Barbara

Hey there (or hey again).

So, you want to know about me, huh?

You’ve probably picked up bits and pieces from reading the site.

But if you’re looking for the story so far, here it is:

In 2007, I was a burned out wreck, working as a political journalist in the Australian capital of Canberra.

I sought some relief from work by taking a cycle tour through Vietnam and Cambodia. (My dad joined me for the Vietnam section, a special 60th birthday present to himself.)

But … the trip didn’t cure my malaise with my everyday life, it just made it worse. So I quit my job and returned to Vietnam to do a TESOL (Teaching English as a Second Language) course so I could flit around the world teaching.

But … I didn’t really enjoy teaching English, so I ended up working for a newspaper in Ho Chi Minh City. And while I was working there, I found love. So I stayed in Vietnam for more than three years, taking breaks now and then to explore Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Then Darling Man* and I had a baby**, so I felt it was important to rejoin the rat race. (I know – silly me!) We relocated to Singapore and Darling Man became a house husband while I commuted to and from Singapore’s financial district.

But … I found working was not as much fun as my dropout life, so I dropped out again.

And that’s when our current crazy adventure began. I became a digital nomad. I was lucky enough to find a location independent editing job and that funded a six-month adventure in Thailand and a one-month adventure in Europe and Egypt.

(The Europe and Egypt adventure was supposed to be a two-and-a-half month cycling and camping adventure, but the French government refused Darling Man a visa because, apparently, Vietnamese passports aren’t welcome in France. So it was a shorter solo-parenting adventure rather than a cycling adventure.)

But … then the location independent editing job disappeared, just after we moved back to Ho Chi Minh City to try to cure Darling Man’s homesickness. So we decided to set up a location-dependent street food tour business. It is A LOT of fun.

Now, five years out of dropping out of the rat race the first time, I juggle a cross-cultural relationship, a three-year-old, a startup business and a bit of location independent editing and writing work.

I have grand plans to learn Vietnamese and research a book about street food over the next year or so.

But the grand plans have to fit around the less grandiose tasks of parenting and working. Of course, we’re also planning on having fun and exploring our little corner of the world.

I’ve been told my blog is a bit random. And that’s kind of what I’m like. I like telling stories, so that’s what I do here. If you like random stuff and funny stories, follow along. You won’t be bored! And you’ll get to meet some other dropouts, too.

So … g’waaan. Subscribe for email updates (on the right, over there) and like my Facebook page.

*I don’t use Darling Man’s real name here because I worry there might be repercussions for his extended family if I say the wrong thing here on this blog. The Vietnamese government can be a bit “sensitive” sometimes and I don’t want anyone suffering as result of an inadvertent faux pas.

**Our baby is Miss M on the blog because she is too young to give permission to have her real name used.