I traveled halfway around the globe to come to South By Southwest Interactive conference in Austin, Texas, and meet with old cofounders, friends, and acquaintances. Here are just a few of the profoundly inspirational, interesting, ambitious people I met and spent time with.

The itinerary for my official 5-week trip back to the U.S. to travel to South by Southwest Interactive, Coachella Music & Arts Festival, and all over Arizona and California in between. Help contribute to my ambitious projects or help me seek a corporate sponsor for a 2011 entrepreneurship & personal development retreat in Southern California.

Dan Andrews, host of the Lifestyle Business Podcast and mobile entrepreneur who works with several manufacturing businesses in Asia, shares seven practical financial and personal-growth advantages to the digital nomad lifestyle.

What are your goals as the New Year approaches? I asked if you wanted to learn how you can live the same Digital Nomad lifestyle I lead, and many of you said yes. If you’re serious about taking control of your life, we’re bringing all the most authoritative, successful Digital Nomads together to help you kick ass in 2011!

When life gives you lemons, what do you do? When I royally screwed up my relationship with my gorgeous, ambitious ex-girlfriend, lost the great beach house on Koh Phangan, became disillusioned with my business and had a rock climbing injury, it brought out all kinds of fears. Here’s what I did to get back on track to mastering that fear of uncertainty.

I sit down and have a great conversation with Gary Arndt of Everything-Everywhere.com, which has been voted one of the top 25 blogs 2010 by TIME Magazine, and featured on Huffington Post. Gary discusses long-term solo travel around the world, how he’s used his blog as a marketing platform for much bigger things, and the importance of just going out there and *doing* it!

Living a perpetual travel lifestyle or a location independent lifestyle has consequences. We live in a world with other people, and a choice to life life on your own terms affects family & friends. A truly wise nomad knows all that he gives up in order to live this life…

One shortcut to change your internal state is to change your external state. To overcome a big hurdle, change a persistent negative behavior, or make some other kind of big leap in your personal development, maybe you need to change more than yourself… maybe you need to change your surroundings?