Interview Series

An Interview with Dave Aidekman of The Trip Tribe

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Today we’re talking to Dave Aidekman, the founder of The Trip Tribe; a site that helps you find vacations with the right people. One of our primary goals at Oh Hey World is to connect like-minded people with each other. Being a co-founder of a tech company in the travel industry, one of my personal interests is learning more about other entrepreneurs building travel tech companies. I stumbled across Dave in the comments of Tnooz, and upon looking at his site knew we shared a lot of similar values and goals and we spoke for a bit yesterday. 

If you’re keen to connect with Dan further, you can find his current location on his OHW profile.

Without further adieu…

1) What do you do?

I am CEO of The Trip Tribe, where we deliver life-changing travel experiences for our Members. We believe that an amazing vacation has two components: (a) great destination, activities, and service; and (b) other amazing people who are perfect for you. So our team is focused on finding the best experiences in the world and providing the tools to match you with the right people for you based on your social profile.

2) Why do you do what you do?

We all know that when you go on vacation — and we’re lucky enough to do it a lot — it’s the people and friendships that you remember most. Sure, a phenomenal setting and excellent events mean a lot. But it’s “who else is going” that matters. If you’re in your 20s or 30s, active and single, you want to be on a trip with people like you, not senior citizens or a family with young kids. And the want to be with other people more compatible with them for the same reasons. We’ve solved this problem and we love connecting you on trips with the Members of our Tribe who are the best match for you.

3) What are you most excited about right now?

We’re excited about the opportunity to deliver life-changing vacations to more and more people as we grow. We have an outstanding team, great partners, and a big opportunity to transform the group vacation travel experience. It has always been a thrill to take small groups of people on trips that they love. Now we’re excited to expand that so more people can enjoy it.

4) What’s next for you?

From a business standpoint, we’re working hard to expand our Membership as well as the partners we work with to deliver amazing vacations. We’re focused on delivering more and more value for all of them. We’re creating win-win-win situations and sharing them broadly so that our Members, our partners, and our team get a lot of value out of all the engagement. We also do a lot of listening and testing to learn what features make for even better experiences, online and offline. From a personal standpoint, what’s next for me is hopefully to join in on more of these trips around the world!

5) What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why?

So many causes have captured my passions that it’s hard to pick one. From my background working in the White House, I care a lot about good government that serves citizens well. I’m passionate about education and the power it has to lift people up to live their dreams. And I contribute as best I can to medical-related causes to help those with life-threatening diseases. Advances in medicine are so remarkable and we need to support it.

A big thanks to Dave for sharing his motivations and current projects. If you’d like to connect on social media with Dave:

Trip Tribe on Twitter and Facebook

Dave on Twitter

larger_YogaDeckRaisedArms

We’ll be featuring a number of other travel tech entrepreneurs in the coming weeks. If you are an entrepreneur in the travel vertical, and want to be profiled, please sign up for an OHW account and add “travel tech entrepreneurs” as an interest on your profile — then shoot me an email (drew at ohheyworld).

Blogging Advice

It’s Travel Blog Makeover Season

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Well, well, well…it’s apparently travel blog makeover season. Over the last couple weeks, a few bloggers have re-launched their sites with brand new designs…

A week ago, Lauren at Never Ending Footsteps, launched her new site – Never Ending Footsteps 3.0.

Neverendingfootsteps redesign

Then today, Christine Amorose at c’est christine and Shannon at Alitteadrift, both put out new designs.

Christine’s released her makeover with a bigger emphasis on New York (since she’s living there and not traveling constantly).

cest christine redesign

No stranger to readers here, Shannon O’Donnell released her redesign with a lighter feel and more emphasis on photos.

Alittleadrift redesign

The overarching theme in the travel blog makeovers? Lots of white space in all three — which I love.

Congrats to all!

Inspiration, Inspiring Travelers

Travel Inspiration: An Interview with Matt Barby

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Matthew BarbyThis week I welcome Matt who is one of the blogging team behind Melted Stories, a travel blog that offers up resources for backpackers – between the five authors they manage to cover a lot of the world with their quirky team. 

I asked Matt to give me just a couple of minutes of his time to tell me more about how he manages work and travel, as well as current projects and upcoming travels.

1) What do you do?

I manage online marketing for a digital marketing agency in the UK and also own the Melted Stories travel blog. I am a travel fanatic so will often work remotely and backpack across countries as I go. I love to write about all things related to backpacking and also have a big passion for marketing so I always have something to keep me busy!

2) What was your biggest obstacle to traveling and how did you overcome it?

My biggest obstacle has to be managing my career alongside travelling. I found it very hard at first and decided that it was either one or the other. Over time I realised that this really wasn’t the case and have since managed to enjoy a great balance between pursuing my career and enjoying the world!

3) What are you most excited about right now?

I’m really excited about my next trip that I’m planning to South America. I haven’t spent any time in the continent and it’s always been somewhere that I’ve wanted to go. Peru will definitely be the place that I’m most looking forward to – I get excited just thinking about it.

4) What’s next for you?

I’m always finding new projects to work on and new things to do – my focus at the moment is to build a good following to my travel blog and establish it as a top travel resources for backpackers over the world.

5) What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why?

Aside from the charities that I’m passionate about, helping small businesses and individuals achieve their goals and get their messages heard is a big passion of mine. I love working closely with young entrepreneurs to help and advise them on various aspects of business so that they can make the most of their potential.

A big thanks to Matt for sharing; if you’d like to connect or find out more about Matt’s recent travels, you can find him on his OHW profile.

Matt on Twitter and Facebook
Melted Stories travel blog

We regularly feature inspiring travelers who have taken the leap into travel as a part of our travel inspiration interview series. If you’re a traveler keen on being profiled here, sign up for an OHW account and fill in your profile — then shoot me an email (shannon at ohheyworld dot com).

Inspiration, Inspiring Travelers

Travel Inspiration: An Interview with Anna Zalazar

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Anna in LondonA big welcome to Anna Zalazar this week, who has some really wonderful travel lessons to share on not only what she is doing now, but one of the bigger obstacles she faced in leaving to travel, one I shared as well, which was just buying the ticket and committing to travel.

I was fascinated to learn about some of the educational social work her family is doing in Philippines and the impact it has had on the rural communities there. Read on for a little slice of her travels and the lessons she has learned through travel (this links to one of my favorite posts on her site.

1) What do you do?

In 2011, I quit my job and went on a one woman adventure to South East Asia thinking I was going to travel only for 6 months. Somehow that 6 months turned to 1 year. On my way back to the US, I got a connecting flight to Europe and decided to stay. I spent about eight months traveling around the continent, volunteering, living and teaching English in Spain. Overall I’ve been traveling for 2+ years now.

2) What was your biggest obstacle to traveling and how did you overcome it?

I think the biggest obstacle with my decision to travel was in terms of my career. I left behind a very good and comfortable job with a company I was proud to work for in exchange of uncertainty and the unknown. But my dreams and curiosity were a lot stronger than me wanting to stay with the familiar. Though it scared me to death, I felt and knew that there was more to life than being on the ‘safe’ side.

How I overcame it was a bit funny. I stumbled upon a big seat sale with AirAsia and bought 16 flights all around the countries in South East Asia. I knew that if I didn’t do something drastic I would not pull the trigger. Making it irreversible meant that there was no turning back. So after almost half a year of delaying my travel plans, I set a date of departure and quit my job.

3) What are you most excited about right now?

Nothing is more exciting to me than seeing my dreams come to life. In the past I’ve had so many plans that didn’t work out. One example was that I’ve always planned to backpack around Europe but never realized it due to having few vacation leaves. Coming to Europe wasn’t exactly on my travel plans but after going down to Switzerland on a connecting flight and deciding to travel around Europe, I knew I would be back when the three-month visa period ended. I came back to live and freelance in Madrid. Before, I never thought that was even possible. I think that’s the magic of long-term travel. It helps you remove all your mental barriers to let you realize that anything is really possible.

Other than realizing my dreams, I am very excited about getting feedback from my family, friends, blog readers and solo adventurers that are inspired with what I’m doing and have started doing it themselves.  It makes me feel that I’m a part of something bigger. It has always been my belief that if everyone marches to the beat of his/her own drums, the world will be a happier place.

4) What’s next for you?

I’m already overdue for my yearly family visit in the Philippines. I’m off to Manila in a few days. 🙂

5) What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why?

I am passionate about learning and I’ve been fortunate when it comes to getting the best education both from traditional schooling and from the real world schooling with my travels. But it’s not that easy for everyone, especially in my home country.

Last year I went to visit my cousins’ rural province of Jagna Bohol. I found out why both of them had chosen to live the simple life in the province despite having doctorate degrees and amazing work opportunities even after receiving an Asian Nobel Prize award. I learned that their institution employs a dynamic learning program emphasizing independent learning over teacher lectures. The concept is simple and very much like traveling: learning by doing.

The students from my cousins’ school are people from humble backgrounds and so the school provides a low-cost quality education despite conditions of great scarcity and daunting poverty. The results of their program are amazing as a majority (if not all) of the students have passed national exams and university admissions test. Moreover, scientists and Nobel laureates visit them in their small town province in Jagna to learn more about their program. I’ve been lucky to include this small town in my adventures when I have been invited to talk and share with them what I’ve learned in my travels. I fully support and am very passionate about this cause not only because it’s a unique program that woke up the nation but also because of the generosity of my cousins’ hearts. They both serve an inspiration to me on how I want to live my life.

A big thanks to Anna for sharing ; if you’d like to connect or find out more about Anna’s recent travels, you can find her on her OHW profile.

Anna on Twitter and Facebook
Annzventures travel blog

We regularly feature inspiring travelers who have taken the leap into travel as a part of our travel inspiration interview series. If you’re a traveler keen on being profiled here, sign up for an OHW account and fill in your profile — then shoot me an email (shannon at ohheyworld dot com).

Inspiration, Inspiring Travelers

Travel Inspiration: An Interview with Sara Rodriguez

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Sara rodriguez interviewToday I am so happy to welcome Sara Rodriguez to our travel inspiration series because she has a style of travel that very closely aligns with the core mission behind OHW — the idea of mindful travel. 

Sara is from Spain, and her travel blog is unique in that she offers hand translated content in both Spanish and English — a very nifty feature that allows her to share her message and mindful travel tips more widely.  Let’s check in with her and see what she’s up to lately:

1) What do you do?

I have a daily job in a bank, but I’m a travel blogger too, which is my real passion. I always loved planning trips, not just for me but for other people. I have what I call a “Mindful Travel philosophy”: I enjoy every step of traveling, from choosing the destination, organization of the itinerary, traveling, and then the moments back home remembering those special days.

2) What was your biggest obstacle to traveling and how did you overcome it?

I think my biggest concern when I travel is that I love so much every country I discover and I really like meeting other people, knowing how they live, and learning their social problems, and I involve myself so much that I think then I don’t want to go back to daily life.

But regarding the rest of the usual obstacles as money, language, cultural differences…I really enjoy every part these things, and always learn about every scary moment or every problem I may have in my travels. That changes me and makes me grow as a person.

3) What are you most excited about right now?

I’m truly excited about my travel blog. It motivates me every day and encourages me to keep alive two of my passions: traveling and photography. Also allows me to meet amazing people from all over the world and share my desires and concerns.

4) What’s next for you?

Travel, travel and more travel! I don’t perceive my life without my family and my trips. And if I can travel with my family, be with them and discover new places, I’m the happiest person in the world!

5) What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why?

When I travel, I always want to be social and respectful with everything surrounding me. I love to meet locals, how they live and their problems, I try to learn about NGOs or social projects in the area and be involved however I can. I think people from developed countries have a duty to try to make a better world and that’s something I always have in mind. Sustainable and Humanitarian travel is possible!

A big thanks to Sara for sharing ways she is able to integrate a social mindset and a humanitarian approach to her travels; if you’d like to connect or find out more about Sara’s recent travels, you can find her on her OHW profile.

Sara on Twitter and Facebook
Mindful Travel by Sara in Spanish and English

We regularly feature inspiring travelers who have taken the leap into travel as a part of our travel inspiration interview series. If you’re a traveler keen on being profiled here, sign up for an OHW account and fill in your profile — then shoot me an email (shannon at ohheyworld dot com).

talon windwalker
Inspiration, Inspiring Travelers

Travel Inspiration: An Interview with Talon Windwalker

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talon windwalkerToday I’m talking with Talon Windwalker, the founder and dad of 1Dad1Kid.com, a travel blog sharing stories and advice about travel, food, and world-schooling.

We’ve mentioned before our goal to inspire every person in the world to get a stamp in their passport, and one of the ways to overcome any of your own perceived hurdles is to look to the people, projects, and stories of those on the road. Talon and his son represent a unique duo who have faced their own challenges to make their own world-schooling adventure a reality and I am so happy to share with you a bit more about this family duo.

1) What do you do?

If we’re talking about for income, my main source of income is my blog right now. I also receive a tiny bit of money from two ebooks I’ve written. When we’re in an area with good diving, I also sometimes work as a scuba instructor. I’m working on some other income streams at the moment as well.

2) What was your biggest obstacle to traveling and how did you overcome it?

I’ve never really believed I had an obstacle to traveling. At first I thought I needed much more money than it actually requires to travel. We’ve been traveling full-time as nomads since May 2011, and we live off less than 1/4th the income I had previously. And I’d say our quality of life is 3000 times better.

Traveling with my son was more of a concern because he had some special needs, and I wasn’t sure if travel would work out for him. Instead he’s completely thrived beyond my wildest expectations.

I just don’t believe in obstacles existing in my path. Instead, I see them as things encouraging me to think differently to get around them.

3) What are you most excited about right now?

It will sound completely corny but life. I suffered with chronic depression for most of my life, and since I began this nomadic lifestyle I’m joyous and love my life. I’m excited every day because there’s always something new to experience.

4) What’s next for you?

I’m focusing more on my passion for doing art (drawing and painting), and I need to work on the 2nd book in my fantasy novel series. I also began a travel food-related blog, and I’m working on getting that growing and moving.

5) What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why?

I have so many! I would have to say world schooling (aka unschooling) and free-range parenting. They’re such different concepts from what I grew up with, and they’re just amazing at what they accomplish.

A big thanks to Talon for sharing his approach to facing obstacles, as well as his current passions and projects, if you’d like to connect or find out more about Talon, you can find him on his OHW profile.

Talon on Twitter or Facebook
1 Dad 1 Kid
Travels 4 Yum

We regularly feature inspiring travelers who have taken the leap into travel as a part of our travel inspiration interview series. If you’re a traveler keen on being profiled here, sign up for an OHW account and fill in your profile — then shoot me an email (shannon at ohheyworld dot com).

Wats in Chiang Mai, Thailand
Inspiration

Sunday Inspiration: A Cinematic Journey through Southeast Asia

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Wats in Chiang Mai, Thailand

We’ve been transforming the OHW blog over the past few months into what we hope has become a source of travel inspiration on the best of what is going on in the world of travel. A cornerstone mission behind Oh Hey World (and one we continue to go back to as we tweak and adjust OHW to make it exactly what the community wants and needs) is to encourage every person in the world to get a stamp in their passport. Dovetail that with our mission to connect travelers over shared passions and you have the current series and themes on the OHW blog:

There’s a lot going on over here is what I’m trying to say. And we’re all really grateful you’ve come along with the journey so far.

Without further ado, this week’s Sunday Travel Inspiration is a gorgeous video journey through Southeast Asia (one of my favorite parts of the world).

My own travels through Southeast Asia changed my life; the culture, religion, and attitudes of the people I encountered inspired me to return to the region over and over (I even temporarily expated in Chiang Mai several times). This video made a perfect weekend escape for me since I’m back home visiting family Stateside and loved the music and gentle journey the footage takes you on over the course of five minutes.

A few other links you might enjoy reading over a cup of coffee include:

  • Going, Going, Still Going? Voyager 1 at Solar System’s Edge: Geeking out over here. So cool I can’t even handle it; read up on what’s happening as Voyager hits the outer edges of our Solar System.
  • World Refugee Day 2013: A humbling photo essay highlighting what it’s like in refugee camps and areas in conflict.
  • Nat Geo Traveler Photo Contest 2013: Today’s the last day to enter the contest (so hurry if you’ve been meaning to) but otherwise enjoy the roundup of these stunning entries.
  • How Much Does World Travel Cost? This is my most popular post—read by 2+ million people looking to price out the cost of a round the world trip!
  • How To Quit Your Job And Travel: Bronwyn meticulously lays out how she did it with great books and resources to help you uncover how you can do the same; really thorough so I just had to share here in case you’re looking for some inspiration for your own travels.

That’s all I have for you this week, have a wonderful Sunday!

~Shannon

Interview Series

An Interview with Tony Carne of Urban Adventures

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Tony at workToday we’re talking to Tony Carne, the general manager at Urban Adventures; which facilitates day tours, with a local.

One of our primary goals at Oh Hey World is to connect like-minded people with each other. Given one of my personal interests is learning more about other entrepreneurs building travel tech companies, we’ve been profiling the entrepreneurs in the travel industry to learn more about who they are, what they are working on, and what makes them tick.

Here is a bit about Tony…

1) What do you do?

I’m the General Manager of Urban Adventures. Our simple goal is to make sure people have the Best. Day. Ever. in all our destinations around the World. We want to make sure that all and every destination experience people have – from their coffee and breakfast in the morning until their last drink at night – is a great one. We combine a mix of people, knowledgeable and technology to ensure a curious traveller is always catered for, be it from a recommendations on the best local breakfast from our free iPhone Treasure mApps to meeting a passionate, enthusiastic local guide who wants to answer your questions that are relevant to your interests about the destination, to having a unique experience that you just couldn’t access without going on one of our tours. At the end of your stay in a destination we want only positive memories and wonderful stories for a traveller to take away with them.

2) Why do you do what you do?

In a nutshell I love travelling, hate having crappy experiences when travelling and not a fan of doing mountains of research before travelling. I’m sure I’m not alone so we now have a business to see if that is the case. In a little over 3 years we’ve managed to find well over 100,000 others with the same needs so we are on the right track.

3) What are you most excited about right now?

There is so much to be excited about right now. We work with wonderful and passionate people so the excitement levels are always pretty high but we’ve just kicked off in a range of new destinations including San Sebastian, Mexico City, Dubai and Bogota. We love seeing our range grow into new areas where people can now be guaranteed great experiences – every time. We are also closing the whole of destination visit loop with our Pre Arrival Survival notices to help people before they physically meet up with us and our Treasure mApps that are kryptonite to tourist trap crappiness when it comes to places to hang out, eat, drink and have fun. Continually adding value is always exciting.

4) What’s next for you?

We have something we think is seriously game changing coming up. We will be partnering with some very smart people who have cracked the code (literally) on booking ground transport. Together we are going to package together passes that allow maximum freedom in travel choice like a backpacker might experience (full freedom of accommodation choice, stay in a place as long or as short as you like, be spontaneous) but without the hassle and with the ability to plug them into the local (non-tourist) scene of a destination as soon as they arrive through all the value add services we offer at Urban Adventures. We’ll be giving them a SIM to get the full experience from our Treasure mApps (they also work offline but not with full features) without worrying about roaming charges and 24/7 phone support. This will be the closest anyone has come to commoditising FIT that we know of.

5) What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why?

I’m seriously passionate about win-win outcomes in community tourism. We really want to be a tool to help people take control of tourism in their destination. We don’t hire people and funnel profits out of destinations but rather we partner with people to build sustainable businesses that improve communities. That’s as good a reason as any to turn up to work each day.

A big thanks to Tony for sharing his current passions and projects, if you’d like to connect or find out more about Tony, you can find him on his OHW profile.

To learn more:

Urban Adventures on Twitter or Facebook

We’ll be featuring a number of other travel tech entrepreneurs in the coming weeks as a part of our interview series. If you’re an entrepreneur in the travel vertical and want to be profiled, please sign up for an OHW account and add “travel tech entrepreneurs” as an interest on your profile — then shoot me an email (drew at ohheyworld dot com).

Inspiration

What is Your “What If”?

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I just watched Dan and Audrey’s TEDx Talk (as a result of Spencer’s tweet). I highly, highly recommend watching it (20 mins)…

YouTube Preview Image

Two things come to mind.

Witnessing the generosity of those who own literally nothing is one of the most moving experiences you can have in life. It’s the most rewarding part of travel if you ask me.

It reaffirmed that listening to my best friend Jerry when he brought up the idea of backpacking Europe after college is the single best decision I’ve ever made. All the amazing adventures I’ve had and people I’ve met all over the globe potentially wouldn’t have happened had I not taken that first trip in 2005. I may have simply gone straight to the cubicle and never seen anything beyond the friendly confines of the US. But I chose to act and buy a ticket rather than succumb to the fear of the unknown (granted, with some prodding by Jerry), and my life has been infinitely more rewarding as a result.

Dan & Audrey – I don’t know you personally, though I have heard amazing things about you from people I trust deeply (namely, Shannon and Jodi). Thank you, for sharing your story. People like you are the best US foreign policy tool we have at our disposal. Beers (or shots) on me someday when we are in the same city.

Exploring the Wild Blue Yonder