Inbound quarantine to China ends January 8, 2023

The Roundup

• Inbound quarantine to China ends January 8, 2023. Bloomberg News and the Financial Times reported that almost 250 million people in China may have caught Covid in the first 20 days of December, a figure presented during an internal meeting of China’s National Health Commission.

• Nature positive travel is encouraging tourists to put nature first—this idea was presented at COP15, the recent United Nations biodiversity conference held in Montreal. The initiative aims to “raise awareness of the value of biodiversity, analyze the impact of travel companies on nature, collaborate with local communities as guardians of nature and invest in species protection and habitat reconstruction.”

• 2023 becomes Asia’s big revival year. Intrepid, the largest small group adventure travel company, is aiming to revive and focus on trips across Asia, including an 11-day Hike Trans Bhutan Trail and a 15-day Tibet: Beijing to Kathmandu Overland trip, during which travelers spend two days on the highest railway in the world.

Travel News and Interesting Visas

• The Norwegian passport is considered one of the most beautiful passports with its UV lights and stunning detailed landscapes; it’s also the 6th most powerful. According to DesignWeek, “turquoise has been used for the diplomatic passport, a red for the standard passport as well as a white for an emergency passport (which have a shorter expiration date). A version for foreign nationals comes in a pale blue design.”

• Dubai has a one year working program for remote workers and business owners. You’ll need proof of employment from a current employer with a one-year contract validity, a minimum of US$3,500 per month salary, last month's pay slip and 3 preceding months’ bank statements. For business owners, it’s ownership of the company for one year or more, subject to extension, with an average monthly income of US$3,500 per month or its equivalent in foreign currencies and 3 preceding months’ bank statements.

• NY Times’ Strategist published their best in class hardshell luggages for travel. Which one would you pick for your next adventure?

Remote Work

• Check out WeWorkRemotely’s list of top 100 companies hiring remotely. They also have the most experience hiring remote workers, as well as have their own processes, procedures and are generally experts in distributed teams.

• Write for Intrepid Travel—This is an awesome opportunity to get your words published by a global travel brand. If your piece is published, it’ll be accompanied by your byline, a headshot and bio. Oh, and they’ll pay you for it too!

Interesting Side Hustle Ideas

• Nellie Huang has been a travel blogger for over 10 years. With the writing chops and likes of Nomadic Matt, she’s one of the OGs of travel blogging. Blogging has brought her around the world across 100 odd countries and seven continents—the stark reality is that it took years for her to monetize and build it up to a point where she does it full time now. To be a travel blogger, your love for writing and travel should be synonymous.

• Make a wishlist with Gift App! If you’re someone with a following and want to effortlessly accept gifts from your fans without having to share your address, they can gift an item from your wishlist or send a surprise gift.

AWW Featured Projects & Businesses

• Shin Yi Tan is the Cohost of the podcast Don’t Be Strangers. She’s an illustrator, videographer, and writer. You can check out her Medium articles—our favorite is the one that details remote working out of coffee shops in Medellín, Colombia.

• Singapore Global Network featured Emily Fang, Cofounder of Asian Wander Women and YouTuber, in an article on finding authenticity in a global city. She shares her experiences starting The Fang Girl channel, how she moved to Singapore, and her tips on heading to the lion city.

• Francesca Chang is the Attorney on a Journey. She is a former attorney, travel blogger, and life coach from the California Bay Area now based in Taipei. In addition to uncovering her roots as a blogger in Taiwan, she currently guides both lawyers and non-lawyers into their dream careers or lifestyles.

• Email [email protected] if you’d like to be featured!

Upcoming AWW Events in 2023 (please rsvp)

• Jan 24th - How to Travel and Work Abroad Panel (on Zoom)

• Feb 22nd - How to Solo Travel as a Woman (on Zoom)

• Feb 23rd - Meetup in Taipei, Taiwan (details in the Facebook group) 

• March 4th - Meetup in Southern California (details TBA) 

Ongoing Conversations in AWW

• Responsible travel has been a trending topic with new joiners to the community. For WorldNomads, responsible travel would include, but are not limited to: 1) don’t endanger or exploit 2) acknowledge and grow 3) buy locally and responsibly 4) give back 5) be agents of positive change.

• [Vietnam] If you’re interested in heading over to Vietnam, you can pick up these 5 handy translation apps for your trip—Vietnamese is one of the most widely used languages, but also quite difficult to learn. Some AWW members have also expressed interest in working in Vietnam and we’d recommend taking a look at Vietcetera for tech and startup news.

• Note: our Facebook community now has channels for different countries! Join the ones you want to be in. You can propose to admin if there’s one you’d like.

Want to say hello, write for us, or give feedback? Shoot us an email at [email protected]. We’re also looking for more travel content-related reels! If you add us as a collaborator, it’ll get sent to our audience as well.