Have you noticed that my blog has been veeeery slow lately? That is because I've been traveling for a whole month. (Yes, FREEDOM when to work and when NOT to work is a HUGE benefit to working online.)

So, where'd we go? First we headed to Southern Wisconsin to spend some time with Hubby's family. We screamed like crazy while whipping upside down at Great America (Six Flags over Chicago) and also went to a Brewer's Game.

Then, we headed to Northern Wisconsin to spend time with my family. We did a lot of nature stuff up there — canoing, riding horses, catching fireflies, campfires, etc. It was heaven to spend time away from the Florida heat and just soak up my kiddos and snuggle my hubby.

On the way back home, we stopped by Annette Yen, my dear friend who I met online 4 or 5 years ago. We'd never met in person before, but you couldn't tell. We felt like we'd always hung out together. Her two daughters are amazing young women, and she has much to be proud of.

Then, we stopped in Chattanooga for a few days to visit my friend, Sheila, and checked out that gorgeous city. Loved it. Can't wait to go back!

BUT… this post is about HOW I was able to spend a month traveling (where oftentimes we were in very rustic areas where there was NO cell phone coverage, and certainly limited internet) and I'll tell you. 😉

1. GotoMyPC – this enabled me to hook DIRECTLY into my PC at home from my laptop. I could access everything that I have on my home PC as if I was sitting right in front of it. WOW! I was sooo impressed with this service. It saved my booty!

2. Mozy Online Backup – 2GB Free – I finally signed up with Mozy so that I wouldn't have to worry about my PC while I was gone. If, heaven forbid, the house burned down, a tornado or hurricane hit, lightening struck, or my PC was stolen, I could get an immediate backup of everything I have on my PC (including client work, learning audios, and even my family photos!). This was a comfort to me as I traveled. I feel foolish for having put it off for so long when it was so easy to set up.

3. Wireless internet – Of course, this was huge. I had my dad hook up my Gramma's computer with wireless before we left, and my brother-in-law had it at his house, too. This enabled me to check in every few days with my helpers to make sure everything was going smoothly.

4. Outsourcing – Of course, I couldn't leave my home for even a day if it wasn't for my awesome helpers. They make me look good and keep me smiley.

5. Vonage – With Vonage, I was able to take my home phone number with me. I just grabbed my phone and plugged it into the internet wherever I was and my home phone number would still ring. This actually ended up scaring the heck out of my mom! I called my mom from Wisconsin from my home phone and she thought I was back in Florida. oops!

6. My laptop – You can get a laptop computer pretty inexpensively nowadays. I love mine as it allows me to work on the road.

In addition to all of the above, of course, we switched most of our bills to online bill pay and we had our mail held for the duration. We boarded our dog at a Doggy Camp where he was free to run on 3 acres of land and play with kids for a month. Of course we missed him terribly and he missed us, but he's not a good traveler… yet. Maybe he'll come with us next time. 😉

So, did anyone miss me? lol. Anyone else have travel tips? I'd love to hear them.
N