I’m kind of a mutt when it comes to my genealogy. My mom is a blonde-haired, green-eyed babe whose parents are of Northern European descent. Past that, I don’t know many specifics about her side. But my dad is half Lebanese and half Sicilian. And it is my dad’s side of the family who are particularly prideful about our origins. My grandfather would often say, “Never forget your roots.†He, himself, was born in Deerfield, Michigan. But his parents were from the northern hills of Lebanon. And he wanted to make sure none of us forgot that. And although I grew up in Los Angeles, far from the Middle East, I don’t speak Arabic and I don’t have many close…
Musings and Misc
Yesterday, the blog, Positively Positive posted this quote by Joseph Campbell to their Facebook page. I love the quote because it is freeing and rings so true. Immediately after reading Mr. Campbell’s words, I thought about how to apply this to my everyday life – my work life and my romantic life. And then it hit me. This is a perfect piece of advice for traveling. I’ll just change the words around a little:…
It is known that Americans get less vacation time than citizens of other countries. For example, in Europe, on average, they get 30 days of paid vacation per year. Can you imagine? And the majority of Americans don’t even take their full two weeks. Is it that some of us fear our bosses won’t value us if we do? Is it a lack of savings? Or maybe we are concerned that if we get away and like it, we might not want to come back. Whatever the reason, sometimes we just need an extra nudge to push us out of our daily routines and realize it is time to put fun first. So here is a checklist to see if…
Like a hot summer fling? Does even the mention of a fling put a smile on your face thinking of that crazy time? If so, you’ll probably remember how intense and all consuming it was. A fling tends to be unexpected. But when it happens it brings us alive. With nothing to lose and no commitment fears to hold us back – we are in the present. I would compare a fling with travel. If you think about your favorite trips you’ve taken, does a smile spread across your face? Do you wish now, if only for a fleeting moment, that you could go back to that carefree time? Do your eyes flash mischievously? Wait are you thinking about your…
You might have a window of time during which you can get away, you may want to celebrate a special occasion or maybe you just have a yearning for a change of scenery – but you can’t quite pinpoint a destination for a trip. I don’t blame you. It’s a big world out there with so much to experience. Let me see if I can be of assistance. Here is a list of questions I created to help you decide on a destination……
I’ve found that often times the number one reason people do not go on a trip is because they are sweating the details. These days there is an overwhelming wealth of knowledge to be had about any given destination. Whether you are a Lonely-Planet-lover, TripAdvisor afficionado, or an Afar.com social-travel-network-er (or all of the above) the research alone could render a trip quite cumbersome. Just the thought of parsing through the information, making itinerary decisions and musing “what will I really feel like doing while on the trip?”, can be repellant. Oh, and then there is the worry about making the wrong decisions that may cause us to subsequently be inconvenienced or not have as good of a time as…