TRAVEL INTERVIEW WITH SHERRY OTT OF OTTSWORLD

Adventurous Sherry Ott of Ottsworld is about to set off on a major epic voyage, The Mongol Rally. She’s traveling with Dave and Deb of ThePlanetD and Rick Griffin of MidLifeRoadTrip. The Rally cannot fail to be an amazing journey! Meanwhile, I’ve been lucky to squeeze in this interview with Sherry just before she sets off…

Hard to believe, but several years ago, Sherry worked a cubicle job in NYC. She wisely gave that up for a life of travel. Now she’s a big proponent of ditching those dull 9-5 jobs in favor of following your dreams. Let’s find out how she went about it all…

Q1. Your first trip overseas was to Istanbul, Turkey when you were 30. Tell us about that trip. How long was it? What were your impressions of Istanbul, traveling, and life? What key things did you learn from that trip?

It was a short trip – only 9 days total and I was traveling from San Francisco, so it was a lot of time spent in an airplane for the first time in my life.  It was my first trip overseas and I was lucky since I went there because a friend (who grew up there and I currently worked with in Minneapolis)  invited me.  I think he felt responsible for getting me out of my country and having me open up my eyes to the world.  Or maybe he just wanted to party with me in Bodrum. Either way, it changed my life for good.  Turkey was not ever on my radar. I didn’t even know where to find it on a map and did absolutely no research before I went (which still is the same for me today when I travel!).  So my first impressions were quite vivid.  I remember thinking it was sort of like San Francisco: a body of water, a bridge, and hills.  But I think I was simply trying to make it familiar to my mind.  Everything surprised me: the food (I never knew eggplant was so popular in other parts of the world), the people who could speak English so well, the bus travel…everything.  The key thing I learned from that trip was that I wanted to do more.  I was lucky enough to experience culture first instead of tourism since I was staying with locals – and I think that shaped me and my travels to come.  And most importantly – it taught me what jet lag was.

Sherry Ott of Ottsworld

Sherry hiking in New Zealand

Q2. A few years later when you quit your life in NYC and finally set off on your big world adventure, how long did you expect to travel?

I expected to be gone for 1 year.  I had rented out my apartment for a year and was planning on coming back.  But that didn’t exactly go as planned!

3. How did the people in your life- friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances- respond to your big plans? Were they encouraging and supportive? In awe and eny? Or were they discouraging? Worried and scared? Or ??

Let’s take this in groups…

Family –   Mom was scared for me and tried to talk me out of it.  Dad was worried about my financial and career longevity.  Brother was a bit envious, but sister-in-law thought I was crazy.  Sister thought it sounded cool, but brother-in-law took the stance of my father.. I was being a bit irresponsible.

Friends – they thought it was great – in fact they used it as a way to plan their own vacations and come visit me in various places around the globe!

Co-workers – Most were really supportive and terrible envious – however my boss and CIO weren’t too thrilled with me at all since I gave them 2 weeks notice and I already had a one way ticket, had sublet-ed my apartment, and had given away my cat… They were upset that I left no way to talk me out of it.
The important thing is that my parents really came around to the idea.  I let them know about it a year before I was going to take off in order to get them used to the idea and that worked well.  They actually came and helped me pack everything up and take off in the end!

Netherlands-by Sherry Ott

Netherlands

Q4. After all your preparations and planning, quitting your job, etc.. when the big day actually arrived for you to set out, how did you feel? What were you thinking? Were you completely confident and gung-ho? Elated and set free? A bit nervous or doubtful of anything? Or?

Oh my – I don’t think I ever cried so much in my life.  It was ridiculous looking back on it.  I was terrified and scared…yet it was totally my idea to do it – so I could blame no one but myself.  However – think back – in 2006 things were much different.  There were no travel blogs. Twitter and Facebook really weren’t used as they are today.  There were absolutely no support structures for me, so my fears would just build and build and I felt like I was embarking on something no one had ever done before which is what made it scarey.  I remember crying terribly at the airport as friends sent me off!  Here I was following my dream and I was sad…they thought I had lost my mind.

Vietnam- by Sherry Ott

Vietnam

Q5. 15 months into your world trip you wrote an article, ‘Me in the Middle’, comparing yourself with yourself just before you left. I couldn’t tell from the article what you did next. Did you then continue your travels or did you take a break for a while? If a break, for how long and where?

Shortly after that, my life really started to change drastically.  My initial career break was stretched into 16 months and I still didn’t want to come back.  I remember crying about coming home (yes – apparently I’m a crier).  However when I did come home I made a huge decision.  I decided to completely let go of the safety net and sell everything I owned, get my ESL CELTA certification and take off and live in another country.  I also started to really consider the possibility of taking my blog and photography to the next level and began to take the steps to do that.  The shedding of my possessions and deciding to continue to shun my old corporate life was the real start to being completely nomadic.  I no longer would have a home to go home to.  This was in the beginning of 2008.  I stayed in NYC to sell off my stuff for about 4 months – then the nomadic life really started.

Sherry Ott of Ottsworld

Sherry teaching English in Vietnam

Q6. When did you ‘settle down’ in Vietnam teaching English? How long did you do that? How did you like that lifestyle?

I landed in Saigon in September of 2008 and lived there for a year exactly.  My first big lesson was that traveling through a country and living in a country were completely different – so I went through a number of growing pains.  Plus – I was there completely on my own and was about 39 years old at the time.  I learned that being solo and just about 40 was a challenge as an expat.  It took me a while to get over my loneliness, but then I started meeting people and enjoying the craziness of Vietnam.  I got my own motorbike and started to really have fun!  I ended up networking with a bunch of expats and found all kinds of odd jobs teaching and doing computer work and I traveled a ton around the area.  Yet for the first time – I actually missed the US a bit and especially my friends.  So a year was just enough for me in Saigon!

Vietnam- by Sherry Ott

motorbike in Vietnam

Q7. In Asia there are many countries where you can teach English. Why Vietnam? Would you like to teach in other countries too? If so, which ?

I chose Vietnam for a couple of reasons – I knew it would be a challenge because it wasn’t as developed as Thailand which I thought would be too easy for me.  Even though I’m a crier – I like a good challenge  – and that is normally what drives me and my decisions.  I loved traveling through Vietnam the year before because it was one of the few SE Asian countries which really had it’s culture still in tact.  There were no chain restaurants or businesses – it still felt untouched – but slightly developed.  I also chose Vietnam because my sister and her family lived as expats in Singapore – so it was really nice to have them a 2 hour flight away!  I may teach again, it’s always a possibility and I do enjoy it.  However I enjoy it more from a volunteering perspective rather than an official language school perspective.

Q8. You have 2 other travel-related websites. Tell us about them- what are they all about?

This week we actually just merged them into one website now!  I work with another avid traveler and business partner on bringing the idea of career break travel/sabbaticals to American culture; sort of a gap year but for grown-ups.  The website is called www.MeetPlanGo.com and we focus on encouraging and teaching others how to travel the world and have it be beneficial to your career.  We envision a world where the term ‘career break is part of your overall career strategy.  We are doing this by holding our second annual national travel event on October 18th in 17 cities across North America where people can learn more about extended travel and career breaks as well as network and meet others in their community who have done it.  In addition to the events, we offer planning tools, a training class, and we offer loads of inspiration on our Briefcase to Backpack blog.  The blog is where we have other career breakers share their stories about their planning, trip, or re-entry.

Petra- Jordan

Petra, Jordan

Q9. You recently returned to NYC, to my great surprise. How long are you going to stay? What’s the purpose of your visit there?

I was only there for 2 weeks!  I quite often fly in and out of NYC becuase that is where my little storage unit is located.  So I have to go there to change out clothes for seasons and various types of travel.  I had spent 4 months on the road this winter and needed to stop in and change over gear and also work with my Meet Plan Go business partner who is located in NYC.  I will be in the US for about 3 months  – but moving around the country the whole time for Meet Plan Go events and other travel blogging conferences.  I’m then heading out again at the end of June to Spain for a few weeks, and then to London to start my ultimate adventure for 2011 – the Mongol Rally!  In general – I find that I’m out of the country at least 6 month out of the year and stop by here to see family and just check in periodically.

Mongolia

Mongolia

Q10. And now the most exciting bit: In July you’re embarking on a huge adventure- Mongol Rally- driving from England to Mongolia with 3 other well-known travel bloggers. Can you tell us about this amazing mega-adventure.

It is a mega adventure!  Quite frankly it’s exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time.  Myself and 3 other travel bloggers are driving from London to Mongolia for charity.  It’s an unorganized adventure in which the goal is to simply arrive.  When/if you do arrive in Ulanbatar Mongolia, then we donate our car and the money we raised to charity.  We will cross 15 countries and cover about 10,000 miles.  There is no single route that we are following – we can get there however we want.  We are thinking it will take about 6 to 8 weeks – but really have no idea as I’m sure we’ll run into things we never imagined.  The twist is that you can’t just take any kind of car – instead it has to be a car that is not meant for the terrain – a 1.2 liter engine car.  Yes – you read that right – 4 big people and tons of gear in a little clown car…for 10,000 miles.  Currently we are working on getting sponsors and raising money for the charity.  The planning work in a huge challenge for 4 bloggers who are always on the road – but we have less than 100 days before the rally starts – so we have to get our act together soon!

Q11. What’s up next for you after the Mongol Rally?

I head back to the US to hold the Meet, Plan, Go! event on October 18th.   It takes a lot of work to have such a big event all on the same night in 17 cities – so I will really have no time to rest!  After the the event – then I’m not really sure!  However I know that plans will start solidifying soon!  I normally plan my travels about 3 or 4 months out and I never quite know where it will take me.

Q12. How long do you think you’ll continue with your nomadic travel life?

There are times where it gets really difficult, living out of a suitcase for 5 years can be great and can be awful.  I find that I struggle with my nomadic lifestyle the most when I am back in the US.  It’s hard to constantly find people to stay with and not really have a place to call home.  But when I’m out of the US traveling or living abroad – it doesn’t bother me at all.  I can say that I have no intention to change things any time soon!  In fact, as my websites and social media work continue to grow, it just provides me more fuel to keep going!
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Sherry, thanks so much for telling us all about your travel and blogging life. Happy trails and best luck on the great Mongol Rally!

To follow Sherry and her adventures:  Ottsworld

 www.MeetPlanGo.com    /   Briefcase to Backpack