Yeeeehaaawwww!!  Saddle up them affiliate horses because we’re shaping up to have a good old fashioned aeronautical hoedown here at Affiliate Stuff towers.  We’ve now officially booked an awful lot of flights and are T minus 1 day and counting away from taking a 4 month holiday.

As you can imagine, I’ve not had a lot of time for the old blogging this week as my head is awash with trying to get things shipshape on the business front, and making travel arrangements.

My Itinerary (So Far!)

September 1st to 30th – general Australian fun and close to home adventures with two close friends of ours. We will be based loosely at home but will be roving all over SE Queensland for some travel type fun.

October 1st – Fly to Bangkok – We’re staying here for 3 nights in an as yet undecided hotel. If anyone has any recommendations for tip top swish type places I’d love to hear them. Duncan and I will be giving ourselves a belated wedding anniversary treat so nothing less than lavish will do!

October 4th – Scotland!! We will be spending some time in the South West corner and having a family weekend to spread my grandmother’s ashes. It will be great fun and very sad all at the same time.

October 12th - London. We’ll be at the A4U Expo on the 12th & 13th before spending a weekend with our close friends some of whom we’ve not seen in 2 years. Very exciting!

October 21st - Mediterranean Cruise. We’ll be spending 10 days on holiday in the Med. We decided a cruise was the way to go because its a good way to get round lots of major cities fast and see lots of cool stuff in the limited time we have available. My Mum and Dad have come over all adventurous and are coming with us.

November 5th – Fly to Thailand. We are going to spend 6 nights winding down after our European fun in Koh Chang. Well, we think. Nothing booked yet so could go Samui or somewhere else it’s easy to fly to.

November 13th – Arrive back in Australia and head on home to collapse for a couple of weeks. No work will be done, just chilling.

A Great Way To Round Off Our Skive!!

December 1st – 2 of our fab friends from the UK are hitting Australia to do some touring, so we decided to spend some quality travelling time with them.

No plans other than we have booked a beachfront apartment on Bondi Beach for 6 nights around New Year. We’ll be in town for the famous fireworks too.

Anyone Else Around?

If there’s anyone who’d like to meet up with us at the Expo or even any Bangkok  affiliate types who’d like to join us for a drink one night do please drop me a line. Always keen to socialise with my fellow internet marketing addicts!

Nervous Excitement – Will My Work / Outsourcing System Do It’s Stuff??

I’m filled with nervous excitement about all of this – I will be trying to keep all the various bits of outsourcing running smoothly so have been trying to work out roughly how much time I need to find each week to do that and also keep half an eye on e-mails and so on.

If it works well I’ll know I’ve really cracked it so I’m excited and dreading it all at the same time. In the past such jollies for me have ultimately meant things sort of fell to bits as I travelled. If this works properly I should be able to do this and still make good progress with the business. The question is – will I manage it????

I’ll let you guys know in January!

Meanwhile I will still be updating this blog, but with what remains to be seen. A lot of my posting inspiration comes from my working experiences and thoughts – so we shall see what comes out of the complex maze laughingly known as my brain as things progress.

Yeah, you didn’t really think I was going to settle down over here in Australia and not come up with some more ridiculously outlandish travel ideas, did you? Tsk, tsk, tsk you really should have known better!

Actually, these plans are not imminent but seeing as we have to get on a plane to go to the UK for our wedding… It’d be a shame not to go and visit a few places while we’re out and about, wouldn’t it?

OK, so here it is… my travel plan so far…

Obviously we are sticking around after the wedding to attend the most excellent A4UExpo – hope to see you all there for a chat and to toast our nuptuals! Before that, we’ll have been on a short honeymoon-ette somewhere Eupropean and warm.

Right after the Expo we’re getting our bahookies on a plane and heading for….

Singapore!

We’ll be jumping off the plane here and rampaging round one of the worlds cleanest and tidiest cities, not forgetting to visit the Raffles Hotel and have one of their fine Singpore Slings. Given our newlywed status I very, very nearly booked us into the Raffles. However the girl inside me who was brought up in a 2 bedroom council house just couldn’t let me do it. I can afford it, I just can’t bring myself to spend that much cash on a hotel room!!

After the hangovers have worn off (come on, I’m not only going to have one – look at the money I saved on the hotel room!) its back in a taxi to the airport where we will fly to Phuket and then jump a ferry to…

Railey Beach!!

Wooo hoo!! I’m absolutely delighted to be revisiting this isolated and chilled out beach. You have to catch a water taxi (aka a Thai man in a dodgy longtail boat) to get there as it’s not reachable by road.

However, we will not be slumming it fear ye not. We will be yumming up a bit of luxury in our hotel room complete with private outdoor spa at Railay Village Resort. Its going to be hard, but I’m going to tough my way through it.

Following on from that we will grab another boat and head for….

Koh Lanta!

We didn’t make it here on our last trip to Thailand, so we have decided to have a bit of a look at it and chill out for a few days. After that, we’ll be getting a ferry to….

Langkawi, Malaysia!

“What the hell” We thought. “Malaysia is right next door to Thailand… we’d be mad to miss the opportunity to sample what it has to offer!”

After this we head on back to Singapore and fly back to Queensland. The end of our fun? Nah! About ten minutes after we get back…

Chris Frost Arrives For His Holidays!!

For anyone who doesn’t know, Chris Frost is the jaded fellow on the far right. As you can see, he doesn’t mind a gin fizz or ten (so we all get along just great!) and we will be spending 2 to 3 weeks showing off the very best of Australia’s East Coast to Chris. We will probably take in Fraser Island and some other tropical gems as well as a trip round every bar in Brisbane! As Chris is a keen diver, himself and Duncan will be making like Charlie’s Angels and getting into their wetsuits for some underwater fun.

Once Chris has headed back to the UK, we will be working for 3 entire weeks. Then we’re off to…

Auckland, New Zealand!!

We will be spending a couple of weeks in this beautiful city catching up with Duncan’s family and swapping travel stories (our wedding has meant an awful lot of European trips for his parents and sisters!). We will be spending Christmas and New Year here before heading for…

New Zealand’s South Island!

We thought we’d better round things off with a bit of a tour of the South Island seeing as we missed it the last time. I’m desperate to see sights such as Milford Sound and the Glaciers.

Then…
It probably will be time to go home, because we will have spent 3 and a half months travelling here and there. We will probably have bought a house just before we leave so it’ll most likely be time to put away the backpacks again and do a bit of DIY.

Until….
2 months later when we get them back out again and go to a wedding in Ireland! Given my extreme talent for turning a simple journey somewhere into an outlandish travel extravaganza… anything could happen here, lol.

Phew… I’m not sure how all this happened, but I reckon its going to be a great start to our married life and of course will produce some rather amazing pictures to show off here.

Hurahh!!

OK, that’s been a month off… it’s long enough… time to get back to the internet coalface, and resume a little bit of the work that makes sure my Duncan can continue to live in the style to which he has become accustomed (oh, and me as well!). We had an absolutely lovely time in Auckland, and even had our very first wedding present bought for us by Duncan’s family. They suggested an artist, Helena Blair, they thought was pretty damned good and let us commission a painting to remind Duncan of NZ.

Here’s one that his folks actually bought and upon which we partly based our commission (excuse the image, it really doesn’t do justice).

So, anyhoo… I’m having my usual “rusty” start to work. I have totally lost sight of where I am up to with things and there are a lot of campaigns I’ve simply switched off because I couldn’t keep enough of an eye of them. Now THAT is the sign of a truly good holiday.

However, it’s definately time to get back into things. The Lingerie site I’ve been talking about so much recently needs lots of TLC in its formative months. I need to add content like the very blazes in the early stages to keep that lovely free traffic coming in!

I’m feeling really bad about not having had much of a chance to post to this blog… so I will be trying to make up for my slackness during March. There will no doubt be the odd real estate agent related rant slipping into things as we are both about to spend a lot of time dealing with them.

http://www.realestate.com.au – my new bible!

More from me soon

Well guys, here I am back in Melbourne again suffering from a healthy dose of jetlag and a nice cold which Duncan kindly passed along to me so I could enjoy it on the plane!

Dubai was a pretty interesting place, well worth a visit. Unfortunately we didn’t do much when we were there as we were so knackered we spent a LOT of time sleeping. When we arrived I wasn’t at all sure I was going to be able to stay. The night before our flight out, my dear old Grandmother had a heart attack. I ended up flying not knowing how serious it was or if she might have passed away by the time we got there.

Fortunately it transpired that she is OK (as ok as an 83 year old having her second heart attack can be!). However after all the worry and various teary outbursts from good old Kirsty on the journey we were both bloody knackered. We did manage to go and have a bit of a look round on the Dubai Big Bus Tour, so we got to see all the sights. Here’s a picture of windswept little me in front of the Burj Al Arab, the famous 7 star hotel (I don’t earn enough to stay there just yet!!)

We’ve no pictures of Melbourne as the sum total of our activities have been sleeping (for 17 hours last night) and putting our van into an aircon repair place ($700 for a new compressor before we’ve even got into the bloody thing!).

Hopefully things will be a bit less exhausting from this point on, and I’ll be able to get a few affiliate related posts up and running. Speak to y’all soon!

Well, thats it for us and the UK for a while folks. Tomorrow Duncan and I are taking off for yet more worldwide fun. I detailed our travel plans in a previous post.

We have so much to do in the next 6 or 7 months it’s very nearly overwhelming. Once we’ve done a little bit of travel, we’re off to the Sunshine Coast with a budget of $550,000 AUD to buy ourselves a nice house out there. It is with more than a bit of a backwards glance that we’ll be getting on the plane at Glasgow Airport tomorrow. I’ve had a great time catching up with my friends and buying lots of bridal finery for myself (and some of them!). I’m also going to miss all my fab affiliate pals who I’ve really enjoyed raising the odd jar or ten with at various events.

The downside to the lifestyle Duncan and I have at the moment is the upheaval. I’ve sort of got to the stage where I want to be settled in a nice posh pad of our own (and so’s Dunc!). However, to do this we’ve got to actually get off our bahookies and get something bought.

The other thing that’s causing me a bit of sadness is that my Grandfather passed away on Monday and I’m not going to be able to attend his funeral. The family had hoped it would be today (Thursday) so I could attend. But it wasn’t possible. Why? A GRAVEDIGGERS Strike! Honestly? Do you ever feel like the big man in the sky is getting at you?

And another thing. When does the funeral start tomorrow? Yes, just as my flight is due to take to the air in Glasgow at 1.30pm. I’m not the world’s best in airports / on aeroplanes most of the time, so I would like to take this opportunity to publicly apologise to everyone who has to deal with me tomorrow (specially poor old Dunc). I’m not going to be a happy chappess. Just between you and me, I am somewhat prone to hysterical outbursts at very stressful times. Could be an interesting departure for everyone

However, to end this on a positive note, thanks for reading the blog and I promise to post a bit more once we are away from the UK. I’ve not had a lot of time this month what with various wedding preparations, problems with my two investment properties, and general panic about leaving. I hope I’ve made up for lack of quantity with a little quality, lol.

I’ll be posting lots of pictures from Dubai, I only hope Duncan doesn’t get fed up with me and do a bit of a swap for a nice quiet camel or two.

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu!

Ah come on now… youse didn’t think I’d stay in one place for five minutes surely? That’s us all booked up again on an Emirates flight out of Glasgow on February 1st.

See, the reason I’m bridally obsessed right now is that I’ve only got till January 31st to have the whole wedding signed sealed and delivered so I don’t end up leaving the lions share of the arranging to my mother, who being a canny Scot would change the venue from Bucks Fizz and canapes at Kildonan House to beer and steak pie at Colmonell Community Centre. Honestly, I’m glad I told her how much we’re spending on our nuptuals over the phone. “Obscene” was one of the descriptive terms she used (and we’re really not spending THAT much – honest!).

Anyhoo… come February the 1st we are leaving on a Jetplane to go to Australia again. However, it’d be a waste of a flight if we didn’t have some stopovers… so first up is..

Dubai!

We’re stopping for 5 nights to have a good old look around. We were thinking of buying the wedding rings in the gold souk (bling bling!), but with concerns about rising gold prices we’re wondering if we should wait till the return trip in September or if things are only going to get worse? Answers on a postcard please!

After Dubai we’re hopping back on the plane for a mere 14 hour (arrgghhh) hop to…

Melbourne!

After a scant few days there to put our campervan into the garage to get the Aircon fixed (essential in February!), we’re jumping right back on another flight to…

Auckland!

This is Duncan’s home town, so we are off to spend a couple of weeks catching up with my in-laws to be and generally relaxing at their truly beautiful house which is set in 4 acres of native bush… ahhhhh……

After that, its back over to Australia and straight back into our beloved campervan where we will make a beeline for the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. When we get there will we relax? Another big holiday? No! It’s not enough for me to circle the globe incessantly, and get married in the same year… We’ll absolutely have to keep ourselves busy. So We’re going to buy a house and get it all signed, sealed and delivered in just 4 months.

We’ve found a place where you can still get a house with pool within a walk of the beach for under $500,000. So we’re blazing a trail before the real estate agents change their minds.

Phew, so now you all know why I can’t sleep at night and have weird dreams about how to explain keyword research!

Time for some Valium perhaps?!

Well then… I arrived back home 2 nights ago and have been in a jetlag induced limbo ever since. I perked up today though and am now furiously working on my Christmas strategy.

Coming home after a long trip (or even a two week holiday) can be a bit of a sharp bump back down to earth. However, as I never get sick of saying – I really do LOVE my job.

So exactly how does one kick start the old motivation after a bit of a break? Well, I made a short post about this before, after a few days off over in Perth, Australia. However, that’s not quite what I am going to be up to this time. The Christmas silly season is looming, and my trip has put me behind the game. Therefore, there has been no easy first day for me. Far too much money to be made for that carry on.

In case it interests anyone, here’s what I’ve gotten done (with some identifying features removed, I don’t want a couple of hundred pals on the same search terms as me) since 5am this morning from the plan I set out for myself last night!

1 ) Order wireless router (gods, I’m having to stay with my Mother for a while and she doesn’t have wireless. We can’t have THAT!).

2 ) Re-Jig & Re-start PPC campaign for a clothing merchant I did well with last Xmas.

3 ) Create 45,000 PPC listings for a gift merchant I did well with Xmas before last. Of course, I haven’t gotten them put up because Adwords editor gave me a stern talking to when I tried to get it to upload my excruciatingly huge file. It said, “Look Kirsty, you might have gotten over the jetlag but it’s my day off. Bugger off.”

4 ) Re-Jig & Re-start PPC campaign for another clothing merchant I did well with last summer and forgot to switch on last Xmas (and this summer). Look, I’m quite forgetful and I was out in the sun a fair bit!

5 ) Check out possibilities for a merchant I get the odd largish commission from which is generated from a long forgotten organic site. Discover they don’t allow direct to merchant PPC for me to perform a wee test on them. Flip the bird at the PC. Get told off by Mother.

6 ) Scold Duncan for ten minutes about some real or imagined crime (look I’ve been up since 5am, I’m in a terrible mood).

7 ) Go back to work after apologising to Duncan.

8 ) E-mail 3 different merchants with promotional questions.

9 ) Create 5,000 search terms for a merchant who has kindly allowed me to resume display URL activity so long as I avoid impacting their in-house effort. I’m thrilled too… it was always a big earner for me before the rules of engagement changed.

9 ) Sit and look expectantly at computer.

10 ) Contemplate navel.

11 ) Realise I’ve just done as much work as I did most weeks when I was travelling.

Phew!! And so you find me on my dear old blog getting my communications with my dear readers up to date. I’m desperate for a cuppa, but I think Duncan is avoiding me for some reason.

Here’s one last picture of where I am now. This is the village where I was born, and right now I can’t think of anyplace better to be!

Viva Las Vegas folks!

Would you believe I’m in my bed for the afternoon with a chest infection? Bah! I think all the travel is finally catching up with this tired affiliate. Despite being ill, I’ve been having a cracking time kicking about in Vegas. I’m in bed now so i can go out to the Bellagio again later, lol. I knew how many casinos there were, but I can’t believe how often you seem to end up in one without ever having meant to.

We’ve given the slots a bit of a go, and after having lost a grand total of $4 between us, I’m at a bit of a loss to work out the attraction of gambling to so many people.

So look, if you are a gambler.. why not give some PPC a go. It’s a bit like gambling. You work out which merchant you think may be a sure thing, place your chips on the right keywords, and watch the cash multiply. The odds are stacked in your favour in this game (well, some might dispute that just after a Google slap!)… so why leave it to luck I wonder?

Right… I’m off to set a few wee sure PPC bets on the go. Least I’ll be guaranteed to cover my bar tab!

Here’s a snap of me out shopping with our pals in Vegas!

Aloha Folks!

Well, I’m so knackered from all the sightseeing we have been doing in Hawaii I’ve barely had time to worry about getting this Google slap sorted out when we get home. It’s hard to think straight when you’re travelling long term, which is one of the reasons I really am looking forward to getting back home and really immersing myself in the world of affiliate marketing again.

I wasn’t exaggerating at all when I said I eat, sleep, and breathe affiliate marketing. So despite having had the most unbelievably amazing trip I’m starting to feel a little starved of my affiliate marketing fix. Now, that’s how you KNOW you’ve a job you love… you can’t wait to get back to it!

However, let’s not put the internet cart before the horse here… I’m still travelling away furiously and Duncan and I are cramming in so much to our visit to Hawaii that we’re constantly knackered!

We spent 5 glorious days on O’ahu… Waikiki was a big, big culture shock after quiet and laid back Fiji… oh, but the prices on clothes the Americans get… I could barely control myself. I did the British thing and made a big tit of myself in Macy’s saying to Duncan in a loud and disbelieving voice, “LOOK! DNKY jeans! They’re only $79.99!!!! Is this price right?”. I then walk about 3 feet, “F*ck! Look at these Levis! They’re $28.99. That’s nearly free! Should we buy another bag??” Oh, how the shop assistants loved me, lol.

Here’s a picture of me taking my leisure on Waikiki… I felt dead, dead cosmopolitan. Except when I got out of the water and compared myself to my size 0 bikini clad fellow beachgoers.

We’re now in Volcano on Big Island… Duncan and I are both volcano freaks so visiting the Volcanoes National Park has been an absolute thrill for us. Our only disappointment is that alas there are currently no lava flows within hiking distance

Here’s me making the best of it by kicking about down a big hole in an old lava flow. To really have an authentic idea of what it was like there you should now dash off and get a vial of sulphur dioxide. Got it? Right. Now uncork and inhale deeply. Nips, don’t it?

It’s at times like these I realise how lucky I am to be a travelling affiliate!!

Well, I’m leaving Australia on Wednesday night at 11.30pm. I’m feeling a little contemplative… so I think I will share my top 5 favourite pictures of the trip so far with you guys. Apologies for the sizing of these… I’m posting the URL’s of pictures which are on our photo gallery site and they don’t quite fit!

So in a Top Of The Pops Stylee (American Charts With Casey Casem for you American dudes)

5. Chilling Out In Railey Beach, Thailand. My good friend Bryan who i know from from uni and his 5 friends came to meet up with us for a wonderful week of chilling out beside limestone cliffs, chilling out in Moroccan style bars at night, and snorkeling in tropical seas. Ahhh…

More Railey Beach Pictures Here (Including a few terrible pictures of me, lol.)

4. The William Ricketts Sanctuary, Near Melbourne. I’ve wanted to visit this place for nearly ten years since it was featured on Billy Connolly’s World Tour Of Australia. There’s a whole woodland filled with beautiful and spiritual sculptures inspired by the Aboriginies and their culture. Absolutely awe inspiring.

More pictures of the Ricketts Sanctuary Here. Find out more about the amazing artist who devoted his life to creating this place here.

3. Rotorua, New Zealand. I’ve always been fascinated by volcanic activity and have never seen any. We visited Rotorua and saw all the thermal wonders this unique town has to offer.

More Wai U Tapu Pics Here!

2. Whale Shark Swimming, Western Australia. Wow. We went out for the day to go snorkelling with these amazing creatures. The sea was sooooo choppy and visibility wasn’t great, but we didn’t give a damn. What a day! We saw Manta Rays, Humpback Whales, and a Deadly Sea Snake. What could match it?!

More Whaleshark shenannigans here.

1. Fraser Island, Australia. World Heritage listed sand island off the Queensland coast. It was absolutely breathtaking. We spent 3 days here, and it was one of those experiences that truly remind you how fortunate you are.

More Fraser Island Fun Here.

Just 6 weeks left now… but what a 6 weeks we are in for. Fiji, Hawaii, San Francisco, Las Vegas, New York. I can’t wait! I have to say though I’m also really looking forward to spending more time on affiliate marketing when we get back to the UK. It’s been a great trip, and I’ve maintained my income levels…. but I miss working consistently at my craft. So getting to the UK for 3 months will be awesome.

After that? Back on a plane to Australia!!