Hi there,

Im from the US and have been working for 3 years onboard cruise ships. While not working I went traveling. I met a gal from england and we are stationary now for a year until we're off again. Cant wait to get back out there.

Just signed up to Bootsnall, and looking forward to getting deeper into it as I see a lot of great topics.

Cheers!

Hi guys,

I joined the forum a good while ago but being lazy by nature I haven't actually participated at all. So here's an introduction and hoping for better times! I'm Kristiina, a Finnish national, born in Sweden, living in Ireland for the past 7 years, travelling the world whenever possible. Been to about 30 countries so far, hoping to do a few more next year. Highlights this year so far: Hong Kong and Malaysia. I mostly travel back home to Finland several times a year but luckily I work in a place with loads of annual leave available

Hello Everyone!
My name is Sonia Avendano and I am currently a junior in advertising at the University of Illinois in Champaign. In Spring 2010, I will be leaving my beloved Chicago, Il in order to study abroad in Verona, Italy from January-May. I am VERY EXCITED!!!
In Verona, I will be taking painting, italian, italian business, art history and a cooking course. The best part of it all is that I will be going with three best girlfriends of mine. We are are going to be on a tighter bugdet, however, we are planning to travel everywhere! Some of the cities/countries we are planning to go to are: Madrid, Milan, Barcelona, Dublin, Amsterdam, Prague, Munich, Paris, London, Rome, and anywhere else you recommend. I joined this online community mainly to get help/ advice on packing, basic traveling tips, the best places to visit, and the best/cheapest places to stay. Also-I would appreciate any and all recommendations!
Sonia

who am I? Occasionaly I dont know as when I am traveling with everything so new and challenging it almost seems I could easily become someone else, someone I dont know!

However, mostly do know who I am - the Kiwi Travel Writer ( see more on my website http://kiwitravelwriter.com)

I''ve traveled in many parts of the world ... not China -- yet... or Sth America ...yet! Russia.. yet!

I'm a slow traveller, and have written a book about 3 years of travelling the world, solo, budget, and having a ball.

It's called Naked in Budapest: travels with a passionate nomad .. see more on my website or blogs (links to my 2 blogs and facebook pages -become a fan - are on the front page of http://kiwitravelwriter.com ) cheers, kia ora, and ciao

Hello everyone,

My name is Ross and I have been traveling intermediately for the past 4 years. Backpacking my way through Australia, China S.E Asia, South and Central America I am currently under going a 4 month trip round India.

A friend who I met on the road the other day recommended this site to me and I have to say I am very impressed with what I have found, not only in content but the quality of the posts from the readers.

I am currently writing a travel blog for my current trip of India. If anyone would like to check it out please see the link in my sig.

Looking forward to corresponding with you all.

Ross

Hello BootsnEveryone,

We are two youngsters of around our fifties.
Living in the Netherlands, close to Amsterdam.

November 21st 2010, we celebrate the fact, that we married 25 years ago.
This is also going to be the starting-point for our trip RTW.

This trip includes, amongst others:
Bolivia, Easter Island, New Zealand, Myanmar, Bhutan and Mongolia.

Hi I am an expat Brit stay at home dad living in the clean air and sunshine !! of Moscow Russia. Nice forum. You can check out my activities on my blog if you are bored.

http://englishmaninmoscowrussia.blogspot.com/

Afternoon Everyone!
I will try to be brief but may let the excitement get the better of me : )

As I sit at work (bleh!) I'm writing this - just couldn't resist, ha!. I'm an '08 graduate with a degree in Psych, minors in Sociology and Latin American studies currently working in the IT dept of a private bank in NYC (go figure!).

I haven't had the chance to travel too much - I've been to the Dominican Republic and Mexico but both were resort type trips with one or two excursions to go zip lining and such. I've traveled all through Puerto Rico as most of my family resides all over the country. The latest trip I did however, was entirely different. On a whim went to Costa Rica with just a backpack and no real set plans and it was the most amazing thing I'd ever done - I have stories to go on for days! But to make this long story short I'm now looking to backpack through Central America and South America either later this year or the beginning of next year. I'm looking for any help, advice, info, or recommendations I can get! So please send anything you have my way!! )

Happy Travels!

I signed on to BootsnAll before my RTW in '08. I can't believe how fast time has flown since then. My partner and I left New York in July of 2008 for a 9-month trip. We returned to the US in late March of 2009. Our travel, activities, routes and challenges were recorded on our blog:

www.turtlestravel.wordpress.com

Our trip took us to Southern Africa (South Africa, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia) Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela , Colombia, Peru, Costa Rica then home! As you can imagine, we love talking about the trip, so I'll be taking a look at forum topics to see what people are chatting about.

Almost a year later we are VERY itchy to get back out on the road. We haven't earned as much as we would have liked this past year, but that doesn't mean we're putting off more planning and research. It's been a LONG time since I was last in Japan (after living there for a year in the late 80s). We are planning an Asia trip in the near future, so stay tuned.

Hello everyone,

My name is Christine, I am 29 and from the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg, Europe.
I work as a freelance translator, mainly for legal and business texts, from German, Spanish and English into French or Luxembourgish. I am addicted to learning foreign languages and am currently working on Italian and Dutch.
I got the travel bug at age 17 when I spent 3 months as an exchange student in Ontario living with a Canadian family and attending high school there.
I have lived and studied in Switzerland for over 5 years and spent 6 months as an exchange student in Madrid, Spain.
I am married to a Mexican and we visit Mexico as often as possible.
So far I have been to 27 countries (mainly in Europe).
I have recently started a travel blog http://www.polyglot-travel.comabout the places I have been to with photos and information in 3 languages (English, French and Spanish). More to come very soon!

Hi,
I'm a Malaysian/Australian, living in Sydney. While doing field work with the Iban tribe in Sarawak, Borneo a few years ago, my partner and I traveled upriver through rainforests to longhouses in the interior. We were drawn to the place and, like most travelers to Borneo, concerned about the rate of destruction of the rainforests and wildlife habitat.

We are making a no-budget documentary trying to save Borneo sun bears from extinction. The sheer impossibility of the venture appeals to our sense of humor.

We aim to travel and get some footage by the end of the year. However, our travel plans to Borneo are all tentative, as much depends on juggling our work commitments and the schedule of other people involved in the project.

I've set a year for the project, and hope you will visit the blog, where I aim to update our travel/filming preparations.

wildhoop wrote:Hi,
I'm a Malaysian/Australian, living in Sydney. While doing field work with the Iban tribe in Sarawak, Borneo a few years ago, my partner and I traveled upriver through rainforests to longhouses in the interior. We were drawn to the place and, like most travelers to Borneo, concerned about the rate of destruction of the rainforests and wildlife habitat.

We are making a no-budget documentary trying to save Borneo sun bears from extinction. The sheer impossibility of the venture appeals to our sense of humor.

We aim to travel and get some footage by the end of the year. However, our travel plans to Borneo are all tentative, as much depends on juggling our work commitments and the schedule of other people involved in the project.

I've set a year for the project, and hope you will visit the blog, where I aim to update our travel/filming preparations.

Sounds interesting, good luck with it. And welcome to BnA!

Thanks, Minerguy, we certainly need a lot of luck, and humor for this trip.

Hi - I wish I was cool enough to say G'Day. LOL.

Just got back from Cabo San Lucas Mexico. There were so many sales people on the busy public beach. It was almost like the human versions of internet pop-up ads! We were nice, of course, as they're humans just trying to make a living. But, we moved to another less public beach and had a much better time.

I wish I had more time to travel, but the bills have to be paid. Perhaps in retirement I'll travel the world and see all the places I just read about in magazines.

I do travel for business. My favorite hotel search engine.

By way of introduction I'm Pete. I'm a middle aged fellow living by the sea in Massachusetts. I'm here to investigate what would be involved in taking a mid-life gap year, either RTW or perhaps an immersion year in another culture. I've traveled extensively throughout the USA but never abroad. I've been working since I was a kid but was recently laid off from my position as a software solutions architect. So I'm pondering taking a year off and seeing the world.

For an immersion year I'm considering a year in Argentina to live and study the language. For a RTW I'm not even sure where or how to begin but I've always longed to to it. In my younger days I met scores of Aussies, Kiwis and UK people traveling the world and the idea of doing the same always appealed to me. And now that I find I have some time I am seriously considering doing it.

I'm closer to fifty than forty in age but I'm young at heart and get along well with people of all sorts. My work has allowed me to meet and work closely with a lot of Indians from places like Bangalore, Mumbai and Hyderabad so the idea of visiting India is also very attractive.

Financially I can do a RTW or immersion year and not have to worry about work but I'd also like to keep things as cheap as possible. The idea of staying in hostels does not put me off at all. And I think that would be a great way to meet fellow travelers if I took the RTW tack. For an immersion year I'd probably like a homestay.

I guess that's all I have at the moment. I look forward to learning more from folks here and I hope I can contribute too.

With kind regards to all,

Pete

p.s. I'm looking at departing late April 2010 or early May.