An excerpt from the preface of my bestselling memoir

The following is an excerpt from the preface of my #1 Amazon bestselling book, Everywhere But Home: Life Overseas as Told by a Travel Blogger (2020). I am republishing it here to provide a free sample, the introductory words, of my book, which is now available on Amazon.

From the preface:

When I first launched my blog, Phil’s Next Stop, in August 2018, I had no idea what I was doing or where it would take me. Nor did I realize it would be my ticket to work overseas as a full-time writer and…

If I can do it, you can do it too.

Today marks one year since I published my book, Everywhere But Home: Life Overseas as Told by a Travel Blogger.

Since the book went live, a lot has happened. I completed my Master’s and an internship at BuzzFeed News, then recently started a Fellowship at Business Insider. I’ve been writing a lot more fiction, too.

I’ve become known in some circles as “the guy who wrote a book.”

Much of the time, the people who call me this say it out of admiration rather than mockingly. So that’s a plus…

Reflections on a graduate degree in journalism

Last week I finished my Master’s degree in journalism. Next week I start work full-time.

While the job has a remote option, I plan to make the move to in-person. As the pandemic wanes and vaccination rates climb, I’m ready to be done with doing life remotely. After the previous year-plus, everyday I’m tempted to delete Zoom from my computer and smash my webcam lens.

Since January 2020, I have dedicated most of my reading time to journalistic work — news articles, non-fiction, long-form journalism. That is the nature of being a graduate…

The US can learn from how Hong Kong has handled the pandemic

In a stretch of time that has been all too literally plagued with troubles, the world has witnessed varying degrees of public health success and shortcoming. For much of the Western hemisphere — particularly in the US — COVID-19 has wreaked havoc, with cases piling on daily for much of the last year.

Of the 10 million people living in Los Angeles county, there have been over 23,000 deaths. …

Lasting success comes down to a shift in focus

It isn’t everyday you reach a milestone. Nobody publishes a book every single day, or graduates from university every single day.

These are nice, ancillary consequences of a long and tenuous journey. Cherries on top of an otherwise long and monotonous road.

The most successful people don’t aim for accolades or milestones because they know that the best lessons are not learned at the milestones. They think in terms of small, daily deposits; routines and habits that require attention each day and in turn create massive compound interest.

Achievement at any…

Doing great creative work is one step away

I remember when I first started writing seriously some years ago, trepidation prevented me often from not only sharing my work but getting words on paper in the first place.

I put the cart before the horse by worrying about what others may say of my work rather than simply doing the work first.

The work is something that takes attention, concentrated action pointed in a specific direction. But even so, the work itself is more about the process of writing, thinking, and rewriting than actually publishing. Sure, writers want their words…

Writing life as an expat in Spain

On the way to the café I always walked slow.

Slow enough to look upwards at the curved steel adorning each balcony window above my head, but still quick enough to keep the morning chill out of my bones and the wind on my back. A more relaxed pace ensured I stayed upright on the misaligned cobblestone, too.

When a bike or scooter would drive by, the repeated thwack-thwack-thwack of the wheels atop the cobblestone always made me concerned about persons bound to wheelchairs, walking sticks, or an unlucky night in high-heels.

In…

Making the very most of the new year

Today is the final day of a year that many of us wish to leave behind.

The final day of a monotonous and unending series of days that gave us more moments of both silence and devastation, loneliness and sorrow, upheaval and stillness.

At the beginning, it felt like a string of Sunday afternoons. Easy and mellow; long walks and mid-day movies. More family time and less time at the office.

But then, soon after what seemed like a dozen consecutive Sundays, reality settled in like the bad news it was. …