Living the Dream: Holland America Press Trip to the Mediterranean

Regular readers will remember that in May I traveled to Alaska on assignment for The Avid Cruiser. I sailed the breathtaking Inside Passage courtesy of Princess Cruises. Through daily articles posted on the Live Voyage Report website, I was able to take for a test drive my life's dream of being a travel writer + photographer. Predictably, I was hooked. It was difficult work, late nights, early mornings, and not at all a leisurely cruising experience. I told Ralph (aka the avid cruiser himself) I would not only do it again, I would do it every day for the rest of my life. He was impressed with my work and invited me to join The Avid Cruiser team with an open invitation to future Live Voyage Report opportunities. Coolest job interview ever? Nailed it.

The view from this office cannot be beat.

Well...I have exciting news! My next opportunity to contribute a Live Voyage Report is as a member of a nine-person press corps sailing the Mediterranean with Holland America in October. It felt surreal enough writing from Alaska and realizing...dude, I'm like living my dream right now. So the sensation coursing through my body as the Holland America PR office continues to refer to me as a journalist...is nothing short of euphoric. Hell yes. Journalist. Me. Travel writer. Good at it. Doing it. Done.

It reminded me of a lesson I learned in preparing for Alaska: You are because you say you are. Jen Sincero makes a brilliant point in her book You Are a Badass. I'm paraphrasing, but she basically says: You want to be a photographer...but you don't take pictures. What sense does that make? Conversely, you take a lot of photos and it's a significant passion for you, but you say you're not a photographer? Why the hell not? What's a photographer then? Someone who takes pictures. So go do that. Say you're a photographer. Aren't you? Then go do it some more. You are whatever you say you are simply because you said it...then did something about it. 

Dear Universe, I am a journalist. I am a traveling storyteller who makes beautiful photographs and will share all of that badassery with all of you in just a couple weeks. I'm rocking an international data plan on my iPhone, so feel free to follow along in real time on Instagram and Twitter, and be sure to read the daily Live Voyage Reports.

However, before I jet off to Italy, Spain, France, and Tunisia, I'm going to New Orleans. Next week I'll visit my brother who's made a home in The Big Easy. Same situation with realtime goodies posted to Instagram and Twitter. I also hope to post about the New Orleans trip on this site while I'm there. Stay tuned!

Love and living the dream,
me