Sunwalker

by AJ

Great to hear from Sunwalker.... We'd love to hear more about your experiences walking around the country.

In his comment, Sunwalker bemoaned the need to make take a break from travels and make some money. While there are a few hard core souls who can manage without doing this (monks, sadhus, and the like), most of us require at least a minimum of income now and then.

I dont think this is anything to fret about. Unfortunately, its just a fact of life for most of us. The trick is to find a good strategy- one that maximizes freedom and income simultaneously.

Ralf Potts (the travel writer) writes about this too. He urges vagabonds to relax and make the best of their working stints. Of course, another strategy (one I favor) is to travel and work at the same time. Living and working abroad provides a deeper cultural encounter than breezing through a country in a month or two.

Currently Im teaching English in Bangkok and loving it. After a horrid work experience in Japan, Im very happy. Ive got great students, a great schedule, good pay, and almost total freedom in the classroom. Truth is I love teaching (when the conditions are right)- so I look forward to my class. Im eager to do a good job for my students. Ive been injecting a lot of energy into my Effortless Acquisition (my teaching blog). At the end of the day, Im still energetic... often more energetic than I started out.

So there are good income-generating situations. Of course, there are many many more bad ones. But either way, we need that cash for living and travel.

The key is to keep improving the income situation (more money, more autonomy, more freedom) while always keeping the next journey in mind.

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