Two men are punching each other until swollen and often bloody. Everyone is just standing around, but no one is doing anything to stop the violence.  Then one of them falls to the ground, seemingly knocked unconscious or nearly dead.  Did they get arrested? Was it on the evening news? Yes, but in the sports segment.

I went to my first boxing match in Chicago recently.
Before I even went, I started thinking about this ‘sport’ and asked my friend about it.

“But isn’t it barbaric?” I asked. “Two men just beating each other to a pulp, hurting their bodies?”

“In some ways yes,” Mark said, “but it’s also like the most real sport…just man against man and nothing else.”

I understand his point, but I personally don’t really like it…just watching two men beat each other up. Yes, I know there is intense training and strategy involved – I mean I have seen Rocky and more recently, The Fighter (“Head, body, head!”). But it still seems nuts to me.  But I do think it’s still not as bad as any kind of chicken or dog or bull fights where the animals don’t even have a say in the matter.

My friend Elizabeth, who was taking boxing lessons, invited me to watch her trainer fight in a Chicago tournament.   Since I’d never been to a boxing match, I figured ‘what the hell.’

The Chicago Golden Gloves boxing tournament has been held since 1923. Over the years, a few boxers, whom you may have heard of, have won the prestigious “Chicago Golden Gloves Champion” title including Cassius Clay, Joe Louis, Sonny Liston and numerous other U.S. Olympians.

Chicago Golden Gloves Charities believes “that training in boxing instills a sense of self-respect and accomplishment in the youth of our community who, at this impressionable age, are choosing their path in life. Thousands of young men, and now some young women, have learned discipline, self-esteem and how to realize goals through daily training at various boxing clubs throughout greater Chicagoland.”

Here’s my video from that night.
Click through to You Tube and select Full HD for best quality

What do you think? Is boxing a good sport or too violent/barbaric?

One of my favorite things about Chicago is all the quaint side streets with cute homes of all kinds — big, small, brick, wood, old, new, modern, funky, crumbly.  There are big yards, small gardens, and tiny nooks to hang out in and enjoy a good book on a sunny day.  Because of the variety, the neighborhoods are filled with undeniable character and charm.  It is the opposite of the cookie cutter look that some suburban subdivisions can take on.  I can ride my bike down any street and have trouble looking straight ahead as I gape at the various styles of architecture and designs to my left and right.  Recently, I took a stroll down Grace Street in my neighborhood of Lakeview.

View Grace Street, Chicago in a larger map

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore. Dream. Discover.
- Mark Twain

Have you ever dreamed of quitting your job and traveling?  Running off and escaping the 9-5 to sit on a beach? Or just taking a longer break to live and breathe and enjoy life for once?  I have met dozens of people in the last five years who have told me this is their dream and they ‘wish they could do what I do.’ Well, if you are a regular reader of this blog – you know it really is possible – without a trust fund, without a partner, and…without a ‘net.’

And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.
-Abraham Lincoln

 A Career Break on every resume.  That’s the mission of Meet Plan Go.  How cool would that be? Because of my travels and blog, I meet more and more Americans who are ditching the cubicle for the road and taking off to pursue their travel dreams.   To some it still seems like a crazy, hair-brained, irresponsible thing I did by chucking it all and quitting my job and, basically, my life as I knew it.  But my life is way better and richer for it.   More and more it’s slowly becoming a bit less of a crazy idea and a bit normal and that’s what we hope to do with Meet Plan Go.

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that the stuff life is made of.
-Benjamin Franklin

Life is TOO short to do the same thing more or less for your whole life.  We should be learning, doing, and seeing as much as we can.  This is what it’s all about:  connecting with other people and sharing stories and laughs and moments that warm our hearts and fill our souls with love.

Why shouldn’t we ‘work to live and NOT live to work?’

This will be my second year hosting the Chicago portion of this amazing national event and ‘movement’ if you will.  It’s a great forum in which we inspire and teach other hopeful travelers about taking a career break or sabbatical.  I realized that after I took my round the world trip, I was an expert on this kind of travel.  And so are the other ‘experts’ on my panel.  Folks like Katy Healy, Ryan and Laura Keller,  and Dave Nilson who just returned from their career breaks and Keith Savage who is simply making long term trips part of his life.   We will have an evening chock full of real info: how we did it, how we paid for it, how to plan your travels, tickets, Visas, health insurance – all the questions we are always asked, we answer in detail to share our knowledge with others hoping to do the same thing.

It’s an inspirational night. And proven so by the fact that I am so proud that a portion of my Chicago audience from last year reached their ‘tipping point’ after they attended and are either planning their trip or are out there seeing the world now like Katie Aune of Katie Going Global (who will be coming to us LIVE via Skype ‘from Russia, with love’, of course!), Val Bromann, and Monique Duran.

If you are in Chicago or 16 of our other cities, join us for a great night on October 18^th.

Austin | Boston | Chicago | Denver | Honolulu | Las Vegas | Los Angeles Minneapolis | New Orleans | New York City | Orlando | Portland | San Francisco | Seattle | St. Louis | Toronto | Washington DC

It’s just $15 and could change your life.

Come give it a try. You have nothing to lose and a life to start living!

Because:

The greatest risk of all? Not taking one.

This contest has now ended. Thanks to all entrants.

Contest:

Win a free ticket to the Chicago Meet Plan Go and a free book!

If you’d like to attend the Chicago Meet Plan Go, leave a comment here on this blog post.  One randomly chosen winner will win a ticket to Meet Plan Go, plus a copy of Chris Guillebeau’s inspirational book, The Art of Non-Conformity (winner must be at event to receive book).

To Enter:

• Leave your comment under this blog post telling me about your dream trip and what you need to take the ‘final leap’.
• Tweet this:  You CAN quit your job & #travel! Find out how at #MeetPlanGo (via @llworldtour)  http://wp.me/phFMI-1t0  (you must tag me at @llworldtour to complete your entry).
• Bonus entries for those who Tweet AND ‘like’ my Facebook Fan page.

Good Luck!

No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Some Restrictions Apply. Must be 18 or older to enter.  
Entries must be received by October 10, 2011.  Prize will only be awarded in person at event.

Chicago is a one of the largest cities in North America.  In this city of four million people, there is something for everyone whether you live here or are just here on a visit to tour Chicago: world-class theater, professional sports, cutting edge restaurants, fortune 500 companies, and arts of all kinds.  And then in addition to all that…we are lucky to have this huge body of water right outside our door, virtually creating one big park and beach as the front yard of the city.   Lake Michigan’s surface area of 22,400 square miles, makes it the world’s largest lake within one country and the fifth largest overall.  When you stand on the beach in Chicago, it is impossible to see across the lake to Indiana or Michigan.  Sorry, coastal folks, but we have our own virtual ‘ocean’ without the seaweed or the salty burning-eyes and it’s pretty damn cool.

The Chicago Park District’s nine lakefront harbors stretch from Lincoln Park in the northern part of the city to Jackson Park in the south. When you think boating, you probably think Miami or Southern California or even Seattle. But with accommodations for more than 5,000 boats, the Chicago Harbors surprisingly constitute the nation’s largest municipal harbor system.   That’s right…Chicago.

I’ve been out on the lake before in various tour boats and even a bit above it in a 4-seater plane, but this summer I got to enjoy the lake from a friend’s sailboat.  My friends Christine and Bill invited us out for a day on the lake. I couldn’t say ‘yes’ fast enough.

“I’m on a boat!”

Take a look at this short video of our day:
If you can’t see the embedded video or would like to see it in sparkling HD, please go here – it’s worth it!

Riding my bike out to Montrose harbor made me more aware of this whole lake/boating culture here in Chicago that I am SO not a part of.  It’s a whole other world out there.  Just walking onto the dock felt like we were in Margaritaville.  People with Hawaiian shirts milled about.  Reggae music was playing out of at least two stereos.  Folks were wheeling their big plastic coolers in and dockside grills were being cleaned for the day.  There was a whole other ‘feeling’ in the air. It was like we weren’t in a big city anymore. We were in a beachside or island community.  The only thing missing was the clangy sound of steel drums.  These regular boaters are out here every weekend, enjoying the Chicago summer days, some never even taking their boat out, but just hanging out all day in a couple beach chairs on the dock.

The day could not have been more perfect.  We took the boat out. Got a semi-crash lesson in sailing by Bill. Cooled off (it was a very hot day) by jumping in the 77-degree lake (warm for us!) not far out from Foster Avenue beach. Enjoyed a tasty vegan lunch of quinoa salad, hummus, veggies, fruit, chips, homemade guacamole, and some cold beers of course (I am not vegan, but have been eating less meat and love all this stuff).

Then we spent the rest of the day sailing around, chatting, and just soaking up the sun (a little too much sun).  Just another perfect summer day in Chicago and another reason to love this city.

I love walking around residential areas of cities and checking out homes and architecture.  Much of Chicago’s wealthy Gold Coast neighborhood was originally a Catholic cemetery adjacent to the city’s cemetery at North Avenue which is now Lincoln Park.  In the 1860s, the graves were removed, but it was difficult to remove many of the remains.  As recently as 1998, construction in the park has revealed more bodies left over from the nineteenth century.  Creepy…and cool!

Soon after the cemetery was relocated, the Chicago Catholic Archbishop built a mansion for himself right on the corner of Astor and North Avenue.  By the early 1900s, many prominent Chicagoans moved to the fashionable north shore, and the Gold Coast was born. The area’s fascinating Astor Street, which features Art Deco and other design styles, as well as the former homes of Chicago’s most prominent families, gained landmark status in 1975.

Astor Street itself was named after John Jacob Astor, a German fur tycoon who moved to America at the end of the Revolutionary War.  According to Forbes, by the time of his death in 1848, he was the wealthiest person in the United States and was worth an estimated $20 million. Adjusted for inflation, his fortune is estimated to be worth anywhere from $1 to $100 billion dollars in today’s money.

View North Astor St., Chicago USA in a larger map

Remember the days when uncle Bob (okay, I don’t actually have an uncle Bob!) would force us through his slide show of the family road trip to the Grand Canyon?  Or then a decade ago we had to sit through that work Power Point presentation on Diversity Training?

Recently I discovered Pecha Kucha. I loved it.  This isn’t any ordinary slide presentation.  In Japanese pecha kucha (usually pronounced as “pe-CHA-k’cha”) simply means chit chat.

Pecha Kucha Night was started nearly 10 years ago in Tokyo, Japan by a couple of architects.  Most Pecha Kucha Night events follow this format:

• About 10 presenters
• Each presenter has 20 slides
• Each slide is shown for 20 seconds

Therefore, each presenter has just 6 minutes & 40 seconds to explain his or her ideas before the next presenter takes the stage. That’s it. Share what you got and move out of the way for the next presenter.  It moves fast and most speakers were entertaining and had some pretty interesting ideas to share.  Originally it was conceived as a platform through which young designers could meet, show their work, exchange ideas, and network. One of the attractions of Pecha Kucha Nights is the wide range of the 20×20 talks. Most consist of design professionals showing their creative work, but presenters often speak about their travels, research projects, collections, or other interests.

In 2004, PK began running in a few cities in Europe, and has since become a worldwide phenomenon, now running in more than 300 cities in almost every corner of the globe.

During our evening, I learned about “Pop-Up Art Loop”, Chicago’s initiative to turn empty retail spaces into temporary galleries.  I was introduced to an amazing new start-up website that tracks all the world’s buildings with maps and GPS coordinates.  One presenter focused on the real life Baltimore people that the characters in the HBO show, The Wire, are based on (I don’t even watch this show and yet the talk was fascinating).  And I was very entertained by, Yuri Lane, an amazing beat-boxer and performer.  The whole night was like a poetry slam meets a power point presentation meets a Ted talk.

The format keeps presentations concise, fast-paced and entertaining.  It was totally entertaining and informative. I learned about a number of things going on in Chicago that I had no idea of  and I am already looking forward to the next one.

I am thinking of presenting! Should I do it? Check it out and go to one in your city. I promise you will at least be informed if not thoroughly entertained. Interested?  The next one in Chicago is on June 7th.  Check out their website for other cities and more info.

This post is sponsored by Insure and Go.  Feeding your passion for travel – Insureandgo.com.

“The bathroom is in the back of the bus. Gentlemen, if you miss…you have to see me! Clean it up please!!”

‘Straight-to-the-point’ Douglas would be driving me and about 75 other passengers aboard a bus headed three hours southeast of Chicago to Indianapolis.

“Barring any traffic, we should be there on time, let’s just be safe. Indianapolis will be there,” he said during his slightly odd and slightly amusing pre-trip spiel.

Megabus is a fairly new long-haul bus company in the US and Canada owned by the much larger Coach bus company based in New Jersey.  Its marketing idea mimics that of many long-distance bus companies I’d seen abroad. On the side of their buses they tout a $1 ride.  I have known a traveler or two to snag these deals, but they are few and far between.  It’s usually for the rides that get in around midnight or leave very early in the morning and there are only a couple ‘dollar seats’ for each trip.  But if you’re flexible and on a tight budget – it’s a great deal.   In full disclosure I too got a very good deal on my tickets (read: free) because I’d be writing this story on Megabus.   The tickets I did reserve would have cost me $29 each way which seems like a pretty good deal, I think.

Megabus offers affordable regional bus service between nearly 50 cities from five hubs at New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Chicago, and Toronto. If you are based in New York City, you can  hop a bus to DC or Boston.  The buses in the Midwest connect cities like Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Minneapolis, and Chicago.

It was Thanksgiving week so my bus was largely filled with college students heading home for the holiday.  I was heading to Bloomington, Indiana for a visit with my cousins. Well, the bus was going to Indianapolis…then we’d drive the final hour down to Bloomington.  There are some double-decker buses in their fleet, but we were stuffed into a standard coach.  The bus itself seemed pretty new with plush fabric seats, metal foot rests, fold-down TV screens (not sure what would be showing on these as they were off the entire time), a bathroom in the back, and pull-down screens for the windows to block out the already-setting sun in the western sky.   On all their buses and on their website, they promote the fact that they have free Wi-Fi on the bus – a big plus to me since I was going to make this my office for the next three hours.  But, to my dismay (and discomfort) the seats were pretty tight with not as much legroom causing my laptop to barely fit on my lap without the screen bending in against the seat in front of me, making typing a slightly cramped affair.

In fact, as I was rushing to the bus stop, located right outside Union Station in downtown Chicago, I wondered why I didn’t just look into taking a train. Or did I look? I couldn’t even remember. But it was too late now, I was already a sardine in this metal tube on wheels heading to Hoosier country.

So what can I really say about a bus ride? It was a pretty standard inter-state type bus, wrapped in a slick marketing campaign.   But at least, the US is catching on with offering more public transportation routes to and fro. Now if only our train system could be upgraded to be on par to that of the European Union.

All that was missing was a small snack cart or offering. I was starving and had hoped to grab a sandwich on the way but was running late and did not want to make a fuss and possibly miss the bus.

A few days later, I boarded my return bus with a slight feeling of dread.  But this one was a double-decker.   It was like I was in London, but without anything British at all.  I climbed upstairs and found an aisle seat next to a thin girl (have to admit, this is a plus for obvious reasons).   This bus seemed a bit roomier and my knees weren’t hitting the seat back in front of me—keep in mind I’m only 5’4” tall.   I was typing this post as we cruised through the fields of corn and soybeans and wind farms of Indiana.   This bus seemed to be full of a mix of clientele and not just college students like the first ride.  So all in all, not too bad.  Not that college students are bad. Well, some are. Anyway, I realized on the way back that I’ve been out of the traveler mode for quite some time, so, really, for the price, this bus was clean and comfy.  Of course I didn’t pay for the bad breath of the passenger next to me. She was graciously skinny and didn’t crowd me, but when she woke up from her nap…wooo…it smelled like something died in there.

Oh…and just like on the ride out, the Wi-Fi stopped working. If they are going to advertise free Wi-Fi on their buses, they really should improve the system since it only seemed to work 50% of the time on both my trips.

To see if they are in your city or to book your next bus ride—check out Megabus.

“Remove your shoes and belts!”
“Take out your laptops!”

I arrived at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago.  It was the first time I’d be going through security since the full-body scanners had been installed. I was happy to see that the scanners were barely being used and I whizzed through the line even during these holiday rush times.   Thankfully, no TSA guys would be getting a thrill looking at ‘nudie’ shots of me. But what I didn’t expect is that I’d be stopped because of my rollerboard suitcase.  I had dutifully put all my liquid items in a clear, plastic bag.  I’d slipped off my shoes.  I’d taken out my laptop.  I drank the rest of my water and kept my bottle to fill up on ‘the other side.’  I had a lot of gadgets and chargers and other assorted metal crap crammed in my bag and figured it was something in there that was showing up.  They’d spotted something ‘suspicious’ on their tiny monitors and called over a supervisor. They ran it through the scanner again. Then they took everything I’d packed so nicely out of it.  On the bottom of my suitcase, I’d managed to pack my empty daypack that I love using when I travel to carry my camera and other stuff I need during the day.  Can you see where this is going?

Well, in my new, nonchalant and relaxed post-world travel demeanor (some may just call this ‘laziness’), I had failed to thoroughly inspect the inner pockets of this mostly-empty small backpack. There it was: my cute, little ‘Squirt® Leatherman multi-tool.  Argh!

Now, I could tell you I was just doing a random test of the TSA security and they passed with flying colors by spotting my contraband.  Out of everything in my bag, they zeroed in on this tiny 1-inch long tool which included a tiny knife…and a nail file of course. They rightly ignored my pleas of how little it was or my innocent eyes asking how I could even pick it up on my return through ORD.  Couldn’t I just meet-up with one of them?  Isn’t there a lost a found? They did say I could go put it in my car. But that wouldn’t work since I sold my car in 2006.  It would be a bit hard to track down.  They did say I could mail it, but the cost would be ridiculous.

So, I could tell you I did it on purpose. But I’d be lying. I screwed up. And so, I lost my little world traveler tool.  And, well, the system kind of works.  I feel good and bad at the same time.

Plus the girl before me was stopped because she had these funky earrings made with bullet shells. But she got to keep hers. Sigh.

Now I know what I want for Christmas. My little ‘squirt S4’ back. Anyone? Santa?

For several years I celebrated Christmas very far from home.  Sometimes I was alone and sometimes I was with wonderful new friends. From a fabulous oyster lunch in Sydney, to a gastropub dinner in London pulling ‘crackers’, to a free Natalie Cole Christmas concert in Milan, it was always different and always more than I ever expected.  It was a little strange not being home for so long, but honestly, in many ways, it was more exciting and touching not to be.

Wherever you are home or abroad, with family or new friends…have a Merry Christmas from LL World Tour.

“Where’s your luggage?” asked the friendly, over-cologned Middle Eastern airport shuttle driver.

I was traveling even lighter than I usually do as I headed to Midway Airport in Chicago; the second city’s, second airport.  Besides picking up friends, this would be the only time I was heading to the airport and not exactly flying anywhere…well not anywhere in particular.

We had one other pick-up to make on the way and a couple of nuns entered the van.   So, two nuns, a Muslim, and a Jew are headed to the airport…okay, that’s not the first line to a joke, it is just how it was.  It was a real party van.

So where was I going? Well, first let me tell you where I’d been a week earlier.

I had received a comment on my blog about a photograph I’d taken.  The comment was from the CEO of one of the largest media companies in the United States.  You can understand why I thought I was being spammed at first, but, nope, it was real.

Cut to a few days later and we were having lunch.  He commented on my entrepreneurial/unconventional yet logical spirit and how I’d managed to get off the beaten path and was really living the life I wanted.  He actually had me semi-pegged fairly quickly.  He said they are always looking for  new, innovative ‘people’ and he wanted to introduce me to a few people.  Well, I am always open to meeting people.

Later that afternoon, I met some other executives and one in particular said he was flying that weekend just for a photo shoot around Lake Michigan.

I said, “Cool.”

He said, “Would you like to join us??”

“Uh, yeah!”

So back to the van full of nuns.   They got out at the regular airport terminal to board their passé commercial airline while I was shuttled to this special small exclusive terminal for private planes. Oh yeah.  We flew in his private four-seater plane around the Lake Michigan for two hours. It was immensely cool. It was a beautiful day with cobalt blue skies and low winds so it felt incredibly invigorating yet very calming at the same time.

Take a look: