The Big FAQ
We have compiled a list of answers to the following questions we have been asked a lot since we began traveling and blogging.
If you don't find your answer here, we'd love you to ask us.
Q. Where are you from?
Q. How old are you?
Q. What do you do for work?
Q. What do you like doing besides traveling?
Q. Are you married?
Q. How long will you travel for?
Q. Where are you going to travel to?
Q. Where have you been?
Q. Where did you get the money?
Q. Why are you traveling?
Q. How do you blog on the road?
Q. Is it fun? Is it hard?
Q. What are the best places/experiences you've visited/had?
Q. Do you have sponsorship?
Q. Do you have any travel tips?
Q. Who designed the website?
Q. What blog software do you use?
Q. How can I get a blog like this?
Q. What camera do you use?
Q. Do you digitally enhance the photos?
Q. Can I use your photos on my website/somewhere else?
Q. Can you photograph/write/program/design something for me/my company?
Q. Can you send me something from Asia?
Q. Do you sell your images?
Q. Do you make any money from this site?
Personal
-
Q. Where are you from?
Q. How old are you?
Q. What do you do for work?
Q. What do you like doing besides traveling?
Q. Are you married?
The Journey
-
Q. How long will you travel for?
Q. Where are you going to travel to?
Q. Where have you been?
Q. Where did you get the money?
Q. Why are you traveling?
Q. How do you blog on the road?
Q. Is it fun? Is it hard?
Q. What are the best places/experiences you've visited/had?
Q. Do you have sponsorship?
Q. Do you have any travel tips?
Technical
-
Q. Who designed the website?
Q. What blog software do you use?
Q. How can I get a blog like this?
Q. What camera do you use?
Q. Do you digitally enhance the photos?
Q. Can I use your photos on my website/somewhere else?
Business
-
Q. Can you photograph/write/program/design something for me/my company?
Q. Can you send me something from Asia?
Q. Do you sell your images?
Q. Do you make any money from this site?
Personal
Q. Where are you from?
- A. Evenstar grew up in Perth, Western Australia, and has spent most of his life living in Margaret River just a few hours south of the city of his birth. Mau was born in Sydney, roamed around the east coast as a kid, spent some time in New Zealand, flipped back to Sydney, tried living in Canada and Japan and then Canada again, after which she returned home and bought a shack in outback QLD where she remained until she met Evenstar, and everything changed....
Q. How old are you?
- A. Evenstar is 49, Mau is 28.
Q. What do you do for work?
- A. We'll we're a little slack now. Is blogging a profession if nobody pays you to do it? Evenstar spent the last 20 years running his own photographic retail business and Mau has been a contract web programmer for corporations and government ministries for the last 9 years (with breaks for more ludicrous – ludicrous, not lucrative - positions, like Muttaburra lifeguard).
Q. What do you like doing besides traveling?
- A. Evenstar likes taking photographs, walking a lot (especially up steep inclines, says Mau) and listening to his ridiculously vast music collection. Mau likes watching anime, swimming and loafing around making a nuisance of herself.
Q. Are you married?
- A. No.
The Journey
Q. How long will you travel for?
- A. We don't really know. We haven't set a time limit for ourselves, because you never know when new doors will open or an emergency will take us back to Australia. Essentially we'll travel until the money runs out, so it depends on how frugal we are. If we are really well behaved we could spend up to 2 years on the road.
Q. Where are you going to travel to?
- A. We don't know that either. All the countries in mainland South East Asia expect Burma (for politcal reasons) are definites. Beyond that we can't decide. Exerpt from our post “Clueless":
Plan 1: The Great Asian Odyssey
From Hanoi, this plan involves heading North along the Chinese coast, breaking for a tour of Japan, then back to China, striking inland along the silk road, followed by some Central Asian craziness, Tibet, Nepal and India. It covers a lot of the same ground as the start of Plan 2, but we'd be taking our time. This is a “less journeying, more experience" kind of plan, but 2 years is a LOT of Asia.
Plan 2: The Great Overland Journey: Singapore To Cairo
This plan swings into gear in Hanoi and starts with a flight over Burma into Bangladesh or Chennai. Northern India would be followed by Nepal, Tibet, the Lhasa to Beijing railway, the trans-Siberian through Mongolia to Moscow, a ferry across the Black Sea to Turkey then (hopefully) Syria, Jordan and Egypt. This plan could come unstuck on visas, but apart from Syria the route is open at the time of writing. I first dreamed this one up years ago and I reckon it's a pretty snazzy itinerary, but it's a lot of ground to cover.
Of course, it may turn out that we go mad and abandon it all to get lost in the savannas of Tanzania or the jungles of Columbia, I don't know. We really should work it out soon though, because at the moment we feel, well, “themeless".
Q. Where have you been?
- A.Check our Locations page or our Map to see where we've been. Often they'll be a little bit out of date but we'll try to upload new ones regularly.
Q. Where did you get the money?
- A. Evenstar sold his business and instead of being a staid, careful little chicken he decided to risk it on an adventure of the heart :)
Q. Why are you traveling?
- A. Because traveling rocks. See any number of marvelous quotes about the value of travel written by more eloquent persons than I.
Q. How do you blog on the road?
- A. We carry our laptops in our packs and seek out internet cafes and guesthouses/restaurants that offer wireless connections. Sometimes we have to stay a few extra days in a place to get our blog in order, but we take care to choose those places well :)
Q. Is it fun? Is it hard?
- A. Yes and Yes. Every day IS a unique adventure, but sometimes you just wish for your own bed or the company of your friends and family. Everything, even travel, is a trade-off.
Q. What are the best places/experiences you've visited/had?
- A. Check out our Best of South East Asia page.
Q. Do you have sponsorship?
- A. No. If you want to sponsor us we'll give you lots of love and travel to the ends of the earth for you. Contact us.
Q. Do you have any travel tips?
- A. Check out our South East Asia Travel Tips page.
Technical
Q. Who designed the website?
- A. Mau designed and built it from scratch all by her lonesome. Her resume is here.
Q. What blog software do you use?
- A. None, this is a custom website built just for us, sorry.
Q. How can I get a blog like this?
- A. If you have a web server that runs php and mysql and a fair bit of coding knowledge I will send the source and db structure to you. Otherwise, if you feel like donating a small amount of moolah for my time I will set one up for you. We could also possibly bargain for blog pimping. Contact us
Q. What camera do you use?
- A. A compact Fuji Finepix S9600. No being weighed down or slowed down by an SLR, but a lot of compromise.
Q. Do you digitally enhance the photos?
- A. We edit them in photoshop but just enough so that they better capture the qualities of the original subject.
Q. Can I use your photos on my website/somewhere else?
- A. Read the Creative Commons License. If it's for non-commercial use and Doug Meikle @ DreamingTrack.com is credited for the photos, yes you may. Otherwise, you had better not!
Business
Q. Can you photograph/write/program/design something for me/my company?
- A. Absolutely. We will be releasing our digital article portfolio and image library soon. In the meantime if you can use our skills please contact us to discuss your requirements.
Q. Can you send me something from Asia?
- A. If you can PayPal enough to cover our costs, yes we can. Contact us.
Q. Do you sell your images?
- A. We plan to sell them online in the future. In the meantime if you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of the raw/tiff file please contact us
Q. Do you make any money from this site?
- A. Not a red cent. Note the lack of advertising.