{jcomments off}Welcome to our beer fund page!

In case you didn't notice, everything on this site is free. If you found something on here useful or inspirational, do what a friend would do and buy us a beer (or a round). It's up to you.

Here are the options:

$1	One cheap-ass Central American lager (not including the bottle deposit)
$3	One plastic bottle of Nicaraguan hootch
$5	One imported can of Guinness
$10	A round of happy hour cocktails for all three of us
$20	Two bottles of Chilean red wine and a chocolate bar
$25	One handle of Panamanian rum
$35	All the supplies to make a long-island iced tea
$50	Two cases of the finest imported beer
$75	A night we probably won't remember
$100	A bottle of 12 year old Flor de Caña rum and a box of hand-rolled Nicaraguan cigars
$250	Another night out at the Stone Brewery
$500	A case of Moët and a pack of hot dogs

Going Overland — Paul and Helen have been on the road since 2010, their plan is to circumnavigate the world in a 1994 Landrover.{jcomments lock}

Dring Dream — Two french cycelists, Marie and Oliver are on the way to Usuahia from Seattle they sarted in 2011.

From A to B — Mark and Sarah drive the beast a Daf 4×4 flatbed truck, they left their jobs in the UK and decided to drive from Alaska to Brazil.

Ben and Eveline con Queso — Are riding around South America on two motorcycles. We met them in Mendoza, it was their 3rd day on the road.

Cape to Cape in search of the Facawis - Chris and Janet are on their way north to Alaska, having already driven from Norway to Cape Town they are still in search of that lost tribe the Facawis. 

Home on the Highway –James and Lauren go where the road takes them. They have no particular plans except to head south. We love eating apples as much as they do.

Drive Nacho Drive –Brad & Sheena started their global trek at the end of 2011 in Nacho, a 1984 VW Vanagon. Their plan is to circumnavigate the Globe!

Anywhere That's Wild – Jill and Zack are driving an amazing 2003 Astro AWD Van, discovering the beauty of the natural world and its many cultures. It's all about the awning!

Outside of the box– Tine and Matthias are cycling from Calgary to Argentina. These two are hardcore!

Global Road Trekker - Jim and Wendy re-defining their American Dream with a three-year road trip adventure to drive around the world. We wish they would hurry up and catch up!

CaliToKenya - Jon and Alison are heading around the world starting in April 2012. Another 4Runner on the PanAm!

Seventeen by Six - Jeremy and Paula left London for a road trip down the Americas in a 1997 VW Eurovan.

Ruined adventures - Brenton and Shannon hit the road in early 2012 in the border-runner. The plan? Drive down the Americas, up Africa and everywhere in between.

Head south - Paul and Suzie drove to Costa Rica and are currently fighting fires in Canada, but they will be back on the road soon, hopefully in time to share a few more beers with us in South America.

Trans-Americas Journey – A couple touring all of Western Hemisphere with five years to do it. They are four years in and have only been to eight countries. With 15 more to go, we’re betting their trip will be extended.

EarthCricut– Andy and Dunia is driving a retrofitted wheelchair bus named Jigsaw. The plan? Circumnavigate the globe!

Adventure the Americas – These 3 guys are crazy but awesome, they plan on driving from Denver to Argentina and back in 6 months! In the 2nd gen 4Runner we believe they will make it!

Poramericaandando – Joaquin and Clara are doing things a little different, they are driving a Vanagon from Argentina to Alaska!

Resources for Digital Nomads

Location Independent – A family who were fed up with working for the man and became digital nomads in 2007. This site has a wealth of free information to help with the struggles of becoming location independent.

Jet-set Citizen – Contains an excellent ongoing series of interviews with digital nomads around the world. Not to mention lots of other information.

Art of Non-Conformity – Chris Guillebeau has authored both a website and several useful ebooks about leading the lifestyle of your dreams.

Nerdy Nomad – Kirsty’s blog is about how she makes money (and how much) by creating niche websites about the places she’s lived in around the world.

Corbett Barr – A writer, entrepreneur and all around nice guy. He’s been making money online for quite a few years and maintains this very inspirational blog about how you can be like him.

I will teach you to be rich – Excellent finance site. Crucial information on how to be financially literate. It’s not travel or digital nomad specific, but still very relevant.

Man vs. Debt – Adam Baker sold almost all his possessions back in 2009, with the goal of paying off all his debt and saving enough to spend a year abroad in Austrailia. This site is about his successes and the struggles of living debt free.

Pan America Trip Resources

Drive the Americas – The bible of websites for driving the Pan-America highway. Our #1 go to site for latest information on pretty much everything related to traveling south.

Horizons Unlimited – An excellent site geared towards mortorcyclists, but useful for everyone overlanding. The forums are incredible, but the rest of the site is fantasitc as well. Be careful you can get lost on here for hours.

WikiOverland - Is on its way to becoming a awesome resource of up to date information. If you can, help to keep it up to date.

General Travel & Backpacking Advice

Lonely Planet Thorn Tree – For all those random little questions that haven’t yet made it into the Google search index. Tons of travelers have posted their advice here. Everything from locations to visit, to quality of wifi abroad.

Backpack Forever – If a website could ever be a guidebook, this would be it. Written by backpackers for backpackers. Lots of useful tips for traveling pretty much everywhere.

Travel blogs

Technomadia – A couple who has been traveling around the US for quite a while, living the nomad life and blogging about it.

Bacon is Magic – Ayngelina is traveling solo through Latin America trying to figure out what life is all about, a witty and fun blog to read!

Almost Fearless – Christine quit her full time job in 2008 to become a travel writer and photographer. She now travels full time with her husband and son.

What is Life Remotely?

{jcomments lock}Life Remotely is a resource for professionals who wish to break free from the perpetual rut of working for tomorrow. We have never felt entirely at peace with a stationary existence or daily routines. We’ve spent the last fifteen years in school, building careers, attempting to achieve financial stability and professional success. We saved, lived cheap and resorted to extreme measures to assure we could travel as much as possible.

We slowly realized that the freedom to discover what the world has to offer is more important than furthering our professional or financial “success”. After a decade of working endlessly for the next plane ticket, we decided to break the cycle. No longer would we leave our jobs at home, only to return home after a few weeks or months of travel to dream about the next trip.

We became digital nomads, combining our love for travel and the need to continue working. We are here to chronicle our journey and provide information and resources for others who wish to do the same.

Who We Are

Life Remotely was created by Jessica and Kobus Mans, and Jared McCaffree. We share the common passion of travel, and a lifestyle that allows us to spend our time where we choose. Our professional careers have allowed us to spend most of our time working remotely. Over the past ten years we have worked hard to establish the skills, clients and credibility necessary to perform these jobs while traveling.

Jared is a software developer specializing in web and mobile application development. He has filled the role of a technical team lead and has successfully managed small groups of software professionals from a remote workplace.

Jared spent his final year of high school studying abroad in the Netherlands. A year later, while pursuing a degree in computer science, he returned to Holland for eight months to study Dutch at the University of Amsterdam. During his time in Europe he traveled extensively while completing several software projects for U.S.-based clients.

For the past seven years he worked as a software developer in the health care field, telecommuting most of the week. Based in Seattle, he continued to travel through Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe and the U.S. as work allowed.

Jessica is a freelance graphic designer specializing in presentation and event design. During college she spent three summers living and working as a photographer on an archaeological dig in Croatia. She extended her time overseas whenever possible, traveling to many other locations throughout Europe.

In 2004 she joined Norwegian Cruise Lines as a photographer and met her husband, Kobus. They traveled together while working on ships for nearly two years. Jessica spent the next three years working as a short-term contract graphic designer for many companies in the Seattle area, quitting to travel whenever cash flow permitted.

In early 2009 she became a glorified grad-school dropout and immediately fell into a full time freelance career. She has spent the last few years working as a presentation expert and building relationships with clients while working both in Seattle and remotely from other parts of the world.

Kobus is a web designer and developer, and a college instructor at Lake Washington Institute of Technology. He was born and raised in South Africa and left home in 2002 to join Norwegian Cruise Lines. Kobus worked every major cruise ship destination from Asia, the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Alaska, Mexico and Central America.

He left ships in 2006 to marry Jessica and continue his college education in the States. Together Jessica and Kobus spent every college break possible traveling around Africa, Asia, Europe and Australia. They worked remotely on trips where possible, but only recently with the explosion of online teaching, have they been able to be completely location independent.

In 2008 Kobus earned his associates degree from the Lake Washington Institute of Technology. He completed his bachelors degree at DeVry University’s online campus in 2010. Kobus started teaching Web Design as well as various other web centric courses for the Multimedia Design and Production department at Lake Washington Institute of Technology.

Where We’re Going

On October 6th of 2011 we turned in the keys to our Seattle home and started a long drive South. With any luck, in December of 2012 we’ll be spending the night in Antarctica. We’ll have traveled and worked in every continent. Follow our travel stories on the Shenanigans page.

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This comment policy may be updated in the future.

{jcomments lock}Technology gives us the ability to work remotely. Curiosity, wonder and boredom drive us to the far reaches of the world. Put the two together and you have Life Remotely.

We've spent the past fifteen years traveling and working around the world. In October of 2011 we left our home in Seattle and headed south. Our goal: drive to Patagonia and spend the night in Antarctica. From there, who knows.

Read more about us.

Travel Advice

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Here you will find resources to help plan your trip and make the most of your time abroad. The most useful information we've learned during our years of traveling the world and wished we knew a decade ago.

How to Create a Travel Budget How to create a travel budget. Including calculating travel expenses, organizing and analyzing a travel budget to provide useful information.

The Hazards of Driving Unknown Roads Advice for staying safe when driving in foreign countries. Tips for dealing with potholes, animals in the road, speed limits, missing road signs, and driving at night.

The Truth about all Types of Travel Insurance Travel insurance policies and how to chose between them, including travel medical or health, evacuation and repatriation, accidental death and dismemberment, trip cancellation and damaged or lost baggage.

Five Necessities to Survive Camping Five ways to make sure that your next camping experience is a pleasant one, including easy methods and gear that helps you to stay warm, dry, well fed, free of bugs and critters and not bored.

Work while Traveling

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A location independent lifestyle is not the same experience as vacation travel. Becoming and remaining a digital nomad requires a considerable amount of work prior to and during your adventures. You will experience major lifestyle changes and must find new ways of confronting the world around you. Such endeavours should not be taken lightly. Luckily, we are here to help.

The Baiscs of Setting up your mobile office How to setup and manage a mobile working environment. Including how to choose gear, software advice, backups and keeping your office secure.

Balancing Work & Travel Balancing working and traveling can be difficult. This article explains ideas to make sure you enjoy both your career and your time on the road.

Transition Your 9 to 5 Job to a Work Anytime & Anywhere Job How to transition your 9 to 5 job to a one that can be done remotely. Including how to come up with a plan, draft a telecommuting proposal and negotiate with your employer.

How to Tell your Clients you are becoming Location Independent How to explain to your clients that you are taking your freelance business on the road and becoming a digital nomad. General advice and client specific advice on how to treat different situations.

Gear

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Advice and packing lists for all types of travel. We have compiled years of good and bad gear choices, relevant whether you are backpacking Europe, overlanding in Africa, or setting up your mobile office.

Gear you Think you Need to Pack, but Really Don’t A list of things that travelers often carry with them, but aren’t necessary. Includes general items and gear specific to backpacking.

Matching gear to your travel style How to choose gear that fits your travel style. Including advice on packing for backpack trips and travel with a vehicle.

Packing List: 4x4 Overlanding in Africa Full packing list for overlanding South and East Africa, mostly camping. Including vehicle parts, clothing, camping, cooking, and other gear.

Packing List: Photography Equipment A complete list of camera gear to take on the road, including gear that is optional and items not to take. Specifics on lenses, brands and accessories.

Trip Shenanigans

{jcomments lock}Welcome to our destinations section. We created this area to better organize our posts and reports about our current drive from Seattle to Argentina. There is lots to blog about – sights to see, food to eat, border crossings, budgets, internet access, and of course, our typical shenanigans.

Trip Information

Trip Reports

Countries