TravelBio

Don't worry, I'm not the one who got married! By late September I found myself back at my parents' house in Ohio for the first time in nearly two years.  So what next? My initial plan was to stay at home for a couple of months.  When winter came round I'd be leaving again, this time for Australia.  The Australian government has a special work visa for citizens of certain countries under the age of 30; it's meant to provide young adults short term jobs to fund their travel in Australia.  While traveling around SE Asia I met many backpackers who had already been Down Under this way - aptly named the Australian Work Holiday Visa - as well as others who were on their way. (check it out here - use the government site, not the businesses who want to charge you extra to process it) Who wouldn't want a chance to beat the winter up north, travel Australia, and earn money to pay for the trip? The visa is quite easy to apply for - as long as you are a c...

Back in mid-September I made my return to the US, nearly two years since I had left to start my contract teaching in Korea.  I often hear people lament how quickly time seems to fly.  When looking back on the 21+ months, 12 teaching and 9 traveling, it was a bit of a blur.  But so much happened in that time, so much more than I would have experienced simply studying or working back home in Ohio.  In that sense the time was well spent and action-packed; a great deal happened in less than two years! I'll take my post-college experience  instead, thank you very much. Before heading home to Columbus I had a stopover in Dallas.  Back in March I began collecting airline miles - through credit card signup bonuses - and by the summer had racked up enough American Airline miles for my flight home.  A big advantage of AA miles is they allow travelers a free stopover.  My flight had a scheduled layover in Dallas, which happens to be w...

After Bali my trip to Indonesia, as well as my Southeast Asian adventure, had come to an end.  Now that didn't mean I was headed straight back home to Ohio - first was a stopover in Korea, then a visit with an old buddy in Dallas. Why head back to Korea?  Well the reason originated way back in Thailand - just this past spring, although it seems like years ago - when I met up with Mike.  A friend of mine from college, Mike is always seems to be coming up with creative ways to avoid needing a real job while still enjoying the comforts of financial security. Take his trip to Thailand as an example: Mike had made it first to London and then on to Phuket at a fraction of the ticket price using airline miles.  Instead of doing it the hard way and accumulating miles from paid flights or purchases, he opened up several credit cards which paid bonuses.  You could open a specific Citi card, for example, and receive 50,000 bonus miles after spendin...