Bubbling to the Surface

Over the past week and a half or so my world "got flipped, turned upside down," in the words of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.  My grandfather passed away after a short stint in and out of the hospital.  He lived a good, long life and was 84 years old, however, his death was still unexpected and has been a very difficult experience.

Because of his death, I wanted to be close to my family, so I spent a lot of time at my parents' house.  My employer was extremely understanding and generous, allowing me to work the hours I was able to, which amounted to a strange schedule, coming into the office for a couple hours here and there, but not really being able to fully focus when I was at my desk.  Our house became a bit disheveled, much like the way my mind felt, and my desk at work was not dissimilar.

Today was the start of a new week, and as hard as it was to go back to the office this morning with a full week of playing catch-up and some large projects looming ahead, it has been a good day.  I was forced to start picking up some of the scattered pieces of things I worked on last week and get back into a routine.  As much as routines can frustrate me, today it was exactly what I needed to get me moving and back to the reality of my life.  I had a busy and productive day at work, got home a little after 5pm and felt the motivation to do a bunch of small tasks around the house that needed to get down, but had been neglected over the past week and a half (or longer!).  I pushed through my workout, and here I am, getting back to writing my blog.  I have to say, it feels good, and I'm starting to feel like myself again. 

I can't say I'm not thinking about the changes that have occurred in my life over the past couple weeks, because I have been reminded several times today of the loss of my grandpa, by little things I've heard as well as concerned coworkers sharing their sympathy and kindness.  However, the have-to's are helping me to re-focus on my life instead of only focusing on his death.

The reality of life and death has been, unsurprisingly, brought to the forefront of my mind lately.  I feel the pull of living my dreams and living my life to the fullest as well as concerns and fear of something tragic like this happening to someone I or my husband (or both of us) love while we are on the other side of the world pursuing our dream.

Despite these worries that have bubbled to the surface, I refuse to let these fears paralize me and prevent me from pursuing our dream ahead. As I said, death has a tendency to spur self-reflection and with that I know that only I can create my life and make it what I want it to be.  So I must fully commit myself and experience the life that I want.  I can only take one day at a time when it comes to my concerns.  To live in fear of the "what-ifs" is what causes so many people to never act upon their dreams.

I want to be proud and happy when I reflect on my life and never wonder "what if?" and to me, today, that means working towards and accomplishing this dream of a long-term adventure around the world.

What do you want to do with your life?


Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Apologies...

Sorry for the hiatus...there's been a death in my family and I haven't had much time or motivation to write or research for our trip.

I hope to have a new post soon, after things calm down.

Thanks for your patience and understanding.

Traveling as a Couple

Happy Valentine's Day!  In recognition of the holiday, I thought it was timely and appropriate to highlight an important aspect of my upcoming Around the World Adventure with my hubby:  Traveling as a Couple.

Just yesterday I stumbled upon this great article on Bootsnall.com, one of my favorite sites!  The article, How Traveling as a Couple Can Enrich Your Trip (& Your Relationship) addresses a belief held by some that traveling with someone else is a cop out, or makes your experience less authentic.  It goes on to challenge that perception and argue how traveling as a couple can make your experience even broader and MORE authentic.

I don't have a problem traveling alone, as a matter of fact, the few times I've done it, I've really enjoyed it.  However, traveling alone as a woman, and to some of the places I'd like to visit, might not always be the safest idea. 

Also, traveling alone, you're either going to end up staying in a dorm room in a hostel (which can be fun to meet people, but really, you can meet people just as easily in the hostel's common areas) or paying a lot more money for a private room.  With a partner, you can usually get a private room for less than you would each pay separately for a dorm bed, with the added bonus of privacy and additional security for your belongings.  Plus, you can share food and drinks.  But these are just some of the logistic benefits of traveling as a couple.

Traveling as a couple involves compromise - and therefore experiencing more!  My husband and I are pretty similar in terms of our hobbies and the things we like to do on vacation, but sometimes one of us might really want to see something while the other is indifferent.  The inspiration of one person can often lead to both people experiencing things they wouldn't otherwise.  A great example of this was on our most recent adventure abroad, in Australia.  I'm a HUGE animal lover and ever since the last time I was in Australia I knew that on my next visit I wanted to go to Kangaroo Island (sometimes referred to as the Galapagos of Australia).  This island has lots of wildlife, including fairy penguins(!!), the iconic kangaroos, wallabies and koalas, plus seals and sea lions!!!  Not to mention, it was supposed to be gorgeous.  My husband was fine with us going, but it wasn't something he was super excited about, he was really just going for me.  However, this ended up being one of BOTH of our favorite stops along the trip and we both want to go back in the future!  Pretty cool!


Another thing we know too well - not everything is perfect when you travel.  You might get haggled by a local to pay too much for a stupid souvenir you don't really want, you might reach a breaking point one day on a boat in the middle of the ocean and want to jump overboard to get away from everyone, or you might even get extremely sick.  When these things happen and you get frustrated, lose your cool, or can't keep even water in your stomach, it's really awesome to have someone who loves you, cares about you, and truly knows you by your side.

On our honeymoon through Thailand and Cambodia, I got extremely sick.  I was confined to the bathroom, had literally no water or food left in my body, and could barely stand for more than five minutes due to weakness and fatigue.  My husband was by my side through it all.  He would have flew home the first day I was sick if I wanted to (which of course was out of the question, we needed to see all the places we had planned!).  He made multiple trips to find me Gatorade and crackers, and even peeled my bananas and oranges and arranged them on a platter when I was finally able to keep some stuff down.  A couple days later, just as I was beginning  to feel better the illness got to him.  I took my turn taking care of him and making sure he had what he needed.  As much as it sucked to be sick for over a week on our three-week honeymoon, this experience cemented our commitment and trust in each other - even in foreign, difficult situations.  We got through it and still look back on that trip as something amazing, fun, and positive, despite those difficult few days.

Like I mentioned before, illness isn't the only possible complication.  Sometimes when traveling for an extended period of time, a person can get tired, stressed, or easily irritated.  When one of us is overly upset or stressed, the other can usually sense it.  We have a good history of calming each other down, and easing each other's frustrations by dealing with the difficult people or situation that is causing the stress, or making the decisions for the day.  We work well as a team and when we travel together, this tends to become more obvious.

Finally, one of the best things about traveling together - experiences are so much better shared!  Sure, family and friends at home (or reading our blog!) will enjoy hearing stories and seeing pictures, but the actual memories are made on the trip, and let's face it, are often only fully understood in the moment.  It's nice to have someone to experience things with and to talk to and recall those exact instances months or years later.

I'm not saying we're not going to get annoyed with each other and need our space at times.  I'm not saying we won't miss our family and friends at home.  I'm not saying traveling alone isn't great.  But I am saying that I'm glad to be planning and dreaming about this trip with my husband, and I can't wait to embark on this adventure with my best friend.

Information Overload!

It's Sunday evening.  It's impossible not to let thoughts of the impending workweek creep into my mind.  I'm not dreading the week ahead, by any means, just not ready for the weekend to be over!  It's early evening and while much of the world, and especially people my age, may be watching the Grammys, I just don't care to.  Instead, I decide to take a little time to look over my To Do List and start a little searching.

I begin with some Trans-Siberian/Trans-Mongolian Railway research.  I found a great site a few weeks ago (I'm sure on one of the great blogs I've discovered - see Useful Websites) that contains a plethora of info regarding different routes, the best time to go, costs, etc.  It's just a TON of information, and more than a bit overwhelming.  When do we plan to go?  Do we want to end in Beijing?  Or would it make sense to end in Japan?  Should we start as far west as London?  Should we continue on to Shanghai, Hong Kong, Bangkok or Indonesia?  Where do we want to stopover?  Siberia?  Yes!  Mongolia?  Yes!  But what cities?  There are SO many details....too many for me at the moment!

Feeling frazzled, I click a link to a site about visas...I've heard that obtaining a Russian travel visa is difficult.  This website doesn't make it sound very hard....but I DO NOT like the fact that they require you to send them your passport (not a copy!).  Also, you can only apply for a Russian visa three months before your trip...just another time frame that we need to be aware of.  Things would be so much easier if we had a definitive departure date, but that's just not possible yet.

Oh, what's that?  Something else catches my attention!  (I feel somewhat like the dog from the movie Up (Squirrel?!))  I find a cool site all about Southeast Europe.  Did someone say Greece?  Croatia?  Turkey?  All at the top of my list!  I'm swiftly sucked into some beautiful pictures of Croatia and...

Apparently I have to accept that tonight is just about information gathering, a bit of daydreaming, and making notes for later.  I'm suffering from information overload and I just don't have the stamina or focus to sort through it right now!

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It truly is amazing how much information is out there, isn't it?  We are so lucky to have access to so much as we are planning such an intensive trip.  I wonder what it would have been like to be doing something like this 20 years ago.  Probably that much more of an adventure!  Crazy to think about...

TGIF!

When you're on vacation you are never longing for a Friday or thinking TGIF!! Every day is special and you take it in because you're not in your typical routine.

I am looking forward to NOT feeling relief or excitement simply because it's the weekend and my time is actually mine. I am looking forward to losing track of date and time and truly "livin the dream". No sarcasm to be found.

On our trip, I'll be replacing TGIF with TGIT...thank God I'm traveling.

But until then, or at least our next "small adventure along the way", this is just a dream.

And so I say TGIF!!!!!!

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What's Your Pleasure: Stuff or Experience?

Found this great article and had to share:

http://www.uncorneredmarket.com/2010/01/stuff-junkie-experience-junkie/

Read it and comment below:  are you a "Stuff Junkie" or an "Experience Junkie"? 

I'll give you one guess as to what I am. ;-)

Progress Reports and To-Do Lists

My husband and I talk about our upcoming Around the World adventure frequently, discussing ways to cut costs and save money, thinking about the implications of our trip, etc.  I think about it every day, I read and seek out helpful information constantly.  However, we haven't been great at formulating an actual plan yet - we have general ideas and thoughts, but we decided we need to sit down and talk about what we need to do on a regular basis, in order to take small steps over the course of time rather than waiting on it all until the end and becoming overwhelmed.

Sunday we sat down together and figured out our next batch of "To Do's".  We've already figured out our approximate monthly costs (which may be altered depending on some choices we have to make in the near future), I've started researching RTW flights, but also found that I can only get estimates now as we can't move forward with the real flight details until about 6 months before we plan to leave.  We've started research and begun to narrow down our actual travel path, but there's so much more to do!

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Here's what we came up with to work on over the next couple weeks:

• Develop a few general itineraries - substituting in some different destinations for each itinerary, but maintaining a core of "must-sees" (me)
• Do more research on working while we are abroad (both)
• Delve deeper into http://www.workaway.info/
• If suitable for our needs, register to begin making contacts (him)
• If not suitable, find alternative
• Do more research into volunteer opportunities (both)
• What types of opportunities are offered in the places we are definitely going to go?
• Which types of opportunities appeal to us?
• Costs, benefits of ones that interest us most
• Look into our GM car ownership/payments (him)
• Can we sell this car to reduce monthly expenses while away without losing money on what we've already invested
• Research overland travel from Greece-->Croatia-->around Eastern Europe-->Moscow (me)
• Types of transporation, costs, et
• Complete more in-depth research on the Trans-Siberian/Trans-Mongolian Railway making notes of all details (me)
• Costs for all sections
• Stops along the way, things to see/do
• Different options
• Time of year to go
• Look into Visas for all definite destinations and possible destinations (both)
• Create a worksheet with costs, requirements, time restrictions, etc
• Are any immunizations required for the destinations we want to visit? (both)
• Do more research on Homestays (both)
• Reach out to people we know who have connections in places we plan to visit (both)

We both felt really good after talking in-depth about everything and coming up with a short-term game plan.  I've started a binder where we can house all of the information we find.

I'm sort of a nerd, so making lists and starting to write down actual information for specific destianations makes me excited!  I like to have things in writing and feel that pieces of the puzzle are starting to fall into place.  The more pieces that we have visible, the clearer the picture will be and the closer we get to seeing our dream realized!

Thoughts?  Advice?

Facing Fears

I am generally a pretty fearless person.  I'm not afraid of heights, crowds, airplanes, speaking in public, or even spiders.  I don't LIKE spiders, but I would not consider my dislike a fear.  I can get rid of them if I have to and they wouldn't prevent me from living my life.

As our departure for Denver drew closer, I realized that I was afraid of skiing out west.  For my husband, this was a dream come true.  For me, someone who just started skiing a few years ago, didn't ski at all last year, and had yet to ski this season, I was scared.  I am not confident in my ability to ski in what, compared to the Rocky Mountains, I would call hills, so how could I possibly survive in actual mountains that would surely be much more intimidating?!  I was trying to figure out what I was actually afraid of.  Was it the size of the mountains?  That had something to do with it because I figured since they are bigger they would be faster and steeper and more dangerous.  Was it that I suspected the mountain would be much busier than our ski resorts here and I would get run over by some experienced skier who made a hobby of plowing over novices?  Could be.  Mostly it all boiled down to be scared of losing control, wiping out, and severely injuring myself.

My husband and I went to church the Sunday morning before we were to head out west.  Later in the afternoon our plan was to head south and spend the evening on the slopes for some ski practice.  I couldn't stop thinking about skiing all throughout church.  I was fretting over whether or not I would be able to do well enough that I would feel, if not confident, at least semi-comfortable, on the slopes in Colorado.

So here I am, sitting at church, distracted by my thoughts.  Luckily I was able to leave my mind for a few minutes, just in time to focus on the morning's message.  The message hit home with me.  The speaker started talking about how he took his kids skiing and his oldest daughter was having a hard time.  It quickly became clear that she was having more trouble than the other kids because she was so focused on what was going on around her and the people whizzing by her that she was unable to maintain concentration on her father who was trying to help guide her down the mountain, and therefore she lost confidence in herself.  This was, of course, an analogy for keeping our eyes on God and trusting in him and ourselves instead of focusing on what's happening around us.

What a timely message and relevant in so many ways!  I told my husband in the car that I really heard the message and was prepared not to worry about the other people skiing that night, and to focus on myself and what I needed to do to get down the hill safely and comfortably.  He assisted in this effort by being patient and creating an easy trail for me to follow while we started our evening cruising down the hills.  After a little while my confidence grew, I was able to pick up my speed, and I truly was able to worry MUCH less about people around me.  It was awesome!  I had fun and most importantly for me, felt much more confident about skiing out west, and therefore, more excited.

Skiing at Arapaho Basin was so much different than anything I'd experienced in NY's ski country.  The snow was powdery and soft, the runs were long and enjoyable, the lifts were fast so less time was spent on them, and I had a friend with me that skied comfortably at my level.  After spending time on the green circles, I faced my fear and skied from the top of the mountain a couple times (blue squares!), and despite being scared for the first couple of steep drops, I loved it and got so much out of it.  I was able to enjoy the true beauty and majesty of the mountains while skiing down them!  I was able to conquer my fear and feel more confident in my abilities!  I finally felt like I understood skiing and why people love it so much!  Amazing!

Reflecting on the adventure and facing of my fear, it all comes back around to our upcoming RTW adventure.  We have fears about going on a long-term journey - will we have enough money?  Where will we stay?  What if we get sick?  What if we lose something or someone steals something from us?  What will we do when we get home?

I believe fears are meant to protect you - practice skiing on the bunny hill and easy runs before heading straight up to the summit!  However, I never want to let my fears cripple me or prevent me from doing anything that I know is right.  And I know that embarking on our upcoming journey is what we want and will change us and our lives in many ways.  It can be scary, but life is all about change and facing your fears head on. 

Lesson learned:  Maintain confidence in yourself, keep your eyes on your "guide" (whoever or whatever you believe in), and don't let all of the things, people, and noise around you distract your from your goal.  You can conquer any mountain. 

Yee haw!

Small Adventures Along the Way

As I believe I've mentioned before, one of the biggest, most intimidating aspects of this upcoming Around the World trip is saving enough money.  It's difficult for many reasons, such as trying to figure out...what is enough?  What are we spending money on now that we could be saving?  What can we do to earn additional money so that we don't have to give up everything we love or obviously, things we need?

Some of the things we are doing is cutting back on eating out and going out.  We don't tend to eat out or go out drinking that much, but we are finding ways to cut back even more.  For example, on New Year's Eve, instead of going out to a nice dinner like we originally wanted, we switched gears and thought about what we wanted from that excursion.  The answer...a delicious meal! 

So, went to the grocery store and purchased small steaks, veggies and lettuce.  We spent more time than we normally do to make dishes that felt special to us.  The amazing smells filled the house, the table was set and lighted with candles.  We had an absolutely delicious meal, and it probably cost about $15 and included leftovers!  Plus we spent time quality time together preparing it and eating it without being interrupted by a waiter or a rowdy table next to us.  We are planning to do the same thing for Valentine's Day, our anniversary, and other holidays where we might typically go out and drop a lot of money on a special dinner.

One of the things that we just can't seem to give up, however, is our getaways.  Travel is in our blood and clearly, in our minds and hearts constantly, so even as we plan this larger adventure, it's impossible not to plan smaller ones along the way.  However, we are taking trips that cost less than we might otherwise, and being a bit more conscientious of the things we do/buy/eat/drink while away.

For example, this past weekend we took a couple extra days off of work and travelled to Denver to fulfill one of my husbands life-long dreams:  skiing out west!  How did we make it lower cost? 

• A huge part of the reason we went was to visit one of my best friends, so we saved heaps on a hotel by staying with her and her husband.
• We had vouchers on Air Tran from a trip that went awry a year ago, so we basically ended up paying for only one of our plane tickets instead of two.
• Our friends scouted out skiing deals and we were able to ski and rent equipment in the Rockies for cheaper than we could on the hills in Western New York!
• We only went out for dinner one evening and treated our generous hosts.
• We did indulge in local flavor at some breweries and in our friends' favorite lunch spot one day, but we also took advantage of free entertainment such as hiking, chatting, etc.
• We took PBJ sandwiches for dinner on the plane and when that didn't satisfy us, we split a small meal at the airport instead of getting our own.
• We also did without a relaxing beer, (much to my husband's dismay) with the promise of trips to some local Colorado breweries in the days ahead.
• We bypassed a sit down restaurant on our four hour layover for a cheaper sub shop.
• My friend and I skipped a second day of skiing to window shop and wander around downtown Denver, and along the way I rediscovered the fun (and money saving!) of scouting out deals at discount stores like TJ Maxx.

Overall, we had a fabulous trip, and we were able to make some cuts (big and small) that allowed our bank account to stay padded and continue to grow without bypassing a great travel opportunity.

Arapahoe Basin

We are going on another getaway in March, down to the turquoise waters of the Bahamas.  This time we will save money thanks to generous Christmas gifts that cover one way of our flights, staying with family, and eating and drinking less than usual.  We will, however, treat ourselves to another one of our favorite things - a day of scuba diving in the crystal-clear waters.  It will be a new dive location for us, and will be the main monetary expense of our trip since most of our days will be spent with low or no-cost activities like reading by the pool, morning runs, walks on the beach, splashing in the ocean, and playing "photojournalist" with our beloved camera.

I sometimes feel guilty that we are spending money to do these things when we are saving for such a big upcoming expense.  However, we don't want to lose sight of the journey we live each and every day simply because we are preparing for our long-term adventure.  That would be like saving every last drop of money for retirement without enjoying some of the best years of your life.  I don't know anyone who has that much discipline and focus and frankly, I don't think it's a strength.  You never know what you'd miss along the way, and would you really be living your life?  To put all of our focus on the trip ahead might allow us to save a bit more money, but it wouldn't be worth it to us if we lost our sanity and hibernated in our house all year.  If we can make it work, why not?  We're both willing to work a little harder to make additional money so we can take advantage of small adventures along the way.