Equally perspiration inducing is the return and re-entry into your ‘old’ predictable world when you finish your career break. If you’ve been traveling in far off countries for a significant time, coming home to your own culture can be jolting. You are bombarded with marketing, politics, high prices, questions about what you are going to do next; it makes you want to hop on the next plane out to anywhere!

Abrupt transitions such as the beginning and end of a career break can be challenging and in order to ease that transition we suggest that you consider easing into or out of your break. And one very good place to do that is Hawaii.

The little chain of islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean are the perfect place to ease into cultural transition.

Hawaii is indeed the US on paper, but once you get there you won’t feel as if you are in the US any longer. It’s a mix of east meets west, of American culture and Polynesian island culture.  You will feel as if you are in another country as you try the new food, get used to the new vowel-centric language, and understand the different customs of Ohana (family).

If you are leaving on a career break to Asia, this can be the perfect place to ease into the Asian culture. And if you are on your way home to the US after being gone for months of traveling, Hawaii can be a way to ease you back into American culture.

This post was sponsored by PGA Championship golf vacations

Photography from Sherry Ott’s recent Hawaii ‘break’:

First, take it all in. Sit for a moment after you pass through the turn styles (or if you pass through the Sun Gate on the Inca Trail) and just sit. Your memory actually works better when you don’t have a camera up to your eye. No, I can’t back that up with ‘facts’, but you know it’s true. Sit and let the view sink into you.

Done soaking? Good! Now grab your camera and take the first left hand turn you can find after walking in the main gate. It will lead uphill. Chances are, if you’re with a guided tour, your guide will lead you out and through the (photo op) main gate. You might need to sneak away when they do this. Or just let them know where you’re going.

I realize this is something of a catch 22; if you stay with the guide you get a wealth of info you wouldn’t get by walking around alone. But if you walk around alone you get photos you wouldn’t get with the guide.

The reason I tell you to hang a left is because of a few assumptions: 1) You made it to Aquas Caliente the day before and 2) you headed to Machu Picchu super early in the morning on a bus. Maybe you even hiked up the hill (it takes about 1.5 hours and is sweaty). The point is you arrived at the gate when it opened. Oh! 3) It’s not horribly cloudy. Heck, even if it’s cloudy, take that first left.

Keep heading uphill. It’ll get your heart rate up. After a while you’ll plane out onto a flat, open spot with (photo op) gorgeous views. You can stop here for some shooting, but if you’re near the front of the pack or if it’s crowded, keep heading up and to the left. Eventually you will start on the Inca Trail itself and head back to your left instead of up. This is good. A large-ish wall will be on your right. When there is a break in the wall, head up about four terraces and then turn right across the terraces.

You’re almost (photo op) there! This area is far less crowded especially in the morning. Find yourself a likely (photo op) spot just before the trail to the (photo op) Inca Bridge. Here is a perfect spot for portrait style shots. Wayana Picchu, the pokey mountain behind Machu Picchu, is well framed from this location. The sun is to your right which will make the foreground on the left side of the hill below the city a bit dark. If there are bright, white clouds this day, you’ll want to do some bracketing to make an HDR in your computer later (unless you’re reading this is 2015 and all cameras shoot at least 15 stops of light).

Spend some time here and watch the clouds. Often, because the jungle holds in moisture at night, you can shoot some intense time-lapse footage as that vapor crawls up the green hillsides. If it is a gray day, this spot works well because there is not a lot of sky behind Wayana Picchu and thus, not so much gray in your pictures. Take your (photo op) “I was here” photo at this point. Then start back on that trail you were on, going up to Sun Gate.

But stop before you get there! You know how some things never quite look like how you imagined them? Because you built them up with fantasy in your mind? Kinda like standing at the foot of the (photo op) Empire State Building and wondering why it doesn’t look like the aerial shots taken from a $2 million helicopter with a (photo op) $20 million IMAX movie camera? That’s why a lot of people go to Sun Gate. It’s cool and all, but really it’s just there to make neat patterns at certain times of the year on certain parts of Machu Picchu (you really should have stayed with your guide to learn that part).

Before you get to Sun Gate there is a spot to stop. Not the first one with the (photo op) tall rock to the right. Past that. The (photo op) spot you are looking for is small and has two simple, small terraces on the right side of the trail. THIS is the spot you want. You’ll be seeing a time-lapse movie later this week that contains that photo from this spot. Bring a wide angle lens to capture the whole valley. Bring a 100mm lens to get a nice closeup of the city and the mountain. Bring a 300mm lens to find your friends in the tour group.

Take some time here and watch the pattern of the shadows over the landscape. No need to hurry. Take photos at different times as the clouds (hopefully)(photo op) dance. Then start your way back down with that classic, postcard shot on your memory card and in your brain (please tell me you sat your camera down for a minute?).

It seems as you get closer and closer to the city it just keeps begging for more photos. The crowds are starting to arrive now and you’ll have to jockey for position. Make sure to get the standard “I was here” shot at the (photo op) main gate to the city. There might be a line.

The rest of what I’d suggest for the city itself is to explore. I could give you another dozen shots but really, inside the city, find your own path. Get close. Look at the details. Look at the craftsmanship. Marvel at the odd shapes [the same (photo op)space aliens who built the (photo op)pyramids certainly did not build Machu Picchu.....no square blocks!]. Climb up Wayana Picchu and get a photo from there if you are feeling up to the task and if you can get a ticket.

Heck, maybe even find your guide and listen to some of the stories that help bring this wonder of city to life.

Peter West Carey is a world traveling professional photographer currently leading photo tours to Bhutan, Nepal and India. He also hosts Lightroom and basic photography workshops in Washington, Oregon, California and soon Utah and Colorado, as well as the free 31 Days To Better Photography series on his blog.

This Photo Friday is from the relaxing shores of one of the many islands in the San Blas region of Panama. It was during this trip that Michaela Potter realized that she isn’t in a rush to always be planning her next career break.

I think that because of my early travel experiences I have learned how to really make the most of my vacations, using the week or two to also experience new cultures while enjoying the time off. It was during that vacation that I realized it’s not the length of the trip that is important – it is what you do with your time that is. And that is something I learned from my various career breaks.

Coley Hudgins did more than just vacation in Panama – he moved his family there for a career break and is now building a life and career there! Based on his experience he offers us advice on preparing to move abroad during your career break.

Want to see your photo here? Join our Facebook Fan Page and upload your career break photo onto our Wall. Add a brief description & we may choose to feature it here!

In all of the countries I’ve traveled to, Lebanon produced the most contrasts and confusion. Whether you are there to enjoy the beaches of the Mediterranean, the cosmopolitan nightlife and shopping of Beirut, or the beautiful hiking on the Lebanon Hiking Trail – you can’t avoid the religious contrasts that are woven so deeply into this country.

Unlike the rest of the Middle East, all religions are represented, lending way to many scenes like this one where churches and Mosques are placed right next to each other. Even after a month in Lebanon, I still just scratched the surface of history, culture, and understanding.

You can follow more of Sherry’s adventures in the Middle East through her Volunteer Chronicles.

In Beirut everything is done with flare – even birthdays. While I was volunteering there I was showered with attention from the Lebanese and their ‘guest culture’.

However, nothing prepared me for the attention I received on my birthday. My host family threw me a party and invited family and friends; people who I had just briefly met in the short time I had been staying in Lebanon via GeoVisions. Not only did they provide fireworks, but each of them gave me presents. It was as if I had known them all for 12 years, not 12 days.

You can follow more of Sherry’s adventures in the Middle East through her Volunteer Chronicles.

The next morning I woke up, opened my door and went down the hallway to the kitchen to find Mira. She wasn’t in the kitchen; instead she was at the front door where a man was delivering groceries to her. After greeting her with “good morning,” she handed me a bottle of shampoo, conditioner, and toothpaste, saying “these are for you.”

I was a little stunned, as I hadn’t asked her to buy me these products – I just mentioned that I needed to buy them. But she wouldn’t take any money and insisted I take them. This was my first experience of what it was like to be a guest in Lebanon.

Guest culture is a very important piece of Lebanese culture and it took some getting used to as an American. Over the next month I learned that this also took on a traditional form of ‘volunteering’. Lebanese regularly help their relatives, friends, and neighbors without expectation of direct compensation, financial or otherwise. This provides them with a mutual aid network in which they do not necessarily reciprocate help to the person who helped them. Rather, the expectation is to reciprocate by helping others within their network.

Whether you call it traditional volunteering or hospitality, I was a constant recipient of it while in Lebanon – paying for very little. Around the house, little things that I needed were always provided for me. Once I saw an orange juice commercial on the television and commented that it looked good. The next day oranges were delivered for freshly squeezed orange juice. In fact – I had freshly squeezed orange juice every day until I left after I had mumbled my affection for the juice.

I quickly learned to be careful about what came out of my mouth. Especially after I complained about my wrinkles and Mira started to make me a Botox appointment.

But it didn’t stop at my host family’s home – it extended to everyone I met. One night I went out with Walid and a group of his friends where we ate and drank for hours. When the bill came at the end of the night, all the men picked up the tab and wouldn’t accept payment from me or any of the other women. That same night I met a friend of Walid’s, Safwan, who lives in Tripoli. After mentioning that I’d like to see the souks in Tripoli, he had invited to personally show me around.

In the US I would have smiled graciously and said OK, knowing that there was a 50-50 chance of it really happening. But I knew in Lebanon the invitation was real and I was expected to take him up on it. So the next week I hopped on a bus to Tripoli where Safwan and his driver were waiting to give me a tour of the city.

After a time, Safwan had to go to work, but he left me in the care of his driver to continue showing me around the old souks and Citadel. He even took me to lunch, and to no surprise, would not let me pay. Even as we walked through the souks he would proceed to buy me things like a dessert or coffee. One thing that did surprise me, however, happened while we were walking through the shoe souks. I mentioned that I needed to purchase some shoe polish for my boots, and as soon as the words left my mouth and hung in the air like a cartoon text balloon, he walked into the shop and purchased shoe polish for me.

Finally, at the end of the day, Safwan bought my bus ticket back to Beirut and made sure I got on the right bus – bidding farewell to me, his guest.

The guest culture also showed up from people I didn’t even know. Mira’s neighbors would bring me traditional food dishes such as tabouleh, hummus or fattoush because they knew Mira didn’t do a lot of cooking, ensuring that I was able to taste everything Lebanon had to offer.

You may read this and think that Lebanon would be a great country to be a guest. However, all of this constant attention wasn’t easy for me to accept at times. As much as I love having a ‘mother’ and being basked in attention, at age 41, I wasn’t used to this much attention.

The Lebanese guest culture actually conflicts with my American culture in a way, and that’s what caused me grief. Americans certainly welcome guests, however we also have a desire to be fair and equal. Since I was the constant recipient of things and experiences in Lebanon, it was only natural that I wanted my chance to pay them back in some way; yet they wouldn’t let me, leaving me to feel a bit helpless. And I knew that I couldn’t simply wait until they came to visit me to repay the favor as the odds of any of my Lebanese friends visiting me are about .0001%.

Only once was I allowed to ‘pick up’ a bill for someone. Yola lived in Canada for a few years and from that experience she knew that it was important to me to be allowed to pay once in a while. But she only let it happen once and the rest of the month she was buying me lunch, or making it and bringing it from home.

So I just had to accept that I was a part of this guest culture and mutual aid network, which was woven deeply into the Lebanese culture.

However, the question is – when is someone around long enough that you are no longer a guest? I never did find out the answer. All I know is a month wasn’t long enough to lose my ‘guest’ status.

Sherry was in Lebanon as part of Geovisions Conversation Partner Program. You can read more about her experiences in the Middle East through her Volunteer Chronicles.

Somehow Lebanon feels like it shouldn’t be considered the Middle East – probably because of vista’s like this one. It really goes to show you that you shouldn’t make assumptions…especially when traveling! I traveled high up into the hills to capture this view of the town of Zahle. Zahle is just one of the many fascinating towns near Arcenciel in Taanayel – the organization I wrote about on Wednesday.

While volunteering, you often have time to get out and explore your surroundings. Many times the locals are excited to show you their home and lord knows I never would have found this view on my own. Thanks to my ‘tour guide’ a local while in Zhale who was more than eager to show me around!

In addition to her Volunteer Chronicles on Briefcase to Backpack, Sherry gets more in depth on her personal blog, OttsWorld. Check out updates from this week:

• In Search of Souks
• Photo of the Week: Beirut
• Lebanon Contrasts
• Travel Warnings and Decisions
• Photo of the Week: Yella, Jordan
• Photo of the Week: Wadi Musa, Jordan

Conversation Partners speak conversational English to tourist police officers, hotel staff, local business professionals, teachers, tour guides and more. You do not need to have teaching experience to be a Conversation Partner. You just need to meet with your group each day (between 15 and 20 hours each week) and converse in English with them. It’s fun and rewarding. You might live with a family, or in a dorm or a hotel. Still, we provide most meals and a safe and comfortable place to stay.

In Lebanon I lived with a family and helped them occasionally with English as they were always curious about certain English idioms and vocabulary; try explaining the term “Soap Opera”! I also enjoyed helping them with their pronunciation and their American accent. However, tutoring the family wasn’t the purpose of my trip, it was to tutor students. I had been told that as part of the Conversation Partner program in Lebanon I would be sharing my language and cultural knowledge up to 20 hours per week Monday to Friday with the students getting ready to travel to the US on a summer work and travel program.

This sounded great in theory…

However the reality was that there were few students coming into the office and most of them were there simply to fill out forms and ask a few questions about the program. None of them were there to really learn about the US and what life might be like there. So I basically worked in the office a few hours a week and did other projects for the office helping them with their marketing material and ideas, visiting new programs they wanted to get off the ground, and occasionally talking to a student for about 10 minutes (this really only happened twice in the whole month). Like any volunteering – it’s good to be able to adapt to a situation as they never seems to be what you expect.

Lebanon’s Conversation Partner program is in it’s infancy (each country’s program is different) and they are working at building out more opportunities that will be quite amazing and fulfilling. I was able to go visit one of the pending Partner programs with the office manager. We traveled over the mountains, out of Beirut, to town of Taanayel, which is a short drive to the border of Syria. We arrived at Arcenciel (meaning rainbow in French) – a community based NGO organization helping the disabled, poverty stricken, and locals in their community. The director of the organization met with us and gave us a personal tour of the MANY programs that Arcenciel runs.

What looked rather boring and run down on the outside held many surprises inside! First she took us through the wheelchair manufacturing center. The coolest thing is that every single wheelchair is really made/welded by hand by people who are disabled in the community. As we walked into the welding room we were greeted with warm hellos in French and Arabic – there was little English spoken here, but a smile was all I needed. They make about 3,000 chairs a year with their 19 employees. The organization not only supplies chairs to people in need, but it also provides disability education, beds, and other products for the disabled throughout Lebanon.

She continued to lead us through the many other projects Arcenciel was involved in ranging from clothing drives, fair trade agriculture and farming techniques, medical services (dentistry, gynecology, psychology from local volunteer doctors), computer classes for the locals, “school after school” programs (tutoring), language classes, educating people on abuse, helping those who are abused, providing nursery preschool for healthy and disabled children, and after school sports and workshops for local kids. This is all very important within the community because Taanayel is not a big nor wealthy town. It’s rather run down and really nothing like Beirut; it’s a functional, dusty little town with a lot of bus traffic from Syria.

What do all of these programs mean to Conversation Partner in Lebanon? It means there are ample opportunities to really get involved and help people while living in a smaller community; a community which will welcome you with open arms. There are opportunities to not only tutor in English to the wheelchair makers, children, and adults of the various programs. But there are other opportunities to be involved in teaching computer skills, caring for children, work on helping with marketing and branding their agricultural products, or helping organize physical education and events with the after school programs. I love the fact that there will be opportunities to volunteer outside of ESL for career breakers; something that really can put a career breakers wide variety of skills to use!

One of my favorite things about the organization is its commitment to bringing diverse people together. They are committed to bringing the disabled and healthy children together in the nursery and preschool so that they can see how to live and play together; really teaching that there is no reason to be separated. This not only teaches the kids, but more importantly it teaches the parents and community to accept the ‘mixing’ of children.

There is also lodging at this organization so future volunteers would be able to stay at Arcenciel, work there, and really integrate into the community; which I believe is the best kind of volunteering there is. As noted, it’s close to Syria – so a trip to Damascus is possible, and you can easily catch local buses into Beirut only a 90 min ride away. There are also hiking opportunities around the nearby mountains as well as plenty of nearby ruins to visit.

I really was impressed with every aspect of this NGO organization. Plus – they have many other programs throughout the country.

So my overall experience in the Conversation Partner program in Lebanon was a bit disappointing as I would have liked to do more with tutoring or volunteer my time in some way, but I can see there are some great things in store as they continue to increase their offerings in Lebanon outside of Beirut. My best advice is that if you want to go to Lebanon and volunteer some of your time then make sure you check with the office and see what types of opportunities really do exist for their conversation partner program. If you want to go to Lebanon and volunteer a lot of your time – then you might want to look elsewhere. Please remember that the GeoVisions volunteer opportunities are really about a mixture of cultural exchange and volunteering; the opportunities leave you a lot of free time to travel and explore a country.

And of course – I always say – when going into ANY volunteering opportunity:

• Have low expectations – as they are seldom what you expect based on your western standards or what you are led to believe based on marketing alone.
• Do your research – ask questions and don’t take what the website says at face value. Ask for references from former volunteers and follow up with them personally.
• Be flexible and open to change – you may get to an opportunity and realize that it isn’t what you thought you were going to do. International volunteering often requires you to pivot a little.

To learn more about Arcenciel check out their website – sorry, it’s only in French!

Everyone lives in Peace...even the animals

This will bring a smile to your Friday!  Who doesn’t love kids and puppies?  This Photo Friday comes from Sherry’s visit to the Schneller School in Amman, Jordan  where they teach “Everyone Lives in Peace” between the different cultures and religions. In addition they even encourage the animals and humans to live in peace together!

The boarding school grounds has an animal ‘farm’ so that the students learn to care for animals and treat them with respect. The young boys were taking care of chickens, donkeys, dogs, and these new puppies as I walked around the campus. They were eager to show me the puppies and of course I was eager to hold the little pup!

In addition to her Volunteer Chronicles on Briefcase to Backpack, Sherry gets more in depth on her personal blog, OttsWorld. Check out updates from this week:

• Experiencing Food Shock
• Acts of Kindness in Jordan
• Saltines of Salt
• Amman Photography
• Fabulous Baker Boys

Students at the Schneller School in Amman Jordan

Are you fed up with the fact that most volunteer experiences are for teaching English? Do you have a fear about past participles, adverbs of frequency and conditional phrases? I think most native speakers of English are a bit intimidated to actually teach English and I don’t blame them – we don’t know grammar rules, we just speak!

When I started to look into volunteering opportunities as part of my career break travels I found it frustrating that most of the opportunities seemed to be in the English language area. Yet as a career breaker and a former IT business manager with an MBA – I kept thinking that I could be utilized in a better way than to simply teach English. I hunted for organizations that would actually look at my business experience and work experience and try to put it to use. But alas, there aren’t really many of these types of opportunities and the ones which are available are harder to find.

One of the things that attracted me to GeoVisions was not only the Conversation Corps cultural exchange programs, but also the fact that in some of their destinations they were going beyond teaching English and trying to find other ways to use volunteer’s skills in their Volunteer Abroad Options:

• Medical/Health work – Cambodia, South Africa, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Argentina
• Land Conservation – Australia, Costa Rica, New Zealand
• Wildlife Work – Mozambique, South Africa, Costa Rica
• Humantarian Work – Brazil, Thailand, Costa Rica, South America (teaching computers, working with orphans and kids)

And in the Middle East, they are just starting to provide a great array of opportunities which have nothing to do with English teaching. I’ve been lucky enough to go visit some of them in Jordan and Lebanon as they start to get off the ground.

One of my recent visits was to the Schneller School in East Amman. The school is essentially a boarding school for orphans, refugee children, or kids with extremely difficult family situations. There are currently about 300 students living on the campus including 15 girls; the addition of girls are relatively new to the program.

The vision and value of the school is clear as you walk throughout the grounds. It’s about bringing people together in peaceful co-existence and respect. They accomplish this by intermixing the kids and religions showing them that differences aren’t a bad thing.

Family ‘Houses’
Since most of the kids are orphans, Schneller School is a boarding school which really wants to provide a family environment. Each student is assigned to a house or a family; there are approximately 20 kids in a family. The family has a surname and that’s what the kids identify with. There are adults in the house and they eat together, sleep together, do their homework together and generally operate like any family would. The school just started to open this concept up to girls over the last year, so there is now a girls house too; something I was very excited to see.

A typical bedroom in a family house

Skills
Not only do kids get a great education that they would have never had access to, but they also are taught a trade; something that can really sustain them as adults. The campus complex (which is HUGE) contains a mechanic shop, carpentry, and welding. Each building has a teaching area and a work area providing young adults with some amazing skills.

With their first class of girls now established, I’m excited to see how they intend to integrate the girls into skill building practice.

Mechanic Workshop

Legacy
One of the most impressive things I witnessed was the deep commitment of previous students. Most of the instructors at the school lived there and had been former students there themselves. The man who took us around the complex was brought there when he was a young boy and now he works there in a position of leadership. He speaks three different languages and is completely committed to the school. In fact, the Director of the school, Ghazi Musharbash, was a student at the school too. He’s gone on to be a successful businessman, a senator, and now runs the school.

What types of opportunities exist here for volunteers?
Well, they are still working that out, however as I walked around the grounds I could see many ways a volunteer could help that went beyond simply teaching English. There were computer rooms where you could teach computer skills, or maybe work with older kids on presentation and interviewing skills. You could work with athletics or landscaping the grounds with the kids. If you are at all handy and like to build/fix things – I think there would be lots of great opportunities to help out in the family homes themselves. Many are undergoing remodels and it would be a super opportunity to live with the family and help remodel the home at the same time.

Volunteer Facilities
The volunteers will live on the campus in one of the family homes or in a dorm. Volunteers will have access to the computer room (very nice and new!) and all facilities. The school is located in East Amman, however local buses run by the school regularly and you can easily get to any part of the city by simply standing on the highway and flagging down the bus (which is the normal procedure in Jordan).

I talked to the Director of the Educational Training Center, and learned they have worked with many volunteers in the past, however, since I was there reviewing the opportunities for career breakers, I wanted to talk to him about opportunities for older volunteers who have a wide skillset and experience beyond teaching English. He said he would work with them to see where they could best be utilized throughout the campus. He meets with volunteers weekly to get feedback and update on the projects. It all seemed very promising.

My Volunteering Advice
I’ve learned from experience that sometimes you need to get ‘on the ground’ to the volunteer opportunity, assess it, and mold it to your strengths. Often the people running the volunteering in the country are more flexible once you arrive at a place than the company who placed you into the opportunity.

As a career break traveler, you are most likely more mature,  more confident of your skills, and can also assess a situation and determine what is needed. Of course you should work with the local contacts to pitch your ideas. Basically, as I’ve traveled and gotten older, I realize that everything is negotiable – even volunteering assignments.

Like anything, it’s up to you to make it the experience you’d like it to be. No one is going to hold your hand or read your mind.

This Photo Friday is from Sherry Ott, who volunteered in Jordan last month with GeoVisions.

New cultures can be hard to decipher when you travel. During my time in the Middle East, I’m constantly challenged with understanding religious culture and Arabic culture. One of the highlights of my time in Jordan was a visit to the Schneller School for Orphans.

Located in East Amman, the school has been in operation since 1959 and is teaching students how to all get along despite cultural differences. This photo is a view of the school’s hallway; they support various religions and most importantly they teach tolerance and understanding. Their motto is “Learning to Live in Peace”.

GeoVisions will be announcing some new, exciting volunteer opportunities with the Schneller school; then you too can have the opportunity to live in this educational environment and be a part of that peace.

In addition to her Volunteer Chronicles on Briefcase to Backpack, Sherry gets more in depth on her personal blog, OttsWorld. Check out updates from this week:

• Fabulous Baker Boys
• Hotel with a Character
• Photo of the Week: Purrfect Petra
• Mercantile Exchange in Petra
• Escaping the Crowds in Petra

Want to see your photo here? Join our Facebook Fan Page and upload your career break photo onto our Wall. Add a brief description & we may choose to feature it here!

This Photo Friday is from Sherry Ott, who is volunteering in Jordan this month with GeoVisions.

The Tree of Life is often depicted throughout Jordan. I happened to find this ‘real’ Tree of Life at Wadi Feynan on a sunset hike. As the sun goes down across the wadi, the sun perfectly illuminated the tree putting the perfect end to a cultural day. The landscapes in the area around Feynan are stunning and if you are interested in volunteering here, you could be wowed by scenes like this every day!

In addition to her Volunteer Chronicles on Briefcase to Backpack, Sherry gets more in depth on her personal blog, OttsWorld. Check out updates from this week:

• Unplugged Travel
• Minimalistic Beverages
• Photo of the Week: Southern Jordan

Want to see your photo here? Join our Facebook Fan Page and upload your career break photo onto our Wall. Add a brief description & we may choose to feature it here!

A massive landscape awaits you

Calling all stressed out, blackburied, overdigitized, social network-a-holics…I’ve found the perfect career break for you!

Imagine a place you can go to simply have silence; perfect, peaceful silence. Imagine if there was absolutely no way for you to plug in…literally – there are no outlets. Imagine being surrounded by the soft glow of candlelight every night. Imagine seeing the milky way before you go to bed each night. Imagine interacting with some of the most generous and hospitable people the world has to offer. Imagine if you could help them; teach them; provide them a more secure future. Imagine hiking, mountain biking, and seeing remnants of ancient civilizations in your free time. Imagine eating scrumptious vegetarian meals prepared by a cooking staff. Imagine reading books by the fireside every night and interacting with travelers from around the world. Imagine how great this would look as part of your career break or sabbatical. But most importantly, imagine how good you’d feel if this was your life for a month.

It’s a Fenyan cleanse for your over-worked and stressed mind, body, and soul.

Lighting the candles for the evening...a nightly event

Feynan Ecolodge lies in the Dana Biosphere Reserve, the largest reserve in Jordan covering over 300km of land. Dana is an area of tremendous variety in terms of wildlife, geology and landscape. It is the only reserve in Jordan that encompasses the four different bio-geographical zones of the country: Mediterranean, Irano-Turanian, Saharo-Arabian and Sudanian. The lodge itself is tucked away in a valley surrounded by brown and orange mountains on all sides. You can’t simply drive there, you can get as far as the reception center at a very small village in the desert and then a local Bedouin guide will bring you the rest of the way on a rough dirt road to the remote location.

You will immediately notice all of the Bedouin tents on your drive to the to the lodge. You’ll also drive by camels, goats, children waving frantically, a small mosque, and a large white school. This is a functioning Bedouin community you are entering and they were here long before the Ecolodge showed up. By volunteering here, this Bedouin community becomes your community.

I think my favorite thing about this completely solar powered lodge is that it didn’t infiltrate the environment; it integrated itself into the environment. Not only does it camouflage itself into the mountainside, it also generates revenue that helps protect endangered species and conservation efforts. However, most importantly it has integrated the Bedouin community into its very heart and soul. The lodge is completely staffed by the Bedouin community from the area. The local Bedouin apply for a position such as making crafts for the lodge and other reserves, front desk, maintenance staff, cooking staff, and they even hire the local women to make 400 candles to be used at the electricity-free lodge nightly. Additionally, local Bedouin in their own pickup trucks provides all transportation to and from the lodge, Petra, Aqaba and other destinations.

Some of the staff - a great group to tutor in English!

This is where the volunteering comes into play – with the Bedouin staff at the lodge. They are looking for native English speakers to volunteer for a month at a time and work with the staff for a couple of hours a day in English conversation (total of 15 -20 hours a week). After meeting them in person, I think that in addition to conversation practice, some work on vocabulary, which is relevant to their job, is needed too.

Imagine sitting in the kitchen with the chef and teaching him English phrases and vocabulary regarding the ingredients and how to interact and answer questions from the guests. Plus you get the bonus of learning how to cook some of those scrumptious dishes yourself!

Maybe the next day you can work with the local women in the craft shop teaching them vocabulary for their process of making leather bags. I’m sure they’ll even teach you how to make your own! You can go on hikes with the guides and help them with their English pronunciation and phrases they use for their guided hikes. Or help them with answering commonly asked questions from guests. Plus, you get some exercise at the same time! Or work with the Bedouin drivers to learn how to make conversation with their guests pointing out sites and answering questions during their 30 minute drive from the reservation building to the lodge. This type of tutoring will improve their chances to move up in their jobs, potentially make more money and provide a better life for their families

In addition, if you feel like really interacting with the community beyond the lodge, the kids and community will welcome you into their tents and lives like no other. In the short 2 days I spent at the lodge I made friends and had tea with various families around the area. The kids would come and practice their very basic English with me and we would try to converse the best we could. I even went to the local school and met the teachers there.

Some of the school kids I met!

If you were to volunteer at Feynan, there would be a world of opportunities for you to take on in the community as you’d like. You could easily get involved in the school and teach some fun classes a few times a week, or teach other families who didn’t work at the lodge. And the best part is that they will teach you too. You’ll probably come away from the experience knowing a bit of Arabic and potentially how to make a mean pot of Turkish coffee and shrak (a tortilla like bread used in Jordan for mansaf and shwarma)

For your free time you have an amazing outdoor playground in Dana Bio Reserve with hiking trails, canyoning, and access to mountain bikes. If you like photography, you’ll have amazing opportunities to catch sunrise/sunsets as well as capturing the local Bedouin life. In addition, in your free weekend time you can arrange to travel to the nearby sites of the Dead Sea, Petra, and Wadi Rum. All within a 2 hour drive of the lodge. You can even arrange a 4 day hike to Petra from Wadi Feynan (I must go back and do this next time!)

A typical Deluxe guest room

Even though you are in a remote location interacting with the Bedouin community, you will have some nice digs; your time there includes a room at the lodge, and your meals (vegetarian only) at the lodge. You get some of the comforts of modern life while feeling like you’ve stepped back in time. You’ll also have access to mountain bikes for exploring, and one trip to Petra is also included.

As with any volunteering experience, you’ll get out of it what you put into it. If you want to really interact and get involved, there’s ample opportunity to do so. If not, then possibly this volunteer experience isn’t for you since it is rather remote.

In my short stay at the lodge, I fell in love with the area, the people, and the opportunity there. I’m already trying to figure out how I can fit it into my travel schedule for next year! It was as if it was created for me specifically; combining the perfect mix of travel get away, cultural knowledge building, healthy lifestyle, and giving back.

The Feynan Lodge volunteering experience is a part of the GeoVisions Conversation Partner Program. To learn more about the opportunity check out Feynan Volunteering Details at GeoVisions.

To learn a little more about the local Bedouin community – Feynan has started a blog and is starting to highlight some of the people in the community – I love it and hope they continue this effort!

View all photos of Feynan:

This Photo Friday of The Treasury in Petra is from Sherry Ott, who is volunteering in Jordan this month with GeoVisions.

Even though I’m in Jordan volunteering, the country is small and planning getaways to sight-see is quite simple. When you have the opportunity to travel, you have those moments…the moments where the dream becomes a reality. I’ve seen images of the Treasury in Petra many times, but I felt like I had to pinch myself when I was really standing in front of the massive ancient structure. It feels unreal.

At moments like this I like to sit down in a little secluded space, cross my legs and take it all in; let the reality sweep over me. The reality of Petra rushed through me like a tidal wave everywhere I looked. Massive, colorful, and…real.

What are some of your dream to reality moments?

In addition to her Volunteer Chronicles on Briefcase to Backpck, Sherry gets more in depth on her personal blog, OttsWorld. Check out updates from this week:

• Photo of the Week: Amman
• Holy Heat Worship
• Tourligion Under the Sea…Level

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My host family home in the distance

I’ve volunteered numerous times, and not once have the experiences turned out to be what I was originally expecting! This isn’t due to false advertising; it’s due to my own expectations based on my own culture. The only thing the remains consistent in my volunteering experiences is that it never is as rigid, scheduled, and organized as I originally think they will be. My experience so far in Jordan with Conversation Corps certainly fits that statement.

It’s funny how we read volunteering brochures and paint the images in our mind of what we think it will be like based on our own culture.; after all, that’s all we know. Then we get there and realize that the experience is not exactly like what we thought it would be. Typically it’s less structured, and operates at a much slower pace than what we had imagined. In fact, volunteering constantly reminds me that my own American culture is rather uptight, impatient, and rigid.

The website about Conversation Corps talks about how in exchange for room and board you help your family with conversational English for 2 hrs a day, 5 days a week. When I see the words ‘help with conversation’, I immediately conjure up images of teaching, lesson plans, and organized learning process with a strategy and vision as to where you start and where you want to end up. To be prepared for this before I left the US I tried to put together a little strategy for how I would teach my family.

Now I’ve arrived here in this surprising land of rolling hills and quickly was reminded how laid back other cultures are compared to America. When GeoVisions said ‘help with conversation’ – that’s exactly what they meant…you are simply talking. Granted, I’m sure every family is different, but my family had no expectations of lessons, practice, or any structured environment…they just wanted to talk. Just talk. Now I can do that without having to prepare a thing. I did meet another GeoVisions volunteer in the area and confirmed that his family also had a laid back attitude to the conversation.  This in part could be because in Jordan kids are required to take English in school, so they get a lot of good schooling and grammar practice, but very little conversation practice.  That’s where the I come in.

Plowing the olive tree fields in the Sweis back yard!

I’ve settled into life here among the Sweis family and they have been teaching me how to relax once again. Slowly the American in me is wearing down and I’m learning that it’s fine to nap in the middle of the day. This is definitely a cultural exchange just as it was described on the website. I ask a million questions a day on how and why something is the way it is and they learn more about my unconventional travel life, family, and America. The Sweis family household consists of Etedal, the mother, and she has 4 children all over 18 – Salem, Rawan (married to Saif), Dana, and Fady.

I share a room with Dana and she seemed happy to empty some drawers for me to store some of my stuff. They have wireless internet at the house…thank God…but I’m not sure how common that is among a typical family. They huddle around electric heaters in the winter and the hot water in the house is only on at night when the radiator heat comes on; so showers must be strategic! They drink copious amount of tea, but all in small little glasses that always leave me yearning for more. The living arrangements in the house have been pretty simple to get used to. The only downside is that the house is outside of Amman which requires me to figure out the local buses which I have yet to tackle.

Quite frankly, I’m still trying to get used to all of the newness I’m taking in and adjusting to a new culture. This isn’t an instantaneous process – not even for seasoned travelers.  You have to give yourself a chance to adjust.

Some of the things I’ve learned so far about the Jordanian culture:

• Olive oil and lemon juice seems to be used in some form at every meal.
• Kids live at home until they get married…no exceptions to that rule. This means that I would still be living with my parents…which might have been the one thing that would have made marriage look appealing to me.
• Siblings fight and argue no matter what their age when they live under the same roof – even as adults!
• Jordanian mothers are constantly cooking. When Etedal finishes one meal she sits down on the couch and starts chopping vegetables for the next meal. It’s a tireless job that I’m in absolute awe of.
• However thanks to the above mentioned cooking, I’m eating very, very well! Etedal is my teacher when it comes to cooking. She takes the time to show me how to make the various dishes.
• Coffee is something that is a social drink rather than a necessary drink. This is one thing I’m still trying to get used to.
• Evenings are filled with family members sitting around talking; only occasionally so far is the television the center of attention.
• It actually does get cold in Jordan…trust me.
• Everyone lives next to their relatives. It seems that an in-law or blood relative is never far away!
• They still use a horse and plow to work the land around the olive trees.
• The television I have seen is full of terrible action movies proving that we export only the worst tv to other countries.

There are a number of other more ‘hard core’ volunteer opportunities via GeoVisions here in Jordan and I’m actually going to be exploring some of them over the next week.

So far the benefits of Conversation Corps have lived up to it’s advertising. You can travel for less for simply putting in a couple of hours each day literally talking, and the rest of your time is spent traveling and experiencing the culture in depth.

This week, I’m off to the Dead Sea and Petra…much more to come!

Check out more posts on Sherry’s experiences in Jordan over on her personal blog, OttsWorld, including:

• First Impressions are Lasting
• Late Night Cravings

Kinderdijk Windmill

Our eternal career breaker and co-founder of Briefcase to Backpack is at it again; she’s traveling.  Sherry Ott is spending her August in Europe house-sitting in Brussels.  However she first detoured through the Netherlands to do some photography and eat cheese!  This photo is from the UNESCO World Heritage site, Kinderdijk.  This small village is home to over 19 windmills built in 1740  still in operation today.  Don’t let the rainy weather intimidate your photography, this typical brooding Netherlands day provided a nice backdrop.  By using a wide angle lens and filling your frame with sky, it provides an even darker feeling to the photos.

Not only is Sherry the ‘other half’ of Briefcase to Backpack, she also can be found at Ottsworld.com where she blogs about her travel and life experiences, or at her photography site – Global Photography where you can view more of her photography.  If you want to meet Sherry in person and learn how she has traveled for 4 years since leaving her career in NYC, come meet her at Meet, Plan, Go! NYC and get started on planning your own career break!

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As an expat living in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Sherry wanted to embrace life as a local, which included learning to navigate the hectic streets by motorbike. For many countries, motorbikes are the main source of travel – it’s not uncommon to see people transport livestock, refrigerators, and families of 5 or more on two wheels, even during a monsoon. And rather than just become another passenger, Sherry decided that she wanted to take control of the motorbike.

Though her rented bike spent it’s first weeks parked in her living room, Sherry eventually got over her fear of taking it on the road, even obtaining a “license” in hopes of being a legal driver.

In her “Motorbike Diaries”, Sherry opens up about the ups and downs of this experience, with witty observations of the motorbike culture in Vietnam. And within time, she finds herself to be fitting right in – masks and rain ponchos included.

And in her “Expat Adventures” Sherry shares what it’s like living in a dust bowl of pollution, tasting new cuisines, the literal price one pays being a foreigner, and dealing with a foreign hospital system.

Through these experiences, Sherry gained insight into a unique culture, which helped her to develop a “Saigon City Guide” for the Indie Travel Podcast.  She has even been spotted on the streets of Saigon by backpackers who listened to the podcast! “Three travelers came up to me while eating and ask if I did a podcast on Saigon – I said yes and they let out a collective burst of joy. They apparently had listened to the podcast and were following my Saigon tips during their vacation in Vietnam! They even asked to have my picture taken with them…CRAZY!”

So even though you may not have a year to get to know Saigon, Sherry’s tips are a great resource for your visit.

Colombia is not the first, second, nor even the third destination most travelers have in mind when planning a trip to South America, which is exactly why it can be so rewarding to visit. While the rest of the world remains scared away by outdated stereotypes and Hollywood movies, curious travelers can explore a variety of dynamic cities, traditional pueblo towns, and undeveloped tropical beaches.

Safety is the primary concern on everyone’s mind when considering Colombia as a tourist destination. President Uribe, currently in his second term, is widely credited with marginalizing the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and opening up the country’s main roads for safe travel. While visitors should continue to guard against robbery and theft, the likelihood of being kidnapped around any of the main tourist destinations is minimal. Drug and gang-related violence tends to be targeted, thus you are unlikely to be affected unless you are purposefully hanging out with the wrong crowd. Feeling better?

Bogotá
Colombia’s capital, and by far its biggest city, is situated 2,500 meters above sea level, ensuring cool temperatures year-round. Bogotá may not be the most attractive city in the country, but it is considered the most cosmopolitan, with the widest array of dining options, a lively nightlife scene, and a host of worthwhile sights to see.

Popular activities include visits to the Catedral de Sal (Salt Cathedral) and Museo del Oro (Gold Museum), a walk through the historic La Candelaria neighborhood, gondola ride up Cerro de Monserrate for sweeping views of the city, and a night out at the pubs and discos of the city’s Zona Rosa.

Medellín
Nicknamed the City of the Eternal Spring, Medellín sits in a valley surrounded by beautiful green mountains. Situated at a lower elevation than Bogotá, the unique microclimate is a main draw for travelers and American retirees who often stay longer than planned, or return home only to move back to Medellín for good.

Colombia’s second largest city features a modern, clean metro system with two lines, and two cable cars designed to improve the quality of life and safety within Medellín’s poorest neighborhoods. An abundance of yellow, metered taxis make getting around the city even easier, while the local buses offer the cheapest option for the truly adventurous.

Popular activities include visiting the Museo de Antioquia, posing for photos with the iconic sculptures of Fernando Botero in Parque Berrío, city views from Pueblito Paisa – the model of a traditional Colombia pueblo town which sits upon a hill, paragliding, salsa lessons, and partying with the locals in the bars and clubs around Parque Lleras.

Cartagena de Indias
The romantic and charming colonial city of Cartagena has long been on the cruise ship circuit as a safe destination to unload tourists. Partly as a result of the old city’s listing as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984, the tourism industry is more developed in Cartagena than elsewhere in the country. Whether this is seen as a plus or a minus depends on the traveler.

Narrow, cobbled alleys are perfect for getting lost and Caribbean breezes do their best to counter the tropical heat and humidity. Beaches are easily accessible by taxi or bus, though the prettier ones such as Playa Blanca, which are frequented by Colombians more so than tourists, are a little farther out.

Popular activities include walking tours of the old city, admiring the Spanish colonial architecture, catching some sun on the beaches, scuba-diving, and boat trips to the nearby archipelago of Islas del Rosario.

Santa Marta
Santa Marta is a popular jumping off point for more remote, Caribbean coastal communities and parks, including the small fishing village of Taganga, beautiful Parque Tayrona, and the pre-Hispanic Ciudad Perdida (The Lost City) which requires a multi-day jungle trek to reach.

Cali
Cali has developed a world-renowned reputation for two things: salsa dancing and plastic surgery. If either appeals to you, then consider a stop in Colombia’s third largest city, which is notably hotter than Medellín due to its proximity to the Equator and not quite as safe (yet).

Popular activities include sharing the floor with world-champion salsa dancers and the Cali Zoo, which features approximately 1,200 animals, many of which are endemic to Colombia.

David Lee is an avid traveler who backpacked around the world from 2007 to 2009, and found his second home in Medellín. He runs several travel blogs, including GoBackpacking and Medellin Living.

Photographs by David Lee. All rights reserved.

For many years, Peru has called me – whether it was the spirit of the Incas, the mystery of Machu Picchu, or the magic of the Quechuan smile, I needed to answer the call.  In the summer of 2006, I did just that. But unlike other travels, where I tried to see and do as much as possible – never staying in one place for more than a few days – this time I wanted to have some roots.  I really wanted to immerse myself in the culture; experience life as the locals; and maybe pick up a bit of the language.

Cusco was the perfect place.  Chosen as the capital of the Incan Empire for a reason, Cusco has a spiritual essence that can’t be explained – it can only be felt.  But if I was going to take so much from this beautiful culture, I also wanted to give something back.  And that’s when I found Peru’s Challenge.

Peru’s Challenge is a local organization that offers a wonderful cultural and volunteer experience.  Founded by Selvy and Jane, they have their finger on the pulse of the community and how best the volunteers can best help their needs.

During my time, we helped the Village of Pumamarca in the construction of the school.  This project was great because we were able to work alongside the members of the community.  And as it’s a sustainable project, the community is required to contribute, so even after Peru’s Challenge leaves, the village can continue to support the education of their children. In addition to painting, painting, and even more painting, we even had the chance to teach some art and gym classes.  The kids were adorable, and at times mischievous, and their smiles were all the thanks we needed.

Peru’s Challenge was also terrific because it gave me the opportunity to learn more about the culture first hand.  Whether we were exploring the outskirts of Cusco on horseback, taking in the beauty of the Sacred Valley, or enjoying the night life in Cusco – they were perfect guides for an inside perspective. And by living with my fellow volunteers in the village of La Rapa, we got to share our experiences together.  Local traffic jams included.

And a trip to Peru would not be the same without a trek on the Inca Trail.  Machu Picchu was high on my list after trekking in Nepal.  Having it be a part of my volunteer experience made it even more special. After three tireless days of hiking through beautiful terrain, my tired body and weary eyes knew it was worth it after watching the sun come up on Machu Picchu.

In addition to the Incan culture of Peru, I got to see another side of it that I never imagined – the gorgeous volcanic landscape of Arequipa and the Colca Canyon.  But the pinnacle of my experience was the time I got to spend with the people of Pumamarca.  They touched my life in a way that Peru will always hold a special place in my heart.

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8 Questions – Northern Vietnam
When I decided to go to Vietnam I realized that besides seeing a few Hollywood movies about the war, I knew very little about the country and the American history there. This was really the first country that I visited so far in my travels that was tightly intertwined with US History – all within my lifetime. I felt that I needed to educate myself if I was going to be traveling in such a hotbed of history.  Read More

One Man’s Pet is Another Man’s Dinner
I’ve seen my share of markets during my travels – I feel like I”m pretty seasoned when it comes to seeing every imaginable type of veggie or fruit, smelling every fowl odor that comes along with the fish markets, and I’ve been exposed to cuts meat and parts of animals that will shred your stomach. Every market still seems to have a surprise to it – and that’s what draws me in. The Bac Ha market in Northern Vietnam is tucked away high in the hills and it’s full of local flavor. Read More

Hanoi – the City that Sleeps
Hanoi is a large metropolis of 3.1 million people. Yet there are no sky scrapers. However, there are about 100 motor bikes for every one car! In cities of this size we tend to think they they never sleep – that they are always bustling. However I was stunned to find out that Hanoi did sleep – it shut down around 11PM and got it’s beauty rest – and that’s when I arrived. Read More

How to Cross the Street in Vietnam
The first time I went to Rome I was in awe of all of the motor bikes – zipping around – I thought it was great in a chaotic sort of way. When I arrived in Bali this year and thought, Rome is for amateurs! I’ve never seen so many motor bikes in my life – and families of 4 riding on one motorbike. I really thought that I had seen it all. I landed in Vietnam and I think I have now entered the motorbike capital of the world. I read in a magazine that there are around 100 motorbikes for every car in Hanoi…and I completely believe it. Read More

Hue – Where My Luck Finally Ran Out
Out of the train and into the sauna of Hue. We traveled by train through the night into what is considered as South Vietnam. Hue is a small town of about 300,000 people (I’m not being sarcastic) and it holds a very prominent place in Vietnam history. The first and most important thing to know is that Hue is pronounced ‘way’. Read More

A Stitch in Time – Hoi An
I have been a clothes hound my whole life. I still remember my favorite outfits from when I was a little girl (the blue holly hobby top). My mom used to sew me outfits, yet she never passed that sewing skill on to me – I preferred to simply shop for my clothes in the mall! Clothes have always been memorable to me. I like to play this game with my nieces where they model clothes and shoes from my closet and I tell them what city and store I bought it from. So when we pulled into Hoi An – the tailoring capital of Vietnam (and maybe SE Asia) – I felt like I had come to the promised land! Read More

The City with Two Names – SaigonI always wanted to change my name. When I was about 8 years old I told my brother and sister that I was no longer going to answer to being called Sherry anymore; from this point forward I would be going by the name of Farrah. I idolized Farrah Fawcet and used to re-enact every episode of Charlies Angels each week with my neighborhood girlfriends Donna and Jenny. I of course was Farrah every week – apparently this re-enactment was going to my head. Saigon had a similar identity crisis in the 70’s. Read More

Goodbye Vietnam
You can’t come to Vietnam and not recall Robin Williams famous words “Goooodddd Moorrrnnninggggg Vietnammmmm!!!” I had spent one month in Vietnam – the longest in any one country yet (besides my SE Asia home base of Singapore). I had high expectations for Vietnam, and I’m happy to say that they were met. Read More

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Abrupt Transitions: Dhal Bhat Days – Volume 1
I arrived in Kathmandu after 27 hours of travel from NYC to Nepal…My body and mind felt like mush, on top of it I had cramps. I was excited to be in a new country again – yet a bit intimidated to be doing this all by myself. When I left on my around the world travel 2 years ago, I left with a group of friends who I could talk to and in some way that could comfort me and ease me into the solo adventure. Read More

Landslides & Local Buses: Dhal Bhat Days – Volume 2
Today was the day the surrender happened; surrendering to my new environment. I believe this to be the first surrender, I think there will be many more. I met my ‘guide’ Khadgo in the morning in Kathmandu and we set out to go catch a ‘minibus’ to the village of Puma an approximate 6 hr journey. Khadgo was not really my guide, but more of the delivery man. Read More

Learning How to Remove Leeches: Dhal Bhat Days – Volume 3
Today I arrived at the village of Puma where I will be staying for 2 weeks. It’s pretty much what I thought it would be in my ‘prepare for the worst’ expectations. Yet I don’t know that one can ever be prepared to pull big leaches off their body. Read More

Powers of Observation: Dhal Bhat Days – Volume 4
It rained last night like I’ve never experienced before in my life. I now understand the meaning of Monsoon season. Sure, maybe it was amplified in my mind as it sounds worse when you are sleeping under a tin roof; it echoed through my little barn room as if someone was dumping gravel from above. At one point I did actually consider that the whole mountain might float away. It was better to think of that rather than the huge spider that I saw above my bed before I fell asleep. Read More

Saved by Youth: Dhal Bhat Days – Volume 5
I hit a low today. I think it was due to many different things; but what affects me the most is not being able to have any type of conversation with anyone. I’m not simply sitting here silent – I am trying to form together a few words whenever I can, but it is very hard to get a question out or a sentence out when you really just know the words for rain, good, small, big, eat, house, leach, you, my, tomorrow, mother, sister, father, I and water. Read More

At Last: Dhal Bhat Days – Volume 6
I think it’s happening – I’m settling into my travel life a bit more. I’m not fighting all of the change as much, and starting to accept. However, the key to all of this was to have some people to talk to. Read More

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Barbot or Bust: Dhal Bhat Days – Volume 7
What the F have I done? Just when I was starting to settle in – I agreed to turn my little village world upside down again. I think the Dhal Bhat is making me crazy. I’m traveling through some of the worst conditions for the past 8 hours. Maybe it is more mental than anything physical, but after the 6th hour of sweating profusely, feeling disgusting, and now trekking in the complete darkness up a trail that I cannot see – I started to cry. Read More

School Days: Dhal Bhat Days – Volume 8
The whole reason I came to Nepal was to volunteer and teach. In some way I was trying to recapture my rewarding experience that I had in Delhi last year I suppose. When I arrived however, I quickly realized that the teaching was a bit secondary to my culture shock that I was experiencing. Considering my new living environment in Puma, teaching was really the least of my concerns. Read More

Do You Meat?: Dhal Bhat Days – Volume 9
During a break at school one afternoon, I noticed a big crowd in the village. I asked the children what was going on and they said “buffalo kill”. The village was slaughtering a buffalo and from my vantage point it looked like a lot of work as they were hacking away at various parts with an ax and knives. Read More

Flower Children: Dhal Bhat Days – Volume 10
Time is very powerful. In fact, I think it’s the most powerful thing in this universe. Time heals feelings, it causes us to forget, and with time; everything gets better. My time in Puma felt like it moved slowly, especially at first. I agonized about how I would ever survive the two weeks living in conditions that were completely foreign to my mindset. Then time arrived. Read More

I Prefer Window: Dhal Bhat Days – Volume 11
I thought I would be more excited about leaving Puma considering my living conditions for the last two weeks, but surprisingly, I wasn’t. In fact, it was a bittersweet. I was excited to get to some sort of civilization (yet I had started to question if civilization actually existed anywhere in Nepal), but I was sad to leave my new friends in Puma. They took excellent care of me in the best way they could. Read More

Kathmandu – Second Time’s a Charm: Dhal Bhat Days – Volume 12
After a refreshing, civilized stay in Pokhara for two nights, I arrived back in Kathmandu with a new outlook; it was no longer scary. I was reminded again of just how powerful time is. As I’ve noted before, I think time is one of the most important resources in the world. Forget pining away for youth…I just want more time. I’m a time whore. It makes everything better. Read More

Hands for Help – Final Thoughts: Dhal Bhat Days – Volume 13
While in Nepal I heard from my old students in India; they wished me a happy teacher day via email; it took me completely off guard, and shook me up a bit . It had been a year ago that I was there living in Delhi teaching my wonderful group of young adults that I become so attached to. Read More

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Spice Diaries – Volume 1
I have arrived in India…everyone said that it would be an assault to your senses, that it would be overwhelming, that it would be hard – after all, India is the big leagues for vagabonds like myself. Yet, I arrived here 5 days ago – and I’ve felt none of this. It’s been a simple transition so far – yet I proceed cautiously. My only explanation for this is that my past travel experiences have seasoned me – and for that, I’m immensely proud. I wear a big grin on my face and think to myself…India…try to shock me! Read More

Spice Diaries – Volume 2
I’m surprised…very surprised by India. I’m surprised that I have adjusted so easily…dare I say it – but India was actually a very easy transition for me. Sure – as we drove from the airport to the flat on Saturday morning we dodged the cows in the road, I saw people sleeping out on the streets…we drove down the wrong side of the road most of the time, and ignored stop lights…but in my world these days…that’s all normal. Read More

Spice Diaries – Volume 3
Whoohooo…..it’s the weekend! I’ve worked my butt off this week – mainly stressing out about teaching and banging my head against a wall when it comes to internet usage around here..which I can’t seem to find anywhere with any reliability. Despite being in a nice air conditioned building with ample facilities to teach – I am having a very hard time teaching. This is mainly due to the amount of work that I have to do to prepare for teaching 2 different classes every day in English and Computers. Read More

Spice Diaries – Volume 4
I learned today that there is a man that works in our colony (neighborhood) that simply is the ‘ironing man’. No – I’m not talking about a James Taylor song. He irons clothes all day for 1 rupee per piece – that equates to about 2 cents a garment. He works between my flat and my neighbors flat, collecting the washed and dried clothes from the various housekeepers and ironing them all day out in the alleyway. That’s India. Read More

Spice Diaries – Volume 5
Every day is full of lessons. Today was a varied as normal. I’m starting to get a feel for the teaching. A part of me even thinks that I’m good at it…and then I realize the difference between ‘that’ and ‘this’…and I’m jolted back to reality. Regardless of how effective I am, I thoroughly enjoy working with the kids. Read More

Spice Diaries – Volume 6
Another week has passed. Something has happened that I really wasn’t expecting – it has taken me by surprise. All my thoughts are consumed by it…I am giddy…I walk around with a big smile on my face when I talk about it…I am elated. I have been swept off my feet! No, not by some wonderful, sexy man; but by my students at my volunteer placement. Read More

Spice Diaries – Volume 7
The days are going very fast. Too fast. This is my 3rd week here already and I have no idea where the time went. I only have a week left of teaching and I’m already sad about the thought of leaving. This month has been full of realizations for me – realizing  just how much I have changed in this last year. Read More

Spice Diaries – Volume 8
Today is the day – my last day of work a year ago. My last paycheck…that’s a painful thought. But if I think about the trade off of – no money, but world experiences instead – then it’s all worth it. However, I am working currently (even though I’m paying them to work). The volunteer teaching is certainly a job. Read More

Spice Diaries – Volume 12
No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher’s dirty looks…Over the past year I have had many reasons to smile. Yet today was probably one of the most memorable reasons to smile this entire year of adventure and work free lifestyle. Read More

Spice Diaries – Volume 13
I have cried many tears throughout this year of travel, however they have mainly been tears for me. These tears tend to fall into two categories; tears for my unanswered questions about my future, and tears for joy. However yesterday I shed many, many tears and they weren’t for me at all. Read More

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Spice Diaries – Volume 10
I woke up this morning, and went out to fetch the Sunday paper. The moment I stepped out on our little terrace I knew it was going to be a tough day…the air was thick and heavy. The weather forecast in the paper said that it was to get to 35 degrees in Delhi today – which is over 100 degrees to those of you living in a Fahrenheit world. Read More

Spice Diaries – Volume 11
Today was yet another holiday in India…the land of constant festivals! Today was Lord Krishna’s birthday – an important God in the Hindu religion. The festival is called Janmashtami – and it basically means that I had the day off of work. It’s strange – I don’t think I’ve ever had a job in my life in which I was upset that I had a day off. Read More

A Functioning Anarchy – Driving in India
Up until now, I used to think that Vietnam was the craziest traffic I had ever seen in my life. Well…move over Vietnam…enter India. I am absolutely positive that the word clusterfuck was created here by some Westerner riding in a taxi around Delhi. In my month here in India, I heard someone say – traffic in India is like a functioning anarchy…I thought that it was a perfect way to describe the orderly craziness! Read More

Spice Diaries – Volume 14
It’s hard to believe that yet another Sep. 11th is going by. Once again I’m out of the country this year. Just two weeks ago in India there was a huge terrorist attack in Hyderabad – killing over 40 people…did you even hear about it? Probably not. Here in India, the front page of the newspapers lead with photos of blood soaked stadium seats; the terrorists struck at a amusement park full of families. Terrorism isn’t just in the US…people struggle with it all over the world. Read More

Spice Diaries – Volume 15
You’ve all heard about my wonderful experience teaching – however I haven’t really spoken much about my living arrangements in Delhi. Sure the flats were livable, nothing spectacular, but livable. It was a good location, it had air conditioning, we had people cooking for us, we usually had hot water, we had cable (yet we rarely watched TV) – but the best thing about my living arrangement was that I loved my roommates. Read More

Spice Diaries – Volume 16
My India visa was such a pain in the ass to acquire, I felt like I should use every ounce of it. My visa ran out on Sept. 15th, and my volunteer work was completed on Sept. 7th. I decided to take an extra 6 days to travel around India and see something besides he crowded streets and pollution of Delhi. Read More

Spice Diaries – Volume 17
I wasn’t supposed to be here, in India that is. When I left the US a year ago I had many people ask me if I was going to India on my around the world tour. I said “No, I don’t want to go to India, and I certainly don’t want to go solo. I think it would be too hard for me and I would be frustrated.” For some reason India seemed liked the big leagues of travel. Read More

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Travel Slogans for Bali
Ahhh – Bali – peace, quiet, simplicity, cultural, relaxation, great food – and the home of the $8 massage….perfect. Bali was going to offer me some new culture again which I was really excited to see. It was also going to offer me some time with my favorite Belgian – no, not a waffle – my girlfriend Veronique! Veronique and I met a few years back through a mutual friend (Angie) while traveling through France (that was a mouthful) and we have remained travel buddies ever since! It’s always great to have a well traveled Belgian who can speak multiple languages to travel with! Read More

Do you have a cow? Lombok, Indonesia
Happy New Year! My travels continue in 2007! Every year for the Christmas Holiday my sister and her family go somewhere in Southeast Asia for a week, lay on the beach and relax before the kids have to go back to school. I decided that I would go with them and continue my travel adventures with them for a week. After all – I’ve traveled alone, traveled with friends, so why not try traveling with a family! This year they chose Lombok, Indonesia – an island east of Bali. Read More

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Not So Sweet Dreams – Langkawi
I’m enjoying a perfectly relaxing serene week on a sunny beach in Langkawi Malaysia with my family. I’m taking a vacation from my traveling. I write, catch up on reading, work on my tan, brainstorm on ways to make a living, play games with my nieces – yet I awake in the middle of the night overcome with a feeling of despair. I’m having nightmares. Not the kind where someone is chasing me with a machete through a dark, deserted forest in the pelting rain. Nor am I dreaming my normal reoccurring anxiety nightmare where I am trying to drive up a steep hill in my old Ford Escort and I am still spinning my wheels as I loose ground in 1st gear and start rolling backwards down the hill. Instead, I dream of being back in NYC seeing my old friends. I look around at the familiar faces and places and have no idea where I fit in any longer. Read More

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Family Ties – Singapore
I landed in Singapore ready to see something familiar – my family! I was ready to empty out and fumigate my suitcase, sleep in the same bed for multiple nights in a row and get in the Christmas spirit. However, after a few hours in Singapore getting the tour of my sister’s home, sitting down to a family dinner, helping nieces with their homework – I quickly realized – this is probably the most foreign place I’ve visited so far. Read More

Piercing Palooza: Thaipusam
This week I attended a unique religious festival in Singapore. This festival only occurs a handful of places in the world, and luckily Singapore is one of them! I was so excited to go see this event, as I had seen footage of it on Globetrekker (my favorite tv show and dream job) in the past and have always been fascinated by it. When Cyndi told me that she got us tour tickets to go view it – I was ecstatic! I even treated my camera to a professional cleaning with the Cannon Service Center in Singapore in order to get the best possible shots! Read More

Auspicious New Year – Oink Oink
aus·pi·cious (ô-spshs) adj.
1. Attended by favorable circumstances; propitious: an auspicious time to ask for a raise in salary.
2. Marked by success; prosperous
3. Term commonly used during Chinese lunar new year.
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Singapore – the Good, the Bad, and the Weird la
I’ve spent approximately 3 months on and off in Singapore – it’s been my home base for SE Asia. I feel like I’ve got to know it fairly well – all of it’s ups and downs…and oddities. I’ve tried to compile a list of some of my observations. Read More

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Lost in Transition – Tokyo
This is it – the last stop before I hit the US, one last hurrah – and I chose to do it completely on my own…solo…what I want to do, when I want to do it. No tour company, no friends, no sister, no travel book….just me, with a camera, an internet connection and an immense amount of patience. It had been a while since I had been completely solo, so it was quite a transition for me to make again. Not only was it a transition to be solo, but it was a transition to be back exploring some place new again since I had spent the last 20 days in Singapore, now considered my 2nd home. Read More

The Underbelly of Tokyo
There are 32 million people living in Tokyo. 8 Million of them ride the subway every day. That turns into about 3,000 people on each train. No wonder why most of the time you feel like a sardine and it often takes a white gloved ‘subway conductor’ to squeeze you into the car before the doors shut. Not only were they a great way to travel across the massive city at a reasonable price, but they provided quite a lot of entertainment for me as I kept my mind busy comparing and contrasting the Tokyo metro with other subways around the world. Read More

Fishy Business – Tsukiji Market, Tokyo
The alarm went off at 2:45AM – I got up disoriented and thought…why do I do this to myself? Yet as my eyes adjusted to the overhead light, and I got up off of my floor mat, I reminded myself that this was the whole purpose of my trip here…this early morning adventure. I know that the best experiences seems to happen in the dark, so I put on my warmest clothes, and my waterproof running shoes, armed myself with my cameras, lenses, flash and a backpack. Made sure that I had my little hand written note in Japanese to give to the cab driver, and I took off out of the Ryokan and out into the dark Tokyo streets to find a cab. Read More

Budget Tokyo
Since I only had 4 days in Tokyo, and little money left for traveling, I had a challenge – how do you stay in Tokyo on a budget. After months of living a simple life – I think I was up to the challenge. The first big accomplishment was finding a reasonably priced hotel amongst the sea of business travelers on company expense budgets. I was lucky enough to find Sawonoya Ryokan – an oasis surrounded by the old neighborhoods of Tokyo. Read More

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A Father, A Daughter, and Some Chinese Food – Beijing
When I was about 12 years old, I was treated to my first memory of international cuisine…Chinese food. I will never forget going to a Chinese restaurant in Peoria for the first time. It was darkly lit, with big round tables and little cups for tea. I was fascinated with these cups because they didn’t have handles – pretty unconventional for the Midwest! Read More

Battle of the Bugs – Voyage to the Great Wall
The Great Wall of China – yet another site that I never really expected to see in my life – but when you do – it makes it all that more special and amazing. Thousands of years ago, the various Chinese emperors, mainly the Ming Dynasty, built the Great Wall to keep the Monguls (Mongolians) out. It was actually rather effective. As I would marvel at the wall construction on steep mountainsides I wondered not only how they got materials up there to build it – but what Mongolians could make it up there to attack?! It looked like an impossible place for any human to go. Yet my father and I took off for 3 days of hiking on the Great Wall. Read More

The Great Wall – The Great Destroyer of Knees
This is one of the main reasons I came to China, to hike this section of the Great Wall – Jinshaling and Simatai. One of the most breathtaking sections of the Great Wall is Jinshanling. It undulates through the steep mountaintops, hence – my knees wouldn’t like me for days after this hike! It is approximately 8 miles from Jinshaling to Simatai via the Great Wall – but it will take anywhere from 4 to 7 hours to complete it depending on your fitness, and your knees! Read More

High in the Jet Stream and Deep in the Ground – Xi’an
My last stop on my tour of Northern China was the small town of Xi’an. Of course – small in China is a population of 8 million people. Most people fly from Beijing to Xi’an, however we decided to take another route…the train. When I booked the overnight train to Xi’an, I really didn’t know what to expect. I actually enjoy taking overnight trains – it’s a good way to see a different side of a country, interact with some locals, and see the countryside. Read More

My Ancient Chinese Hero – Dali
My sister and I were in search of a hiking trip on southern China. After much searching on the internet, I finally located a company called Backroads of China. Who seemed to cover much of the Yunan Provence in Southern China as well as included a fair amount of trekking that would challenge us. Plus – the company seemed very much about cultural exchange and simple travel through the region – which is my preferred way to travel as opposed to a big tour bus (just kill me). Read More

Tiger Leaping Gorge-ous!!!
One of the main reasons why Cyndi and I decided to come to Yunnan was to hike in the Tiger Leaping Gorge – a deep canyon on the Yangtze River. It is actually one of the deepest river canyons in the world. It received its unique name from an ancient story about a tiger who was running from a hunter and leaped over the gorge (and presumably to his freedom) at the gorge’s narrowest point (about 25 meters wide). Read More

Yak-it-ty Yak – Shangi-la
Before coming to Southwest China, my sister and I were out one night with some of her Singapore friends and they wanted to know where we were going on our pending trip to Yunnan. We rattled off a few places including Shangri-la. There was an immediate ooooohh around the room as someone started talking about how lovely Shangri-la was – wonderful food, great service, nice spa, comfortable beds and the list went on. We were a bit confused by this at first and then it hit us…”No, we aren’t going to the hotel, we are going to the town of Shangri-la!” Read More

Electric Blankets and Chains
For the 4 days we spent in and around Shangri-la we had the unique opportunity to experience the 4 seasons…one each day. The bad news is that my suitcase wasn’t really outfitted to experience the 4 seasons, and the Chinese concept of heating was an electric blanket – herein lied the problem. Read More

China Syndrome
I’m neutral on China. Some of it was better than expected and some worse. Then there were some things that met my expectations exactly such as the amount of people and the smog. Don’t let my neutrality fool you though, I am happy that I spent 4 weeks there, observing the largest populated country in the world, and an emerging economic power. China seemed vastly different than its Asian neighbors – and I can sum that up with the term ‘impersonal’. Read More

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Hong Kong – Journey to Enlightenment?
I had 4 days in Hong Kong, I felt that would be plenty to see the sites, after all – it’s just a big city – and I’ve been to big cities before. Cyndi has a large web of expat friends strewn across Asia – so we were able to call upon one of them, Lynn and Lee, in Hong Kong and luckily stay with a ‘local’. Any time I have an opportunity to stay with someone that lives in a country I’m visiting, I snap it up. It has the obvious advantage of saving money – but more importantly than that, it helps you cut through all of the guidebooks and to the chase of what to do and how to get there. Read More

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If You Build It, They Will Come – Cambodia
I arrived in yet another 3rd world country, another country with a recent, torrid history full of war, and death. Yet even though Cambodia is nestled between Thailand and Vietnam – it really isn’t like these other countries, it has found its own identity. My first experience when entering Cambodia was entering the grand, new Siem Reap International Airport. It was beautifully designed, clean and cool – extremely rare for a third world country. While we were waiting in line for immigration there was an ATM so I decided to quickly get some Riel – however – much to our surprise – the ATM spit out US dollars. This definitely wasn’t like any country I had been in before! Read More

Running Among Gods
There are a few places in the world that everyone should see, Angkor Wat is one of them. As most of you know, I am someone who hates to do what everyone else it doing; so I took it a step further last weekend. I didn’t just see Angkor Wat, I ran through it. My sister had participated in the Angkor Wat Half Marathon and 10k a couple of years ago and raved about how much fun it was. Since I found myself only a short 50 min. flight away from Siem Reap, I thought I better run on over there and check it out myself. Read More

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Maps, Loose Wine, and Nudity – Adventures in Venice!
After traveling with David for 7 days – we have fallen into our travel groove. I think everyone we meet thinks that we are a couple as we are constantly bickering about things. Don’t get me wrong…the fun kind of bickering…not the ‘ball and chain’ bickering. So – we kind of fell into the acceptance of people thinking that we were a couple and didn’t really try to explain things unless people asked. So there was no better person to experience Venice, the most romantic city in the world, than with my gay boyfriend. Read More

Honeymoon Crashing – Rome
I’ve done many strange things in the last 8 months, had some great adventures, met some wonderful people, but I think I have reached the apex of unusual last week. I actually crashed a honeymoon. I’ve always said that I dislike attending weddings…but maybe I should give the honeymoon a shot. Read More

Hitting the Pause Button – Sorrento, Italy
I am molto happy…for many reasons. But the primary reason is that I’m on ‘Pause’. I arrived in Sorrento last week, drug my bag down the cobblestone narrow streets and arrived at my home for the next 4 weeks. Sure, it was fun to meet Signor and Signora Bandi, my hosts, but the real fun was getting to fully unpack all of my bags in my little room. Seriously, unpacking was practically orgasmic. I have a closet that is all mine – with hangers! I have drawers, I have a vanity , I have a desk. Never in my life would I have thought that I could get this excited about simple accommodations and a room that is probably about 100 square feet. Read More

Perche Parlo Italiano? Because I want to…
There are few times in life in which you simply get to do something which there is no ulterior motive except for pure pleasure. The thought of taking language classes in Italy seemed adventurous, exotic, and glamorous – like riding the Orient Express, riding a camel in the Sahara, or sailing around the world. Read More

Graduation Day
After spending 4 weeks attempting to learn the language I have experienced a mixed bag of emotions – happiness, humor, stress, anxiety, stupidity, and elation. There was certainly a stage where I was so frustrated that I wanted to walk out – I never thought that I would be able to learn all of the exceptions, the irregular verbs, the tenses, and hundreds of new words. I felt like an idiot and was completely stressed out that I didn’t get it. Read More

4 Courses, 6 Nights a Week, for 4 Weeks: My New Italian Diet
I joke around about being out of shape, however I after 8 months of travel, minimal workouts, and food from all over the world – I have still been able to fit into my same clothes. Compared to the rest of the world, I feel generally fit and athletic….until Italy. My month in Italy at cooking school has produced a whole new level of body image anxiety. I have many names for it – spare tire, pasta pooch, i rotoli, muffin top, fupa…that extra weight that I’m carrying around my middle – it should have a little tag on it that says “Made in Italy”. Read More

Le Miei Famiglie Italiani
The title roughly translates into my Italian Families…that’s right – plural…I have many of them! I have to admit it – I have always been fascinated with all things Italian – the food, the wine, the mafia, and the family lifestyle. It is no surprise then that the Godfather movies top my favorite movie list. The opening scenes that have these huge weddings and confirmation celebrations are my favorite. Read More

Come Sail Away
I grew up in the land-locked Midwest. The real Midwest – home to corn fields as far as the eye can see. This is not an area that produces good sailors….and I’m no exception. The only place water sports took place was in my neighbor’s pool or the creek behind my house. Then there was also the white trash pool…the sprinkler. Regardless of the lack of water around my birthplace, I still loved the water. Read More

Arrivederci Italia!
Italy makes it into my travel ‘record book’ – it is the country in which I’ve stayed the longest amount of consecutive time. I arrived in to this pasta haven at the end of April – so that makes 2 months in Italy. I had grand expectations of Italy as prior to starting on this world adventure it had been my favorite country to travel to and I never seemed to want to come home. In fact, I had dreams of living here one day. Read More

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Swiss Roll
There used to be a brand of treats called Little Debbie (in the Midwest). I would always beg my mom to buy us Little Debbie Swiss Rolls. They were basically the same as a Hostess Ho Ho – but cheaper. I could eat a whole package of 12 in a sitting if I was allowed; however I was never allowed. Instead I would try to make each individually wrapped Swiss Roll last as long as I could; I wouldn’t just eat these rolls, I would dissect them like a surgeon. Read More

Addicted
I have a dirty little secret…well, I have many…but no need to get into all of them. I have an addiction, one that I crave, I just can’t get enough of it – I have to get my fix else I’m not a happy person. It’s hard to find my fix – and it certainly isn’t for everyone – but it’s something so unique and exciting – that you will find that you will do whatever it takes to get it…to feel it. I’m addicted to travel. Read More

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Gut Decisions – Montenegro
My best travel moments are the unplanned ones. I spent most of my corporate career planning…budgets, delivery dates, resource needs, tasks on a project plan, and I even planned what I was going to say – my work life revolved around planning. So when my taxi river in Dubrovnik suggested that he can take me and my friend on a day driving tour of Montenegro – I was intrigued. Read More

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Greece – Ego Boost
I arrived in Europe with a short layover in Dubai. I was exhausted since I haven’t really experienced jet lag since October! Arrival in Greece also exposed me to something I hadn’t experienced for a long time – there was no arrival card to fill out.  At first I thought maybe I had too much wine on the plane and some how I missed the flight attendants passing them out, but as I looked around I noticed that no one else had one either. Strange – no visa, no arrival card – I felt cheated! I have spent the last 7 months memorizing every bit of data on my passport – I now consider it a special skill that I could put on my resume!  Read More

Mykonos Interview – Tass
I spent a lovely afternoon with Tass, the caretaker of the guest house I was staying at in Mykonos. I moved to this cheaper guesthouse when Miles left me and I was staying on my own. It was just about 5 minutes outside of town up a big hill called Adriani’s Guest House. It was laid back and extremely well kept. I loved it immediately – plus it had wireless internet! Read More 

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