What’s happening to the ebook? It’s going on sale for $7. Why? I need to make room for next month’s ebook which will be coming out on November 30th. It will also be free for all Almost Fearless subscribers (and being a subscriber will always be free). It’s my way of thanking regular readers and to spread the tools to help you redesign your life and travel the world– in whatever form that takes for you.

If you’re interested in being an affiliate I am offering 50% commission. You can sign up now to start selling on November 30th.

Haven’t downloaded your copy yet? If you’re reading this via an RSS reader or email subscription, the link is right below this post. If you’re new to the site, you can subscribe via RSS, or sign up for email updates.

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That being said, this is the perfect book for a lot of people.  If you know someone who has never traveled, doesn’t know how to book a flight or what to pack, (i.e. someone who doesn’t go far even for one week vacations) or is nervous about doing all of that alone (your best girlfriend post-big break up) this is an extremely well written and well-informed book.

Single Ladies, Give Your Mom This Book

While I was reading this, I kept thinking of how useful it could have been as an explanation to certain women in my life before I took my trip.  “Are you nervous about traveling alone?”  Nope, here, read this.  It would have been great.  “What about safety?”  Read Chapter 13.  Even after traveling so much, Beth has found a way to break it down for the beginner– never condescending, but rather like a good friend over coffee.  Personally, I’ve lost the knack for answering the “But you’ll be murdered!”  response with more than deep breathing and murmuring something like, “Yeah, probably.”

Want a Free Copy?

Leave a comment below and tell me why you’d like to travel solo (or why you’d like to leave this book tucked under a certain someone’s pillow).  I’ll choose the winner on next week’s Free Book Friday.

Announcing Last Week’s Winner of Imagine - A Vagabond Story

Derek who wrote about his best drunk story, “We tell these guys to leave politely and they respond with fists. We suddenly have a five on five brawl going down.  We’re in the middle of battling these guys and trying to push them all out the door when this really big girl starts yelling at us to stop.

My friend looks over and says, “Get out of here you fat b*tch.”

One of the random dudes we were fighting stops for a second and says, “That’s not cool man, she’s pregnant.”

That was the end of the fight. Everyone dispersed.”  Ah, I love a happy ending.

Get your free copy of Twitter for Travelers. It's a 49 page ebook filled with tips and tricks on using Twitter for your travels. Until 11/29, it's free only for Almostfearless.com subscribers. (That's you.) Thanks!

He used those words again and again, “Authentic, culturally appropriate and unique” and it’s hard not to share his excitement. One of the things that had disappointed me in my first visit to Belize, eight months prior, was the distinct lack of “Belizean” flavor. Of course, I had spent my time on Caye Caulker, not exactly the least touristy place available, but when I went into restaurants, it was more American/Italian/French food and none of those local dishes I had hoped to find. The activities were mainly water sports. I had come from Guatemala, where you lived the culture, to Belize, where they produced this tourist experience for you.

This time, at Ka’ana, we ate cochinita pibil tacos, a pulled pork taco with spicy sauce and pico de gallo. It was the first time I had anything in Belize that I couldn’t find back home. There were no expat waiters, nearly everyone seemed (at least to my eyes) to be local. As Ian described his long term plans, I wondered… is this type of tourism possible? Can you have 500 thread count sheets and learn how to make Mayan chocolate, like you would if you stayed with a local family? Can you spend the day at the spa, but know that the products used support local businesses and profits are helping to restore a forest?

As an independent traveler, these values appeal to me, but would someone paying full price for the Ka’ana experience want something more than to be rubbed down and pampered?

Is the only way to go “authentic” to forgo comfort? Can luxury and culturally appropriate go hand in hand?

After the tacos, I had the sere, a coconut based soup with plantains and fresh fish. I was taking notes about the food. I was listening carefully to Ian. I love the idea of it, to give people both worlds. In a few years, I’ll have to check in with the folks at Ka’ana to see how it has worked out.

Right now they’re offering a 2012 doomsday package (visit now and visit again in 2012 when the Mayan calendar runs out) which includes: “The immersion into the Mayan culture will include intimate interactions with the people of a village in Southern Belize. Guests will become familiar with the age-old practices of washing clothes in a local river, cooking a meal on an open fire hearth, learning to play the Marimba or Mayan harp, tribal dancing, basket making, and story-telling with a village elder.”  How many luxury hotels offer packages like that?

If it works and gets adopted by others, can you imagine? Instead of San Pedro being a smaller version of Cancun, you’d have the families learning about Mayan culture and reef ecology. Luxury hotels would focus on products produced locally. The best way to make money wouldn’t be to sell knick-knacks on the beach, but to become an artesian.

Truly, it would define sustainable tourism.

I’m curious, have any of you seen this model in action?  Any ideas about how well this works, or what it takes to be successful and local?

(Disclosure: I didn’t pay for my stay at Ka’ana, I was a guest of the Belize Tourism Board as part of last week’s blogger trip)

Get your free copy of Twitter for Travelers. It's a 49 page ebook filled with tips and tricks on using Twitter for your travels. Until 11/29, it's free only for Almostfearless.com subscribers. (That's you.) Thanks!

“Ok Christine, here is where you get out.”

Our Belizean tour guide, David, who had informed me earlier that he had done a lot of things in the Cockscomb Jaguar Reserve, but didn’t want to add “delivered a baby” onto the list, was now floating ahead of the group and pointing to the embankment. We had just hiked the jungle and were 30 minutes into our river tubing tour. The icy water felt so good.

I became officially six months pregnant the day before, and while my stomach had expanded into a noticeable baby bump, not much else had changed. I was still waiting to feel pregnant. Every weekend we went hiking around our new home in Oregon and now, while my feet were a little swollen, I couldn’t imagine sitting out the rest of the day, just on a technicality.

I shook my head and announced that I would keep going. I imagined the stories the guide would be telling later about the crazy pregnant gringa, who insisted on staying with the group. Next we would hike up to the waterfall, a steep climb, something he was convinced I should definitely not do.

I couldn’t imagine missing it. The Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary is the first jaguar sanctuary in the world. Eariler, David had explained the amount of research that was done before the park was established, as they figured out the amount of space each Jaguar needed and eventually expanded the protected area to an impressive 150 square miles. That day we didn’t see any Jaguars. They hunt at night. And they mostly eat armadillos, not slightly swollen pregnant foreigners, lucky for me.

If you do the hike, it’s worth having a tour guide. While the rain forest is beautiful, it’s the details about the vegetation, history and notable trivia that made it interesting to me. David was great, telling us about the origins of the word Jungle (originally Hindustani word jangal meaning desert but troops traveling to Persia adopted the word to mean where they hunted, applying it to the thick jungles elsewhere in the world… thus the Lion became King of the Jungle (Jangal), when he really lives on the plains–and Disney later reinforced this incorrect notion.)

When we finally exited the water, there was a rope strung across the river. I asked David what happens if I kept going, and he said, “We’ll see you in a couple of hours”. Sounds perfect to me.

We walked up the embankment, and I got a little out of breath. The one thing I knew about myself was that it wasn’t my shortness of breath that was a concern, it was my heart rate. I had read pregnancy advice that said to never get winded. Well, if that was the case, I’d never make it up a flight of stairs. For me, shortness of breath is a symptom of pregnancy, but not necessarily exertion. David asked if I was okay. “I’m good. I’ll just go slow and stop if I need to.” He didn’t push it. I appreciated that even though he thought it was a bad idea, he wasn’t about to stop me from trying.

Gennaro (one of the other bloggers on this trip) joked, “Great. Now none of us can complain, if a pregnant women is doing it too!”

Luckily there wasn’t much to complain about. You’re hiking through a rain forest. It was steep, but manageable. I took breaks and made it about in five minutes behind the main group.

The waterfall was the same cool water, and beneath the pounding falls, was a small cave, naturally carved out over time. The water was deep, and we swam around for a bit, before David finally drew the line.

“Ok you will hike back, and we’ll go this way.”

I didn’t mind. The last leg of the hike involved crawling, sliding and jumping across river rocks, and it broke my one rule of traveling while pregnant: no sharp physical impacts. I hiked 10 minutes back and waited for the rest of the group, who emerged rung out and exhausted. After Kara (another blogger) mentioned being encouraged (read: flung bodily) by David into the water below, I felt relieved. I’m a crazy gringa, but not that crazy.

Recreate this trip:

The Jaguar Reserve is about a two hour drive from Placencia or 20 minutes south of Dangria on the Southern Highway (you can also book transfers from the Belize City airport). There are lots of tour companies but we used Toadal Tours and the owner David was our guide (you don’t have to have a guide to hike the reserve). We stayed at Robert’s Grove Inn in Placencia, which runs about $155/night in the low season to $295/night in the high season for a standard room. However, if you want to stay at the reserve, this is an affordable option with camping at $10 a night, a small cabin at $20 a night. The park charges a $5 entrance fee. Bring bug spray. Don’t lick the toads. There are tubes available at the visitor’s center.  For a trail map go here.  Next time I go, I’ll definitely camp, as I hear that 3 PM and later is the best time to spot a jaguar.

Read the book:

Jaguar: One Man’s Struggle To Establish The World’s First Jaguar Preserve

(Note: I wasn’t able to get pics of this portion of the trip because of the water element.  Also this post is about a trip that was paid for by the Belize Tourism Board.  They flew me and four other bloggers as part of a fam trip.)

pic: Michael Schamis

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I stepped off the plane in Belize and it hit me. That sweet smell of over-humid air, so thick that you breathe deeply just to taste it. You forget the wetness of it, even after a few months of being away. I had been gone eight.  Last time, I had taken a bus from Flores, Guatemala to Belize City, stopping  just long enough to buy my water taxi ticket to the backpacker island Caye Caulker. Now I flew into that same city, instead connecting on another flight to Placencia, this time escorted by the Belize Tourism Board. They ushered me and four other bloggers all the way to Robert’s Grove Inn.

The Inn is what you might expect of Belize but on the higher end of quality. The rooms are eclectically decorated; mine has a shark fin painting in red, a piece of framed Indian art and a woven throw over the crisp white sheets. There’s air conditioning, tiled floors, a full bath with an ample shower and even a mini-fridge. From my seven months in Central America last year, this is as posh as it gets.

For me, the best part of the inn is the outdoor areas. I love being able to eat al fresco, and they have a long veranda with seating for their restaurant as well as a boat house at the end of the pier. There’s also swimming pools and hot tubs, but who needs that when you’re sitting at the edge of the Caribbean?

We’re here on business, the business of being impressed. As guests, the hope is that we’ll like Belize enough to write about it, and so far… here I am. I kept waiting for some hint of pressure, some sudden overture that would signal their expectations. Instead it’s been like a package deal paid for by a mysterious stranger–perhaps not the mode of travel I’d design, but surprisingly fun anyway.

We arrived in the late afternoon, settled into our rooms and then gathered for dinner at the inn. I had the conch fritters (made with a bit of jalapeño for some kick) and the seafood special: lobster tail and drawn butter, curried shrimp and grilled fresh fish. For dessert it was the banana gelato, which is one of those unexpected joys: a simple dessert so well executed it transcends the form.

So yes, I liked the food, and even if I was paying for it, I’d come here again, ordering the same exact thing.

Which brings me to my fear: what if I love everything they show me? How can I write about a fam trip and be considered objective if I rave about every detail? Even if it’s true? I wonder if the expectation of influence makes journalists harder on resorts and restaurants than if they paid for it themselves? Does the pressure to write kindly, make you more likely to be harsh, if even to save face?

I consider this as they tell me the inn has private islands that you can rent, and my first reaction is to think, “Oh god, I want that!”

Tomorrow, I’m off to the jaguar reserve.

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Today, I’m flying to Belize courtesy of Belize Tourism. I’ll be joining four other bloggers for a six day Fam Trip, where they’ve arranged a packed itinerary of jungle tours, cave tubing, zip line canopy tours, snorkeling, parasailing, Mayan ruins and more.  Oh and they’re putting up us in some lovely hotels and hosting all the meals at some great restaurants. Sounds pretty good, no?

This is the first time I’ve traveled on someone else’s dime (excluding all the business travel I did in my corporate days).  The trip comes at an interesting time for me.  First, because I’ll be 24 weeks pregnant and while I feel great, it has been interesting to  see people’s reactions when I tell them that I’ll be spending a week in Belize.  Second, it seems like October and November 2009 have been deemed “The Battle of Travel Writing Ethics” online.  There’s been a lot of noise lately about a certain NY Times writer who got fired for taking a comped trip (NY Times has a strict code of ethics that forbids their writer’s from taking freebies– past or present).  There has been even more talk on Twitter about whether it’s possible to be objective when traveling for free.  It’ll be interesting to experience it for myself and see how my coverage differs from any of my other trips (if I start listing “must sees”, describe my hotel location as “nestled” or use the expression “veritable” anything, you have permission to revoke my blogging license).

While I haven’t been specifically asked or required to write about the trip, I will be writing about it this week, posting pictures or whatever else seems interesting and/or worthwhile.  I’ll also be hanging out with these fine folks:

Kara Williams, The Vacation Gals

Kerrin Rousset, Mykugelhopf

Melanie Waldman, Travels With Two

Gennaro Salamone, Enduring Wanderlust

What do you want to see?

We’ll be starting in Placencia and then heading north to San Pedro (with stops in between).  If you have any questions about Belize, let me know.  This week I’ll have the ears of folks who are just dying to telling you more about this Central American nation on the Caribbean sea.

You can also follow the tweets of all the bloggers on Twitter with hashtag #belizetrip.

Pic by: WisDoc

Get your free copy of Twitter for Travelers. It's a 49 page ebook filled with tips and tricks on using Twitter for your travels. Until 11/29, it's free only for Almostfearless.com subscribers. (That's you.) Thanks!

To be clear, this is not a well written book.  In fact, there are writing and story telling errors that quickly become distracting to the reader.  He overwrites (”it was a rather smooth flight”).  He uses hyperbole to describe common images (”It was a turquoise so vivid and so clear, as if not a single toe had ever plunged into the water”.)  He is consistently vague in his descriptions (”The scenery was picturesque”).  He writes cliches on top of cliches (”The afternoon sun was beating down, and it was again hot as hell.”)  There are no well defined characters in this book except Grant, and I don’t really get a sense of what makes him tick.  There is no story arc, no opposing force, no character development.  I could go on, but that’s not why I wrote this review.  It’s an amateur book written by an extremely earnest young writer who obviously put a lot of effort into polishing his prose.  Despite all it’s short-comings, this book does have an audience.

Full disclosure: I like to read travel non-fiction that I can relate to and that matches my stage of life.  As a married 32-year old, full time traveler expecting my first child, I couldn’t be farther away from where Grant was in 2006.  But that’s not to say this isn’t the perfect book for someone else.  I have traveled in hostels, and specifically to all of the areas he mentions in his book.  While he misses the opportunity to offer keen observations, he does accurately portray a style of travel. In fact, it’s probably the way many kids travel around Central America.  Hanging out in hostels, partying every night, vaguely remembering where they’ve been and only exploring between hangovers and benders.  It’s a real part of travel and if you want to know what it would be like to just hang out on the gringo trail, this book does a good job at describing it.

I also have to give Grant a lot of credit for his approach to travel.  While most people his age would save up or borrow money from Mom and Dad, he did it literally with a one way ticket and $300 in pocket.  He got a job working at the resorts.  He learned a lot of Spanish.  He traveled largely without a plan.  And by the second half of the story the writing improves as he gets out of his own way and starts showing more than telling.

Ultimately, I’d recommend this book for the would-be backpacker of a younger mindset.  It’s a little slice of voyeurism into the lifestyle without all that bothersome plot and character development.

Want a Free Copy?

Leave a comment below and tell me your best drunk story.  Don’t have one?  Well it’s Friday night.  Go get a bottle and report back tomorrow.  I’ll choose the winner on next week’s Free Book Friday.

Announcing Last Week’s Winner of Crush It!

Shannon OD who wrote, “I found Gary about a month ago and his message is just so passionate! I love his enthusiasm and follow him closely to keep me motivated as I try to get my site off the ground! I need more of Gary in my life!”  Ok Shannon, you’ve got it.

Get your free copy of Twitter for Travelers. It's a 49 page ebook filled with tips and tricks on using Twitter for your travels. Until 11/29, it's free only for Almostfearless.com subscribers. (That's you.) Thanks!

If you can’t see this video, get it here.

Get your free copy of Twitter for Travelers. It's a 49 page ebook filled with tips and tricks on using Twitter for your travels. Until 11/29, it's free only for Almostfearless.com subscribers. (That's you.) Thanks!

I’m very pleased to announce that my new ebook Twitter for Travelers is available for download.  There’s only one catch: you have to be a subscriber to this site.  If you’re reading this in an RSS reader or via an email subscription the link to the ebook is on the bottom of this post.  For the rest of you, go, subscribe!  It’ll totally be worth it.

About the Ebook

As a traveler, my tweets are often aligned with where I’m going next, where I should go, or how I’m getting there. However it wasn’t until I put out a tweet last fall about taking a bus from Cancun, Mexico to Quetzaltenango, Guatemala that I suddenly got it. Within moments, six other travelers who had taken a similar route were advising me. They looked up schedules and helped me decipher the bus terminal codes. The directed me to a tiny website that specialized in the exact bus route I would need to take. The owner of that site contacted me. In the end I got the answer I needed. What had taken me hours of research online was completed in less than 20 minutes on Twitter. I knew this was a new way to travel.

This ebook is really just a compilation of every bookmark, trick, tip and solution I’ve ever found, used or just sounded cool to me—related to travel. I certainly don’t expect anyone would try to use everything in this book all at once. That’s not how I use Twitter. Instead, read through; pick out those things that sound the most useful. Hopefully I’ve included things that even the most experienced Twitterati might not have seen before. For those just starting out, I’ve included an extended appendix section with step by step instructions on everything from setting up your first Twitter account to using your phone to tweet to a cheat sheet for all those short cuts and abbreviations.

This ebook is for travelers, regardless of your destination. I have included tips for everyone, including:

• Business Traveler (check out the expense reporting and hotel sections)
• Backpacker (lots of resources to make things even cheaper)
• High Tech Travelers (yes, you can water your plants with a tweet)
• Two Week Vacationer (super easy to find those deals)
• The Expat (connect with folks where you are)
• And Everyone Else (now you can talk directly to travel experts)

Twitter for Travelers, 49 pages. Adobe PDF (5 mb)

So go, subscribe and get your free copy!

If you use an RSS reader like Bloglines or Google reader, you can subscribe, or if you prefer you can sign up for email updates.  The link to the ebook will be on the bottom of the latest post (or email).  If you have problems getting it, send me a tweet or email. 

Get your free copy of Twitter for Travelers. It's a 49 page ebook filled with tips and tricks on using Twitter for your travels. Until 11/29, it's free only for Almostfearless.com subscribers. (That's you.) Thanks!

Then he ran a marathon, did his taxes and gave his wife a pedicure.

This book is like liquid motivation. It’s small, quick to read and when you’re done you might finding yourself starting an online business, or getting super serious about the one you already have. The best part? It’s all good advice.

• Have passion for what you do
• Build a personal brand
• Use the internet
• Great content matters
• Be yourself
• Build a community

But the number one thing Gary preaches over and over again: Work hard. Hustle. Be your brand.

If you’ve been thinking about building an online business, this book is definitely for you. Or if you need a little motivation boost, a quick read of this book will have your head on straight in no time.

However, if you’re already working your butt off and love what you do, you probably don’t need this book. Gary’s enthusiasm might come across like a panting puppy that won’t stop orbiting around the room, barking out random catch phrases. If you’re looking for tips on how to take it to the next level, it might not be specific enough. If you’re already using Facebook and Twitter, creating the best content you can, using email lists to contact your community and generally promoting the heck out of yourself, then this book has nothing new (not really anyway).

Is that a bad thing? No. It’s the perfect book to get you off your butt. That’s completely enough. Consumer warning: when you’re done you might want to insert [crush it!] into way too many of your conversations. And your exclamation usage might go up!  Just sayin’.

Want a free copy?

Leave a comment below and tell me why you need this book. I’ll announce the winner next week (11/06/09), when we have our next Free Book Friday.

Get your free copy of Twitter for Travelers. It's a 49 page ebook filled with tips and tricks on using Twitter for your travels. Until 11/29, it's free only for Almostfearless.com subscribers. (That's you.) Thanks!