that I do in local
places where I am, Because,again, every time I walk into a
Rotary meeting, I'm now in thepresence of people that I
wouldn't meet otherwise and weall share a common bond and a
common of being Rotarians and abeing of service.
But it doesn't have to be that.
It could be, you know, whatevercommon interest you have, dig
(36:41):
down with that common interestIf you play volleyball.
Dig down with that commoninterest If you play volleyball.
Find a way to play volleyballaround the world If you like.
Public speaking, join aToastmasters meeting anywhere
around the world If you like.
There's lots of different waysthat you can mine through and
meet the people that youwouldn't meet otherwise, by
attending meetings, games,whatever it is that pertain to
(37:02):
your common interests.
So then, that way, the peopleyou meet you'll, you'll be able
to transcend cultural andlanguage barriers by virtue of
enjoying your passion together.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
I've actually done that with wake surfing.
I went wake surfing in SouthKorea and it was incredible.
And actually this yes, tomorrowI'm going to be going to
Arizona.
I do competitions and clinicsand stuff, and so the South
Korea guy he's going to be there, which I can't wait to see him.
It's from surfing in Bali andwith a pro surfer, with a pro
(37:33):
surfer and he taught my kids andit was just.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
It definitely makes it a lot of fun.
That's great.
And now you have a worldwidenetwork of people that you know
and you share this commoninterest with and you would
never have met them any otherway, and you potentially have.
They will lead you to new andother opportunities to travel in
this really immersive way.
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
Yeah, Competitions.
We have people coming fromJapan, China, Korea, Russia, you
know all over the world thisweekend, so you then meet them
and then you go over to see themand when people say to me
they're like oh hey, if you'reever in my neck of the woods,
you know, let me know I you canstay with me.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
I always look at them and I go be careful what you
offer, because I might actuallytake you up on that.
And if they reiterate and go,no, no, really for sure Come,
then I'm like, all right, well,I'll be there.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
Okay, yeah, just put it on my list, all right.
So what's on your bucket listdestination that you're itching
to visit next that you haven'tbeen yet?
Speaker 3 (38:30):
So I don't tend to choose my destination so much as
they choose me, and theyusually choose me in the form of
an opportunity, so something todo some people to see, but
whatnot?
But two things potentiallycoming up this year that are
places that I would like to gocoming up this year.
That are places that I wouldlike to go.
I haven't been to Croatia yet,so that would be really nice to
see that.
And if we can make Tanzaniahappen, that would be.
That's that.
We could call that bucket liststuff for sure.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Okay, very good.
And then, what is a favoritego-to travel snack?
Is there something that youalways like have to have with
you while you're traveling?
Speaker 3 (39:01):
Nothing that I necessarily have to have, but if
I can stock up on Lara bars, Ireally like those because they
can, they'll just help me getthrough that hungry bit whenever
I need them.
And they travel.
They're super small, theytravel really easily.
But I'm also a sucker forwhatever snack foods I can find
in the countries I'm visiting.
So like if I could find apacket of nuts or whatever
(39:21):
random thing like it's.
Like if I look at a packet ofsomething and I'm like I have no
idea what that is, I have tobuy it because I have to see
what it is and how it tastes.
I've definitely had some fails,but I've had a lot of really
great successes as well.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Okay, nice, okay.
And then how about?
Is there a must carry on item?
And Rick on our team said hesaw some on one of your YouTube
channels that he's like wow,that was a great idea.
But I'll just see if you have amust have travel item in your
carry on bag.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
I'm pretty sure I have a great answer for this,
but I'm not sure I know whatthat is.
Well, actually, if you'reflying, my new favorite piece of
teeny, tiny travel gear that isa lifesaver is called earplanes
, and they're they're things,cause I have trouble with my
ears on descent.
I get a lot of ear pain, andapparently I'm not alone.
(40:10):
So you put these little thingsin your ear and it helps you
equalize the air pressure.
So you put them.
You put them in your ears whenthe plane is descending and then
you don't have any pain in yourears.
So I now will not fly withoutthese.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
It's amazing.
That's huge.
Yeah, and Rick said you hadtalked about like having an
extension cord, because we allhave so many devices.
He's like that's brilliant,because I never would have
thought of that.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
I never, ever travel without my extension.
And it's not only an extensioncord, but it's also a surge
protector and it has multipleoutlets that you can plug
anything into.
Great.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
Okay, a little power bar, it's perfect, laura bar and
power bar.
Okay, one word to describe yourtravel style Wrap it up Slow
Nice.
Speaker 3 (40:51):
The slower the better I like it.
I have no problem taking mytime into destination.
A grocery store is the besttourist activity you can
entertain me with, so I'll spendhours in the grocery store just
wandering around, seeing howthings are sold, seeing how
people buy stuff, observing, andthose are the sort of
experiences that I really likeis again learning to just live
and see how other people livearound the world, and the only
(41:12):
way you can do that is if you goslow.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
I don't get the same experience, and to see the
different brands, I'm like, oh,I don't even know that brand.
What is that Right?
What is on the shelves, thepeople.
It's very interesting as well,absolutely.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
Well, thank you so much, Nora.
Yes, We'll put your, yourwebsite, your YouTube channel,
those links and the link to yourbook in the in the show notes
for everyone.
Speaker 1 (41:36):
Well and I did have one quick question too is as if
someone wanted to hire you, whatdoes something like that look
like?
Cost-wise, time-wise,experience-wise, what?
What-wise?
Experience-wise, what wouldsomeone?
Speaker 3 (41:54):
if they needed your services.
Well, I used to do privateconsulting and I had to stop
because the demand was a littletoo much, unfortunately.
And I do have designs onputting together some group
courses and cohorts, but Ihaven't yet done that, so
unfortunately there's no realway to hire me.
However, I do have a ton offree content that I can help you
sift through, so I actuallyhave a free gift for anyone
(42:16):
who's listening to this.
If you go totheprofessionalhobocom slash
free gift, you can sign up todownload a checklist of 10
things to do before you travellong term, and these are the
sort of things that you want tothink about to cover your bases
so that you can hit the roadstress-free and effectively
right from the start.
That will also put you on myinsider scoop email list.
(42:39):
I send about one email a month,so it's hardly onerous, but
those are the most personalupdates.
So if you want to know kind ofthe inside scoop of what life is
like from month to month andyear to year on the road, I
share it good, bad and otherwisein my insider scoop emails and
then, of course, at any stage ofthe game, all you have to do is
hit reply and you're in myinbox and we can have a
conversation and I can helppoint you to whatever it is that
(43:00):
you're looking for.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
Oh, that's awesome that you're looking for oh
that's awesome, and now justcurious.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
So how does that?
Curious in terms of how doesthat translate financially for
you?
How wonderful it feels like youfigured out the matrix right.
Well, thank you so much foryour time and safe travels.
Enjoy.
Sounds like you've got somepretty amazing trips coming up.
Speaker 3 (43:22):
Thank you very much.
Thank you, kristen and Carol,for your time.
This was a lovely chat and Ihope that your listeners enjoy
it as well.
Speaker 2 (43:27):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
Okay, bye.
Speaker 2 (43:32):
Thanks for listening.
If you enjoyed the podcast, canyou please take a second and do
a quick follow of the show andrate us in your podcast app, and
if you have a minute, we wouldreally appreciate a review.
Following and rating is thebest way to support us.
If you're on Instagram, let'sconnect.
We're at where next podcast.
Thanks again.
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