International Train Travel Adventures with Nora Dunn - The Professional Hobo

Can you imagine giving up a successful career and selling everything you own just to travel the world? Meet Nora Dunn, aka the Professional Hobo, who did just that in 2006 and has never looked back. In this episode, Nora takes us through her bold decision to leave a thriving financial planning career in Toronto and embrace a life of adventure. We uncover the fascinating story behind her unique moniker and its connection to historical hobos who roamed the rails, seeking work and new experiences. Nora shares her early train travel memories across Canada, emphasizing the profound impact of cultural immersion and the invaluable relationships fostered through organizations like Rotary.

Ever wondered what it’s like to embark on an epic train journey across continents? Nora’s tales are nothing short of spectacular. From a three-day adventure from Darwin to Adelaide in Australia to an 11,000-kilometer round trip from Melbourne to Perth, and an awe-inspiring 30-day expedition from Lisbon to Ho Chi Minh City—her stories brim with stunning landscapes, intriguing encounters, and the simple pleasure of watching the world unfold from a train window. She also reflects on the iconic Trans-Siberian Railway, sharing the culinary delights and cultural exchanges that make these journeys unforgettable.

Slow travel offers a unique charm and numerous opportunities for digital nomads, and Nora is a master at it. She discusses the benefits of establishing home bases for extended stays, sharing tips on securing free accommodation through house sitting, volunteering, and home exchanges. We also chat about balancing travel with personal relationships and careers, offering practical advice on efficient packing, cultural immersion, and building a global network. Nora’s personal travel stories, bucket list destinations, and favorite travel snacks add flavor to her adventures, inviting listeners to explore the enchanting world of long-term travel.

Noras' Book: How to Get Free Accommodation Around the World, 3rd Edition

You can find Nora:
On Facebook.
On Twitter.
On her YouTube Channel.
On Pinterest.
And on Instagram.

Follow this link for a free gift!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:15

Hi, welcome to our podcast when Next Travel with Kristen and Carol. I am Kristen and I am Carol, and we're two long-term friends with a passion for travel and adventure.

Speaker 2: 0:27

Each episode, we interview people around the globe to help us decide where to go next. Today, we discuss train travel with an avid traveler and influencer, nora Dunn, who is the creator of the Professional Hobo YouTube channel and blog. Did you know that it's Possible to Travel by Train from Portugal to Vietnam? This was an eye-opening episode and we learned why train travel is so amazing and how it helps you get a more local experience. So if you're interested in slow travel, this is a must. Listen, enjoy. Today we have the pleasure of talking with Nora Dunn, also known on YouTube and her blog as the Professional Hobo and has been a content producer for many, many years. I saw like 2014,. Or how long has it?

Speaker 3: 1:15

been Longer than that. I have been the Professional Hobo since 2006.

Speaker 2: 1:20

Oh, my goodness, wow, og big time. Huh, you've seen everything change, probably in this whole content space. That's a whole nother big discussion.

Speaker 3: 1:30

I was a content creator before content creation was a thing, so I didn't even know I was a content creator when I was a content creator. That's how long ago it was. I like to call it the prehistoric era of being a digital nomad.

Speaker 2: 1:40

Oh, fantastic, all right, and so today we're going to talk about train travel, and you've done some train travel, what you like about it, advice and so much, but, kristen, I'll let you. You always have some really good opening questions.

Speaker 1: 2:05

And so Carol knows more about you than I do. But curious the name Professional Hobo, where that came from. What sparked you in 2006 to want to create this lifestyle? I had heard that you were a financial planner before how that started.

Speaker 3: 2:15

Well, the Professional Hobo actually earned a. It will actually, ironically and interestingly, tie into our conversation about trains, but trains were not on my mind when the professional hobo came to be. It was 2006 when I decided to sell everything that I owned in Toronto, canada, and that did include a busy financial planning practice, and the name of the game for me was just. I wanted an open-ended ticket and ultimate freedom to travel long-term in a culturally immersive way. But because 2006 was the prehistoric era of any of this lifestyle, I'm sure I wasn't the only person in the world to do what I was doing, but it sure felt that way because, of course, there are no blogs or courses or communities or forums or conferences to connect people like me. So I found myself learning everything from the ground up and stumbling my way up the learning curve with all the grace of an elephant and really just trying to figure out how to do it, like I didn't know where I would go, what I would do, how I would earn money along the way. I just had this burning desire and a lifelong dream to crack the code of countries and cultures around the world, and I just wanted to experience life and live around the world.

Speaker 3: 3:21

Now I started in North America and I actually, when I left Toronto, I took the train west across Canada and I ended up spending a little bit of time in the mountains of Alberta. Now, I used to be a Rotarian and so one of the ways that I like to travel the world and meet people is through going to Rotary meetings, where I would meet people who I wouldn't meet anywhere else, and we are all connected with the underlying love of being of service to our communities and to the world at large, so I would show up to these rotary meetings. And still, being North America, one of the defining questions that people ask you when they try to get to know you is what do you do? Well, I just finished selling everything that I own to travel. I hadn't yet figured out how to work remotely, or that that was own to travel. I hadn't yet figured out that you know how to work remotely or that that was even possible.

Speaker 3: 4:08

So I was kind of like homeless, but I really felt like I needed to keep up appearances with these people, so I wanted to make homeless look good, so I, so I, I made fun of myself and I called myself a professional hobo, okay, which, which of course, everyone loved, and it stuck, and then that eventually became the name of my website and onwards. But it does have, all these years later, some really additional poetic loveliness for me, because if we look at the actual origins of the word hobo, which is a homeless bohemian, these also. This also refers to the homeless people or the, the migrant workers, uh, in the united states, uh the 1930s, when they would just hop on a freight train. They would get on the back of a freight train and get and take the train to the next town, get off at the town, look for work, and they would work a season in that town and then, when that worked right off, they'd hop back on the train and go to the next town.

Speaker 1: 5:03

And I do job placement. I've been a recruiter for almost 30 years and just thinking about that, you know, it's just mind boggling to think that you know, we get so caught up in our day to day and our live and what that looks like and how society, everything looks like in society. To know just a generation before, two generations before it, that was totally different, right? It's such a trip.

Speaker 3: 5:26

Exactly exactly. Yeah, and that's also, too, a greater extension. Not only can we look into the past to see how things have changed, but we can also look geographically, across borders to see how things are different, and that's one of the things that I love doing is exploring all these differences in how people live and choose to live around the world, but then also how, despite all those differences, there are so many similarities as well.

Speaker 1: 5:50

Wow, that's really cool. So how was it your first trip?

Speaker 3: 5:53

Absolutely there is fear and even to this day, when I take a trip on my own, or before I'm about to take a trip, I'm nervous and sometimes scared. But it is an excitement, it's kind of a butterflies in the tummy sort of thing, and one am one of the one of the fundamental principles, or one of the fundamental things that happens to most of us when we travel is we get out of our comfort zones. That inherently means we're uncomfortable and if we know that that's going to happen, we're going to be a bit scared because it's like wow, I'm intentionally putting myself out of my comfort zone. So I'm intentionally nervous and scared because I don't know what to expect. I don't know what's going to happen. It could be good, it could be bad or it could be otherwise.

Speaker 3: 6:29

So that aspect of travel really never goes away. I mean, when you get a lot more travel sense and travel experience, you might feel more confident, especially if you're going to a destination that you're familiar with. But even if you're not familiar, you know there's certain things that you can do to be confident. But I would I don't know, I would be hard pressed to find a traveler who really truly honestly, deep down inside, doesn't feel a little bit nervous before they get on that plane, train or automobile to a new and different place where they don't know what to expect?

Speaker 2: 7:02

Right, okay, and so as far as train travel, like it's where would you like to start, like maybe talk about it, places that you've loved traveling by train, or how you decide if you're going to incorporate train into the travel. I'll let you kind of lead that.

Speaker 3: 7:18

So my love of train travel is. I mean, listen, if I look back at all the train travel that I've done around the world, I think we could call my love an unhealthy love of train travel. But for all the vices that we have in life, I'm pretty sure it's a healthy one, so it's born to. For me. My grandparents lived about 400 miles away and I took this train every summer to go see them. So ever since I was, you know, even barely able to walk, I found myself going on these long journeys by train and there was something that I loved about the experience of being on a train. I would lose hours just looking out the window. It's just so. There's something about the rhythm almost the rhythm of the train on the tracks is lulling and everything. But as I grew up, I was able to put more words to why I loved train travel, and it has to do with a variety of things Like it's kind of an ironic way to travel the world these days Because if you want to get somewhere quickly, you fly.

Speaker 3: 8:14

If you want to get somewhere cheaply, you take the bus of these. It's not as cheap as a bus. It's not as quick as flying. In many cases it's much more slow, but it also kind of means that anyone who's on the train has an interesting story for being there and you have the luxury of time when you travel by train so you get to meet those people. But then also you get to really experience your destination, versus flying, where basically it's a truncated experience, where you get into a cylindrical tube, you go up, you go down and you're suddenly in a very different place.

Speaker 3: 8:50

When you're on the train you get to see how everything changes between your origin and your destination.

Speaker 3: 8:56

You see how the landscape changes, you see how the weather, all the things. And then the last aspect that I love about it while you're busy looking out the window looking at that landscape changing and feeling the distance that you're actually traveling, because in some cases it can be days or weeks to get your destination by train the other thing you're seeing is the inside or the backside of everywhere you go through. Nobody builds their house to face the train, but what you're seeing are their backyards. What you're seeing are the backs of businesses. What you're seeing is the inside scoop of how people are living their lives, poetically and literally, and it's not always pretty. There's not a lot of garbage back there or there's tagging and graffiti and whatnot. But that's also the story of a place, and seeing that and experiencing that as you go along the way for me is part of this. You know this lifelong desire I have to see the inside scoop to crack the code, and that for me is like an almost like voyeuristic peek into the places I'm going through.

Speaker 2: 10:00

Wow, this is really neat. Nora, so is tagging done across the world? Just an American thing?

Speaker 1: 10:07

Oh, it's everywhere, I'm sure, tagging like graffiti.

Speaker 3: 10:11

Yeah, yeah, that happens everywhere.

Speaker 2: 10:13

Oh, okay.

Speaker 1: 10:14

Wow, we're all reminded of boys and people.

Speaker 3: 10:19

Well, and street art onto itself is a really interesting way of understanding what are the issues that people are dealing with, because it is. I mean, there's tagging is one thing, but graffiti as a form of street art, there are people who are they're often activists and they're speaking about the or illustrating some of the issues that are happening, which can be also quite interesting when you travel the world. So I have a friend of mine who I didn't understand really the nuances of street art until I started traveling with him for a little while and he would insist that we went go on street art tours wherever we went. So we would go on these graffiti tours and it was like it was legit. We like it was really interesting artwork that we were going to see in these cities and it gave me a different perspective of what was happening in those places.

Speaker 1: 11:09

Did you notice any types of differences between them, or are they all pretty like the look of them and the message of them, or were they all kind of universal, or are there ones that stood out?

Speaker 3: 11:19

No, Um, I haven't, probably I can't speak with enough authority on this topic to be able to say Better than probably all of us. There's definitely nuances, there's definitely different aspects of it and, of course, the most famous street artist in the world is Banksy. So if you're able to go see a Banksy piece, then you're, you're gonna, you're gonna see something different in a, in its own way. So he's got pieces around the world, okay. So, uh, so anyway, this love of train travel started when I was a child and then it continued. So the first thing I did when I sold everything and started traveling full-time was I took the train across canada and I went west and I had a rail pass so I could use as much rail. You know, I could ride as much as I could in 30 days and I went for it. I mean basically from tor, from Toronto West, I did it all. I went from Toronto to Winnipeg, to Edmonton, to Jasper, to Prince Rupert, to like all the way down, and then from Vancouver back to Edmonton. I covered it all and I loved it. And then I in other countries, obviously, when I found myself in, when I was in Southeast Asia, I took the train through Thailand, malaysia and Singapore, and then I was, so I experienced trains. And then when I was in Europe, I took the train in a bunch of countries there. So as I kept doing this, my love of trains and the experience of train travel around the world became more expansive.

Speaker 3: 12:36

And then when I got to Australia, I was, you know, well and truly developing my content creator career at this stage of the game. So great Southern rail, which was the main rail company Australia, gave me a free rail pass which again gave me the ability to, in 30 days, ride the rails. But not only that, it was just an economy class rail pass, but they, because I was a journalist once they found out that a journalist was on board. If they had space, they would often upgrade me to the cabin experience. So it was delightful. I mean, it was, it was incredible.

Speaker 3: 13:10

So I started off with a three day train trip three days solid, from the top to the bottom of Australia, from Darwin to Adelaide, and I was like, okay, this is the longest trip I've done by train in one go, three days. I'm gonna get bored, so I'm gonna bring books and music and work to do and all kinds of stuff. And I was just like I brought all these accoutrements to fend off the boredom I would surely experience, and at the end of those three days I hadn't done any of that stuff and I hadn't experienced a moment of boredom. Now, it was also helped by the fact that each day the train would stop for a few hours in a place where we could get off and wander around and discover it.

Speaker 3: 13:47

So it was an interesting experience in that sense as well. But I thought after that three-day trip I'm like, wow, three days and I didn't even get a little bit bored. I'm like I got to up the ante here and there's some more trains I can do in Australia. So I became the engineer, so to speak, on a trip that took me from Melbourne to Sydney, which is 10 hours or so, and then I hopped on the Indian Pacific from Sydney to Perth.

Speaker 3: 14:12

Oh, my goodness, I was going to say did you go three days, four days yet? And then, and then I got back on the very same train and retraced all my steps. In all, I did 11,000 kilometers in 11 days, and my mission was to see if it's possible to get bored on a train.

Speaker 1: 14:31

And didn't work.

Speaker 3: 14:34

I didn't get bored. I loved it. I love chatting with all the people along the way. You know I did have my books and my music and there's something again for me just looking out the window. It was so just relaxing and hypnotic and beautiful and amazing to see all these scenery, the Nullabar desert and everything. So it was amazing. And then this, like this, wasn't enough. This became the fodder for the next major adventure I did the next year, which was the world's longest navigable route by train. In 30 days I went from Lisbon, Portugal, to Ho Chi Minh City at the bottom of Vietnam. It was 25,000 kilometers in 30 days, all by train.

Speaker 2: 15:23

Portugal to Vietnam. Yeah, so did you have to buy your like tickets through multiple different resources? Because, like you're in Asia, you're in Europe, so there's different trail.

Speaker 3: 15:35

So I got a Eurail pass to get me through most of Europe, although I did have to buy some additional single train tickets to get. Ultimately my destination was Moscow, where I hopped on the Trans-Siberian, and that was a week solid 153 hours not that anyone was counting 153 hours by train from Moscow to Beijing and then from Beijing South. It was another bunch of days to get all the way through the rest of China and down from the top to the bottom of Vietnam.

Speaker 2: 16:11

Wow, so this was 30 days total. Okay, and did you make a lot of?

Speaker 3: 16:13

stops or were you like, pretty much on the train most of the time? So in Europe I made lots of stops, I stayed, I got off the train a bunch of times, I got on and off a bunch of different trains, but I planned a route that would allow me to visit some friends along the way. So I visited some friends in Granada, in Spain, in Zurich, in Switzerland, in Prague, in Ukraine. I actually got off for a few days and did some hiking in the Carpathian Mountains and then Moscow. So those are the major stops that I made, but I also had some time in Lviv and somewhere else, in Barcelona, I think.

Speaker 1: 16:44

Wow. And so when you stop and you spend a couple days, the train doesn't wait for you. You just grab another train or something. Are they constantly going?

Speaker 3: 16:52

well, in europe it's not one train it was it was piecing together the roots of many different trains yeah, yeah the one train was the trans-siberian, so that is the world's longest train ride you can do do, because it is one week straight from Moscow to Beijing. There's a bunch of different routes too, like there's the Trans-Siberian and then there's the Trans-Manchurian, which goes through Mongolia, and so there's a couple of different routes that take you ultimately all the way through Russia and into China. Certainly, if I were I mean I was on the clock because I was doing this challenge. I was doing it with a couple of other friends of mine who were content creators, but if I were to do it all again, I would get off the train.

Speaker 3: 17:33

We didn't get off the train, except for if there was a station stop. And there was a half hour stop at the station, we would get off the train to stretch our legs and to buy some food from whatever babushkas were on the on the platform selling their, selling their homemade food. You know so, but I would, you know, I would definitely take the time if I were doing that again. I would definitely take some time to get off at one or two stops along the way and explore, you know this, this place that you wouldn't otherwise go through.

Speaker 1: 18:00

Yeah, and when you bought the babushka, the homemade foods and stuff, did you get sick at all? Or they would have.

Speaker 3: 18:09

They would make you know dumplings and pierogies and breads and maybe cheeses, um, they'd sometimes have some homemade meats. Um, what else would they have? Yeah, like, um, yeah, a little bit of candy, yeah, so well, that was the other thing. There would be. There's there always would be a little sundry place like some kind of convenience store style place that sells, you know, packaged food, and those would be the stops. If that was all we had, those were the less exciting stops Because of course that meant now we were limited, we were relegated to crackers and cheese and meat sticks, you know, and maybe ramen, like it was. It was, it was a little meager at times and does the train?

Speaker 2: 19:10

do trains often have decent food.

Speaker 3: 19:52

So it's a grab bag. It's a grab bag when it comes to food on trains. So in the Trans-Siberian in particular, we visited the restaurant car once. I paid I paid dramatically overpaid for a cup of borscht uh, it was really just chicken soup masquerading as borscht. I didn't like it, so I didn't go back to the restaurant and this is why I gave myself this challenge of seeing what I could find on the platforms along the way, so that, again, not everybody needs to be, as you know, crazy and adventurous as I um.

Speaker 3: 20:23

But if we look at other trains, especially if they're overnight trains, there's always going to be some kind of food car, almost always going to be some kind of food car, and that food will vary. But if we look at some of the train rides where I've had some epic meals, like all through Australia as well as through Canada and the United States, which I've also done, every single inch of rail on, if you do a long distance trip and you pay for the cabin, you're going to get a lot of benefits that you wouldn't get if you were in economy. So A, you've got a cabin, you've got your own space. That also means that for the overnight portion of that journey. You've got a place to lie down flat, which is very valuable, but then also you get meals served in a special dining car, three meals a day, linen table service meals made to order and in some cases by like a proper chef.

Speaker 2: 21:17

Wow, and what's the difference? Like I don't need quotes on price, but is it like double the price, triple the price to have a cabin versus a coach in US, Canada and Australia?

Speaker 3: 21:27

Good question. It all depends the earlier you book, the less you're going to pay, but you are going to pay for it. So you may also get some sticker shock when you're looking at it. But the way I look at it is if you're taking an overnight train to somewhere, right, If you are getting accommodation, you're getting meals and you're getting transportation. So if you itemize those expenses, if you just flew instead and got a hotel and then paid for your meals and restaurants, how much would you pay for that experience versus having the experience of doing it on a train? Yes, and that's how I justify the cost of getting a cabin.

Speaker 2: 22:03

Okay got it, yeah, all right. Okay, and is it for?

Speaker 3: 22:08

me, because I just love train travel is it just? If it's even more, it's still worth it.

Speaker 2: 22:11

For me is it cabins or not? Cabins, or is there like medium cabins and first class cabins also?

Speaker 3: 22:17

again. Again, it all depends on the train, but if we're looking at amtrak, uh, then yes, there's. You're going to be able to get what is called a roomette, which is a very small cabin. It has the ability to sleep two people, but, man, you better know that other person really well, because when the beds come down, they're like bunk beds, they're like single beds that come from the wall, but they also take up the entire room. So the roommate, when it's in the daytime, is basically two seats facing each other and you're knee to knee, and then at nighttime they come down into two beds and there's no extra space. So, like I said, okay, but then there are on your bag larger beds.

Speaker 3: 22:53

They're larger.

Speaker 2: 22:53

There's bedrooms and then full bedrooms with uh ensuite bathrooms as well okay, I was thinking like the cruise, like cruise, you get, like you know, a full room.

Speaker 1: 23:04

So trains have like full rooms, nice they do yeah okay, I was just looking at costs. I was just googling what the uh, what trans-siberia train, um would be, and it looks like um. Well, one says for 30 days, uh, 1094 dollars. And then, yeah, there's another thing that that's um, I don't know if that's the euro, it's 1006. And then it says another independently train costs 250 to 500. So I don't know if that's a smaller, like without the cabin or with the cabin or whatever, but um, 30 days for a thousand bucks.

Speaker 3: 23:40

I mean, that's nothing compared now I'm not sure what that 30 days means, because you wouldn't be 30 days on the train, but maybe that gives you the option to hop on and off within a 30 day period.

Speaker 1: 23:50

Yeah, it says average daily spend $36. Wow.

Speaker 3: 23:54

Brilliant.

Speaker 1: 23:55

Yeah, not bad at all.

Speaker 3: 23:57

I'm about to. In a couple of weeks I'm going to finish off the last of, or almost the last of all the rail across Canada that I haven't done. I'm going to take the train from Toronto to Montreal. That's just a short train ride, and then I'm going to do the 24 hour train ride from Montreal to Halifax. And I got I got a bedroom for that. I'm traveling with my partner, so we got a bedroom for that. And that's the other thing too. If you are traveling with a partner, you will. You're splitting the cost of the bedroom, so it's actually much more economical when you're traveling with somebody and staying in a room.

Speaker 2: 24:31

Okay, and is that Amtrak in Canada or something else? It's via rail Via rail.

Speaker 1: 24:33

Okay, and are you in Canada? So you're in Canada. You're back in Canada right now.

Speaker 3: 24:37

Yes, so after 12 years of proverbial homelessness, I did come back to Toronto when I got an apartment. But to be honest, I'm here maybe. I mean I use it as a place to unpack, unwind and repack. So I'm here, maybe cumulatively a few months a year, like tops Wow.

Speaker 1: 24:55

There are certain uh year or time of year that you try to stay there versus traveling, or is there any strategy on what months are best to travel or what's worked for you?

Speaker 3: 25:06

Generally speaking, I try to avoid the winter here. It's not. It's not Toronto, where Toronto, not where Toronto shines by any stretch of the imagination. This summer definitely is a wonderful time to be in Toronto and Canada in general, although the shoulder seasons are also great. So it really depends more on what other destinations are calling me or what opportunities I have abroad as to when I'm going to be here and when I'm going to be abroad.

Speaker 1: 25:31

So when are you going next abroad? Besides the, train trip.

Speaker 3: 25:34

Besides the train trip I will be I'm attending a conference called Camp Indy in June. It's fantastic, it's like summer camp for unconventional minds, for adults, and then from there I'm going to head to Europe for the summer. So I expect that I'm going to spend I'm speaking at Bansko Nomad Fest in Bulgaria oh nice, that's at the end of June. I expect that I'll be in Bulgaria for a couple of months and then I'll probably spend the next couple of months between Croatia and England, and then I may spend November in Tanzania. It's not finalized yet, but that's the idea at the moment.

Speaker 2: 26:09

Nice, it's slowing down, huh, doesn't it? Oh yeah.

Speaker 3: 26:14

This is a fast year of travel. I often I'm a big proponent of slow travel, though, especially if you're a digital nomad as a lifestyle, you do need to go slowly if you want to sustain it, and I have been known to travel so slowly. It was imperceptible Like I spent a couple of years in Australia on and off. I spent a couple of years in Grenada in the Caribbean, on and off. I spent a couple of years in Peru on and off. So I've definitely established bases around the world that I've been able to use as a as kind of like a home base for further exploration, but then also to just slow down, like I would have found a monthly rental that I can just call home for a little while, and those are really important stops along the way.

Speaker 2: 26:55

Oh, my gosh, very good. And then do you see a lot of places where there's like day trip trains, and do you recommend those? Are we just mainly talking about trains for transportation, versus no? Oh, if you go to Switzerland, you should take the train. You know, there's like fun, shorter trips.

Speaker 3: 27:11

If you go to Switzerland, you should take all trains, All, Just every one of them but yes, there are some day trains that are really good. So in Switzerland, as an example, the Glacier Express is like that's an iconic train that takes you through the beautiful mountains and the scenery is so epic you don't want to sleep through it.

Speaker 1: 27:36

So I don't believe they run an overnight route through there, because it's just so epic. Oh, wow, okay, how long is that train that goes through the, I don't know. Oh, I mean, is it multiple days or is it just a couple of hours? I don't know.

Speaker 3: 27:43

Oh okay, sorry, I haven't done it. It's on my list. Oh, okay, okay. Yeah, I did do a two-day train ride from Jasper to Prince Rupert in Canada. It's a very obscure train ride but for anyone who knows trains, they'll also admit it's one of the most scenic train rides in the world. And it's another one of these train rides that they actually stop when the sun goes down and they make you sleep in the town that night because you don't want to miss the scenery. That is happening between these two destinations. So it's really that's a fantastic train ride. What to Jasper? Jasper to Prince Rupert, prince Rupert Okay, it's super obscure. It's, you know, for train lovers only.

Speaker 3: 28:23

It's got a great. It's got a great cabin. So, like you, it's got this like observation deck. So, above, where the your assigned seat will be, you can take a staircase up and you'll sit in this domed like at the very top of the train car and it's it's glass everywhere, so you get these 360 degree views of the train, of the mountains all around you.

Speaker 2: 28:44

It's pretty Wow.

Speaker 3: 28:47

Yeah, I spent most of my time on those two full days just my nose rest to the glass looking at the amazing scenery.

Speaker 1: 28:54

Wow, canada is pretty amazing. I have family up there and we drove from Seattle to Vancouver to Banff and drive in junior high. It was a long time ago but just the scenery was just epic, it was beautiful.

Speaker 3: 29:08

That's an incredible road trip.

Speaker 1: 29:10

Yeah, it was a lot of fun and also well, I'm sure you did no trains in the Caribbean, but you said you stayed there. You lived there for a couple of years too.

Speaker 3: 29:19

I did. Indeed, it was a house sitting gig that lured me to the Caribbean, and it was on Grenada, and so I did three months of house sitting there and I really liked it, so I went. You know, that gig ended but the homeowners wanted me back for another stint. But I had three months to kill, so I went and lived on boats throughout the Caribbean for three months. So I was volunteering. I stayed on. One of my other claims to fame is I wrote a book literally on how to get free accommodation around the world. In my first 10 years abroad I saved over a hundred thousand dollars on accommodation by getting it for free.

Speaker 2: 29:56

Is it for, like the house sitting, dog sitting all that there's.

Speaker 3: 29:59

House sitting is one way to do it, but there's actually five different ways to get free accommodation. Okay, it's house sitting, volunteering, couch surfing or hospitality exchanges, home exchanges and living on boats.

Speaker 2: 30:19

Okay Living on boats.

Speaker 3: 30:23

Okay, but you have to rent the boat or Exactly, yeah, you're you're an extra set of hands helping out on other people's boats. So whether they need to sail from A to B and they need more people on deck or watch, or whether they were like my gigs, I didn't know how to sail. I don't recommend this. Most captains are not going to take someone who knows how to sail and doesn't know how to sail on their boats. But I found somebody through a connection and through one of these boat there are websites that connect boat owners with people who will volunteer and he had a boat moored in St Martin and he was also getting a video business off the ground.

Speaker 3: 30:58

So my role was helping him with his video business and that was my. That was what I did in exchange for my free accommodation. So we worked on his video business together and I had a place to stay on his boat and it all worked out well. And then, through him, I met another person who was sailing to the BVIs and needed someone to help out with the charter. And then from him, I met someone else who was, and it was just. It was a really small community and it just. One boat led to another to another and suddenly, three months later I hadn't spent a night on land.

Speaker 2: 31:24

Oh wow, and what's your what's is and what's your what's? Is your book still out there? Is it what's it called? Yes, absolutely.

Speaker 3: 31:29

It's called how to get free accommodation around the world.

Speaker 2: 31:32

Okay, we'll put a link in there. Thank, you. Show notes for you.

Speaker 1: 31:36

Everyone likes to know that Christy Teglow and she would cat and dog sit around the world. I can't remember the name of the website, but you know they kind of screen. You know you go everywhere around the world, which is it's amazing because you I mean meet some pretty incredible people. I mean, I'm sure I I don't think you've had a bad experience in any of those, or have you had any kind of. I don't think I'll go back there again, or is it?

Speaker 3: 32:04

pretty. I've definitely had a few of those, but I haven't had any experiences where my safety was in jeopardy or anything was catastrophically bad. But yeah, when you go to stay in someone's place for either to house it or to volunteer or live on their boat or whatever you're dealing, there's always going to be personality differences or clashes or potential issues that might come up. But that's one of the reasons why I'm pretty militant about making sure that due diligence is in place. So you know you take the time to get on the video call. If I'm going to house sit or pet sit, I get on a video call with the homeowners. I make sure we get along. I also have them walk me through the house. I want to see the place, I want to meet the pets, I want to make sure that I know what I'm getting into before I get on a plane, because it's a leap of faith for both parties, right. So it's a leap of faith for the traveler because I'm getting on a plane to go to a place to stay in some. You know there's a certain amount of accountability that people have on these platforms, but it's also a risk for them because they're about to welcome a stranger into their home to take care of their beloved pets and make sure that things are, you know, go okay in their absence.

Speaker 3: 33:24

So it is based on trust. There are some, you know, fundamental, and that's again kind of a metaphor for travel in general. I mean it is that there is trust. There are some, you know, fundamental, and that's again kind of a metaphor for travel in general. I mean it is the there is an element of trust. There's a saying trust in Allah, but tie up your camel. So you know, like, let's trust that the world is fundamentally good and I really do believe that 99% of the people in the world are amazing. But I'm also going to make sure that I have an anti-theft backpack and I'm not allowing, you know, I'm not opening myself up to undue risk in one way or another. And in the case of house sitting, I make sure that you know, I read the reviews of that homeowner and I meet them and make sure that it's going to be a good fit.

Speaker 1: 34:03

What was your best experience and where was it?

Speaker 3: 34:06

I had so many you know. Actually, probably one of my most memorable experiences was volunteering at a retreat center in New Zealand and I volunteered in exchange for free accommodation and food. The retreat center was called Mana Retreat Center and it was amazing. I went back multiple times to volunteer at this place and it was just. I mean, the group of people that it attracted was amazing. The scenery was epic, the food was beyond epic and, yeah, it was just a lot of fun. It was one of those places again where everything just kind of came together and it was synergistic and beautiful.

Speaker 3: 34:41

And I will also say like the first time I was at Manna it was amazing. The second time maybe not so much. Third time was a little better. So one of the other things that I learned in travel is you can't ever go back to a place and expect it to be what it once was do not ever try to recreate an experience by going back to that same place, because it will be different every time, and that's that's half the fun as well all right, all right.

Speaker 1: 35:03

Also quick question is now that you have a partner, and has that changed your travel? And I don't know if know if he or she, I guess, is coming with you on those adventures, or how has that been?

Speaker 3: 35:17

So I have had a few partnerships along the way, and they have all looked very different depending on where they were at in terms of how they met me and what their life and lifestyle was like. But my partner is we have an actually pretty complimentary lifestyle. So I have a base in Toronto, he has a base in Bulgaria, and so we're able to spend time here, we're able to spend time there, but then we also have careers that allow us to travel, so we're also able to spend time on the road together. So it's the best of all worlds. And then what do you do professionally? What does he do?

Speaker 1: 35:45

professionally.

Speaker 3: 35:47

So I'm a content creator still 18 years and I'm a travel content creator. I help people design their lifestyles and arrange their affairs so they can travel long-term while working remotely. My main platforms are my website, which is theprofessionalhobocom, and also my YouTube channel, which you can find me by just Googling Nora Dunn. But if you go to my website also, you'll just find links to all the places where I am anyway, because I'm kind of everywhere and my partner manages and owns properties, mostly in Bulgaria, but in a couple of other countries as well, so he owns a few of them himself and then he helps other property owners rent them out.

Speaker 2: 36:26

Fantastic, all right. Well, we're getting close to the time, so I have a few rapid fire questions. If you're ready to go, okay. What is a top travel tip for packing efficiently? Okay?

Speaker 3: 36:39

Take less than you think you need. If there's any question about whether you need it, if it's a just in case item, don't take it. Chances are you can. If you do actually need it, you can get what you need on the road Nice.

Speaker 2: 36:50

Okay, what is the best way to immerse yourself into the culture of a new destination?

Speaker 3: 36:57

So earlier I mentioned rotary as a way of traveling the world and something that I do in local places where I am, Because, again, every time I walk into a Rotary meeting, I'm now in the presence of people that I wouldn't meet otherwise and we all share a common bond and a common of being Rotarians and a being of service. But it doesn't have to be that. It could be, you know, whatever common interest you have, dig down with that common interest If you play volleyball. Dig down with that common interest If you play volleyball. Find a way to play volleyball around the world If you like. Public speaking, join a Toastmasters meeting anywhere around the world If you like. There's lots of different ways that you can mine through and meet the people that you wouldn't meet otherwise, by attending meetings, games, whatever it is that pertain to your common interests. So then, that way, the people you meet you'll, you'll be able to transcend cultural and language barriers by virtue of enjoying your passion together.

Speaker 1: 37:49

I've actually done that with wake surfing. I went wake surfing in South Korea and it was incredible. And actually this yes, tomorrow I'm going to be going to Arizona. I do competitions and clinics and stuff, and so the South Korea guy he's going to be there, which I can't wait to see him. It's from surfing in Bali and with a pro surfer, with a pro surfer and he taught my kids and it was just.

Speaker 3: 38:18

It definitely makes it a lot of fun. That's great. And now you have a worldwide network of people that you know and you share this common interest with and you would never have met them any other way, and you potentially have. They will lead you to new and other opportunities to travel in this really immersive way. That's awesome.

Speaker 1: 38:32

Yeah, Competitions. We have people coming from Japan, China, Korea, Russia, you know all over the world this weekend, so you then meet them and then you go over to see them and when people say to me they're like oh hey, if you're ever in my neck of the woods, you know, let me know I you can stay with me.

Speaker 3: 38:49

I always look at them and I go be careful what you offer, because I might actually take you up on that. And if they reiterate and go, no, no, really for sure Come, then I'm like, all right, well, I'll be there.

Speaker 2: 38:59

Okay, yeah, just put it on my list, all right. So what's on your bucket list destination that you're itching to visit next that you haven't been yet?

Speaker 3: 39:08

So I don't tend to choose my destination so much as they choose me, and they usually choose me in the form of an opportunity, so something to do some people to see, but whatnot?

Speaker 3: 39:17

But two things potentially coming up this year that are places that I would like to go coming up this year. That are places that I would like to go. I haven't been to Croatia yet, so that would be really nice to see that. And if we can make Tanzania happen, that would be. That's that. We could call that bucket list stuff for sure.

Speaker 2: 39:29

Okay, very good. And then, what is a favorite go-to travel snack? Is there something that you always like have to have with you while you're traveling?

Speaker 3: 39:39

Nothing that I necessarily have to have, but if I can stock up on Lara bars, I really like those because they can, they'll just help me get through that hungry bit whenever I need them. And they travel. They're super small, they travel really easily. But I'm also a sucker for whatever snack foods I can find in the countries I'm visiting. So like if I could find a packet of nuts or whatever random thing like it's. Like if I look at a packet of something and I'm like I have no idea what that is, I have to buy it because I have to see what it is and how it tastes. I've definitely had some fails, but I've had a lot of really great successes as well.

Speaker 2: 40:12

Okay, nice, okay. And then how about? Is there a must carry on item? And Rick on our team said he saw some on one of your YouTube channels that he's like wow, that was a great idea. But I'll just see if you have a must have travel item in your carry on bag.

Speaker 3: 40:26

I'm pretty sure I have a great answer for this, but I'm not sure I know what that is. Well, actually, if you're flying, my new favorite piece of teeny, tiny travel gear that is a lifesaver is called earplanes, and they're they're things, cause I have trouble with my ears on descent. I get a lot of ear pain, and apparently I'm not alone. So you put these little things in your ear and it helps you equalize the air pressure. So you put them. You put them in your ears when the plane is descending and then you don't have any pain in your ears. So I now will not fly without these.

Speaker 2: 40:56

It's amazing. That's huge. Yeah, and Rick said you had talked about like having an extension cord, because we all have so many devices. He's like that's brilliant, because I never would have thought of that.

Speaker 3: 41:05

I never, ever travel without my extension. And it's not only an extension cord, but it's also a surge protector and it has multiple outlets that you can plug anything into. Great.

Speaker 2: 41:14

Okay, a little power bar, it's perfect, laura bar and power bar. Okay, one word to describe your travel style Wrap it up Slow Nice.

Speaker 3: 41:29

The slower the better I like it. I have no problem taking my time into destination. A grocery store is the best tourist activity you can entertain me with, so I'll spend hours in the grocery store just wandering around, seeing how things are sold, seeing how people buy stuff, observing, and those are the sort of experiences that I really like is again learning to just live and see how other people live around the world, and the only way you can do that is if you go slow.

Speaker 1: 41:52

I don't get the same experience, and to see the different brands, I'm like, oh, I don't even know that brand. What is that Right? What is on the shelves, the people. It's very interesting as well, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 42:06

Well, thank you so much, Nora. Yes, We'll put your, your website, your YouTube channel, those links and the link to your book in the in the show notes for everyone.

Speaker 1: 42:14

Well and I did have one quick question too is as if someone wanted to hire you, what does something like that look like? Cost-wise, time-wise, experience-wise, what? What-wise? Experience-wise, what would someone?

Speaker 3: 42:32

if they needed your services. Well, I used to do private consulting and I had to stop because the demand was a little too much, unfortunately. And I do have designs on putting together some group courses and cohorts, but I haven't yet done that, so unfortunately there's no real way to hire me. However, I do have a ton of free content that I can help you sift through, so I actually have a free gift for anyone who's listening to this.

Speaker 3: 42:55

If you go to theprofessionalhobocom slash free gift, you can sign up to download a checklist of 10 things to do before you travel long term, and these are the sort of things that you want to think about to cover your bases so that you can hit the road stress-free and effectively right from the start. That will also put you on my insider scoop email list. I send about one email a month, so it's hardly onerous, but those are the most personal updates. So if you want to know kind of the inside scoop of what life is like from month to month and year to year on the road, I share it good, bad and otherwise in my insider scoop emails and then, of course, at any stage of the game, all you have to do is hit reply and you're in my inbox and we can have a conversation and I can help point you to whatever it is that you're looking for.

Speaker 2: 43:39

Oh, that's awesome that you're looking for oh that's awesome, and now just curious.

Speaker 1: 43:42

So how does that? Curious in terms of how does that translate financially for you? How wonderful it feels like you figured out the matrix right. Well, thank you so much for your time and safe travels. Enjoy. Sounds like you've got some pretty amazing trips coming up.

Speaker 3: 44:00

Thank you very much. Thank you, kristen and Carol, for your time. This was a lovely chat and I hope that your listeners enjoy it as well.

Speaker 2: 44:05

Absolutely.

Speaker 3: 44:07

Okay, bye.

Speaker 2: 44:10

Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the podcast, can you please take a second and do a quick follow of the show and rate us in your podcast app, and if you have a minute, we would really appreciate a review. Following and rating is the best way to support us. If you're on Instagram, let's connect. We're at where next podcast. Thanks again.