The Beagle channel was always a haven for sailors who battled the rough seas of the Drake Passage. After crossing this body of water I can see what it is called the roughest seas in the world. It certainly makes you sit up and give the respect deserved to mother nature.

I processed this image as a black and white because I thought the drama that it captures really embodies to the feeling you get when look out towards the passageway that leads to the roughest waters around. Choosing to use B&W for certain images is tough. I think that for me B&W photography captures emotion and drama better than colour. Hopefully I was able to show that here.

So as the storm clouds loom on the horizon imagine yourself getting ready to face waves anywhere up to 20m in height and face your fears on the open ocean. It is enough to scare anyone into becoming a land lubber.

The Port of Ushuaia, Argentina in B & W

I Celebrated my 50th Birthday in Chianti by Christine Cottrell

Determined to celebrate my special birthday in grand style, I scoured books and brochures for the perfect place. Tutti a Tavola, a cooking school and somewhere to stay in a remote part of the Chianti Hills in Tuscany was an easy decision.  A phone call later, our travel plans were under way.

Tutti a Tavola is run by an extraordinary group of Italian women – mammas, they say, who love to cook. Instantly, I felt at home as my celebration started to unfold in a place of unimaginable beauty – where old farmhouses have been lovingly restored to special places for enjoyment and sharing.

With responsibilities and deadlines far away on the other side of the globe, I am easily immersed in the sensual experiences of Tuscan living – the colourful markets, the cooking aromas, the long, luxurious conversations. There are roses to pick, pasta to prepare, neighbours to meet, basil to pluck, risotto to stir, tables to set, tiramisu to construct, linen to lay.  The mysteries of artichokes and zucchini flowers are solved, the best recipe for limoncello debated, the world’s problems solved …..

For two weeks, over the routine of daily life, I learn about the lives of the mammas who love to cook. They have all retired from professional careers – to share the traditions of Tuscan cooking with guests and prepare beautiful, homely places for them to stay.  Their husbands, professionals in past lives too, are tending vineyards and olive groves. There are weeds to pull, vines to tie, trees to prune, grappa to enjoy, fruit to pick, animals to feed, plots to plant.  The weather forecast is discussed, the best way to prune olives debated, the quality of the vintage anticipated …..

Mimma, Franca, Lele and their husbands are now our friends; we visit them and they visit us. Although you can count on your hands the number of times we have connected geographically, strong friendships based on mutual interests have been forged – and through them, I’ve learnt to reconnect with the simple things I instinctively love to do.

I find time to prepare pasta and risotto from scratch, I make a ritual of plucking basil leaves over conversation with a friend, I sometimes lay my table with beautiful linen even when I’m busy, I invite friends and family to share our meals more often, I make an effort to eat what’s in season, I savour the smell of the rosemary and oregano that grow in my garden …..

Most importantly, I have learnt that you can choose to do whatever you want – regardless of what age you are. Mimma, Franca and Lele are women in their seventies who are a true inspiration to anyone who has a 50^th birthday on the horizon. They are testimony to the fact that you can start a new ‘career’ – of doing what you love to do, at any stage of your life.

All it takes is to follow your passion and connect with your inspiration.

At a time when teaching colleagues were talking about retirement, I set out to pursue my interest in writing. And I started a business – perfectespresso.com.au. What was once a little idea has grown into a series of published books and training resources on espresso coffee – using the wealth of skill and knowledge accumulated in over two decades of my career.

My husband and I now travel the globe exhibiting at trade shows, researching coffee trends and connecting with the coffee community on every continent. We visit farms and factories, museums and cafes, sample the finest coffees made by the best baristas and wander the world in search of interesting people and places to write about.

Like the inspirational women who love to cook, my lifestyle has become my work. I am doing what I love to do.  Oh, and ‘tutti a tavola’ is what Italian mammas say when dinner is about to be served – calling ‘everyone to the table’.

You can do this too!

CHRISTINE COTTRELL: author of the Perfect Espresso series
With more than 20 years of experience in teaching and working in the Australian hospitality industry, Christine decided to do something different.Driven by a passion for coffee and a search for the truth about espresso, Christine connects with baristas and coffee enthusiasts around the world – strengthening her skills, knowledge and research – to become the ultimate authority on everything about espresso coffee.
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My BLOG at ChristineCottrell.com

Inspirational Series 

This is an ongoing series of Inspirational travel. If you have an experience in travel that changed your life, made you look at the world differently or an amazing moment that you want to share, please contact us for more details and we will email you right back.. You can also read more about submitting an article to this series at Calling All Writers, Share your Inspirational Travel Story

Read More Inspirational Stories

• Real Men Don’t Cry
• How Virtual Tourist Changed our Lives
• Round Trip Ticket, Backpack and Curiosity
• What Happens When You Follow Your Heart
• From Little Englander To Travel Lover 
• Freedom Found
•  The Yoga Retreat That Made Me Quit My Day Job 
• Learning that it’s OK to be a Quitter 
• Zulu Memories in South Africa by Green Global Travel
• What I Would Tell You (If I Had the Words)
•  Charity for the Philippines a Birthday Adventure
• Habitat for Humanity in Alaska
• Inspired at the Summit of Mount Roy 
• Inspirational Travel: Fishing For Friendship 

Canada’s largest winery, Jackson Triggs is also one of the most popular brands of wine in the country and we had the chance enjoy a few of their latest cocktail creations.  The ice wine festival is going on right now and it is an amazing opportunity to embrace the cold and enjoy the unique wines that are created during the bone chilling freeze of winter.

The Niagara wineries have come together to attract tourists to the region during the Canadian cold and it is an exciting event. There are ice sculptures, snow shoeing, wine tastings and food pairings all with special deals at the local eateries and hotels in the surrounding area of the picturesque Niagara on the Lake.

It was at Jackson-Triggs that we enjoyed special wine cocktails such as heated mulled red wine spiced with cinnamon and mixed with Apple Cider. We enjoyed a Niagara Kir Royal where a Cabernet Fran ice wine is blended with Jackson-Triggs sparkling Wine, and and ice wine martini combining premium vodka with Inniskillin Vidal Icewine.

I can’t wait to try making these at home!

While we relaxed in the warmth, we looked out over the  vineyard and were treated to this view of the winter sun setting over the rows of vines in the backyard of the Jackson-Triggs estate winery. This was the last stop of the day before heading back to Niagara Falls where we spent the night at the Hilton Niagara overlooking the mighty falls.

The sun sets over the Jackson Triggs winery in Niagara, Ontario

We finally ditched our backpacks to join the business travellers of the world and now fly in style. We’ve made the switch to proper luggage and I will admit, I like it!

Travel over the last few months has been quite different from our usual overland trips. We’ve been jetting off for short business trips to Seattle, quick stays in Mexico and Jamaica and a long haul flight with short layovers to Egypt.

Luckily we had Travel Pro help to set us up with the baggage that we needed to travel through the many airports around the world in style.

Carry-on luggage is the way to go!

Showing off our cool luggage

We have never invested in quality luggage before. We’ve bought a knock off suitcase in Bangkok once on the way home from traveling around South East Asia to pack our last minute shopping items in, and we’ve bought some cheap bags at the mall that made it through exactly one trip before making their way to the garbage bin.

We Normally Travel with Backpacks

When we finally had the chance to use proper Travel Pro luggage, we realized what we’ve been missing all these years.

It’s so easy walking through the airport with proper wheels instead of having our cheap knock offs wobble and topple over with each step. Our TravelPro Maxlite Expandable spinner glides through the walkways with ease. We whizzed past other travellers as our small yet spacious carry-on bags move with ease behind us.

Deb and Our Carryon Luggage in the Cairo Airport

The best part is, we can push our bags in front of us when we get on the plane. We’ve tried pulling a carry-on behind us and it gets stuck in the seats, topples over and catches on anything in its way making the trip to our seats a frustrating experience. But all we have to do is turn it sideways and push it through the tiniest of passageways with ease.

Narrow Aisles on the Plane

Plus, now that we are carry-on only people, we never worry about making our connections. Even when we are delayed, we say to ourselves “it’s ok, we don’t have to get our luggage. Carry-on luggage helps get us through security faster between connections and it saves us time when we are checking in. We use the self serve check in and by-pass the lines for luggage tags.

It’s opened up a whole new world for us. 

My clothes are more organized, I’m packing lighter and leaving behind the extraneous stuff. We’re comfortable going through the airport because everything is stacked neatly atop each other and it all just fits so well together. I’ve even eliminated carrying my computer bag. My laptop slides right down the front of my travel pro roller and takes the weight off my back by not having so many electronics packed into my  shoulder bag.

What’s even better is the Maxlite^® 2  is ultra-lightweight allowing us to stuff a lot more into our bags without going over the weight limit.

So Many Choices to Suit Your Needs

While we’ll never be able to go completely carry-on when we start to do our longer travels again in 2012, we’ve loved having professional looking bags to take short jaunts on business trips.

We’ve never looked so stylish walking through the airport. 

If we can make it in Japan, we can make it everywhere!

That was our mantra back in 1996 when we headed to the land of the Rising Sun. Everybody told us Japan was such a strange country. Indeed, Japan was not a very popular travel destination back in 1996, mainly because it was seen as too different and not many people were able to speak English. There were also rumors that cost of living was unbelievable high. Rumors indeed, because we soon discovered that you could still travel on a shoestring in Japan.

We went and discovered Japan as being a fascinating country. We dare to say that Japan changed the way we look at our lives. The cultural differences have an impact, especially when you spend a longer period of time like we did. Our stay in Japan also changed the way we value the act of traveling.

Intriguing culture behind the façade

Emiel and geisha in Gion Kyoto

Geisha’s hide their face behind a mask of white make-up (shiro-nuri). Famous Japanese writer Haruki Murakami describes parallel worlds where cats can talk and a second moon shines its light upon the world. Japanese people by habit don’t show their emotions and it’s not common practice to talk about personal life when you meet for the first time. Japanese TV game shows go to the extreme and readers of manga (violent comics that are very popular in Japan) immerse in another extreme world that allows them to hide from reality.

There’s more to Japan than meets the eye. It’s a fascinating culture, overlooked by many, neglected by some. For most of Westerners, Japan is all about strange people and strange habits, hi-tech, the concrete sky-scraper city of Tokyo and an ever-present threat of earthquakes and tsunamis.

Paper facade walls in Japan

I did speak some words of Japanese after my 3-month stay in the country back in 1996. While we back-packed from north to south we got some glimpses of the world behind the façade. We were staying in smaller fisher towns where hardly any foreigners ever sat foot. To these people, we were their link to the outside world and we were willing to answer all their questions (and so we did!).

Kyoto is a must-visit place in Japan that gives great insights into ancient Japan. Go to the geisha district of Gion, where you can stroll through narrow alleys with historical buildings. This is the Japan of centuries ago! When you’re lucky you can bump into a geisha, quickly walking from one appointment to another. Visit the wide variety of temples and shrines in Kyoto. Sit down and just look at the so-called Zen gardens. Representing the ocean with islands, these gardens offer relaxation and tranquility in the midst of a hectic outside world. The gardens are mostly not understood by foreigners, but see them as some kind of meditation. When you watch them, you will soon discover the true meaning behind the rocks and gravel.

Respect and punctuality

Always when you enter a store in Japan, people greet you. It is an obliged way of politeness, but still I was impressed. In Japanese society, younger people in general show respect to elderly, even in the way they talk! The Japanese language has special words and phrases that young people use when they talk to someone they respect (a teacher or  elderly person).

We were indeed impressed by that level of respect and we compared it to our own lives. When we enter a shop in our country we might need to actively draw the attention of shop personnel. It’s the other way around! In Japan, respect is embedded in the culture, originating from the tenet of Confucianism.

Next to respect we loved the Japanese punctuality! Trains drive for hundreds of miles, arriving on exactly the time planned (you can count the seconds). Japanese people are driven by punctuality because it shows respect to others. For a train driver punctuality is priority no 1 because that’s the way he can show respect to his passengers.

For us, Japan is a different society, a different way of living together. Traveling in such a country makes you aware of differences in how people live together, how customers are approached and how to respect one another. It’s a lesson learned that you take home with you.

The importance of speed versus slow travel

You probably know those high-speed bullet trains in Japan called the Shinkansen. But you probably did not know that these trains were already running in the 1964! It’s all part of the technological leadership position that made Japan famous in the 70s and 80s.

Through the extensive Shinkansen network, we could travel to the other side of the country in only a couple of hours. Traveling high-speed saves a lot of time, but at the same time we skipped thousands of kilometers of people, towns and actual discoveries. We were heading for an important sight-seeing spot so we choose to travel like that. But never will we know what we have missed would we have traveled more slowly.

In another part of the country however, we changed things around. We picked an area that was not in any of the travel guide books (according to these factual guide books nothing interesting was to be found there). But we went anyway. And we had a fab time! We went to Wakajima prefecture, and stayed at a small hotel. The owner of the hotel was so proud of her foreign guests that she took us to the market and showed us to all her friends!

We traveled by local train services to smaller sight-seeing spots and the rocky coastal area. We were the only one around. How different a travel experience can be if you decide to travel slow into an area that is not highlighted in travel guides.

So that is our Japan story. Japan is a fascinating country were you can switch between extremes. It showed us that traveling is far more than going from one famous sight-seeing spot to another. There is nothing wrong with that, but we learned that you have to actively search for the real world (culture) behind the touristic places. There is far more to discover if you actively go out and observe it.

Emiel van den Boomen writes about travel at www.actoftraveling.com. He approaches travel in a poetic and sentimental way avoiding the, according to him, boring itineraries full of must-see highlights. You can follow him on Twitter @vandenboomen and Facebook ActofTraveling.

• Photos:
  Emiel with geisha:
• Zen garden:
• Paper façade wall: 
• Shinkansen bullet train: 

Inspirational Series 

This is an ongoing series of inspiring stories from intrepid travellers around the world. If you have an experience in travel that changed your life, made you look at the world differently or an amazing moment that you want to share, please contact us for more details and we will email you right back.. You can also read more about submitting an article to this series at Calling All Writers, Share your Inspirational Travel Story

Read More Inspirational Stories

• What Happens When You Follow Your Heart
• From Little Englander To Travel Lover 
• Freedom Found
•  The Yoga Retreat That Made Me Quit My Day Job 
• Learning that it’s OK to be a Quitter 
• Zulu Memories in South Africa by Green Global Travel
• What I Would Tell You (If I Had the Words)
•  Charity for the Philippines a Birthday Adventure
• Habitat for Humanity in Alaska
• Inspired at the Summit of Mount Roy 
• Inspirational Travel: Fishing For Friendship 

I graduated university in 2009 with a yearning desire to become a travel writer. I wanted to write for Destinations, Travel and Leisure and Lonely Planet, but most importantly, I wanted to travel. Everyone said to buckle down in New Jersey. New York is only a train ride away from where I grew up. I had so many amazing opportunities just over the bridge. They said start from the bottom and work your way up. Write things about New Jersey just so you find your voice.

As usual, I didn’t listen.

Graduating in the midst of a recession and terrible times in journalism, I was one of the lucky ones to find work. I loved my job too. I photographed nightlife and wrote about activities around the area, so it actually was travel writing, but locally.

I was happy. But something wasn’t right.

A month after graduating the desire started creeping up. I yearned for the days of complete unknown that I had experienced during three months of backpacking Europe.

I should have stayed home. I should have focused on starting my career from the ground up, but I wanted to travel. Travel was what made me happy.

My favorite travel partner and I at Angkor Wat in Cambodia

I researched a lot and found the best option for the broke college grad I was at the time was to go to Australia with a work-holiday visa. I would be able to work so money wasn’t a huge concern, but I would also be a part of a new culture and have travel options out of the Tri-state area.

So in January 2010 I set off for the land down under. I wasn’t focused on relationships. I wasn’t focused on working for a big travel magazine in New York City. I just wanted to start my travel writing on the road.

Many amazing things happened during that year in Australia. Only a month after arriving I was asked to join a blogging expedition up the east coast. It was part of a contest I entered prior to leaving. I lost, but they asked me to join anyway.

Bungy jumping at AJ Hackett in Cairns, Australia, one of the many great opportunities travel allowed me.

I was doing it. I was actually travel writing.

That trip was amazing. I made a great friend and saw some amazing things. But a funny thing happened at the end of it. I found a small town in Far North Queensland  and wanted nothing more than to settle down for a few months with a regular job.

I should have kept going with the travel writing momentum I had created on my blogging trip. I had a lot of options to do more things like that after, but my heart wanted to stay in the small town I had landed.

Those months may have been the best in my life. I felt completely a part of a community. I wasn’t worried about the rest of the world. I wasn’t worried about chasing my ambitions. I was just living.

Then an even funnier thing happened. A journey that had started to follow something I loved, travel, turned into an actual love story.

my boyfriend, and I at a disco on Malapascua in the Philippines.

I know it’s gushy and the person I was when I graduated college, consumed with a career, would laugh at that last line. But it happened. I fell head over heels for a guy. I should have stayed focused on my travels, but my heart wanted to stay with him, so I did.

We made an effort to stay together after leaving that tiny town in Far North Queensland. We reunited in Melbourne, found a house together, made plans together, created a life together. It’s been almost exactly a year since then and we’re still together, traveling the world and creating homes in random places around it.

I’m probably no further in the career that started this long trip, but I’m happier than I’ve ever been, than I ever thought I could be.

Before I left for Australia, everyone asked, “are you scared”, “where will you live”, “where will you go”. I laughed because I thought I had it all figured out. I thought I knew the answers to all those questions. But no matter how planned and scheduled a person you are, travel has its own agenda, and it’s way better than anything you had planned.

It was my heart that led me to travel and I think that’s the part of me that’s gotten the most out of these past two years on the road.

I’m not saying travel for love. Don’t travel for a career either.

Travel for yourself.

Along the way you’ll be presented with options you never thought possible. Follow the decisions that make your happiest, because a lot of times, those are the ones that will.

Bio: Bobbi Lee Hitchon has been traveling the world for two years. During that time she’s jumped out of a plane in Australia, dove with sharks in the Philippines and eaten bugs in Thailand. Read about her adventures at Heels and Wheels. Follow her on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

Inspirational Series 

This is an ongoing series of inspiring stories from intrepid travellers around the world. If you have an experience in travel that changed your life, made you look at the world differently or an amazing moment that you want to share, please contact us for more details and we will email you right back.. You can also read more about submitting an article to this series at Calling All Writers, Share your Inspirational Travel Story

Read More Inspirational Stories

• From Little Englander To Travel Lover 
• Freedom Found
•  The Yoga Retreat That Made Me Quit My Day Job 
• Learning that it’s OK to be a Quitter 
• Zulu Memories in South Africa by Green Global Travel
• What I Would Tell You (If I Had the Words)
•  Charity for the Philippines a Birthday Adventure
• Habitat for Humanity in Alaska
• Inspired at the Summit of Mount Roy 
• Inspirational Travel: Fishing For Friendship 

Being the second time visiting this Middle Eastern jewel gave us the chance to look at it with a different set of eyes. Yes, the pyramids are mesmerizing, but having seen them before, we could look beyond their majesty and take in the atmosphere around us. Instead of gazing out over Cairo, we could take in the polished marble of an abandoned mosque. The library of Alexandria is filled with one of the greatest collections of literature on earth but it is the modern architecture that is so striking. Students hang out in the complex and ponder the challenges of Egypt’s future while we snap shots of its striking design.

Egypt is filled with ancient monuments, but it is walking along the streets and meeting the people that is magical. Egyptians are right up there as some of the friendliest people on earth. As we walked through the streets we were invited into establishments for tea and people greeted us with welcoming smiles. Children approached us to ask where we were from and everyone asked us to take their photograph.

It is a country close to our hearts as the starting point of this great travel journey that we’ve been on for the past few years and it brought back fond memories walking through its ancient passageways. We didn’t have enough time to truly immerse ourselves in this culture, but we will definitely be back.

For now, enjoy these photos of a different side of Egypt.

The Alabaster Mosque's outer courtyard is impressive to say the least

The interior of the Alabaster Mosque is even more impressive.

Sunrise a an abandoned mosque in Cairo, Egypt

A different look at the Library of Alexandria

The sun sets at the Pyramids of Giza in Cairo, Egypt

The Pyramids at night during the light show.

Life goes on in the streets of Alexandria, Egypt

Our trip through Egypt was courtesy of Memphis Tours.

This past year was an interesting one. We got to re-visit some places we had already been but more importantly we got to take in some of our dream destinations for the first time. We thought the best way to show you why we loved all the places we visited was through our favourite photos from each country. So sit back with a cup of coffee and come travel with us for a few moments.

Thailand:

Sea Canoeing in Thailand

Malaysia:

Thaipusam in Penang, Malaysia

New Zealand:

The stunning New Zealand Landscape

Jordan:

Petra at Night

Had to put this one in! the Bedouin girl in Jordan

London:

London Landmarks- The Tower Bridge

Brussels:

Prague:

The main Square in Prague

Russia:

The Astrakhan Kremlin in Russia

Kazakhstan:

The uncanny modern city of Astana in Kazakhstan

Mongolia:

Mongolian Traffic

Mexico:

The ruins of Tonina in Mexico

Jamaica:

Grabbing the Catamaran in Jamaica

Egypt:

Alexandria, Egypt

Whether you’re sat at your desk willing the clock hands to read 5pm, realising that your relationship has run it’s course or just frustrated with your life as it is, we’ve all had moments when we just want to give up.  So why don’t we?  Most of the time it’s the unwillingness to admit to yourself that you’ve failed at something – we don’t want to be the person who “couldn’t handle it” who “wouldn’t stick it out”  – but quitting doesn’t always have to mean failure.

In June 2010 I couldn’t do it anymore; I quit my job, my boyfriend Mark quit his job and we began travelling in Australia.  The next time I heard that phrase, we were at a wwoofing farm in Martin’s Creek, New South Wales where we’d arranged to work to get our Second Year Visa in Australia.  Too hot and too frightened to sleep, the words hung between us in the darkness of the bedroom.

“I Can’t Do This Anymore”

I remember flicking on the torch and brushing mosquitos away from my bite-covered legs. Like Mark I wanted to quit too, but I’d told myself that I would give farmwork my best shot so that we could extend our time in Australia and even though I wanted to quit now, I didn’t want to be a failure.  I wanted to be strong.

The day before, when the farm manager had come to pick us up from the nearest train station 45 minutes away I had tried to be strong.  The hosts were on holiday (something which we had not been made aware of) and so it was his job to show us where we’d be staying; a converted farmhouse with a French backpacker, 15 minutes away from the actual farm by foot.  It was pretty and secluded with a deck overlooking acres of land and it even had a television, something we weren’t expecting at all.

The House Looks Better from the Outside

I tried to stay strong when we were given pork to cook for our dinner.  Having not eaten pork for as long as I can remember the thought and taste turned my stomach but with limited resources I didn’t really have a choice. I told myself it was only for 3 months and tried to be happy to be giving something out of my comfort zone a shot even though I felt constantly paranoid about the spiders, snakes and mosquitos which I knew weren’t far away.

It wasn’t until the next day, having hardly slept at all the night before, that I started to feel like wwoofing wasn’t going to be the cultural exchange we had hoped for.  I had loved the morning’s work of feeding the chickens, collecting eggs and washing them to be sold at a nearby farmer’s market and was grateful to be sat in the shade of the shed as we peeled garlic and listened to the radio, but our hosts still weren’t back from holiday and I got the feeling that the wwoofer’s accomodation was a 15 minute walk away for a reason; they didn’t want to get to know us or let us into their lives like I’d read about so many times in the wwoofing handbook, they wanted us to do the work and leave.

It’s not like we expected to be welcomed with open arms into a family we hardly knew.  We were under no illusion that it was a means to an end for both parties: the hosts got the work on the farm done without the expense of hiring staff and we got our visas extended by a year. But sitting in the farmhouse, the silence broken only by the swarming insects, I replayed how the farm manager had acted with us earlier on in the day.  How he’d hardly spoken a word to us since we arrived.  How, as the only female, he had assumed that I would be on kitchen duties and how he hadn’t painted the prettiest picture, metaphorically speaking, of our hosts who were due back the next day.

My strong and positive attitude had worn off and I was terrified.  I’d lived my entire life locking doors behind me but in the remote farmhouse there were no locks.  I noticed a poster near the front entrance informing us of how to deal with snake bites (Fred had already told us that he’d seen one a day since he’d been here) and a number to call even though there was never any phone signal.

And so it was that at 3am on our second night at the farm, with the possums on the roof and the unrelenting heat keeping us awake, that we decided that the next morning we were going to to leave.  I knew a friend back in Sydney we could stay with and it was all I could think about as I hastily packed our stuff.  Up up at the main house, we didn’t quite get the reaction we’d hoped for:

“We’re not driving you to the train station, you can wait until later.”

Our host had finally returned from her holiday.  In the wwoofing handbook it had stated that the minimum number of nights that wwoofers were expected to stay was two so were weren’t breaking any rules but I understood the inconvenience and the fact that the station was a 45 minute drive away so I offered her $20 which would more than cover the petrol costs and hopefully some of the inconvenience.

If looks could kill I’d be dead: “I don’t want your money, you’ll stay here until we can take you”.

The sun was hotter than ever with no breeze to cool us down so we sat under the shade of a tree and waited, desperately trying to get some phone signal so that we could call our friends back in Sydney.  After 3 hours our hosts sister offered to drive us to the station.  I wish I could say that I felt some relief but I just felt embarressed and dissapointed that I’d let myself and them down.

5 hours later, as we were pulling into Sydney’s Central Station I noticed the bright decorations and realised it was Australia Day. I hadn’t realised how much I’d missed people and noise and laughter.  Later that night, with dirty hair and dirtier clothes, we ended up at a friend’s pool party in the suburbs and even though I felt ashamed telling our wwoofing “experience” and my face reddened when one guy called me a quitter I didn’t regret our decision.

And quitting ended up being the right decision because a few days later I got an email from one of my university friends; the vineyard she had worked on when she was in Australia was looking for backpackers.  The family who ran it were friends of her Mum and they could also sign our visas for us. The next week we flew down to Melbourne and started working on the vineyard a few weeks later. We got our Second Year Visa in Australia and, although it was hard and I was pushed out of my comfort zone more than once, I loved the experience.

Wwoofing could have been completely different.  It could have been the cultural exchange we were hoping for while at the same time learning some new skills and extending our stay in Australia but it wasn’t.  I’m not ashamed to say that I couldn’t do it and I’m not ashamed to say that I quit.

What’s the point in making yourself unhappy in a situation you can get yourself out of?

There’s no shame in not being the best at everything, that I’ve learnt.  And there’s no shame in throwing in the towel when it all becomes too much.  Why?  Because you can always pick yourselp up and start over.  Whether you’re leaving a wwoofing farm where you don’t feel safe or leaving your country because you want to see the world, you hate your job or you’re just fed up of the daily grind; it’s never too late to start again.

-

Beverley is the Brit behind the Pack Your Passport  travel blog who left England in June 2010 to embark on an adventure through Australia, New Zealand, Asia and beyond, hoping to inspire other 20-something’s along the way.  Find out more by connecting with her on twitter or visiting her Facebook page

Inspirational Series 

This is an ongoing series of inspiring stories from intrepid travellers around the world. If you have an experience in travel that changed your life, made you look at the world differently or an amazing moment that you want to share, please contact us for more details and we will email you right back.. You can also read more about submitting an article to this series at Calling All Writers, Share your Inspirational Travel Story

Read More Inspirational Stories

Zulu Memories in South Africa by Green Global Travel

What I Would Tell You (If I Had the Words)
 Charity for the Philippines a Birthday Adventure
Habitat for Humanity in Alaska
Inspired at the Summit of Mount Roy  

 

 

We have travelled to some amazing lands that offer incredible winterscapes. I’m looking forward to grabbing my camera to take more photos as the winter goes on and these shots definitely are getting me excited for our upcoming trip to Antarctica.

Enjoy the Snow! 

Winter Photos: Cold Can be Beautiful

Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska

This photo of Icicles really screams winter

The Athabasca Glacier in Alberta, Canada

A photo of Winter Wolves

Winter sets in this Nepal Photo

The St. Lawrence River in Winter

I can always open up to her and as she was congratulating us on all our success we have had since returning, I told her about my fears. The conversation echoed the same one I had the night before with my mom and Dave had with his dad.

Sherry, Dave and Deb: Final Day of Mongol Rally

Dave and I both have a difficult time smelling the roses. We spend our time working on how we can make things better and how we can keep pushing forward. Both my mom and Sherry said that they wish I could see myself through their eyes and just take a moment to enjoy everything that is happening.

Dave’s dad said to him “Gee, you two are never satisfied are you?”

It made us both stop to take a breath.

Our Life

We have fulfilled every dream we could ever imagine this year. We are doing the job that we love. We write, we travel, we take photographs and videos and we get to be together every day of our lives. I know some people find that odd, but we have been searching for ways to work together since we met 20 years ago. Now we are doing it!

We are on TV!

It was always our dream to be on TV. Dave wanted to be a part of a famous rock band and be interviewed for his latest album and I wanted to be a triple threat (Singer, Actor Dancer) like Bernadette Peters or Mandy Patenkin. (Yes, I’m dating myself) I daydreamed about being interviewed on David Lettermen and I even had fears in my day dreams. What if he said a word that I didn’t understand in one of his interview questions and I didn’t know what he was talking about. Yes, even my daydreams were neurotic.

Now we are being interviewed weekly about our latest passion. Travel. How cool is that?

You would think that we would be on cloud 9. Instead, after each segment, we spend the drive home picking ourselves apart wondering if we stuttered or if we made any sense. We talk about how we “should have said this”, or “should have said that” instead of just patting ourselves on the back and saying, Good Job Honey.

We call Dave’s parents on the drive home and breathe a sigh of relief when they tell us we did a good job and then by the time we get home, we give it a watch online and say, “Hey That wasn’t so bad!”

Then the stress starts all over again….

What are we going to talk about next week, how did the producers like it? Are Dan and Jaqueline interested in what we have to say? Oh no, we need a segment idea for next week, what are we going to talk about? And will the director approve of the subject. We give ourselves about 10 minutes of being content before starting to agonize all over again.

Success

In the eyes of the travel blogging world, we are a success. We have two amazing partnerships with two companies that we respect and products that we love using. We consider both companies that we are working with good friends too. Even when the business relationship ends, we know that we will always be in touch.

Great Sponsors
But we still put pressure on ourselves when doing any work for them. We want to give them the best of what we got.

Even when they tell us they are thrilled and that we are doing a great job, we still worry and wonder if we are getting enough hits on our website for them. Are people engaging in the conversation enough, are we giving our sponsors enough exposure on our blog, on other blogs and on TV. What happens if we do something wrong?

The Need For Perfection is Consuming

Many people use the phrase, “People call me a perfectionist.” I used to laugh and think, How can that be a fault? Now as I grow older, I understand that it is completely a fault. We are perfectionists to a fault.

We have been having the most amazing things happen to us and instead of focusing on how great things are going, we focus on what we may have done wrong to jeopardize things. Was my tweet announcing our partnership too forward? Did I forget to include the link to their product? Am I sharing too much? Am I sharing enough? My head could spin with all the thoughts going on.

And then Sherry sent me this…

It is good to know that even the most successful of people out there have doubts. We have doubts every day and we now know it is ok. We just have to learn to accept the fear and terror that we feel every day. We are learning to control our anxiety and we are aware that we have to enjoy the moment.

Embrace the Fear, Enjoy the Moment

So now as the holidays approach, we are enjoying the moment. We are enjoying the fact that we are on TV, we are enjoying the fact that we are going to Cairo next week and Antarctica in January and already have five other amazing trips lined up after that! We are enjoying that we are working withIntrepid Travel in 2012 and that we are continuing our work with American Express Canada. We are excited to watch our partnership flourish and grow with Travel and Escape and we are thrilled to be working with our sponsors Rudy Project, Olympus Cameras and F-Stop Gear.

Our Travel and Escape Bio 

Our Bio on Travel and Escape

Will we fret and worry about everything that is happening? You bet we will. But will we stop to raise a glass to toast our success and hard work over the past 2 years that is finally paying off? You bet we will.

We will embrace the fear and enjoy them moment and make 2012 the best year ever. Because you know what? Every year in life should be the best year ever and we should all strive to work towards that goal.

Yesterday we gave a list of gifts that we love so today we want to give you some gift ideas that we use(and also love). This gift guide has something for everyone who travels on your list. From the person who loves to give back to the one who loves a good adventure. So when you are shopping on Cyber Monday or any other time of the year keep these ideas in mind .

To See our latest Holiday Gift Guide Segment on CTV News Express, Click here! 

1. Gift of Charity:

2. Gift of Adventure: 

3. Electronics:

Olympus Waterproof Camera: Olympus TG-810 Tough We never had a waterproof camera and while in Fiji white water rafting someone asked us why we didn’t have one if we were such big adventurers. As soon as we flew to Bangkok we bought one and use it wherever we go. We’ve taken it canyoning over waterfalls in Jordan, rafting and swimming with dolphins in New Zealand and snorkelling in Jamaica. It’s our go to camera that can be used on any occasion. This Olympus Tough TG-810 is a 14 MP, 5x Wide Optical Zoom that is not only waterproof, it’s shockproof, freezeproof and crushproof! Cost: $299

4: Gift of Cool:

Travelpro Maxlite 2 Starting at $109.00

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5: Gift of Security 

Pacsafe Luggage PacSafe is an amazing thing to add to your luggage for places like South East Asia and Central and South America where security is an issue. For buses you can put your valuables into a small bag and lock it up under your seat or you can lock up your things in a hotel room if you don’t feel secure. If you are sleeping on a train, you can wrap your bag with this mesh wiring, lock it up and sleep soundly.

A fellow travel blogger from Brendans Adventures recently had everything stolen from his bag in South America when his bag slid back on a bus during a ride. People get on and off buses all the time, so there was no finding the culprits once he came to his stop and noticed his bag was much lighter.

Cost: $59.76

6. Gift of Relaxation: 

Cabin Max Ultimate travel kit Comfort packs for Airplanes. Give eye masks, blow up neck rests and most importantly ear buds to the traveler in your life. Nox Audio ear buds are what we brought all the way to Mongolia not only to listen to music, but they work great as ear plugs as well. I use them instead of earplugs because they don’t put as much pressure on my ears as ear plugs but still blog out the noise. Plus, most airlines make you buy your headsets now, this saves them money. You can add a mini toothbrush and toothpaste as well.

 Cost: $14.95

7: Gift of comfort:

Grand Trunk Silk Sleep Sack We use these wherever we go. While backpacking you can stay in some nasty places and having your own sheet makes things much nicer. Adding that extra layer between you and a matt or questionable sheets, makes your sleep bearable.

Also, if it is really hot, the silk is nice and comfortable wicking away your sweat and moisure and if it is really cold, the silk holds your body heat and helps to warm you up with layers.

Cost: $34.66

8: Gift of Cleanliness:

Coghlans Pegless Bungee ClotheslinePegless Clothes line and a universal Do it Rubber Sink Stopper : Sometimes you can’t get your laundry done and hotels charge an arm and a leg. Doing Laundry in your sink helps a lot and a universal plug can help you clean easier. A pegless clothesline has saved us many times. Even on treks, we may not be able to wash our clothes, but we can hang them up outside to dry out and we don’t have to carry around clothes pegs.

Cost: $5.96

9:Gift of silence/Privacy 

Nox Audio Ear Buds are what we brought all the way to Mongolia not only to listen to music.We could tune out the ambient noise and realas while listening to our favourite tunes. We never invested in quality earphones before and now I wish we did, they make a huge difference. They work great as ear plugs as well. I use them instead of earplugs on the plane when taking a nap because they don’t put as much pressure on your ears as ear plugs. Plus, most airlines make you buy your headsets now, so this saves them money. Cost $75

It’s that fuzzy time of year when you start thinking about giving the people you love something special for the holidays.

Ok, I’ve never been one for the holidays. We’ve normally been out of the country lazing on a beach rather than hanging stockings on the fireplace. But this year, we’re actually going to be home for the holidays. We’re already hearing Christmas carols in the stores, houses on the streets have their Christmas lighting up and the annoying Cyber Monday or Black Friday are in full force. So let’s add to the cyber Monday ads shall we? Cyber monday is all about shopping online and since I work online, I feel that it is my duty to tell you what stuff you should buy for that person in your life that loves to travel.

So even though we haven’t celebrated Christmas in nearly a decade, we’re jumping on the bandwagon and getting into the holiday spirit. Isn’t it fun jumping on the band wagon? I jump on every season during the Stanley Cup. I also jump on it during the Winter Olympics where I actually pay attention to Speed Skating and Curling. This year, I’m going to sing the Carols, watch the feel good movies, bake some cookies…ok, I’m going too far here ….

Let’s just move on to some holiday gift items that we love.

Holiday Gift Guide for the Tech Geek Traveler in You!

Shop Amazon’s New Kindle Fire-
We were so jealous of our team mate Sherry Ott on the Mongol Rally. She had free 3G wifi all the way to the Mongol Border from England. She could check email, send tweets and read a book while driving through the deserts of Kazakhstan or riding a horse cart in Romania. Why do we err. you want a Kindle, because it’s good for the environment. Your not wasting paper and the screen is easy on the eyes for reading. I love the new fire because you can stream 10,000 movies and TV shows for free and you can borrow books for free too…just like a library. If anyone wants to buy us one, we’ll take it!

Olympus Stylus Tough
So last year while we were in Fiji, someone asked us “so if your adventure travellers, why don’t you have a waterproof camera?”  That’s when we asked ourselves..”Yeah, why don’t we have a waterproof camera?” So as soon as we landed in Bangkok, we got ourselves to the MBK centre to buy ourselves a camera and the UTough Olympus is what we bought. Since that time, Olympus has become a sponsor of ours and for our yet to be confirmed trip to the Antarctica in January, we are going to bring this camera along with us to use in the frigid waters. This camera isn’t only waterproof and shockproof. It is also freeze proof! It will survive frigid waters of the Antarctic or Canada.

TomTom
Tom Tom GPS – We love our Tom Tom. Not only did we use it on the Mongol Rally, we have used it to find our way while walking downtown Paris. Stepping out of the subway in a big city can be confusing and while looking for our hotel, we have hooked it several blocks following our Tom Tom’s advice. It also comes in handy when searching for a McDonalds or Starbucks in search of some free wifi.

Belkin Mini Surge Protector Belkin Mini Surge Protector Dual USB Charger
We don’t leave home without this. In todays world everyone travels with electronics. Between your laptops, digital cameras and cell phones you have a lot of things to charge. The Belkin Mini Surge Protector not only allows you to charge many things at once including two USB ports, it also protects your precious investments from being destroyed in countries that have a sketchy electrical system.

Apple iPad iPad – If you don’t have an iPad you’re living in the dark ages…Oh wait…we don’t have an iPad! Well, let me take that back, If you don’t have an iPad, you are really cool and you don’t need this state of the art tablet that lets you watch movies on the plane with extra long battery life. You don’t need the ultralight portable computer that you can take to the coffee shop during your travels rather than carting around your heavy laptop and you don’t need this ultra cool device where you can upload all your favourite apps from your iPhone but on a bigger screen! Boo, You don’t want an iPad!

Portable Mat with Powercube
Portable Power Mat – Dave’s dad introduced us to this baby and we want one! The bane of our existence when traveling is charging our electronics. We hate coming into our hotel room at the end of the night, fishing out our chords and adapters and trying to plug everything in. The Power Mat is the answer to our prayers. It is the gift of the future, only you can give it now! Imagine charging your phone, camera and tablet all at once with one single chord. No need to fumble through all your connections trying to figure out what goes where. Just set your electronics on one simple pad and plop into bed. I like that!

The Lacie Rugged Hard Drive is awesome. I dropped two computers from two feet above when knocking over a TV Stand in Thailand last year and everything fell right on top of this little hard drive. It took a beating and it had an huge dent and a seal was broken open right on the part that said “void warranty if seal broken” Imagine our surprise when we took it into Lacie upon our return and after they took a look at it, they decided that it was still under warranty. Sure, the seal was broken, but it wasn’t by us trying to pry it open. It was clearly because of impact that it broke open and therefore, it was covered.

It holds 1 Terrabyte of storage and it is important to store all your photos and videos from your travels, You don’t want all your memories erased!

Got more ideas on great electronics for travel? Head over to Amazon to shop Shop Amazon’s Black Friday Week

It’s Black Friday after all, aren’t you supposed to be shopping right now!

For more holiday gift ideas, check out our previous posts…

• Holiday Gift Ideas for the Adventure Traveler
• Gift Ideas for the Adventurous Dad

With a claim like that who wouldn’t want this camera. So when I was approached by Olympus to be one of their camera testers and review their gear I immediately wanted to get my hands on the Olympus E-P2 .

Putting the Olympus E-P2 through its paces in Mongolia

Where could I put this camera to the real test? As an Adventure travel photographer I wanted to put the micro four thirds camera through what I would normally put my DSLR through. If I was going to use this camera it had to stand up to the everyday bumps, challenging shooting conditions and be easy to use as well. What better test then to take the E-P2 on our next adventure The Mongol Rally.

Putting it to the Test

As I packed my bag for the rally the Olympus camera already seemed to fit with my kit. It packed nicely next to my other gear and did not take up too much space. This was key as there would be 4 of us in a small car driving from London to Mongolia for the next 5 weeks and space was at a premium.

I brought a few lenses with me, namely the Olympus 17mm 2.8 Pancake Lens and the 14-40 kit lens. I also had the Olympus VF-2 Electronic Viewfinder which came in very handy.

The first thing I loved about this camera is the way it felt in my hands. Sturdy and comfortable. This is always my biggest complaint about compact cameras. They just seem too flimsy. I want a camera that feels like I am holding something of quality, not something that might break at any time.

Next., I was impressed with the layout of the controls. Having convenient controls such as…..at the tip of your fingers rather than having to dig through the menu certainly makes for a much better user experience. My only complaint would be that the thumbwheel on the right hand side of the camera can be moved accidentaly too easy. Since it adjusts the EV compensation it can be a little frustrating. Perhaps a push in and turn feature would make things easier. If you do need to navigate through the menu this can be a little daunting for a first time Olympus user. It is time consuming.

Enter the Super Control Menu.

The Olympus Super Control Panel

Olympus has made it easy to navigate all the essential controls at the touch of a button. Just press the OK button in the middle of the compass and then press the info button. This brings up a screen that gives you all the pertinent settings that you can set without having to navigate through all the sub menus of the normal menu system. Genius!

The Olympus E-P2  has a good selection of shooting modes. For me I only really use 3 modes: Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority and Manual. But for people who like to get creative or just use the point and shoot mode the E-P2  offers some good options. iAuto, Program, Movie Mode are all pretty much self explanitory. But here is a breakdown of the Art and Scene modes:

• Art Modes:  Art modes include pop art, pinhole, light tone, grainy film, diorama, soft-focus, pale/light color, and cross-process
• Scene Modes: Landscape, portrait, macro, children, high key, low key, DIS mode, nature macro, candle, sunset,  sport, night scene, night portrait, landscape + portrait, documents, panorama, fireworks, and beach/snow

So as you can see they give you lots of options to get creative and deal with set shooting scenes. If you want to know more about all the shooting modes mentioned above click here.

Using my Olympus E-P2 in the field

In-Body Image Stabilization

One of the things that sets the Olympus E-P2  apart from it’s counterparts is the in-body image stabilization. Other Micro four thirds cameras offer IS within the lenses. This works fine but are usually only available on the zooms and longer lenses. The wider faster lenses are not equipped with this. Having the image stabilization in the body makes a big difference when not using IS lenses. In addition to the image stabilization the Olympus has a vibrating sensor plate for dust prevention which came in very handy when we were dealing with windy and dusty conditions in Kazakhstan and Mongolia. Not a single spec of dust even though I was changing lenses in some dodgy situations.

The electronic viewfinder that comes with it is a welcome accessory as the screen can be hard to see in direct sunlight. I did use the camera almost exclusively with the VF-2 and would recommend you do the same. The big downfall here is that it adds significantly to the bulk of the camera. It goes from something you could fit in your coat pocket to something that would fit nicely in a small camera bag.

Posing with my Olympus E-P2 camera

Conclusion

Over all the Olympus E-P2  is a camera I would buy. I feel that the pros far outweigh the cons. To have a camera that shoots high quality images, is easy to use, durable and compact enough to carry with me wherever I go makes the Olympus E-P2  a welcome addition to my camera kit.

Although I hear they just came out with the E-P3 with faster auto focus and other features. May have to give that one a try!

The Santa Clause Parades are taking place, the cold winter wind is blowing and Father Winter is right around the corner, but we can put off the chill for a few more hours as we transport you to places lik Norway, Cambodia and Ethiopia.

So, Where’s your coffee? 

Enjoy these travel articles for this Saturday morning.

The Life of Anjci brings us a wonderful pictorial with commentary about her trip of a lifetime to Norway: The Land of the Midnight Sun. We have yet to make it to Scandinavia but it has moved a notch or 10 higher on our list after following her journey. Make sure to stick around through the entire post, the photos from Lofoten get even better and the scenery from the ship is astounding! We gotta get ourselves to Norway! 

2 Turkeys and a Rope realize their dream of traveling to the Northern Reaches of Ethiopia. Surviving a trek with an armed guard who they aptly nicknamed shithead and surviving the stone throwing that we know all too well that comes from passing by Ethiopian’s adorable children, they stubbornly walked sans mule. Was it worth it? Oh yeah, in Monkeying Around in the Simian’s they arrive to be treated to Ethiopian Coffee (the best we’ve ever had too!) with the highlight of witnesses a herd of Ibex and the Gelada Baboon. Watch out for those baboons though, Dave was  chased by some vicious ones when we rode our bikes through Africa!

Alex in Wonderland brings back fond memories as she talks about her bicycle through Cambodia’s Angkor Wat. One can never tire of seeing photos of this extraordinary temple. Looks like she and the girls had a great day and we really enjoyed scrolling through her photo story of her time there. In Angkor Wat by Bicycle, she offers some great tips regarding how to rent a bike and what routes to take. Enjoy!

Travel With Kat has some great articles over at Travels with Kat and it is worth perusing her website for longer than just a quick stop by. However it was this snapshot that caught my eye this week of Gambian Women Looking So Colourful. What perfect way to transport yourself away from the Canadian winter than to look at this shot of women going home from the market. If only we all could look so relaxed and put together during our shopping excursions.

We’ve only just discovered The Wolfmaan a fellow Canadian character that hikes barefoot through Ontario’s gorgeous wilderness. This video explores the Limehouse Conservation Area in Limehouse, Ontario Canada. We’ve walked through quite a few conservation areas in Ontario, but we’ve never known what we were witnessing. You see a lot of old buildings and broken down bridges, flora and fauna and awesome rock formations that we didn’t know anything about. Wolfmaan explains all that we see and makes me want to go for a hike right now!

I just love the NVR Guys and have been reading their inspirational travel website for a couple of years. Well, guess what? It’s been 5 years since they left their old lives behind to change to the No Vacation Required lifestyle. To celebrate, The 5 Years of Their NVR Lifestyle they talk about what started it all, what they’ve been up to and what you can read about in the future. If you’re not following NVR Guys, you should be. They’re completely inspiring, positive and great story tellers.

Speaking of a No Vacation Required Lifestyle, Wanderlust and Lipstick is holding a travel writing contest for female writers! We met Beth in Mexico last spring and find her to be another inspirational, positive and creative person. She runs tours, shares tips and writes about exotic destinations such as Papua New Guinea and Bhutan! So, if you’ve always dreamt of being a travel writer and wanted to travel to exotic destinations head over to the Wander Women Writer Contest for more details.

]]> http://theplanetd.com/travel-writinground-up/feed/ 1 http://theplanetd.com/highlights-of-travel-stories-around-the-web/ http://theplanetd.com/highlights-of-travel-stories-around-the-web/#comments Sat, 12 Nov 2011 10:00:05 +0000 debndave http://theplanetd.com/?p=22827 As the weather grows colder it takes a little longer to get yourself up and running on a Saturday morning. When fall approaches, we like to sit indoors for a little bit longer and enjoy an extra cup of coffee. It’s our time to catch up on the news, read the paper, or more recently read our favourite blogs. We have been discovering some great new reads out there in the blog-o-sphere. There are fun posts, honest post, touching posts and informational posts.

Travel bloggers cover the whole spectrum of writing and here are a few highlights of some great reads that we came across this week.

Be inspired by Alex Hibbert as he crosses 350 Miles of Glaciers and Ice Caps in Greenland from Sea Level to 8000 Feet. It is a feet until itself, but he and his Wiki planned to do this in 8 days and 9 hours. If you are into extreme adventure or just in plain awe of these ultra athletes, check out more of the story and see how they fared taking on this incredible challenge at Life is All About Decisions.

Time Travel Turtle has a post talking about the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. Human’s suffered greatly but the eco-system and wildlife are thriving. Mother Nature has a way of working itself out. It is human beings that seem to have the difficult time fitting in with the planet. Read more at Rising from the Waters.

This is quite the amazing video. As someone put in on Twitter, It is a stunning arial ballet. This video captures skydiving free falls in slow motion. It was a collaboration between top French and Australian Sky Divers to create a work of art in the skay. At 2 minutes, the video is twice the length of a typical free fall. Enjoy this video here. 

Maria shared this post with us and we wanted to share it with you,  Travel and a Broken Heart and How They Changed My Life Forever. It is a raw and honest letter to her ex boyfriend thanking him for helping her grow. We have all gone through heartbreak in the world and this letter shows that you can come out on the other end a happier and more vibrant person.

Have you eaten some strange food during your travels? We’re adventurous when we travel but when it comes to food, we mostly leave the crazier choices on the menu for someone else to eat. Kat of Travel with Kat is on the opposite end of the spectrum, she normally goes for the more exotic item on the menu and in A Slice of Lemon with your Barnacles, she highlights one of her more exotic dishes from Cape Verde.  

Have you tried something off the menu and have it not turn out to be a pleasant experience? We’d love to hear it.

We really enjoy Sherry Ott’s travel blog and how she comes up with unique concepts when talking about her travels. When this post showed up in my StumbleUpon shares, I just had to share it with all of you. Take a look at life around the world through the lens capturing laundry in Spin Cycle, Laundry Around the World.

Jerusalem is somewhere we know very little about. I can only imagine what a fascinating experience it would be to be there during the Muslim month of Ramdam and the start of the Sabbath. They share a photostory with commentary of their time in Isreal’s holiest city in Sabbath in City, Friday in Jerusalem.

I really enjoyed reading this travel narrative by Keith of Traveling Savage. You don’t read a lot of writing like this on the Internet and I felt like I was right there with him while he tasted spirits in Scotland.  Read about his experience at the Ardbeg distillery in Scotland in All Bark and All Bite: The Beasts of Ardbeg 

We enjoyed our first week with Travel and Escape Online and shared a story about visiting Mongolia called Magical Mongolia. We’ll be writing weekly for them and hope that you pop by to enjoy our articles. They have a bit of a different feel from what we write at ThePlanetD. It’s still all us we just write more of a destination piece in a broader voice. If you are wondering what Travel and Escape is all about, check out From the Editor, Welcome to Travel and Escape

Now, get yourself and extra cup of coffee and head over to these blogs to read more! 

We sat watching some trashy American crime drama (dubbed, of course, making it that much worse), waiting for the inevitable. It was my last night in Florence. Tomorrow I would get on an early flight back to the United States – leaving just as easily as I had arrived. I gazed over at my Italian host mother, Rebecca. Over the course of the last four months we had become family. We ate together, talked over the breakfast table, watched Italian soap operas – nothing extravagant. With us, it was normal, everyday life. It was strange, though. Despite my only semi-fluent Italian skills, I felt like she understood me better than a lot of people. During my first few days in Florence, I told Rebecca how nervous I was to start my internship at a Florence museum. I would have to do a job interview completely in Italian on my first day. Rebecca looked at me with one of those looks. I swear it’s a look only Italian women can give you – like they’re reading every thought in your head (and they usually are). She said, “You must be a Cancer. You’re quiet, but determined.” Bingo.

“You know how I knew it was right?” she responded. “Because I’ve experienced enough things in life to know when something’s right and when something’s wrong.

Also during those first few days, Rebecca and I started a ritual that we would continue for the whole four months I was there. Every morning, afterClaudio (Rebecca’s wonderful husband) had left for work, we would cross over the Ponte alla Grazie and hike into the hills surrounding Florence. While these hikes were initially intended to get Rebecca in shape, they quickly became our little girl talk times. They were my informal Italian instruction, and Rebecca’s chance to give me mini life lessons from her, erm, colorful past. That’s where I learned that she and Claudio had married after knowing each other for two months – which, incidentally, was three months before I had arrived. You want to talk about taking risks, talk to these two. We also talked about books, languages, traveling, men, etc. One day she told me that she had only received her high school education. It took me by surprise, mostly because she seemed so worldly, so knowledgeable. She said, “Ann, the important thing about education is that you never stop learning. Never stop questioning. If you do that, that makes you way smarter than most people with college degrees.”

You Just Know When Something is Right

On one of our walks, I finally worked up the courage to ask how she and Claudio met. I don’t know why I was nervous. I think I was most nervous about the response I would get. It seemed so strange to me that two people would decide to get married after only two months. “You know how I knew it was right?” she responded. “Because I’ve experienced enough things in life to know when something’s right and when something’s wrong. I’ve traveled to lots of different places, and I’ve met lots of different people. And I’ve failed a lot, too. But all of that was necessary so that I would know when things were right.” You have to admit, the woman’s good.

Moving On

Rebecca led me out of the door of the apartment. She stopped before closing the door. “Don’t you even think about crying,” she ordered in that frank, brusque sort of way – something I had really grown to love about her. We made our way to Piazza Santa Croce to wait for a taxi I was hoping would not come. Rebecca, in one of her rare moments of tenderness, put her arm around me. “Piccola, remember all the wonderful things we did together – our walks, our talks. They’re beautiful memories, and they’ll bring you back to Italy someday.”

This morning I wake up to my cell phone alarm vibrating on the nightstand next to me. Still only half-awake I stumble onto the terrace to admire the scenery. Over the burnt orange roof of the house, I can see the hillside town of Porto Maurizio. It’s always an incredible view, but at this time of day it’s even better – the yellow plaster practically glows in the morning sunlight. The sea glistens in the distance, and I know I’m lucky for a lot of reasons. There is really no reason why I should be living in Italy this summer. A series of lucky coincidences brought me back to this country that I love, but I know there’s more to it than that. As I come in from the terrace, a pile of letters on the desk catches my eye. They are months’ worth of correspondence from Rebecca, a careful record of the year that has passed since the last time we saw each other.

One Year Later

I look at myself in the mirror. A lot has changed over the past year – or maybe it’s just me. Upon my return to the United States, I made a lot of changes in my life. I broke up with my long-term boyfriend. I started being a lot more honest with myself, and with others. And for the first time in my life, I gave up on having a plan. I guess I hadn’t realized how little I knew about myself until I met someone who was completely sure of who she was. In that little apartment in Florence, I met a woman who taught me what it is to be in love with life, with a man, with myself. I made a friend who showed me it was OK to take a risk, to follow my gut, to get hurt. I look back at the pile of letters. I know it’s her words that gave me the drive to come back to Italy this summer. I know it’s my time with her that is pushing me forward, urging me to travel more and encounter new experiences. I don’t think she’ll ever fully understand the impact she’s had on my life – it’s something I can barely express in English, let alone in Italian. But I’ll be seeing Rebecca again in just a few short weeks, and I have a feeling she’ll know. She’ll give me one of those looks, and she’ll know just know – that I’m a little stronger, a little braver. And maybe that’s all that it takes. Maybe those are the only words I need.

This post was written by Ann B. Erickson as part of a series of inspirational moments in travel. Her blog is called Wonder Lust and can be found at http://annberickson.wordpress.com/

So, Enjoy!

This is absolutely the most amazing thing I have ever seen over at Chill Hour. 150 Metres underground in Poland there is a salt mine that was used for centuries. Sure, there are a lot of salt mines in the world, but this one has chapels, statues, a giant chandelier and even a recreation of the Seven Dwarves. When we go to Poland, we are seeking this place out. Check it out for yourselves in Salt Mine, an Astounding Subterranean Salt Cathedral.

Jeanette of Vancouver has a great photo story inspired by her dad. Having carried her Kodak Brownie Hawkeye Flash camera everywhere with her since having acquiring it from her dad who bought it in the 50′s, she shares some of her favourite photos from her travels taken with this classic camera! Out of Canada, Me and My Dad

Meet Plan Go happened just a few weeks ago and everyone is talking about how to take a career break. Many people are working too hard these days and burning themselves out. Nothing is more rejuvinating than a trip around the world and Katie Going Global shares her tips on How I financed my Career Break. 

We love travelling as a couple and wish that everyone could experience the joy of being in a relationship like we do. It seems that the world has lost it’s ability to make marriages work. We want to make sure that people know that a happy and healthy marriage is possible. We’ve been together 20 years and enjoy each other more now than ever! I know that not everyone has this luxury of finding their soulmate, but if you happen to run into them on the road, Go Girl Guides has some great advice for dealing with the obstacles that people face when Finding Love When Traveling. 

I love this post at Explore for a Year. Lily is coming up on her 1 year travel anniversary and discusses putting life into perspective from the Egypt Landscapes. The photos are great featuring some of our favourite sites in Egypt and the sentiment is wonderful. Life is a learning experience and over time we all figure out that things happen for a reason. Read it here at Egypt Landcapes that Put Life into Perspective.

I love this fun post at Easy Hiker. Have you ever read signs, menus or notices in English during your travels to a country that doesn’t have English as its first language? There are some great snapshots of some signs that Easy Hiker encountered during his travels. The “Constipation” translation is my favourite.  Check it out at We were a Bit…Lost in Translation

Sonia’s Travels shared a great video with us from Tulum this week and we have checked out her youtube channel since. She’s got a great video series and is very charismatic on camera. Check out her video that caught our attention at Sacred Sunrise on the Beach

If your a fan of Cirque du Soleil you’ll love this post by the Jungle Princess. She was invited to the Michael Jackson premiere in Montreal and shares a behind the scenes glimpse into the worldwide phenomenon. From training to costumes and make-up to wigs, its an interesting photo journey in Cirque du Soleil, Behind the Scenes. 

If you haven’t thought of visiting Iran before, this post by Chasing the Unexpected will change your mind. Looking at her photographs from Abyaneh. takes you to a different time. It seems as if it hasn’t changed for centuries and the photographs are wonderuful. Check it out for yourself at Stepping back in Time in Ancient Abyaneh, Iran.

Think you’d have the guts to crawl into a hollow tree and into a burial cave filled with bones? I thought I was brave going to the Catacombs of Paris, but we’ve got nothing on crawling through a pitch black cave while trying not to disrupt the teeth and bones that lay in the path.What is even more cool? She got to do this in the exotic Cook Islands. Check out more of her experience on Getting Dirty in a Burial Cave in the Cook Islands. 

And Finally, if you missed them this week, we had two fantastic and very different interviews go out into the travel world.
Never Ending Voyage asks the tough questions like, What’s the biggest challenge of nomadic life, What were the high and low points of our Mongol Rally Adventure and Will we ever settle down in one place.
Find out which celebrity we’d like to travel with at RV Parks National. Think you know? We pretty much answer the same people all the time so if you follow along on a regular basis, I bet you can figure it out!

What we wonder is, what is with all the hating going on between travel bloggers?

Has everyone forgotten why they got into this business? Is it not for the love of  travel?

Serenity-Love-Travel

When we started in this community nearly 3 years ago, we were overwhelmed with the outpour of love and support by our fellow bloggers. Now when we watch the threads on forums and on certain websites, we are amazed with the bitterness and anger coming out of people’s mouths. We all run our business differently and that’s ok. We really don’t care what other people do with behind the scenes of their travel blogs. If they want to clog it with gambling and casino advertising that’s their choice. If they want to keep it straight and narrow and not run one ad, that’s good for them too.

It is up to the individual on how much money they need or want.

But now we see people fighting and ratting each other out to Google, there is name calling and arguments. This is over travel blogging! What have we become? Why is everyone so concerned with focusing on what everyone else is doing?

What is wrong with everyone?

Travel is supposed to be exciting and fun. When we go to a travel website we want to be inspired. We want to learn something about another part of the world that we didn’t know about.  Travel is about getting away from the stresses of everyday life and living a fantasy for a few days. Travel is beautiful and wonderful. It opens people’s eyes to ignorance and prejudice. 

Travel, Escape, Inspire

We love travel blogging and we hope to be able to do it for the rest of our lives. We have our ups and downs with starting a new business and we live through a roller coaster of extreme highs and lows each day. The one thing we have always been able to count on is sharing and discussing ideas with our fellow travel bloggers.

When a website comes out with hateful and hurtful commentary, it saddens us. We hope that people don’t turn on one another and that people won’t be afraid to discuss with each other anymore. We are all pioneers in the travel blogging world. We’re the leaders and together we should be able grow and support one another. We shouldn’t be turning into the police and turning our fellow bloggers in to Big Brother.

Peace, Harmony, Travel

We would love to be able to run an ad free site and we are working towards that goal by working in television and developing partnerships and sponsorships. We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel but unfortunately we aren’t independently wealthy. For now have to feed ourselves and be able to put fuel in our car for all the meetings we’ve been going to these days to make the transition from a blogger that is merely getting by to travel blogger that is making a great living. We hope that people don’t resent us for selling ad space to travel companies that we research beforehand but we have to do what we have to do. We can’t worry about what other people are thinking or doing, we would drive ourselves insane if we did.

What we can do is look to our fellow travel bloggers for inspiration and advice.

We are so proud of the people that we know it travel blogging. We have watched our peers grow and achieve success and they inspire us to do better ourselves.

People Inspiring in Travel Blogging

Keith of Velvet Escape and Janice of SoloTraveler have started GBN and created successful personas of being leaders in the public speaking field.

Sherry Ott of Ottsworld has started Meet Plan Go with Michaela Potter and I hope that they get a multimillion dollar venture capital investment for their amazing idea. (maybe they’ll hire us if they do!) We’ve seen companies achieve great success in this sense like our pals at Tripping. We are so proud to know them and to be a small blip on their radar.

GoPackpaking is someone that we have always looked to for his business savvy. He has been sustaining his travels since 2007 and now he is not only sustaining himself, he is making a great living and is another leader in the industry.

Nora of the Professional Hobo starred in a TV series last year. When she told us about that at a Toronto Travel Massive, we were so excited for her. It is something we’ve wanted to do and to see a fellow blogger achieve our dream, gave us hope that we can do it too!

Ken Kaminesky landed the cover of National Geographic with his amazing photography. That’s National Geographic people! I need not say more?

Everything-Everywhere , Legal Nomads, Wild Junket, EarthXplorer, Uncornered Market and Nomadic Matt are all a part of G Adventures Wanderers in Residence. They are traveling the world representing this well known travel company as they write about their tours.

Wandering Trader and YTravel Blog are writing tips for Problogger. Problogger! They are starting to become such authorities in their field that they are giving advice to the entire blog world out there!

Andy Hayes owns an entire network of travel businesses. We have learned so much from him and admire what he has accomplished.

We’ve started working on CTV NewsChannel doing a weekly segment talking travel, we are announcing a partnership next week that we are excited about and we are so proud to be sponsored by American Express Canada.

There are so many other people out there that are supportive, inspiring and helpful and we don’t want to say that it is everyone is being hurtful. We have just noticed that it is easier to jump on the bandwagon of negativity rather than positivity and we feel the need to remind ourselves and everyone else to be optimistic. Great things are happening in this community and we can all grow and achieve success together. We don’t need to turn on one another to claw our way to the top. There’s room enough for everyone.

I haven’t mentioned everyone here, but each week we are going to feature our favourite blogs on Saturdays, so stay tuned for more! 

So what I am saying is we should all be proud of our fellow travel bloggers. If they are making $5000 a month selling ads, good for them if they are remaining pure to traditional blogging and not selling any sort of advertising or partnership, good for them too! Let’s leave the backstabbing and low blows to the political blogs. There’s enough hate out there to go around for everyone.

It’s our job as travel bloggers to spread the love of the world and make it a better place.

At least that is how we see it.

He answered inspiration…. and he was right!

Overlooking Blue Nile Gorge in Ethiopia

We always stress that anyone can do it. We’re a couple of average people with average problems that have gone out into the world and changed our lives. We cycled the continent of Africa and I hold the title of women’s champion of the world’s longest cycling race for 2008! We’ve driven through Siberia and Dave has jumped off nearly every major cliff you can think of.

We both have fears and we both face challenges but we are here to tell you You Can!

New Series…

In the coming weeks, we want you to share your travel experiences with us. Help inspire our readers and your friends get out of their rut. In the fast pace of todays world and the ongoing recession, times are tough. It is important for people to see that living the dream isn’t only for the rich and famous.

Do you have a trip or experience that changed your life? It’s doesn’t have to be a long trip, it doesn’t have to be a short trip. It could be a simple weekend retreat that changed your life. I know that I recently read a post at Joanna Haugen.com where Joanna’s entire outlook changed from a weekend surrounded by inspiring women. What changed you? 

When Did the Light Bulb Turn On For You?

We’re looking for an event that changed you as a person and made you look at life in a different way.

Maybe you went on a retreat and were inspired to start your own business. Maybe you were introduced to a new culture that made you realize that you didn’t need all your material possessions.

Maybe it was something as simple as 5 weeks in Thailand where you tried new things and came home with a whole new outlook. That is what happened to us! Before our travels to Thailand in 2000, we spent our weekends eating dinner out, going to a movie and then having drinks afterwards. After Thailand, we came home and signed up for Rock Climbing and Scuba Diving. We bought mountain bikes and a seasons pass to snowboard at Blue Mountain. We never spent another weekend wondering what we were going to do with our lives.

If you have an moment like that in your lives, we want to hear about it. Let’s start a movement together. Lets show people that it is the little things in life that can change a person forever and the middle class is taking back fun! I don’t want to watch the Kardashians living it up with their millions, I don’t care to see Paris Hilton globetrotting around the world. Even Brad and Angelina are unrelateable. Sure they do great things, but Angelina Jolie was born into celebrity, Brad was born with unattainable good looks and the two of them have life by the ears. What about the rest of us? We can too! We are all special and interesting and this series is going to prove it.

So get your stories into us now!

• We’re looking for 600-1000 words of your own amazing experience including photos and even video if you have it.
• Make sure to include your bio with all your social media accounts so we can promote your inspiring moment like mad.
• Give us links to the websites that you want us to promote and we’ll share it all with our 100,000 + monthly readers, 24,000 Twitter followers and nearly 4000 facebook fans. We’ll Stumble and Google Plus it and make sure to give you all the credit!

When we were starting out, we had so much to say and wanted more people to hear our story. When we wrote for the blogs that we admire and enjoy, we were excited and thrilled to see our story on their page. We were even more excited when we watched our website grow because we were making new friends and gaining a new audience.

We know that people enjoy our stories, but they’ve heard it all before from us. They want to hear from you, the average person behind the scenes living an extraordinary life.

Show us what you got baby!

• You can contact us via our contact form and we’ll send you our email address.
• Send us a Tweet or DM Us on Twitter and we’ll get back to you with our details
• Or Leave us a message on our Facebook Fanpage.

We’ll send you our email address and get you in the rotation to join the movement and be inspired!