A stunninf view from Our Lady of Lebanon in Jounieh

With one month in Lebanon, you can cover a lot of ground.  However I can’t say that I really traveled the country thoroughly and I certainly didn’t get to all of the traditional tourist sites.  Instead I was too busy sinking into the culture of Lebanon.  Thanks to my GeoVisions cultural exchange program who placed me with my local host family, I was able to dig deep into the web of Lebanese history, culture, and make genuine friends.

The People:

My works of art from Mickey

It was because of my host family that I was able to meet the wonderfully generous people I did.  People who took me everywhere allowing me to enter into their lives with ease an open arms.  So what if I didn’t go to Jeita Grotto, Baalbek Ruins, or the famous Cedars.  I spent my time with people, not places.

Instead I sat at family dinner tables, shared wine and shwarma with my family, shared stories, learned about our varied lives, and became attached.  I became attached to the country as well as the people who were in my life there.  A month felt like 6 months based on the relationships I was able to build.

My host family, the Costa’s, were so generous I felt guilty at times.  Mickey, the youngest child would shower me with attention and beautiful works of art I would hand above my little bed.  He always made sure that I wasn’t far from a blanket to stay warm.  I felt as if I adopted Maria (14 yrs old) as my own niece wishing I could take her with me to see the world.  And Mira, my host mom was like no other person I had ever met in all of my travels; generous, emotional, loving, and a little bit of crazy…which is why I loved her.  After all, we all have a little crazy in us.  My family introduced me to all of their friends and extended family and proceeded to ‘assign’ these various people to take care of me and show me Lebanon.  To Walid, Tony, Andre, and Mark – Thanks – I couldn’t have asked for better tour leaders!

My friend and GeoVisions manager, Yola, was also a constant in my month in Lebanon.  She took time out of her weekends to drive me to various sites including Our Lady of Lebanon to seem some of the most spectacular views Lebanon had to offer.  She also ensured that I gained plenty of weight by never letting me go hungry. The Lebanese Food is worth the trip alone!

Mickey and Maria

Mira and I at my birthday party she threw me

Visiting with friends, Andre and her mother-in-law

Yola in the GeoVisions office

Places to See:

However if you are going to Lebanon the more traditional way to see sites rather than cultural immersion then I can recommend some of the places I ventured out to as a tourist:

Tripoli  – see the souks and the corniche and make sure you sample the sweets.
Saida – Don’t miss these refurbished souks
Jounieh – where you catch the gondola to Our Lady of Lebanon
Beirut  – Make sure you do the city walking tour – Walk Beirut.  Wander the other neighborhoods on your own, and see Pigeon Rock along the corniche.
Anjar – Step back in town to the ancient Umayyad ruins in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley
Zahle  – a town in the Bekaa Valley with it’s own Virgin Mary monument and stunning views of the valley.
Batroun – a seaside town with an authentic souk and delicious lemonade

There she is...Our Lady of Lebanon

Things I didn’t get to do, but I wanted to:

It’s always good when you leave a few things to come back for – here are a couple of my picks for my next trip to Lebanon.

• The Shatila refugee camp is a long-term refugee camp for Palestinian refugees, set up by UNRWA in 1949. The camp is located within the Lebanese capital Beirut. As of December 2003, it housed 12,235 registered refugees. It is most widely known as the site of the Sabra and Shatila massacre in September 1982, but also played a significant role in the 1982 Lebanon war and the 1985 to 1987 war of the camps.  You can actually stay in the camp at the CYC Guesthouse which  is located inside the refugee camp, and is run by Children and Youth Center (CYC). The Guesthouse offers accommodation to visitors and volunteers, all year-round, providing the opportunity to learn about life in Shatila camp, firsthand. Short stays are charged at $10 per night.
• Hike the Lebanon Mountain Trail – The (LMT) is the first long-distance hiking trail in Lebanon. It extends from Al- Qbaiyat in the north of Lebanon to Marjaayoun in the south, a 275 miles path that transects more than 75 towns and villages at altitude ranging from about 1,800-6,000 feet above sea level.  The LMT showcases the natural beauty and cultural wealth of Lebanon’s mountains and demonstrates the determination of the people of Lebanon to conserve this unique heritage.  The trail brings communities closer together and expands economic opportunities in rural areas through environmentally- and socially-responsible tourism.

Listen to More Information:

If you are heading to Lebanon, then take a moment to listen to my interview on the Amateur Traveler Podcast about what to expect with your travels in Lebanon.

Amateur Traveler Episode 273 – Travel to Lebanon

Some Inspiration:

I took hundreds of photos in Lebanon.  Here are some of my favorites.

My ‘Best of Lebanon’ Photography

Lebanon isn’t for everyone…but it was definitely a place for me.  Full of life, love, and heartache.

The densely packed city of Saigon

Last month I produced a Saigon City guide podcast for one of my favorite travel websites, The Indie Travel Podcast.  I love writing, and I wasn’t really sure how I would like researching and doing a podcast, but it proved ot be a lot of fun!  So – here’s everything you want to know about traveling to Saigon, from my perspective which of course is a bit more slanted to cultural travel rather than luxury travel or tours.  Please feel free to share your comments and questions and of course please feel free to pass this podcast along to anyone you know traveling to Vietnam!

Listen to the Saigon City Guide on the Indie Travel Podcast

LIsten to the Saigon City Guide on Itunes

Thanks to everyone that voted for the Indie Travel Podcast Lonely Planet Awards!  It payed off as they were the winners of the Podcasting category!  I started writing for Indie Travel Podcast about a year ago after Craig interviewed me on one of his podcasts – Home and Away with Sherry Ott.  Craig and Linda work and play/travel super hard and it has been a pleasure getting to e-know them as we’ve never met in person; the joys of the internet!

I’m thrilled to be a little part of their site – and their win…ha!

Lonely Planet is one of the largest brands in travel writing. For them to recognise the work of professional and independent bloggers in this way shows their commitment to new media and developments in technology.

For a relatively small and independent site, the Indie Travel Podcast, to win the Best Podcast award shows that innovative new sites can provide professional and interesting travel news and advice. It also shows the growing importance of portable digital media in the travel sphere.

Congratulations ITP!

When I was 28 years old I was working at a big corporation in Minneapolis. Twenty-eight was a good year. It was the first time I was making money and could start to travel, and live comfortably. I was young, had a ton of energy, and was single so I was also able to soak up the night life until the wee hours in the morning, and roll into work with a hangover and still function successfully. (I must admit – that’s always been a talent of mine and I was still doing that 8 years later!) I was living it up and somehow holding down a job. My co-workers were about 7 years older than me and had more family lives, mortgages, kids, parent-teacher conferences, and responsibilities – all of the things that I wanted nothing to do with. They always said that they were living vicariously through me. We would sit and discuss what we did for the weekend (or simply on a Wednesday night), and I would regale them with stories about my night out. They would ask me tons of questions soaking up my extensive social life. They used to say, they wanted to invent a ‘Sherry-cam’ so that they could follow my adventures more closely – they wanted to know my every move and live the stories as if they were there with me.

If we only could have been entrepreneurial enough to take that ‘Sherry-cam’ idea and put it into a website business plan – we’d be rich right now…we would have beat YouTube to cyberspace! The concept of blogging and podcasting could have been incorporated into our business plan and I could have built an empire around this voyeuristic social idea that we are so accustomed to today. Coulda, woulda, shoulda. How was I to know that people actually DO want to see and hear what ‘normal’ people are doing in their everyday lives? I’m still surprised that people want to read blogs, listen to podcasts, watch personal videos of strangers…but I’m grateful for it because just like back in Minneapolis 10 years ago – I love to share my life with whoever will listen.

For those of you who have been reading my blog and travel stories, you can now have the opportunity to hear my voice again. I was recently interviewed on the Indie Travel Podcast by Craig and Linda. Craig and Linda are from New Zealand and have been traveling for 2 years now. They both teach English and have evolved their blog/travel website into a fabulous travel podcast! I have listened to it many times while on the road – utilizing their travel tips, and enjoying their stories that come with the craziness of long term travel! I think I have let you all know that I am addicted to podcasts…I believe they are essential for a traveler to have while on the road. See my post entitled “Someone wants to Interview Me?!” They are informative, entertaining, educational, help to fight off boredom of long bus rides and airport delays, and they come in handy in a language crisis. Plus an ipod is very light in your suitcase – much better than lugging around a big travel book that covers just one country!

I met Craig via cyberspace through my blog. Craig has been an avid reader of my blog now for 8 months…hard to believe I’ve been able to hold someone’s interest that long! He has been a contributor to Ottsworld often leaving comments on the site. Through that we developed a friendship. I was excited to find out that he and Linda are actually successfully living out my ‘plan’ for the future; traveling long term, making some money teaching ESL, living in different countries, and maintaining a blogging/podcasting audience. See dad – I’m not crazy for thinking that my plan will work – I have proof now!

Craig recently asked me to come on the Indie Travel Podcast to talk about my re-entry experience. Most people quit blogging/writing once they finish their trip…but he was impressed that I have kept writing and sharing my experiences about coming home…the ups and downs.
It is very easy to listen to the interview on the Indie Travel Podcast website.

Click on this link www.indietravelpodcast.com
Look for episode #52 – Home and Away with Sherry Ott
Click on the orange ‘play’ button under the title and sit back and enjoy my voice. Well…I actually think I sound like my mother…but I promise you it is my voice!
If you have trouble finding the episode – simply type ‘episode 052’ in the search box in the upper right hand part of the screen, and click search – it should find it right away.

Feel free to leave me a comment on what you thought about the interview – I love to hear form people! If you like what you hear – you can subscribe to the Indie Travel Podcast in itunes or through the Craig and Linda’s website.

I may have missed the boat on inventing blogging, Youtube, and podcasting – however, I can at least utilize them still to meet new people and share my stories with anyone out there will listen!

Jump for Joy

Podcasts – An Essential Traveler’s Companion
For those of you who have never heard of podcasting – it is NOT:
An alien life form that has come to take over Earth
A new type of fly fishing technique
A new type of vegetable from the pea family
A new type of reality TV show
A new way to cast a movie
It is simply an audio recording of someone sharing information about something. Think of it as a weekly or daily radio show…and it’s free.

Why do I care about podcasts? Because they are a fabulous long term traveler’s companion! Even though this last year has been full of amazing experiences, it’s also been full of a large amount of waiting. Imagine yourself on a 6 hour local bus ride through Morocco. Imagine waiting in an airport in Jo’berg for a delayed flight for a 4 hours. Imagine an overnight train in Vietnam. Imagine sitting in the smelly, hot Indian Embassy in Rome for hours waiting for them to call your number. Imagine a ferry ride in Croatia or an 11 hour car ride in Egypt. Having something to listen to besides music or the person next to you is a wonderful solution to these common travel situations. Podcasts are typically educational and they connect you with the rest of the world. This is how I came across the Amateur Traveler Podcast www.amateurtraveler.com I was searching on the internet for podcasts about travel and I found this gem. A 40 min. weekly show about travel news, travel locations, and online resources…perfect! Before I went to a country I would often go through the archives of the show to see if they had any info relating to that country that I could listen to. I simply downloaded these episodes/shows to my ipod and could listen to them any time picking up information about places to go, things to eat, and tips that the guidebooks don’t tell you.

I have learned Italian, Arabic, and Hindi from podcasts (ok – not fluently, but enough to get me through hello, thank you, and how are you). I have learned about world, technology and entertainment news. I have learned all about digital photography through a podcast – The Digital Photography Show Podcast. I have learned grammar through podcasts – Grammar Girl Podcast. Ok – I know that many of you are wishing that I paid more attention to the Grammar podcat! I even listened to a complete recorded lecture from UC Berkley on American History 101 from the Civil War to Present – it was just like being in college all over again minus the exams and the kegs. It’s such wonderful entertainment that I normally feel guilty that it’s free…I feel like I should be paying for such a service.

After listening to some of my favorite podcasts regularly during my travels, I decided to do something that I never normally do….I decided to become a full-fledged groupie and actually contact some of the hosts from my favorite podcasts to just tell them that I enjoy their show and that they are keeping me entertained and educated while on the road. That’s how I ended up being a guest on one of my favorite podcasts – the Amateur Traveler. I emailed the host, Chris Christensen about my experiences listening to his show during my long term adventure, and sure enough – he bit.

I was a bit hesitant at first at the thought of going on a show and talking about travel. However, one thing I have come to realize is that I know a lot…and that’s not an easy thing to put down in words…in fact, I kind of cringe when I type it. However – deep down, I know that this extended travel has actually educated me tremendously about the travel industry in general. So when he suggested that I come on the show and talk about my travel as a solo female traveler – I thought – why not?! I’m not going to lie…I was pretty excited about this…as if I was back in college and Bon Jovi had asked me to personally join him on stage.

How do I go about getting one of these fabulous free podcasts you ask?
There are a few ways to download podcasts to your computer or your ipod (or similar music player) The easiest way is to go to Itunes Music Store (if you have it) and then click on the Podcast section on the left hand side – start to browse through the massive selection of podcasts that you can download to your ipod. You can also go to Itunes and simply search on a specific podcast and you should find it. Don’t have an ipod – no problem – then you can normally go directly to the podcast’s website instead and listen to the show – just do a Google search on the show’s name and podcast – you’ll start to get some hits. You can also simply browse around the Podcast Network website and see what they have to offer.

If you want to listen to my interview…and of course you do…simply click on this link!
Amateur Traveler Podcast – Episode #107 – Solo Travel As A Woman

Now – I’ve armed you with one of my big travel secrets…how I am able to waste large amounts of time without losing my mind…go forth, podcast, and enjoy! Oh yeah…don’t forget to listen to me on the Amateur Traveler Episode #107– I feel like such a star! And please, please, please drop me a comment and let me know what you think!