Where To Travel in 2014: A Roundup

'Tis the month for lists. We know this. They're everywhere. Every blog post you see starts with a number, then proceeds to tell you what you simply cannot live without. Well, for those of us who simply cannot live without travel, I rounded up my favorite "to see in 2014" lists.

Luxuriate in the possibilities, the wish lists, the wanderlust. 

An experiential travel guide, and one of the coolest travel planning apps ever, AFAR proposes the following destinations...

Uruguay? Awesome. Iceland? Why not? Travel + Leisure thinks you should make your way to these 27 locations....

In stunning full-screen photo format, The New York Times proposes 52 locations that are must-sees. And they would know. I mean, right? Don't we all dream of posh Manhattan dinner parties at which, after being regaled with Roberto's adventures, our assistant books our flight to New Caldonia straight away?

The Guardian weighs in with a top 40 list. Also, holiday. Can we all agree to discontinue use of the word "vacation" in favor of taking holidays? Okay, cool.

Rwanda. Argentina. National Geographic even thinks it's time we explore Iraq. I'm down.

Top 10 cities, top 10 countries, top 10 regions, and sights to make you feel small. Lonely Planet knows what they're talking about.

This roundup could be endless, but we'll pause the inspiration here. Where are you traveling this year?

Love and frequent flier miles,
me

Happiness 2.0: Building a community

Yesterday I posted on The Desire Map facebook page, sharing the books my friends and I are reading as part of our 2014 Happiness Project. The response from people wanting to participate has been awesome. I'm thrilled to meet so many new people and to welcome you to this adventure.

So...welcome! I'm happy you're here. 

There were a number of questions as to how this works and what it actually looks like. No problem, let me explain. Right now, all over the world, desire mappers are meeting in person and virtually, using Google hangouts and Skype. This book group model is amazing and I admire the connectivity and commitment. The Happiness Project, however, is a different sort of commitment.

The shortest way to explain it: 
Leave comments on the blog posts that discuss our Happiness Project books, and reply to the comments that others have posted. Every post on this site is also shared on the A Series of Adventures Facebook page, so you can also read and interact there.

The long(er) version:
This is an invitation to build a tribe, to engage with like-minded people. If you're looking for a sense of community, if you're searching for people who are also searching, you've found them. I don't know about you, but I love to bookmark and subscribe to blogs that build community and resonate with the direction I'm taking my life. I enjoy meeting new people, but most of all, I enjoy having conversations that matter. I love engaging in the comment section of these blogs, both with the author of the post and with other people who have commented. It's a small, quick, easy action to take...but over time it compounds into something really beautiful. Trust that.

One of my core desired feelings (speaking of Desire Map) is open to magic. That phrase is actually my 'power word' for 2014, so it is the ultimate core desired feeling right now. The 2013 Happiness Project group (which I talk about here) was transformative, for both me and my friends who participated. It was a powerful year, full of clear intentions and significant changes. Having a supportive community of people made all the difference. So, to honor my desire to be open to magic, I'm opening the circle. I'm trusting in the magic that happens when we engage with people who are focused on the same themes and issues.

Does that help clarify? Summary: Leave comments and get to know each other, both on this site and on facebook. It's low key, just a tribe of seekers who will support each other in making 2014 amazing. We can start right now with our first round of comments. Are you open to it?

Post an introduction below and let us know who you are. We're excited to meet you. 

What we get out of an experience is equal to the amount of energy and intention we put in to the experience.

P.S. Housekeeping note: This site is not entirely dedicated to the Happiness Project book series. You can read more about the mission of the site in the { love, me } section above. In short, I'm an administrator in higher ed by day, a storyteller and creative old soul in real life. I view every inch of life as an adventure and I curate my life into a series of memorable ones. This site is dedicated to pursuits that bring me joy: globetrotting, photography, and sundry feats of creativity. I also post about books I’m reading (obviously), my research into my Danish family history, mindfulness and other such hippie dippieness. Click if you’d like to explore my writing by category(ish).

Cheers to adventure!

Love and books books books,
me

Happiness 2.0: Digging Deep in 2014

Those of you who've read this blog for a while know that throughout 2013 I embarked on The Happiness Project. I was poolside in Hawai'i in November 2012, reading Gretchen Rubin's book, and some combination of twelve short chapters and the aloha spirit inspired me to host a monthly brunch slash book club. We gathered. We ate. We cried. We talked. We set goals. We succeeded and failed. We supported each other. We decided Gretchen was lame. I don't want to spread negative juju on this site, but it will suffice to say that we find her text self-absorbed, ethnocentric, lacking in research, and soulless. A missed opportunity, in sum. That might actually be a whole lot of negative juju, but we won't dwell. The point is we used it as a springboard. We made it to the end of the year and knew this group needed to continue.

Enter 2014. Happiness, version 2.0. The Advanced Placement class. Digging deep. However you cut it, we've long ago graduated from Gretchen and shit's gettin' real in here.

Below is the list of texts we're tackling this year. If you would like to read along, please do. I will post on this site throughout the year, sharing ah-ha moments and inspiration from our monthly discussions. If you're reading with us, jump into the comment section. I'd love to hear from you.

Danielle LaPorte's Desire Map kicks off the year because it will change our entire relationship to goal setting. Foundation: Determine how you want to feel, then start saying "yes" and "no" accordingly. Start setting intentions or goals with that feeling in mind. The journey needs to feel the way you want the destination to feel...and feeling good is the primary intention. Bam. Take that, new year's resolutions.

Once we're clear on our core desires, we'll work on breaking down old patterns of thoughts and agreements that hold us back from completely living those desires and becoming pure awesomeness. When I first read Don Miguel Ruiz's Four Agreements eight years ago, it took me all of one sitting and it changed my entire life. These new agreements are so completely fundamental to my worldview at this point, I almost take the revolutionary wisdom for granted. I revisit the book often and cannot wait to do it with this crowd.

Gary Chapman's Five Love Languages is an important tool for self-discovery, but also a powerful insight into our friends, family, lovers, bosses. Our core desired feelings are now governing our decisions, the four agreements are shaping a healthy experience of ourself and others, so let's move on to loving each other, shall we? Let's love each other well, and in the way we want to be loved. All of that. Yes.

Halftime. Gut check. Regroup, reflect, recommit. Go deeper. Brene Brown's Daring Greatly is about embracing vulnerability as a courageous act. {gulp} Vulnerability. {ugh} Not my thing. These middle months are going to kick my ass. I'm up for it, but for the record, my palms are already sweating. If we're going to truly absorb all we've learned to this point in the year, and if we're going to truly own it as the new normal for our lives (when it's not the norm for the world around us), it's going to take vulnerability and a whole heap of courage.

I've written about Jen Sincero's You are a Badass before. I read it last year, or to be more accurate, I devoured it. It's so crazy good. Show up. Own it. Take up space in the world. Change your frequency. Dump the chump. Make it happen. Get over yourself and do it already. Yes, this is the perfect way to wind down the year and wind up our lives.

Kim Dinan is my spirit animal. She was in her early 30s, working as an LCSW in Portland, when she and her husband Brian decided to save their pennies, quit their jobs, and travel the world (i.e. my dream). I haven't written yet about Kim Dinan's Life on Fire, but I will soon. I read it in three spinning sessions at the gym and knew instantly it would be huge for me; hence, closing this awesome year with everyone experiencing it. It's part text, part workbook. After all this introspection and soul searching, we'll end 2014 with a plan, man. A plan for a life on fire.

There you have it. Let's rock it out. 2014 is the year, folks. Join us...

...consider this your virtual invitation into my home and into these conversations.

Love and pure awesomeness,
me

9 Travel Resolutions for 2014

I recently discovered a travel blog I absolutely love. Kate McCulley maintains Adventurous Kate: Solo Female Travel. Kate is part of a brave class of travel writers who quit their 9-5 j.o.b. to travel the world continuously. Confession: I'm slooowly gearing myself up for that possibility (oh, the possibility!). Of course, the moment I stated the intention, I was flooded with an awareness of resources and websites and a network of amazing people who've done exactly that. Spend some time surfing around her site, particularly the "How I Saved $13,000 For Travel In Just Seven Months" post. It's so inspiring to me because it's so completely normal. Student loan payments, Netflix automatic debit payments, weekend brunches with friends...she lays out how she massaged a seven month travel budget out of her real life. A life that looks quite a bit like mine. And by "quite a bit" I mean exactly.

In this post, however, I want to share her discussion of 2014 travel resolutions. Even if every resolution doesn't resinate with you, at least one is bound to. Get inspired and get out there! Click here to read her full post, as the annotations below are mine.

1. Spend Christmas 2014 on the beach

I just spent Christmas 2013 on the beach. I've spent many a winter holiday on the beach, but it's a great reminder that this tradition never disappoints. Traveling far away during the holidays also conveniently pulls you out of the shopping, parties, guilt, gift, consumption treadmill that I dislike so much.

Corona del Mar, Orange County, California - December 2013

2. Get into points and miles

I've long since mastered the Delta hub of Salt Lake City and American Express / SkyMiles Platinum and I are longtime friends (cha-ching); however, I love her suggestion to study the three primary alliances (Star Alliance, OneWorld, Skyteam). I think this is savvy knowledge for any traveler and similar to my wonky obsession with plane models and knowing which seats are the most strategic/comfortable on each.

3. Visit that destination you have always, always dreamed of visiting

Denmark. Hands down. There are many others, but all roads lead home. I don't know if 2014 is my year for this or not. I'm still researching my family history and the perfectionist in me is inclined to over-plan this one to death. Hmmm, so maybe realizing that should actually force my hand. Get over it, and go already.

4. Become a better travel photographer

I recently completed a travel photography course that I absolutely loved. I'll be blogging about it soon, but for now check out Traveling Light: The Spirit of Travel Photography. Some of you may remember the other photography course I took from Laura Valenti Jelen, Candela: Finding Inspiration Through Photography. The brilliant thing about both courses is they aren't technical discussions of manually controlling your aperture. Both courses cut to the philosophical and emotional core of making photographs. It's changed my entire approach. Entirely.

Cafe Du Monde, French Quarter, New Orleans - December 2013

5. Try staying in an Airbnb rental

Yes. This. This is big for me. I dream of making my way around the world, traveling continuously for at least one year, staying in Airbnb rentals and/or house sitting. Affordable, local experiences, far more memorable than a Hilton (though I love Hilton Hotels and should Hilton Hotels decide to sponsor my adventures, I will not say no. (Are you listening, Hilton Hotels?)).

6. Get your passport or renew it

I'm on my third passport in as many decades of life, so I'm all over this. Done and done.

7. Get outside your comfort zone

In other words, in no particular order, I need to tackle: stifling heat and humidity and sweat, backpack instead of suitcase, couch surfing, Southeast Asia, camping...I could go on. I also realize I just described some people's ideal travel experience. We all have our comfort zones.

8. Start a travel savings account

Done. Automatic withdraws from checking account each month. The trick is never touching it. The bigger trick is creating travel investment accounts. Why piddle around with 0.9% interest when you can put it in the market at higher yields, take it out once it's grown, and bon voyage! Yes, I rattled that off like I knew what I was talking about. But hey, investing for this purpose is on my list of Stuff To Figure Out In 2014.

9. Travel solo for the first time

Done it. Absolutely love it. Will do it again. A lot.

peek-a-boo...you get used to creative selfies when you're flying solo

What resolutions should we add to this list?

Bon voyage! Love,
me

A New Year. The Desire Map. Feelings That Aren't Feeling-y Enough.

Since my last post I spent a week in New Orleans, a week in Southern California, and have now ushered in the new year at home in Salt Lake City. Photos of these trips will be posted shortly, btw. For now, however, I need to talk to you about The Desire Map.

I've posted about The Desire Map on this site before; primarily declaring that I knew it was out there, skating around it because I'm afraid of it, and acknowledging it would kick my emotional ass once I let it. Well, friends, I'm finally tackling it. I read it on all of my plane rides to and fro. I spent the entire day today (01 January 2014!) making my way through the workbook and trying to settle on my Core Desired Feelings. I also committed to my power word for 2014.

My power word and my experience with The Desire Map are so cosmically intertwined that I cannot talk about one and not the other. My 2013 power word was ABUNDANCE. I focused on (re)training my brain out of a scarcity mindset and believing and trusting and knowing there's enough of everything and all of that jazz. Well, The Universe flooded me with abundance and I now need to get out of my own way. I need to let it all flow through me and stop trying to control it, second guess it, one up it, over analyze it, and generally screw it up. Entre my 2014 power word: OPEN. My 2014 power phrase, more accurately: OPEN TO MAGIC.

I'm an academic through and through. Over half my life has been spent in school, college, a graduate program, professional certification courses, and my entire professional career has been built within the academy as well. The concept of magic, of faith, of things that cannot be explained, of something happening that I myself did not create and control...it's all a bit foreign. At least, it feels more foreign to me now that it ever has before. I think I used to be open. I think I used to be open to magic even. I used to be quite a romantic, really. You'd never know it if you met me for the first time today. Even though, at my core, I'm divinely feminine and unnervingly intuitive, the woman you'd meet on the street today is rational and precise and hyper logical and in control and pulled together and cynical and on top of it and you get the idea. I need to soften it up a bit. I need to be open again, open to letting all the energy and abundance flow in and out and around me, fluid and flexible. I need to let myself lean in to a bit of magic.

Enter my desire mapping process. I read the entire book. I powered through over a hundred workbook pages. I color coded. I dog eared. I post-it tabbed. I rocked it. I'm doing this. I'm making a list of Core Desired Feelings. I'm researching the etymology and combing through the thesaurus. I'm coding my qualitative research and identifying patterns. I'm failing already. I end up with a final list of words that make perfect sense and accurately identify my Core Desired Feelings, but they have no razzle dazzle, no sex, no magic, no...emotion. Hashtag irony. My entire mantra for the year is to be OPEN TO MAGIC and I've created the perfect list of core desired feelings...that don't feel like anything. They are not vulnerable. They are not open. They are not magical. Well, fuck.

I leave it for a while. I watch a few episodes of The Daily Show on hulu while I cook and laugh it off. When I return to the list I tell myself, "You're not being honest. Just say it. 'In Communion' is the perfect phrase for what you want to feel at your core, but to you the words feel patriarchal and Catholicish. So what if it's perfect...if it doesn't feel perfect to you?! Just say it. Be as simple as possible." I re-do the list three more times.

As of now, my Core Desired Feelings, including my 2014 power phrase:

OPEN TO MAGIC

ABUNDANT

CREATIVE

STRONG

FREE

SPIRITUALLY CENTERED

I waffled between "abundance" and "abundant" for a good 45 minutes. I'm still waffling. I had "healthy" in the list, but know that "strong" will get my ass to the gym with greater gusto. I discussed my reaction to the phrase I lovehate: "in communion." I had four iterations of my list that included "secure/free" as one word. That whole "secure/free" thing is a barrel of monkeys I will unpack throughout this whole year, but for now, I'm committed to the core core core, which is free.

In all honesty, I still don't think I'm there yet. I still don't feel these words are the very core of me. I still sense they are masking a bit of...something. I do know, however, that done is better than perfect. I also know that I will work through a month with these words and revisit them. I also also know that as I unravel more and more and more layers of my 2014 power phrase, I will inevitably unravel more and more and more layers of my desired feelings. I'll reach the core. I'm not there yet, but I will be.

I will be.

Love and desire,
me