Who Is Nora Dunn Of The Professional Hobo?
Always looking to provide travellers with top trending, influential information and allowing you to ‘stay connected’ before and while you travel Wise Traveller profiles up and coming travel blogger Nora Dunn, who is behind The Professional Hobo. Our profile series allows you to get to know the person behind some of the most popular and influential travel blogs.
About Nora
Nora Dunn is a full-time traveller and freelance writer from Toronto, Canada. In 2006, she sold her financial planning practice, and got rid of all of her belongings in order to free herself up for the adventure of a lifetime. Since early 2007, she’s been on the road, travelling slowly through over 50 countries and five continents. She has become an expert on working in trade for free accommodation.
Let’s Get To Know Nora
We asked Nora a few questions about her life as a traveller.
What is your favourite destination and why?
This is a dangerous question, because travel is highly contextual. In my experience, your delight (or horror) in a place has very little to do with the place itself; rather, it's about who you're with, what you're doing, and how you're feeling at the time. As an example, I expected to love India – many travelling friends of mine cite it as their favourite country. Instead, I had a miserable time, not necessarily because of the country, but because of my personal circumstances at the time.
What was your worst or scariest travel experience?
Probably when I was in a near-fatal accident in Grenada in the Caribbean. I was on the back of a scooter that was hit head-on (full-speed) by an SUV (for the record, it was their fault). Without a helmet, I was catapulted and landed some distance away – first, on my head, and then after a few more somersaults, I broke the rest of the fall with my lower legs. My head was split open and it took me a long time to learn to walk properly again, but three inches to the left, and I would have hit the gutter and probably wouldn't be here to tell the story.
What was is your most memorable, inspiring or life changing travel moment?
Wow....so many. But among the more “unbelievable” things I've done, would be that I apprenticed with a shaman in Peru for a couple of years....
If you could only give one single travel tip that you think would be the most helpful what would it be?
Without a doubt, it is to explore the wonderful world of free accommodation. You'll not only save a ton of money (in 10 years, I saved over $100,000 in accommodation expenses), but you'll get to stay in places you'd never otherwise have an opportunity to, and get a much more culturally immersive and rewarding experience. Free accommodation comes in many forms, from volunteering to house-sitting, hospitality exchanges, home exchanges, and even living on boats. I wrote a book about it: How to Get Free Accommodation Around the World.
What, if any, is the one thing you would never travel without?
Although I survived for the first five or so years of my full-time travel lifestyle without one, I now no longer would like to travel without my smartphone. It helps me with everything from staying in touch with people, to researching new places, consulting maps, catching an Uber ride, tracking my expenses, and so much more.
What was the single most influential thing/moment that drove you to travel blogging?
I started travel blogging before blogging was “a thing”. Digital nomads didn't exist; the term was years away from being coined. So I started my blog like many travel bloggers do – as a glorified travel journal. Instead, I focused on earning money as a freelance writer.
But as the years went by and my blog garnered international attention (due in part to my accidentally starting an international NGO on the fly (long story)), I discovered that it complemented my freelance writing career very much. While I wrote for travel publications about finance, and for finance publications about travel, I married the two topics on my website to teach people how to travel full-time in a financially sustainable way.
What advice you would give someone wanting to become a travel blogger?
Don't Do it! (Just kidding....sort of). I've been referred to as the grandmother (or pioneer) of travel blogging, since I started before concepts like monetisation were developed. But interestingly, it doesn't mean I actually know what I'm doing...I kind of got swept up along with the industry as it built up around me.
If I had to do it all again today, I'd say don't reinvent the wheel. There's a lot to learn, and a lot of people out there who can teach you. Invest in a solid course to reduce the learning curve (which is steep in this highly competitive industry), and take it seriously as a business if you want to earn any kind of living with it; you'll save time and money in so doing.
But don't listen to me; I interviewed a panel of successful travel bloggers about their secrets to success: 24 Tips to be a Successful Travel Blogger.
Our summary of Nora
Nora teaches people how to travel full-time in a financially sustainable way with financial travel tips, packing tips and lists, gear reviews, and financial case studies. She illustrates what it's really like to travel full-time through personal stories and observations of cultures around the world. Nora is also the author of Working on the Road: The Unconventional Guide to Full-Time Freedom, and she pens a monthly column “Dear Nora.”
