overseas work visas: more pain than gain

“Regarding me coming to Japan, it will be very difficult… I can’t get the working holiday visa anymore because I’m over thirty. I was going to look into scholarships to study cuisine or nutrition there, but again, I think they’ll give me a difficult time without a degree (I’ll contact the embassy anyway). I get visa on-entry for ninety days max, so I’d have to take a trip to Korea and back to restart my time if I were staying longer.” (p. 100)

It’s one thing to arrive overseas with a backpack, ready to jump from country to country purchasing visas at the border or in neighbouring embassies (which is often cheaper than pre-arranging it back home). But when it comes to business visas, not arranging it in advance can be an excruciatingly painful waste of time.

Finding your way between Mozambique and Swaziland by public transport

A day or overnight trip from Maputo to Swaziland can be quick and painless with your own vehicle, but when using public transport, there’s a few options and tips that are good to know.

swaziland umhlanga festival: girl power to the max!

I was lucky enough to visit Swaziland (for the second time) during the annual umhlanga (reed) festival.  And knowing from my first visit how much the girls enjoy posing for photos, I wasn’t shy about getting some beautiful portraits this time around (and would have had many more had the constant requests to be photographed not killed my battery so quickly)!

the difference (in my mind) between volunteer and development work abroad

“I’ve only worked with a salary for nine months in the past eight years, which was also the only time I’ve paid rent since 2003 (the international development organizations I volunteer with, or the other programs I participate in usually cover my costs of accommodation)… I’ve been supporting myself with the money I’ve managed to scrape together by living a meager life, saving what I could (while paying off all my debt) from the small living allowances I’ve received while volunteering.” (p.106)

First, I want to say that the opinions shared in this post are strictly my own, based on my personal experiences and point of view. Second, I want to make clear that what I’m saying is not meant to apply to the world of international development work where people are employed overseas with healthy salaries, often focusing more energy on policy, funds/project planning and distribution (which is also very important), rather than on the implementation of work. The people I’m focusing on may work with the partner organizations who receive that funding, helping to carry out the projects that ultimately benefit the disadvantaged.

cultural festivals are fun!

There’s nothing worse for me than arriving in a town with fixed travel dates, and missing a free cultural festival I didn’t know about by a few days (either just before I got there, or after I have to leave). So when some friends invited me to the National festival of culture in Chimoio, Mozambique, I dropped everything, cut my goodbyes short in Namibia, and started a five day trek by land to make it to this event.

the exotic card: novelty vs. individuality

“When I was here many years ago to visit a girl I was once involved with, I remember her telling me how sexist the society was, and how subservient women were expected to be. From what I’ve seen so far, I don’t think much has changed. It’s no wonder women would have difficulty knowing what they really want or feel in a relationship. And I can understand why so many here are curious to experience ‘love’ with someone from another culture; to be treated with a different degree of respect is foreign.” (p.243)

I’ve met loads of people over the years who had meeting exotic locals during their vacation at the top of their to-do list. But what many people who have grown up in cities full of different races and faces don’t realize until they jump off the plane, is that when you enter a country dominated by one or two ethnicities, it’s the foreigner who becomes the exotic treasure to be had.

intellectual stimulation: battling boredom while abroad

“I understand that it’s hard to find enough intellectual stimulation. We’re very isolated from our natural environment where people get our humour and character, and locals in this part of the world tend to treat conversations with foreigners in a different context than they would with someone who lives permanently in their surroundings. When our time in a community is pre-determined to be temporary, I sense that many people remain detached, knowing we’ll be gone before long. It’s as if the only things worth developing are ideas and friendships that will continue in their physical time and space.” (p. 265)

No matter how incredible our surroundings, boredom is something that can attack any type of traveller when we’ve suddenly got more time on our hands than we’re used to.

e-communication: from meaningless to meaning everything

“I know you said you want me not to think about you too much when I’m travelling. But your actions have the opposite effect on me. When I hear from you, even a small message, I feel happy and connected, and I’m able to enjoy myself with you in the back of my mind. But when I don’t hear from you, I worry something has happened, that there’s a real reason why you didn’t write, not simply games or control tactics. I don’t need big, long messages, just something regular, daily, to know you’re well.” (p.196)

In my ‘words and meanings can be miles apart’ blog entry, I talk about the challenges of communicating with partners from a different cultural and/or linguistic background. This post explores some of the fundamental communication difficulties when we travel without our partner or close ones.

cultural comforts: becoming part of a new place

“She asked if I had any desire to come back… and I explained that for me, my feelings about the country can be paralleled with my experience in Bangladesh: it may not be a place I completely understand or want to live in, but having spent a prolonged period of time there makes it feel in some senses like home.” (p.416)

In my ‘no place like home‘ blog entry, I talk about Toronto no longer being a place I could live, despite having friends and memories there. Yet at the same time, the multicultural elements of the city are something that I continue to praise and appreciate as I live in very different societies, with different levels of toleration, acceptance and understanding.

circling southern africa by land: a guest blog

After my public transportation post detailing connections and prices between Windhoek and Maputo, I received a lot of questions about transport to Harare, Vic Falls, and beyond. Since my friend SW did that route, she has written the following guest blog detailing her public transport experience through Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Vic Falls, Botswana, and back to Namibia:

getting away makes returning fun

During the first couple weeks of my one month vacation, the last thing to cross my mind was work. I was enjoying my surroundings and new friends, and without any stress or drama, my creativity was back in full force.

a (holi)day in the life of brian

In my blog post entitled ‘tourist travel just isn’t me‘, I explain why traditional means of travel and vacations aren’t very appealing to me. As a follow up, I thought I should share a typical day in my life while I’m on one of my more typical holidays in Maputo, to add perspective:

nostalgic maputo: still shining

“In Maputo you can go out every night, any time of the year to enjoy live music, exhibitions, movies or theatre. And it’s easy to find for free, or less than a dollar or two max. Amazing African food can be bought for pennies in the local markets, and Portuguese inspired chicken with secret sauces is served super cheap, the customers spilling out into the wide boulevards, competing with the lively café culture for space. I never had to think about my budget there, or stop myself from buying something because I was worried about running out of money.” (P.242-243)

a long weekend (guide) from windhoek to maputo

My friend and coworker Kristian would tell me that figuring out the journey from one place to another is the most adventurous part of the trip, but seeing as I found so much misinformation on this one, I thought I’d write out the details for fellow travellers who may want to do the same route:

hosting strangers: the flip side of the coin

“After travelling for so long staying with host families non-stop, I’m very sensitive about not invading other people’s privacy. It hasn’t been easy carrying my life in a couple of bags, moving between completely different environments every few weeks or so. I’m in new homes accepting the hospitality of people while I get to know them for the first time, and it can feel like a lot of pressure if we don’t get along right away.

tourist travel just isn’t me.

This is nothing against the friends who have travelled with me, or the billions of people who enjoy vacations every year. I seem to be some type of anomaly, incapable of being satisfied with tours and places advertised in magazines.

Forget Hotels, and start Surfing!

In the first pages of my book, I start talking about a ‘hosting network’, which may be unheard of to many readers, as it was for me when I first heard about it in September 2007 (through a chance conversation with a Brazilian in Maputo, Mozambique). This is by far the greatest thing to ever happen to my travel, and I used it non-stop from that moment up until August 2009; that’s two years of travel without booking any hotels!!

There’s No Place Like Home

Visiting Toronto for the first time in three years has been great: meeting old friends and new babies, eating more food than my body can handle, and trying to enjoy the summer weather in between all the rain. Yet each time someone asks me when I’m coming back to settle down, I’m very quick to tell them I’m not.

Touchy in Thailand: the Conclusion

“The apologies continued by email, and when I was still angry I let her buy me a ticket from Hong Kong to Japan. She even had one of her clients (a Thai prostitute working in Hong Kong for a couple of weeks)

Kidnapped: Touchy in Thailand Part 2

“When we arrived she went straight to a net café to start looking for a hotel. I asked if she planned to stay there for the evening, and she said yes, because it was too late to go back to Bangkok. I let her know that this was not my idea of a drive to a market. I didn’t even have a toothbrush or change of clothes with me, and I was supposed to meet a friend for dinner. She apologized and told me not to worry. Then she went and found a hotel, giggling as she told me they didn’t have any rooms with two beds. At this point I was totally freaked. I’ve seen enough middle-aged men with young Thai girls: could this be a role reversal?

Touchy in Thailand, Part 1

“Things got crazy with my friends in Pattaya. The city is one big strip scene, with bar after bar full of unattractive girls dancing naked.

About Travel. – before you read

This link will take you to the ‘About Travel.’ introduction.