Deez Interviews: Meet the globetrotting freelancer living your millennial lifestyle wet dream
Happy Friday, Deezers! Today’s interview is with Mollie Barnes, a freelance designer and editor who also casually happens to travel the world while she’s at it.
You know those people who always seem to be posting yet another pic from some faraway black sand beach every time you log into Instagram? And it kind of turns you into an Incredulous Hulk that someone is actually making that lifestyle work sans trust fund? Yup, Barnes is that person — prepare to be hella jealous, but also thankful about consistent wifi & showers.
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The interviewee: Mollie Barnes (follow her on Insta at @shejustlikedtogo)
The current job: My main gig is that I'm a newspaper designer and copyeditor for a GateHouse Media. I also do freelance editing for book publishers as well as other odd jobs that come up. I also am a co-founder of an online women’s video game and entertainment mag www.fangirlthemag.com. Sometimes I drive for Uber when I’m in the US and want a bit of extra cash for a trip.
The actual hustle: For the newspaper, I lay out the articles and generally produce about two local medium sized papers a night. For my freelance stuff it’s mainly copyediting. For Fangirl it’s finding new writers, advertisers, editing articles, posting on the site and social media, as well as some light payroll stuff.
As a freelancer backpacking around the world, you're living the goddamn millennial dream. HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS?
I’ve always kind of made my big life decisions based on traveling. I decided to go to the University of Missouri rather than a more expensive school because I would be able to study abroad if I went there.
I kind of fell into the ability to work remotely for the GateHouse. I originally was working in the office in Austin, and I didn’t like how little flexibility there was working full time for a newspaper, so I worked overtime for four months and quit to backpack in Central America for a few months. A few months later after I started traveling, they asked me if I’d like to work remotely, and since I was running out of money, I accepted. I’ve been working remote now for about a year and a half and traveling.
What are the realities of this kind of lifestyle? Is jetting off to like, Argentina whenever you want as glamorous and amazing as it sounds?
Well, I’m still a journalist, so it’s not and probably never will be *that* glamorous.
Last year, I was traveling to different places almost every week, so it got kind of exhausting trying to find working wifi everywhere. That’s probably my biggest annoyance. I have to troll the reviews of all the hostels and hotels that I’m going to be staying at on days I need to work to make sure the wifi works. I’ve also gotten a lot of stuff stolen. I’m on my third iPhone since I started traveling at the beginning of 2016.
Then there’s always the occasional panic that I’m not going to be able to commit to any place ever again after moving around so much. I went to Buenos Aires in January with the intent of staying the whole year, and trying to put down some roots somewhere and learn Spanish (also get an apartment where I wouldn’t have to worry about the wifi all the time) and I ended up leaving in May and traveling through Mexico, and then to the US. I tell people it was because I had to go back for my brother’s wedding, but in reality I probably was getting restless again.
To me, the freedom to be able to go essentially where I want (budget depending) is worth scavenging for working wifi, sleeping in a dorm room in a hostel, several injuries and ruptured ear drums, living out of a backpack, etc. A lot of my friends who travel a lot do end up growing out of it and craving a functioning shower, a closet, a fully stocked fridge, etc. So I’m sure I’ll get there. I don’t think I will ever stop traveling, but I do think I probably will slow my roll a bit at some point.
As for the glamorous bit, there’s times where it’s glamorous and times where it’s not. It is when I am staying at a fancy riad in Morocco (for only $60 a night mind you), and it’s not when I’m a few days past laundry day, wearing a mismatched outfit hauling a backpack through the subway in Spain sweating bullets or eating a hot dog burrito in Argentina cause I'm feeling too shy to brave ordering regular meat in Spanish at the carneceria. Also since I have to work specific hours for the newspaper, there’s a lot of really weird timezone issues. So for the two months I spent in Europe I was working 10 p.m. to 6:30 a.m…. so obviously there were challenges with that. I was sleepy a lot and probably drank too much sugar-free Monster to last me a lifetime, but that’s why I generally don’t stay in places with that big of a time difference for too long.
At the risk of being super blunt, can you tell us a little more of the financial realities of making it all work?
I’m lucky that I do have a pretty solid gig with GateHouse as well as freelance stuff. So when projects die off, I can pick up extra hours at GateHouse. I also drive for Uber sometimes when I’m back in the US and I need to make some quick cash before a trip.
I never pay more than $400 for a flight either. I follow @theflightdeal on Twitter and get the notifications sent to my phone … I also have a lot of international friends, so I plan trips around staying with them. I generally always stay in hostels, and *occasionally* splurge for a hotel if it’s a good deal or a special occasion.
It also pays to go places where the dollar goes a long way. I went to Argentina because there I could have my own apartment in a nice area working for a newspaper whereas in NYC for example, I’d probably only be able to afford living in a box [editor’s note: can confirm this is true as fuck].
My general goal is to spend only $300 a week, but obviously there are times when I go over that. The best advice is prioritizing. I don’t have a nice car, I don’t have a TV. I don’t stay in hotels when I go somewhere. I don’t go somewhere if flights are expensive. Treat yourself, but be choosy about it.
Your travel Insta account, @shejustlikedtogo is amazing. What’s the secret to taking the perfect travelgram?
Haha thanks! I’m probably not one to speak much about photography, but I think just taking some basic art classes and knowing good rules of design helps. Don’t have something barely touching the edge of the frame (either all the way in or clearly cut off), get good lighting, etc.
I really like taking pictures with my GoPro of diving underwater etc, and I think those are probably my best shots. But that just has more to do with the surroundings than the photog skills I’m sure.
Okay so wait, where all did you travel to in 2017?
Mexico City
Buenos Aires
Mar Del Plata, Argentina
Patagonia (El Chalten, El Calafate) Argentina
Colonia, Uruguay (for a visa run)
Panama City, Panama
Tulum, Mexico
Las Vegas
Jacksonville, Florida
Las Vegas
St. Louis
Columbia, Missouri
Nashville
New Orleans
Madrid
Barcelona
Palma de Mallorca
Bordeaux, France
San Sebastian, Spain
Lisbon, Portugal
Sevilla, Spain
Malaga, Spain
Edinburgh
Scottish Highlands (Isle of Skye)
Alnwick, England
London
Munich, Germany (Oktoberfest with my parents? lol)
Salzburg, Austria
Prague, Czech Republic
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Fargo, North Dakota
Canmore, Canada
Banff National Park, Canada
Kansas City, MO
And now I’m in Argentina again and will be going to NYC on my way back to St. Louis for Christmas.
And what's at the top of your list for 2018??
Alaska
Iceland
New Zealand
Japan
The Azores
Tulum (again, always)
Antarctica (a girl can dream? this is not realistic)
Greece
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And on that note, this is where we’ll leave you and your desk job for the weekend. If anyone needs us, we’ll be uh, casting a predatory eye on that 401k that’s just sitting there and not flying us out to Barcelona.
Like Deez Links? Forward to your 2018 travel buddy!