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This is it. We are just days from the decision on which city will host the 2016 Olympic Games. I know it seems a tad early to be talking about something seven years from now, but you know the host city has years of work ahead of it so the time is now.  After a two-year global campaign featuring four world-class cities, one of the closest bid races in Olympic history will be decided Friday in a vote of the International Olympic Committee in Copenhagen.

The bidding process goes back to May 2007 when cities around the world dropped their hat in the ring for a chance to win the Olympic rings.  Four cities were chosen as the final candidates in June 2008: Tokyo, Rio De Janeiro, Madrid, and Chicago. I have visited three out of four of these cities and can say without hesitation that they are all fabulous. But for some reason I am hoping for Chicago.

At stake is international prestige and exposure, billions of dollars in potential investment and economic spinoffs, and the honor of staging the world’s biggest sports extravaganza.

The decision may come down to two key issues: How much will President Barack Obama’s visit to Copenhagen to pitch Chicago’s case in person affect the outcome?  Is the IOC ready to take a bit of a gamble on Rio and send the Olympics to South America for the very first time?

IOC president Jacques Rogge expects the race for the 2016 Olympics to be decided by “a couple of votes” and says Chicago’s chances shouldn’t hinge on President Obama’s personal visit to push his home city’s bid.  Initially Obama announced he would not be able to attend the vote and that First lady Michelle Obama would go in his place. Now it is reported that he will be there.

“I see really no favorite,” Rogge said last week in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “I think it’s going to be a very close vote. I think the final vote will be decided by a couple of votes only.”

Tokyo

This amazing city of lights and energy was once considered a possible shoe-in for the games. The country has deep pockets to back the huge financial undertaking of hosting an Olympic Games. Tokyo boasts an amazing infrastructure of public transport and a plan to keep most game facilities within an eight kilometer radius.  But the city’s populous seem to think otherwise. Only 55% of the population supports the games returning to Tokyo (they also hosted in 1964). This is the lowest in that category in which Madrid has the highest percentage with 86% of its citizens supporting the games.

Madrid

This is Madrid’s second straight bid. The city finished third behind winner London and Paris in the 2005 vote for the 2012 Olympics. Madrid also was a candidate for the 1972 Games that went to Munich.  The capital city of Spain has about 70 percent of venues completed, a superb transportation system, full financial backing and the overwhelming support of its people – even the King of Spain. Some reports say that Madrid is not the favorite to be chosen for several reasons: partly because Barcelona held the games in 1992, just 20 years ago, while London is to host the 2012 Games and the IOC is unlikely to return to Europe for 2016.

Rio de Janeiro

In this race, Rio – besides its iconic beaches and stunning backdrop – has the strongest emotional pull of the four candidates.  The Olympics have never been held in South America and the time has come to try something new.

“For others it would be just another Olympics, but for Brazil it would be something to raise the self esteem of the people,” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said this week. “No other city needs to host an Olympics. Brazil needs it. … Do only rich countries have the right to host the Olympics?”

Rio seemed to pick up the unofficial front-runner’s tag in June when the bid cities made presentations to IOC members in a specially arranged meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland. Rio officials made a splash by unveiling a big world map with dots showing where all the Olympics have been held – and a big empty space for South America.

Chicago

My city….and the adopted hometown of the United States President Barack Obama is expected to a front runner along with Rio. Chicago’s so called ‘front lawn,’ a long stretch of parks and lakefront would give the Games a glittering backdrop, like Rio, and plenty of room for playing venues that would not displace millions of people, as they did in Beijing.

Despite this week’s announcement that Obama will make a special an appearance in Copenhagen, Olympic officials say they are not worried that his presence may sway the vote.  Maybe another “O” will help. Oprah Winfrey is supposed to be there to support Chicago’s bid as well.  Chicago is bidding to bring the Summer Games back to the U.S. for the first time since Atlanta in 1996. The bid, which would bring the games back to the Olympics’ most lucrative market for sponsorships and television rights, is centered on a compact plan putting most athletes within 15 minutes of their venues along picturesque, ocean-like Lake Michigan.  Chicago overcame one of its biggest hurdles when the city council approved all financial guarantees for the games, clearing the way for Mayor Richard M. Daley to sign the host city contract if Chicago wins. That was a major step for a U.S. bid city, which – unlike rival candidates – can’t rely on federal government financial backing.

After traveling around the world for 2 ½ years, I realized there is just no way to encapsulate the trip into a ten minute conversation with friends. How do you do that? Should I talk about the Great Pyramids of Giza or celebrating Christmases in London and Sydney and Milan or riding on a camel or hiking up a volcano? What about all the places I slept, all the different modes of transport I took, or all the new friends I made? How can I relay all this in a soundbite? Should I edit a movie montage? All I can come up with is ‘it was amazing’ or sometimes I find it’s better to not even try at all.

But what did I learn? I had all that supposed ‘free’ time to just think, philosophize, and simply ponder life, right? Well, the first thing I learned is that we seem to eventually adjust ourselves into whatever situation we are in. Kind of like when you have a project to do – it always seems to take as long as you are given. If you have two weeks or two days to complete it, it seems human nature that you stretch it out into whatever time frame given. So on the trip, I finally ‘thought’ I would have all this time to think, but often times I just found myself in the moment – enjoying a sunset or tasty meal or the company of good friends. What I learned was just that – how to live. How not to think about the past or worry about the future, but to simply…be.   So rather than pulling myself out of lovely moments, I enjoyed them, I marinated in them, I lived them. I let myself just be – and enjoy every part of my journey that still continues today.

So, how was my trip? Well, it was amazing and it was and is my life…forever changed.

A Journey – Yes, this a Louis Vutton commercial – a name brand barely in my vocabulary let alone my closet, but it’s very well done and their message is true. And not at all about fancy bling and $1000 purses. Take a look and enjoy your journey.

Does anyone dispute that walking is good for you? It’s good for the heart. It’s easy on the joints. It helps clear the mind. And it gets you out into a new or old neighborhood allowing you to soak in the sights, sounds, and smells around you that you would most likely miss from a car.  While traveling, we often walk more than when we are at home. It’s a great way to really ’see’ a new city. But I often like to walk as much as I can at home too. Sometimes cities are thought of as dirty, polluted population centers. But, for the most part, this is simply not the case anymore. Many urban areas across the United States have revitalized and poured lots of funds into their downtown centers – greening, beautifying, and turning old, now defunct warehouse spaces (i.e. Chicago’s West Loop Market District) and even rail lines (i.e. Manhattan’s former High Line elevated train tracks) into new work and living spaces and parks.

Here are some great reasons to get out there and hit the pavement according to walkscore.com, a nifty site started by some Seattle (walk score of 72) software developers.

Why Walking Matters:

• Better health: A study in Washington State found that the average resident of a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood weighs 7 pounds less than someone who lives in a sprawling neighborhood.  Residents of walkable neighborhoods drive less and suffer fewer car accidents, a leading cause of death between the ages of 15-45.
• Reduction in greenhouse gas: Cars are a leading cause of global warming. Your feet are zero-pollution transportation machines.
• More transportation options: Compact neighborhoods tend to have higher population density, which leads to more public transportation options and bicycle infrastructure. Not only is taking the bus cheaper than driving, but riding a bus is ten times safer than driving a car!
• Increased social capital: Walking increases social capital by promoting face-to-face interaction with your neighbors. Studies have shown that for every 10 minutes a person spends in a daily car commute, time spent in community activities falls by 10%.
• Stronger local businesses: Dense, walkable neighborhoods provide local businesses with the foot traffic they need to thrive. It’s easier for pedestrians to shop at many stores on one trip, since they don’t need to drive between destinations.

Walkscore.com ranks addresses and gives them a walk score from 0-100. This is something realtors are starting to use in the sale and marketability of homes and neighborhoods.

Pedestrian-friendly cities and towns can make huge personal economic sense. If you don’t need a car, you can save thousands a year on financing, leasing, insurance, maintenance, gas and parking fees — especially if you own more than one vehicle.

Living where there’s ubiquitous and reliable public transportation and services within a mile or less also means fewer worries about traffic jams, accidents, wasted money and time. And walking is good for you, so you could improve your health and lose weight.

The nation’s top 5 most walkable cities? San Francisco, New York, Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia. My address in Chicago literally got a walk score of 100%. The score takes into account the restaurants, supermarkets, parks, schools, the lake, movie theaters, bookstores, and coffee shops, all of which are within comfortable walking distance.

My current address in the ‘burbs of New Jersey earned a meager walk score of 34%. It’s a lovely green town, but very spread out and you’d be hard pressed to get around without a car.

The logic seems obvious: You can lose weight each time you walk to the grocery store. You can go out with friends, have a glass of wine and not worry about driving. You spend less money on your car, car insurance, and gasoline—or you don’t own a car at all. When you shop, you support your local economy. You talk to your neighbors. You build a life and a community. Sounds nice, no?

By now, if you are a traveler yourself, or have been reading along with LL World Tour, you may make a distinction between a tourist and a traveler. In a nutshell, the general thinking is that a tourist jets into a new city, runs around in sneakers and a loud t-shirt seeing the most popular sights, shoves some local pizza/gelato/schnitzel into their face, and collapses into their chain hotel bed exhausted. A traveler sits at a café, chats up some locals, goes to a more ‘real’ part of town where people are really living and working, and enjoys a home cooked meal in someone’s home that evening with wine and fun conversation. Now, of course, circumstances…um, like a job…sometimes make it difficult for many of us to become more than just tourists. With our limited vacation time it is often difficult to really immerse ourselves into a new place and culture. Hence the reason I quit my ‘day job’ to travel the world.

This is a much bantered about topic. We are all tourists at some point. I know I have certainly been one. I am also a traveler. There is no exact definition and the line blurs between the two. It is all subjective, of course, and isn’t the whole point of travel to dispel the stereotypes and labels? But, what makes one a traveler? Here is a little list of oft-used words when describing these vagabonding ne’er do wells:

1.  Flexible

You meet so many strangers and mix with so many cultures. Different languages are reaching your ears and sound like music. New people. New transport. New currency. It all changes all the time and you just go with the flow. You misread the train schedule and miss your train? No worries. You are not really on a schedule…so why sweat it? You shrug it off and go grab a beer.  The more things change, the more flexible you become.

2.  Resilient

You’re on the go. You are there to see and do. Like the United States Postal Service: Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night…will stop you. If it’s raining you throw on your hooded rain jacket. If it’s cold you pile on the fleecy layers. If it’s hot, you strip down to the barest threads. Less seems to bother you because you’ve walked through it all – and usually all the while schlepping 30 pounds on your back.

3.  Courageous

Just the fact that you are out in the world in the first place means you must have the balls to do it. The more you travel, the less scary the big, bad world seems. You’re often told that you’ve got moxie and chutzpah. After conquering the world…nothing really scares you.

4.  Open-Minded

You embrace others’ differences. You understand that different does not mean wrong. In fact, it may be better. You are excited to speak new languages, learn about new cultures and taste new foods. Different doesn’t scare you, it turns you on.

5.  Adventurous

You are on a roller coaster ride of adrenaline. You’re constantly being stimulated by meeting new folks and trying new things. The rush is ongoing and nearly constant. You start to crave adventure and push your own limits further and further. No wonder some say it’s an addiction.

6.  Crazy

You have just the right amount of crazy inside of you to do this and make it happen. You are squirrely enough to not just dream of being a traveler, but to actually get out there and become one.

Travelers break the mold of ‘normal.’ They get out there. They do it. They break away from the pack and veer off the path we are all preprogrammed to follow.  They climb out of their comfort zone and dip their toes in strange yet alluring waters…until finally they dive in. Come on in, the water’s fine.