Mongolian boy in Terelj Park

One of the best things about doing a Ger to Ger trip in Mongolia is that you get full access to the families and the culture.  You learn, you communicate, your spread knowledge and understanding.  I have another ulterior motive though – staying with families in their gers give you great access for photography.  The families are always eager to show you their lives and share and they do love to have their photos taken.  Whenever I return to Ulaanbaatar after a Ger to Ger trip I always get the family photos reprinted and then take them back to the Ger to Ger office so that they can send them to the families.  Each family I visited has a great photo album of images tourists/guests have sent them.  I’m simply happy to be a part of that process of providing them some memories that they wouldn’t otherwise have.

May latest Ger to Ger trip to Terelj Park in Mongolia yielded these results.  It’s good to know that these same pictures are safely tucked away in a book in their ger which they will show off to other visitors – sort of like the circle of life.

Where do you go to find authentic travel and great photos ops?

To purchase any of these photos, simply click on the image for more information.

Men relax outside their ger

A lone tree in Terelj Park at sunset

Brothers hold tight

Horses tethered in the park

Sewing inside a ger

Ox and tree

Cuddling kitten

Ger in Terelj Park

Making booz

Mongolian Ovoo (sacred place)

A mother teaches me to sew as part of Ger to Ger Experience

The bus bounced along on the road north and for the first time in 5 weeks I just sat back, relaxed and didn’t have to worry about directions, breakdowns, or deal with the nagging internal question of “Will we make it?” The road was bumpy and slow-going, but in Mongolian standards this road was perfection. I was heading on a public bus towards Terelj National Park to experience yet another side of Mongolia; the nomadic lifestyle that is unique to this part of the world.

I had just completed the Mongol Rally, a 5 week road trip from London to Ulaanbaatar Mongolia, and the idea of someone else (aka the bus driver) driving and making decisions was a great relief. We arrived to the finish line of the rally earlier than expected and we had time to kill in Ulaanbaatar before our flights. My other teammates decided to chill out in Ulaanbaatar, but I decided to revisit and relive one of the best travel experiences I had ever experienced; a Ger to Ger adventure in Mongolia.

I convinced another Mongol Rally friend to join me on this cultural journey, John, a young traveler from Ireland. Together we found the correct public bus according to the instructions in our Ger to Ger handbook and we were heading north with other Mongolians and a small handful of tourists.

The barren landscape around Ulaanbaatar gave way to evergreen patches and rolling hills every mile north we traveled. After two hours, the bus stopped at a small looking village in the park. We departed the bus with our backpacks and immediately saw our ride – an ox and rickety cart. A local man smiled at us and said “Ger to Ger?”, we nodded and he took our bags flipping them onto the flat bed cart. We hopped up on the cart and away we went.

We had no real idea of where we were going, but we happily sat on the cart and took in our surroundings. Shortly we were at a strong river and the ox kept powering through as the water rose nearly over the top of our cart. John and I looked at each other slightly nervous, but the ox stayed his course determined to get us to our first ger stop.

We arrived at Mrs. Umaa’s ger where we were immediately invited in and served fried bread stuffed with mutton and onions. Mrs Umaa’s was still frying up batches of the bread as we sat and had our milk tea and surveyed our surroundings. The gers have such a simple, yet functional design. Two poles in the middle with a stove in between are the foundation with spokes jutting out from the center providing it’s stability. Felt surrounds the circular wood lattice wall keeping things toasty warm for the harsh winters.

John and I on our small Mongolian horses

John and I had familiarized ourselves with the Ger to Ger cultural handbook on the bus ride to Terelj. I was reminded once again about the importance of entering a ger, the respect of age and gender, and the life saving phrase in Mongolian, “Hold your dog!” After our quick, hot lunch Mr. Umaa saddled up two horses and was ready to take us to our next family 18 km away. I took a look at the horse and realized he didn’t look too intimidating thanks to his small Mongolian size, but I knew better than that.

Eighteen kilometers was excruciating to my bum and my legs, but we just kept on trotting along as John and I hoped each ger in the distance was the one we were supposed to stop at for the night. We finally came down a little clearing and saw a ger with puffs of smoke marking its territory and Mr. Umaa pointed to the ger. Hallelujah – we made it!

We arrived at Ms. Amarjargal’s family ger where we immediately bonded with the kids, a boy around 4 years old, and other cousins running around; some younger and some older. Before the sun went down we decided to take the young boy with us on a walk to an ovoo off in the distance. The boy wasn’t intimidated by strangers taking him away from his mother . He had long flowing hair which is similar for many Mongolian boys his age; in Mongolia it’s customary to only cut hair when children reach certain ages.

John carrying our new hiking friend to the ovoo

That night we ate a feast and then listened to the family call their oldest daughter who was 11 at a school in Ulaanbaatar. It’s customary for kids to be sent off to school at a very young age since there are not good schools in the area for children to attend. John and I sat and watched the touching moment between the family as they all tried to talk at once on their cell phone with spotty coverage.

They had an extra ger so they insisted that we stay inside their extra ger instead of unpacking our tent – they didn’t have to work too hard to convince me of that as the temperature was quickly dropping.

Breakfast of champions - fresh cream

The next morning we woke up to a deliciously sinful breakfast of fresh cream and bread. The food in Mongolia is nothing to write home about, however they do dairy the full fat way – nothing but the real stuff. Butter, cream, yogurt; I love learning what these products are really supposed to taste like! We drank tea and ate our bread with cream warming up around the ger stove. I watched as the father dressed his young son in a traditional Mongolian coat and sash and then they played around practicing a little fun wrestling, the traditional sport of Mongolia. It was easy to see how the cultural customs are carried forth from generation to generation.

Father and son practice wrestling moves

Part of the Ger to Ger mission is to teach visitors about the customs and culture of Mongolian families. The mother took John and I to the other ger and gave us a sewing lesson. She taught us how to make an intricate Mongolian pattern and silk phone holder. John and I weren’t the most talented students , but we loved how patient she was with us simply showing us what to do without really being able to communicate with us well. We used an ancient peddle sewing machine that I never really got the hang of, but at least I didn’t sew my finger!

Mongolian pattern

John getting his sewing lesson!

We spent the rest of the day playing with the kids who had an endless amount of energy for us. The mother next prepared the ox and cart and took us to our next family ger. Once again I’m amazed at how hearty and talented the Mongolian women are, they remind me of my grandmothers on the farms in Nebraska; they do everything – true working women.

John and I with our 'fans'

We sadly bid the children goodbye and bounced along on our ox cart to Mr. Bold’s family ger. According to our Ger to Ger handbook, we learned that Mr. Bold trains horses and has the prestigious title of ‘Lion’ from the Regional Naadam Festival where he used to compete. He became the Great Horse Trainer of Nalaih District. By the size of Mr Bold I would have though he was a wrestler; he was the definition of foreboding. It took a long time (and a little vodka) to see him smile, but when he did he looked much less intimidating! Ms. Battseseg, his wife, was also a professional herder and sews for many people around the area.

They welcomed us into their home with milk tea and bread. It wasn’t long before John and I were out with the family rounding up the cows so that the they could be milked. Our job was to find all of the calves and put them into a specific little square fence. John and I were feeling pretty rugged and were actually successful at this task! However milking the cows proved a bit more challenging!

Milking a cow...sure, it looks easy...

The next day we spent our day learning archery (which proved really challenging!), gathering up horses, and I even was allowed to help Ms. Battseseg make booz (Mongolian dumplings). She showed me how to fill the dough with the mutton mixture and pinch it together in a pretty looking dumpling. However it didn’t take long until I was demoted to simply rolling dough!

Our short stay was over and Mr. Bold loaded us onto the ox cart and we took the 15 km ride back to the bus stop to be picked up that night on the local bus. We were secured and toasty under blankets as we bumped along in the ox cart with our backpacks for pillows.

My archery form isn't too bad. My aim is horrible!

Our ox cart awaits. Mr. Bold and Mrs. Batsetseg say goodbye...

As I sat on the bus with John sharing a bottle of vodka I thought about this wonderfully rich culture and the fact that Ger go Ger really brings you an authentic experience that I’ve never been able to find in other places. Sure – this type of travel/experience is not for everyone. It’s rough, not at all luxury, and basic; but it’s real.

The Good:

This is the real deal, staying with Mongolian families on their terms. If you are someone who is looking for authentic experiences, then this is a ‘must-do’ if you are in Mongolia. Other great things about it:
• A large portion of the money goes back to the families you stay with
• Get a useful handbook and training on cultural etiquette before you go.
• You take local transportation which provides richer cultural experiences and exposure
• Provides a great opportunity for photography!
• Get to stay in a real ger – not a ger camp.

The Could be Better (or be prepared for these hardships):

• There is no bathroom facilities besides a hole in the ground with a few boards surrounding it for privacy
• No running water
• The food is very basic
• Have your own tent else you will have to rent one and it’s rather expensive
• The horse saddles are severely uncomfortable
• It’s not well planned and doesn’t really stick to the itinerary in the book. However if you keep an open mind, be patient, and know that you will get to accomplish a lot of great things that may not be in the published itinerary.

Would I recommend it?

Yes, absolutely yes! This was my third trip with Ger to Ger, and I’ve loved each one.
I found it to be really rewarding. However it is more independent travel than organized tour. You have to go into it knowing you will rough it and things won’t go as planned all the time. Be open and the experience can be amazing. I can’t wait to take another; however the next one I have told myself would be in the dead of winter so that I can experience the winter culture which I expect to be very different from the summer!

More information:
Ger to Ger Website:  www.gertoger.org

Photos from our Terelj Park Experience:

Tropical Hawaii - Hilo Rainforests

For me, travel is about experiences and connecting with people. When I make a connection with people in a destination, then it will turn into one of those magical places that will be on my ‘favorite’ list for years to come. That is what the Big Island of Hawaii was for me. I made many connections while I was there that will keep me going back to revisit friends, and find new adventures.

I had eight days on the island, a car, and a passion to explore the diversity of the Big Island of Hawaii. For anyone who is looking for a Hawaiian vacation that is ‘not the normal beach vacation’ then here’s my itinerary to something different.

My Big Island Itinerary

Hilo and Around

It’s a great place to start on the Big Island, but be warned, it’s not the sunny Hawaii you may be dreaming of; it receives 75 to 125 inches of rain a year and it will rain pretty much every day at some point. However it keeps Hilo looking fresh, green, and cool. Rent a car and use Hilo as a home base for a few days. You can fly directly into the Hilo Airport.  From Hilo you can visit Volcanoes National Park in a short 40 min. drive, see Akaka Falls, or do a day drive to Puna.

Volcanoes National Park – You can drive the Chain of Craters Road yourself and stop anywhere you’d like to see the stunning landscapes, or you can take a complete tour of the park and see the glowing caldera at night with Hawaii Forest and Trail’s Twilight Volcano Tour.

From your home base in Hilo, don’t miss the beautiful winding roads of the Puna region.  If you are looking for beauty and seclusion then you’ve found it on Hwy 137. Pack picnic lunch and go eat on the secluded shore line and watch the waves crash against the jagged coast.

Akaka Falls – The biggest waterfall you can easily view on the Big Island is Akaka Falls and it a very short drive from Hilo. As you drive there you may ever get to see the summit of Mauna Kea if it’s a clear day!

Time to bid goodbye to the rain and head for the pastureland of Waimea.

Waimea and Around

Now you can use Waimea as a home base to explore the rolling hills and deep cut valleys of Waipi’o Valley. A great base in Waimea is the Aloha Vacation Cottages where you will have everything you ever needed for a delightful stay.

On your way to from Hilo to  Waimea be sure to stop near Honokaa and add a little sweetness to your day at the Volcano Island Honey Farm.  Pick up some rare organic silk honey, learn about the amazing lives of bee colonies, and meet Richard – a very unique bee keeper.

Farms & Ranches of the Big Island

Get an early start to the morning and do a little work on vacation; yes that’s right work. Be sure to try your hand at being a Hawaiian cowboy (Paniolo) and herd cattle at the Dahana Ranch.  This is the only place on the island that allows you to participate in an actual cattle drive and it’s absolutely worth it. It was the highlight of my trip on the Big Island.

Now since you’ve worked up an appetite, make a lunch stop at the Hawaiian Vanilla Company and pick up some delicious souvenirs to take home with you while learning all about how to cultivate vanilla orchids.

Take a day to discover some hidden beaches on the Kohala Coast from your base in Waimea. Stay for sunset and catch some great photo ops.

Kailua Kona and Around

Head down to your final location for the week to the pleasant beach town of Kailua Kona and use it as your last base to explore. Kona Hula Girl provides a great location to be near the famous Kona Brewery and the shops, restaurants, and beaches. (plus they will give you a discount if you mention Ottsworld!)

Lay on the beach and enjoy poke and watch sea turtles dive in the morning and then drive to Mauna Kea Summit to watch the spectacular sunset from the tallest mountain in the world. Or try to book an star gazing tour from Kailua Kona and have them take you to the peak, view the massive telescopes, and see star formations from a beautiful vantage point.

Finally, I suggest you end your time on the Big Island with a special treat that will bring the whole week long experience on the Big Island together; a helicopter ride! It’s a great way to see the ‘big picture’ of the Big Island from above This is your chance to see the lava flow from an amazing vantage point!

You can turn in your rental car at the Kona airport and fly out back to mainland having experienced the diversity of the Big Island.

The Big Island is a great place to rent a car!

What other non-beach experiences do you recommend for the Big Island?

What next? Your guess is as good as mine!

The most frequent question I get asked is “What’s next?” followed by “How are you making enough money to continue traveling?”. I’ll tackle the latter at a different time. Both of these questions cause me anxiety, but it is a given that I will be asked them by 90% of the people I meet.

The simple answer is that I never really know ‘what’s next’; I don’t have a plan. My only plan is to remain flexible, and continue to do things that excite me intellectually, and challenge me.

I don’t have a plan on how to make a living as a travel blogger, on how I will survive the next year, on what I’m going to do in five years; I’m adrift on this globe simply trying to do things that bring me happiness and survive at the same time. I’m pretty sure that’s not a great way to get through life, but it’s been working for 5 years.

Lately I’ve been in bit of a funk. I can only attribute it to the fact that I’ve been in the US since September 2011 and I’m really itching to get out and use my passport again. I’ve had commitments which have kept me here and it’s allowed me to spend a great deal of time with family and friends, but I’m ready…ready to get out again.

Lately Europe has been ‘calling’ me. But at the same time in some weird way Europe bores me. It seems easy, posh, not very challenging. But I also have to accept that not everything has to be a challenge in my life; at least that’s what I tell myself.

I’ll be hopping on a plane with a passport in hand again on February 23rd heading to the little known island of Malta. Malta is one of these interesting places that is commonplace for Europeans, but rather obscure to Americans. Malta is actually part of the EU and it should provide a great mix of culture between Europe and Northern Africa.

Where is Malta?

After two weeks in Malta, I will head to Italy on March 10th to begin a big Europe tour that will include Italy (Rome, Sorrento, Venice), Austria (Vienna) , Germany (Berlin) , France (Paris), and Spain. It will also include my 18 year old niece for a week in Italy. I have no real solid plans yet, but I’m in the planning stages, so feel free to provide advice!

I plan to arrive in Spain in the end of April and begin a big challenge that has been on my Travel ‘Bucket’ List for a while now; I am going to walk the Camino de Santiago trail. In full it is a 800 km walk from the border of France to the coast of Spain.  I don’t yet know my route or if I will do the full route or not, but I will do it – and my feet will be screaming at me no doubt.

The typical Camino de Santiago Route

As for the rest of my year, I’m working on some ideas (some really exciting ones), but not ready to provide those details yet! However I will always be looking for opportunities to accomplish things on my Travel ‘Bucket’ List. And I’m always willing to take advice from readers!

Colorful sunsets on Mauna Kea

As I drove the gradual incline, the car downshifted to a lower gear, jerked and slowly inched up the road; I could feel just how hard it seemed to be working to get up to the Mauna Kea visitor center.  Hawaii has the tallest mountain on earth.  No, I haven’t lost my mind, and no, Everest hasn’t moved to the Big Island of Hawaii.  Mauna Kea is in fact the tallest mountain; from it’s base (under the sea) it comes in at 33,000 feet which puts it significantly above Mt. Everest!  However from sea level it is measured at 13,796 ft – which is certainly tall enough to wreak havoc with your body and provide a hefty headache.

This was one of my most anticipated sites on the Big Island, Mauna Kea, home to the best stargazing and astronomical observation.  This is where my Big Island luck had run out.  I had tried to go on a astronomy tour to the summit, but thanks to a number of factors, I was unable to go.  So I was relegated to the 9,000 foot level at the visitor center only.  However I made the drive up to the visitor center as I knew it would be a fascinating area to see that would once again leave me thinking, “I can’t believe this is Hawaii.”

That’s exactly what I thought when I parked the car and stepped outside into the cold air.  I quickly kicked off my flip flops, put on my socks and tennis shoes, and put all the layers I could possibly fit on my body.  With a two wheel drive car I was unable to go any further up to the summit, but I was able to still go the visitor center which had some interesting videos of the observatories and after the sun sets they bring out telescopes to do some star gazing with students from the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy.

However the most fascinating thing to me was the drive to Mauna Kea via the saddle road.  The road climbed up out of the rain forest and Hilo area and soon I felt as if I was on another planet.  There were plants I had never seen before, and the landscape was barren except for complex cloud formations.  The drive to the visitor center was stunning, and it’s worth a stop, especially if you time it for sunset as I did that evening.

However, on my next trip, I’m determined to get to the summit and see those laser telescopes in action!  You have to leave some things for the ‘second visit’!

The stormy saddle road to Mauna Kea

Unusual plants dot the landscape as I get closer to Mauna Kea

A rainbow appears in the distance welcoming me to Mauna Kea

The Road to the Visitor Center

Climbing the hill near the visitor center to get the best view

The visitor center is graced with a full rainbow!

The last bit of light slips away on Mauna Kea

Aloha Vacation Cottage Patio - a great lodging rental on the Big Island

As a solo traveler I look for smaller, intimate places to stay. I feel lost in big resorts and quite frankly it’s just not my style. I was combing the internet in search of a small, local place to stay near Waimea on the Big Island and I came across Annette at the Aloha Vacation Cottages. I contacted her about availability and to learn more about the cottages to see if they would be right for a solo traveler. Annette and I immediately bonded over worldly travel and expat living. She was an avid traveler and expat for her career in Europe, however a medical scare made her re-evaluate life and landed her in Hawaii based solely on an instinct to follow her passion. Clearly you can see why we would get along!

As I pulled up to the Aloha Vacation Cottages in South Kohala in my rental car, there was Annette waiting for me to arrive. After speaking to her extensively on the phone to set up my reservation, I felt as if I knew her. I got out of the car and gave her a big hug as if she were an old friend. She introduced me to my new ‘home’ at Hale Kea Cottage, showed me around, and then we sat in the kitchen and chatted for the next hour about travel, careers, taking chances in life, and about the Big Island. She had a passion for the Big Island and her home that was delightful to see.

I only stayed 2 nights at Aloha Vacation Cottages, but it was a very memorable 2 nights, and when I left I knew I would be back again one day for a much longer stay. It was a place you could easily call home.

Location:

The cottages were nicely located for travel around the North side of the island. They are nestled in a neighborhood far from the big commercial resorts. From the cottages, you could easily reach the gorgeous public beaches of the Kohala Coast within 15 minutes, the ranchlands of Waimea, and the stunning views and hiking in Waipio Valley. Annette will send you detailed instructions on how to get to the cottages and will be there to welcome you!

Annette has maps and info at the house on how to get around the island and information on the nearby attractions and hidden beaches.

Rooms and Amenities:

Aloha Vacation Cottages consist of 2 separate cottages – Hale Kea and Hale Plumeria. Each have separate entrances and driveways. I stayed at the Hale Kea cottage; it was quite large and slept 4. It had everything one would need for a long term, comfortable stay; kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom with laundry, a patio, grill, and parking.

The living room is bright and sunny

Kitchen has everything you'll need

However, what made the cottage stand out above any other I have ever stayed in was the all of the extra amenities. I was so surprised to find all condiments, fresh fruit, and even food for a dinner (spaghetti) in the cupboard! Everything you needed for the beach was also provided – towels, beach hats, chairs, mats, boogie boards, and snorkel gear.

In addition, she offers a free laptop and wifi for you to use, a bathrobe and slippers, a cooler for the beach and ice pack, and even sun screen.

Atmosphere:

You could easily tell the love that was put into the cottages. I was especially impressed with the amount of information provided on Hawaii. Don’t bother with a guide book as Annette will have all the info and maps you would ever need; maps and pictures of beaches and other sites.

Plus I really appreciated the notes left all over the cottage with instructions. Little notes on the beach towels informing me to not use the bathroom towels at the beach. Or a note about using the ice for the cooler or how to use the cable box and the washer/dryer. I found the notes endearing and clearly a sign that a lot of love and work was put into all of the details of the cottage and your stay there.

A friendly reminder....

She even had a quilt project for those who liked to sew. A quilt square was started with a traditional Hawaii design and she allowed guests to contribute by quilting on the square. Even though I don’t sew, I love the idea of the traveler’s quilt project.

Hawaii Quilt Project

Costs:

Hale Plumeria – from $125/night + tax (double occupancy) – seasonal / 13.25% tax
Hale Kea – from $160/night + tax (double occupancy) – seasonal / 13.25% tax

Would I recommend it:

If you want a central place to stay in the North of the Big Island that feels like ‘home’, then I recommend Aloha Vacation Cottages. The price was competitive and you get an abundance of extra amenities that make it really stand out. It is clearly evident all of the work and thought they’ve put into the cottages. I just wish I had more time to spend there. I greatly appreciated all of the information provided about the nearby attractions and island. Plus – stocked cupboards = BLISS!

This was a quality place to stay with owners who were amazing hosts.

“Hawaii is about warmth on different levels: it starts with the first “Aloha” you are greeted with upon landing. The ground beneath you is warm. The sun is warm. The ocean’s warmth is inviting. The people are special. Hawaii offered me a warm, soft place to land when I first arrived. It’s what draws people here and brings them back. It’s what makes it easy for me to call home. It’s infectious. Be aware. Hawaii is now your “home away from home”– Annette

More Information:

Aloha Vacation Cottages Website: www.alohacottages.net
Hale Kea Cottage
Hale Plumeria Cottage
Inquire about Availability: www.alohacottages.net/Order.html

Disclosure: Aloha Vacation Cottages hosted my stay with them.  However, all of the opinions expressed here are my own – as you know how I love to speak my mind!

Vanilla produced on the Big Island of Hawaii

Ice cream, chocolate chip cookies, coffee, cakes, and shakes – these are all places where you expect to find vanilla beans or vanilla flavor. But what about lemonade, BBQ sauce, chutney, cornbread, maple syrup, jelly, or salad dressing? And would you expect to find a vanilla farm (the first & only commercial vanilla operation in the US) in Hawaii?

The Big Island continues to surprise me and today the surprising secret ingredient is….”Vanilla!”

The ingrediants for Vanilla Extract

Today is my day to learn all about one of my favorite flavors in the world, vanilla. I don’t think that I’ve ever met someone who doesn’t like the taste of vanilla; it invokes thoughts of comfort food, warmth, sweets, and pure flavor. The simple thought of vanilla makes me salivate in hunger which is a good thing because I’m at the right place for lunch – the Hawaiian Vanilla Company.

I park the car next to the cheery yellow house with white trim.  It’s shaded by big trees and trimmed in flowers. It looks picture perfect as I walk up the stairs to go inside for my lunch reservation. As I pull open the screen door with a creak and walk inside the smell hits me – vanilla. I stop and take a big deep breath in, close my eyes and a little grin creeps onto my face as my stomach rumbles.

Other couples are milling around and soon we are all called into the dining area in the back where a waiter asks me if I’d like vanilla ice tea or vanilla lemonade. A vision of Willy Wonka passes through my head and I think if Willy had a vanilla room, he would have vanilla lemonade -  I’m sure of it. I order the vanilla lemonade and settle into my table for one, ready to eat and be educated for the next 2 hours.

Jim Reddekopp, the owner of the family run farm, introduces himself and starts to tell the story of how he and his wife started growing vanilla. The first thing I learn which surprises me is that vanilla is an orchid and it’s the only orchid that has a flavor associated with it.

Jim tells us his vanilla story

I love hearing the story of an entrepreneurial dream. Jim grew up in Oahu and married Tracy and they have 5 kids. This is a family operation for sure; the kids are involved in all areas of the business from working in the kitchen to working in the Orchid houses. Plus, vanilla was not something that Jim or Tracy knew anything about originally, instead they came up with the idea since the Hawaiian climate was right for raising vanilla orchids and they built their knowledge and business from the ground up.

As Jim talks about the science behind raising vanilla orchids and making extract, he simultaneously fries a skillet full of shrimp in butter served with vanilla mango chutney. He says, “Everything here is fattening. It’s the way food is supposed to taste!” As he places the vanilla shrimp appetizer on my table I can’t help but feel his enthusiasm about food. He exudes joy for bringing the farm to table movement to Hawaii and clearly is a leader and innovator on the Big Island. I think to myself, this is what passion is. When you can find your passion, everything falls into place. My first bite of shrimp with vanilla chutney is full of flavor; a fabulous start to my Vanilla Experience lunch.

Our first course - vanilla grilled shrimp

Jim continues to explain to us how to make vanilla extract with a variety of different liquors, which is surprisingly simple once you have a good vanilla bean. He also gives us a demonstration of how to remove the seeds from a vanilla bean. The waiters bring out our main course consisting of bourbon citrus marinated chicken breast on a vanilla sweet bread roll with vanilla caramelized onions and organic greens. It is served with a salad with dusted vanilla pecans, feta, and a vanilla raspberry balsamic dressing. Vegetables also get the vanilla treatment; we have Okinawa potatoes with a vanilla southwest rub served with vanilla BBQ sauce.

Prepping in the kitchen

Bourbon citrus marinated checken breast with vanilla carmelized onions

The vanilla flavors are subtle and not overpowering, and I consider licking my plate. Would anyone notice? I think that Jim would probably give me a standing ovation if he saw me do it!

After all of the new, creative vanilla dishes that I try, it is time for a well known favorite – vanilla bean ice cream.

This.  Is.  Heaven.

Vanilla bean ice cream is an 8 billion dollar business worldwide.

All of us are now fat and happy and full of vanilla, but there is no rest, we have more to learn and see. Doug, one of the managers, takes over the tour and has us get up and walk around a bit, which I’m quite thankful about.

A vanilla orchid plant growing in the shade house

Doug explains how the orchids are grown and most importantly pollinated. He walks us down to the shade houses on the farm and points out various plants along the way. From Doug I learn about the rich and proud farming community on this part of the Big Island. As I listen to Doug talk about the surrounding ranches and people doing amazing things on the Big Island I wonder if it’s possible for me to love this island any more?

The shade houses are the home to many new baby orchid plants. Doug explains that a baby orchid takes 4 years to flower; patience is a necessary trait for vanilla farming. Plus, farming vanilla is incredibly labor intensive, the vanilla orchids are pollinated one by one by hand. This explains why vanilla is so expensive.

The tour comes to an end back at the yellow house in the gift shop where you can purchase your beans and various products to take home and try your own vanilla recipes. The last piece of advice that Jim leaves us with, “Anyone who thinks that vanilla is ‘just plain vanilla’ hasn’t tasted pure vanilla. It’s divine.”
I can’t agree more. Now it’s time to make my way to the beach for a big vanilla coma nap.

The Good:
• The food was phenomenal, and service was great.
• The 2 ½ hours was very educational and took you through the whole process of vanilla production.
• I walked away with knowledge on how to make my own extract!
• I loved the fact that Jim, the owner, was involved with the luncheon. His enthusiasm and love for vanilla and the Big Island was infectious.
• I liked the fact that the group was a manageable size. There were place settings for about 15 people so it was intimate and easy to see and hear while on the tour.

The Could Be Better:
• It would be nice to get some of the recipes from the luncheon or to have some of them available on the website so that we could recreate the dishes we ate.

Would I Recommend It:
Yes!  I highly recommended a stop at the Hawaii Vanilla Company as a great afternoon to get out and see another part of the island. My lunch was a true farm to table experience; I not only ate an amazing meal with the key ingredient grown down the road, but I was educated and entertained throughout the whole process. If you are visiting the sites of Waipio Valley or Akaka Falls, then this is a great stop to make, even if it’s just to come to the gift shop or for one of their Afternoon Tea tastings. I felt like the price ($39 for lunch, drinks, tour) was very reasonable in comparison to eating on other parts of the island.

More Information:
Hawaiian Vanilla Company Website:  www.HawaiianVanilla.com
Information on the Vanilla Experience Luncheon (Reservations are required!)
Other tours and tastings offered at the farm: Vanilla Tours
Hawaiian Vanilla Company Inc.
P.O. Box 383
43-2007 Paauilo Mauka Road
Paauilo, Hawaii 96776
Phone (808) 776-1771
Fax (808) 776-1661
Toll Free (877) 771-1771
orders@hawaiianvanilla.com

See all photos from the Vanilla Luncheon Experience and tour:

Disclosure: The Hawaiian Vanilla Company hosted my Vanilla Experience Luncheon and Tour. However, all of the opinions expressed here are my own – as you know how I love to speak my mind!

Preparing the horses, a little 'helper' looks on

“The horses are not pets. They are workers. Do not let the horses eat; they have all day to eat. Now they are supposed to be working, they are on my time now.” This is the first thing I hear from the good looking young man dressed in levis, leather chaps with fringe, cowboy boots (with spurs), and a big rain slicker. The only thing missing is a cowboy hat, but this young paniolo opts for a baseball hat; giving this Hawaiian cowboy a modern twist.

I hear this speech from Pa’akaula while I’m perched on top of one of those referred to ‘work horses’. A wave of seriousness comes over me, as my mind switches from ‘I’m a tourist’ mode to ‘I have a job to do’ mode. I’m about to participate in my first cattle herding experience…err…job.

Strangely I’m not in Texas, Wyoming, or Colorado; I’m in Hawaii.

Prepping the work horses

The rain is pouring down, and the wind is whipping around me. The skies are filled with gray low hanging clouds hiding the beautiful pasture views from me. I think about other tourists out on the beach on the sunny side of the Big Island, but I just had to be different. Now I’m on top of a horse named Red, slightly exhilarated and slightly nervous. I can hardly believe that a beginner rider like myself is about to embark on a cattle drive with absolutely no tourist fluff to it.

But this is where I like to be, on the edge; the edge of excitement, nervousness, and newness.

Going to 'work' in the elements

“The horse’s job is to do nothing. Your job is to make it do something. These horses are not trail horses; they will not follow each other. In fact, I don’t want you to follow each other, you need to be comfortable splitting up, “ says Pa’akaula. I continue to listen to the lecture and I can feel my adrenaline rise. Pa’akaula comes over to my horse to tighten some parts of the saddle and he begins to give me my ‘driving’ instructions. He tells me how to get the horse to move forward, backward, turn left and turn right. He tells me how to stop the horse and make it stand still or stop the horse and make it back up. He instructs me to keep my heels down but keep pressure on my toes and to hold the reins as if I’m holding a bottle. I feel like I’m 16 again learning how to drive a car for the first time; it all sort of makes sense, but it’s nerve-wracking.

To top it off, the rain is blowing sideways now. This isn’t the beautiful day I was hoping for when I signed up for this cattle drive. Instead I am cold and getting more and more soaked by the second. However, somehow the horrible weather makes the whole experience seem even that much more authentic. We aren’t out here for fun; we are out here to get a job done.

Pa'akaula getting the horses ready for work

Pa’akaula tells us to walk our horses down the muddy drive until we get to the fence line, then stop and wait. He wants to see if we can successfully instruct our horses to do this simple task. I give Red two quick hard kicks with my heels and he slowly takes a few steps forward. Soon he is walking and as I continue to tap him with my heals occasionally.

At the fence line we all stop successfully. Mission accomplished! We are now given our next set of instructions. Lead our horse to the patch of trees over the hill in the distance. There is a slight pause and then Pa’akaula firmly instructs us to not follow each other. “You all have to take a different route to get to the patch of trees,” he says.

Now this is a bit more challenging, but my mind races with excitement. I pull the reins to the left and kick Red with my right heel in the hope that this will make him turn left. He stands there and doesn’t move. I think to myself, wait a minute, am I supposed to kick with my left or my right foot? My mind is second-guessing myself. Out of futility I decide to try again, this time Red turns and starts walking to the left. Success!

I walk Red towards the patch of trees and watch my cowboy peers do the same, the three of us are all spread out as instructed. I feel free, I feel in control. I never in my life have had real control of a horse; directing it solely by my desire. I’ve done trail rides before, but there was little decision really left to the rider, the horse was in control. However now it is I who is in control. I decide to turn, I don’t take the most efficient route, and I choose to stop – just because I want to. It feels amazing.

We continue to practice this horse control for the next 40 minutes; trying to teach the horse that we are the boss. The rain also continues, harder and harder. I can feel my jeans are already soaked underneath my rain slicker. The rain is dripping off the brim of my hat as well as my nose. I feel real. I feel like a paniolo; a Hawaiian cowboy.

Pa’akaula tells us to scan for cattle, we now need to get an idea of where the cattle are so we can round them up. We walk the horses around the vast fence line scanning for cattle. However, truth be told, I don’t think I am looking for cattle as I am still struggling with becoming the master of Red. Red does the turns I instruct him to, but not quite with the precision I would like and the perfectionist in me wants to get it right.

Our pawns...we must move them wisely

We spot the cattle all grazing in the same general area; there are about 35 of them. However off to the left I see black animals running the opposite direction of the herd and wonder if I should be pointing these ‘runaways’ out. However Pa’akaula reads my mind and quickly points out that those aren’t cattle, they are wild bore.

Pa’akaula motions for us to gather up near the rest of the cattle; it is time to get down to work. The wind is whistling, the sky is dark and the cows look as if they really don’t want to move. He gives us a little advice about how to use the fence line to keep the cattle ‘pinned’ in. He also suggests to be vocal in order to get the cattle to move. Pa’akaula looks at us each slowly and says, “Ok – this is your adventure, good luck!” and walks away on his horse. The perfectionist in me panics and wonders if he is leaving us! The three of us look at each other and swiftly make a game plan as there’s no time to waste in this uncomfortable weather. My fellow tourist herders bolster my confidence. We spread out as we have been doing all morning and go along the perimeter of the herd of cattle. Pa’akaula is watching from a perimeter spot ready to step in and chase any ‘runaways’.

“Ya” I meagerly say, and walk towards the cattle in my area. Meager isn’t going to cut it. “Ya! Ya!” I yell. The cattle take notice and begin to walk in front of me. I smile to myself and think, “I just made cows move. “ I’m amused by the thought and strangely proud.

Red and I use the fenceline to herd the cattle in

The rain continues to pour down on us, but we are moving the cattle, slowly to the pen. I belt out more “Ya! Ya!” vigorously as I go up and down steep, narrow, muddy sections of the pasture. I am amazed that a beginner like myself it tackling this terrain, but there’s no time to dwell on it; I have confidence now in the ability of my sure-footed horse. I hold on as if I’m riding a mountain bike leaning into the hills and back on the downhill. All the while my eyes are on the cattle. I can see us all converging on our end destination. Pa’akaula opens the gate and the cattle instinctively enter.

He closes the gate to the muddy pen signaling that our work is done. The three of us let out a sigh of relief and nod to each other in the rain; signaling a job well done. Today none us of feel like tourists, we feel like paniolos.

The cattle are in the pen! Our work is done!

The Good:

• Beginners can participate in the cattle drive
• The website description was accurate – there was no fluff!
• The instruction by the Ranch was good and even though we were separated in distance, they kept an eye on you.
• Provided rain slickers!

The Could Be Better:

• The weather could have been better! That’s honestly all I could come up with!
• They don’t always run the tour as they need enough people to do it. Check with them to see if they have a cattle herding experience available when you are there.

Would I recommend it:

Absolutely! This was one of my favorite things I did on the Big Island. I had always had a dream to herd cattle for some reason, and this was a great way to get a taste of it in a very unexpected place. There are many places that offer trail rides on the Big Island, but Dahana is the only one who offers the cattle herding experience. I was skeptical at first thinking it might be watered down for tourists – but I honestly felt like I was a part of the real thing. It was a lot of time on the horses, but the time went fast – even in the rain!

Website: Dahana Ranch
P.O. Box 1293 • Kamuela, HI 96743 • toll free: (888) 399-0057 • p (808) 885-0057 • f (808) 885-7833 • dahana@hawaiiantel.net

Disclosure: Dahana Ranch hosted my Cattle Drive experience. However, all of the opinions expressed here are my own – as you know how I love to speak my mind!

Travel Q&A

I constantly get questions about my travels and I do make an attempt to answer them all back. However when someone asks a question that I think others would really benefit from hearing the answer, I like to share them for my entire Ottsworld audience (my mom + 20 other people)

I had a recent question from a reader Helen from Colorado who is planning her upcoming year long career break trip.

Q: How do you like HTH Global Citizen medical insurance? I read your comment on a Meet Plan Go article and saw you use them. I’m leaning towards them as they offer unlimited maximum, renewable, coverage inside & outside US, travel benefits, etc. I’m generally healthy but want that worst-case-scenario coverage. Also just turned 40.

A: I have been happy with HTH and have used them for a couple of years now. I am 41 and wanted to be covered as I continuously go back and forth in and out of the US and didn’t want to deal with changing insurance all the time. I haven’t had to use the insurance yet overseas, however I have used it back in the US through the Aetna network and it all worked smoothly. Had pap-smears and mammograms and was referred to dermatologists no problem.
So far so good for me with HTH. My rates even went down this year strangely.

Should you pack the bulky hiking boots?

Q: Regarding packing… I’m traveling for a year and plan to do some major trekking along the way (New Zealand, Nepal). No set itinerary really – following summer! I’m at a loss how to travel as a trekker/backpacker and be ready to head out at any moment, versus bringing along more worldly items of DSLR, storage, iPad, phone… that I won’t lug into the mountains. Seems I’ll always have to check in somewhere and separate out backpacking needs and store whatever I leave behind.

A: I had/have this problem all of the time – and I still sort of struggle with it – there are a couple of ways I handle it. I take my good hiking boots with me…suck it up and have them take up a lot of space. Then I buy whatever else I need in the way of hiking clothes when I arrive. In Nepal this will be super easy – and cheap. You can find North Face jackets (knock offs), fleece, hiking pants, socks, mittens, hats, and sleeping bags for cheap – also a walking stick. It’s cheaper and easier than bringing it all with you. Then I generally try to sell it to someone else when leaving or donate it to porters as it wasn’t that much money.
In New Zealand that’s not as easy…so I took a few layered things and still bought other things I needed when I got there.

Just remember the cardinal rule about packing is that you can buy anything you need at your destination – so don’t worry too much about forgetting something or packing something that you will only use for one activity.  Finally – really, really consider if you need your hiking boots or if you can hike in tennis shoes.  Pretty much every place I have hiked, including New Zealand I could hike in tennis shoes.  I needed my hiking boots for the Annapurna Circuit, but that was a 3 week hike.

However hiking boots are a bit challenging. If you don’t bring them with you, then you can always leave them with a friend all packed up and then when you need them have them mail them to you! I’ve done this before too – and it’s worked just fine!

Q: I was wondering about storage when/if you take extended backpacking treks/circuits (ie, Milford Track, Annapurna Circuit)? Where do you store the items you do not take along with you (ie, laptop)? When I did long trips in Patagonia I was able to store unnecessary items within the park’s hostel systems. Just wondering what has been your experience in this regard? Do you feel safe leaving valuable items behind in storage?

A: I never feel safe leaving my valuables behind when I trek – however it’s something that’s necessary else I’d never go anywhere! Sometimes the company will store them. Sometimes I store them in a secure room at the hostel or hotel. You can always find somewhere to put them – and simply try to make sure it’s a locked area. I’ve done this all over the world and so far it’s been fine. You just have to remember – if something gets stolen – it’s not the end of the world…everything is replaceable. It would suck, but it’s part of life, it happens.

Here are a few other resources out there regarding packing. It’s personal to everyone, there is no right or wrong way to pack. Yes, you should try to pack light without a doubt, but make sure it also fits your style. Some of these resourcesPacking Resources:

Pack light - I'm not a great example of this!

http://www.bootsnall.com/rtw/faq-packing.html (includes a male and female clothes packing list with links)
http://www.poweredbytofu.com/how-to-pack-for-a-1-year-round-the-world-trip/
http://alittleadrift.com/rtw-travel/rtw_packing/ (includes a female packing list)
http://blog.hostelbookers.com/travel/how-to-pack-your-backpack/ (how to best pack your backpack)
http://www.travelindependent.info/whattopack.htm

Ah - some days I feel like a freak!

I was recently told in a very heated and unpleasant discussion that I don’t share. The person wasn’t talking about sharing items as in sharing your toiletries while traveling. Instead they were talking about sharing my thoughts and feelings; in essence, opening up my life to others and sharing what goes on inside my head.

As hard as it was to hear – they were right.

After ten years of not being in any real relationships (God that hurt to even type that) and five years of traveling and living nomadically few things actually make it out of my mind and into words because there’s really no one to verbalize to. I sort of chalk it up to the fact that this is the life of a solo traveler and a very independent, single person.

You might be surprised to hear this if you have read this blog for a while. You probably feel that I share a lot of information publicly. However consider this – you only hear what I decide to share. And even that is finely crafted and controlled. The beauty of blogging and social media is that you have a delete and publish button. I decide what you hear and what you learn about me. And yes – sometimes my true thoughts are highly restricted or deleted.

Apparently I’m using a publish button in my personal relationships too. I rarely ‘publish’ anything verbally to my friends. I feel like my life is so distant from theirs that I don’t even know where to begin. So all they really get is the surface level. No one dives deep nor do I let them.

Me - a pixelated mystery

In fact lately I’ve been dealing with this huge gap in my life; the gap of what people think my life is like and what’s really going on in my head and my life.  The problem with editing is that it seems to be pushing me further away from the thoughts, feelings, and conversations in my head…the ones that never come out. The ones I don’t share. The gap is becoming a crevice and days it feels like a canyon.

I desperately want to fill in the canyon, and share again, but to whom? It takes a while to undo so much that has been done. And quite frankly I wonder if I will ever be someone that gushes personal information about myself. There’s a part of me that wants to remain a mystery…until I meet the right person to share that mystery with. At 41 I’ve been waiting a long time.

One thing I miss from my pre-blogging days is my journaling. I journaled for 7 years prior to me starting to share my stories online in 2006. I realized that the journaling for me was therapeutic; it’s how I was able to process thoughts and analyze my feelings. It was my therapist in a way. However when I stared blogging, I stopped journaling as the thought of writing on paper wasn’t as appealing any longer. Plus I just had no extra time to do it when I was working so hard at putting out my blog stories. The lack of journaling has finally caught up with me I believe.

I seldom share personal thoughts and feelings on this blog; which means that I rarely share personal thoughts and feelings anywhere. I’ve been fantasizing about opening up more, starting an outlet for the more personal side of me, my life, and my thoughts on this blog. Strangely, the pieces I write which are more personalized seemed to be the ones most people are interested in. I think it’s because we all go through the same things – and people can relate. However in the past I’ve decided to not share as much on my blog since quite honestly I’m scared.

But I’ve decided to give it a go. Starting in 2012 I’m going to try to write more personal posts under the section “Life” and the category “In my head”. They may be about travel, they may be about me, my thoughts, relationships, work, my insecurities, my sex life – or lack thereof. Don’t worry – there will still be all of the same travel info that I also do, but I’m not really sure what ‘In my Head’ will take on.  All I do know is that it won’t be highly edited…they will be simply what’s going on in my head.

My family home that I spent the first 18 years of my life in. And yes - that little yellow trike was mine from Santa

This blog is as much about me as it is about travel – so here’s a little personal look into my Christmas past that has absolutely nothing to do with travel – but everything to do with family and tradition.  As my family has grown older and evolved – new traditions take over.  However at this time of year I’m always thinking about our old traditions and how special they were to me.

Every Christmas Eve we’d all get dressed up and drive into town to go to candlelight service (which I was terrified of as a kid!).  We’d count all of the lighted Christmas trees on our way to and from church and see who could find the most.  We’d come home and take photos by the Christmas tree and then feast on a huge meal of turkey or duck.  We were never allowed to open gifts before Christmas.  We’d watch the old version of the Christmas Carol on PBS that evening by the fireplace.  One thing was for certain – I could never sleep on Christmas Eve.   I still remember that childlike anticipation and excitement that took over my whole body and mind on Christmas Eve.  I would wake up every hour and look at the clock in anticipation.  As an adult I cherish that memory of absolute pure excitement.  I often wish I could experience that feeling again – but wonder if it’s ever really possible.  Our adult lives have become so complicated these days; the holidays are more stress than they are excitement.  Some of my travels have come close, but I don’t really think the feeling can be replicated.

Christmas morning would finally come after what I thought was the longest night ever!  My parents had a rule that I couldn’t get up before 7AM so I would lay in my bed and wait until the magic time and then proceed to wake everyone else in my family up to see what Santa brought under the tree.  As you can see from the picture above, Santa was pretty kind to us.  We spent the morning opening gifts, putting together toys, and eating homemade cinnamon rolls.

Those are my old family traditions – what’s yours?

I hope you have a Merry Christmas and Holiday Season with people you love!

1970 - My brother, mother, me (baby) and sister Christmas morning

1971 - Prepping for Christmas with my sister and brother

1972 - Christmas Eve

1973 - My mother and I get dressed up for Christmas Eve service and dinner

1973 - Posing with siblings for the annual tree picture!

My gifts from Santa - Fischer Price was a popular! No gameboys or electronics!

Vietnamese families drive to see the Christmas lights

One of the most unusual sites I witnessed in my travels was experiencing Christmas in Asia. I had been living in Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam for 3 months when December 25th rolled around. In a country with no real religion, and no westernized consumerism (yet), Vietnam surprised me with their Christmas spirit.

Christmas in the western world seems to be more economic consumption than religion these days, so why should that be any different in Vietnam? The strange thing is that in Vietnam it seemed to be about neither. There was very little reference to anything religious about Christmas and there was really no one out shopping for gifts except for expats. So why do the Vietnamese care about Christmas? I never really knew, but my first guess was that they like any reason to drive their motorbikes around the city and get out of their homes! I may never understand the Vietnamese fascination with Christmas, but in the meantime, here’s what I was able to observe.

Merry Merry Christmas

Vietnamese referred to Christmas as “Merry Christmas”. For example, I frequently was asked, “Teacher, what are you going to do for Merry Christmas?” I found it kind of charming; it always reminded me that it was a merry holiday. And no matter how depressed I was about being on my own for Christmas, at least I could be doubly reminded that I should be merry.

Decking the Halls

On December 23rd I walked by a crew working at constructing yet another Christmas light display in District 1. In the US, the decorations start going up on November 1st, in Vietnam they go up on December 21st! As I saw the people frantically working to put their fake snowmen together and the reindeer carefully placed near the door, I wondered if they were going to all of this work to simply take it down again in a week. I’m assumed not. Why would anyone go to 2 weeks of work to set something up to simply tear it down again right away? Then again, nothing surprised me in Asia.

Vietnam was Surprisingly Lit Up for the Holidays

When you think of Christmas, you think of Heineken

In the center of HCMC near the market exists the pinnacle of all of Christmas displays; I called it the Heineken Snow Globe. No, it was not an actual snow globe, just a large light display shaped like a dome. I pass this monument to holiday beer (oops, I mean holiday cheer), every day on my way to work. I watched it go up piece by piece over the previous 3 weeks. Men dangled from the scaffolding, a giant disco ball was erected, and carefully placed ‘snow drifts’ were constructed. Then I finally saw it – the familiar green and white logo – a Heineken sign on the Christmas tree. There were Christmas light displays like this all over the city and many of them were sponsored by Heineken for some reason. I even saw a Christmas tree made of Heineken beer cans!

The Heinekin 'Snow Globe'

The Festive Smell of Pollution

I thought that the Heineken snow globe was rather impressive…or tacky….I couldn’t quite decide. That probably means I had been in Asia too long. However, I was not the only one who thought it was impressive, the other 7, 999,999 residents of HCMC also thought it was impressive. I believed this because the viewing of the snow globe was a family affair. Instead of hopping in the minivan, the Vietnamese put their family of 4 on a motorbike and took off to go view the holiday lights in District 1. There were lights hanging everywhere in the main part of the city. Displays of elves, reindeer, snowmen, Santa, and even a Winnie the Poo Santa littered the sidewalks. I supposed these lavish displays were in the same vein as window displays in NYC, but no one had a store front big enough to display their Holiday light extravaganza, so it spilled out into the streets; like most of life in HCMC.

The traffic was as unbelievable as seeing reindeer fly. I had never seen such a massive sea of motorbikes. They just slowly circled around and around looking at the light displays. I walked through the heart of Heineken Christmas Village to capture the absolute chaos and culture of the holiday. After an hour of walking around taking pictures of the traffic, families, kids dressed in Santa suits, and the street vendors; I realized that I couldn’t take it any longer. The pollution from the motorbikes was literally going to kill me.

Motorbikes circled the city center non-stop

Eat Papa, Eat!

At the snow globe, there weren’t only lights strung from all of the trees, and vendors selling little Santa, lollipops, and devil horns (not sure that those had to do with Christmas), but there was also St. Nick himself. Actually, there were about seven St. Nicks. They were all dressed up in their Santa outfits, shaking the kids hands and taking pictures with them. Of course in true Asian style there was no queue, that would be silly; there were just masses of people pushing and shoving to get to jolly old St. Nick. However I was a bit distraught when his belly didn’t jiggle like a bowl full of jelly. Instead, the belly was non-existent; this Christmasia Santa was a skinny Santa!

The Skinny Asian Santa

My ChristmAsia was eye opening, just as every day was living in HCMC. Merry Merry Christmas to all, and to all – let the lights and Heineken shine on. Merry Merry Christmasia!

My Holiday Video tradition lives on! Holiday Greetings to everyone has stumbled by my little online home in 2011. It was a really busy travel year  – I go through the staggering numbers in the video – so watch closely! In making this video it was a good time to reflect upon my 2011 travels.  I  realized I’ve been to a lot of new places, met many new people, and added oodles of new friends to my ‘global family’ this year! Maybe more than any other year.  I really believe that I am one of the luckiest people around as I get to do what I love every day – explore, learn, and meet people.

For all of you who I met for the first time this year around all parts of this globe – it was a pleasure to spend time with you and learn about your country and culture.  For my old friends  – thanks for sticking by me and always giving me a bed to sleep in!

I bring you the 5th annual Ottsworld Holiday Video Card!

Yes – I’ve been doing this 5 years – if you are curious what the other years looked like – you can check them out here:

Holidays 2010

Holidays 2009

Holiday 2008

Holiday 2007

So – what do you think…have I changed over the years?!

A turtle captured on my Photo Safari

A familiar diesel idle echoed through my ears as the big safari truck pulled up next to me and my little rental car. This truck was my transport to go on safari on the Big Island of Hawaii. However I wasn’t searching for wild game, instead I was searching for good photography.

Photo Safari Hawaii was immediately of interest to me when I started researching my trip to the Big Island. They offer private photo ecotours all over the Hawaiian Islands, creating a custom experience for each client. The Photo Safari guides are experts in their knowledge of the islands as well as photography of the islands. The tour provided an insiders guide to the best places to shoot, as well as fine art photography exercises to enhance your photography.

Even though I have been doing photography for a while now, I always think it’s good to try to improve your skills and get refreshers. I get into bad habits, I get lazy, and I was hoping that this Photo Safari experience would help me brush up on my skills as well as take me to some hidden places on the island. I chose to do the Big Island Light Chaser ½ day tour.

Kohala Coast - chasing the light

Sean picked me up in the early afternoon and we went out to shoot the Kohala Coast and ‘catch’ sunset pictures. Sean clearly loved the Big Island, he came here 10 years prior from the mainland and had never been back! His love was evident also in the amount of knowledge he had about the Big Island. He rattled off stories and facts as I enjoyed the view and asked questions. It was nice to let someone else drive me for once and allow me to look for shots . The whole week I had been juggling the beauty of having complete control of my journey and being able to stop where-ever I saw a great shot, with having to watch the road and figure out where I was going!

Our first stop was the Pu’ukohola Heiau; a sacred rock structure peered out over the Kohala Coast. We stepped out of the truck and I secured my camera and lenses while Sean brought a little laminated notebook full of lessons to help me think about photography in different ways.

Kohala Coast

Sean and I had already talked about my experience as a photographer, but I told him that I wanted to experience the tour as his normal student would experience it. Typically their customers carried SLRs and were beginners or enthusiasts, but he did say that many clients also come with point and shoot cameras and more frequently there are people who simply show up with a mobile phone! He mainly focused on the beginning steps of photography and how we see and process light. It’s a great place to start when it comes to photography, as it’s important to understand the types of light and how our brain processes them.

We wandered along the paths and Sean provided a nice mix of history and photography information. He would ask questions about aspects of light and composition and then show examples from his book. Next he would challenge me to find examples of what we were speaking about and shoot them. We didn’t get into the nitty gritty of aperture and shutter speeds very much, yet I know we could have went there had I wanted to.

We changed a bit of our itinerary based on the weather on the mountain; the heavy cloud cover made us stick to the coast for our sunset shots. We made 3 or 4 more stops after the Pu’ukohola Heiau; a mix of beaches and resorts to practice the various parts of composition. We ended on a secluded little stretch of beach where the sun glistened off the still tide pools; a perfect location for sunset. I thought to myself, I doubt I would have found this place on my own.

There's plenty of inviting beaches along the Kohala Coast

Sean spotted a big sea turtle resting on the rocks so we went over as close as we possibly could to get the shot. He advised me on the lighting conditions and I was able to capture the big creature without disturbing it.

We stayed until the sun went down shooting away experimenting with different settings and angles. My light finally disappeared and therefore my photo paintbrush disappeared with it. I packed up my camera and Sean drove me back to my cottage. On the way back I was able to get some great advice on other places to visit for continued photography practice during my time on the Big Island.

Sunset on the Big Island

The Good:
• They pick you up anywhere on the island in a large, comfortable truck with plenty of room for equipment
• You get a ton of information about the island, the history, and the must see places.
• It did reinforce the basics of photography for me and really did get me to think about contrast and light more before I took the shot instead of just dealing with the situation in post –processing. I thought the exercises were effective at getting you grasp the concepts in a non-technical way.
• Even though my experience focused on basics of composition for beginners with light, contrast, lines, and points, the tour has the ability to be more advanced and cover aspects of more technical manual settings too.
• They have cameras you can use – but you do have to rent them as a separate charge. Same for underwater casings and any other specialized equipment.
• They operate on all of the islands and they offer multiday workshops with focus on underwater photography.

The Could Be Better:
• Since this is a half day tour, there is no real review process of what you shot and discussion of what worked and didn’t work. However that type of portfolio review is included in the longer workshop tours.
• The cost is prohibitive for a solo traveler – $550 for 4 hours. This is an investment in your skills, not just a fluff tour, and the price reflects it. The downside about the prices is that it is a private tour and therefore you can’t really be combined with other people if the truck isn’t full. However, if you are traveling with companions and you organize it as a group – then you can fit up to 5 people in the truck and then the cost is reasonable for such a tour. So the key is to find people to go with you and help reduce the cost!
• The website provides information about the tours, but you will likely really have to contact them personally to get additional info that you need regarding details of the tour and the photo instruction. I didn’t find the website very informative for the price of the tours.  On tours with higher price points, I do believe more information is better than less. In addition, there are not many images or reviews of the tours listed on the site. I personally think that a photography business like this should be showing off the great images that their clients have taken, but, what can I say, I’m picky about websites!

Would I recommend it?

I love this concept, especially for the islands of Hawaii where everywhere you look is begging to be photographed! The key is that it is a private tour – so it can be tailored to your needs, and that’s what you are paying for ultimately.
I would recommend this tour for the person who:
• Really wants to invest in learning about the basics of photography
• Someone who wants to learn how to get off of auto mode and start to learn about the more technical side of shooting
• Has a few companions that want to also learn about photography in order to bring down the cost a bit
• The super serious photographer who wants access to the best locations on the island but doesn’t have time to research them on their own.
• Someone interested specifically in underwater photography as they have a special workshop for underwater shooting

To get more information or to book a tour check out
Photo Safari Hawaii – www.photosafarihawaii.com

Disclosure: Photo Safari Hawaii hosted my ½ day Light Chaser tour. However, all of the opinions expressed here are my own – as you know how I love to speak my mind!

Where will you spend your money this season?

Have you checked out Passports with Purpose Travel Blogger fundraising yet? Why the hell not? Let’s look at this logically…

$10 for shopping this holiday season can get you:

• A parking space to shop in Soho, NYC for an hour.
• 2.7 gallons of gas to drive from mall to mall trying to find the new Kindle or Ipad.
• 2 slices of pizza and a coke at the shopping mall food court.
• A 10 minute neck massage at the local mani/pedi shop after carrying all of those bags.
• Sending approximately 4 Holiday Cards via snail mail.
• 2.4 hot apple ciders to quench your shopping thirst.

On the other hand…

$10 for Passports With Purpose this holiday season can get you:

• $500 voucher for a European Apartment stay in your choice of a Rome apartment, Berlin apartment, Barcelona apartment, Paris apartment or Florence apartment
• Kindle Fire worth $200
• 2 night stay at the Four Seasons in Scottsdale, Arizona worth $1400
• 5 night stay on the Big Island of Hawaii worth $1692  – I personally love this one!
• 15 day 1st class Eurail pass worth $1160
• A private Florence Italy Market Tour for 4 worth $665
• 1 year Boingo Internet global account worth $708
• And MANY other great travel prizes!

What are you waiting for – stretch your $10 this holiday, plan your 2012 travels and help build a library in Zambia!

The USS Arizona Memorial

Planes are zooming in, rat-a-tat-tat echoing around me, bombs exploding, smoke everywhere and the footage continues to roll past me in black and white. The Pearl Harbor attack; a day I’ve only read about. As I sit and watch the movie of the attack, which includes old footage and ancient pictures of a horrible day, I turn the tables and wonder what the masses of Japanese tourists are thinking about as they watch this film. I imagine what it would be like for me to visit Hiroshima or Nagasaki memorial.  The lights raise and the audio stops, I shake all of the thoughts from my head. The main point of the whole memorial experience is to honor and show respect; it is better to focus on that.

The grounds of the Pearl Harbor Memorial are impeccable; palm trees, glistening water views, and majestic buildings. I pick up my audio tour and walk around surveying the area. I wait for my turn to take the boat ride out to the harbor to see the USS Arizona memorial.

A plaque shows the pictures from the attack

We all silently shuffle out of the theater and onto the boat manned by Navy crewmen. I wonder what it’s like to work in this somber environment day in and day out; however they seem to be simply focused on their duties and clearly aren’t over-thinking things like I am. The sky is blue and the sun is reflecting off of the water as if it is a spotlight lighting our way to the scene of a crime. The US flag is flapping around the back of the boat as we pull up to the stark white memorial building. Everything seems motionless and calm around me; an overwhelming feeling of stillness comes over me as I walk off the boat, up the stairs, and into the memorial perched above the sunken USS Arizona.

Taking the boat to the memorial

The USS Arizona is the final resting place for many of the ship’s 1,177 crewmen who lost their lives in the surprise attack. The ship sunk so fast that most were not able to escape. Amidst the solemnness of the situation, I am pleased as I walk around the memorial; it’s beautifully architected above the sunken ship with an open-air design allowing visitors to sort of hover above the grave and reflect.

Vistors peer over the sunken USS Arizona

The rusty remains of the USS Arizona near the surface

As I stand here with the sun dancing and glistening on the water, I stick my head out over the railing and peer down; I am emotional. I can see the ship beneath the water surface; it’s rusted and full of aquatic life. It seems I can see, hear, smell, taste and feel the whole day; December 7, 1941. If a monument can evoke the 5 senses then I think it has accomplished its goal.

I walk into the room at the end of the memorial to view the names engraved on the wall and my eyes come to rest upon a surname that matches mine. A distant relative – I have no idea, but I think there must be a connection in some way. I look at everyone else around me, especially the older men and women and wonder what must be going through their minds. I look at the Japanese tourists and wonder what’s going through their minds.

The names of the fallen

Soon I am summoned back onto the boat, my time at the memorial is up and the boat points back to the shore. After we disembark I head directly to the museum; I have a thirst to see more and learn more. The museum puts a human face to the historical day. Everything inside is engrossing. It is filled with news clippings, dramatic photos, maps, artifacts, video interviews with survivors and even President Roosevelt’s speech with his handwritten edits declaring war on December 8, 1941. However, strangely I am drawn to the video interviews with Japanese civilians about what their lives were like during war time. I am transfixed by the stories of different cultures and how people are the same all over the world; reaffirming why I love to travel.

The infamous speech with edits

I stare at the plaque,

“Day of Infamy. December 7, 1941. The roar of aircraft breaks the Sunday morning stillness as Japanese planes sweep across O’ahu. They head toward military airfields and to Pearl Harbor, where sailors prepare to raise the Stars and Stripes. The surprise attack thrusts America into World War II.”

This is the story I hear throughout the afternoon in words, sounds, videos, and papers. It is a somber visit, but one worth taking.

I look at my watch; I’ve been at the park for over 3 hours. I let out a big sigh and decide I’ve seen enough. I’m happy I came here to learn more, see the aftermath, remember the dead, and honor our veterans.

The memorial was beautifully designed

More Information on Pearl Harbor Memorial:
The Memorial is run by the National Park Service and entry to the memorial is free (includes movie and short boat trip to the memorial on the water). Audio Tours are available for a fee and I highly recommend getting one. The audio provides even more information and interviews with survivors; a really moving supplement to the park itself.

Pear Harbor Park Website

The 70th Anniversary of the attack is this week – December 7, 2012 and there are a host of events planned. If you are in the area be sure to check it out -
(http://www.pearlharborevents.com/index.html) The few remaining survivors will also be there. It’s a fleeting opportunity to meet these veterans as time marches on.

Finally the rangers I spoke to told me about a fabulous program for schools that I was excited to share.
If you are a teacher – listen up!!
The Witness To History Video Conference Program provides students and educators, nationally and internationally, with a unique and invaluable distance learning opportunity dedicated to the history of Dec. 7, 1941. Through first hand accounts, artifact examination and expert historical interpretation, the events surrounding the attack on Pearl Harbor come alive for students. Veteran survivors and civilians participate in the video conference. What a unique opportunity that will be fading away as the years go by and we lose our Pearl Harbor veterans. Participation is free. For more information contact witnesstohistory@pacifichistoricparks.org or (808) 954-8744

Life battles forth from the Lava

The radio plays old Van Morison tunes as I sing along in the car with my eyes peeled on the Chain of Craters Road wondering what I will encounter next. Even the radio station on the Big Island has the call letters – LAVA – I let out a little chuckle at the silliness of it all.

However the land in Volcanoes National Park, and specifically the Chain of Craters Road, is no laughing matter. It’s the site of destruction; the product of the volcano goddess Pele and her wrath against Mother Nature. Even though I’m pretty sure they are cousins in the earth’s family tree, these women are in battle.  Each one in their corner of the ring,  and they are ready to rumble!

As I drive my rental car down the Chain of Craters Road I too am in an all out battle; not with Pele, but with Mother Nature. Wind and spitting rain are my nemesis for about ¼ mile and then abruptly I pop out into blue skies for a ½ mile, rejoicing quickly as I enter back into the rainy, gray muck; I’ve never experienced anything like it.

The drive starts near the park visitor center and goes through dense rain forest, steam vents, and old tunnels formed from lava tubes. It didn’t take long to pop out of the rain forest into a barren lava land. I immediately pull the car over to observe this jagged land of lava formations closer. As soon as I open up the car door the wind whistles and howls past me like an angry beast. There is nothing to impede the vicious wind except for a few sad looking trees sparsely taking root. I walk around the lava rock carefully as the sharp edges threaten to poke through my soles of my sandals.

Visitors to the park walk on the jagged lava fields

I continue the decline towards the coast on the two-lane road. I stop every time I see something surreal; which is quite often on this road where surreal seems to be the norm. I sort of feel as if I’m landing among the pages of a Dr. Seuss book as I stop to stare in awe of the bright orange plants surrounding dead tree limbs. It is as if the ground is on fire and the flames are dancing around the trees.

The ground is on fire!

I stop at a pit crater and peer over the edge and notice how the lava seems to take on different forms; sometimes smooth (called Pahoehoe), and sometimes jagged (called A’a). At that moment I hear a deep rumble. Shit – is Pele speaking to me? My instinct immediately tells me to run! I hear it again and realize I have nothing to fear, it’s only my stomach announcing that it would like to eat the sandwich I bought prior to entering the park in the town of Volcano. Yes, the town is actually called Volcano; that town sounds like it’s asking for trouble if you ask me.

A pit crater skirts the road

I drive a little further down the road and I see it, the blue Pacific waters stretch out beneath me. I feel small and insignificant in this battleground of Pele and Mother Nature. But my stomach is calling the shots now so I find a perfect little picnic spot to look over the coast while I am perched on a mound of lava.

A great place for a picnic

My stomach satiated, I continue to drive down the hairpin turns and my ears pop. All of a sudden a lone tree catches my eye. It stands tall and proud among the lava that had engulfed it years ago; it is begging me to take its picture saying look at me – I survived…sort of. Yet I have a sinking feeling that Pele will not stand for that arrogance much longer.

Mother Nature's tree hangs on amidst Pele's Lava

Back in the car I drive further down towards the coast where the lava rock has an almost chocolaty color. It glistens in the sun as if it was a giant pan of chocolate brownies baking in a pan. Maybe this is Pele’s peace offering to Mother Nature. A girl can never resist chocolate!

One giant pan of brownies!

I open up the windows and let the sea breeze enter the car. The air is thick and smells of the ocean. The LAVA rock station is now playing old Jefferson Airplane; life is good. I think to myself they should have a song called Lava is a Battlefield; that would be fitting for this place. Lost in my thoughts, I abruptly hit it – the end of the road. Really, this is where the road ends; not because of the coastline, but because of Pele and her lava. In 1988 lava flow engulfed the road and flowed right into the ocean and ultimately grew the Big Island bit by bit. It’s as if Pele provides sacrificial land to Mother Nature. You can still see the road in spots, which provides an eerie feeling of destruction. I walk onto the mound of lava which goes on for as far as my eyes can see and notice the last sign standing.  The Road Closed sign stands defiantly among the lava depicting the battle of man-made verses nature. It appears to be a standoff.

Pele's lava creeps into Mother natures territory

The road closed sign survived the lava flows - a miracle!

I walk around on the lava formation a bit longer thinking about what it would have been like to be here in 1988 to witness Pele’s spectacle. Then as if Mother Nature can read my mind, she makes her presence known. She provides me a colorful rainbow above Pele’s wrath.

The battle continues on the Big Island.

My drives ends at the rainbow - seriously could this be any more perfect?

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The canopy of the rainforest barely let's in sun

Akaka Falls State Park on the Big Island of Hawaii was the next stop on my Big Island Adventure.  The Hamakua Coast and Hilo were living up to it’s reputation of the rainiest places on earth!   It had been pouring rain all day with no end to the moody, gray clouds – so I decided to go out anyway.  Moody clouds make moody photography.  In addition, I was able to find the one thing on the island that loved all of this rain – the rain forest.

Akaka Falls State Park on the Hamakua Coast is a rain forest with densely packed foliage providing the backdrop for the famous Akaka Falls.  A 442 foot waterfall awaits you as you casually walk through the rain forest on a short .4 mile paved trail.  As you peak out of the rain forest foliage, you will feast your eyes on the falls.  However when I hiked through the forest to the falls, I was greeted by low, white clouds and fog.  I set in for a patient stand off with Mother Nature.  I waited for about 30 minutes for the low clouds to dissapate enough to take some photos of the falls.  There was no need to be in a rush, I wasn’t going to melt and I had plenty to look at and explore in the surrounding rain forest!

How to get there:
Akaka Falls State Park is just a short 20 minute drive north of Hilo, which takes you through the Big Island’s old sugar-cane fields. The road (Route 220) ends at the parking lot for Akaka Falls State Park. Here you will find a paved parking lot and bathrooms.

The mighty waterfall finally showed it's face

Low clouds hover around the valley

Bamboo lined the paved trail

New Life

A Banyon Tree takes over the forest

A colorful plant provides some excitement to my foggy surroundings

Akaka Waterfall

Traveling solo...

I pulled up outside of the airport and saw the flashing lights glaring, almost glowing, in the dark rainy night. I slowed down and pulled over hearing the gravel crunch under my tires. I flashed my lights twice as a signal that I had arrived. The van immediately took off and I followed dutifully.

But who was I following out of the Hilo airport? I honestly didn’t know. I had simply followed the instructions on the text message.

I strove to keep up with the black van through the town of Hilo. But soon we had passed through Hilo; this was a bit confusing since I thought I was following these strangers to Hilo. But I continued.

The van turned off the main highway and I did the same. We climbed up a windy hill and through a small neighborhood from what I could tell. The hot humid air became cooler as we climbed. The road became a tangled mess of hairpin turns, curves and one-lane bridges. I never saw another car besides the black van I kept my eyes on.

It was at this moment that I felt overwhelmed and the thought occurred to me, what am I doing following these people I don’t know? Is this safe? I was being led deeper and deeper into the countryside in the darkness and even if I did make it there, was free lodging worth this? Should I stop and turn around? Text them and tell them no thanks?

I shook the thought out of my head as I reminded myself. These are Angie’s friends – they must be legit. Actually, I thought, Angie doesn’t know them either, they are her fiancé’s friends – but they must be safe…right?

I followed my instincts. They haven’t let me down yet as a solo traveler.

The van turned again, but this time onto a gravel road soaked with water and puddle landmines. The grass became taller and the tire ruts deeper, but I continued to follow these ‘friends’.

I finally saw a house up on the hill that was softly aglow and thought – this MUST be it…right? We pulled up the dirt driveway and the van pulled around the side and parked. I followed. Finally – I would meet these new ‘friends’ who agreed to put me up for a few days as a favor to Angie’s fiancé.

I got out of the car and two men came to get my luggage with big grins on their faces. They introduced themselves as Brandon and Olivier and gave me a big welcoming bear hug.

Everything was going to be just fine.

This is how I kicked off my Big Island Adventure!  I had 8 days of exploring and adventure on this diverse island and this was quite a welcome!

The Hilo house wasn't too shabby!

The view was beautiful when the sun came out!

As a solo, eternal traveler, I have to find unique ways to keep a very low budget but this may have been my strangest money saving technique yet. I was staying in a house in Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii with a group of male construction workers. Yes, you read that right.

I didn’t know any of these men, but they were working with my good friend Angie’s fiancé, Scott. Scott had offered the house up to me as a free place to stay while I was touring around the Big Island. He said it was really big and comfortable; and there was also some mention of the fact that the guys would like the company! One thing I quickly learned in Hawaii, you take free lodging when you have it offered. So I said yes.

The house was full of 5 men when I arrived. They all introduced themselves and showed me to my palatial room/wing. Olivier had kindly given up his room during my stay and they had cleaned it all up and had fresh towels sitting out and an internet connection all ready for me. We quickly did introductions and they then promptly put on their boots, told me to help myself to anything in the kitchen and left for work at 8PM to work through the night.

This is how my 4 days at the Hilo house went. I would wake up in the morning to the smell of bacon, come out of my room, and they would have just gotten home and were cooking up a breakfast feast. If you don’t believe me, just check out these bacon wrapped bananas, a dish passed down from Olivier’s grandmother.  And yes – if I’m at your house in the coming year – I will make these for you!

Olivier's Bacon Wrapped Bananas

After breakfast, the guys would go to bed and I would take my rental car and tour around the island all day climbing up mountains and finding secluded coastal drives and waterfalls. Then around 5PM I would get a text from them telling me what was for dinner and asking me what time I would be ‘home’. I’d pull in with beer or sweets and they would be grilling hamburgers, baking salmon, or cooking a pot-roast! We’d eat together and then they would leave for work again.

Rick and Olivier cooking up a feast!

As a female solo traveler, you have to trust your instincts. I seldom let my guard down when traveling and I skip a lot of opportunities because I don’t really know the people offering to do things for me. However, normally I can always rely on friend’s recommendations and I certainly wouldn’t have followed strangers to a place if I didn’t have someone vouching for them. And as most things, the strangest experiences tend to be the best experiences.

My time at the Hilo house was so special. I didn’t feel like a traveler, I felt like ‘part of the family’. I told them next time they planned a project somewhere exotic they needed to put ‘house-mom’ in the budget and I would fit the bill! I was sad to leave them all after 4 days, but I had to move on to other parts of the island. However, I made friendships that will last and I came away with a really great breakfast recipe!

Have you ever had to follow your solo travel instincts before?  Were your instincts correct?

Disclosure:  My Big Island travels were assisted by the Big Island Visitor Bureau.  They provided a portion of my rental car to get around the island in search of adventure!

Sweet, golden Hawaiian pineapple must be part of a luau!

I heard it over and over, “You must go to a luau; the quintessential Hawaiian experience.” However there’s nothing about me that likes quintessential, in fact if everyone else is going to see something, then most likely I won’t just because I’m stubborn. I’m doubt my stubbornness is one of my best traits, but it has got me this far, and I’m too stubborn to change myself. I yearn to make my own path in life, and that even means skipping the ‘must-see’ or ‘must-do’ activities when I travel.

Luckily my Oahu hosts, Ron and Mark, know me; they know that I wouldn’t want to do what typical tourists are doing. So instead of sending me off to a cheesy luau at a resort, they held their very own modern day luau at their house for me! I couldn’t have orchestrated a better solution myself – authenticity – that’s what I’m after. Plus, I’m not one to pass up a party held in my honor!

What is a Luau?

When I think of Luau I think of the Brandy Bunch; Don Ho, Mr. and Mrs. Brady, and a cursed tiki statue. I can’t help it, I’m a child of the 70’s.  A luau is simply a celebration or gathering to commemorate an event. This is typically done with one’s ohana or ‘family’. Ohana in Hawaii doesn’t necessarily mean blood relatives; it can be your close-knit group of friends including relatives. Ohana is a concept that is seen throughout the world in many cultures, but I love the fact that there is a specific Hawaiian term for it.

Mark and Ron wanted to commemorate my visit with their ohana by throwing a modern luau. Typically a modern day luau includes food, lei greetings, story telling, food, and of course, the hula. Oh, and I did I mention there is food at a luau? Mark and Ron had some version of all of these components at their luau thanks to a little imagination.

Ron and Mark's ohana

Ron's flower arrangement

Lei Greetings:

I had been accumulating a few leis during my stay in Oahu and the day of our modern luau was no different. Guests came with fragrant leis for me which served as my natural perfume for the night! Ron also gathered flowers from his yard and made a colorful tropical arrangement for the party. One think I love about tropical paradise, there’s no need to go to a flower shop when you can gather it all from your yard! The place looked great – we were ready to party!

Story Telling

We didn’t sit around and tell stories of hunting pigs, but we did tell a lot of travel stories. The guests were a great mix of transplants and locals. They were all avid travelers so we had a great time talking about our favorite places in the world. We even did what real travel nerds do, we passed around our passports to see the stamps.

Dancing

Our modern luau didn’t have hula dancing, I think we would have all needed several more beers for that to happen. However we did all dance around the bon fire in delight!

Now, on to the glorious food…

Food

They told everyone to bring a traditional dish so that I could get a taste for the authentic Hawaiian food. Mark started cooking the night before the party. We were having a small modern luau, so we didn’t need a whole kalua pig roasting in an underground oven, so we opted for the smaller, modern version of kalua pig in a crock pot slow cooking for 24 hours.

Slow roasted kaulua pig

Mark was meticulous at making sure I knew all of the food and really had a chance to try the authentic dishes – so of course I had to try poi. I had been hearing about poi for a while, and it never seemed to be accompanied with a happy face. I had gotten the impression that poi was a local food that only the ancient Hawaiians liked. Poi is made from taro and therefore has a purple color to it. Taro is simply a root vegetable so the poi basically looked like purple starchy baby food to me. But of course I tried it with the kalua pig and I actually liked it. The bland starchy poi tamed the very salty kalua pig perfectly!

Sweet poi and sour poi

Also on the menu was the famous spam sushi, Spam Musubi. Yes – it’s not myth, Hawaiians love their Spam. So much so that they grill it, put it on top of sushi rice, and wrap it in seaweed for a ‘treat’.

Spam musubi...a tasty 'treat'

My new favorite food, poke (pronounced poke-kay), was also on the luau menu. It’s made with skinned, deboned, and carefully filleted raw fish, and takes a variety of dressings and condiments. My favorite are the spicy ones. Poke means “slice” in Hawaiian; it looks like deconstructed sushi rolls without the rice and tastes heavenly!

On the other hand, one of the traditional foods I wasn’t too excited about was Lau Lau. It comes with different meats, but it is generally butterfish or pork with fat wrapped in taro leaves and steamed. We had butterfish lau lau and it was my least favorite item mainly because the fish was so fishy tasting and the taro when steamed tastes similar to spinach. Next time I will try the pork or chicken and see if I feel differently about it.

Butterfish lau lau wrapped in taro leaves

The other items were chicken long rice made from cellophane noodles, simmered in chicken broth and served hot with pieces of chicken. Lomilomi salmon made from raw salmon mixed with diced tomatoes, onions and seasoned with seasalt. And of course we had fresh, sweet, golden Hawaiian pineapple.

Our drinks mainly consisted of the local Kona brewed beer and we even gathered a few coconuts that had fallen from trees and pried open with a hammer and nails!

Beer brewed in Kona on the Big Island

For dessert we had a favorite Hawaii donut that has nothing to do with Hawaii – malasada. They are also referred to as Portuguese donuts and you don’t want to miss out on these!

Cinnamon covered malasadas - best served warm!

Finally, we had the traditional dessert of haupia, a coconut cornstarch pudding. However my friend Yen gave the haupia a really modern twist – she made haupia jello shots! A party isn’t a party until there are jello shots! Her concoction of haupia and coconut rum was a hit for everyone.

Me testing out the haupia jello shots...lots of testing was needed!

Our modern day luau might not have had all of the ancient pomp and circumstance as a ‘commercial’ tourist luau, but for me this was what I was looking for. A real glimpse into the local lives and foods of Hawaii.

Have you ever attended a luau? What was your favorite food?

Chinatown Hawaii

One of my favorite places to visit in any city is the ethnic areas.  For some reason when I visit them I feel more at home – I can’t really explain it.   They make me want to take photos.   So when I went to Oahu, Chinatown was high on my list to visit.  I was expecting to see a really large Chinatown since the Asian culture is so strong and represented in Hawaii, but I was surprised to find out that it only covered a relatively small area.  Maybe that’s because the Asian culture isn’t really restricted to one part of the city as it is in many cities – it’s pervasive throughout the island.  I saw Pho shops in Kailua and Asian fruit sold at stands on the North Shore.  So you don’t have to go to Chinatown to find the Asian influence and good markets full of Asian goods, you can find them anywhere on Oahu.

However Chinatown is worth a stop – especially if you are craving sesame balls like I was!  They even had coconut sesame balls which I found to be a nice island twist on the traditional red bean sesame balls!   The area is quiet and not necessarily crowded, so it’s easy to get around and browse the indoor markets.  However – be warned – you first have to pass through quite a large homeless population to get to Chinatown.  Once you pass the homeless people, take a stroll through the indoor markets and then stop have lunch at one of the food courts.  They are filled with Singaporean, Vietnamese, Philippino, Thai, Japanese, and Chinese food.  Then buy a few tropical fruits for dessert – don’t be afraid to ask the vendor what it is and try something new!

Colorful parot fish fill the China Town stalls

The slightly ornate building of Chinatown

Long beans perfect for green papaya salad

Dragons climb the columns of the buildings in Honolulu

Like any good Chinatown - it's not just about food...there's always bargain shopping!

Honolulu's Chinatown is rather organized and spiffy compared to most I've bene in!

One thing every Chinatown has is color!

Even leis can be Asian

Enter into the Past at Iolani Palace in Oahu

The grand koa wood staircase was shining with a new coat of oil as the focal point of the room; it’s beautiful curves lead the eye gently from the second floor down to the first floor. Men and women dressed in ornate gowns and neck-restricting tuxedos floated around the staircase receiving each other with a proper handshake or curtsy. The party was just beginning as horses pulled up to the ultra modern palace depositing people of stature out of their buggies. The year was 1882 in the island nation of Hawaii.

Even though I like to live in the present, I couldn’t help but imagine the past as I was led through the Iolani Palace in Oahu. The docent painted a perfect picture of arriving at a ball in the mid 1880’s – the sites, sounds, and even the dinner entries that would be served.

The grand ball room in the Palace where you could dance the night away (picture by Iolani Palace)

When I arrived in Hawaii the week prior I realized how little I knew about our 50th state which seemed to be but a few specs in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. After all, the Hawaiian Islands are the most isolated, inhabited pieces of land in the world. There is a whole history and culture here that goes beyond the beaches and tourism you normally associate with Hawaii. I was eager to learn more about it and a great place to start was Iolani Palace.

King Kalākaua opened the palace doors in 1882 and it is known as the only royal residence in America (a fun trivia fact!). It was filled with the best that the royal family had to offer, luxuries like flush toilets and electricity; however I was mesmerized by the ornate woodwork framing each door, the art hung on the walls, and the large china vases decorating the rooms. However it’s the staircase that captures you; shining in a golden cherry brown, begging you to slowly walk down it as you lazily drag your hand down the smooth railing lingering for a moment in order to make a grand entrance.

The koa wood staircase begging me to climb it! (Photo courtesy of Iolani Palace)

Staircase view from the 2nd floor (photo courtesy of Iolani Palace

Protecting History

Yet due to the age of the residence and the need to preserve every inch of this beautiful space and furnishings, you are warned, reminded, and closely watched as you walk through the palace to ensure you touch nothing and go nowhere off the tour path. The tour starts by being given a pair of shoe ‘condoms’ to slip on over your sandals in order to protect the floors inside. No cameras are allowed inside due to the effects of flash photography, and you are lectured on touching nothing. The no camera policy was torture to me as every way I turned my mind was composing the perfect picture in my head; I wanted to capture every detail, color, and curve. I was even restricted from taking a pen inside to take notes with, but they happily provided me an old fashioned pencil. The protection of this palace is very serious business and once inside you can understand why.

The well preserved dining room (photo courtesy of Iolani Palace

The porch provides a grand view

History of an Island Nation

The docent tour leads you backwards through history of what it would be like to attend a royal ball at the palace. From the grandeur of arrival, to the calorie laden dinner menu, to dancing all night in the ball room; the King and Queen knew how to throw a party.
However it wasn’t all about parties in the palace, upon King Kalākaua’s death, the palace became the official residence of his sister, Queen Liliuokalani, the last monarch of Hawaii. She was overthrown by foreign (American) plantation businessmen and put under house arrest inside the palace in 1893. You see the quarters in which she lived for years as the palace beneath her turned into a heavily trafficked government office building and royal items were stolen or auctioned off.

The 1882 view of the Palace

The Palace in 2012...just as beautiful!

Visiting Hawaii?

I found this tour to be not only an architectural delight, but also a way to get more in touch with the history of Hawaii and the islands beyond the beaches and high-rise hotels. I would recommend it to any visitor of Oahu.
I could go on and on about what I learned about all of the cultural which has been lost over time, but I will leave that to more informed historical accounts. I suggest that before you take a trip to Hawaii, even if it is for pure relaxation and pleasure, you take a little time to educate yourself about the history of this island nation prior to American occupation.

The intricate architecture details of the palace

Here are some great resources I found:

Book: Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen Liliuokalani (prior to her being put under house arrest) – It covers the history of Hawaii prior to the overthrow and the overthrow itself. It also covers life in Iolani Palace and the island culture.

Movie: Princess Kaiulani – (2009) – The story of a Hawaiian princess’ attempts to maintain the independence of the island against the threat of American colonization.
View the movie trailer 
Many scenes were filmed in the Iolani Palace – you actually get to see people using that grand staircase! This isn’t necessarily historically accurate, but it is a light and fun way to gain a little knowledge before hopping on the plane.

Talk to Locals: They are more than happy to tell you about the history and preservation of the Polynesian culture in Hawaii!

Iolani Palace Tour Information:
Guided Docent Led Tours – Adults: $20 / Children (5-12) $6. This tour is available from 9:00 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. Monday through Saturday.
Audie Tours – Adults: $13 / Children (5-12) $6. This tour is available from Monday through Saturday 11:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Be sure to check the times and costs on the website which will have up to date information and details.
Get all of the details including great historical information, information on the restoration, and learn about upcoming events on the Iolani Palace website
www.iolanipalace.org

Disclosure: Iolani Palace hosted my docent led tour . However, all of the opinions expressed here are my own – as you know how I love to speak my mind!

Non-verbals will take you around the world!

Sometimes I feel like I speak in mime. The universal travel language doesn’t contain words; it contains gestures. When I take a step back and see how I’ve traveled to 50+ countries without ever knowing another language – I am amazed at how far a few gestures can get you.

I’ve compiled a list of the most important and universal ones that I find myself using all the time. Theses non-verbal gestures are known all over the world and will keep you communicating with locals as if you were old friends.

Heyyyyy!

Thumbs Up

This gesture isn’t just for Arthur Fonzerelli – it is used all over the world
Action: put your hand in a fist and stick your thumb out straight so that it’s pointing upward….Heeyyyyyyyy.
Meaning: I’m good, it’s good, I like it, yes, great, I am ok
Generally it’s positive and goes along with raised eyebrows and a toothy smile.

Check Please!
I’ve eaten all over the world and one thing holds true if you want the check/bill, there’s only one gesture that is known throughout the world. I’m a bit embarrassed to say that even though I lived in Vietnam for a year I never did learn the word for bill or check – I simply used this gesture. Lazy…yes, but effective.
Action: Hold one hand as if it’s a notepad and the other hand should be miming writing on the notepad/hand. Hold it up high so the waiter can see it and make eye contact. You’ll have your bill in no time!
Meaning: May I have my bill please?, I’d like to pay now.

How Much?
I always recommend having a calculator within reach when you travel. It’s used constantly to bargain at markets or simply understand the price of something. But before you start to haggle with the calculator, first you have to find out a starting point.
Action: Hold your hand out with your palm facing up. Bring all of your fingers together so the tips are touching. Then with your fingers pointing upwards, rub your thumb and first two fingers together.
Meaning: How much does ‘X’cost?, What’s the price?

Sleep
We had a lot of trouble finding hotels and hostels during the Mongol Rally thanks to language barriers. We would get a blank stare if we asked where a hotel was, but when we used body language to try to find a hotel – we always got a smile and an answer. Granted – I can’t say that we always found the said hotel, but we tried.
Action: Put your hands with your palms together in the prayer position and then put them on the side of your head and act as if you are laying on them like a pillow. It is most effective when you close your eyes too!
Meaning: I want to sleep., Where is s hotel?, I’m tired, I need to find a bed

Conversations with a smile

Smile
This is by far the easiest and most understood gesture in the world. A smile speaks words and is probably the easiest way to get people to open up to you.
Action: no explanation necessary!
Meaning: – I like you, Welcome!, I’m happy to be here.

With these frequently used gestures, you’ll be able to communicate around the world!

What are some of your most used nonverbal when you travel?  Have they worked or do you get blank stares?

You guys can guess what this non-verbal means!

The rocky but secluded North Shore of Oahu

Oahu has surprised me on many levels so far.  With access to a car, you can really go explore every corner and find yourself on a turquoise secluded beach easily.   That’s exactly what I did on the North Shore.  Ron and I drove to the North shore to do the Shark Cage Experience early in the morning and decided to make a whole road trip out of it.  My North Shore day turned out to be one of my favorite days so far!

After floating with the sharks near the town of Hale’iwa, we grabbed a big breakfast and then took off for the the end of the road…literally.   We drove towards Ka’ena Point until we could go no further.  The road used to go around the Northwest corner of Oahu, but due to poor road conditions and erosion it is no longer a functioning road.  So we drove until the road turned to dirt, and then pulled over and parked near a little beach.

There was NO ONE at the beach.  I was in Hawaii…on a beach…a beautiful white sand beach…..turquoise waters….waves lapping up on shore…and not a single soul around me.  It seemed impossible that this could be Hawaii.  I promptly laid out a big blanket, put my bag down, kicked off my flip flops and laid down to take a nap.  Now this is my definition of paradise.

After a quick power nap, we were up and heading back to Hale’iwa for a ‘must-eat’…shave ice.  No, that’s not a typo, it’s called shave ice – not shaved ice.  (If anyone knows why – please let me know!)  I had heard about this cool treat and now it was my chance to dig in.  My verdict…it was like a snow cone, but the ice was much more fine. My mango, passion fruit, and strawberry shave ice hit the spot and we were on our way again.

Next we came face to face with quintessential Hawaii – Waimea Bay – home of the biggest waves around.  I was quite excited to see these monster waves and the surfers who ride them, however luck was not on our side – the surf was flat.  Just another reason to come back one day.

The North shore drive is dotted with tantalizing treats.  Food trucks like Giovanni’s is famous for it’s shrimp.  As we pulled up there were lines and lines of people waiting for their styrofoam plate of shrimp flooded in garlic.  And so I sauntered up to the counter and ordered my very own plate of garlic shrimp.  After using an entire container of napkins, I was finished with my garlicky, bathed in butter  shrimp and realized that I would be wreaking of garlic for days…but it was worth it!

On the healthier side the North shore is also dotted with fresh fruit and vegetable stands.  We filed our back seat with plenty of Hawaiian grown produce and kept moving along the North Shore.  After all of this food it was time for another nap.  Beaches line the North shore so it was only a matter of minutes until we found another little beach to spread out the blanket and take another power nap.  Yes – that’s right…two beach naps in one day; this very well may have been the best day ever!

Finally – it was time for dessert at Ted’s Bakery where we had yummy haupia (coconut gel) pie.

Yes – all we did was eat and sleep all day.  It’s a rough life on the North Shore.

We finally turned the corner towards the mountainous Windward Coast and pointed the car full of food towards Kailua.

Quite possibly the perfect day.

Sunrise from the Shark Encounters boat

The end of the road - Ka'ena Point

Brunch...a little Shave Ice for a snack in Hale'iwa

Catching waves...

Fruit stands temping us along the North Shore highway

Giovanni's famous garlic shrimp...vampires would hate it!

A tree holds on along the Windward Coast

We still have room in the car for a few more delicacies! Fresh avocados!

The mountains of the windward coast tell us we are about home.

The campus of 'Iolani School in Honolulu

“What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever done?”
“So….(big pause) you don’t live anywhere?”
“What’s the grossest thing you’ve eaten?”
“What are some good volunteer programs?”
“What made you decide to quit your job?”
“Do you file/pay taxes?”
“Do you ever worry about your safety?”
“What’s your favorite country?”

For the last two days I’ve been questioned. The questions have come from some surprising characters – surfers, fishermen, librarians, teachers, Superman, Mini Mouse, and even Jesus! Instead of hitting the Hawaii beaches and hiking trails for the past two days, I’ve been hitting the books instead; at school.

I have been a guest of the ‘Iolani School, a private college prep school in Honolulu. No, I haven’t decided to start teaching again, instead I was asked to come speak to the students and faculty about my travels, photography, and online businesses. My speaking engagements spread out over two days, but one of those days happened to be Halloween – hence Jesus, fisherman, Superman, and Mini Mouse! It was definitely my best-dressed audience ever.

I love speaking at schools; influencing students when they are young and open to possibilities is the best time to plant seeds. I consider how my life might have been different if I had been exposed to travel younger or the possibilities of other careers rather than the normal career path. I wonder if I would have went a different direction outside of the ‘safe’ Accounting path in college. I wonder if I would have looked into study abroad programs or considered taking a gap year? One will never know, and I certainly don’t regret any of my decisions, but I do think that life is full of little moments which influence you and change your path; especially when you are young. The path is easy to change when you are young. But when you are entrenched in mid-life responsibilities, it becomes infinitely harder.

My teacher host, Mr. Brasher (Mark – who is a friend of mine!), suggested that I dress as I do when I’m traveling; he felt the kids would feel it was more authentic. Ok – no problem, I can forgo showering and wear sandals if I must!

I did 4 different presentations at ‘Iolani school – each vastly different and each equally fun. First I spoke to high school age Young Entrepreneurs about my online businesses and the industry behind search engine optimization, and social media marketing. I’m pretty sure they were a bit surprised to find out that all of that time they spend on Facebook could actually be used for running a business one day. Hopefully I made them think about marketing and Google Search results in a different way.

Presenting for the Entreprenuriel Students

Next up – 7th Grade Geography and culture. This is one of my favorite things to talk to kids about! I focused on the Mongol Rally and the charity work, plus what it’s like to live in Vietnam. Showing them food, transportation, and home life from countries that are vastly different than America can be mind blowing to kids! The biggest oohs and ahhs are always the motorbike refrigerator picture and the man eating a scorpion picture; guaranteed excitement for 7th graders. We do quizzes about food, country locations, and I even hand out money from around the world. The excitement of telling a kid they just won $5000 Vietnamese Dong is pretty fun…until they figure out it’s worth about 30 cents…AND they have to go to Vietnam to use it!

I then switched to Photography students, a subject that I rarely get to talk about. I carried in all of my gear and showed them everything I use. We talked about travel photography, tips for making your travel pictures more effective, composition, and how to determine what to shoot. Hopefully I gave the teacher a few good ideas for homework assignments in the future!

Me in front of the beautifu 'Iolanil landscaping...notice all of the leis!

Finally I graduated to talking to the teachers about doing meaningful summer travel and Meet Plan Go! I remind them of how lucky they are when it comes to travel. They are one of the only professions that get extended time off regularly, and get paid during that time including benefits; these are two of the biggest hurdles to career break and sabbatical travel for most people and professions! They already eliminated two hurdles…now they just need to get out and go! Volunteering, charity work, budget travel were hot topics for the teachers and I was able to provide them with some resources where they could get more information and hopefully provided them a little inspiration to start to take advantage of their summers off.

It was a full two days of presentations, but I loved every minute of being on campus. I love seeing kids who have the whole world ahead of them with so many possibilities. I love the fact that they are fearless and haven’t yet inherited all of the conservative adult ways that infiltrate us as each year passes.

I was showered with leis and applause in each class and hopefully got a few people thinking different about travel.

Now…it’s time to go work on my tan…Hawaii is calling!

Oh – and here’s the answers to those questions!

Checking out the lockers...

“What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever done?” – Mongol Rally
“So….(big pause) you don’t live anywhere?” – Yes, that’s right, I live out of the suitcase for the last 5 years.
“What’s the grossest thing you’ve eaten?” – It’s a toss up between lamb brain & rat
“What are some good volunteer programs?” – GeoVisions.com Conversation Corps, or GoOverseas.com to provide a list of volunteer opportunities by country/city
“What made you decide to quit your job?”  I realized that I even though I was good at what I did, I didn’t really like it.
“Do you file/pay taxes?”  Yes – of course!!
“Do you ever worry about your safety?” – No.  You simply have to be smart about your travels.  And know that you are never really alone unless you want to be.
“What’s your favorite country?”  Impossible to choose a favorite – but Mongolia, Nepal, Vietnam, Jordan are some of my favorites!

A water color sunrise over the shark cage!

Da dum, Da dum, Da dum….

I hate scary movies; I’ve been a terror wimp my whole life. I have never even watched Jaws. The movie poster alone sent me into tears running for my mother and making me think twice about jumping into the lake – let alone an ocean. It was good that I grew up in the land locked Midwest as I was pretty sure that sharks couldn’t get to me there in Illinois River; however, I didn’t completely rule it out.

So when I spontaneously clicked on the ‘contact’ button on the Hawaii Shark Encounters Website – I have no idea what came over me.

Yes...I actually wanted to do this. Photo by Hawaii Shark Encounters

I’ve changed a lot since I was a kid – I used to be terrified of adventures, now I crave them. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I’m having a midlife crisis….I mean how else could you explain my participation in the Mongol Rally this summer? But for whatever reason, seeing sharks up close and personal in the Pacific Ocean suddenly seemed exciting to me instead of terrifying. It’s kind of like when all of a sudden I started liking olives…I’m not really sure why, but it just happened. Sharks, olives…not quite the same, but suddenly I’m craving them both.

Hawaii Shark Encounters runs tours off the North Shore of Oahu; home of the big waves. The website provides a lot of information on the tour and sharks in general. Their big warning about the tour is not about the sharks, but about seasickness. Apparently it’s a small boat about 3 miles away from shore, which equals a pretty rocky experience. I decided I would pack my Dramamine just in case.

My friend Ron and I got up, made a big pot of coffee and took off for the North Shore at 5AM. Yes, that wasn’t a typo. The tour started at 6:30AM, apparently the water is a bit calmer then. As I got closer to the harbor, my nerves started to kick in a bit, but strangely I felt rather calm. Since I had been involved in so many ‘questionable’ activities around the world, I felt like to do this activity in America was probably the safest place I could ever do it! We are a country of ‘watch out’, ‘be careful’, ‘danger’, ‘sign this waiver’…so I felt pretty relaxed.

We arrived on time and easily found the boat. There were 9 other people signed up to meet sharks up close and Ron decided he would simply come along for the ride and be my photographer. I was excited for the familiar company! We popped some Dramamine and the boat took off.

There were two guides on the boat who lectured us on safety instructions while we drove the 3 miles out to the floating cage. The morning was gorgeous and the sun was just starting to rise. My coffee had kicked in and I was feeling alive as the warm Hawaiian sun hit my body. Calm, cool, collected. The guide said that only 5 of us could be in the cage at the same time so we would need to go in two groups. “Who wants to go first?” he asked.

Photo from Hawaii Shark Encounters

Without hesitation I raised my hand and said, “I’ll go.” Ron turned around and looked at me somewhat surprised; I’m pretty sure he was more worried for my safety than I was! My feeling is that I might as well be bold and first, else I just get nervous waiting around.

There it was – off in the distance, a red flag attached to a silver floating cage. Rocking gently on glistening blue water. It looked safe enough…

We were lectured again on safety of how to get in and out of the cage. I had the feeling that the only danger I was really in was slipping on the boat itself somehow. I slowly descended down the ladder into the surprisingly warm water, steadied myself on the rungs of the cage and put on my mask. I took one last look at Ron as he snapped pictures and I dipped my head underneath the water.

I'm going in!

Alone with the sharks!

There they were, staring back at me. Galapagos and Sandbar sharks calmly swam around the cage circling around the boat and us; there were about 12 of them and 5 of us. The biggest ones seemed to be way over 6 feet. I was surprised at how big they were when they swam underneath the cage. They weren’t frenzied or menacing, but instead they seemed to simply be going about their business. They were sleek, and moved about fluidly. It was sort of like seeing the Abominable Snowman after Hermey the elf pulls out his menacing teeth and he’s simply a white fuzzy snowman.

My disposable camera shot....

Rays of sunlight providing a shark spotlight

The hardest part about the cage experience was the fact that it moved around constantly in the waves, I felt like I was being jostled around like a pin ball. It was challenging to hold on, try to take photos, dodge a few jelly fish, AND make sure that my foot didn’t inadvertently float outside of the bars and end up as shark breakfast. Since we were 3 miles from shore the waves and subsequent cage movement was pretty substantial. Even though the cage floated, it didn’t move as fluidly as the boat does on water so after a while even in my Dramamine state I started to feel a bit queasy. I stayed in the cage for about 20 minutes and then got out to let other people in and give my stomach a break. Ron greeted and eagerly waited for my underwater report of shark sightings. I survived! But first, I had the pleasure of a warm fresh-water shower.

Awwww...not a bad way to start off a morning!

The good:
Overall the experience was quite fun and very safe. It was really beautiful to simply see the sharks swim so close by. It was exhilarating but not terrifying…perfect! Plus – I loved the warm ‘shower’ at the end – it was a great touch! Finally, if you didn’t have a camera with you, you could buy a disposable one on the boat.

The could-be-better:
The website talked extensively how the tour would include an opportunity to really learn about sharks; the website states “A very important part of our tour is shark education”. During the boat ride to the cage we were supposed to get a ‘talk’ on shark biology, behavior, and learn about the importance of them in the Hawaiian culture. Unfortunately this didn’t happen at all. The only things the guides really briefed us on were the safety instructions.

Would I recommend it?
Yes. However I would like to get the shark education promised on the website. I’m sure that if we had asked, the guides would have provided it. But in the excitement of the moment, I honestly forgot about it.

To get more information or to book a tour check out
Hawaii Shark Encounters – www.hawaiisharkencounters.com
Learn more about the cage

Disclosure: Hawaii Shark Encounters hosted my shark cage experience . However, all of the opinions expressed here are my own – as you know how I love to speak my mind!

It's easy to get distracted in Hawaii!

Serendipity is when someone finds something that they weren’t expecting to find. This is normally associated with a good outcome – something pleasant and unexpected. However I had the pleasure and misfortune of experiencing travel serendipity twice on the same day – the day I arrived in Hawaii.

I’m on the move again; albeit for a short time (3 weeks). Quite honestly I had to get out and explore again. As much as I absolutely love seeing friends and family in the US and evangelizing about Meet Plan Go and extended travel, I can’t find my inspiration or happiness there. I yearn to be moving and exploring; I sometimes feel like this is a curse, but you can’t really change the fiber of your being, so instead I try to work with it.

Ron and I celebrating my birthday at work in 2004

Surprisingly I’ve never been to Hawaii before, yet I have passed over it many times at 30,000 feet. Recently while in London I met up with an old friend from my corporate past as he was traveling this summer. He was my old assistant who worked for me in my past corporate life. And I can safely say he was my favorite assistant I ever worked with; and I’m not just saying that because he’s also a fellow Aquarius and former pastry chef. He brought life and levity to my daily corporate existence and most importantly he put up with my type A insanity while also baking me strawberry cakes.

Ron lives in Hawaii now with his partner Mark. He has invited me numerous times to Hawaii, and finally I bit. I really needed a break from the US…yes, yes, yes…I know that Hawaii is the US – stop hyperventilating; honestly, it doesn’t really feel like it. It’s this weird laid-back island with seemingly more Asian influence than American influence. Plus – he offered the icing on the cake – “You can stay with us at our house and we have an extra car to use.” I know that you don’t pass up staying with a local, free lodging, and transportation in Hawaii! So I escaped to the turquoise water and welcoming smiles of Ron and Mark.

Mark and Ron's Green House

I arrived at the baggage claim to Hawaiian leis and hugs from Ron. I was a bit stunned, as I wasn’t expecting to see him at baggage claim. Nowhere in America, or most other countries, do they allow non-passengers into baggage claim. Hawaii is different apparently. We waited for my bag picked, I pointed to it, Ron picked it up and away we went chatting away and out the door into the hot Hawaiian climate.

Ron is an avid reader of Ottsworld and knows me quite well from my life prior to Ottsworld so when I arrived in his home he pointed out that he had plenty of Diet Coke and peanut butter for my 2 week stay. This was the best welcome ever! We quickly put down my bag and took the car out exploring around Kailua where Ron and Mark live.
Soon we were winding around volcanic cliffs and peering out on the glistening ocean. I was once again reminded of how amazing it is to travel with a local in tow as Ron took me to little secret spots, tucked away behind million dollar homes to photograph the sunset; locations which don’t exist in guidebooks. As we were walking down one of the public access pathways to another picture perfect view serendipity intervened. Coming up the path was a familiar face – the only other person I knew in all of Hawaii – Yen, our Meet Plan Go Honolulu host.

We all stared at each other in amazement. I had planned on seeing her later in the week, but I had never planned to serendipitously run into her on a remote part of Oahu. Ok universe…I’m listening now…

We chatted excitedly we made plans to see each other the next day for some hiking and afterward Ron and I continued our secret, local, sunset tour. We arrived back at the house to make meet Mark and go to dinner, but before we left I wanted to quick freshen up as I was sweaty and had been on the go since I arrived at the airport!

That’s when serendipity #2 hit me. I went to my suitcase to unlock it and get my toiletries and I was greeted by a lime green lock. Wait a minute…that’s not my lock.

My first reaction to the imposter green lock was that TSA had inspected my bag and put the wrong lock back on – damn TSA! Immediately my mind was racing on how I could cut it off and tweet my dissatisfaction with them. Then slowly the fog started to lift; I looked at the bag and realized that I had made the stupidest traveler mistake ever. I had picked up the wrong bag and taken it with me!

Luggage tags - they are important!

My heart sank in embarrassment as I searched for the United Baggage number to call with my tail between my legs trying to rectify the situation. The bag was exactly the same as mine – but in my excitement around seeing Ron in the baggage claim I completely got out of my normal routine and didn’t check for tags. As I listened to the phone ring I realized they probably didn’t care about this excuse. I also realized that they had been trying to call me during the day but I hadn’t picked up because it said it was a blocked number and I was too busy touring around!

Mark and Ron demonstrated their hospitality and aloha spirit by driving me and someone elses luggage all the way back to the airport on the other side of the island. I thought to myself – how can I call myself a professional traveler; I made the biggest rookie mistake ever. I guess it goes to show you that even ‘professionals’ have a bad day…see the Cubs Franchise if you don’t believe me.

It was an eventful welcome to Oahu full of unexpected experiences. I can hardly wait to see what the next 3 weeks brings!

Ron and I overlooking Diamond Head and Honolulu

I’ve filled up the rest of my time here with some great travel experiences which I will bring you over the next weeks. And I will be testing out the theory of if Hawaii can be a solo, and not super expensive travel destination or not. Staying with locals is a good start to the experiment! Stay tuned for Shark cage diving (doing this today!!), photo safaris, star gazing, lots of hiking, manta ray snorkeling, and hopefully even some cattle herding. I have a lot planned for Hawaii – so stay tuned!

Have you ever made a stupid rookie travel mistake – please tell me about it to make me feel better!

Team camping is where much of the bonding took place

Before I departed on the Mongol Rally, when I told people about what I was doing this summer they were surprised, but consistently it was one topic about the epic road trip that fascinated people most. It wasn’t the inappropriate car or the length of the trip. It wasn’t the fact that my team had no mechanical knowledge. It was simply the team dynamics.

“You are going to ride for 5 weeks in a car with people you don’t know?!” said in an incredulous tone as if I had announced I was going to Mars to plant Christmas trees this summer.

So – here it is…what you’ve all been waiting for…the post on how 4 strangers drove 8500 miles in a car together…the good, the bad, and the ugly.

It's a long time to travel together...but this was about 3 1/2 weeks in..we hadn't killed each other yet!

Let me just start this by recanting what one participant on another team told me during the rally. She had actually done the rally with her husband 4 years prior and they were doing it again this year. She said,

“It’s not mechanical issues that normally trip up teams, it is the team relationships and dynamics.”

She told me this as one of their team members flew home that morning due to that precise issue. Quite frankly, hearing that made me feel better as our team dynamics certainly weren’t all chirping birds, butterflies, and wildflowers every day.

The Good

The best times were drinking wine, vodka, and beer (no surprise) and simply hanging out camping or in one of our apartment rentals talking about our parents and families. Since we were all about the same age, it was amazing how many things we had in common.

I remember one of my favorite nights was camping in Kazakhstan. The men retired early and Deb and I stayed up chatting and drinking beer underneath the expansive star display. I loved how open and honest we could be with each other.

When we clicked…we clicked; especially at border crossings. We did a good job of dividing responsibilities most days. Because we were pretty well traveled and independent already – we were efficient and generally we all had roles. Dave changed tires and managed the camp stove. Deb constantly was in charge of petrol and cooking meals. Rick provided humor and did dishes. And I worked on figuring out lodging in our next location most of the time.
We also were able to teach each other new things about blogging and tools we used. I think all of use came away with new tips and knowledge that we didn’t have before!

Deb and I partaking in two of our favorite things!

Dave and Deb wait patiently at a border crossing

Camping - everyone had their roles

The Bad

Rick, Dave, Deb and I didn’t really know each other very well at all, but we had all had little hints into our personalities during the course of planning over the last year via skype. However what we didn’t plan for is that those hints would turn out to be full blown issues when in a car with the same people day in and day out.

One of the biggest hurdles we had to deal with is that we all had very different travel styles. I came from a solo background where I controlled everything myself. I never have to ask anyone what I should do or where I should go – I just do what I want.
Dave and Deb travel as a couple normally. They know each other so well that they barely have to even ask one another what the other thinks! Rick hadn’t traveled extensively outside the US at all and he certainly hadn’t done much independent travel where roughing it and split second decisions were necessary.

And the biggest hurdle for us was the fact that for all of us – we had to constantly make decisions about our journey every day, hour, and sometimes minute. Those decisions would need to be discussed and scrutinized by the other teams members because they would affect all of us. The majority of our time when we travel many decisions are made for us – certainly when it comes to press trips or tours. But now we were faced with where to stay each night, how to get there, which road to take, who would drive, how much gas do we get, etc. And everyone’s personality and level of tolerance was different…this is a difficult recipe for success.

It's a small space to spend 5 weeks!

Working at a campsite in Romania - just a few macbooks along...

The Ugly

From the beginning I had said I went on this trip because it scared me. I really didn’t know if I could do it. Driving in other countries has always intimidated me. More often than not my scaredy-cat personality would come out in the form of worry. I felt like my mother sometimes…but I couldn’t help it. Did it annoy and effect my teammates, yes. Did we argue about it…yes. Did we make up…yes.

Traveling with Rick was like traveling with Bill Clinton. I say that mainly because he sounds just like him! However I quickly realized that he was sort of like Clinton in other ways too – you could never really nail him down on anything! He was soooooo easy going that he didn’t really have an opinion. In this rally world where lots of decisions needed to be made, having one person opt out of the decisions made for a tense time. Did it annoy and effect the team…yes. Did we argue about it…yes. Did we make up…well…most of the time!

I learned midway through the rally that Dave and Deb had a big concern about team dynamics. They wanted to make sure they didn’t always appear ‘teamed up’ or on the same side. They didn’t want it to be the Dave/Deb show and overpower the team – especially when the majority of the time it was only the 3 of us making decisions. It was actually great to hear that they had put that much thought into it. However since they were trying so hard not to dominate the decisions, it sort of backfired as I never really knew what they wanted to do or when they were backing down because they didn’t want to appear too pushy. There were times when I needed them to be pushy and push me out of my scaredy-cat ways – but they backed down. Did we fight about it…yes. Did we resolve it…yes. Did we make up…yes.

The one thing that you could always count on is that Deb would speak her mind. I found it refreshing and challenging at the same time. Yet I know that I’d rather be around a person where I know exactly where I stand as opposed to being back-stabbed. It pushed me to stand up for myself and my opinion at times. And the best part is that she appreciated the push back.

I don’t think I need to get into all of the details of every bad moment…we certainly had some. There were tears, there was yelling, there was talk of quitting and going home. We were all frustrated with each other on some days; who wouldn’t be?!

Dave, Deb, and I walking to the car in Prague

Waiting at the Mongolian border

One of my favorite pictures of the team - doing what we loved....camping!

Are we still friends?

Just like anything in life – there are ups and downs and you will be thrown challenges. Imagine being in a car with 3 of your work colleagues for 5 weeks – how do you think you’d fare?

The important thing is that we are all still friends and quite frankly I miss them!  It’s strange to go from every day together to nothing. I think it’s a testament to the type of people we are that we can go through such an adventure and still remain friends! Rick had to go home early to catch a flight, but Dave, Deb, and me ended up really bonding then; they felt like siblings by the time we got to Ulaanbaatar! I love them, yet we can all frustrate the hell out of each other too – just like any good sibling relationship! But I know that the bond we built together will last us a lifetime.

Would I travel with them again? Hell yes!

Dave, Deb, and I celebrating out last day!

Have you ever traveled with strangers?  What were the challenges?

Are you hungry? If not you will be after this post!

Instead of photos of grand landscapes,  today I tempt your taste-buds…with delectable Spanish food. I was in Spain for 3 weeks this summer and had the opportunity to eat at high end and rustic places. I even learned how to cook Spanish food for myself.  Spain is full of regional food specialties, however on this trip I was only in Valencia and Barcelona, but both were packed with food options. So, pull up a chair, tuck the napkin into your collar, pick up a fork, and join me for this photo feast!

Paella

Valencia is known for it’s paella.  A traditional rice dish normally made with meat, vegetables, or seafood is made in a special paella pan.  A very, very big pan.

Seafood Paella

Dishing up meat paella

Tapas

Tapas are part of the Spanish way of life. Whenever you go to a bar and buy a drink, you’ll be served small portions of food – anything from a few nuts or a bowl of olives to a mini gourmet meal. I went on a Tapas tour of Barcelona sponsored by Viator Tours  and learned a bit about the tapas culture in Barcelona…not to mention was able to taste a few too! The word tapa means ‘lid’ or ‘covering’ and according to tradition the first tapas were slices of ham placed over a glass to keep the flies out. Now they’ve turned into a artistic presentation of a variety of foods that you nibble with your glass of wine to hold you over until dinner time.

Pinchos are small bites served with toothpicks (pincho). At the end the server counts the pinchos on your plate and charges you accordingly!

High end tapas in Valencia at Sucursal Restaraunt - a feast for the belly and the eyes!

Tapas lined up for your choosing in Barcelona - no, not the men...the food!

Spanish Specialties

Pork

I fell in love with the cured pork called Jamón ibérico, (cured ham leg from the black Iberian pig).  I ate it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

It might not look appetizing...but it's like butter...pure bliss

The Spanish love pork...and what's not to love?

Tomatoes

Gazpacho – a cold tomato soup.  Mmmmm – so fresh!

Gazpacho with smoked cheese

Salted Cod

The flavor is magnificent!  You soak the cod and remove the salt before serving, leaving a flavorful fish feast!

Salted cod sold at the market

Drinks

And of course you have to have something to wash all of that yummy food down with.

Horchata (orxata de xufa) is the Spanish drink made from made from tigernuts, water, and sugar.  In the summer it’s served with ice and a little pastry for dipping!

Horchata poured for me at a Horchataria in Valencia

Or if you are looking for alcohol, then you must have a Mojito while in Spain!

Mojito

Bottom’s up and bon appetit!

What’s your favorite Spanish food?  Please share in the comments!

Disclosure:  Oh Barcelona Apartments is hosting my accommodation in Barcelona. My trip to Valencia and surrounding areas was provided by Tour Spain and Valencia Tourism. However, all of the opinions expressed here though are my own – as you know how I love to speak my mind!

The 'guests' arrive!

I’ve never been married, but I can only imagine that planning and running an event like Meet Plan Go is similar to planning a wedding…minus the big bill at the end and the white dress. However there was music, alcohol, 1250 guests, months and months of planning, stress, anxiety, excitement, last minutes panic, and finally a buzzed bliss that it was all over.

But wait a minute…it’s over.

Post wedding/event depression sets in.

Is this what it’s like to get married? All of this time and effort put in for one day and now it’s over?

I came home at 11PM after the San Francisco event, made a cup of tea, had a leftover piece of carrot cake (for the record I would have a carrot cake as my wedding cake), and I sat down and satiated my ‘it’s over depression’ by reading the 5 timezones of twitter updates about the events. The best and worst thing about the Meet Plan Go! travel event is that it happens in 17 cities ON THE SAME NIGHT.  A planning challenge for sure, but more importantly – it’s hard to accept the fact that I can’t be in 17 places at the same time.

So I stayed up until 2:30AM pouring over the tweets and photos from the other cities – excited and sad at the same time. But I collected my favorite ones so that I could share them with you – my non-twittering blog audience. I love these comments; they make me happy, elated, and they even give me goose bumps.  To think that the event does shake up the status quo and gives people a place where they don’t feel so crazy for wanting to do extended travel is exactly what I wanted to accomplish.

Some of these tweets give you a slight idea of what it was like to be at an event…and the tweets might even inspire some of you to say “I do”…err…I mean “I go”

What’s next for me?  Like any good marriage it’s followed by a honeymoon…and I’m taking mine in Hawaii for the next 3 weeks – minus the husband. Which might be the best honeymoon of all! Yeah…travel!!!

Boston

Orlando

My favorite Tweets from around the country:

Meet

Waiting for #meetplango #PDX to start. So exciting to be in a room full of people making the same plans I am!

Love my new #travel circle!

Sean Keener at the #pdx #meetplango: “I never met a traveler who said they shouldn’t have gone on that trip…”

SO inspired by the event tonight. It’s great to be in the room with those who think like me. AND planned a trip!

Listening to talks of career breaks and stories of long term travel really makes me miss living out of a 35l backpack.

#meetplango is an awesome way to connect w/ like-minded people + plan an amazing travel experience! So inspired!

A room full of people realizing that long term travel is a practical dream.

After #MeetPlanGo in San Francisco, I feel an attachment to this city & the community (especially travel) like I’ve never had anywhere else.

…wish we’d had MPG before starting! So great to spend time with like-minded folks who “get” the work, sacrifices, choices that go in to making travel a priority…and the great results!

St. Louis

New York City

Plan

Great night at #meetplango #pdx! Bonus…best way to buy stuff after a career break? Stalk those in the selling stuff phase of theirs!

Wing it! Don’t overplan. You’ll never have this much freedom again in your life!

Career breaks are not available to just the eclectic few. U can do it to. Start planning.

“When you start your trip maybe put training wheels on your bike, start with an easy place to travel first.” @sarahrunning

Do your research before finding a place to volunteer. Go within & listen to what your spirit calls you to do! #meetplango

Most of the travelers on the #meetplango #chicago panel spent $2000 a month on the road. That’s less that I spend per month at home.

Plan your trip around what is important to you, not others. Don’t overplan.

Advice when approaching border: If you’ve been bumming around, take a shower & brush your hair. It’ll help out quite a bit

You need twice the money and half the clothes. -caroline boudreaux

The best laid travel plans will fall apart. Roll with it and enjoy your trip.

Give up 1 latte a day for a yr. that’s $1446 towards your #careerbreak

How do you get your family on board? They need to be willing to get outside their comfort zones.

Before your trip, act like you are moving: cancel bills/pay online, sell stuff, hire mover+storage, use local address

A smile is valuable in every country!

You will have naysayers. (They’re jealous!) Ignore some, let others know how important this is to you.

Often you’ll find a better price outside the US. Another reason not to overplan!

Volunteering can stretch your travel dollar.

Don’t forget to have an emergency fund during long-term travel. Credit cards might not work

Sometimes the hardest part of #travel is getting ready to go

Chicago

Honolulu

Go!

“The idea of traveling alone as a woman is scarier than actually doing it.” Olivia @whygo at #meetplango #pdx

“The biggest motivator for taking our big trip was not going, but thinking about our life if we didn’t go.” @sarahrunning

When traveling solo, can be much more interesting says @lisanapoli -people offer more, help more, show more.

Talking about peer pressures of long term travel, Ryan and Jen say that “nobody else has to be ok with it, just you” #MeetPlanGo

As cool as it was to be on the STL #meetplango panel, really looking forward to being the guy “skyping in” next year.

“My career break was absolutely the best year of my life.” @cogentlegal

I’m buying a one way ticket before anyone can talk me out of it. #freakingout

You nvr know the work your going get abroad until your boots are on the ground!

Was planning a 3 month stay in Argentina, now considering other places and more time abroad. thanks!!

Travel on my mind & butterflies in my stomach- #SEAsia can’t come soon enough!

Seattle

Portland

Other Cool/Funny Stuff:

Theme of #MeetPlanGo & #MPGLA : the f-word: FLEXIBLE

Americans waste 125 million hrs of vacation hours a year!

Traveling made me more employable @takeyourbigtrip

You’ll come back from travel more creative & a risk-taker, and this makes you a more appealing employee!

“I don’t have to tell you – when you come back, everyone will think you’re awesome!”

“I don’t look at other countries as ‘those people’. We’re all the same. That’s what travel has taught me.” @takeyourbigtrip

Careers will work out. Any hiring manager will want to hear about a #RTW trip. @cogentlegal

Wow, question of “how many ppl like their job?” asked and very few ppl raised their hands. #meetplango #chicago Let’s change that!

Tweets in other languages! – Estou no #meetplango em DC com mais 80 pessoas que estao planejando viajar pelo mundo.

The Denver meeting was AWESOME!! Thank you all! Now to ‘Plan’ and ‘Go’!

San Franciso Panel...including me...don't we all make a happy 'couple'

Did you go to a Meet Plan Go Event? I would love to hear what you thought – was it a good or bad wedding?!

My Kindle kept me tweeting through Mongolia.

I found a new piece of travel gear this summer which I’ll never leave home without any longer. As I raced through the Mongol Rally, my new Amazon Kindle was probably my most used travel gear after my camera. I used it constantly, yet I never finished a book during the whole 5 weeks of travel.

One of the most common questions I get when people speak to me about my participation in the Mongol Rally is “How did you stay connected? It seemed like you were always tweeting. Did you have a satellite phone?”

The surprising answer I give them is “I used my Kindle to stay connected.”

Yeah for 3G!

When I was in Seattle this spring attending the World Domination Summit, Dave from WhatsDaveDoing.com and I were talking about how I would stay connected during the rally. At the time I didn’t really have an answer. However that’s when he recommended and showed me his Kindle with 3G. As I sat and played around with it using the ‘Experimental Browser’ (this is seriously what it’s called in the menu dropdown!), I was intrigued. And I repeated somewhat incredulously to him, “You said the connectivity is free?”

“Yes” he answered with a mischievous smile as if he were sharing a secret to a hidden treasure.

I started to research this free 3G connectivity further on the Amazon website and found the following details:

Free 3G Wireless
No annual contracts, no monthly fees. Download books anytime, anywhere. Unlike cell phones, with Kindle Keyboard 3G there are no monthly fees or commitments — Amazon pays for Kindle Keyboard 3G’s wireless connectivity.

Global 3G Coverage
Travel the globe and still get books in under 60 seconds with wireless coverage in over 100 countries and territories.

I looked at the coverage map and to my surprise I saw that most of our route was covered in some way.

Kindle Coverage map

So I did it – I purchased the Kindle Keyboard 3G, Free 3G + Wi-Fi, 6″ E Ink Display – includes Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers

And decided to add it to my possible ways to stay connected during the Mongol Rally without draining my bank account.

As we left the UK and our Tep Mifi device behind I turned on my Kindle and immediately it picked up a 3G signal. I opened up the Experimental Browser and went to twitter.com and was able to follow hashtag streams as well as easily reply to tweets and post my own. Now the web browser is nothing to write home about but it’s perfectly adequate for checking and sending e-mail, looking stuff up, and reading mostly-text websites. Truly – the websites do need to be simple and no flash or Java script – but most of the popular websites offer a mobile version of their site that is pretty light and simple which makes it useable on the Kindle.

Pros:

• Automatically finds 3G connections as you move throughout a country and cross borders without having to do a thing.
• It saves you money on ridiculous international mobile phone roaming charges. Allows you to easily check your email and social media accounts. It’s free!
• It picked up signals better than our unlocked mobile phones.
• Oh yeah, in addition apparently it allows you to store and read books too! Who knew?!

Cons:

• The browser is really clunky. You have to be very patient for it to load the screens. It’s sort of like playing Atari again. Old school.
• There’s no touch screen functionality. Once again – think old school.
• No color
• The battery life is shorter when using 3G

New Version:

There is a new color touch-version out of the Kindle that moves it a step closer to the Ipad but still places it in an affordable price bracket.  Kindle Fire, Full Color 7″ Multi-touch Display, Wi-Fi

However – read the details closely. This new touch Kindle does not include free 3G. Amazon states,

“We apologize for the confusion. Our new Kindle Touch 3G enables you to connect to the Kindle Store, download books and periodicals, and access Wikipedia – all over 3G or Wi-Fi. Experimental web browsing (outside of Wikipedia) on Kindle Touch 3G is only available over Wi-Fi. Our Kindle Keyboard 3G will continue to offer experimental web browsing over 3G or Wi-Fi.”

Conclusion:

The Kindle is my new favorite travel item! It helps me stay budget and connected; the two most important things I look for when I travel! The connectivity in addition to the fact that it lightens my pack by leaving my heavy travel guides and books at home is all I need to make it an essential travel item I won’t leave home without!

How do you plan to stay connected when you travel overseas?  Share in the comments!

It's your choice.

Yesterday I had a choice to make. I went with a friend to her gym to work out quick before we explored wineries in California’s Shenandoah Valley. She thought that she could get a guest in for free, but the manager at the desk told me it would be $15 to come and work out as a guest. I was only going to be there an hour, and the thought of spending $15 on one hour was a hard thing to swallow for my budget.

I thought about it for a bit, and decided that I would save the $15 and simply run outside. Sure- it was very hot out and I didn’t really know the area, but I didn’t feel that using a treadmill was worth $15. After all, my Meet, Plan, Go! business partner had just created this cool graphic about the cost of $15 at home and abroad and I decided I would save that $15 for my next trip!

Ever since returning from the Mongol Rally, I’ve been frantically preparing for the 2nd annual Meet, Plan Go! events that happen this Tuesday in 17 cities.

Plain and simple, the events are about getting more people out traveling.

Are we going to tell you that it’s easy to leave your job and plan and big trip?  No.
Are we going to tell you that it’s possible to leave your job and take a traveling career break that will benefit your career?  Yes.

Are you spending time putting up barriers to why you can’t take a career break?

The economy is in the toilet
I’m worried about the gap on my resume
It costs too much
I have a family

Maybe you should be choosing to use that time in a more productive manner and start to determine how to overcome those barriers and move in a positive direction. That’s what the Meet, Plan, Go! events can help you do.

It’s all a question of how badly you want it. How badly do you want to make changes in your life (like budget and lifestyle), go against the status quo and take the necessary steps to follow your desires to travel and see the world.

Life is about choices.
You can choose to go out on a limb, or you can choose to do nothing, which effectively means you’re choosing to stay.

Yesterday I made the small choice to save my $15 and put it towards my travels. I choose to go.

For all of you who read my website and think, “I wish I could do that.” I have one question for you.

What will your choice be?

RSVP for Meet, Plan, Go! in 17 cities October 18th, 2011.

Austin | Boston | Chicago | Denver | Honolulu | Las Vegas | Los Angeles
Minneapolis | New Orleans | New York City | Orlando | Portland
San Francisco | Seattle | St. Louis | Toronto | Washington DC

A big welcome at teh Blue Skies Ger Village

As much as participating in the Mongol Rally was to satiate my need for adventure and something different – it had another purpose…a big purpose.

It was for this….

 For Them…

These are some of the children who live at the Christina Nobel Foundation Blue Skies Ger Village in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. It serves as a sanctuary for homeless and abandoned children in Mongolia. It has been developed to address the specific needs of the many children who find themselves in these difficult circumstances in Mongolia.

After arriving at the finish line our first goal was to take a much needed shower and have loads of vodka to celebrate our accomplishment. But the day after our rally partying and subsequent headaches we scheduled a visit to the Ger village so we could go see the village and kids we actually drove 8,500 miles for. The village was located outside of Ulaanbaatar. As we drove out of the main part of town the traffic became less, the surroundings started to deteriorate, and the roads slowly turned to dirt which left us dodging potholes again. After 25 minutes we came to a brightly colored wall and inside were approximately a dozen gers and about 70 children and mothers. The children range in age from 2 to 24 years old. Each residential ger is staffed by a Ger Mother, often a single parent and/or formerly homeless herself, who creates a loving home for the children.

We were given a tour of the facilities with shy children peaking out of their gers and taking notice of the group of ralliers. The more we walked around the shyness melted away and soon they were following us around urging us to play basketball, Frisbee, and take pictures.

Kids work and play in the computer lab/ger

Kids get plenty of exercise at the village

They have a basketball/volleyball court that turns into an ice skating rink in the winter

The youngest kid at the village - this little boy is 2

We spent about 2 hours at the ger village hanging out with the kids. Some ralliers played soccer and basketball with the kids, but I wandered into a few gers to meet the mothers and see how the ‘families’ lived. We could barely communicate but I sat and watched them make booz (Mongolian dumplings) as the kids tried to tell me their ages and show me their homework.

Later that night the Adventurists held a large finish line party for all of the teams who had finished that week. Sure – it was a huge boozefest (not the dumpling…the alcohol!) as teams celebrated their finish or their demise. We were able to connect with so many of the teams who we had met along the way and hear the rest of their practically unbelievable stories. The mood was joyous, loud, and had a feeling of relief and at the same time sorrow that it was all over.

A celebration full of smoke and booze!

In addition to giving out goofy awards to teams,and vodka shots, there were also special performances by the children of the Ger village. The kids came to perform various skills; kids sang, played instruments, danced, and even put on a judo performance. The ralliers treated them like the rockstars they were. Big smiles crept across their face as people gave them standing ovations, whistles and hollers. This was such a rewarding way to end the long journey; everyone happy, feeling accomplished and connecting.

Girls from the village get ready to perform

Girls dressed in authentic Mongolian dress

Judo demonstration

In the end our team raised $5,000 for the Christina Nobel Ger village in donations from people like you – our readers. Thank you for making that happen.

In addition, our little car that rolled into Ulaanbaatar with 8,500 more miles on it, 2 bald rear tires, an exhaust system hanging on by a wire, a broken front shock, no oil changed in 9000 miles, stickers all over the car, duct tape holding together parts of the inside, and covered in dust was in huge demand. We were told that it would auction for about $4000 to $4500 and after taxes are paid, that money also goes back to Mongolian charities.

And here’s the most impressive thing that makes my stomach flutter when I think about it.

The 320 teams who made up the 2011 Mongol Rally overall raised $500,000 through donations and car auction for the Christina Nobel Foundation.

This is a huge sum of money for the program, and I’m so proud to be a part of it. I’m even more proud that you, my readers, were also a part of it. This adventure was the perfect win/win for me. I was able to do what I LOVE – travel through the world on an amazing adventure, and help kids in need in a seldom seen part of the world. I hopefully made the country of Mongolia part of your vocabulary by now. It’s one of my favorite places in the world, and it will always have my heart and a small part of me at the Blue Skies Ger Village.

Was it worth it?

Every. Single. Second.

‘When children are educated, they possess something which cannot be lost or taken away from them and which offers them some protection from exploitation and abuse. They will have more power in the labour market; they will be better equipped to provide for themselves in a way which protects their integrity and their dignity” – Christina Noble

The beginning...

The most frequent question I get asked is “How did you get along with your teammates?”…which I will answer in a later blog post…have patience! But the 2nd question is always, “What did you do with the car?”

That is the beauty of the Mongol Rally – the car is used to raise more money for Mongolian charities. The cars which make it to the end get auctioned off to locals and the money is collected by Adventures For Development Mongolia (the NGO that was responsible for the car imports).  At the end of the summer, once all the vehicles in all the drop-off points have been accounted for, the profit after costs will be tallied up and announced for tender. Applications are received by AFDM from charitable projects based in Mongolia for AFDM’s steering committee to decide who’s supported.  In the past charitable projects as diverse as tree replanting, disabled persons projects and Mongolia Education Alliance have all been supported by the moneys raised by the car sales. This is important, because it means that the Mongol Rally reaches other needy projects in Mongolia.

The fact that you are attempting to ‘deliver’ this car over the course of 5+ weeks is really one of the main things that kept us going. It gave us purpose, drive, and the push we needed at times to keep going. We had a responsibility to get the car to the end – no matter how much we wanted to give up or be done, we were like the Pony Express…

“Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

Yet I think our modern day motto would have been more like,

“Neither broken shocks, nor dirt, nor flat tires, nor being hopelessly lost, nor giant potholes, nor corrupt border guards, nor team fights stays these ralliers from the somewhat swift completion of their appointed round.”

We had a mission, we had to deliver that car…it was our fuel that kept us going through the many trying times.

The car at the beginning in London...shiny and lookin' good!

You may wonder why anyone in their right mind would want a beat up, dirty car that had just been driven into the ground for 9,000+ miles. In reality we shouldn’t be able to give a car like that away even for free! But Mongolia was different. Cars, no matter what condition they were in, are in demand.

In fact, we surprisingly learned that small cars, like ours, were in the greatest demand. Cars that aren’t really meant for the Mongolian terrain are the most sought after…but why?

It’s basic supply and demand. (Imagine me with my hair up, glasses on, and standing in front of a white board drawing diagrams – class is in session!)

Supply – Import taxes for used cars are quite expensive in Mongolia therefore no one is shipping many cars into Mongolia as its too price prohibitive. The main people who are importing cars are people who can afford it – big mining and development companies as well as tour companies. This means there’s really only one type of car being imported – big SUV’s to be used as commercial vehicles. There are very few small, family cars available to Mongolians.

Demand – The Mongolian economy is growing fast, in fact the World Bank reports have announced Mongolia as one of the fastest growing and most stable economies in current turbulent times. Families are making more money, and they want to consume. The country is also building more roads (albeit super slowly and poor quality), the country is becoming more mobile and they want to trade in their horses for fuel-injected horsepower.

Enter us and our little Nissan Almera; everyone wants the Hot Box! People would constantly stop us and ask to buy our car from the moment we entered Western Mongolia to the finish line in Ulaanbaatar. Granted – people don’t necessarily want it to drive across the country like we did, they simply want a car to get around the city of Ulaanbaatar which is growing rapidly.

Our car was a 2002 with 121,000 miles on it when we bought it. Allways Rentals purchased it for us for approximately $1500 and put in more money to get it mechanically checked out.

Our car went through a beating…

Maintenance in the middle of Kazakhstan

Going for a dip in Mongolia...

Getting dirty in Kazakhstan

Held together by duct tape

We deposited it with the Mongol Rally organizers with 8,500 more miles on it, bald tires, an exhaust hanging on by a wire, a broken shock, coated in dirt and stickers, and terribly in need of an oil change. Yet our little car was a car in demand. The Adventurists told us that it would probably yield $4,000 to $4,500 when auctioned.

All in all – the rally is bringing in cars that are in demand…when they actually make it. It appears to be a win/win for everyone.

In the end it was hard to walk away from the car. I grew attached to the Hot Box, it became a part of us; our home, our bed, our kitchen, and our living room. I only wish that I could see who ended up buying our little Hot Box. I hope they loved it as much as we did. I’m sure they’ll keep it running way longer than we ever could have!

The end...a bit more wear and tear - but people still want her!!

I finished the rally – listen to my post race podcast from Heather on Her Travels - Mongol Rally Podcast and get the low down on how it all went from my lips to your ears!

The early morning empty street of Borough Market

I am a sucker for the ‘M’ word…no, not men…markets.  Markets are fascinating to me, I can wander around them for hours and looking at the perfectly placed produce, marvel at new shapes and smells, or watch the interactions with the sellers and customers.  I can appreciate dirty, smelly markets as well as upscale markets; yet I must admit that I prefer the dirty, smelly ones!  So when a friend recommended I go check out the Borough Market  in London this summer, I didn’t even hesitate.  I picked up my camera and took the tube to go check out Borough Market which was nestled under railway viaducts near London Bridge.

I went early to avoid crowds and figured that all the best stuff would be there early.  However, to my surprise many of the stalls hadn’t opened up yet!  Apparently this wasn’t like Asian markets where things opened as the sun came up in order to beat the heat.  I continued to wander around with my camera watching vendors get set up for the day feeling as if I wasn’t actually a tourist, but instead that I was part of the market atmosphere prepping for a date.  The upside was that I had the place to myself.  The downside was that there wasn’t as much food out to sample!

Borough Market was definitely more upscale than what I’m used to and had all varieties of prepared food as well as fruits and vegetables.  But I think my favorite thing about it was the location of it under the viaduct and the hundreds of tiny little restaurants which surrounded the market.  All looked so yummy and made me wish I could come back later that evening for dinner!  But, for this trip to Borough Market all I could do was look around, take pictures, and interact with the vendors.  Just what I love to do!

Daisies brighten up dreary London skies

Fluffy Merange Clouds of Yumminess

Produce Carts

Cheese Glorious Cheese

What more is there to say?!

Colorful Cookies

Market Restaurants

London Loaves

Prepared Food

To get more information on Borough Market, be sure to visit their great website which has maps of the market, directions, recipes, and other cool information on the history.  www.boroughmarket.org.uk