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Prompt #5: One of the greatest joys of travel can be the random acts of kindness you’ll receive from total strangers. Have you ever found kindness from strangers in unexpected places?

“Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.” –Seneca

So much of traveling is relying on the kindness of others, and it’s amazing how kind and helpful complete strangers can be. While I’m naturally a bit suspicious of a total stranger’s motivation to help me, more often than not, it’s just one human seeing another in need.

My first experience with random kindness while traveling occurred in Marseilles. I had gotten a sunburn the day before and couldn’t seem to find any aloe vera at the giant Monoprix grocery store (which reminded me of a Fred Meyer because they had home/beauty etc departments). I don’t speak French, so my 5 phrases and ability to count to 10 wasn’t helping me find aloe vera for my scorched shoulders. After unsuccessfully looking in the lotions and potions area, I decided to ask a woman and her daughter for help.

“Bonsue… Parle-vou anglais?” (this question was always met with kindness in the south of France. I was sad to find it was not as successful upon reaching Paris, where it was met with “what are you saying” spoken back to me in English). The teenage daughter said no, but the mother spoke a little English. So I asked them about aloe vera, sun burn, hand motions etc. and they had no idea what I was talking about so I was going to just be like “ah nevermind, merci”. But this woman wouldn’t give up. She then gets all excited and whips out her mobile, calling her son. So then she makes me talk to him. He was like “so it’s some kind of ointment for a sunburn?” and I replied “yes” and so he asked me to spell it, and as I was saying “A-L-O-E…” the mother screeched what was the French equivalent of “aloe vera gel”. After a bit of giggling by all three of us, she explained that aloe is found at the pharmacy. So she had her daughter take me across the street to the pharmacy, and help me find it there. We were both laughing and all I could do was say thank you and smile.

It made my day that a complete stranger would take the time out of their busy day and grocery shopping trip to stop and help a poor sunburned American girl find aloe. So incredibly sweet and a great memory. :)

How have you experienced random acts of kindness on the road?

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Prompt #4: Everyone makes mistakes. We forget to ask for Coke without ice in Mexico and spend the rest of the trip in the bathroom. Or we arrive at the airport for a 7pm flight only to realize the flight left at 7am. Tell us the story of your worst travel mistake.

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

My biggest travel mistake was not going… sooner. Growing up, I was always fascinated by geography, globes, maps, and pretty much any story about a far off land. So naturally, I always thought someday I would travel. The thing I didn’t give much thought to was that I actually had to do something to make that happen. Of course, I didn’t think the passport fairy was going to come scoop me up and hand me a bunch of money to go galavant around the globe with, but I also didn’t do anything to make that “someday I shall travel” thought closer to reality.

I thought it would be fun to do study abroad in college, but considered that an option just for kids who’s parents were paying for school. I was completely preoccupied with paying for school and making sure I was going to have a future that I wanted and not have to rely on anyone financially. ["I can do it on my own!"]

So I got my passport my senior year of college in 2003 and started planning a trip to London that summer, and then decided I should move back to the NW and get a job, putting the “someday I shall travel” thought back where it started. And from 2003 onward, I regretted not taking a year to do study abroad… but I still didn’t do anything to make “travel now” happen. So when I had the chance to do a summer program in Marseilles as part of my MBA program in 2006, I was 100% “yes! yes! yes!” So three years after I bought my passport to go to London, I ended up there on my way to France. That first trip was one of the most exciting things to happen to me I made happen. And ultimately inspired my eventual RTW trip, because all I could think when I got back was “why can’t I do more of that?”

So here’s a picture of little Olivia on her first trip to London…

Just go!

What is your biggest travel mistake?

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Prompt #3: Music and travel memories often go hand in hand. A song can inspire our explorations, or it can take us back to a specific place and time. Tell us about your travel playlist and what it means to you.

“Music is what feelings sound like.” –Somebody

I often find myself listening to an album on repeat while traveling. So whenever I hear Manu Chao’s La Radiolina I’m taken straight back to Panama (and my first solo trip). Flaming Lips and I’m on the bullet train in Japan, Sigur Ros or Silverchair I’m on a long bus ride somewhere in Morocco, Air’s Moon Safari and I’m in Australia (I had the chance to see Air at the Opera House in Sydney on my RTW trip – which was “super surreal and amazing” according to Olivia of 2008), Eel’s Shootenanny! and I’m in Turkey, REM and I’m in Athens (they did a free concert while I was there, for the launch of MTV Greece), Velvet Underground and Wilco is Romania & Bulgaria, and Beach House takes me to Iceland.

It’s amazing how much your different senses can transport you to a distant travel memory – whether it’s sound, scent or taste. So here’s Air’s Remember from their 2008 show in Sydney that always leaves me grinning.

Have you seen any shows while traveling?

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Prompt #2: Change can be exciting and bring new joys into our lives. But it can present challenges that frustrate or annoy us. How has travel changed you in the last year? Did you welcome these changes or resist them at the time, and how do you feel about them now?

“Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living” –Miriam Beard

Sometimes the allure of dusting off your passport for an international trip is so great, that you don’t even consider a trip closer to home. This is often the case with me, as I have a ton of traveling to do in the US still.

In the last 365 days, all of my travels have been within North America, except for my Iceland Thanksgiving trip. This both frustrates me (because I haven’t gone on a huge trip yet in 2011), and excites me (because I’m exploring places closer to home that I’ve overlooked in the past). In 2011, I’ve visited Maui in April, Vancouver, BC in June, Oregon wine country in August, Seattle in September, and New Orleans in October. There’s so much to see within the US, even though a weekend trip to a nearby city isn’t as sexy as jet-setting to Iceland for 5 days, it’s still pretty damn cool to travel ANYWHERE.

Trips in the USA on my wishlist:

• Roadtrip Hwy 101 from Portland to San Francisco
• Roadtrip from Boston to Maine
• See the other Portland
• Go to NYC
• Go to SXSW in Austin
• Visit a southeastern city: maybe Charleston or Savannah?
• Go to Montana and visit some of the places my great great great grandfather was
• Go to Alaska

What’s one of your favorite US cities?

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Prompt #1: What were your travel goals last year? Did you accomplish them? What travel goals do you hope to accomplish this year?

“In baseball and in business, there are three types of people: those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happened.” –Tommy Lasorda

I think you can add travel to the above quote too. I love lists and goals. Maybe it’s my German heritage, but I just love getting shit done. It just feels amazing to cross things off a list, doesn’t it? It’s my love of goals and lists that has often been the catalyst from me thinking “that’d be cool if” to “I just bought a ticket to Iceland!” In the summer of 2007, when I started a 101 Things in 1,001 in Days project, it forced me to actually start “verbalizing” my goals. And while I didn’t complete everything on that list in those three years (I still haven’t been to South America), it’s helped me to accept as many adventures as possible.

In the last year, my travel goals have been scaled back a bit compared to previous years, and my goal was take one “Escape from Portland winter” getaway and visit one new country. Success! I went to Iceland for 5 days over Thanksgiving and escaped to Maui in April for 10 days. So I accomplished them, but I don’t have any big trip on the horizon and that makes me feel a little stir-crazy.

My travel goals for 2011 are:

1. Take a 2+ week trip again. Since I started working full-time again in late 2009, I haven’t taken a BIG trip, in terms of time, and I miss that).
2. Visit my BFF in Hawaii. My BFF is in the process of moving to Hawaii, so I’m planning to take advantage of their home sometime in the spring.
3. Work remotely (not in Portland) for 1+ month. Since I have the privilege of working remotely, I need to actually take advantage of it and go work somewhere.

And my travel BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) is to plan another career break in the next 3-5 years.

What are your travel goals for the coming year?

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Happy Halloween, I guess. I don’t particularly care for Halloween, as I don’t like scary things and I think it’s dumb to just dress up as Slutty McSlutterson [sexy _______ Fill in the blank]. Clearly, I’m no fun at all. I tossed around three costume ideas last weekend: the March Hare from Alice in Wonderland, Betty Draper’s English riding outfit, or a sexy turd — but ended up as the 1%, very last minute.

-Sunny biking – Saturday was sunny and gorgeous again. I don’t know how many more of these surprise sunny fall days we have left (November in Portland is the last hurray of sunshine), but I hope there will be more. Took a ride through all the beautiful leaves out to the Montgomery building in NW, along the river, and in SE on Saturday.

-The Maldives – Saw The Maldives at Mississippi Studios last weekend. I think I saw them in passing at Bumbershoot last year, but I really liked their show here. On an alt country kick lately.

-Halloween & the 99% – As mentioned, I’m not a fan of Halloween. So I decided on a Halloween costume about 2 hours before we left. I decided to be the 1% — because it’s hilarious. It made me laugh anyway. I also drew on some wickedly large eyebrows. I scared myself every time I caught my reflection.

What are you up to this week?

We thought up a really fun blogging project at our year-end planning retreat this year for work, and finally decided on a name for it. Drumroll… 30 Days of Indie Travel project. It’s a 30-day blogging project with daily prompts to inspire personal reflection over the past year (or life) on your travel, adventures, home, and life, and then to share that with the online travel community. You can do as much or as little as you like, whether that’s just a photo one day or a full-on travel story the next. To participate, check out the daily prompt on BootsnAll’s 30 Days of Indie Travel project or follow along on Twitter, with the hashtag #indie30.

I’ll be blogging some days for our work blog, and some days here, so join us! It’s going to be fun!

I also designed the logo/banner for this project, so I’m excited to put all these pretty colors on my blog. :) Join us!

I’ve never had an urge to visit New Orleans. Personal bias is such an interesting part of travel. In my mind, I suppose I had always lumped it alongside Las Vegas (which I haven’t been to either) in the “I’ll pass” category due to the party scene which has never really intrigued me. So when I had the chance to visit, I had extremely low expectations, and over course of four days, the Crescent City absolutely blew me away.

Why New Orleans exceeded my expectations:

1. Preservation Hall

So we were wandering down St Peter Street and came across this lovely old building, to which I exclaimed “Wow, look at this amazing building” followed by “Oh. It’s Preservation Hall.” :P Definitely a good idea to catch it on a Sunday or week night if possible, as I’ve heard lines can be outrageous. We showed up 10 min early, got in for the first set, standing right behind the benches, and then after a few people sitting on the floor in the front row left, we got to sit up close for the 2nd set of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.  Best. Jazz. Ever. (Also, they say no flash photography, no food/drinks, and no video. Well there were 3 chairs on the side reserved for VIP people and they were drinking giant daiquiris and were not familiar with the camera function of no flash. So I took a couple videos. It was a case of apologize later!) And there’s a resident cat. Le sigh.

2. Frenchman Street

When you ask a local where they like to hang out to see some music, pretty much every response started with Frenchmen Street. Just across Esplanade Ave is the real deal of New Orleans nightlife from free venues like The Spotted Cat (1 drink minimum required. Also of note: there is a PIANO in the bathroom) to cover venues across the street of Snug Harbor and d.b.a. (which has 2 little rooms with lookout windows that are awesome for some Saturday night people watching). Again. Best. Jazz. Ever. in this city.

3. Food. Food. Food.

The food in New Orleans? Amazing. And if there ever is a city that I’m thankful to be a pescatarian instead of vegetarian, it’s New Orleans. Fish was quite often the only non-red meat option on the menu apart from side dishes and appetizers. So I ate a lot of fish, and a lot of fried things, and it was all pretty amazing. My favorite brunch was at Stanley, which is right on Jackson Square. I even found a veg-friendly place for lunch that was kind of too much Portland, called 13 (shhh… I went back the next night for the tachos. Don’t judge.)

4. The M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I River

“It’s lovely to live on a raft. We had the sky up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about whether they was made or only just happened.”
– The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

I had a huge fascination with the Mississippi River, growing up. I loved Huck Finn, and the word Mississippi, and that it was the biggest river in the country, and growing up on a river (well for a few years) it was a huge source of entertainment. So my #1 priority on my first day was to go see the river (after breakfast at Ruby Slipper, anyway). I crossed the trolley tracks and walked up the steps to the river. Ta da. The M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I.

5. Sazeracs & French 75

There’s so much more to New Orleans drinking than hurricanes and daiquiris. Knowing that I’m not a huge fan of sugary drinks, my coworker recommended I try a Sazerac while in NOLA. So my first night out, I ordered one at dba, and it’s my new favorite cocktail. A Sazerac is rye whiskey, Herbsaint (anise-flavored liquor), bitters, and a lemon peel. I also tried an orange variety at Three Muses, which was also excellent. Another new drink I tried was the French 75, also at Three Muses. This one is a combination of gin, champagne, lemon juice, and sugar. Apparently named after the French 75mm gun for it’s “kick”. I like.

6. Biking

I considered taking a Katrina tour, but then it ended up being my last day and I still hadn’t. I had reservations about booking one because of what I felt could be an exploitative nature of sitting on a giant bus operated by a huge tour company. I could be wrong, but after booking a bicycle tour instead, I learned that our guide used to drive one of those buses and he said he started his bike tour company because he felt like there were only 3-6 people on each bus that he wanted to share his city with. Interesting viewpoint. So while our bike tour covered a bit of Katrina info as we pedaled along Esplanade Ave (known for being on a ridge) where as the Treme was flooded, it was also full of history and fun way to learn more about the city. We also rode through Saint Louis Cemetery #3. Bike tours are my favorite way to learn about a new city.

7. Architecture & French influence

Back to my low expectations of this city. I was, for whatever reason, expecting the French Quarter to be full of drunk college students and hillbillies. I guess I’d heard too many stories about NOLA & Bourbon Street. While I crossed the path of quite a few staggering folks, the French Quarter also has plenty of little empty side streets to take in all the amazing architecture (and do a few jumping shots. I always wear Lululemon running shorts under this dress — good for jumping, well and not flashing people when I sit down wherever I please). How about all the wrought iron and shutters? Magnificent.

8. Getting a drink to go

Open container laws are fun. While Portland is pretty lax about drinking in parks (I’ve never heard of anyone having a problem with bringing wine on a picnic or beers while playing bocce), it’s also kind of fun to be able to leave a restaurant with your unfinished drink. Now there’s a reason that some of these stores are still in business… because you’d have to be drunk already to shop there? And every street in the French Quarter has at least one shop with a wall of daiquiri machines. I asked for a sample, and it tasted like an alcoholic Slurpee.

9. Streetcar & Garden District homes

I love exploring cities by train, public transit, bikes, and walking. I suppose I could just say I have a fascination for non-car transportation. It’s fun to see how people get around a city… both in the present and the past, so I thought it was cool that New Orleans has the oldest continuously operating streetcar in the world. For $1.25 you can take the St Charles line all the way through the Garden District until the end of the line. A great way to spend a lazy afternoon. On the return trip, we got off to check out Magazine Street for dinner and then walked back to the French Quarter. Oh and the Garden District homes? I didn’t understand what the big deal about the Garden District and houses was all about, but it turns out that St Charles street is lined by mansions and old historic buildings. There’s plenty to look at on the 13 mile trip. I was also pleased to overhear an older gentleman on the streetcar complaining that this $1.25 trip was better than a “real” tour of the Garden District that they’d taken previously (which I imagine was on a bus).

10. Summer in fall

Coming from Portland in October, the weather was just perfect in New Orleans. There were a few locals in boots and sweaters, meanwhile I was in a sundress. Come on people, where I’m from this is summer. :)

After visiting New Orleans, it’s hard to believe that Hurricane Katrina (and all the horrific images of the destruction) was only six years ago, and that the city and it’s amazing people have recovered their city.

A few things that surprised me about New Orleans?

• All the smoking! I’m not used to it anymore!
• Keep NOLA Weird? I was pleased to find that freak flags are flying high in NOLA. It was like being in Portland.
• Safety first? Ok, I’d heard all kinds of rumors and scary stories about visiting New Orleans, and I never feel too apprehensive about my safety while traveling. So, I was told the cemeteries aren’t good to visit solo because people get robbed a lot there. Which seemed paranoid to me, and I then I went on my bike tour and I must say, as long as you’re going during daylight I don’t see the big deal, especially on bike. It was fun zooming down the lanes of the cemetery, much easier to cover a lot of ground on bike.
• Solo traveler confusion. While I wasn’t a solo traveler on this trip, my boyfriend was at a work conference on my first day, so I had a day to wander about town. On Saturday morning, I went to breakfast at Ruby Slipper. There was a huge line, but thankfully I got seated at the bar immediately. Yay! I then wandered about for a while and then stopped at JAX Brewery for a beer overlooking the Mississippi, and the guy at the door asked me three (yes, three) times if I was alone. Him: “Just one?” Me: “Yep.” Him: “Just you?” Me: “*laugh* yep, just me” Him: “are you alright? Just you, then?” Me: “yes, fantastic, thank you” Him: “well then, right this way.”

Have you been to New Orleans?

I love the routine of returning to my favorite fall things every October. An afternoon treat that I love to make is homemade chai spice lattes. I originally found a recipe on the The Kitchn for a Pumpkin Spice Latte, but ended up adapting it to what I typically have in my kitchen. So it’s more of a chai spice latte, but still amazing.

Chai Tea Latte Recipe

Serves 1
Ingredients

• 1 cup of milk
• 1 chai tea bag
• 1/2 to 1 TB of sugar (depending on your sweet tolerance)
• 1 TB of pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp of pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 cup of double strength coffee (you can also just use an instant coffee packet in less water, or refrigerate your extra double strength coffee to make this again tomorrow)

Directions:

1. Boil water for the tea bag and let steep in a 1/2″ of water.
2. Combine the milk and sugar in a saucepan and cook on medium heat, stirring. When it starts to warm, pour the small tea mixture (and bag) into the saucepan. Remove tea bag after a couple minutes.
3. Remove from heat when the milk is steaming, and stir in vanilla and pumpkin pie spice. Whisk to make it frothy.
4. Pour in mug and add the coffee on top.
5. Enjoy!

What’s your favorite fall drink?

The past week has been a bit of a blur because of planning for Meet, Plan, Go Portland. Smashing success and here’s what else I’ve been up to lately.

-Tasty n Sons – It’d been a year since I’d had breakfast at Tasty n Sons. I should really go here more often. The cast iron frittata [with roasted squash, caramelized onions, piment d-espelette (of course we all know that is variety of chili pepper that is cultivated in the French commune of Espelette. Hmmm...), feta, and fried sage] is fantastic. I also love the sweet biscuits with berry topping.

-Nuestra Cocina – seriously love this place now. I’ve been on a margarita kick lately (yes, slightly odd for fall), as their house margarita is probably the best in Portland. Cheap and tasty.

-BFF is moving to Hawaii. Le sigh. We decided to go on one last close-to-home overnight getaway to Grand Lodge (McMenamin’s), and from here on out we’ll only be traveling together when we meet up to go on vacation. le sigh

-Fall biking – I love it when the weather cooperates and we have beautiful fall weekends to ride around town with friends. Did a bit of beer cycling last weekend, and tried a new brewery, Cascade Brewing Barrel House in SE.

-Apple Tasting Festival – Apple and pear season alert! I missed the apple tasting festival last year, so I’ve been eagerly awaiting this year’s. Went last weekend and felt like I ate a pallet of apples through the tasting line. Yum.

-Meet, Plan, Go Portland – My big work event finally arrived. For all the time and worry, everything came together in the end and it was an awesome night. We had over 100 people show up and it was super inspiring to talk to so many folks interested in taking a career break. It’s been a few years since I took my career break trip, so it’s fun to see people in the planning and wonderment stage again. I was really pleased with how the panel/speakers turned out too… Chris Guillebeau did our opening keynote, and was inspirational, as usual. Then we had four panelists — I had selected Kim because her and her husband are still in the planning stages of their trip, so I felt like they would be able to relate easily to all the people who are just considering a career break (as after you’ve taken one, sometimes your mindset changes a bit, as to how easy things seem). Next up was Russ and Laura because they’re doing kind of an unconventional career break, by pedaling around North America versus the typical RTW trip which I love because it shows how a career break can be just taking time to focus on something you’re really passionate about, whether that’s biking or international travel. I rounded out the rest of the panel by selecting… myself as the third panelist. :) I felt mildly odd about at it at first, but the one spot I most wanted to fill was someone representing the solo female traveler perspective.  And after a few people fell through, we decided I would fill that spot. And it ended up being awesome, I’m really glad I got the chance to speak at a “conference”, it was a fun challenge.

-Cheapskate signage – I was also thrilled with how the signage turned out at the Ace Hotel space. I didn’t really have a budget for this event (as most of our budget went to paying for the space) so I ended up wrapping a stripe around two sides of the walls of windows by taping up 40 11×17″ black and white papers — alternating quotes, MeetPlanGo.com, and a world/suitcase image. For a grand total of $8! (Picture above by Russ & Laura).

-iOS update – LOVE! Love the camera options from the lock screen, the choice of 3 routes on Google Maps, and the new notifications options. I don’t even care that I don’t have the iPhone 4S.

What are you up to this week?