For one, quality is far superior, and two, screen recording software is cheaper than a video camera. Well most video cameras.

This is how a lot of content is being made now and the primary way I make videos.

I record a slideshow presentation on keynote or powerpoint and record it along with audio I pre-recorded.

Screencasts can also be used to train people, make videos of procedures, export it as a video and give them to new employees.

Doing it this way allows you to travel the world with just a computer, a microphone headset and make videos for membership programs and what not.

The two software to use are Camtasia and Screenflow.

Screenflow is the Mac only software you’d want to use, as Camtasia for the mac is terrible. Screenflow is $99.

Camtasia is the windows software you’d want to use at $299.

Both have a free trial.

Get to recording your videos and tutorials.

Careful when you Surf the Web

Protecting your banking, email, and other online activities is key in preventing identity theft.

Also being able to access websites outside the country you are in is very helpful for travel.

The last benefit to secure web surfing is that if there is censorship on your network (say at school or something) you’ll learn how to get around those censorships.

Did you know if the wifi network you are on is not secure, it’s very easy for someone to get your passwords and information from free to download programs?

To make it even worse, there is a firefox add-on that will capture your login information.

That’s right, a free firefox add-on that will capture your login information.

All they need to do is be on the same wi-fi network as you, and press capture, and it starts capturing any login details on the wi-fi network.

Now even if your network has a password, there are still too many free to download programs that people can use to steal your identify and banking information.

It’s not fun when a bank lets a $10,000 debit on your account happen and not marking it suspicious.

What’s a VPN?

Ok, the way to protect yourself is through something called a VPN, a virtual private network.

It’s basically a connection between your computer and another computer/server, which encrypts your data as it goes through it.

Imagine a tunnel you drive through with a car.

You’ll be the only person driving through the tunnel, so you’ll be safe.

Not using a VPN is like driving on the freeway, everyone can see your car and you, and see what model your car is, what color it is and more info.

VPN Advantages

Now there is and even bigger advantage for a VPN.

If you have ever been to China, you’ll find that they censor a lot of websites, like Facebook, google, and other stuff.

Google only really works when you click on the link to search stuff through Hong Kong, and then the stuff isn’t really censored.

Depending on the type of VPN you get, you will be able to get around these censorships and make your internet think you are in another country.

For example, if you were in China, using one of the most secure levels of VPN, your internet, your web browser will think you are in the country your VPN server is located.

If your VPN server is located in the United States, well, you’ll have access to services located in the US.

Types of Sites You Can Access

Many websites don’t work outside of the United States or other countries for whatever reason from copyright to media streaming rights.

Pandora, Netflix, Spotify, Hulu, Fotolia (some of the time) and other awesome internet services.

The only downside is that sometimes your internet will be slower because your data has to go through the server and back to you. To me this is fine if my data is secure and websites think I’m in the United States.

It also works great when I’m working on my information products, a lot of websites I use to create products require a US IP address.

Sometimes my internet connection is actually faster with the VPN too. Depending on all the censorships, your data might be routed all over the world to different servers, while the servers you want may actually be hosted in the same city as your VPN server (San Francisco).

You can also get around censorships in your school, and other places they may censor stuff in your country.

You can create a VPN on your own, which requires some technical know how or you can pay for the service.

Personally, I’m not able to maintain a server from 2000 miles across the world, so I’ve been using a service for over 14 months now while traveling the world.

I’ve been using Strong VPN.

Their sole focus is having VPN servers around the world. Basically if you choose them as a provider, you’ll get to pick from servers all over the United States, Europe, and Asia.

If you are going to travel Asia and want the fastest VPN in the United States, I would recommend a San Francisco server.

Blocked Website Access In Different Countries

Now if you have to decide between PPTP/L2TP and Open VPN (very technical eh) depending on where you travel PPTP may be blocked and sometimes L2TP as well.

Here in Vietnam, my internet service provider blocked PPTP a few weeks ago, but L2TP which is another configuration of PPTP, allowed me to use the VPN.

Vietnam copies China in that they censor Facebook and some other stuff, so the ISPs will block random stuff at random times.

To get around them, you’ll need a VPN.

Open VPN is the most secure VPN of them all, though it can be a little slower than PPTP.

PPTP is the most simple and Open VPN is the most complicated and speeds get a little (not very noticeable) slower if you go more secure.

Open VPN being more secure also means it’s harder to block. So you’ll usually do fine with Open VPN when it comes to censorship and securing your data.

It’s up to you what service you use, but I’ve been using Strong VPN for 14 months now and their customer service agents are very helpful.

Whenever you have a problem, they’ll help you resolve it to the end on live chat.

If you decide to get a VPN, just know that you’ll be securing your web surfing, you’ll be able to access services of whatever country your servers in, and you’ll be in the end protecting your identity.

Money isn’t everything; it sure is a lot of things. (Photo: jtyerse)

This is part Two of Six for the Road Trip Series. The road trip series is all about preparing for a road trip to finishing a road trip. Read the series for some great tips.

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How much preparation done for a road trip can mean how much fun it is or how miserable it is.

There can be both too little preparation and too much preparation.

Can you imagine coming back from a road trip to find out you lost your job or someone died in your family?

This is why there are some things to prepare for. Of course if you were a true vagabond, you would be location independent.

Planning for Work

If you are indeed working, you’ll need to plan for time off. Not every place will grant vacation time or time off so be prepared for a no.

Submit your time off request early and ahead of your trip by months. If you wait too long, there may no slots for time off when you want to go on a road trip.

Plan ahead for holidays and other busy times of the year, many people who work on the holidays apply for time off on the holidays.

Not all places you work will allow you too much time off at one time either, which is one reason why I quit my job.

Many companies do not function well when an important person leaves for too long, unless you learn to delegate your job functions. I learned to delegate my job functions in my previous job and was able to leave for a week or longer without telling anyone.

I used GoToMyPC or Log Me In to access my PC remotely. I recommend trying these programs out, Log Me In has a free version which works great. I’ll write more about these programs later.

Basically to prepare for time off from work for a road trip:

• Submit your time off request early
• Determine how long you want to be gone
• Plan for holidays and other busy times of the year
• Find ways to delegate work and work remotely

Be Reached on any Phone in the World

To prevent losing your job or not knowing when important matters arrive, you may want to be reached wherever you are in the world by phone. I would still recommend spending less time on your phone while on a road trip; enjoy the experience, not your phone.

There are programs which will give you a phone number for people to call and make it forward to any phone you have access to in the world.

I’ll write more about using these programs later; here are a few you can try and use. Google Voice is free and Skype being very inexpensive.

I currently use Google Voice to forward calls to my cell phone. You can use it to forward to work phones, home phones, and most any other type of phone. I’ll write more about using it later; it is great for a vagabond traveling the world. I will trying Skype only while traveling over seas and combining it with Google Voice.

Here are some benefits:

• Google voicemail: voicemail like email
• Voicemail transcription: read what your voicemail says
• Custom greetings: vary voicemail greetings by caller
• International calling: low cost calls to the world
• Notifications: read voicemail messages via email or SMS
• Share voicemails: forward, embed, or download voicemails

You can also use Skype to forward calls or receive calls while connected to the internet on a laptop (or Wi-Fi on phones which can use Skype).

Either solutions works well, Google Voice is free for forwarding while Skype can actually be used to talk.

What I do while on a trip, I log into my Google Voice account online and set it to forward to any phone I might be around for a while.

Let’s say I’m staying with friends or strangers who don’t currently use Google Voice, I would just have my calls forwarded to their phone (with their permission of course) for the important people. Some places you stay may not have service for your cell phone, so definitely look into Google Voice.

You can also use Google Voice as your main number to mask any of your private numbers. Especially good if you NEED to give your phone number to stalkers or just change phones a lot.

Get a phone call wherever you are in the world from the important people!

Financial Planning will prevent Headaches

Road trips can be really cheap and really expensive, just depends on the person or people planning the trip.

When I went on road trips with my friends, we would find deals and stay at places for free or really inexpensive.

How much do you have to spend? I find it is better to spend less and stretch your money further so you can do more.

These are some of the expenses you need to consider pertaining to the road trip itself:

• Gas
• Hotel/Hostel/Lodging
• Food
• Souvenirs
• Fees for parks/camping/entertainment

Here are some expenses not fully related to the road trip you will still need to think about:

• Rent/Mortgage for Home
• Insurance for cars, house, health, etc.
• Cell/Home Phone Bills
• Pet costs (if you have a pet)
• Utilities
• Subscriptions for home
• Any other expenses

Unless you are a vagabond and don’t have a set home (you make a home wherever you go) then you will still have a lot of bills to pay. Bills just suck.

If you are looking for places to stay as you travel, I recommend you check out Couchsurfing.org. Couchsurfing.org is basically what it sounds like, couchsurfing.

The biggest difference with this couchsurfing and the normal one is safety and reliability. With a good reputation for yourself, you can find people all over the world to stay with. The other great part is that staying with locals means you get firsthand experience from a native showing you around.

I could write so much more about Couchsurfing.org, someone else has already written a great guide about it. Check it out from Karol Gajda called the Black Book #001 from his blog Ridiculously Extraordinary.

Splitting the Bill

Another aspect of traveling with other people is how to pay for everything. Planning ahead with expenses will definitely help any vagabond prevent headaches while traveling.

There are many ways to do it such as each person pays for themselves or if someone pays for all of it (if they have a large bank account or credit card) and everyone reimburse them.

What my friends and I have done is the 2nd way; we would split the bill third ways at the end of the trip and reimburse the person paying for everything. Of course we wouldn’t split luxuries such as a person’s special huge mean or souvenirs; we would split lodging, gas, park fees, and other trip supplies.

Definitely plan ahead and decide:

• To split the road trip bill evenly between everyone
• Everyone pays for themselves

With a little planning, a road trip should just be a fun trip to experience new things. It’s been said that our lives are enriched by new experiences more than possessions. Plan ahead and have fun.

From author of Vagabonding Rolf Potts posted on Tim Ferriss’ Blog 5 Travel Lessons You Can Use at Home

“Scientific studies have shown that new experiences (and the memories they produce) are more likely to produce long-term happiness than new things. Since new experiences aren’t exclusive to travel, consider ways to become time-rich at home. Spend less time working on things you don’t enjoy and buying things you don’t need; spend more time embracing the kinds of activities (learning new skills, meeting new people, spending time with friends and family) that make you feel alive and part of the world.”

Try new things today! Even at home.

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On the next Road Trip Series: Packing for the Road Trip (Part 3).

Posted on February 24th 2010.

You may conquer with the sword, but you are conquered by a kiss. (Photo: .craig)

Valentine’s Day is coming up. V-Day is on Sunday February 14th actually.

I know I know this day is a commercial created holiday to generate sales. I know I know it is a superficial day to care about.

The girl, boy or others (maybe your dog or the other gender) usually don’t care about your reasons why you think Valentine’s day is a waste (I know this from experience). All that matters is this, their feelings about Valentine’s Day and why they want to do something special on this day.

Taking their feelings into account, it just doesn’t matter anymore what you want. Maybe they say they don’t care, when they really do, they only say they don’t to please you sometimes. If you are a vagabond traveling away from your loved ones, there are many things you can do to still show them they are special.

Now let’s think of some Valentine’s Day ideas! If you have any feel free to leave them in the comments below. I’m interested in hearing new ones for myself; I’ll steal an idea or two.

For Vagabonds or Travelers with loved ones elsewhere:

• Send Flowers (Look up the meaning of flowers before you send them)
• Send a Teddy Bear
• Send a Card or eCard
• Send Jewelry
• Send a love letter (Hand Written)
• Send a book
• Send a Unique Gift

The reason’s these things work, is because the person will receive your gift and if you include a note in the gift. You can be anywhere in the world and they will receive these items. Don’t wait too long to send these, the ones with shipping will sometimes require time to send. Some items such as flowers are sent locally.

Remember, order now and send them early!

Now for those Vagabonds or Travelers with their loved ones traveling with them or at home, you can do many of the above items or a few other things. After searching a little around the internet, I found some good information from a famous guy, Ashton Kutcher, talking a little from his new movie “Valentine’s Day.”

He says:

“I actually think that Valentine’s Day must start first thing in the morning. I really, really do believe the only way you’re really going to catch somebody off-guard on Valentine’s Day is when they’re waking up.”

This is a great concept which can be achieved by anyone who is near their lover. Take note and surprise your lover first thing in the morning. Otherwise if you wait until later in the day, you compete with everyone else. You compete with all the flowers they receive, all the text messages and calls they receive, and all the chocolate they receive.

These gifts they receive from other people usually don’t mean much anyway, be the first so everyone has to live up to what you did. Not the other way around where you living up to what they did.

Here are some tips if you are a Vagabond or Traveler near your loved ones:

• Anything from the above list
• Prepare a delicious breakfast with their favorite items
• Prepare a delicious dinner or lunch with their favorite items
• Give them a huge heavy box containing a very small gift
• Wrap a present many times over
• Take them on a special walk
• Learn something new with them (such as dancing or cooking)
• Read a book with the special person

Many of these items do not need to cost much. I would advise not spending lavish amounts on Valentine’s Days or gifts unless the occasions call for it. The time spent and the thought spent is worth billions of dollars if done well.

If you don’t use any of these ideas, just do something simple. Think of the person you are spending your time for. Think what they want, not what you want.

Remember, it doesn’t matter how much or little you care about this day, it matters how much they care.

Enjoy your Valentine’s Day, even being with someone or without, enjoy the day.

Posted on February 9th 2010.