Inspirational Traveller Guest Post – Brendan from Vagabundo Magazine

This month’s guest post comes from world traveller and location independent entrepreneur Brendan van Son, who you may be familiar with from his popular blog Brendan’s Adventures, and also his exciting new project, Vagabundo Magazine for which he is the founder and editor. Inspiring or what?!

Thanks Brendan for taking the time to share your story, I hope you all enjoy it!

What were you doing before you became Location Independent and what made you want to change?

I was in University actually.  I know my fading hairline makes me look older, but I’m actually only 27.  I left University with two degrees and enough education to get my a good stable career, however I wanted to see the world before I settled down.  I took a job, earning hardly a thing, as a tour leader in South America which I worked for nearly a year.  As I worked on that job I realized that I wasn’t ready to stop exploring the world.  My writing had become quite popular with my friends and family so I decided to give a shot at doing it professionally.  Fast forward three years ahead and here I am, still living the dream.

What steps did you take to become a full time traveller?

There really is only one step you need to take: start travelling.  I left home with only $500 and a mountain of student loan debt, but I made it work.  There are always jobs you can pick up that involve travel, or to do while you’re travelling. If you really want to be travelling the truth is that there is no process to it other than just jumping in and doing it.

How are you now supporting your lifestyle?

Well, I try to keep my hand picking at as many money trees as I can.  It’s certainly not easy and if I ever figured out what I earn an hour I’d probably cry.  I put in long hours, but I love what I do.  I earn my living from advertising on my personal website Brendan’s Adventures, as well as a little bit from my photography (I do both stock photography and
sell some to a couple other private buyers), and I do a little bit of consulting for a travel company as well.  I would like to achieve a certain level with my new venture Vagabundo Magazine where it can contribute to not only my own earnings but the earnings of other
travellers as well.

What does a typical day in your new life look like?

Well, the beauty of my life is that there is no “typical” day.  I would say that non-travel days (meaning I’m not changing hotels) tend to play out fairly similarly.  I’ll give you yesterday as an example.
6:30am: I generally wake up without an alarm clock as soon as the light hits the room.  That’s usually between 6-7am.  I then pick up my laptop and open my emails, facebook and twitter to see if there’s anything I need to respond to immediately.
7:30am: I take care of the typical morning duties: showering, eating, cleaning up
8:30am: I usually sit down for breakfast with my laptop open and read the morning news from a number of sources.
9:30am: My true work starts.  I will usually spend about 3-4 hours behind the computer writing articles, responding to emails, doing promotion, and editing.  I find I’m always the most productive at this time of day.
1pm: I’ll usually find a place to get lunch to go and sit out in a park and people watch while eating.  If the city has nice patio restaurants I’ll just sit out on the patio and have lunch.
2pm: I’ll make sure to do at least one “activity” a day.  It might be a museum, it might be a sight or attraction, or, like it was yesterday, it might be a hike or outdoor activity.  I climbed up Arthur’s Seat here in Edinburgh and took some photos and video on the way.
5pm: I’ll usually go back to the hostel and prepare myself for the golden hours of photography.  I’ll make sure I’ve got all my equipment, that it’s clean and charged and head out. Yesterday I shot photos from 6pm to about 7pm and the light was perfect, but it was so windy it made for some serious challenges.
8pm: I’ll head “home” and cook myself some dinner, although some days I’ll go out for food.  I try to cook myself my own food at least once a day if the facilities are available.
9pm-12am: Back to work.  I get back behind my computer and peg away at work.  This time of the day I generally do things like edit photos and videos over a couple pints of beer or glasses of wine.  By midnight I’m usually pretty wiped out and will hit the sack.

As you can see, my day is usually pretty packed for about 14 hours. However, it is mostly fun stuff that I’m doing so it makes it easy.

What advice do you have for people wanting to become location independent?

As I mentioned earlier I think you just have to go for it.  You’ll want to sit down and look at whether that is something you really want, and if it is just go and do it.  If you really want to be doing something than you need to stop making excuses why you aren’t doing it, and just dive in.
This lifestyle isn’t for everyone, however, so if you’re not sure it’s what you want maybe go for a short term “trail run”.

Amen to that, thanks Brendan!

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