Sunday, May 22, 2011

travelfish.org

I happened to come across another useful site for Asian travel information
http://www.travelfish.org/

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Voyage Countdown Reset - New Date: November 4, 2011

Choices.

It all comes down to choices.

And so I've decided to accept a 3rd contract extension with my current client.

My new target is now November 4th, 2011 - and after that - I hope to take a break and do some sailing - or at least some traveling around the world for a bit.

I had a solid offer to take an assignment in Johannesburg, South Africa - but I've decided for the moment that continuing to run my successful consulting practice is really what I enjoy most.

The freedom to negotiate my own engagements, to be paid a wage that I negotiate, and to be paid for my actual effort - those are very strong positive features that I've grown to appreciate about running my business.  I willingly accept the risks that my choices carry - and I likewise enjoy the rewards that those risks sometimes produce.

I still need to find a boat - but for the moment - I can just focus on the work at hand.

I had a thought last night as I was about to drift off to sleep...I wondered if there might be some presentation that I might assemble - to share with other cruisers some of the approaches I've found to generating monthly income through options trading.  The next 6 months will be a good test of the strategies and I ideas I've been experimenting with the last few years.  One of my goals after my 2004 voyage - and 2007 sabbatical in Mazatlan - was to find ways to generate a decent cruising budget - with somewhat limited risk - and minimal oversight/management of my investments (say, 3 or 4 trades per year).  So far, the results have been promising.

My target cruising budget is about $900/month - which I found to be a very comfortable lifestyle - with the luxury of spending quite a bit of time in Mexico marinas when I wanted.  My lowest month (when just anchoring out) - and staying away from resort towns - was about $350 - primarily covering just food and some internet access (in small fishing villages).