Is it possible to make a living while sitting on your butt in the sunshine of a distant land? Yes it is. I know because I'm doing it right now; tappng on a keyboard while little boats bob on the clear blue Ionian sea in front of me.

I'm a blogpacker. I've just made the term up but it fits well enough. I live out of a backpack and run an internet based writing business. Whenever and wherever I like I can unpack and get to work earning my living. Every few days, weeks or months I repack and move on to wherever I think the grass will be greener. It is a form of travel writing without the nuisance of enduring rejection slips from travel editors.

Anyone restraining themselves from throwing things at the screen in envy only in the knowledge that PCs are expensive to replace should be aware that I'm not raking it in. I could stay at home and earn more, or as much, stacking shelves in my local supermarket or by flipping burgers in McWendyking. But I don't want to and because of technology and cheap flights I don't have to.

Once, not too long ago, travellers that took a fancy to a place and wanted to stick around for a while had a few routes to doing so: bar work and teaching English are a couple of examples. For more ideas feel free to browse this website. There are plenty of good books and websites available to provide the lowdown on being a tour rep in Tenerife, a cook in Cairns or salesperson in Salem.

But all those rely on being employed by someone else, are location specific, often depend on the local economy, the skills of the local work force and kafkaesque red tape. And when you want to move on the job, and the income, ends, requiring another round of knocking on doors and showing your face to a new set of potential bosses.

Many others, having found their ideal location in life want to stay for the duration, decide to start a business. The world is full of bars and restaurants run by a team of expat and local proprietors. But tourists these days have much more choice than a generation ago and many of these once lively establishments are now empty.

Blogpackers, regardless of whether the stay is for weeks or a lifetime, require less start up funds and can be far more flexible. This is no get rich scheme. For me it has taken years of working for free before it has become possible to earn a living and even then it took some luck. But for those that have a passion for a particular subject, know their way around a keyboard and can string together a sentence below are a few tips.

Equipment
There are several ways to work on the move; each have their own pros and cons. Though even the smallest can be a heavy burden, a laptop enables one to work at your own pace in a hotel room or anywhere else that takes your fancy. Your working time is limited when on battery power but most budget hotels have a plug socket somewhere in the room.

I find it best to carry the laptop in my hand luggage, a small rucksack (that looks like an ordinary bag and not a specialist laptop carrybag), where I can keep an eye on it and ensure it doesn't get thrown about or packed underneath the luggage of other bus or plane travellers.

That's not to say I haven't flung it around myself - in my desire to get my heavy packs off my back and chest on a hot day I've thrown my bags down heavily to the floor forgetting I was carry the laptop. I usually pack my thickest jumper and any newspapers or magazines I'm carrying front and behind - I prefer not to have to add extra weight to my pack by taking specialist laptop carrying equipment.

These precautions have worked so far and enabled the computer to travel by speedboat, light aircraft, 4x4 and truck, as well as the more usual transport options of buses, trains and planes.

Flexibility extends beyond writing. Additional advantages of taking a laptop include easyness for photographers to store and make copies of their photos. And, after a heavy session on the keyboard, the opportunity to watch a DVD or listen to a CD is welcomed.

Other ways to update your website or blog include taking along a PDA, preferably with a foldaway keyboard for easy typing. If you want to really reduce the weight of your portable office equipment a new opportunity is beginning to assert itself. Known by various names, USB keys, datasticks or pen drives are an increasingly popular way to carry files and applications. The range of software is currently small but includes a web browser, word processor, image editing, email and virus checker.

For more information on these handy little devices see Travelling Forever.

Working on the Move and Security
I would advise getting your own room. Trying to work in a dorm in almost impossible as there is rarely a table and almost always the distraction of others. In addition you are doing the equivalent of flashing your wallet about to people you do not know very well. Your fellow roomies may be as honest as a summer day is long but then again, they may not be.

With a livelyhood as well as an expensive piece of equipment at stake, security is important. It is also difficult to accomplish effectively. Precautions we take include using a codename when discussing the machine in public: the word "laptop" is one of those words that stays the same in many foreign languages.

Where possible I chain my bag to something immovable like a radiator. This will slow down a spontaneous thief but would not stop one more determined and armed with a blade to slash open the bag. On other occasions I've simply left my pack out to attract a thief to it and hidden "Mr Benn" under the pillow or under a spare blanket above the eyeline on top of a wardrobe.

Sometimes you just have to accept that there is little you can do and not ruin your day worrying about the worst that can happen.

For some ideas on the range of security equipment out there see Pacsafe and Catch 22 Travel Products.

Some choose to carry their laptop around at all times. I prefer not to. More than once I've settled my bill and walked away from a restaurant tale without that all important bag. And what happens in a mugging? At best the mugger gets a big bonus for the day, at worst I am carrying something I may think twice about handing over immediately - and that can be lethal.

Wandering around interesting cities and sights with a laptop is an additional burden. Imagine carrying a computer up the Inca Trail. No thanks, that's hard enough as it is. After all that's why I'm travelling. If I didn't want to see the world, its natural wonders and man made genius set in stonework, I could find it much easier to work at home behind a big desk, with a filing cabinet and permanent broadband internet connections.

It can be very mentally freeing working on the hoof. With a limited amount of paperwork I'm able to take with me I don't waste much time deciding what task to get down to each day and have the perfect excuse to put off aspects of my job I find tedious or difficult.

The hardest aspect of the job can be finding a new place in each city in which to get my work from laptop to website. Not all webcafes are receptive to laptop toting travellers. I've experienced genuine fright and anger at some cafes that I would dare to enter with my own PC.

And try discussing the intricacies of TCP/IP protocols in schoolboy German, halting Spanish or non existant Malay. Webcafes for gamers seem to be the best - staff there are usually younger, more understanding and helpful with any problems.

Other ways to connect include WiFi and your own mobile connection, though I've yet to experience these first hand.

Making Money
The way we make an income is mostly with Google Adsense. You see those four vertical text adverts at the top of this article, on the right hand side? That's Google Adsense. After choosing the size, shape and colour of your advertising, you simply place a bit of code where you want the ads to appear and they do. After all the hard work of designing, writing and marketing your website adding the advertising that brings in the bacon is the easy bit.

If our readers are interested in the ads above and leave through one of the links then we make some money, and Google takes its cut. Visitors that leave our site another way do not contribute to our income but, hey, that's life. If you've worked hard and been useful to your readers then maybe they'll come back and contribute to the "yacht fund" another day.

The beauty of Adsense is that the ads are targeted to the content of your site. For example a gardening website will display gardening relevant advertising rather than, for instance, fishing related advertising.

To join up yourself click the link below:

An alternative is to sell your own advertising by contacting potential advertisers directly. Lastly consider trading your advertising space. Either swap some of your readership with other like minded websites or trade for something tangible like accommodation, food, a cup of coffee - it all helps when you are on the road and want to stay there.

Further Information
Blogger
WebmasterWorld.com
Wireless at Starbucks
Lonely Planet Thorn Tree - Computers, Cameras & Phones
Vodafone
Linux for Travellers
PortableApps.com
Vagabonding
Working Nomad