My Travel-Friendly Finds

In my packing preparation, I've learned that just because something is advertised as "travel friendly" doesn't make it so. There are many stores that specialize in travel products or have a travel product section. However, in my experience, most of these products are overpriced, cheaply made, and let's face it, ugly. Who wants a khaki fanny pack that screams tourist?

So what makes something travel friendly? When you're trying to travel the world with only carry-ons it's all about versitility and the ability to squash it down to a packing-friendly size. You may laugh, but packaging can mean the difference between bringing that extra pair of shoes or not. 

Here are just a few of my "traveling treasures": Love my Em's Studio necklace

• Em's Studio Jewelry: Accessorize, accessorize, accessorize! When you're only packing a few outfits, accessories can prevent things from getting boring. I added a few fun necklaces and earrings with the help of my friend, and jewelry designer, Shelly. Her designs are versitile, fun and a little bit rock and roll. Shelly, thank you for helping me select a few special pieces for my journey.
• Modify Watches: These watches are fun, flexible and whimiscal. You can customize your look by swapping out bands and faces. One watch, several options! Not only do their designs add an instant boost of hip, but you don't have to advertise you have an iPhone when checking the time.
• Posh Compact Makeup Brushes: While I suspect my makeup routine will mainly consist of sunscreen and chapstick, there may be a few occasions where I feel like glamming it up. This super compact kit zips up easily and the brushes feel much more luxurious than the $12 price tag would suggest. (Available at Bed, Bath & Beyond, who by the way, has an amazing selection of travel size toiletries.)
• Ziplock bags: The perfect solution to organizing your travel supplies in a way that makes it easy to see what's been packed (and what hasn't). I've used them to organize electronics, toiletries, first aid supplies, you name it. Better yet, I've found that re-packaging many items into a Ziplock bag has saved considerable space, especially for any products stored in cardboard boxes. Don't waste your money on fancy makeup bags or toiletry organizers, Ziplock bags are the way to go!
• Member's Only Jacket: Yes people, the 80s are officially back. I didn't want to pack a bulky coat, but after further research, it doesn't look like I have a choice. My retro-style Member's Only jacket may not be the most attractive, but it is deceptively warm, light as a feather and waterproof. Best yet, it can be scrunched into a ridiculously small size, not something you can say of most jackets. Not bad for under $40 at Nordstrom's Rack.

• Eddie Bauer Diaper Bag: While I secretly dreamed of traveling with only one bag, it became obvious I was going to need a day bag to store my camera and other necesssities when walking about town. However, I couldn't bring myself to pay $120+ for a camera bag and a laptop bag seemed to scream, "steal me." So I was overjoyed when I found this versatile (diaper) bag at Target for around $35. There's plenty of space for a camera, pockets for lens, a separate section for a laptop and guide books, side pockets for water bottles, plus plenty of other nooks and crannies. The strap is study and it has some nice theft-resistant features as well. (As if the thought of stealing talcum powder and baby wipes wasn't enough to keep theives away.) Who knew I would fall head-over-heels in love with a diaper bag?  

What travel products or accessories do you treasure? Please share what's worked, and not worked, for you. 

With a Little Help from my Friends...The Bucket List

What's in the future for my trip? You can help decide.It's not surprising this post has been the hardest one for me to write: it's the one where I have to ask for help.

I'm not good at asking for help. It doesn't come naturally to my interverted personality. Plus, there's that part of me that fears rejection.

But then, if you never ask, you never get. And so I'm asking. I'm asking you to be part of this project and journey. I'm asking for your help in setting up experiences and excursions. And in the process, I'm so excited to think that my friends and community will help shape the future of my trip. 

So many of you have already made a major impact to my plans. With your help, I've been able to arrange the following experiences:

• Food tour with a Parisian
• An experience searching for the elusive Gibbons in Laos
• Visits to places where Portlanders are "keeping it weird" including a coffee shop that sets the coffee on fire!
• Tour of Iceland's hot pots and landscapes
• African safari
• Arranged personal driver in India
• Attendance at the World Summit Domination Conference in Portland 
• Taking photos for Shukuru, an empowering, educational non-profit in Tanzania
• Tours of Cambodia and Vietnam
• Interesting museums to visit in Amsterdam
• Possible excursion to Turkey

I am truly grateful for each of you have that offered your assistance. It's meant a lot to me and has kept me going when I've had moments of doubt.  

Now with three weeks out, I'm hoping to add a few more experiences to the list. A lot of people have asked me if I have a "bucket list".  While I'm the type of person that can be happy doing anything and loves to leave room for synchronicity and surprise, there are a few things I secretly hope to do on my trip.

These things include: 

• Tour an urban farm in Brookyn (extra points if there are chickens)Local street fairs, festivals, celebrations - I want to be a part of it all!
  
• Attend/dance at a tribal dance in Africa
• Connect with a distant relative: A Breinholt in Denmark or a Romanisyzn in the Ukraine
• Stay in Freetown Chistiania in Copenhagen
• Work on a winery (secret wish: to stomp grapes)
• Meet a glass blower in Venice
• Stay in a: house boat, lighthouse, palace, tree house, castle, haunted house, etc.
• Have a spiritual experience in India and Africa
• Enjoy a traditional family meal in Germany
• Go to a yoga class in India
• Get a hug from Amma, the Hugging Saint
• Stay at a capsule hotel in Tokyo
• Attend a Japanese TV or game show
• See a baseball game in Japan
• Meet a fisherman and go deep sea fishing
• Sail down the coast of Croatia
• Work as a barista or bartender for a day (despite lack of required skills) 
• Work on a farm (extra points if I can milk a cow or goat)
• Ride an elephant, a camel, a motorbike, a Vespa, in a hot air balloon, etc. 
• See an Icelandic heavy metal show (Tickling Death Machine anyone?)
• Meet a street artist in Berlin
• Learn to Tango in Spain (ideally with someone 6"2', dark and handsome!)
• Take an accordion lesson in Germany
• Attend Loi Krathong in Thailand
• Paddle down the Mekong River
• Attend a local fair or festival
• Cycle around Copenhagen
• Learn how to make Pho in Vietnam
• Go vampire hunting in Romania
• Crash a party, get invited to a wedding, do really bad karaoke somewhere  (Would be great if all three could be achieved simultaneously)
• Soak in the Turkish baths in Budapest Anyone need a mean triangle player?
  
• Learn to cook the local dish, dance the local dance, experience the local experience, hear the local music
  
• See a soccer game in Europe
• Play in a band (I play a mean triangle and a really awful bass)
  

I'm asking for your help to connect me with anyone that may be able to assist with these experiences. Share with me your own experiences (after all, the bucket list is never complete). Comment or contact me with your ideas or resources for people to talk to or places to stay. I'll be forever grateful. 

I am excited to think of all the things that can be accomplished by my community of friends and I promise to capture the best photos possible, thank you profusely and send you all my love, where ever I am...

What I'll Miss About You

I have less than 30 days before I leave. That revelation came as a shock as I was lying in the comfort of my own bed last night. 

Five months is a long time to be gone. Thanksgiving will pass, as well as many birthdays, San Francisco events and annual traditions. It made me wonder what I'll miss most, and well, what I won't miss. It will be interesting to see if this list changes over the course of the trip...

Things I'll miss:

1. Friends: If friends are the family you choose, then I am blessed to have one heck of a large family. My friends add so much to my life and it's going to be hard not to be able to pick up the phone and meet up for coffee, share life's ups and downs and hear a famililar laugh at the end of the line. I'll miss birthdays, celebrations, perhaps even engagements. Yep, needing a tissue right about now...
2. Hugs: Okay, I know this sounds cheesy, but I'm being genuine. My friends are also some of the best huggers I know. Human touch is really important to me. It helps me feel connected and part of something bigger than myself. I'm not sure of the availability of hugs abroad, but I am considering a visit to Amma, the Hugging Saint, in India soley for this purpose.
3. Coffee. Specifically, Philz Coffee: As much as I love exploring new things, I love my rituals equally. There's something about walking to Philz Coffee in the Castro and taking that first sip of my hand-made Jacob's Wonderbar that puts a smile on my face and reassures me that my Saturday is off to a good start. They don't call it "A Cup of Love" for nothing.
4. Hello My Sunshine!Hot Water/Bubble Baths: I admit, long hot showers are my guilty pleasure. It's where I begin my day and my ideas start flowing. And I've never met a problem that couldn't be solved by a hot bath, Mr. Bubbles and a glass of wine. 
5. My Own Bed: I invested in a good bed when I moved to San Francisco 12 years ago. It was the best money I ever spent.
6. Convenience: Within two blocks I can buy my groceries, launder my clothes, cut my hair, buy a new outfit, see live music and enjoy a meal ranging from $3 tacos to $100 Zagat-rated restaurants. I'm curious how I will shift to living with fewer choices and less convenience. 

Things I won't miss:

1. My Neighborhood, The Mission: A friend summarized it best when she said, "People have sucked the life out of the Mission." I moved to the neighborhood when the "Gourmet Ghetto" was still emerging. Now it's exploded: an hour wait for Bi-Rite ice cream, a half-a-block line at 7:30am for Tartine's Bakery and an occasional rope and bouncer at Bi-Rite market. Yes people, a roped off entrance for a grocery store! And then there's Dolores Park. The once mellow, local spot for a Sunday picnic is now a full blown production. By BART and by bus, the gaggles of sneering hipsters flock to food carts, protests, costume contests, random parades, spontaneous 3:00am firework shows and my favorite, the non-stop Saturday techno dance party. After eight hours of boom-boom-boom every weekend, I've come to the conclusion that when religious zealots called music the devil's work, they were referring to techno. Or maybe I'm just getting old.
2. A typical Line for Bi-Rite. It's just ice cream people, I promise!The 101: What other freeway can you merge three lanes to the left only to end up in the slow lane three minutes later? Why do I always get stuck behind some trash truck spewing banana peels and stinking of compost as it makes it way to Recology? Why does it take me 35 minutes to move seven miles? And why do cops constant patrol its lanes (as if anyone is going 65 mph) while shiny new BMWs are zooming at 95 mph down the 280 only five miles to the west? Why? Why? Why?
3. Driving: Perhaps it's becuase I'm always driving the 101. But seriously, I am looking forward to traveling by foot, bike, bus, train, elephant and other forms of transportation.
4. Spending Time Indoors: Am I going to miss staring at a computer under the glare of bad fluorescant lighting for nine hours a day? I don't think so.
5. San Francisco Summers: Mark Twain wasn't exaggerating when he said the coldest winter he ever spent was a summer in San Francisco. The fog. The wind. The cold. The inability to wear a sundress without shivering. I am looking forward to wearing open-toed sandals at night, in August, with reckless abandon.

Tell me, what are some of the things you'd miss or not miss?

The Case of the Cursed Visas

Do good things come in threes?

It's ironic that I chose my destinations based on the folklore belief of “good things come in threes” and yet my visas seem to be cursed by the same superstition. I thought I was ahead of the game when I started my visa process in January. But one by one, they came back with issues and problems. Here’s the low down: 

First Strike, Vietnam: Got my visa issued through December 1^st; booked my flight from Vietnam for December 2^nd. Oops!

Second Strike, India: Didn't realize Indian visas are good six months from the date of issue, not from the date you arrive in India. This is confusing because the Indian visa application requires an arrival and departure date. One wouldn't think they would issue a visa that expires mid-trip, but that's the way it goes...along with another $80. I'm embarrassed to say my inner French made an appearance at the Travisa office when I got the news.

Third Strike, Kenya: Kenya visas are issued six months from date of issue and require you send a copy of your flight itinerary. Mine was issued for five months, 2 days short of my departure. Oh how I was tempted to magically turn the hand-written October 4^th into October 9^th. Tempted like a kid let loose in a candy shop. However, spending time in a Nairobi prison for tampering with visa documents didn't seem like a fun excursion.

But then again, neither did having to send back, reapply and repay for my three visas. The last thing I wanted to be bogged down with at this stage in my planning was paperwork. I wanted to be outside taking photos and planning my experiences! In fact, when I received my Kenya visa, I was beside myself. How could this happen? How could I be so unlucky with my visas? And then, when I stepped back and thought of all the different perspectives I could choose to approach the situation, I had to chuckle. Here are a few perspectives that came to mind: 

• Angry perspective: What the %$#^!*!? Rip that visa to shreds. Then burn it. And then stomp on the ashes. Arrrgh!
• Lazy perspective: Do nothing. What are they going to do, deport me as I'm leaving?
• New-age perspective: Sage that passport. And the paperwork. Envision that your visas are being issued by loving, kind people with good attention to detail. Breathe in deeply.  
• Emo perspective: Get really depressed over it. After all, it's all my fault. Drink a PBR in a dark bar. Go home and write a song about it. A really sad song.
• Victim/blame perspective: Why does this always happen to me? Why did they mess up my passport? Someone is to blame and will pay for this. I'll show them on Yelp!
• Positive perspective: At least I have time to correct them. This will make a good story some day and an even better one over drinks. 
• Go-with-the-flow perspective: Admit the visa thing isn't working right now, take a break and get to it when you're refreshed.

Once I realized I had so many choices in how to respond to the situation, I felt much calmer. Not that it wasn't frustrating. However when faced with a situation where there's only so much you can do, the one thing that makes the biggest difference is the attitude you choose. 

I'm sure there will be times on the road when things don't go my way, flights get cancelled, people are rude, weather is awful. I'm sure it will be frustrating too, among other things. I just hope I can remember that I have many choices in the attitude I choose and hopefully pick a good one. 

It's in the Bag...

My suitcase weighed almost as much as I did. It was my final year in college and I was going to Italy for summer study. Somehow I had shoved my entire closet into a suitcase that was so big an 8-year old child could have hid in it. After straining to lift the bag into the trunk, my step-dad asked, "Are you going to be able to carry this around?" Of course, I replied. After all, I only have to pick it up off the luggage carousel. Wrong. I lugged it through train stations, where it got stuck in turnstiles as passersby muttered "pazza" (crazy). I shoved it into bathroom stalls, where I had to channel my inner acrobat. But the final straw was the big, blue bruises I got from kicking, pushing and pulling it up 100 steps of an abandoned bus station. By the end, my "closet" had been donated to street kids and old ladies.

Yep, I'm fitting 5 months in this bag

That's why I'm committed to the one carry-on bag rule this trip. To find that bag, I walked into Michael Bruno’s Luggage on Market Street. Lou, the exuberant owner, had me fixed up in 5 minutes. I walked out with a new Timbuk2 bag. It's only slightly larger than a laptop bag. Perfect, it's all I need!

Which made me think, how much do I really need? Forced to focus on essentials, there's a lot that won't make the cut. But if I can live 5 months on what's in my laptop bag, how much nonessential "baggage" am I carrying around every day? 

We all have shoes we don't wear, phone numbers we don't call and things we cling to "just in case". But beyond clothes and contacts; what other beliefs do we hoard in our hearts and minds? What do we let clutter our lives to the point we can't focus on what's important? Do we really have as little faith in ourselves to handle what life throws at us as our ability to find shampoo in a foreign country? 

This trip has helped me reassess what is essential and what is excess. For me, I like having a plan. I feel comfortable keeping a calendar, a check list and a contingency strategy. Without one, I can feel lost. But lately the need to have a plan has been weighing me down. While being a planner has served me well in some areas, I'm realizing you can't plan for everything, nor can you predict the outcome. And isn't that exciting to think about! Accepting what happens and trusting you can handle it is an important skill to embrace.

Not that everyone will embrace it with you. I've had a lot of people hit me with the "what ifs": what if I have to sell my place, what if I get sick, what if I find a man, what if I get a hang nail and it hurts? The truth is there are a lot of "what ifs" whether I stay or go. I can't answer them all, I can only prepare, keep focused on what's important and trust I can deal with it. If I'm wrong, I'll l post a declarative update to this post. You can then call me "pazza." 

Live life like Lou. When a job, relationship or hobby is no longer enjoyable, move on!As I was shopping, I asked Lou how long he had been in the luggage business. He seemed like a genuinely happy person. With pride, he told me 30 years. However, he had not always been so satisfied in his career. He told me he always knew it was time to move on when things stopped being enjoyable. I liked that answer. Shouldn't we all be so lucky to pack our bags and search for our own enjoyment? Shouldn't commitment to our happiness shape what we choose to "carry on" in our lives? In the meantime, I'm working hard to keep my luggage load light... 

Than you Lou and Michael Bruno Luggage for not only helping me find my perfect travel bag, but for sharing your own life motto/treasure.

What have you let go that makes your life lighter?