Vagabond Journey Travel Newsletter 004
Wade Shepard
Vagabond Journey Newsletter 004
September 27, 2009
Tempe, Arizona, USA
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Contents:
Travel Update
Next Steps -- Travel Plans
Project Updates
Vagabondjourney.com update
Vagabond Economics
Travel Tip: How to use a compass when traveling
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Travel update
I am now in Arizona after a four month stall in Maine. Chaya and I returned from traveling in the Balkans and the Middle East and made camp in Bangor, Maine with her wonderful family. This is the longest that I have ever stayed anywhere since I left the farm at 18. I returned to Maine from Egypt with two purposes:
1. To marry Hannah (Chaya) Kates-Goldman
2. To have my first child.
I am now pleased to report that both of these objectives have been completed.
Hannah and I were married on June 28th outside on the coast of Maine
in a rain shower -- it was perfect. Read the first story at, http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/2009/07/vagabond-wedding.html
There were five former Global College students in attendance, and 4 can actually claim the title "alumni."
After the wedding I found myself doing a project to show how anyone who can work legally in the USA can make enough money to travel. So I took up as many bottom of the barrel jobs as I could and saved as much money as possible in order to make up enough money to keep traveling. In three months I saved over $3,500 from working on an organic farm, weeding gardens, doing odd daycare jobs, and working as a geography research assistant.
Read about the how to save money for travel project at, http://www.vagabondjourney.com/how-to-make-money-for-traveling/
This money combined with wedding gifts, Hannah, Petra, and I are looking onwards to our first travel destinations as a family.
But first I must introduce Petra Hendele Adara Shepard. She is my baby. Petra was born in Hannah's parent's living room floor on August 11th. I must report that she is already as stubborn and footloose as her parents. Hannah and I now have another traveling companion to round out our group at three.
Read about Petra's home birth:
http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/home-birth-baby-petra-born/
Read more about Petra:
http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/choosing-baby-name/
http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/infant-potty-training-diaper-free-baby/
The Next Steps -- Travel Plans
I am currently working on archaeology projects in Arizona while Chaya and Petra are holding down the fort in Maine. We are trying to save up enough money to winter in El Salvador for a couple of months and then carry on south to Colombia and South America or to buy a sailboat to live and travel on. Which route we choose will depend on Petra. Chaya and I presently have suspicions that she may be a little too small to go sailing right now, and we may want to wait for a year before buying a boat.
I would like to continue doing archaeology in Arizona for the next month or two and then maybe take a job in New Mexico or somewhere else in the southwest. I am looking forward to my family coming out and joining me, as I feel that traveling and doing archaeology could be a good first step towards traveling with a baby, as well as being a sort of half way point between the land and the high seas.
Read more about the search for archaeology fieldwork in Arizona:
http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/desert-archaeology/
After a couple of months of archaeology fieldwork, the plan is to go south. South to Colombia, Cuba, or El Salvador for the winter, and then travel through the spring in South America . . . or buy a sailboat.
Project Updates
Preparing to travel by sea- Hannah and I are also planning on buying a sailboat soon and begin our travels by sea. I am currently learning to sail off the coast of Maine, and have made good progress. By next summer I predict that we will have our own boat and be cruising the oceans as a family.
Read more about vagabond sailing:
http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/learning-to-sail/
http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/cost-to-buy-sailboat-and-travel/
http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/buying-a-sailboat-to-travel-the-world-by-sea/
http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/cruising-the-world-by-sea-expenses/
http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/learning-to-sail-maine-penobscot-bay/
Learning to speak Spanish better project- I have traveled for a long time in Central and South America and my Spanish is decent, but it is not good. This project is about improving my ability to communicate in Spanish. To my benefit I worked on the organic farm with a guy from El Salvador and all instruction was given in Spanish, but he has since been deported. To make up for this, I have been using the Rosetta Stone computer program, which actually surprises me at how well it works.
Read more about the learning Spanish project:
http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/traveler-spanish-to-real-spanish/
http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/study-spanish-rosetta-stone/
Archaeology Fieldwork in America- This is a collection of my experiences on various archaeology projects around the United States. I am currently working in the deserts and forests of Arizona but would like to pick up projects in a couple other places before the season is out.
Read more about the archaeology fieldwork in America project:
http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/archaeology-field-work-in-usa-searching-for-a-project/
http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/archaeology-project-in-arizona/
http://www.vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/desert-archaeology/
Vagabond Journey.com Website Update
My main goals for returning to the USA was to completely overhaul the Vagabond Journey.com website. This overhaul is now about completed. Go to VagabondJourney.com to look at the new design.
Recent traffic details
Vagabond Journey.com is currently bringing in over 2,000 unique visitors a day and has an Alexa rank of 280,000.
Vagabond Economics
Now that I have a family I need to make three times as much money per year to continue traveling. But I also have another person to make this money with. The idea is that I want to work a lot for the next couple of months and then take the net year off to spend time with my new family.
The wedding netted us $3,000 and a car -- this will help us out a lot when we finally leave the USA (November 2009, hopefully) -- I also saved $3,000 from working on the farm and another thousand from other pursuits in Maine, and I am currently doing archaeology full time in the American southwest. I hope that by November we will have enough money to either last us one full year of traveling or to buy a sailboat to live on.
I have also been trying to supplement my adsense earnings through putting up Travel Gear stores with the Amazon affiliate program. For every purchase made at Amazon.com that was proceeded by a click from VagabondJourney.com I will receive a commission. These stores are starting to do decently, and I am bringing in a little more money each month from them.
Please visit Trusted Travel Gear at
http://www.vagabondjourney.com/buy-travel-gear-online-store/
Travel Tip -- How to use a compass while traveling
I always travel with a compass in the pocket of my vest. Whenever I pull it out in front of another traveler I am often chided for it:
"What, do you think you are going on an expedition or something?"
"No, I am not on an expedition, I am in a city and I have no friggin' idea how to orient myself to this map without knowing what direction I am facing."
It is in the middle of a big foreign city, rather than in the wilderness, that the compass is of most use for a traveler. When I am outside there are plenty of natural ways for me to orient myself: the direction of the sun in regards to that time of day, moss on trees, stars and constelations: the Big dipper, the Southern Cross, Polaris. In point, when I am hiking or outside I seldom use a compass because I usually know what way I am oriented and can therefore use a map or find my own way.
But when I am in the middle of a major metropolis -- where I am cut off from the signs of the natural world by tall buildings, smog, traffic, and the entire assemblage of civilization -- I have no idea what direction I am facing. And a map is just a hodge podge of nonsense if you are not oriented.
So I use a compass.
Whenever I come out of a major railway station, up from a subway, or even if I just want to mark the street that my hotel is on in relation to a landmark -- such as a river, major street, tall building ect . . . -- I just take out my compass and I can better find where it is that I stand on a map.
"Ok, so I am on the north side of this railway station and I want to take a road that goes east then another that goes south."
Now I know that I need to take a right out of the station and then another right to go south.
It is easy.
If I have a compass I can generally always mark my provenience on a map in regards to major landmarks that are also on the map -- such as train stations, airports, rivers, major highways. If I can provenience myself on a map, then I often do not need to ask directions or drop money on a taxi.
If I know where I am and where I am going I put myself in charge of my travels.
I like to rely on other people as least often as possible when on the road, and I have found that carrying a compass makes me far more of a self sufficient traveler.
Traveling, so I assume, is what happens in between point A and point B. I like traveling, and I want to know where I am this entire time. So I use a compass.
How to Use a Compass Travel Tip
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Walk Slow,