GRRRLTRAVELER.COM is now Live!

So after a several days (which I will never get back) of head-scratching and troubleshooting technical difficulties, Team GRRRL TRAVELER (that’s Me, Mich & Moi) was able to successfully migrate my blog over to its actual domain, GRRRLTRAVELER.COM. Hooray & GRRR! While my old TravelerDiaries.wordpress.com blog will be up on WordPress.com a bit longer but I will no longer be updating it. So I encourage all my dear friends out there to update your links and readers- the new site will be simpler to navigate and feature more goodies!

Man, hot-diggity that was hard and hopefully, the major work is over! I will be combing this site in the next couple of weeks to tweak possible broken links or to refine the design. If anyone accidentally stumbles upon a broken link, missing image or has feedback on this new design, please let me know and I will consult with my Triad to make necessary changes.

Happy Travel wings!

Christine

2 Ways Travelers Can Prevent Bed Bugs & Mosquitoes

FROM THE  GRRRL SWISS ARMY TOOLKIT…
by Christine Ka’aloa



I’m very excited. Just had an appointment with my travel doctor this week to catch up on my travel vaccinations & flu shots, when I got an “off-the-record” tip for dealing with everything in travel-bug scary.  Last year when my girlfriend, Margaret and and her travel posse, returned from Costa Rica with a souvenir case of “bed bugs”, it threw my hypochondria into a state of “what ifs…” tizzy. I was nearing my Thailand launch and my budget agenda entailed hostels, guesthouses and trekking in the mountains (Mosquitoes, bed bugs, head lice, oh my! ) Knowing that a fellow travel buddy had fallen in the line of action- despite her own safety precautions- warranted a call to my travel doctor for possible bed bug solutions. Until then,  I

Getting my E-2 Work Visa & a 6 Month Goal

There it is-E2 Korean Visa!

I just got my E-2 Korean visa this past week – whoop!  Looking at it, the fruit of my efforts and travel goals begin sinking in… I feel nervous, weird, most definitely excited and I even begin to feel like I might be a bit Korean!  Most of all, this visa stands for the achievement of a goal.

When I applied for this ESL teaching position 5 months ago, I thought it was going to be a breeze- like filling out a long form/questionaire, writing an essay and flashing my passport. Afterall, it’s a popular work-travel choice for many traveler’s and graduate students looking for an expat experience. What I eventually realized was that this process required so much more…

A Gap Year Abroad: 10 Ways to Gain a Year vs. Lose One

by Christine Ka’aloa

Attention expats and weary career survivalists…

Not ready to “ditch” your career just yet? Afraid your professional contacts might dry up? Uncertain if your experiences abroad will translate into marketable assets for a CV? What is your next career move?… Undoubtedly, these questions are scary for the expat/traveler returning from spending a year+ of their life abroad. But it’s there and it’s inevitable that these questions will arise upon your return. This is your gap year abroad- did you gain a year or lose it?

I’ve spoken to friends who have returned from expat life. Like a NASA astronaut re-entering the earth’s atmosphere, they had to deal with the gravity of transitioning back into their old lives. In doing so, they were almost always met

Spending the Holidays in Hawaii Celebrating State-wide Fireworks

Video shot from an Aiea rooftop looking out to the surrounding neighborhoods. In the very far distance is Honolulu and Pearl Harbor. Fireworks are at a mellow high on this side – not as crazy as the Kailua area.

It’s wonderful being back in Hawaii for the Christmas and New Year holidays! My mainland friends are like- “Oooh, you’re so lucky to be in Hawaii, when its so cold here…”  But it’s not about weather for me.  I’m tired of Santa always flying in on a wave, riding a surfboard, wearing burmuda shorts, flip-flops and a shirt with a huge shaka sign. And giant blow-up Snowman dolls sitting on lawns, sustaining 80 degree weather?… Doesn’t make sense for an island, which has never seen natural

Surfing Delta’s sky Wi-Fi & Go Go In-flight

by Christine Ka’aloa

Just a quick note to say- I am on a flight back home to Hawaii, blogging and surfing the internet from airwaves of 50,000 ft (or higher) while testing out Delta‘s WIFI service.

Yesterday I had won a contest at The Gadling for a free Go Go in-flight session and today, upon arriving at the Delta gate of my flight, they were passing out free Go Go sessions for my flight as well! What luck! How GRRReat is that?

For the month of December, the Wi-Fi service Go Go In-flight is offering a deal for a month’s unlimited usage for only $24.95 (the normal price will be $50). Not bad if you’ll be traveling a lot this month or even just 3 times on either Air Tran, Air Canada, American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta or Virgin. A single flight session costs $12.95 for 3hrs+ and there are lower prices for sessions ranging from 1-3 hours. Alternately, there is also a Mobile Flight Pass if you want to access the internet from your phone.

How’s the service? I like it okay for what it is in surfing sky WiFi. The connection speed is solid- it

GRRRL TRAVELER’s 3-Day Travel Challenge Contest

The GRRRL TRAVELER CHALLENGE #2 CONTEST:
It’s a 3-day contest, so hurry- it will end soon!

As a Producer-Shooter for reality TV- it’s often been my job to produce what I think would be entertaining challenges for a show. So this contest is to see what you think would make a cool GRRRL TRAVELER travel blog or v-log episode. Seeing as my GRRRL TRAVELER Challenge #2 is to live and move abroad   and my destination country is South Korea–

What do you think would be the coolest, craziest or greatest GRRRL TRAVELER Challenge for me to try while living in South Korea?

List your thoughts– you can list more than one– in the Comments section below or email them to me. I will select the one I like best and in the future, you just never know…

Deadline: Wednesday, Dec 10th, 12P EST.

GRRRL TRAVELER’s Travel Challenge #2: Becoming an Expat

by Christine Ka’aloa

The gamble we take in following dreams is that we are never certain of the outcome; yet, a staid and sensible path can be just as uncertain.

Finding the GRRR to embark upon bold new adventures, which remove us from trusted and worn paths, can feel both terrifying and exhilarating. Terrifying, because we must call upon our self-belief to guide us through “the unpredictable and unknown”. Exhilarating, as we are released from our own self-created prisons and given freedom to grow towards our passions, experience new challenges or changes within ourselves and to create a lifestyle that is potentially more meaningful and extraordinary.

When our country’s recession created a drag in my career as Shooter-Producer of reality TV shows, I

The Good, the Bad & the Inevitable of a Beginner Solo Traveler

by Christine Ka’aloa

Back from my GRRRL TRAVELER beginner solo trip with lots of cool experiences to share from Thailand and what I’ve learned about being on the solo road! Everything from mastering squat toilets and cold showers while trekking in the mountains, eating bugs, drinking tiger penis soaked whiskey in Laos, smoking with Buddhist monks, practicing circle 8′s with a guesthouse owner’s motorbike so I could rent a scooter, getting lost virtually …everywhere and more. I have the promise of upcoming tips and advice for beginning GRRRL soloists like myself, the leak of a  GRRRL TRAVELER contest and challenge#2, and much much more…

Firstly, a shout out of warm Mahalos to all the friends following my fun updates on Facebook (sorry Twitterverse- you got gyped some…). Special Mahalos to those who super-caring and supportive of my first solo-solo and who went of their way to make

Waiting Until… a count down to my first solo trip

I’m  waiting at the airport for my plane. Still feeling a bit numb. Last night, I got all of 1 hour of incomplete sleep because I was bundled and freezing because my radiator decided that it only wanted to work at 10A and of course, my upcoming trip had some last minute To-Do’s with it .But in that incomplete hour that my subconscious grasped for time, it gave me a dream reminder of two important things I needed for my trip.  Rather than deconstructing lengthy Freudian and Jungian narratives, let me summarize it as this-

Sometimes, the best survival tool for dissolving anticipatory travel fears and worry is to carry humor and re-connect to inspiration. In all my itinerary planning and nerves, I forgot about this. Humor