Meet the Nomads: Sherry Ott

I feel so lucky that the author of one of the blogs that I’ve been reading for some time agreed to be featured in my Meet the Nomad’s section. I’ve been reading Ottsworld and Briefcase to Backpack for the longest time because I’ve been learning a lot from Sherry and from the contributors as well.

Sherry has been travelling for more than four years, yup, four years! She left her corporate job to travel the world and she’s been doing a lot of various activities since then.

Get to know Sherry more and visit her blogs (see links at the end of this article).

Here’s Flip’s short interview with Sherry.

How did you discover your passion for travelling?

“It took me a long time to know that I had passion for traveling; I left the country for the first time when I was 30! That trip to Turkey was great – but I don’t think that it awakened a passion in travel immediately. Instead, I think it slowly grew while I also simultaneously started disliking my career. As I went on vacations I never wanted to come back to work….ever. When I discovered photography – that was probably the turning point. I realized that I loved to capture the world to share with people…whether that be in words or photos. ”

What’s the most horrible experience that you’ve had on the road?

“Considering I’ve been traveling for 4 ½ years – I haven’t had any really terrible experiences…(furiously knocking on wood now). The worst thing though was getting stranded for a few days in Casablanca at an airport hotel and not having luggage or any information as to why they were holding us there and why we couldn’t depart. As I recall – the whole thing did bring me to tears in the middle of the airport…but like everything…with time you tend to forget the bad stuff and only remember the good. Isn’t that why women get pregnant again?!”

What’s the best travel experience that you’ve ever had?

“Here’s a secret about me – When you have been traveling as long as I have, you have no ability to pick just ‘one’…or the ‘best’…so you get a few…

• Hiking the Annapurna circuit with my 73 year old father
• Volunteering for the first time in Delhi India working with kids teaching them computers and interviewing skills. It put me on a road to do more and more volunteering as well as getting my ESL certification to teach all over the world if I wanted.
• Living in a remote village in Nepal and ‘bathing’ at the local waterfall where all the locals would come and watch me.
• Traveling in the Gobi Desert for 3 weeks with Ger to Ger in Mongolia – an intense cultural exchange – and lots of horrible tasting food!
• Learning how to be ‘a part of’ Vietnam…driving a motorbike in the craziest traffic in the world!”

What’s the biggest realization that you’ve got out of travelling?

“You never have enough time….ever.”

What keeps you going? What keeps you motivated?

“I don’t at all consider it a leisure activity – it’s my life…and sometimes it’s a lot of work. Yet, overall, I find a calm peace when I travel. I like the person I am when I travel…much more than the person I was when I was working in corporate America; it brings out the best I have to offer. I stay motivated because I’m constantly challenging my beliefs and mindset; I’m positive that invoking real change into your life keeps you young. Other people keep me motivated by reading my stories and commenting how my writing or photography affects them. I get notes daily from people telling me how much they love what I do; that never happened in my corporate jobs! I suppose in real simple terms – it’s an addiction and I haven’t found any reason to stop yet. ”

This is a silly and hypothetical one. If you would be given a chance to travel with a popular person or a celebrity, who would it be and why?

“I don’t know that these people are considered popular/famous – but I would definitely want to travel with the camera men from the BBC documentary Planet Earth. I was in awe of that series and would have loved to travel with the crew to see how they got the footage and experience what they went through. Their lives certainly weren’t easy and they were in some of the most challenging conditions in the world. The end result of their footage was jaw dropping though – and of course it made me want to travel even more to remote places!”

Where’s your favourite place in this planet and why?

“Any place where other people don’t go. I love to go to the less traveled destinations…wander off the beaten path. Mongolia is certainly up there as one of my favorite destinations.”

What’s your best tip for newbie traveller?

“I actually wrote an article a while back about how to train for long term travel – http://indietravelpodcast.com/article/become-a-vagabond-master/

It provided advice such as :

Choose eight items of clothing from your closet, and for three weeks, wear nothing but those items you’ve chosen. Yes, you can mix and match them, so pick colors that go together! You can also include shoes — pick two pairs and and wear no others for the same three weeks. This should prepare you for living out of a suitcase and losing the variety of items that you can choose out of your closet. For a three weeks, wash your eight items of clothing in your bathroom sink or tub with shampoo. Let them air dry or dry them with a hair dryer.

If you have a house, sleep in a different room every night for two weeks. Choose your bed one night, your couch the next night, an air mattress the following night, then the second bedroom … you get the drift. You need to train your body and mind to understand that the concept of ‘your bed’ is going to disappear. I slept in a different place most nights for 16 months — some good, some bad; but rarely the same bed twice running.

I still stand by this advice!!”

What’s the funniest and silliest thing you’ve ever done while travelling?

“That’s a hard question to answer…so many thoughts of peeing in weird places and eating rodents come to mind. And there are plenty of stupid things I did – that I can’t quite qualify as silly. I do remember a time I went to a shooting range in Cambodia and they served up a menu of their options that included AK47’s (my choice), as well as rocket launchers and hand grenades…oh – wait a minute –that might fall into the stupid category again…”

What do you think about yourself?

“Most days I think pretty highly of myself until I meet someone who can speak multiple languages. I think I’m cursed with the desire to always break the mold; to be different; to make an impact. I’m a stellar middle man – always making sure that everyone gets along or is satisfied…or equally dissatisfied. I think I’m one of a kind…at least that’s what my mother told me.”

“Ottsworld is about a corporate cube dweller turned nomadic traveler. I travel to off-the-beaten-path destinations to bring you travel experiences and photography from parts of the world seldom seen. But it’s not just about travel. It’s also about life experiences of a middle age solo wanderer who hates green peppers.

Briefcase to Backpack will fuel your career break travel dreams. The site introduces you to other career breakers and their stories. We provide weekly posts on the lifecycle of a career break (contemplation, preparation, on the road, and re-entry) You’ll be made aware of the many resources out on the web, but most importantly you’ll meet other people who made it happen. Career breaks don’t only have to be something you dream about; you too can make it happen for yourself.

Next: Gillian Duff of One Giant Step. Previously: Poi and Kirsty of No Place To Be. For more interviews with travel bloggers, check out the archives of Meet the Nomads.