Just a quick post for those of you that like the idea of a nomadic life with changing scenery and new adventures. Take a look here: www.livecollarfree.com/vanabode-review
You could be vanaboding and funding your lifestyle vanabonding*, leveraging technology to work from anywhere.
This is something I may try experimenting with this year. At the moment I'm vanless but I do have a van-lust. I feel some thinking and careful planning coming on...
*vagabonding from the comfort of your van
How quicky ten years passes! In preparation for my winter travels I've just had to renew my passport.
Following the strict criteria laid down for the passport photo, I made sure I wasn't smiling - adopting the 'natural position.' How different this made me look! When the print was spat out at me from the booth, It seemed like a stranger staring back at me. To me, it looked as though I was consciously frowning.
Being a smiley person, people more often see me with my lips turned up at the ends rather than dropped expressionlessly. Then again, after a twelve hour flight, perhaps the 'moody me' in my passport is more representative. Of course I completely understand that for purposes of recognition there needs to be some standardisation of passport photos but I am also curious about the exact scientific evidence that the no smiling rule is based on. I've always found a person's natural smile to be unique, although I know some people seem to struggle to smile naturally on cue.
I'd be interested to know what your experiences of smiling when travelling are. Do you generally get a better response from people when you smile, even when language differences may be a barrier? Have you experienced a culture where smiling gets you odd looks or even into trouble?
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