Welcome to the New Nomadderwhere!

Last year, my site took on a major change - from a free little ditty, dark and unappealing, to a self-hosted site, clean and click-worthy. Today is the start of another new beginning, a switch from a travel blog to something more than tips and stories. Though I'm still available and happy to answer questions about traveling as a young lad or lass, I'm much more interested in discussing angles on travel of a conceptual nature. Confusing, yes. Explanation follows.

My passion for travel comes from an interest in the concept itself. Why do we travel? When are we actually traveling? What is it we seek to learn when we move about this earth or move about our own understanding of this earth? Ya know...stuff like that. And so, I've decided to develop a new site format that accentuates these approaches to travel while also bringing more attention to my archives, on which I've invested much time.

What's New

The Navigation: Instead of highlighting my individual big travel experiences (a.k.a. Semester at Sea, World Traveler Internship, etc.), this navigation brings the focus to the different styles of posts I crank out.

Art + Travel are my artistic attempts to express travel sentiment with video, photo essays, or prose and poetry. And with a tagline like "Capturing the Art of Travel," I wanted to make sure you, the reader, can easily find my own gatherings in this quest.
Conceptual Travel posts bring up "whys" and "what ifs" in the travel realm. These stand to really challenge your own understanding of your nomadic nature.
Info + Advice is to make sure I'm still offering the tidbits of information many of you seek, including Q&As, Street Smarts, and updates on the world of travel and its community.
World Narratives presents the backbone of Nomadderwhere, the narratives from the road. It is here that you can still follow along vicariously to my big journeys around the world.

First Timer's Guide: Many of you are new to the site daily. In an attempt to spell my site out for the new reader, I've made a sum-up document, downloadable and descriptive of my favorite postings and why I have a blog.

Layout: Fewer static pages featured, fewer distractions, more focus on the content - that's the purpose behind the redesign. Now that my job allows me to fulfill interests like video-making and writing centered on travel, doubling up on that sort of work load is difficult for me. Maintaining Nomadderwhere with the same amount of content and quality as I did before has been nearly impossible. Therefore, the new layout is aimed at letting me accentuate the work I've done up to this point rather than highlighting only the most recent and making you wait for the next morsel of content.

Schedule: There will be no more extensive weekly schedule of postings but rather various quality work posted when it's ready.

Changes to Expect

No more Photos of the Day. All my images can be found on my Flickr account.
Fewer featured Videos of the Week. Those that will be published will be dictated by inspiration, not the sun cycle.
Written posts ranging from narrative to conceptual to artistic to practical on a regular basis.

Please feel free to tell me your thoughts on the redesign and the new direction of Nomadderwhere. Contact me or send a video, and I'll be happy to listen and respond.

Thanks for visiting, following, and contributing to Nomadderwhere and celebrating its second massive redesign!

A Flattering Interview with PolyRepublic

Beti from PolyRepublic launched her new website this week, and I'm thrilled to be one of her first profiles.

Poly Republic’s mission statement is to celebrate women who are daring enough to try to change the world or carve out a place for themselves in it.

Check out the full profile by clicking the image below.

Photoblog: Final Crew Meal at Mexico City's W Hotel

Flashing back to the June Mexico trip with ProjectExplorer.org, I thought I'd memorialize a fantastic project-closing meal we had at the W Hotel in Mexico City. We relaxed after a hectic day of capturing on film Mexico's complex and difficult history. It was a well-deserved and tasty spread. [All photos were taken by Vijaya Selvaraju.]

Guerrero Negro Seared Sea Scallops

Handmade Brie Cheese Baguette

Mexican Black Oyster Mushroom Soup

Citric Pesto Crusted Ahi Tuna

Coriander & Lemon Marinated Chicken Breast

Parmesan Mashed Potatoes

Me Enjoying Myself

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Ancho Chilli

Not Jack Johnson's Banana Pancake

Pina Colada Sweet Pineapple and Cardamom Ravioli

Che and Jack Agree. It's All About Movement.

I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move. -Robert Louis Stevenson

In the last two years, I read two books I found interesting (though not astounding) by two men with fetishes for movement. I found their stories ones I would only enjoy vicariously, but I definitely related to their desires to be on the road. Reading both of these at times I was myself on the move, maybe this is why they resonated.

Today, I wanted to highlight some of of their passages. Please welcome Che Guevara and Jack Kerouac.

Che Guevara on Movement

[The following are excerpts from Che's Motorcycle Diaries.]

It is there, in the final moments, for people whose farthest horizon has always been tomorrow, that one comprehends the profound tragedy circumscribing the life of the proletariat the world over.

Before Ernesto (a.k.a. Che) was conducting guerilla warfare across Latin America, he was motoring across it as a spry 23 year-old with a passion to move. This passion, as I recall reading this on my Big Journey, was the catalyst for his narratives as well as their downfall. While some of his adventures were exciting and exotic, some of his daily jottings were as thrilling as, "We drove all day Tuesday and found a little place connected to a restaurant to crash for the night. The next day we got up and fixed La Poderosa and rode all day until we found another place to sleep." Riveting.

There we understood that our vocation, our true vocation, was to move for eternity along the roads and seas of the world.

The real appeal for me was the idea of jetting across an expansive and diverse continent like South America. He crossed the Andes, met up with the Amazon River, and drank his mate in between long excursions on the open road.

What we had in common - our restlessness, our impassioned spirits, and a love for the open road.

Ernesto blazed these numerous trails with his friend Alberto Granado, but unsurprisingly, he met many people along the way with which to relate his impulses. While on my own excursions, I've often pondered the connective thread between all wandering souls, and though I think it's got to be more detailed and profound than his above description, I think Che is onto something.

What do we leave behind when we cross each frontier? Each moment seems split in two; melancholy for what was left behind and the excitement of entering a new land.

Are we that move the ones most lost or most in tune with the nomadic nature of man?

Jack Kerouac on Movement

[The following are excerpts from Jack's On The Road.]

We were all delighted, we all realized we were leaving confusion and nonsense behind and performing our one noble function of the time, move. (Part 2, Ch. 6)

This is word-jazz, a book that makes the classics list and calls for a straight-through reading session. This novel was more favorable to me when I read more pages in one sitting, because it has a flow, almost like reading Virginia Woolf for its realtime, stream of consciousness rhythm. Just as Jack rode stripes across the continent, he blazed through his own narrative, moving faster than his headlights.

Why think about that when all the golden land's ahead of you and all kinds of unforeseen events wait lurking to surprise you and make you glad you're alive to see? (Part 2, Ch. 6)

I admire Kerouac’s drive to find an honest and original form of expression, just like Van Gogh. For me, that’s what makes this book a classic.

What is that feeling when you're driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? — it's the too-huge world vaulting us, and it's good-by. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies. (Part 2, Ch. 8 )

Reading this novel while on the World Traveler Intern, his descriptions like the one above made so much sense. I couldn't process the speed and activity of each day, but I kept leaning forward awaiting the next day. It was about a whirlwind, not the simple digestion of one experience.

They have worries, they're counting the miles, they're thinking about where to sleep tonight, how much money for gas, the weather, how they'll get there--and all the time they'll get there anyway, you see. (Part 3, Ch. 5)

Profound, Jack.

Our battered suitcases were were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life. (Part 3, Ch. 5)

Jack was impassioned by the constant change. I think my brain starts to trip around when I think of a stretch of road as symbolic of far more than the pavement ahead.

What's your road, man?--holyboy road, madman road, rainbow road, guppy road, any road. It's an anywhere road for anybody anyhow. (Part 4, Ch. 1)

Though Jack's antics and tendencies went against the accepted norm in America at the time, his passion to do so was very American of him, buzzing around the country "nutty with independence."

Behind us lay the whole of America and everything Dean and I had previously known about life, and life on the road. We had finally found the magic land at the end of the road and we never dreamed the extent of the magic. (Part 4, Ch. 5)

Any lasting thoughts from you on movement and the road? Are you a fan of movement for movement's sake, or are you the anti-Kerouac/Guevara? Does this method of living and traveling make little sense to you? Let's get conceptual here.

A Paucity of Postings

You may have noticed an obvious drop-off in the amount of writings and videos I've created for the website in the last couple months. And this is why:

I'm on Vacation

Since the 3rd of September, I've been on the road with my family and will continue to be until the middle of the month. We drove from Indianapolis to the Atlantic Ocean and have been doing what we Clarks do best: turning into leather bags on the beach/poolside/bar-side. Especially now that I'm in preliminary brainstorming sessions about an eventual relocation, I really appreciate the family time and seeing my niece learn words like "yesh" (a la Michael Scott) and try her foot at walking.

The Mexico Series is Almost Complete

If I'm not eating, sleeping, or throwing my niece in the air, I'm working on the blogs, videos, and photographs for our Mexico series, to be launched on the 27th of this month. The challenge of creating videos complex enough for 12th graders but comprehensible for 3rd graders has been a big one to overcome, especially in cases of history and warfare, when we don't have History Channel-like reenactments or stock footage to use. When it's between paid work that I love and unpaid work that I love (a.k.a. this site), I'm sure you can understand why my allegiances are attracted to one side.

I'm Redesigning Nomadderwhere

Nomadderwhere.com

On September 23rd, thanks to the help of Jenn Vargas, I'm launching the redesign for Nomadderwhere, one year after launching my newly self-hosted site. Because my use of Nomadderwhere is evolving in a very specific direction, I need my site to reflect this change. The content will be geared toward a specific reader, because to try and please everyone is a recipe for failure and exhaustion.

My Best Friend's Having a Baby

Our parents were friends in high school. We were neighbors throughout childhood. We've been friends since our infant years. My friend Hayley is having a baby, and I'm going to be wholly distracted by this addition to the Wabash community.

September is proving to be a busy month, and I'm not getting the opportunities I normally do to create for personal reasons. As I evolve toward the new design on the 23rd, I'll be condensing my posting schedule to be solely about quality than quantity. If you have any suggestions or comments on this move, please send them my way.

I thought it was due time to give you an update. I'm still dedicated to this little property of mine, and it's about to get a lot better.

Q&A: Travel video soundtracks & ethics

Q&A is a series on Nomadderwhere that uses questions posed by readers and commentators to address topics of travel, alternative lifestyle design, blogging, and other interests. You can expect to see this series one or two Saturdays a month right here on Nomadderwhere.com. To send in your questions, contact me! [The following dialogue occurred on Youtube under my one year compilation video.]

jkeagle: What's the music you use in this video?

Linzer32: @jkeagle That would be a little Hood Internet and Milkman. Those are two mash-up artists. I liked their energy and figured samplers wouldn't be so stingy on copyright laws, which I'm getting much more aware of and sensitive to these days. Trying to find stock that matches the power of copyrighted good stuff.

jkeagle: @Linzer32 Good call! If you happen to have a compiled list of "best songs" or "best practices" for travel video soundtracks, I think that would be a GREAT resource to add to your site! I know I would be interested!

A very good idea, Janelle. Thank you for prompting the following post!

I make travel videos because I want others to experience what I see and feel. I started by making slideshows (with copyrighted audio) - the modern day equivalent of projecting scratchy slides on the family room wall, the clicking of the carousel and its buzzing fan the only sounds in the room, other than the snores of family members. Even when my use of dynamic video footage increased, my abilities still relied heavily on cool audio tracks. I would pair my humdrum visuals with the awesome music I listened to on that trip. Keane in Vietnam. Zeppelin in Africa. The use of powerful, recognizable music also seemed to elicit a fitting energy that matched my actual experience. Listen to what I listened to. See what I saw. And thus, the transfer of experience is complete! Right?

No. Wow, I was misled.

Here are a couple reasons why you shouldn't make travel videos like so.

#1: It Looks like Camera (and Brain) Vomit

The idea of transferring an experience to others is the basic principal of travel documentation, in my eyes. Travel is so moving, we want our people to know just how moving it is. Here's where most people fall short of truly being accurate and compelling vehicles of travel inspiration: your images rarely speak for themselves, especially in video form. Pictures say thousands of words, more or less, but not without craft and presentation. To simply make a slideshow or a chronological chain of your camera's regurgitations is not enough to transfer the experience, and attaching your favorite song to that chain is no promise of a cohesive video or a real story.

You smelt things. Your heart fluttered. The din and clamor was unbearable and perfect. Your mind took various elements from your entire experience, highlighting some mundane or monumental moments and brushing aside some arbitrary or strong-scented others, to craft the lasting effect. Thanks to a little sifting and processing, you departed from that place with a definite opinion and feeling (which subsequently fluctuates forever with time).

Our minds edit. Our minds process. Therefore, in making accurate documentation of our experiences, we must do the same, and a huge part of that is the audio pairing. We cannot streamline the timeless practice of storytelling by laying it all out there willy nilly, nor can we cut corners by laying on soundtracks like "Life is a Highway."

#2: The Music is the Attention Flypaper

I love when casting directors assemble no-name actors and actresses to help their movie themes resonate further - no George Clooneys to suck the attention away from the good stuff.

While in Cambodia, admiring the Angkor temples in Siem Reap, I sat on a rock overlooking the complex and blared Jimi Hendrix in my ears. The stunning craftsmanship all around made me think of virtuosos, and I wanted all my senses to be amidst such dexterity and divine inspiration. When I made my video displaying these photos from Angkor, I figured pairing the visuals with Neil Young would be smart (albeit very student artwork of me).

Of course, the audio was stripped not long after posting, and my video lost any element of interest, for myself included. But even if Young's Ohio continued to give my pictures a pulse, the entire video would be less about the moving virtuosity of the temple architecture and history and more about my use and interpretation of Young's music. Everyone has their own affiliations with popular songs, bad memories and good, and there's an incredibly slim chance anyone gets your intentional pairing.

In actuality, what's truly the point of letting other people know I listened to Classic Rock while surrounded by ancient rocks? In most cases, it's better to leave the Clooneys out of the equation, and tell the story more effectively via other means.

#3: It's Breaking Basic Copyright Laws

Do whatever you want in your own private sphere (I know I have), but if you plan on publishing your videos online with copyrighted content (on YouTube, perhaps), your video page will look something like this:

The majority of my videos from Semester at Sea onto The Big Journey are stripped of audio or blocked completely, due to copyright infringement. Alas, the hooks I created to make my slideshows even remotely tolerable - with a sweet song to listen to - are gone. Unless someone really enjoys a boring, silent succession of mediocre photos, these puppies are getting dusty on the Youtube virtual shelves. All that work down the cyber drain.

©

I'd be a hypocrite in the creative industry if I felt copyrights meant nothing. I'm a creator of intangible goods as well, and I know how testy I get when due credit isn't attributed. I'm still unsure about the idea of using licensed music with a credit; it's certainly the better of the two practices. The music we allow to pulse through our ears on location (or at home) is usually a catalyst or inspiration for what we create, so it seems the best work would come from pairing your visuals with a song you already love. However, it's better to cover all your bases from the get-go, and make the habit one you can be proud of as you climb the ladder of the film industry.

The Right Music Matters

My use of copyrighted music was like attaching training wheels to beginner attempts at travel videos - attempts to transfer energy and salvage bad recipes. Though I still think it'd be sweet if I magically had all the rights in the world to publish anything I cared to, I can easily adapt to a new, and more sustainable, model of video editing that will be better for building a portfolio of work and credibility.

I'm still trying to swing both my legs onto the band wagon of stock music, being only a recent convert myself, but there really are a lot of options to choose from on the internet.

In case you're unaware, stock music (or production, royalty-free, and pre-licensed music) is available for use for anything: TV commercials, travel videos, movies, etc. Music libraries commission these works and own the rights, making it much more affordable for good music to legally pair with someone's work.

If you have a Mac, Apple supplies the creative editing software with stock audio effects and jingles. Upgrading to more extensive programs like Final Cut Pro will again supply you with great audio to work into your videos. Of course, if you don't want to use the same music as everyone else with iMovie, there are more options. Searching any of the following phrases will point you in the right direction: stock music, production music, royalty-free music, free stock music, creative-commons music, etc. Here are some resources I've found useful thus far.

If you're not too sure about stock music, I'm assuming it's because you think it sounds like bad video game tunes or something a hermit-nerd with a keyboard created in his basement over the course of seven minutes. Some of the internet's selection does in fact sound like that. If you've tapped the following resources and still cannot find the right audio for you (and your serious about this game), you should upgrade.

I used Jingle Punks for World Traveler Internship, Nakavika Project, and ProjectExplorer.org videos thus far (see here), and though I used this service for free, I think it offered some easily found, thematic music for many different videos and feels.

Music is integral. Use it properly and wisely. Let the music be a driving factor in the production of your travel videos. And if you're hoping those videos will go viral or propel you into the right industry, you had better make sure your efforts are covered by the law.

If you're looking for more great video-making resources, read Joshua Johnson's 5 Reasons Your Travel Video Sucks. It's more helpful than it sounds.

Travel Pals, China, and the Quarterlife Crisis

A tsunami smacked me on the head last Tuesday, energy and activity in one exhausting wave, rendering me not quite unconscious but with twitching eyes and a crumbling mental capacity. And I don't mean that in a bad way.

Since the dawn of this website, I've known a radiant being of 6'1" stature and a high verbal capacity. Alexis Reller was my potluck, shipboard roommate on Semester at Sea and an instant friend, even though she found my ship ID photo pre-meeting downright worrisome. Alexis and I continued to galavant around the MV Explorer and the world's ports thinking, "Gosh, how lucky am I to have a partner like this broad," only to disembark post-trip and reunite regularly for the next three years with our friend Garrett Russell.

Since then, we've tackled fifteen European countries in thirty days (on a budget) and experienced ski and road trips alongside each other. She's my ultimate travel pal, one whose friendship is instantly renaissanced upon a simple "s'up" regardless of the time between interactions.

For the last year, she's been teaching English at a university in China. Emerging from the Mother Land in one piece, she carried with her musings on communism, the ample travel opportunities of the expansive land, and the power China can have on her expats. Her first night in Indianapolis, we discussed these - and many other - topics ad nauseam, letting conversations go conceptual at the drop of an adjective. I was thrilled to be back in contact with the person who helped me hone my appreciation for the world and its powers.

Late night chats welcoming later bedtimes and early morning rises squeezing in a sense of productivity; I wired myself with caffeine and racked my brain in the afternoons for food and entertainment ideas in the Indy area. It's rare I seize the day in my own city, and I usually save those occurrences for guests. We rode thirteen miles on bikes, hit up Michael Jackson (a tribute, of course) in concert, and grabbed a beer next to a handlebar mustache at the Rathskeller. And best of all, we coexisted in the same hemisphere - nay, the same room - for six days of social splendor.

Now you know why the website has been a little barren recently.

Opening our Conversation Up

With great friends come great conversations. Instead of using seemingly-unnecessary, elevated text to relay my fun week with a friend, I wanted to pose one of our musings for a more public debate. What's the point of having a blog versus a journal without calling for commentary?

Question: Does the quarterlife period virtually guarantee a change in character, often catalyzed by extreme factors, such as living in China? Or is the quarterlife a time to expect your friend pool to thin out automatically, as we all branch and swerve different ways, ultimately becoming the persons we were meant to be all along or will be formed into?

Alexis felt the country of China does weird things to people, mainly to the expats she knew, but I also felt people go through distinct changes post-graduation from college or simply in this transition period to "job world." It couldn't be just China, based on my own exposure to crises stateside, but I can only imagine what a year in Mao Country can do to a person.

And on that note, I'm sure both Alexis and I have changed since our high school or college years. We could very well be among the population of vastly changed individuals, but for the sake of our conversations, we are never in the wrong. Never.

What's your take on the changes in the quarterlife? Comment below or contact me!

Consume & Update: Opportunities for you!

$10,000 and a trip to Bhutan. I'm so generous this week.

Getting Paid to Talk to Bourdain

I don't consider myself a foodie, but I've been thinking a lot lately about the question Tony Bourdain posed to his fellow food-lovers.

What does it mean to cook well?

Coming from a sustenance culinary tradition, I'm not used to always eating the most delectable dish or denying something less than favorable. Frankly, I'm surprised I haven't shot my taste buds yet. I find this topic intriguing, and if you do too, you could very well win $10,000 just for documenting that opinion.

Not only do you get a big ol' pay day but a spot in the paperback edition of Medium Raw. To be published and rolling in the dough...what a surreal concept. Go for it!

And speaking of Tony, his post this week on the death of his good friend Michael Batterberry and his big break in writing is insightful and compelling.

Snap Your Shutter for Bhutan

This opportunity rolled around last year and got me salivating. A trip to Antarctica sounded fantastic, but the application seemed simplistic and, therefore, intimidating. Tell a story with 5 or less photographs...STRONG photographs. Should have gone for it; it's a trip to the last continent, by golly!

And now it's 2010, and a new travel scholarship from National Geographic and World Nomads has rolled into town. Tell a story with 5 or less photographs, and you could travel to Bhutan for a week alongside a NatGeo photographer, a truly once-in-a-lifetime learning experience for a budding shutter-snapper.

This year, the photographer is Jason Edwards, and he's got some words of advice for hopeful applicants:

The application deadline is October 17th (in Australia), so you've got some time to think about this opportunity and let your photographic story inspiration come to you.

Burma in Photos

Brave New Traveler sported a great photo essay on religious life in Burma. It's worth a look-see.

A Word from my Favorite Book

Rolf Potts quoted my favorite book this week at Vagablogging, and I believe the whole world would be enriched by a simple glance:

If our lives are dominated by a search for happiness, then perhaps few activities reveal as much about the dynamics of this quest — in all its ardor and paradoxes — than our travels. They express, however inarticulately, an understanding of what life might be about, outside of the constraints of work and of the struggle for survival. Yet rarely are they considered to present philosophical problems — that is, issues requiring thought beyond the practical. We are inundated with advice on where to travel to, but we hear little of why and how we should go, even though the art of travel seems naturally to sustain a number of questions neither so simple nor so trivial, and whose study might in modest ways contribute to an understanding of what the Greek philosophers beautifully termed eudaimonia, or ‘human flourishing’. –Alain de Botton, The Art of Travel

Other Discoveries

Problogger has some great words of wisdom this week: Build your Blogs Voice, Monetization Ideas for the Little Guy, and the Content Producer's Copyright Checklist.

Join this discussion on Vagablogging: What pulls you back to the road?

Update on Nomadderwhere

I took a week off from Consume & Update due to a lack of compelling material on the net. It was weird. Normally there's always something worth sharing with others, but last week...dang, slim pickins. These weekly postings are for sharing good work, complimenting content producers, and contributing to the internet travel community. If you ever desire to be featured in these Sunday posts, feel free to contact me, so last week's debacle never happens again!

Anywho, guess who's back from the small town! I'm plunging head first into ProjectExplorer.org work and Nomadderwhere redesigning and content creating. I slapped May with a slew of work and left June starving. I need to get back to a regular schedule of good stuff. Your input is always encouraged.

And the future? Alexis Reller, my potluck roommate from Semester at Sea, is visiting next week, and I'm going to show her a gay ol' time in Indianapolis. We just may boast all of our fun times online!

And here's the work of the last two weeks:

As You Like (To See) It, A Traveler's Melancholy: Learning from Bill Shakespeare on the correlation between travel and happiness
The Art of Reinvention, Anonymity, and Self-Discovery in Travel: I certainly did some deep thinking while living out my Summer Seclusion Project
Journeys of a Lifetime in August: Offering you your monthly dose of travel inspiration, courtesy of National Geographic Traveler
Reviewing Dean Cycon's Javatrekker: Reflecting on a great compilation of travel stories from the coffee lands

Reviewing Dean Cycon's Javatrekker

As much as I like to believe I'm aware of the world's atrocities and doing my part to make things better, I know I'm very much a negative factor in many world struggles that I'm both conscious of and oblivious to. I suppose my hourly efforts go out to world education, but being interested in travel and the world's communities seems to impress the importance of caring about everything.

Where does my clothing come from? Am I supporting local farmers? Did my beer get to me via cargo ship? Man...this coffee tastes delicious.

In terms of these worries, coffee is certainly a big kahuna. It's a safe assumption that young children today associate the Starbucks counter with the origin of coffee. And sadly, I think many adults and consumers think that far into the commerce chain when purchasing their daily jolt. I know I envision lush fields and no faces when I see names like Highland Grog and Java Sumatra, while trying to buy the cheapest concoction possible.

Where does the profit from our caffeine flow? Who benefits from my flavored latte? What is it like to grow coffee for a ravenous global market?

Dean is this dude. He is the founding dude of Deans Beans. He also calls himself a Javatrekker. He's all about organic beans and fair traded coffee, not "fairly" traded, loophole-filled commerce that leaves the farmers out cold and hungry. His book reads like a compilation of travel essays from someone who's had unique, and at times treacherous, experiences in the jungles, arid flatlands, and mountain ranges of the coffee lands.

Though I'm normally attracted to straight narratives, I found the mental globe trotting on the same theme a great overall adventure with an informative pulse, which will resonate with any consumer of any good. Let's check out Javatrekker: Dispatches From the World of Fair Trade Coffee.

The Storyline

Dig your little toesies into the arid soil of Ethiopia, the birthplace of the coffee bean - or at least the location of caffeine's discovery. Dean will walk you through the experience of getting clean, potable water to a region with a serious water paucity. Feel happy and inspired. Now head south to Kenya and get ready to rip the bureaucratic heads off those swindling the coffee farmers out of their money. And so this storyline oscillates from empowering and inspiring accomplishment to unfortunate setback and struggle.

Javatrekker: Dispatches From the World of Fair Trade Coffee

Take a big flying leap over to South America where Dean witnesses incredible feats of guerilla engineering, connects with ailing nature's call, and swallows crippling fear and pain to help a region whose political struggle beheld the demise of his friends. His essays indicate the world's vast array of problems all affect the already difficult task of growing beans: global warming, natural disaster, political uproar, world market prices, foreign aid, and more. It all reminded me of the butterfly effect.

Dean's trips aren't just about agriculture. Officially observing democratic elections and visiting victims of amputation via train wheels are his errands. Tying his product directly to the effects his industry can exacerbate not only reveals a pivotal awareness of the realities related to coffee but those of all products with middlemen and foggy ground between their origin and destiny.

Island-nations of Asia and the South Pacific host Dean's experiences, in locales seldom seen by the likes of any foreign eyes. Regions ripped to shreds by civil war and political corruption work with him to help their caffeinated cash crop industry. Bringing simple machines to villages that lost out on money for lack of regulation and timely output, Dean appears like a savior to these co-ops in need. However, he's always first to mention his own miscalculations and wrongdoings alongside those of his fellow man.

While Dean does focus on the difficulties of coffee growers, he fills the pages with descriptive prose on the rituals of coffee consumption, the cultural nuances of each community meeting, the similar human spirit that unites the world's population, as well as the distinctive differences that remind us the vast spread of the social platter. One doesn't need to be a lover of coffee to appreciate this compilation; travelers and the business-minded alike have great lessons to gain from reading this bad boy.

The Bottom Line

How are we supposed to work eight hours, exercise for one, get seven hours of sleep, chew 25 times per bite, find time for friends and family, visit the doctor, drink eight glasses of water, clean the litter box, and floss three times a day? Our lives are already packed with must-dos and obligations that seemingly cannot go undone. So then, how can we layer on top of our daily checklist complete and utter social responsibility that would accompany hours of research and product comparison?

In other words, how are we supposed to know which thing we eat, drink, or wear is best for the world?

Don't worry; you'll live a long time, long enough to take it all in stride and read books like this to cover each issue at a time. And now, coffee is covered! Deans Beans is standing alongside the farmer, helping him or her pay for their cost of operation, their family's well-being, and enabling their vertical climb in commerce and life. That sounds responsible to me.

Disclaimer: I borrowed this book from a friend, and there are affiliate links in this post. I believe this is a book worth purchasing as well as one worth sharing with your friends.

Journeys of a Lifetime in August

Welcome back to my new monthly series on Nomadderwhere, one which highlights the incredible trips one could take in that current month - thanks to a vibrant book called Journeys of a Lifetime by National Geographic. Each month I pick a couple adventures from each section in the book in order to provide you inspiration for 365 days from now. Read the brief description to whet your appetite, and click on the trip name for further information (links provided by National Geographic...of course you could be a gritty backpacker and make it on your own).

Across Water

Mississippi River Paddle Steamer: Huckleberry had the right idea. Floating along the Mississippi River is a chance to be engaged with the powerful vein of America, where one can bob between plantation mansions on the shore traveling from New Orleans to Memphis in seven days. A steamboat today offers amenities that will keep your grandmother comfortable and showcases music that will have just about anyone slapping their knees. Mark Twain would be so proud.

The Li River: Palm paintings and currency notes both boast this iconic landscape of China, but have you witnessed it first-hand? It only takes a half-day to travel down the Li River from Guilin, where you can approach the rock formations as you would passing clouds. That one looks like an Elephant! This is the truly beautiful China.

By Road

Through the Highlands of Scotland: August is THE month to visit Scotland. With the Edinburgh Fringe Festival ripping up the historical city with laughter and music and beautiful, mild weather blowing through the majestic scenery of the Highlands, one would be stupid not to make this trip at least once in their lifetime. Pack a tent, rent a car, grab your hiking boots, and get ready to be inspired by Earth.

The Icefields Parkway: If you can't rationalize an expansive trip across the globe during August, maybe you can swing by the Rocky Mountains of Canada and enjoy a little scenery before your school year or dreaded job starts up again. Though the gorgeous mountains and glaciers won't harm you, the bears sure will; stay in the car, but have that camera ready! Though you can fly through this mountainous wonderland, block out a couple days, and book some lodging well in advance for this month.

By Rail

National Parks of the West: Road trips are a time-honored pastime, but train trips are classic. The American Orient Express motors through various very famous National Parks in the western states and allows its passengers to explore nature, ironically, in luxury. This would be a fantastic trip to take with your grandparents or families, although nine days with either group could get a little punchy.

The Bergen Railway: Speaking of once-in-a-lifetime, this trip through the brilliant landscapes of Norway will certainly be one to remember, since you won't have pretty pennies to make a similar trip for years. Norwegian prices are a bit steep, as are their hilly expanses and beautiful fjords. This train hugs the mountainsides with dear might, though the scene outside may feel like a fantasy. Luckily you won't get too carried away with this otherworldliness, because chances of getting intoxicated are very slim. Liquor prices don't allow.

On Foot

Walking in Umbria: Tuscany is beautiful and all, but its neighbor to the southeast is just as fantastic, arguably more so. Speckled with medieval hilltop towns and sunflower fields, Umbria has a sweet spot in my heart, from my time in Spoleto studying abroad. This is where small town Italy charm is ever-present, and history dates way back, beyond the era of the Roman Empire to the time of the Etruscans. This is an Italy that never gets old.

The Drakensberg: OMG, your feet are going to be, like, SO happy with you! Tromp around South Africa's highest mountain range and spend your nights in caves. It sounds like you won't be unlucky enough to run into a lion on your way, but you very well could see some antelope and baboons bound across your path. And if you're truly serious, it seems there's an extreme trek for the experienced mountain hiker involving the entire eastern escarpment. Go get 'em, pedestrians!

In Search of Culture

Romanesque Churches: Mountains are cool, buildings are sweet, but Romanesque churches in the Spanish Pyrenees have got to be high on the stellar-meter. Designs dripping in subtly and grace have serious history attached to their existences. To study religious architecture of this time is to study human beings and all topics of interest. If you're in the area, make the trip to see some gorgeous edifices amidst some gorgeous landscapes, and you'll be able to boast some divine sightings to your friends back at home.

Rock Churches of Cappadocia: Surreal rock formations surround hundreds of houses of worship, magnifying the odd placement and unique nature of these important destinations from Christian history. Step into these stone rooms and witness the walls of murals, illustrating scenes from the Bible, which have been well-preserved thanks to the dark interiors.

In Gourmet Heaven

Napa Valley Wine: Bring your ID and a wine glass, and they can provide the rest. Though I had a rough transition from China to Napa, back in 2007, this valley really is a lovely area of manicured nature and delicious fermented drinks. I love wine, but the one wine that has ever had a truly effect on me was tasted here. Visit the Francis Ford Coppola Estate and try the Rubicon. It's over $100 a bottle, but tasting this delight is much more affordable, along with many other tasty reds. The Rubicon buckled my knees. Nuff said.

Thailand Cuisine Tour: Do you like lime? Thought so. And when I think of Thai food, I picture fresh ingredients whipped together in a simple, yet skilled way and finished with a squirt of luscious lime that makes the eyes roll back. Take nine days...heck, take two weeks, and enjoy a cuisine tour that shows off both mountain and coastal culinary traditions. I'm not really sure I need to write more. Thai food sells itself.

Into the Action

Bird-Watching in East Africa: I'm really into the wild cats while on safari, but I think that means I often miss out on some fantastic bird sightings overhead. The birds of Kenya and Tanzania seem painted and surreal. Lake Nakuru offers an awesome spectacle with its soda lake filled with pink flamingos. Here's me scaring them away.

Whale-Watching in the Azores: Sighting a mammal with a heart the size of a car is understandably a remarkable sight. Wait for them off the coast of the Azores, a series of islands governed by Portugal in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Don't worry; whaling isn't legal here anymore. They've replaced harpoons with cameras.

Up and Away

Bush Plane Adventure: I often forget America is home to majesty that rivals the Himalayas. Air-safaris offer unique vistas over primal mountain-scapes and grizzly wildlife. This trip is about nature, about grand magnitude, about summoning your inner Alexander Supertramp...but don't eat the berries! August timing allows for missing the worst of the bug season.

Over the Great Barrier Reef: For most, it's important to be underwater when visiting the world's largest reef, but imagine seeing this spectacle from above. Spot manta-rays and sharks from afar, taking in the entirety of this ecosystem as opposed to studying its intricate detail. And be sure to fly over the perfectly shaped Heart Reef if you're going for cheesy and romantic with your significant other!

In Their Footsteps

The Hudson's Bay Company Trappers: There aren't many these days who covet beaver fur, which makes sense that the Hudson's Bay Company doesn't still thrive today, but the history of the aboriginal fur trade is possible to witness starting from Winnipeg and heading up to Canada's Hudson Bay. And hitting this trip up in August could reward you with participation in the annual Treaty & York Boat Days festival. Long live the beavers!

Wordsworth in the Lakes: Wordsworth was just that, worth his weight in words, and visiting his old stomping grounds could produce two scenarios. The best case scenario could mean you're inspired to write similar works of greatness as you picnic by the lake of Grasmere or visit Hawkshead school. The worst case scenario is you visit England during a beautiful time of year and learn about a great writer amidst lush and peaceful nature. Think about it.

How's that brain? Spinning with innumerable desires to traverse continents and climates? Pull out a pen and prioritize your life by putting one or more of these trips at the top of the list. And by planning a year in advance, you'll be quite able to save, prepare, and anticipate the rigors of your adventure in every way. Check back in September for the Journeys of a Lifetime you could partake in next year!

Where are you inspired to travel to next year? Leave a comment and be my new friend.

The Art of Reinvention, Anonymity, and Self-Discovery in Travel

My mind finally smells summer. I've been away from Indiana for the past two summers and away from Wabash during the summertime since I moved away ten years ago. Having spent the majority of my childhood outside, I've been unknowingly pining for the familiar olfactory triggers, which I still can't define well: aromatic greens of unknown classification, warming as though being slowly cooked, lawn mower engine fuel, chlorine and very cold water, heat radiating from the cement below my bicycle tires, sometimes fresh asphalt but most often cracked sidewalks and gravel-sprinkled roads.

Though some of these seem like multi-sensory experiences - not to mention fairly common around the world - I'm really only talking about my nose. I can smell all those things. The same summer climate can be found on about 60% of the Earth's land mass at some point in the year, but it is only in this town that the sun seems to electrify the atoms and molecules in such a way - for me.

Bias steals my reason when I believe this town could actually be that much different than the rest of the world. Everyone most likely has a sweet spot for their birthplaces, maybe less sweet than bitter for some, and memories are fantastically linked to senses and, in my case, inspiration.

Nostalgia Triggers

I'm not a weird uber-fan of sweeping my grandmother's back porch, but doing so the other day washed warming nostalgia overhead and allowed me to tap into the feelings I once had as a youngster, feelings I remember viscerally that I can now decode and translate with this older mind.

It was in the public library downtown that I grew to love plowing through books. Though my reading comprehension these days is borderline frightening, the visuals I concocted for the stories of Roald Dahl are still sharp in my mind. The movies were all sad efforts after my daily mental capades through Matilda's home and Charlie's new factory.

It was a means of wasting time while my parents worked at the office, but I used to pluck away at a typewriter and create five sentence short stories about personified animals with morals and cool names. Taylor Swan was my ideal girl name, now a nausea inducer. I still have these hilarious attempts at literature in a folder somewhere, along with the memory that I dreamt of being the youngest published author in the world. I had no burning story to tell, but the thought of purging my thoughts to achieve such a landmark was satisfying for my eight year-old self.

Cue to me, ten years later, finally figuring out I did have stories to tell.

The Reappearing Interest

And I have to admit that while living in Wabash I was, at best, ambivalent about being here, even though my daily outdoor activities were fascinating and my friends quirky and long-lasting.

We moved cities with the intent of snatching those opportunities from which I'd be out of reach in the rural north. In turn, I believe my senses were dulled, though they did become my flypaper for artistic inspiration later in life.

My grandma used to say, "All roads lead to Wabash" - her version of the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. I sometimes find my path back "home" completely mind-boggling, which looks something like Indianapolis - Italy - Misc. USA - RTW Cruise Journey - Europe - Africa - Asia - Indianapolis - South Pacific - Asia, again…and so on until all trips are accounted for, with the caboose being good ol' Wabash County.

As far from "as the crow flies" as you can make a round-trip, I'd say…unless that crow is very drunk. And never a plausible concept when the bubble of the small town seemed to draw impermeable borders.

And now I'm peddling through town on sidewalks that haven't been updated since my mom was with bun in oven. The people who see me cycling seem to know me, and I don't remember names, only encounters at fairs, churchs, and community theater performances. There are no strangers. Cliche, schmeeche - I'm having serious déjà vu.

Reinvention

Fresh from a recent trip that reminded me how much I love the clean slates and stranger-filled surroundings of travel, I'm feeling stumped.

Where are the lingering conversations I can't comprehend? Where are the strangers, and why do I want them around?

The ensemble of the town rarely seems to change, and so stays static my relationships with everyone. Feelings remain regardless of time, which seems to affect bodies rather than minds. There's little flexibility available for reinvention, as history is chiseled in stone. Aging doesn't guarantee anything.

My brother's advice upon starting my new school in Indianapolis was simple, and it stuck.

No one knows you here. You can reinvent yourself, if you want.

That sounds like a movie line. Maybe I'm getting confused. Disregard the wording and assume the same sentiment was relayed to me ten years ago upon the first days of my new schooling experience.

With a move [I couldn't conceptualize] an hour and a half south of childhood, reinvention became possible. And even though I've never felt unlike myself in a true, lingering sense, I did seize the opportunity to portray myself in a different light. Mannerisms, humor, interests - they all stayed, but I altered my air to put up with less than I used to allow. No longer did I slink away from moments of embarrassment or shame from the likes of the neighbor boys or the burly girls of bully stock. I didn't want to feel self-conscious about being the person I wanted to be, nor did I have the desire to exhibit any characteristic not indigenous to my being. Hence, no fake-itude.

And now I return, having flexed as a personality but not having evolved alongside Wabash. I wonder if I'm recognizable. Even though this renewed interest has brought me back in touch with the town of 11,000 of my upbringing, I'm unsure as to whether I see myself or a different person in the reflection of my memories.

Walking above Charley Creek, I wonder if it's purely time that strips me of my visceral connection or the fact that the person is not the same (just plus ten years).

When Does a Person Become?

When have I been most happy in my life? Would memories of the most fulfilling or satisfying moments be those which define my life's interests or purpose? Are we who we were coming from the womb and then slowly compromised as we evolved into civilization? Are we really who we are after a life-changing experience or a test that morphs us into a person we never thought we'd become? Was I more me in the 80s, playing in my backyard treehouse, or now - now that I ask these questions and still come out of the wringer being the way that I presently am?

These are the sort of questions that arise amidst the dormant and knowing air particles of my grandmother's house. Surrounding by the grooviest domicile on the block, I question the point I've reached in my being and wonder if the same mushroom cap hairstyle who used to watch TV in the nook on the left is still present and solid.

Being alone (with cat) in a house that holds my history, in a town that crafted my humor and habits, in a state that isolated my focus on personalities, I am grappling with concepts to identify what place and time have to say about my being. What person would I have become had I not moved? And if that hour and a half move was all I attempted, what person would I then be had travel been stripped from my pastimes?

When home seems to nurture a specific development of the self, how does travel - with its anonymity, chance for reinvention, trying challenges to the first installation of values - affect the development of our purest form?

Post-world travels, I tend to side with the tried-and-tested theory of being; being put through the wringer, slapped around, and pushed to a near breaking point will result in a person, fibers and nothing else. But are these challenges distractions from the primary meditation that would facilitate that pure knowledge? The answer to that question would restructure the entirety of our social make-up.

What Do You Think?

This is a post I've been writing since the commencement of my summer seclusion project and seemingly one of the main products I hoped to reap from the experience. I write for an unknown public audience, and in doing so, I'm inviting the collective "you" to think what you want. While this post could seem like a journal entry or simply a moment of deep, personal musing, I want these concepts to be chewed on by all. I don't write these ideas to be an exhibitionist but to stimulate a discussion on the art of travel.

Please leave your feedback on whatever was of interest to you. If you'd rather have your comment invisible to the public eye, leave a message on my contact form. Video comments are extremely encouraged.

Thanks for reading.

As You Like (To See) It, A Traveler's Melancholy

Though relatively young, and therefore jovial, and the product of a content childhood packed with humor, I've grown into someone that is constantly asked:

Are you unhappy?

Bawling at the table in my Italian family's home, seeming a mystery to the black and white of intercontinental correspondence, being irrationally testy at home, where the bubble is supposed to pet and nurture positivity; evidence seems to side with either insanity or discontentment. Why do I move, and therefore search, without landing on what will actually placate my soul? Am I attempting to obtain something intentional that is completely out of reach? Does no destination stop the longing to be somewhere else?

Am I carving my lifestyle with a bitter blade that hopes its creation won't win?

Whoa…I laid it on fast and deep, right into the pit of a wanderer's insatiable quandary - the unavoidable knife that static souls jab into the sides of vibrating shadows in the daylight.

What makes a person happy?

For what is a traveler traveling?

Are we unhappy, or does the world fulfill us?

And if it doesn't, what could ever hope to fulfill someone if the world cannot?

These aren't the constant thoughts in my head, as a brain with these fly-by musings would pound itself into whatever wall is closest. However, there are triggers in life that create wormholes for these trains of thought to come through. Yesterday's trigger was a movie by William Shakespeare, As You Like It.

Now, I'm aware that spouting off conceptual prose and quoting Shakespeare immediately makes me seem like an elitist with my four fingers in my buttons like a forefather. I watched this movie because it was at the library, because I'm hoping to learn more about storytelling and cinematography, and because I realized that approaching Shakesperean English the way I approach Spanish yields the same general understanding that reveals more to me of the language than I knew before.

In this play, a woman, exiled to the woods where she disguises herself as a boy for safety, spends a little time chatting with a man who is often found dragging his feet and wallowing in his own gloom. You may call him a melancholy fellow, if you talked like a 16th century Brit. I found the following passage to be amusing, hopefully not seeing my own reflection with too much clarity in the man's visage.

They say you're a melancholy fellow.
I am so. I do love it better than laughing.
Those that are an extremity of either are abominable fellows and betray themselves to every modern censure worse than drunkards.
Why? Tis good to be sad and say nothing.
Why then? Tis good to be a post.
I have neither the scholar's melancholy, which is emulation, nor the musician's, which is fantastical, nor the courtier's, which is proud, nor the soldier's, which is ambitious, nor the lawyer's, which is politic, nor the lady's, which is nice, nor the lover's, which is all these, but it is a melancholy of mine own, compounded of many simples, extracted from many objects, and indeed the sundry contemplation of my travels, in which my often rumination wraps me in a most humorous sadness.
A traveler? By my faith you have great reason to be sad. I fear you've sold your own lands to see other man's, and to have seen much and have nothing is to have rich eyes and poor hands.
…..Yes. I have gained my experience.
I'd rather have a fool to make me merry than an experience to make me sad. And to travel for it, too…

I'm no master interpreter of Old Billy Boy, and since we know smarty boys like Frost love the satisfaction of deceptive prose, I'm hesitant to think the literal meaning of this dialogue is the point he's trying to make.

Is the traveler a fool, to make himself a hobo and satisfied only by other's possessions, from which he himself runs?

Is the traveler a fool, to find richness in experiences that can be lost with a quick blow to the head, though things can be lost just as quickly?

Is the traveler a sad fool, hoping to convince everyone he has harnessed the richness of the world's best?

And so I conclude my rambling in hopes I hear from you, the reader. If it's not necessarily melancholy but a deep and pensive state, do you feel Shakespeare is making a sad observation of travelers? Is this a dated view of possessions vs. experiences? What do you think of this passage and concept?

Comment below or contact me personally. I'm interested in dialogues, and without a rebuttal or echo, I'm merely talking to myself.

Consume & Update: Balance, Success, and Last Week

Today's documentation of the travel and blogging world is a little slim but can plunge you into a lotta deep thought.

The Four Burners and Success

Who really has a balanced life? I'd like to think that overall the way I conduct myself on a year-long basis levels out between travel and home, physicality and leisure, hermitville and social junction. As I've stated before, the concept of "live every day like it's your last" is, in my opinion, a bunch of hullabaloo. How are we supposed to make today a most brilliant day while also strive for completeness in all aspects of our life? That's a whole lotta pressure for one day. I'd have to spend all day today planning for an amazing tomorrow, which would defeat the point, right?

I chew on this thought today because Chris Guilleabeau brought up an interesting idea mused by David Sedaris:

One burner represents your family, one is your friends, the third is your health, and the fourth is your work. -David Sedaris

The gist is that in order to be successful you have to cut off one of your burners. And in order to be really successful you have to cut off two.

Especially in a country where we like to think we can "have it all" and also one where we define success as an outward appearance of money, power, and respect, this idea seems to be true for most Americans; not sure about the rest of the world, but I assume the same goes for most of them as well. We don't want to read this quote and consider its validity, because that means accepting imbalance and relative failure at one facet of our lives, of which we'd normally be prideful.

What do you think about this concept? Do you think the idea of the four burners is irrelevant or spot on? What's your stance on the balance of focus and pride in your life? Do you think one or two must slip to achieve some level of success? And what is success in your terms? I'd love to hear your feedback, so please comment below!

Other Discoveries

Problogger sets us straight on some typical blogger grammatical mistakes. Hate to lose my hold on proper English!

What do you think is necessary in redesigning your lifestyle to incorporate your passions and happiness? Did this guy get it right?

Do you think your travel experiences have had a direct impact on your political affiliations or sidings?

Update from Nomadderwhere

Delicious culinary concoctions, kooky Midwestern weather, biking through town and heat advisories, cinematic adventures and writing deep thoughts; this was my week. In some minute ways, the world seemed to stand on its head for me this week. I watched one Shakespearean themed movie...and finally understood them. My cat, whom is far from a lap pet, sought comfort in my bosom during an overhead thunderstorm. Wow, that was all that really stood on its head. My life this month isn't all that exciting! I guess that's what happens when you dumb your life down to a few elements and hope they function at their peak: cooking, writing, and summoning creative energy.

This week, I upped my game and pumped out a slew of content. Applaud me, why don'tcha?

Video of the Week: The Challenge Edition (Webcam): A webcam special asking you for your ideas on personal challenges and pursuing your passions while not traveling the world
Jobs for World Travelers: A Life at Sea: Presenting options to those who love to travel and need to work - life on a cruise ship
Q&A: Easing Parental Worries about Travel: Answering a question I get far too often, and addressing a topic I have to deal with on a constant basis

I only have one more week of exploring the town of 11,000 of my upbringing, and I plan on soaking up the solitude with every molecule of my being. I visit daily locations I haven't experienced since my middle school days and am beginning to wonder if my quarter-life crisis is approaching early with an emphasis on the past rather than a fear for my future. Eh, I know I'm going to be alright. But am I the same person I was when I was four? These are the thoughts of this pickled mind...

And in case you like helping me out: I'm doing a little research on South Korea and Taiwan this week and would love some expert help on where to go and what to see, along with important facets of both cultures and histories!

Q&A: Easing parental worries about travel

Q&A is a series that uses questions posed by readers and commentators to address topics of travel, alternative lifestyle design, blogging, and other interests. You can expect to see this series one or two Saturdays a month right here on Nomadderwhere.com. To send in your questions, contact me! This summer I was planning on doing a study abroad program, and now I'm waiting to hear back for responses.

I love how you encourage going somewhere if that's of utmost desire. I would die to do something like that, but how do parental worries factor into that?
Not to intrude, but do you happen to have lax parents who are chill with that? -Natalia

That's funny. You're funny, Natalia.

When it comes to my travels, my parents started off as anything but go-with-the-flow kind of people. It was very hard for my mom to come to terms with my travel desires, and she barely slept when I took off on my own in Vietnam (my first time solo in a foreign city).

Why All The Fear?

I've got all sorts of dramatic stories of parting from my parents for the road. And from the sounds of those stories, I seem like a terrible offspring - leaving my mother on her birthday for the next 187 days. I think parents really dread those moments of departure, feeling the weight of the lonely and troubled days in-between your safe arrival home. Of course, it's not without due cause - and, heck, I'm no parent - but I do think that's normal and temporary.

All parents are skeptical at first, fear the worst constantly, but eventually get used to you going solo the more you come back with reassuring statements about your experience. It's normal to want to take their fears into strong consideration, but my advice is to do your research yourself and not listen only to what your parents are concerned about from news and media exposure, as well as comments from their friends. Not everyone travels or sees the world the same way. Talk to other travelers who move and see the world the same way you do, and read books about the place; that will tell you whether you should be worried or not about your experience in a destination.

Curb Their Lack of Enthusiasm

Be sure to include your parents' concerns into your evaluation of future travels - doing otherwise will make you seem rebellious or immature - and be sure to follow it up with all the solid facts, research, and advice from experienced travelers/writers. The more they know you have your head on straight, the more they will trust your intuition as you fly solo.

It's also important to think about your track record and how it relates to your street smarts, travel savvy, and ability to take care of yourself. Your parents will probably always see you as a green 16 year-old, but as long as you've proven in the past you're not easily pushed over or taken advantage of, you can reason with them that you're prepared for what the world is ready to throw at you.

My parents still aren't cheerleaders for my non-professional travels, but at least they understand that I want to do it. When I had doubts about traveling around the world alone in 2008, my mom was surprisingly the voice that encouraged me to do what I want, which was against what she wanted for me. They tolerate my leisure travels these days, but my paid travel makes much more sense. It's a generational thing, as well.

Communication Makes the Difference

As a graduation present, my parents were kind enough to get me a World Edition Blackberry, which enabled constant communication via e-mail to my parents from wherever I was in the world - excluding Malawi, Cambodia, Kashmir, and Zambia, which weren't set up at the time for data usage.

While overlanding in Africa, I would wake up to the alarm on my phone and immediately receive an e-mail from my mom about the weather outside my tent flap. She was six hours behind me but still knew the weather I would experience that morning. This was certainly a way to placate her worries, because when I didn't respond to her e-mails for twelve days in a row (in Kashmir), nerves nearly sent my dad on a plane to find me.

It may be inconvenient to pay a phone bill or constantly find internet cafes to correspond from, but a quick e-mail affirming your happiness and safety are great ways to facilitate your parents' sleeping patterns.

A Mother's Perspective

It seemed only fitting to ask my mother her opinion on my travels, safety, and her feelings toward my independent travel lifestyle.

The summer before I entered sixth grade, I asked my parents if I could attend a military camp an hour north of our town, a camp my brother attended the previous two summers. Though his camp sessions were only two weeks at a time, I decided I wanted to experience the six week, intensive summer camp, which involved three different sessions of learning new skills, bunking with fifteen other girls in a log cabin, and all things military: general inspections, personal inspections, marching, etc. I went to this camp knowing no one previously.

Most ten year-olds don't normally ask for such experiences, and my mom noted this as major characteristic difference between myself and my peers. My independence was obvious at a young age.

When I wanted to travel alone for seven months through dangerous African cities and over-populated, crime-ridden regions in Asia, my mom was unnerved but also comforted by looking at my track record. According to her, I had proven myself, through my voluntary college responsibilities, multiple situations that exhibited my leadership, my friend choices, previous trip motivations, and a track record of wise decisions in life.

I've always been a passionate person, but that didn't stop me from analyzing my decisions carefully in the context of my life. Because I conducted myself well in high school, used my free time thoughtfully, dealt well with other people, I seemed like I could handle the road.

One thing that made my travels much easier on my parents, especially my mom, was the steady progression of my trips from easy to advanced: family trips, solo domestic trips, static study abroads, global study abroad, and finally solo global travel. I was weened slowly from my bubble life in northern Indiana and given the gift of time to slowly make mistakes and learn from them.

Mom Recommends...

To the hopeful world travelers in easing parental worries:

Showed maturity in what you do with your time and the people you chose to be with.

To the freaked out parents/mothers of world travelers:

We all want the best for our children and for them to do what makes them happy. If what they do to make themselves happy doesn't do the same for you, know the strong character they've always exhibited will carry over to the streets of India and help them deal with the world they encounter (hopefully they've researched!).
And don't believe, for one second, that one trip will get the bug out of their system. It never leaves their system. Trust your child, and don't make yourself sick. Bad things can happen anywhere. Living in fear is a choice.

The Bottom Line

We can't force our parents to feel the same way we do about the world and traveling through it. If it matters to you how your parents and family feel about your travels, approach the idea of changing their minds with as much fact, reason, and sensitivity as you can gather. Parents know better than anyone that college isn't the end of the learning experience. Hopefully we are all striving to be lifelong learners, and the fast track to learning is often located far from anyone's comfort zone.

World travelers aren't running from family, they're pulled by two worlds, both of which can't be ignored. To deny the movement impulse would be just as difficult as disregarding the friends and family that make us solid. Parents, we're going to be okay, and travelers...be sure you remain okay. People are hoping you come back home.

Was this post helpful to you as a traveler or as a parent? Do you have any comments or anything to add? Please don't hesitate to comment below or contact me personally!

Jobs for World Travelers: A Life at Sea

This post was written on my October 2009 cruise of the Mexican Riviera. Lying on my stomach, covered in towels, face pushed through a terry cloth doughnut, I asked the woman rubbing hot stones on my calves what it's like to work on a cruise ship. After swapping stories from the high seas and travels on land, I decided a job on a cruise liner wouldn't be half bad, and she affirmed I was made for it.

One of the things I like most about being aboard a water vessel is the crew and the overall sense that they love the world and its people. Why else subject yourself to constant movement and Titanic-like nightmares? Because you can't get enough of a nomadic existence.

Nomadderwhere is about provoking the thoughts of its readers, compelling them to explore the world, and be open to the pull of their own passions. Since I don't enjoy hearing about wanderlusters who can't afford to travel but pine to see the world, I like to present information that gives them to ticket to satiate their global desires.

I nearly asked for an application on my last cruise, wishing I could be among those who experience a port sunrise every other day. Sitting in my cabin with a pad of paper, I scribbled some questions I had about the lifestyle and went looking for the answers when I got home.

The following responses are compiled from the websites of Norwegian Cruise Line, Cruise Job Finder, and Cruise Ship Jobs.

FAQs about Cruise Employment

Q: Where would I begin if I have varied interests and skills spanning entertainment and performance as well as travel logistics, planning and even service?

A: You'd have a very difficult choice to make. Here are the following cruise ship jobs:

* Deck Department * Casino Staff * Cruise Directors * Cruise Staff * Disc Jockeys * Entertainers * Expedition Leaders * Gentleman Host * Hosts and Hostesses * Lecturers * Naturalists * Production Managers * Shore Excursion Managers * Shore Excursion Staff * Water * Sports Instructors * Lifeguards * Youth Counselors * Beauticians * Cosmetologist * Massage Therapists * Fitness Directors * Fitness Instructors * Medical Staff * Personal Trainers * Air/Sea Reservation Agents * Bar Stewards * Bartenders * Bedroom Stewards * Gift Shop Positions * Hospitality or Hotel Managers * Photographers * Deckhands * Junior Assistant Pursers * Pursers * IT Staff * Dance Instructors * Administration Assistants * Booking Agents * Customer Service Representatives * Sales and Marketing Positions

It'd probably make a lot of sense to look at, first, the job you love the most, and second, the job that has the best hours, wage, and benefits. Jobs are split into departments, and pay scale is also determined by tipping and non-tipping personnel.

Q: What is involved in the interview process?

A: Before you apply for a cruise line job, think about what kind of job you would like to have and what the real chances of getting it are. The chances of getting hired depend a lot upon when you apply, your qualifications, and current openings. Apply for a specific job. Don't just send an application for "any position available". See the descriptions of various job positions.

Write a resume (curriculum vitae), and send it with a cover letter to a recruitment agent or a cruise line company. The best course of action is to apply to the various cruise companies of your choice. Highlight the most important points in the covering letter, briefly stating what makes you a great candidate for the position. You will be given/sent application forms if the recruitment agent or personnel department of the cruise line company assess your resume positively. Read the forms carefully. Fill them in, express yourself concisely and clearly. Attach the resume and the covering letter with the form, even if you have sent the resume earlier.

If the cruise lines are looking for a person with your qualities, education and experience, you will be invited for an interview. The interviewer will try to find out about your experience, abilities, education and motivation for the job. Do your research and try to find out as much information about the cruise lines as possible. Search the Internet and have a look in the library. Perhaps you will be asked about the cruise company at the interview. When being interviewed, it's important to share any pending commitment information.

If you are successful, you will get a "Letter of Employment" a few weeks after the interview. The letter of employment includes information about the cruise ship, the date and place of embarkation, your job position, and other instructions. You will need to go for a medical examination and get the internationally recognized medical certificate.

Q: What is the average duration of a USA resident contract, and are they expected to complete a certain amount of consecutive contracts (allowing for breaks in between)?

A: Assignments vary depending on the position and brand. It can be anywhere between four months to ten months. Although you work 7-days a week while on assignment, crew members get bulk time off upon completion of the assignment period. Each assignment concludes with a performance review. Based on the evaluation, you will be asked to return. In some cases, we can even provide a return assignment before you even leave the ship.

Most cruise line contracts typically require a four to six month commitment for new employees. Some cruise lines allow you to take a limited amount of vacation time during a contract and other do not. If this is important to you, it should be discussed prior to accepting the position.

If you decide that cruise life is not for you and break your contract you will have to pay for all costs to get yourself home. And, if you sign a contract for 6 months, you may prolong it to 10 months. Then, a compulsory break of 6-8 weeks follows.

Q: What amenities are covered in a contract? All food? Visas and insurance? Anything specific to cruise employees? Which costs are expected of the employees to be responsible for?

A: Many people who work on cruise ships save most of the money they earn because they have so few expenses. Your room and board is usually provided for free. Most companies also offer a generous benefits package that often includes: medical and dental insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, 401K plan, profit sharing plans, travel benefits for you and your family and vacation time, etc.

For most assignments, the cruise lines will provide full transportation from your home to the ship and back for the full assignment period. Valid passports are needed for all our new crew members. New hires that are not US citizens, US Permanent Residents, or Canadian will need to obtain a C1/D visa.

Although the room is small, you will have a comfy bed, a shared tv, personal closet space, and a full bathroom, including clean sheets and fresh towels. Laundry services are free. There is a common room where our employees can gather to play games, share experiences, and even to watch a movie. In some ships, we even have an Internet Cafe just for our crew.

Depending on the cruise line, some companies will pay for crew member's uniforms and some will require their crew members to purchase their own uniforms. Almost all of the cruise lines require their crew members to purchase their own shoes that are in accordance with uniform regulations. Make sure you determine what the company policy is on uniforms prior to accepting a position. There are shops onboard that our employees can shop from, at a discounted rate. And some of the best bargains can be found at some of the ports you'll visit. While you're onboard, the medical doctor onboard will provide you medical care, as free medical care is required by maritime law.

Another perk is that some of the cruise ships even have bar allowances for their staff, so this will limit your bar expense. Also, you get reduced price cruise vacation for family and friends

Q: What are some less obvious inconveniences of cruise employment or issues most employees must tackle regularly that differ from other jobs in tourism?

A: Norwegian Cruise Lines says its a seven day work week with 10+ combined hours per day. Employment on a cruise ship is definitely a full time position. However, due to the intensity of shipboard work & life, it is on an assignment basis. Yes, when you're not scheduled to work and off duty. We have a zero tolerance policy for certain positions and alcohol limitations, and no matter what, you are responsible for being on time for your shift and sober! Reporting to work under the influence or hung over is cause for immediate termination.

Space onboard is very limited, and any offer is for the employee only, not the whole family or pets. Guest facilities are for guests only. Employees are provided with employee only facilities. We have a well-equipped gym onboard for you to keep in shape! Not all ships have employee-only pools, but many itineraries incorporate beach destinations where you can relax with a swim.

There's not much privacy if you're a member of the crew. Quite often you'll have to share a room with at least one roommate or more. If you like to spread out, working on a cruise ship isn't the job for you. Speaking of sharing a room, quite often your roommate will be from another country, so there may be difficulties communicating. Other difficulties may arise if your work schedule is different from your roommates.

As stated previously, this isn't a 40-hour work week situation. Even though you'll have some time off, if the passengers can see you, you're liable to have to work. Also, some cruise lines will have employees work more than one job, so that will cut down on the amount of free time you have, as well.

Things are not as expected. Many new cruise ship employees think they'll have the same benefits as the passengers. This isn't the case. Unless the passengers are off the ship at a port of call, it's unlikely the crew can lounge by the pool. Food choices are also quite limited for the crew, regardless of what new employees might believe.

Q: How are voyages assigned to cruise employees? Are longer trips assigned based on seniority, or do assignments solely depend on need and availability?

A: Crew members are assigned to a position, not necessarily a ship. Although our preference is to bring back returning assignments on the same vessel, there's a chance that you'll be moved to where the role is needed. The ultimate final word is the Captain, Master of the vessel. There is a clear chain of command that should be followed in seeking advice, assistance, resolutions, etc.

Of course, being a cruise crew member isn't the only way to sail the high seas on a massive vessel.

Q: What are the living conditions like aboard a cruise ship at sea?

A: While it is true that accommodations are sometimes cramped, especially on smaller vessels, and you’ll be sharing your cabin with little or no privacy, most find the experience similar to their fist year in college dorm, but without the homework. Usually staff have their own dining room, away from the passengers and on days off, employees can hang out by the pool, sunbathe, or use the spa. Some ships provide extra amenities for employees, such as televisions for each room, a special crew bar and lounge, and special recreation lounges near the crew quarters. Employee gyms are also provided.

Q: The travel opportunities sound great, but what about people who are not comfortable being out at sea, especially for extended periods of time?

A: People who would rather stay on land can still take advantage of the lucrative travel industry for seasonal or year-round jobs. There are over 300 land tour companies in North America (and many more in Europe and throughout the world) that hire tour guides and managers. These companies provide guided tours to all corners of the globe, offering excursions such as scenic bus trips, river rafting adventures, and trolley car tours.

The Bottom Line

Cruises have a stigma of creating stuffy, unauthentic travel experiences for their unadventurous customers, but life at sea is thrilling, and those who are employed on these vessels are incredible people: eclectic, diverse, and entertaining. It offers free travel, the comforts of a home while still on "the road," and could help vagabonds save loads of money for future travels with very little costs of living. Few jobs in this world have "world traveler" in the title, but this one comes about as close as they get.

Was this post helpful to you? Are there any other jobs for world travelers you'd be interested in learning about or sharing? Contact me or comment below, and let's help the passionate find their dream jobs.

Video of the Week: The Challenge Edition (Webcam)

Traveling creates a lifestyle of constant challenges, which then facilitate self-discovery and, in turn, happiness. This week, I report from my post alone in northern Indiana to ask you: how would you challenge yourself with a home experiment that would simulate the effects of travel?

Notes from this week's Video of the Week:

I continue to get back to the basics by concentrating on a few key things: cooking, physical activity, and expression.
Challenge for you: What would your month-long self-discovery experiment be?

Consume & Update: Museum Roommate and Deep Thoughts

This week's outreach into the world of travel may pack a wallop for some of you eager to do something amazing.

$10,000 to be a Museum Live-in

Live in the Museum of Science and Industry for one month, learn something, write about it, and receive $10,000 for your efforts. This is not a shabby gig.

The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago has launched a competition for tech-savvy, learn-happy extroverts that seems like the perfect position for a world traveler. We're interested in the world around us, in need of money, and often well-versed in online media and marketing (a.k.a the travel blogging type).

This seems to be yet another marketing campaign that doubles as a fantastic pooling of like-minded, lifelong learners. To live in the museum of science and have your mind revolve around discovery for four whole weeks would be a treat for anyone curious about their surroundings on this planet. Of course, the lucky individual isn't allowed to work elsewhere during that time period, nor are they given total freedom to their normal social lives, but this is an experiment in itself, an opportunity to be one with the universe and grow an ever deeper appreciation for how all things work.

There are a lot of wanderlusters out there looking for ways to do what they love and still sustain themselves. Not every opportunity out there is a "Best Job in the World" or a "World Traveler Internship," but there are plenty of other ways to learn about the world and craft your voice of expression, this definitely being one of them. Therefore, I'm here to pass this great opportunity along to you, the Pavlovian salivators to all things exploration.

Make a video application (and you know how to do that), write a lil' essay, complete an application form, throw on a photo, sign a waiver, bing, bang, boom, you're in the running. Let me know if you go for this!

The Museum of Science and Industry is looking for a roommate. Spend a Month at the Museum and you could win $10,000! Find out more at http://monthatthemuseum.org and apply by August 11, 2010.

Other Discoveries

Chris' Guide to Travel Hacking

Take the Seven Link Challenge: I know I will soon!

Bourdain is awarding an unpublished writer $10,000 and a spot in his newest book's paperback edition.

This Brave New Traveler piece touches on a topic I've been thinking about these past few weeks: home mind and travel mind.

The 2010 State of the Travel Blogosphere

Update on Nomadderwhere

This week has revolved around deep thoughts, cinematographic research, trying to NOT cut my fingers off with freshly sharpened knives, and, of course, work for ProjectExplorer.org. Here's what I've created in the last two weeks (since the last Consume & Update).

Video of the Week: Summer Seclusion Project: Taking off to my hometown for a month of nothing but work, cooking good food, and thinking about the art of travel
Journeys of a Lifetime in July: The on-going series that gives you inspiration for 365 days from now, thanks to National Geographic Traveler.
A Not-So-Good Ambassador: ProjectExplorer.org's encounter with a not-so-nice celebrity chef in Merida, Mexico.
Video of the Week: Seclusion Musings: Bringing up deep thoughts on travel that I'd love your feedback on!
Disgraceful Tourism: Letting you know that sex tourism is more widespread and active than you think. Be a responsible traveler and be informed.

Stunning news from the world of Nomadderwhere: I'm going full steam ahead on my redesign for Nomadderwhere, to be scheduled for September 23, 2010. I would love to hear your feedback in any way, shape, or form. Video feedback is always best, but you can also contact me with a simple message or leave a comment below!

Disgraceful Tourism

We travel because it's a rare kind of high that can also enlighten, rejuvenate, and ensure the occurrence of adventure. Regardless of the road's discomforts or challenges, travel seems to always evoke an inexplicable positivity - whether that's from the possibility of new friendships or just the newness of a myriad of elements. The scope of potential world travel is tantalizing, and thankfully tourism has the ability to elevate developing communities through employment opportunities and tax revenue. Win for the wanderer; win for the welcomers. Sadly, not every traveler sees his or her voyage to a new country in such a positive, symbiotic light. Those are the ones who perpetuate the very dark and very bleak side of travel. I'm talking about the perverted patrons of the sex tourism industry.

This post was written in conjunction with Angeline Diamond of ECPAT-USA.

The Darkest Form of Tourism

I'm not talking about backpackers who delight in a consensual tryst or the business traveler hoping to meet a cute gentleman in the hotel bar. I'm talking people whose sole purpose for travel is to engage in sex with minors, or they may take it one step further and transport someone for criminal sexual conduct. Ya know…real classy types.

Let's lay this out logically. Sex tourism increases the demand for prostitution. However, this demand is not easily met by women willing to choose this profession. Therefore, to meet demands, the supply of prostitutes becomes contingent on extensive human trafficking networks. These networks appear to be incredibly underground, which is why we don't hear about them like we do the drug trade. But sadly, the U. S. State Department says one million children worldwide are enslaved in the global commercial sex trade. Sex trafficking is considered one of the top three most profitable criminal networks in the world, generating about $4 billion dollars a year.

It's enough to make you writhe.

I feel rather morally comfortable while traveling, since I know for a fact I'm not engaging in anything related to sex tourism. But unfortunately, the travel industry often unintentionally contributes to this debilitating form of abuse. This doesn't mean anyone should point fingers and never leave their homes, but we as travelers, if we have any interest in our hosting communities, have a duty to act in ways that prevent the exploitation of the most vulnerable members of society: the children.

Kids are awesome, and to imagine a start to life wrapped up in such a seedy and life-threatening industry could induce nightmares and permanent travel guilt.

Know They're Out There

I've written about the creeps who often navigate to my site from google searches, like: cambodian naked boy, sex tourism friendly hotels, little boy with no shirt. If my blog were my home, I'd sit with an acidic potato gun on the front porch and fire at any creep who wonders on my lawn. To much our surprise, perverts aren't as easy to spot as Mormon evangelists (not that I'm encouraging the same activity to these solicitors…they're just easy to spot).

Instead, if I'm hoping that the world becomes a better place within my lifetime, I'd be better off imploring the help of fellow travelers who have an ounce of morality or two - hence, my blog post to you today.

I was recently contacted by ECPAT-USA, a network of organizations and individuals committed to the fight for children’s rights of freedom. While I know it's often fruitless to call for agency from an anonymous online audience, I figured it could only be beneficial to mention the tools they provide to assist the travel industry in preventing the sexual exploitation of children.

This acronym, which stands for Ending Child Prostitution, Pornography, and Trafficking, represents a group that focuses on research, advocacy, and public awareness. In conjunction with UNICEF and UNWTO, they created "The Code of Conduct," which outlines policies that may be adopted by travel companies within their code of ethics to prevent the sexual exploitation of children. Over 900 companies worldwide are in support of the code thus far, yet there are many companies that still hesitate.

Seriously…these guys are hesitating to support actions that prevent sexual exploitation. I'd like to hear the rebuttal for that argument.

Here we are, at the end of my ramble, where you can choose to do a couple things. You can click away mentally and physically (I admit to doing it a lot). You can consider yourself more aware and decide to learn more on your own time (I like to do this, as well). You can also exercise your "take action" muscle and follow some ECPAT-USA recommended steps toward making the travel industry more responsible. Regardless of your next step, I appreciate your perusal of this content and hope you feel enriched for doing so.

Kick Those Creeps Where The Sun Don't Shine

You may print out The Code Postcard and drop it off with your travel companies, which declares that you support responsible travel practices and travel companies that feel the same way. The Postcard provides information on how they may become a signatory.
- If you take this route, do let ECPAT-USA know where you sent the postcard. It helps them out.
- Check out ECPAT-USA online and follow us on Twitter.
- Research the internet for great blogs about current issues.
- Talk with your friends, family, co-workers, and other travelers to promote awareness and create a greater force against these practices.
- Purchase a TassaTag, a beautiful, fair trade plus luggage tag, which also increases public awareness and benefits ECPAT research and women in Thailand.

Do you have any questions concerning sex tourism around the world? If so, you may contact Angeline directly at angeline@ecpatusa.org. And if you have any other information, stories, or reflections on this issue, please add to our dialogue below.

Video of the Week: Seclusion Musings (Webcam)

After one successful week of relative seclusion in northern Indiana, I've got some thoughts to share - musings, if you will. Your feedback is strongly encouraged.

Notes from this week's video:

Musing #1: Reinvention
- Have you ever become a person you don't recognize?
- Do you take advantage of the easy opportunity for reinvention when traveling?
Musing #2: Anonymity
- How does your anonymous presence on the road affect your attitude, behavior, mind, etc.?
- Have you experienced the overfamiliarity of the small town or close-knit region? How does this change your state of mind or activity?
Musing #3: Constant Travel
- Is re-experiencing your own town/city as valuable a teaching opportunity as perusing a new place in another country?
- If home travel is considered "travel," where is the line drawn between travel and not? What differentiates the two?

Journeys of a Lifetime in July

Welcome back to my new monthly series on Nomadderwhere, one which highlights the incredible trips one could take in that current month - thanks to a vibrant book called Journeys of a Lifetime by National Geographic. Each month I pick a couple adventures from each section in the book in order to provide you inspiration for 365 days from now. Read the brief description to whet your appetite, and click on the trip name for further information (links provided by National Geographic...of course you could be a gritty backpacker and make it on your own).

Across Water

The Sepik River: Let's start off with a trip for the hairy-chested and callused travelers. Say hello to Papua New Guinea! Coast along one of the least spoiled and greatest river systems in the world, flanked by jungle and indigenous cultures with multiple languages and gruesome stories from village rivalries. Skip the capital city and board a cruise boat for four days. Sounds extreme…

Turkey's Turquoise Coast: I read "anchor at night in isolated coves" and got a little giddy. How does sailing the southwest coast of Turkey, admiring relics of 4,000 year-old civilizations, and enjoying Turkish breakfasts while watching flying fish go by sound? Sounds like a trip to convert any land-lover.

By Road

Route 12 in the Outer Banks: Windsurfers, I'm talking to you now…and hang gliders…and people who like beaches. There's a stretch of 80 miles on the coast of North Carolina called the Outer Banks that would entice all of you. Rocky seas slap the shores and create the perfect climate for wind sports. Route 12 runs the length of the barrier islands and can be driven in three hours.

Connemara's Sky Road: Ireland already pulls you in with its lovely people and tendency to indulge in some tasty brews, and while you're enjoying the emerald green of her landscapes and primordial beauty, take a drive through the Connemara peninsula for some added visual pleasures. White-sand beaches and high cliffs both make up its rugged perimeter, where the intense wild mingles with pub-filled towns and wild ponies.

By Rail

The Inland Railway: Board in Mora, head to Lapland. See one of Europe's last great wildernesses along the way. If you're into grand travel landmarks, you may enjoy getting the certificate upon crossing the Arctic Circle. Don't rush your week in Sweden, awaiting brown bears outside your train car window. And remember that touring in summertime allows for some awesome vistas with the 24-hour daylight.

Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh: If you've never seen a hairy cow, now's your chance. Honestly, if you don't know what the Scottish Highlands look like, you're in for an awakening. You've probably dreamt about them without even knowing such land truly exists. I was enchanted by the simple beauty of the lakes and mountains. The landscape is haunting and hopeful at the same time. This train takes three hours and can show you the magic.

On Foot

Climbing Mount Fuji: No snow. No massive festival lines to the top. July is a great time to love on Japan's famous peak. From the looks of Japanese toilets, the rest stops on the way to the summit have got to be elaborate and…kush. Whether you start in the middle for the pre-dawn trek to the sunrise or do the whole darn thing all day long, allow yourself to think about the dormant volcano below you, not all the knick-knacks and novelty items you could get while up there.

Lake Issyk-Kul: I know you don't often find yourself crossing the Kyrgyzstani/Kazakhstani borders often, but you may want to tack this trip onto your pre-existing Stan tour (or your bucket list journey). What do you imagine a lake "cradled in the Mountains of Heven" looks like? You better bet it's not only picturesque but surrounded by incredible hikes through herb meadows and colorful vistas. I never knew the Stans were coated in natural splendor. Serves me right for watching Borat.

In Search of Culture

Amish Country: Do you hang with the Amish often? What gives? Maybe you should. Take off right now for Lancaster Country, Pennsylvania and find yourself some Old Order Amish folk to admire. Take the backroads, stop for some crafts and delicious food goods, and if you're around for a Saturday, try attending an auction. Don't ask me what they auction off; I want to be surprised when I hit that up.

The Painted Monasteries of Moldavia: Illuminated manuscripts are immaculate to begin with, but seeing a similar effect covering the walls of a quaint monastery in Romania's countryside would be time travel-esque. There are as many as fifteen monasteries with similar artistry on display, one of which earned the title of "the Sistine Chapel of the East." You won't have to search very hard to find the culture here in Romania.

In Gourmet Heaven

New York Deli Tour: There's an overwhelming amount of things to do and see in Manhattan, which is why fueling up is essential. Enter the New York deli scene. You've got your classic Katz's Delicatessen, your staple Carnegie Deli, and a slew of others both well-known and lower key. Go with friends and split sandwiches to save room for some cheesecake and other delicious goods.

Wine Route Through Hungary: Allow me to write a wine route haiku:

Ancient golden wines Aged in musty, moldy caves What could be sweeter

Since when have you needed to be persuaded to visit a wine country? You just needed to know it was there. And now you do. So go.

Into the Action

Horse Treks in the Andes: The choice isn't horse, foot, car, or plane. It's obvious you'll be traversing the Andes on horseback, but the question is where: through the grasslands and volcanoes of Ecuador or along old smugglers' routes in Patagonia. Since the Andes are the longest mountain range in the world, it seems the choices are virtually limitless. Regardless, to be that connected with the glory of nature would be a thrill for the masses…and the sole individual that feels real isolation and fresh air in their nostrils. Can you tell I pine for Patagonia?

Stalking the "Big Five": Who are the "Big Five?" They were classified as so for being the most difficult to hunt: lions, leopards, elephants, buffalo, and rhinos. Chobe National Park in Botswana will satiate your desires to see these bad boys and stalk them with your newly purchased sniper (a.k.a. telephoto) lens. Don't expect to sleep in on this sort of safari, but you can expect an awesome mid-day nap when the rest of the animals snooze as well.

Up and Away

Over British Columbia: Vancouver is one of those cities that can be done by foot, bike, car, etc. but what shouldn't be neglected is the aerial view from the windows of a float plane. Sunset flights could be majestic, but daytime jaunts can bring you into view of eagles, seals, and porpoises going nuts in nature.

Buzzing over Kruger National Park: Nothing feels more like a defiance of all natural instincts and laws that flying over man-eating animals in a kite strapped to a lawn mower engine. And at the same moment, nothing is cooler than taking a microlight on a mini-safari over reserves like Kruger. It's certainly a new and interesting way to move about this earth and a surreal way to observe animals in their natural habitats.

In Their Footsteps

Across the Continental Divide with Lewis and Clark: I have no idea how Lewis and Clark could do it. But thank goodness they did; otherwise, who knows if I'd be alive (that'd be funny and make sense if I were actually related to William Clark, which I don't believe I was). It is, however, possible to see for yourself what the wild continental divide was like 200 years ago when they made their famed trek. Montana looks monumental in size, and it's always a trip worth taking to be amidst mass beauty.

Blues Pilgrimage in Clarksdale: It's the birthplace of the blues and chillin' in the Mississippi Delta, waiting to be explored by you. Morgan Freeman has certainly invested a lot in this region, which is decidedly understated but top notch in musical quality and food choices, among many other things, I would assume. You could also take Highway 61, also known as the Blues Highway, and make Clarksdale one stop among many on your musical pilgrimage.

How's that brain? Spinning with innumerable desires to traverse continents and climates? Pull out a pen and prioritize your life by putting one or more of these trips at the top of the list. And by planning a year in advance, you'll be quite able to save, prepare, and anticipate the rigors of your adventure in every way. Check back in August for the Journeys of a Lifetime you could partake in next year!

Where are you inspired to travel to next year? Leave a comment and be my new friend.