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| Barbara Weibel of Hole In The Donut at Laos cooking class in Vientienne |
TRAVEL INTERVIEW WITH BARBARA WEIBEL OF HoleInTheDonut
Barbara Weibel of HoleInTheDonut travel blog has become one of the most successful solo long-term female travelers and travel bloggers. But it wasn’t always that way. Barbara actually spent much of her life working in careers she found unsatisfying, secretly wishing to uncover her true passions and follow them. Then several years ago she fell very ill. This gave her time and motivation to more seriously identify her ‘life missions’ which turned out to be her long-time passions: travel, writing and photography. As soon as she recovered from her illness in 2007 she finally embarked on her ‘real life’ via a 6-month solo trip around the world. Let’s see where her new life has taken her:
- Barbara Weibel in Himalayas in Nepal
Q1: When at long last you quit your job and left for a 6-month trip around the world trip, how did you feel? Were you terrified but determined? Or were you simply bursting with excitement? Or? How did you finally bring yourself to go for it?
I smiled when I read this because the question I get most often is “Aren’t you afraid?” I always tell people that there is nothing to fear where travel is concerned. I feel as safe on the road as I do when in the States. Leaving behind my career and making the decision to travel full-time was a process; only after I went through a pretty severe illness that made me realize I might never get to do all the things I dreamed of was I finally able to put on my backpack permanently. It was a radical decision to abandon my successful career and walk away from most of my material possessions, but for me it was the right one. I’ve never been so happy.
Q2: How did the people in your life- friends, family, colleagues- react to your drastic change in life? Were they supportive and excited for you or discouraging and scared?
A few of my closest friends were supportive and I had a wonderful boss who thoroughly understood my desires and wished me the very best, but in general most people discouraged me from giving up the safety net of career and traditional home. Especially, people in the industry insisted I would not be able to break into travel writing at my age with no experience and portfolio. However I was fortunate in two respects. First, never tell me I can’t do something because I’m just bullheaded enough to then go and do it just to prove you wrong. Second, I started my blog at just the right time, when travel was just coming onto the Internet scene full throttle. As they say, timing is everything. And decent writing skills have taken me the rest of the way.
Barbara Weibel at Agua Azul Waterfall, Chiapas, Mexico
Q3: Where did you travel on that first round-the-world adventure?
I bought a round-the-world ticket and went to all the top places on my list – 15 countries in six months: Vietnam, Thailand, Bali, Cambodia, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, Tanzania (for a safari – a lifelong dream), Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Zanzibar (technically part of Tanzania but a world apart), Switzerland, Italy, and Portugal.
Q4: What were the most important things you learned from that trip?
That overseas travel is not dangerous (why do U.S. citizens persist in believing it is??); that people everywhere are much the same, we all have the same hopes and dreams and fears; that I won’t live long enough to visit all the places I want to see (that first trip only whetted my appetite and added to my life list of places to visit).
Barbara Weibel in a dugut canoe in Chitwan National Park, Nepal
Q5: After that trip you returned to the US for a while, worked on developing your writing career, and continued traveling much of the time. When did you hit the road again more permanently?
I went back to the U.S. in June of 2007 and rented a small apartment in Florida. For the next two and a half years I used as it a home base as I traveled around the States. Initially I was at home about 50% of the time and traveling the rest of the time, but gradually my time on the road increased to the point that it made no sense to keep paying for an apartment when I was on the road so much of the time. Simultaneously, I was longing to go overseas again, so in November of 2009 I let go of the apartment and hit the road more or less permanently. I come back to the States a couple of times each year, once during the Christmas holidays to visit my family and briefly in the summer to take care of things like taxes.
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| Barbara at The Plain of Jars, Laos |
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Q6: Nowadays do you travel continuously or do you have a ‘home base’ where you live part of the year? If you have a ‘home base’ how much of each year are you traveling and how much ‘settled’ ?
Aside from the ability to stay with my family, I have dear friends in the Atlanta area who have a small apartment on the ground floor of their house. I pay them a small amount to keep a few personal things there and can “come home” to it whenever I please. It is comforting to know I have a place if I need it, but I think I’ve been there just two or three weeks over the past year. Over the past year I’ve fallen in love with Nepal and am drawn, as always, to Thailand. Recently I spent a month in Laos and really loved it there as well. I can see myself getting my Thai retirement visa and splitting my time between Nepal and SE Asia, with a yearly trip home to visit family. But I never really know what the future holds. I just put it out there and wait to see what comes to me!
Q7: What are the main focuses of your travels? (mine are nature, outdoor activities and the cultural arts) What/ where do you like to see/ go / do?
Culture. The longer I travel, the slower I go. More and more, travel for the sake of travel is not enough. I have no desire to rush around and see the top tourist sights in a country unless I can combine that with meeting and developing relationships with locals. For me it’s all about personal connections and, of late, trying to find ways to give back as I travel. I’m a big walker/hiker and love being outdoors, and I also pursue Yoga and meditation opportunities wherever I go.
- Barbara Weibel in Penang, Malaysia, with students at University of Engineering
Q8: Over the past 3 years HoleInTheDonut has become increasingly more popular and famous with a large loyal following. What do you attribute to your great success? Is it your writing skills and topics, connection with readers, vigorous marketing and promotion, SEO skills?
I use all of the above, though the SEO and social media takes up way more of my time than I prefer. But in the end, the real secret to my success is the writing. From the beginning I committed to honing my writing skills and trusted that the rest would just fall into place. That strategy has worked well for me, and I see Google and other rating services moving toward a similar model that rewards sites with the most original, regular, high quality content rather than sites filled with “best of,” “top ten,” and “how to” articles that are just rehashing content that has been featured to death.
Barbara Weibel in Puma, Nepal Cultural Home Stay
Q9: HoleInTheDonut has won many nominations, awards and recognitions. Congratulations! What 3 achievements in your travel life, writing and/or blog are you most proud of?
The improvement in my writing skills; the friends I have made on the road; and finding my “tribe” in the world of travel blogging – people like you!
Q10: What are your travel plans for the rest of 2011?
Agh! Plans are not my strong suite. I rarely have any definite plans beyond the next few weeks and I mostly travel without advance reservations. Even when I have a sketchy idea of where I might be going over the next few months, it changes a dozen times along the way. What I can say definitely is that this afternoon I will fly back to Nepal for at least a month, maybe two. From there, I have opportunities to join a 300 km walk for sea turtles on the east coast of Malaysia; have been invited to travel to Kashmir, India with friends, am considering going back into western China via Tibet; will most likely be in Scotland and England in June; and I’ve applied for press credentials to cover the Dalai Lama’s Kalachakra Mandala for Word Peace, the single most important event of the year for Tibetan Buddhists, which this year will be held in Washington D.C. in July. I figure it will all sort itself out. This fall I’m thinking either eastern Europe (Croatia, Albania, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, and maybe Jordan), or South America. But if things follow their normal pattern, something will pop up and send me in an entirely different direction!
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| Barbara in Nepal with Himalayas in background |
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Q11: How much longer do you think you’ll continue traveling more or less permanently?
I have absolutely no idea. For the moment, I see no end, although I can see myself adopting sort of a home base somewhere overseas. Frankly, I’m just too curious to settle in one place full time, and I can live on the road much cheaper than I can in the States.
Q12: Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?
I can’t even see next month clearly, much less ten years from now! And if the calculator in my head is working, I’ll be approaching 70. Though I don’t know where I’ll be, I hope I’m healthy enough to still be toting this backpack around!
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Thanks so much Barbara for sharing your travels and insights with us! And I don’t need to tell you to continue enjoying your travels, writing and blogging. See you on the road one day. cheers, Lash
Hi! I'm Lash, an American nomadic world traveler who's been traveling solo since 1998. I’m passionate about traveling the world nomadically and then sharing it all with you. I hope to inspire you to travel the world, to entertain you with tales from the road, and to help you reach your travel dreams. Welcome! 
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