When I left to travel the globe, I’d never even heard of Schengen.  I still haven’t visited the city in Luxembourg, but its main significance to travelers isn’t a cathedral to visit, but the treaty that was signed there in 1985.  Ten years later it was implemented with the creation of Europe’s modern borderless “Schengen Area”, which operates much like a single country (like crossing borders of different states in the United States) with external border controls for travelers coming in and out of the entire area, but with no internal border controls. The borderless zone created currently consists of 25 European countries.

What is the Schengen visa?

The Schengen visa is a single tourist visa (the stamp you get upon arrival) that you can use to visit 25 European countries without the need of separate visas for each country.  This visa allows hassle free internal travel (air, road, train, etc.) between these countries.  It allows visitors (at least from the U.S. and other similar privileged countries) to travel freely within the Schengen countries for a maximum stay of up to 90 days in a 6 month period.

In 2006, they implemented the right to move freely, meaning that passportless travel is allowed inside the entire European Union, if you have a national I.D. card from an EU country.

How does it affect my travel?

Although it’s easier to cross borders now, we, as foreigners (if, in fact, you are reading this and not a citizen of the EU), have even less time in Europe than we used to have.  Intended to eliminate border checks between countries, the treaty makes it easier to move from place to place, but limits the amount of time you can spend in the region as a whole. It’s not enough to hop across a border, get a stamp and come back, you have to spend 90 days outside of a Schengen nation. Fortunately, the UK and Ireland (who have opted out), and Romania, Bulgaria (these two are on their way in), and Cyprus (who have yet to join), are not in the Schengen zone, so you can always head to those countries for the 3 month period before you can re-enter.

Okay, now follow this:  The rules state that a visitor must be outside the region for 90 days for every 90 days he or she is in it.  In other words, you have three consecutive months to travel around all of the EU and then you must leave for at least the next three consecutive months before you can head back in.  This is a bit of a pain for the long-term traveler.  Before the Schengen, each country had their own tourist visa…so I could hang around Germany for three months, then head to France for another three, and then maybe Italy for another three.  Now I have just 90 days to see it all.  During my ‘round the world trip, I planned to get to Europe and spend quite a bit of time there…something I learned upon arrival that I couldn’t do as planned.  Bummer.  Did I overstay my welcome?  Yes, by about a month.  In scouring the internet and talking to other travelers, I heard urban legends of lock-up, being banned for life from the EU, and other various possible punishments.  I also heard a short overstay could mean nothing, which is what happened to me….absolutely nothing.  But it was a gamble and I was lucky (not trying to stay there and live illegally did help).   So while it cuts down on border controls, and allows citizens, to travel freely and find work in other countries, it makes traveling for a foreigner more difficult.

Are you traveling for the holidays?  Some find it a chaotic hassle, but I kind of like being in airports or train stations during the hustle and bustle – so many trying to get home to loved ones near and far. I have spent some of my favorite holidays abroad either completely alone or laughing and breaking bread with new friends and making memories that I cherish always (thinking of Sean, Craig, & Helen in Sydney, Elissa in London, Kristy in Sevilla, Adam from Philly in Krakow, Couchsurfers in Milano, Halley, Sonia, Vanessa, & my other Egypt friends).

“I am happy, in life right now, but money is my biggest stress.  I don’t need a lot, but just want enough for my family so it’s not a worry,” says Manuel, a recent Airbnb host of mine in Portugal.

His words echo those of so many others I meet around the world – many affected in countries near and far by the current economic climate.  Many of us ‘feel’ it in the United States, but I tend to think a lot of us never come close to feeling it like others around the globe.

I am often asked how I was able to pay for my trip around the world.   And my simple answer is ‘travel is cheaper than you think.’ I wrote about the details of how I did afford it here.

Now I am ‘back’ and living a somewhat more rooted life (read: I have an apartment in Chicago and pay monthly rent and utility bills – something I did NOT do when traveling full time, which is one of the reasons it’s cheaper than people realize – I wasn’t paying for a vacation, but just my daily living expenses).   But now I am still traveling several times a year and am often gone for a month or so at a time.  So, the new question is, how can I afford this now? How can I afford to travel AND still be paying rent and bills back home?  I don’t have some master plan…except just basically this secret: 

I spend less.

Here’s how:

Smaller Footprint – In general, I am living a somewhat simpler life.  Although, I was never much of a big spender to begin with, I buy and consume even less now.  I don’t really need new clothes, or ‘things’ just for the sake of having them.   I’ve been steadily selling or giving away a lot of my ‘stuff.’  For various reasons, I take a moment to think about everything I consume – is it reusable? It is recyclable? Can I sell it? Donate it?  I eat a lot less meat.  I think about packaging and bags.  Just because I grew up putting every item of produce in an unnecessary plastic bag, does not mean I need to continue doing this. I’ve changed my habits for the better and hope to continue to do so.  In turn it saves me money and helps the environment in which I live. Win-win for all.

In General if I don’t need it, I don’t buy it.

Pre-Paid Mobile Phone – Since returning to the US back in 2008, from not having a mobile phone at all, I have only used a pay as you go plan which costs me only about $12 per month. I ‘refill’ my phone with money/minutes every year for about $150. I love this.  I prefer not to talk on the phone much and am not a fan of texting, so I just use it when I need it and save a ton of money in this way.  Many people I know in the U.S., pay about $100/month or $800/year for their phone.  I pay about 80% less than this.  I also had my first smartphone donated to me, by a lovely reader of this site, on which I use to check email wherever there is free wifi – which is quite ubiquitous nowadays, eliminating the need for a ‘data plan.’

Power Down Electronics – I am much more aware of what is sucking power in my home. And I rarely leave things plugged in anymore using ‘phantom or vampire power.’  Just because they are turned off does not mean your gadgets are still not drawing power.  Devices on stand-by are said to use 10% of the energy in your home!  When I leave my apartment for most of the day or when I go to sleep each night, I switch off the power strip into which many of my ‘electronics’ are plugged: my television, cable box (which always seems to be running and warm even when ‘powered off’), stereo, phone, etc.  After those items, the only things left plugged-in are a couple lamps, one bed-side clock, and my refrigerator.  I don’t leave chargers plugged in once things are charged.  I have a cordless phone with a few extensions.  Since I have a small apartment (and don’t talk much on phone as previously mentioned), there is no need to plug in the others and waste electricity keeping them charged just so there is always a phone every 10 feet of where I’m standing.  Of course, when I leave for a trip, everything gets unplugged.

Cable/Phone/Internet Seasonal Hold – Also when I go away for an extended time, I call my cable/phone/internet provider and put it all on a seasonal hold. They have a 1 month minimum and just charge a small fee to keep the account open.  Many companies have this and I highly recommend looking into it instead of paying for services when you are not home even using them!

No Debt or Credit Card Balances – I think thanks in part to the way I was raised, I have always just learned to save.  I made a decent wage working in television for 15 years and saved much of what I earned.  I have never accrued any debt on a credit card because I simply have never ‘needed’ anything I couldn’t pay for outright.  I use the Capital One Venture card because I get travel or cash rewards and its international fees are supposed to be better than most.  I wrote about it here.

Bike Everywhere – In my entire life, I have only owned one car. I bought it used and I sold it 5 years ago and have no need or desire for another one.  I have a bicycle and now use it for nearly everything I need.  I meet friends for lunch by bike, I grocery shop by bike.  And that costs me nothing.  If I can’t ride my bicycle, then I walk or take public transport.  And on the few occasions every few months, when I really need a car, I use the car-sharing goodness of ZipCar.

Airbnb.com – I have started using this guest hosting service at home to offset my monthly rent (and meet other travelers) and am also using this abroad when I travel to cut down my lodging expenses.  You can host travelers in your spare bedroom or even rent out your entire place.   It works like couchsurfing, only you make a bit of cash.

Food Expenses – Food and travel are two things that I really enjoy and on which I use my money.  I cook and eat most meals at home.  I do of course still like meeting friends out so to keep things in check in a city like Chicago, where dining out can be pricey, I tend to schedule more lunches rather than dinners at restaurants.  And almost always, I take home half my sandwich or meal which gives me lunch or dinner for the next day. Besides cutting down my expenses, I’ve also tried to cut down my portions.

I am working mostly from home now, freelancing in television, travel writing, photography and video consulting.  I am living month to month and still on some savings I had before I traveled.  Can I do this the rest of my life?  Not sure yet, but I am happy to live more simply, try and give it time…and see how it goes!

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Nerd Wallet and the Capital One Credit Card.

Warning: If you are squeamish or prude or don’t have genitalia, this post may offend you.

If you read the title as “big on bid-detz” then this is going to be a hard sales pitch.  But hear me out.

The poor, little bidet.  It gets a bad rap and is probably the most misunderstood bathroom fixture this side of the Atlantic.

Well, I think bidets (bih-DAYS) are awesome.

If you’ve been reading along here for awhile, you know that I do preach that just because something is different, it doesn’t mean it might not be better than what we are used to.

I know at first, many Americans think a bidet is ‘gross’ or dirty.  But I am here to argue the opposite.  Read and learn people.

Definition: A low oval basin used for washing one’s genital and anal area.

Ew, gross.  Who wants clean genitalia? Well, I do.  And a clean anus? Well, that’s just fantastic!

A bidet is used to clean your ‘delicates’ or ‘undercarriage’ in those times that maybe you aren’t feeling so fresh – maybe you’ve just had sex or yes, have your period, or even, for heaven’s sake, defecated (you dirty, dirty, waste-producing human!).  You can shower – yes.  But how many of us shower every single time we go to the bathroom?

Instead we just wipe and wipe with dry paper or perhaps a moistened ‘wipe’.   Now isn’t that actually kind of gross? To me, using the bidet far surpasses using toilet paper from a hygiene standpoint.

How about a quick, mini-shower with soap and everything for your undercarriage? I say a resounding, ‘yes!’

How is this gross?  Cleaning ourselves just as we would in the shower (assuming you do, crazily enough, touch yourself in the shower–sicko) in a bidet.

Despite the fact that some think it looks like a toilet, you must think of the bidet as a low sink or wash basin.   There you would have soap and a towel to dry yourself just as you do in the shower.

Why has the bidet not caught-on yet in the United States?  Why do most Italian households have bidets and think of us as gross since we don’t shower or wash every time we go to the toilet?  Which do you think is cleaner? Wiping or washing?

I thought about making a demo video, but thought better of it.  So instead here are some very simple Wiki instructions on using a bidet.

Let’s hear it America – hip hip hooray for the bidet!

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.

Traveling can fill you with emotions.  The obvious ones: excitement, joy, exhilaration, wonder and so on.  I’ve tried to express here that, like life, it isn’t always roses. There are times of frustration, anxiety, loneliness, fear, and sadness. Traveling isn’t a ‘vacation’ and it becomes ‘life’ of a different sort.   But those of us that love it, love it all and know the benefits far outweigh any negatives.   These people tend to live their lives with the same positive outlook as well.

Through my travels I have directly and indirectly met dozens and dozens of people with this same attitude.  I have met them face-to-face all over the world from Hanoi to Ecuador to Egypt. But I also have met many people online through this blog.  Because of this little website – I’ve made contacts for jobs and made good friends that I’ve met in person and seen several times thereafter.

I answer just about every email I receive (except for those spammy ones – no, I won’t advertise your on-line gambling company).   About two years ago, I received a fun comment on a blog post about Ecuador from a girl named Reed in Hoboken, New Jersey (my home state!).   She had found me through a podcast I’d done with Chris Christensen on the Amateur Traveler about how I worked around the world.

We had some nice, easy emails back and forth and she told me she was working in New York City and at the same time ‘planning her escape into the world’.

Like I do with many of my new email friends, I saved her email as a reminder to try and meet up with her next time I was in New York.  I could tell that this was someone I wanted to know.   This was someone with whom I would most likely become friends and know for a long time.  I could tell she had the same attitude as me and was really living.  And this is what life is all about to me – making connections with people and sharing ideas and a lot of laughs.  A year later, I emailed her to let her know I’d actually be in Hoboken and hoped maybe she could meet up for drink prior to a dinner engagement I had.

The email I received back hit me like a ton of bricks:

Hello Lisa.  

My name is Rhonda and I am Reed’s mother.  I am very sorry to say that Reed passed away suddenly and unexpectedly of heart failure last July.  She had her trip to her final frontier, Asia, planned and paid for.  She was going in September.  

We say that she is traveling.  I guess there’s no place that she can’t visit now so that would make her happy. Travel was her true passion.

I’m sorry you didn’t get a chance to meet.  You would have loved my daughter like so many other people that I met and have heard from.

I was floored. I’d never met her, but sat there stunned and cried for her and even more for her family.

Reed Angela Davis was just thirty-years-old when she died last summer. She was born in Florida and lived in Boston, New York City and Hoboken. She was the salutatorian of her graduating high school class, received an International Baccalaureate Diploma, and was a National Merit Scholar.  She graduated with honors from New York University, where she received her undergraduate and law degrees.

I wrote Rhonda back and expressed my deepest sympathies.  She agreed to do an interview with me about her daughter so I could write this tribute on her behalf.

Lisa: When did Reed first get interested in traveling?

Rhonda: I don’t know exactly when the travel bug bit Reed.   I took her to Costa Rica when she was 13 or 14 and she hated it, so that certainly didn’t do it.  She went to Australia on an exchange student program the summer after she graduated from high school.  That might have been the start of it.   The following year, as a part of her undergraduate scholarship at NYU, she had to go to Italy.  The following year, also as a part of her scholarship, she went to Prague.  She had a great time on those trips.  I also think that many of her classmates at NYU traveled quite a bit, so they may have also influenced her.

She and a high school friend did a whirlwind tour of Europe in May of 2001 and there was no stopping her from then on.  Her main focus in life was making enough money to travel (oh, and to buy designer handbags and shoes). Her postcard to her brother and me dated May 13, 2001 says:  “Vienna sucks.  Everyone is homely & smokes incessantly.  We’re trying to find the Danube but not having much luck.  We’re eating at McDonald’s to express our dissatisfaction.  We leave for Prague early tomorrow – thank God.” On May 14th, she writes, “I love being in Prague again.  It’s as beautiful as I remember and more people speak English than I remember – score!  It’s a much-needed relief from the unrelenting suckiness of Vienna.  I really love this city.  I miss you guys!”

Lisa: She wrote me that you traveled some together and enjoyed a trip to Chicago together? How was traveling with your daughter?

Rhonda: Reed and I did travel together some.  She lived in Paris for a few months in 2002 and I went and visited her there.  While I was there, we traveled to London and Brussels and since we didn’t kill each other, we talked about doing other trips together.

Reed gave me a Mediterranean cruise in 2007 for my 50th birthday.  We had originally talked about going to Ireland and Scotland, but our travel styles and ideas about a vacation were so different that we decided on this.  She had already been on the cruise, loved it, and thought I would, too.  She was right!

Reed was a planner so I let her plan almost everything and then I pretty much just showed up.  She would ask me if there was anything that I wanted to do and if the answer was no, she took care of everything. She would have an itinerary so that we could see and do everything that the destination had to offer in the time that we had there.

Rhonda and Reed went on to travel together to Chicago, New Orleans, Argentina, and Guatemala. Their next trip planned was Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Reed made a must-see list in May of 2008:

I want to make a list of must-see travel destinations, just like my new role model, Tony Wheeler. Here is my list, on which I have included some places to which I have already arranged to travel just so I feel more encouraged when I check it off the list:

1. Egypt (pyramids)
2. Dubai
3. Jordan
4. Syria (Damascus)
5. Kenya/Tanzania/Uganda/Rwanda (safari(s))
6. Madagascar
7. India (Taj Mahal)
8. Nepal
9. Russia (Moscow/St. Petersburg)
10. Cambodia (Angkor Wat)
11. Bhutan
12. China (Great Wall, Terracotta Warriors, Hong Kong)
13. Macau
14. Argentina/Uruguay
15. Peru (Machu Picchu)
16. Ecuador (Galapagos Islands)
17. Antarctica

She managed to do 1, 9, 14, 15, and 16.

Her most recent trip was to Russia in May of last year. Reed wrote home during her various trips :

On August 7, 2009 she wrote, “Machu Picchu was incredible.  It was so beautiful there in the Andes mountains.  I have no idea how they got all the stones up to the top of the mountains, but the people who built the place must have been very strong and physically fit.”

On May 28, 2009 she wrote from the Galapagos Islands, “This postcard show the famous blue-footed boobies, which I saw in the wild.  You wouldn’t believe how friendly the animals are.  They are totally unafraid of people, which makes it much easier to take photos of them.  I have really enjoyed myself on this trip and am glad I came!”

On February 10, 2009 she wrote from Egypt, “So far, Abu Simbel has been the highlight of the trip.  It is two amazing temples built by Ramses and Nefertari in the middle of the Nubian desert.  We had to take the scariest plane I have ever been on to get there, but it was worth it.”

On June 2 she wrote from Morocco: “…we were in Meknes this afternoon, which was beautiful.  It looks a lot like Spain.  I bought a present for Mom and ate a camel burger, which was delicious. (I was surprised).”

On August 16, 2005 she wrote from Greece, “I hiked up a ginormous hill today to see the monastery  where St. John heard God’s call to write the Book of Revelations.  I wanted to either throw up or black out by the time we got to the top so much that I thought I heard God’s voice, too.”

Asia was planned for September of 2010.  Everything was booked and paid for.

Lisa: What kind of traveler was Reed?

Rhonda: As far as the kind of traveler that she was, I would have to say that she was a conqueror.  She wanted to make sure that she did everything and saw everything that each locale had to offer. When she was planning a trip, the people never seemed too much of a concern except if she had to share a room, but she always came home with great stories of the people she met.  She could really bring them to life for me and I wish I had recorded those stories in some way. She always had good experiences and had formed some pretty solid friendships.

Lisa:  What do you want the world to remember about her?

Rhonda:  I want the world to remember her wit, humor, generosity, sense of adventure. She had so very many friends who absolutely loved and admired her. She was unbelievably thoughtful and fiercely loyal to those she loved. Reed was a supernova.  She burned incredibly brightly during her time here.  Anybody that knew her would tell you that she squeezed the most out of life that she possibly could.  We are taking her ashes to different countries.  So far she is in Israel, Italy, France, The Netherlands, and Argentina. In the fall she will be going to Germany.

To Rhonda, her father, Kent, and the rest of her family and friends…my deepest, heartfelt sympathies go out to all of you.  Reed and I never got to meet in person, but from our email exchanges, I knew she had a spark, a great sense of humor, and an optimism that makes you reach out to a stranger to say hello and chat about a common bond.  I know that she is dearly missed.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Humane Society of the Treasure Coast, Palm City, FL, (772) 287-5733 and Smallbean.org, a charitable corporation providing sustainable computer labs and an innovative technology skills curriculum empowering local communities to document and preserve their endangered cultures and languages.

This month marks the five-year anniversary of LLworldtour — my first around the world trip and the start of this blog.  It also marks the fact that the last time I worked a full time job was also five years ago.  Holy cripes!  When I started blogging not only didn’t I even want to have a ‘blog’, I didn’t even like the word blog.  Blahhhhg.  Who would want that?  What is that?  It sounds like something you do after a long night of drinking.  ‘Oh, man I think I’m gonna blaahhhg.’

Like so many travelers I know, I just wanted an easy and fun way to keep in touch with friends and family back home.  Plus having a blog, gave me some structure, something ‘to-do’ as I traveled.  It gave me a home, a nucleus from which I could write and hone stories I would later pitch to publications.  It gave me some work which I like.   As a professional writer and television producer, I had already spent my career ‘telling visual stories’ and knew that travel, more than anything, would inspire me to write and share my photography with anyone who was interested.   Little did I know that this fun and easy project would become hard, at times, all-consuming, and would turn into my full-time work.

My good friend, Traci (hi T), convinced me to start this WordPress blog as the easiest way to keep in touch and a great platform for me.  Plus instead of sending out some squirrelly email, I could just have people subscribe who were interested (via Chicago start-up, Feedburner, where Traci worked, which has since been gobbled up by Google).

I had one rule when I left.  I never wanted the blog to feel like a job (obviously I have broken this rule now. Always the rule breaker).

Lisa's Tongue & Cheeks

And my readers grew fast. Back then, there were fewer of us bloggers out there.  I made amazing friends through this blog that I ending up meeting whenever I got to their place in the world (a shout out to all of you good friends I’ve made along the way and met through this very blog).

But, I will admit that five years later, at times, my blog has started to feel like a job.  But perhaps that is simply because it has now become my job.  I do make a bit of income from it and through it and I am extremely proud and thankful for that.   But admittedly, there are times when I am less inspired than I used to be.  Perhaps it’s simply because I’m not traveling as much as I was when I was literally living out of a bag for 3 1/2 years. Perhaps it is because sometimes ‘real’ life, and all of its ups and downs, gets in the way or clouds my love for travel.

So what do I do now?  About a year ago, I was attending my second TBEX (Travel Bloggers Exchange) in New York City.  Picture it, me and hundreds of others just like me, all talking about the same thing for two days.  How boring is that?  Don’t get me wrong – I love meeting travelers and we always have something in common, but just not en masse (that’s French. I wrote about that too…imagine that?).   I know some people loved it, but I did not.  I did enjoy catching up with other travel friends. But like I’ve said before, I don’t travel to blog or blog to travel.  And I never wanted the two to become the same or even close.  Sure I have my own audience, but unlike before when it was mostly armchair travelers and dreamers or other actual travelers, now a good portion of my audience is other travel bloggers.  And let’s face it, we all end up writing about the same things one way or another.   Maybe I’m a good writer and photographer (hopefully you think so), but with today’s 140-character attention spans…who has even gotten this far in this post??  We all have written about how we could afford to travel and how it’s cheaper than you think, and how it’s all about the journey, or all about the food, or all about the people you meet. Yes, it’s all those things, but, at times, I am even tired of reading about it.

But it was at TBEX that a faint light bulb of an idea starting burning in my brain. Video was exploding all over the internet.  There was a panel talking about video on blogs. I thought, wait a minute, I know all this. In fact, I truly am an expert at this. There it was – my two worlds crashing together. BOOOM! Well it was more like a little ‘boom’.

So, one year later I  launched LLmedia, a video consulting business and a way for me to bridge my two careers together of TV production and travel writing/photography/blogging.  I am now helping other traveler bloggers and small businesses improve their video and simply learn how to make it better.  I have the credentials of 15 years in broadcasting (as a director, a producer, a writer, a videographer, and practically any other job in TV production and yes with three Emmy awards), plus I taught a weekly TV Production course at Columbia College Chicago for 6 years.  I’m very excited about my new venture and am giving myself perhaps another 5 years to see where it goes.

Anyway, this five-year anniversary milestone reminds me that I do not want to take things for granted.  I do not want to be lazy and wasteful and live with my eyes closed.  I am so very thankful for the life I have lived so far: what I have seen and done and what I strive to hopefully do.  I continue to get to see the world and meet amazing people far and wide….and that is one thing I hope that never stops.

I am thankful for the freedom I have, that I’ve created in my less-cluttered life which enables me to not rush through it and to be able to absorb and feel as much as I can around me.  I remember going on hikes in jungles or taking walks in cities and, since time was no factor, I felt like my senses were so much sharper than they’d ever been. I was really ‘seeing’ everything. I was smelling and tasting, hearing foreign languages, and contemplating it all inside my own head.  Everything was heightened.  It’s a great way to live: eyes wide open.  Thanks for continuing to journey with me.

What to expect from LLworldtour in the next year:

• An overdue complete redesign
• 1-2 posts per week max.
• Interviews with ‘different’ kinds of travelers – You may recall my awesome encounter with Dino Don. I plan to bring you more traveler stories…from people that travel for varying reasons and a lot of people that do NOT blog
• More Groovy Travel Tips
• More Photo Essays
• More Video
• More Reviews
• More Travel stories as I continue to explore new places…just for shorter time periods

What else would you like to see? Please let me know in the comments!

…And check out my new sites:

LLmedia
iLoveNewJersey
iLoveChicago

 If you enjoy this – please consider ‘liking’ my Facebook Page for more fun stuff!

Want to enter to win a freakin’ free trip?? Read on my friend.

Some of us travel to get away and do virtually nothing.  While others travel for adventure and often need a vacation when they return from their travels.   You can put the participants of the Mongol Rally far deep into the latter category.   The “Mongol what” you ask?

The Mongol Rally

The Mongol Rally is just another hair-brained scheme dreamed up by those nuts over at The Adventurists.  To explain to you what they do, I felt it best to put it in their own, beautifully crafted words (I love this):

“There is nothing new under the sun” said a beardy ecclesiastic, thousands of years ago. Although with the power of hind sight you could have argued that the entire American continent would have been new to him and fell into his category of being under the sun, it seems that humans have always worried about the world being boring.

Moany old git. He had nothing to whinge about. He probably didn’t have a TV constantly mind shovelling him factoids about every corner of the earth. It’s also historically unlikely that he had a GPS. I doubt the Lonely Planet had shat forth all manner of papery monsters telling you which colour toilet you need in Nicaragua. No, the beardy one had it easy. His maps had edges. Ours go round in a globe shape. Rubbish.

Some git has already walked off the edge of all our maps, there’s a traffic jam to get to the top of the world’s tallest mountain, every millimeter of our good planet has been scanned by satellites and rammed into your mobile phone. What room is there left for those of us who still yearn for a bit of old school adventure? We live in a hermetically sealed, health & safety shit-storm where using a ladder is considered unacceptably dangerous and adventure travel means a guided tour up a mountain or staying in a hotel with less than four stars.

Here at The Adventurists we believe there is still adventure to be found in the world. We just need to go try that little bit harder to find it. Let’s cut new edges into our maps, break our GPS and set forth into the world to find out what happens.

In the hope that we might help inject a little unknown back into the world we make our own variety of ill considered adventures for you all to get stuck into. Have a look and see what you will be doing next summer. Or winter…

So…here’s what I think I understand about the Mongol Rally:

• It is an adventure starting in the UK and ending in Mongolia (fittingly enough).
• Several hundred teams compete for charity by driving klunkers (small engine cars OR emergency-type vehicles (doesn’t everyone have an extra ambulance in their garage?) across 1/3 of the world. Said vehicles are then donated to charity.
• So far £1.5 million has been raised for charity over the last few years of the rally.
• The current official Charity is the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation which looks after orphans and street children in the capital Ulaanbaatar.

My good friend and fellow travel blogger, Sherry Ott, has decided to throw more caution to the wind than she already has in her round the world travels and partake in this particularly extreme challenge driving across 15 countries, many with no roadside attractions, let alone…real roads. Yikes.

Her team: The Social Media Syndicate

Interview with Sherry Ott

LL: Why did you decide to do this crazy thing?

Sherry:  I first read about it on a website called Abandon the Cube – and as I read about their adventure I have no idea what came over me, but all I could think about was how I wanted to do it too.  I think it was the deadly combination of something so totally unique, massive travel, a mountain of detailed planning, and mentally/physically challenging which combined into the ultimate ‘made especially for Sherry Ott’ experience.  Seriously – these are the things that get my motor running, they excite me beyond belief – and I knew I had to do it.  It wasn’t until I met Dave and Deb at TBEX a year ago that I had finally found willing partners that I knew would do it with me.   Then things really started rolling; we picked up Rick and we were off!   The charity aspect was the icing on the cake for all of us adventure seekers!

LL:  What are you looking forward to the most?

Sherry:  Living the moment.  I honestly don’t want to look forward to or anticipate anything as I know there’s no way to predict what will happen.  So my challenge on this trip is to simply live each day in the moment and enjoy everything that passes outside our windows and all of the words flying inside the windows. I think when we travel we are always looking forward to the next site, tour, city, booking the next accommodation or flight; and so often we forget to enjoy the place we are at the moment.

LL:  What are you worried about the most?

Sherry: Driving.  I know that sounds stupid, but I have never really driven a car in foreign countries.  I’m always the eternal passenger and navigator.  I did drive my own motorbike in Vietnam when I lived there – but even that took me 4 months before I finally took the plunge and did it myself.  To make matters even more challenging, we’ll have a UK based car with the steering wheel on the right side; however the 12 of 13 countries we drive through will be countries where the steering wheel is on the left side (what I’m used to in the US) – so I have a feeling that will take a bit to get used to.  I can imagine that someone in the car will be yelling “Watch Out!!” a few times.

LL:  How much do you think these answers will change when you are done?!

Sherry:  I hope they change completely…I would be disappointed if they didn’t.

The Contest

Sherry and her team kicked off a raffle contest this week. The Social Media Syndicate has teamed up with Intrepid Travel, specialists in small group tours, to raffle off a ‘trip of a lifetime’ to an exotic location.

Enter for chance to win one of these trips:

Wild Mongolia – A 15 day trip through Mongolia. Starting in the capital of Ulaanbaatar, then heading out into the country to hike volcanoes and enjoy Mongolian barbecues. Follow the footsteps of Genghis Kahn and take a camel ride into the desert sand dunes of Khogno Khan.

Inca Trail – This  8 day trip takes you through Peru. Starting in Lima you will spend the day exploring the historic centre of the city. It is then off to the charming city of Cuzco in the centre of the country. Explore the Sacred Valley and the ancient city of Ollantaytambo before beginning your trek on the famous Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. Voted as one of the new 7 World Wonders this is a trip you will never forget.

The fundraising raffle will be held until June 12^th. The winner will be randomly drawn and notified the following week.

Rally tickets cost just $5 each and you can enter at The Social Media Syndicate through June 12.

Sherry’s team estimates that it will cost about $4000USD in fuel charges to drive the 10,000 from London to Mongolia.  Therefore all raffle proceeds will go to filling their tank with gas to get their car to Mongolia, where the vehicle will then be donated to a charity there.

Intrepid Travel cares about the environment and will be donating our carbon offsets for the fuel of the car. Not only will you be helping her team transport its car to a deserving community in Mongolia, you will be making up for their fuel consumption by offsetting our carbon emissions.

Each team is asked to raise a minimum £1000 for charity at least £500 of which goes to the official Rally charity, the Christina Noble Foundation. This money will make a massive difference to the lives of some of the poorest people in Mongolia.

Today I went for a run in New York City.  I am back for one of my many visits.  This city gets me every time; one way or another it gets me. Do you know what I mean?  As I ran through the brownstone-lined, charming side streets in Chelsea, I couldn’t help but get all nostalgic.  Coming back here always brings up various memories, one of the largest centering around my grandmother who lived in Chelsea for around 3 decades.  That was my ‘home’ whenever I was in the city.  She was the center of it all.  Running right past her building brought instant tears to my eyes. How strange is it, even two years after her death (she was 94 and lived an amazing full life), to not be seeing her here in her city.  She loved it here.  She always said she could go right out of her door and get everything and anything she needed – and she did.  She was fierce and independent, qualities I realized much too late that I had learned from her.

As I ran toward the Hudson River on Manhattan’s west side, I was still in awe of the transformations that have taken place here since I was a kid visiting from the ‘burbs of New Jersey in the 70s and 80s.  What was once an edgy, gritty, and downright dirty area full of warehouses and traffic edging right up to the water, is now a gorgeous green park area full of families and runners and cyclists.  It makes me smile.  It is one long band of green parkland and running paths running along side the river, as well as piers for walking and sitting and kissing.   It’s beautiful and made me want to live here again.   The revitalized High Line is  nearby snaking it’s way through Chelsea parallel to the river.  It’s another makeover that makes me proud of this city.

I stopped on a pier and gazed across at New Jersey where I’d just come from and where I literally come from.  It looked a bit closer at this point. I could see Jersey City to the south and then Hoboken right across from me and Weehawken to the north.  Cities I had never once explored as a kid.  I mean why would you bother, when they were so close to THE city?

As I sat there catching my breath (not a fan of running), I noticed people gawking down river, and there I saw it, a huge navy ship heading our way.  Of course.  It was Fleet Week, the Navy’s annual docking of active military ships around the city.

Leave it to this city to present you with gifts and spectacles when you don’t even expect it.  It seems in other places we often wonder ‘what to do?’ But here in New York, it’s as simple as going out your front door and just happening upon something special.  It’s a case of not finding something to do, but it finding you.

Okay, yes, being here makes me all ‘thoughty’ and pensive. It makes me contemplate. You always hear about people needing space and air and a virtual Walden Pond to really think.  But I find the opposite true. The energy that is New York City always makes me feel something.  I realized it was five years ago now that I was planning my escape, my trip around the world, which ended up lasting about two years more than I expected it to.  And my life has never been the same since.  I am now working for myself full time.  I have never fully gone back to the life I left in 2006 and it was a good life.  I am forever in flux; changing, bending, molding to what tomorrow brings.  Five years ago I was working full time for ABC television. I was living in my plush two-bedroom condo with my cat and boyfriend.  Now I’ve downsized significantly to a smaller apartment, no car, less stuff (and I keep selling off more), less responsibilities, less bills, less carbon foot print. And I love it. Less is truly more.

I don’t get too personal on this blog. I mean that to say, I get somewhat personal, but just about me.  I don’t drag others into the fray.  Now I am sharing my life with someone and solo hasn’t  just become a couple, I could be given the gift of an instant family.   Is this necessarily what I’ve always wanted?  No.  And it’s not what I ever expected.  But like New York, life has surprised me yet again.   And now I am considering leaving my beloved Chicago behind and returning here, yet again, to New York.   It’s funny how everything changes.  But isn’t it the changes that make us grow and learn and be?

So it is probably apparent by now, that one of the main reasons I love travel is the enriching experience of meeting new and interesting people all over the world.  I meet new people during real travel, in my daily ‘travels’ at home in Chicago and virtually, online by way of this blog mostly.   I have realized how much I love connecting with people and sharing stories and ideas and inspiration. So it will come as no surprise that I chatted up the guy next to me on a recent flight to Philadelphia.  He looked like a cross between Geraldo Rivera and Borat (see video clip below for his exclusive impersonation of Borat!) But, it turns out, this was no ordinary man. Not only was he THE most interesting (and funny) guy I had ever sat next to on a plane, I was in awe as we peeled back the layers and I learned whom I was really sitting next to.  This was better than any celebrity; this was the real Indiana Jones. Holy cripes!

“Dino” Don Lessem is one of the world’s leading communicators, promoters, and philanthropists of natural science. His life and work is fascinating and he, too, is a traveler. We all travel in different ways and his work brings him around the world many times over.

He has created the world’s largest dinosaur exhibits, built the most popular of all traveling natural history exhibitions, written 50 books for adults and children, and was the advisor on the film, Jurassic Park,and Disney theme park attractions and movies. “Dino” Don has hosted and written NOVA and Discovery Channel documentaries and has answered 10,000 children’s letters as longtime Dinosaur Editor for the nation’s most popular children’s magazine, Highlights. This Dinosaur expert has appeared numerous times on the Today Show, National Public Radio, Good Morning America and CBS Morning News. Wow.

Don has raised more than $2 million for field excavations worldwide. He funded the excavation and reconstruction of the largest animal that ever lived, the 100 ton and 125 foot long Argentinosaurus, and the largest of all carnivores, the 45 foot long Giganotosaurus. I couldn’t make this stuff up.

Through his company, ExhibitsRex, “Dino” Don has created a host of major international exhibitions.  He created the Jurassic Park and Lost Worldtraveling exhibitions which opened at New York’s American Museum of Natural History and drew more than 3 million visitors in its three-year tours.

So, not only did I talk non-stop to Don on our non-stop flight, I twisted his arm to do an interview with me.
And so here he is coming to you from his 18th-century mansion outside of Philadelphia.

Check it out…you will learn some stuff about Don’s travels and be sure to laugh:

Interview with Traveler “Dino” Don Lessem from Lisa Lubin on Vimeo.

Bonus Video!

An exclusive, one-of-a-kind tour of Don’s personal exhibit….in his bathroom:

“Dino” Don Lessem – Exclusive Bathroom Exhibit – Museum of Bad Translations! from Lisa Lubin on Vimeo.

For more ‘bad translations’ go to Don’s site: Chinese DVD Covers.
“Dino” Don’s newest exhibition and books center on Genghis Khan. His exhibition is the first to gather large numbers of known objects from the greatest conqueror’s 13th century reign, and is currently touring to major American venues.

Check him out on his site: DinoDon.com.