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Castle Mexico City Chapultepec (Taken with instagram)

Torre Angel (Taken with instagram)

Truth (Taken with instagram)

Taken with instagram

Coca en botella (Taken with instagram)

Cinco tacos de canasta y una bebida (Taken with instagram)

Zocalo (Taken with instagram)

The auto-correct feature on mobile phones can be a blessing for catching text message typos but also a nightmare when a word is automatically replaced with an embarrassing one. Popular blog Damn You Auto Correct -- which features a collection of outrageous auto-corrected text messages submitte...

The Virtual LandLord

Today I received a fax with a 12 month lease and deposit for my rental in Seattle. After 2 months of being vacant and going through 30+ inquires and applications, the house is finally rented. All done from New York City.

This is a topic I've always wanted to write about. I've always wanted to have my own place to call 'home', a place to rest my stuff when traveling.

Here, in Seattle, I bought a house and I've been renting it out for the past 6 years. I had two houses, but sold one as I downgraded to 4 boxes (previous post).

I learned that with the housing market and having refinanced to an interest-only loan that was just at the end of its 3 year pre-payment penalty, that I would have to sell the first house.

The second one, the one in the picture, I remodeled and turned into two full living spaces with separate entrances. I've discovered that you need to have overage of at least 25% in order to break even from maintenance, vacancies, and so on.

Becoming a virtual landlord isn't easy, but it's doable - from anywhere in the world.

Before leaving Seattle for NYC, I filmed a video tour of the house and put it on YouTube. When prospective tenants would call, I'd send essentially the same template that would include:

more information on house, deposit, neighborhood, etc

pet deposit (if applicable)

asking the prospective tenant's current living situation, number of total tenants in consideration, and when they were looking to move, as well as what they did for income

a link to the YouTube video

setting up a time/day for a viewing

a link to my Google Voice number (if I were posting from Chile, I would still have a US number and able to take/return calls (see previous post))

I hid a key before I left. After qualifying the tenant and arranging a day/time (and after I'd send the video so they were able to see if they liked it before either of us would waste any more time), I would then send them to the house and tell them I had a friend place the key and that they would be by, but not until after their timeframe.

Finally after several potential tenants and one guy falling through not once, but twice, I got the signed lease faxed today to my Ring Central number. Done!

A few hurdles along the way such as a friend going over to open the house and accidentally locking all doors which locked out the potential tenants when they arrived for their scheduled visit, or my sister and her new husband crashing at the house and locking the key inside - I had to get copies made and overnighted to Seattle in time for a coworker to head over and unlock the house. But, other than those fun snafus, it all worked out and I'm able to enjoy my time in NYC with the peace of mind of my house being rented.

#virtual landlord #house #landlord #live work anywhere

Traveler vs Tourist

(from LibbysTravels.com)

There's a difference between traveling and being a tourist.

Scenario: You take a cruise to Turkey with your family. While there, you walk around the capitol city buying expensive trinkets to show your friends at home that you are a world traveler. You hurry back to the boat after shopping to get away from those weird people who dress funny and back to the pre-paid dinner on the boat and relax by the pool.

Pop quiz. This describes:

a. A tourist b. A traveler

(Answer at end)

The tourist takes a week off work after carefully studying where the Internet says to go and getting advice from their other tourist work friends.

They make a packing list from tips they learned on a Rick Steve's TV series then they go to REI and other highly recommended travel stores to get: 1 pair of pants that unzip at the knee for convenient shorts (2 in 1!) A breathable button down that is conveniently also sun resistant (move over sweaty pits, yes!) 3 pair socks 10 pair of underwear (a few extra) 1 shower towel (these are too 'cute' and your friend's sister's cousin took one on a trip and said they save SO much room, and you are packing light!) Disclaimer: I DO have one of these. etc etc

They travel in groups, packs, or pairs. They eat the foods they know, use guidebooks, and impose their own language and cultures.

As I'm writing this 2 German tourists are sitting next to me on the subway with... wait for it... cameras around their necks (you thought I was gonna say fanny packs). After just having been at Battery Park, feeling like I was at a camera store slash outdoor photo shoot - I should have listed cameras first on the packing list. Then fanny packs.

The tourist plans a trip around his/her work schedule. The traveler plans his/her life around their travels.

Travelers often travel alone, avoiding groups and packs. They seek out the local foods.

Instead of asking questions, tourists make assumptions based on want they already know, not what they could learn.

Travelers see through the trinkets. They collect little bits of conversations with locals, new foods, foreign vocabulary and customs, and non-audio tours of local history - as souvenirs.

For example: collect a non-engraved with-price-tag (translated: real) pebble from the beach at Plymouth Rock in England versus a skewed picture of you in the I heart NY tee (oh you know the one) pretending to squash the statue of liberty with your 'huuuge' finger. Or better yet posing in front of the GW (thats g-dub yo) statue with yo' best gangsta poze so all your homeys on Facebook can give u props.

The traveler learns about themselves, history, culture, and embraces differences.

The traveler has washed their underwear in the sink and has dried off using their tshirt.

(Answer to question above: if you don't know, you are a tourist)

Working in a NY cafe (Taken with Instagram at Soy Cafe)

A video with some pics from Central America. Made updates to libbystravels.com.

I'm bringing back 50 leather handmade bracelets for Beer2Buds from Nicaragua. Help support Beer2Buds, request your bracelet. Send an email to libby at beer2buds . com.

Origin of Sending a Beer

The origin of Beer2Buds was in 2001 while sitting at my desk in Milwaukee. A friend from Sweden sent me a virtual beer in an email and I thought if I could only redeem that locally what a great idea that would be. What a great way to stay in touch with friends and reconnect over the feeling you had and the memories you created when you were together. After spending time learning web and product development, payment systems, incorporating, choosing right - and wrong - business partners, Beer2Buds.com was launched in February 2009. If you can't convince people it is a good idea it's for one of 2 reasons - 1) it's a bad idea 2) it's too early. Now sending people drinks are popping up all over the country and the world - sounds like a good idea - just a little early. But with advances in smartphones, web apps, and independent businesses adapting to needs of customers and coupons, sending a beer will start becoming even easier.

El Tunco, El Savlador

I've been busy posting on libbystravels.tumblr.com, anywhereprofessional.tumblr.com, and liveworkanywhere.com. I thought it might be a good idea to do a quick post to summarize and point to the latest happenings on those sites. I took a spontaneous 30 hour road trip to El Salvador from Nicaragua. So here I am surfing and working in El Tunco in El Salvador, about an hour outside of San Salvador. The waves are great but dangerous, the sun is so hot I've been swollen and burnt for 2 days. I have internet access at the place where I'm staying, but, like I've found in many places, it can sometimes be slow. The people here are great, better in my opinion than Nicaragua. You can actually have a sense of trust, not short-term friendliness turned horribly wrong like Nicaragua, or the 'don't turn your back' feeling in Costa Rica, or the 'I feel like not letting you through the border without paying because I said so' in Honduras. It's cleaner and friendlier and other than the bad sunburn, I'm having a great time, enjoying the waves during the day, the fiestas and ambiance at night, and the 3/$1 bean and cheese pupusas in the street. 'La Regia es mas barata y te pone a verga!'

Bank, Mail, and Ants

Today I was told from Bank of America that my visa card was 'massively compromised' and was cut off - rest assured, they sent a new card to my Seattle address...

I thought I was being well prepared by notifying the travel department ahead of time. However, this wasn't the issue. A random, compromise from a 3rd party that affected several accounts was all they would disclose. So, basically, I'm S.O.L.

The options are:

1) emergency cash via Western Union

2) emergency debit card sent in mail

Let's talk about the Nicaraguan mail system. 'Overnighting' probably takes 3 weeks, if it arrives at all. It may get to the capital of Managua, but trying to navigate the roads, if they exist or if they aren't being fixed for hours on end for several tire-piercing rocks or perhaps a sudden steep dropoff in the middle of the road into a deep river valley, and trying to find an address, if it exists, is a miracle.

An address might be '1 block south from the restaurant El Timon' or '200 meters north of the beach, next to Sanchez store', then the town name, no such thing as a postal code.

SOL... and i don't mean the sun.

Actually, I am very fortunate that I decided to bring a backup debit card to another account. This card was not compromised. So, potentially (until my next adventure) I will have access to some funds. Hooray.

At least I can soak my feet in the pool to lessen the sting of the ants that bit - or was it stinging pee - all over my feet last night. I 'got in their way', of course, and they were angry. Ouch. At least they didn't get in my hair like a friend in Samara, Costa Rica. I don't know how long I could hold my head underwater!

El turista no sabe donde ha estado; el viajero no sabe a donde va” -Paul Theroux. The tourist doesn't know where they've been; the traveler doesn't know where they're going.

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