Guest Post: Has Your Travel Bug Bitten Yet?

 The following is a guest post by Kate, a reader who reached out to me and asked if I would consider hosting. When I saw what she had in mind, I didn't think twice, as just days prior I had found out some news on a little stick and was in the midst of freaking out. Her post was a little bit of a relief/reality check for me and I am happy to share it with all you. Enjoy!

I do think that you should only regret the things you've haven’t done as opposed to those that you have.  I try to not to miss opportunities to do things when I can because I hate regretting anything. 

Unfortunately travelling is one area where I do have big regrets.  There is part of me now that wishes I’d made more effort to travel when I was young, carefree, didn’t have a mortgage to pay, little mouths to feed, and rocked a bikini! (Well, at least I looked better in one then than I do now). 

I now feel that my poor Passport has been well and truly neglected. The travel bug never really caught up with me in my younger days.  I didn’t feel the compulsion to grab a backpack and go off trekking around the world after I finished college/university like most of my friends.

I had different priorities at the time (which I don’t regret because my life would be very different otherwise).  I met my husband at 19, we bought our first house, got married a couple of years later and I carried on studying until I was 26. By the time I’d finished my degree, diploma and professional training we were both itching to start a family, and now here we are.

Now, I have the most responsibility I've ever had in my whole life, a husband, two small people, a dog, a house and a sizeable mortgage to go with it, and a new business.

Never have I felt the urge to drag my suitcase out of the loft as strongly as I do now. My travel bug has finally arrived. It’s taken its time, but it’s here! And do you know why it’s arrived now, of all times?

It's mostly because of those little people I gave birth to.  I’m raring to pack our suitcases, get out there and show them the world. They see everything so differently to us. They are astonished by the simplest of things.  New places are far more impressive and exciting when you discover them with toddlers. Toddlers don’t rush. They take in the most microscopic detail of places and objects and if something looks good, they eat it! Although, that’s something I won’t be encouraging so much of, unless it’s tasty looking food.  

And that’s exactly why I want to get out there right now. I want to visit as many places, countries and continents as we can while they’re still innocent enough to see all good in people and before they become tainted by politics, religions and other controversies.  I know they actually have a lot to teach me. They help me to see things from a totally new perspective.

There’s been a few moments lately, that have also made me realise that I’m really eager to take them out into that big wide world so that they have an education, aside from that sat behind a desk at school. Yes, I know there’s a lot for them to learn there, probably most importantly social skills and interacting with their peers. But I think the actual skills learnt by travelling are hugely under estimated by a lot of people.

One thing I have learnt is that life experience is worth a lot.  As is, experiencing lots of different cultures, customs and traditions. Not only knowing what these customs and traditions are and what happens, but truly understanding them.  I don't think there's any better way to do that than to meet people who practice and believe in those customs etc, really get to know them and understand their way of life.

So, these little people are the reason that my travel bug has arrived (very unfashionably late).  Unfortunately, they’re also the reason that our ability to go off travelling is severely hampered. Our income has been dramatically slashed during the last 3 years while I’ve had long periods of maternity leave. Our living costs are now the highest they’ve ever been and now, NOW I’m feeling the biggest urge in my whole life to go travelling. The irony is not lost on me!

I have also learnt a lot since having the first of the little ones 3 years ago. I now appreciate that, while enjoyed the holidays I had in my younger days immensely, the ones where I took time to chat to, and get to know the locals have much more significance than those where I just went and lay on a beach for a week.  Those holidays might well have been exactly what I needed at the time but there were definitely some missed opportunities there to see more of the countries I visited, find out more about the people, and the photos I took, aside from one or two lucky shots, were also extremely rubbish!

Now I want to make up for that.  I want to show my children the big wide world to make the most of this travel bug while it’s sticking around.  Plus, they’re all packed and ready to go!


Kate is a proud mum of two tiny tearaways and a keen writer who works with the likes of Electric Dialogue and No 1 Traveller, a UK luxury airport lounge company. 

This Spring, the Ultimate Journey Begins

Last spring, I was pretty excited about spending half the summer in Nicaragua volunteering, eating delicious food, making new friends, having revelations about my travel self, and doing cool things. All of the above was accomplished and I feel pretty lucky to have had such an experience.

This spring, I can top that journey. Guaranteed.

It's gonna be quite the epic trip. It will cost tons of money, I won't be booking a return ticket, and it's completely uncharted territory for me.

Umm....I am gonna have a baby.

True story.

I have known since early September, but I have been much too busy attempting to wrap my head around the fact that I will be someone's mother to tell anybody anything.

You see, I have never been the girl who spent her free hours daydreaming of her wedding, her Prince Charming, and the babies they would have together. Quite the opposite, actually. I spent most of my time delaying all of those things and instead, traipsing off to lands near and far and daydreaming of those, instead. To compound matters, the level of repulsion I feel for the acts of childbirth and breastfeeding (yes, this blog just went there) is nearly absurd. I might have a phobia or something. Please don't write and tell me how beautiful they are, because quite simply, they are not. I am fully aware that both are necessary and life-giving, but to me, both are barbaric, savage and well, just plain gross.

So what finally pushed me over the edge into pregnancy and impending motherhood?

Let's be honest and tell the truth.  When the idea of spending half the summer in Nicaragua occurred to me, I delicately broached the subject with the husband, who, didn't bat an eyelash when responding: "I would be pretty OK with you going if when you came back we could start trying to have a kid."

So yeah, I exchanged my uterus for summertime in Nicaragua.  Don't judge me. Besides, I needed something to force me to make the plunge. I am 31 now, I would have probably hemmed and hawed over this for as long as humanly possible if I didn't have motivation. I went, I saw, I did, I returned, and now, NOW, the remaining part of the bargain is in full swing. When May comes, I will be a mother.

But nothing could prepare me for the moment when I looked at the plus signs on the multiple pregnancy tests and stared, in shock.  Because really, nothing can prep you for that moment. Shock is where I remained for two days. On the third day, I cried the ugly cry, convinced my life was over and that I would never travel again and my poor passport would die a tortuous death.  On the fourth day, I decided that I was angry and called a best friend and let loose a string of  profanity that would push both of my living and healthy grandmothers much closer to the grave. On the fifth day, I woke up feel utterly peaceful and named him. (I am convinced it's a boy).

Since that fifth morning, I am still adjusting. I am no longer cursing at my friends (God bless them) or in shock, but this is big for me and thank God it takes babies 40 weeks to develop. I need every single one of those weeks. I swing from peaceful acceptance, to resigned acceptance, convinced that my traveling days are over, that I will become irrelevant, that I will cease to be me and enjoy the things that make me "me."

Some people have the maternal glow, the joyous anticipation, and ecstasy of knowing they will soon be a parent.

But not everybody does, and I think that's OK.

But here is what I do have: an amazing, supportive, and loving husband who couldn't be happier that we are taking this plunge together. I am beyond blessed to have him. I have a wonderful network of supportive family and friends who get me, and who say "Claire, it's ok to feel the way you do." I also have the blessing of being someone's mother. Although, to be clear, it is that very thing that terrifies me, almost as much as doing the things necessary to deliver a baby.

I have five months to find a more pleasant, dignified, and ladylike method of childbirth.

And you know what? I will travel again. Just not in the third trimester. 

The Winner, a Tiny Rant, and then I'll Leave You Hanging.

I really need to get in gear on multiple fronts in my life. Not the least of which is to refrain from my leaving all 33 of my readers hanging when it comes to announcing the winner of giveaways. Well, wait no longer. It is American Thanksgiving weekend, the turkey has been consumed (with more coming this evening), the cleaning has been done, the giant television purchased at an ultra-low price during Black Friday shopping, and now, just mere moments ago, the "husband picking the winner's name out of a Ziploc bag" has just been completed.

I should devote an entire post to Black Friday madness in America. Ridiculous. Some people in the world are starving and fighting over rice. Not here. My greedy fellow citizens fight over DVD players and the DVDs that go with them. I love my country, but THIS, this, I cannot condone, identify with, or find humorous. I feel a rant coming on, so I will end it now.

Oh, did you want to know the winner?!

DC Dana, COME ON DOWN! 

She writes her own blog, and she lives in, you guessed it, Washington D.C. Anyway, for those of you who didn't win, never fear. You can still visit Reese over at her blog and, conveniently, she has just posted about all the new jewelry she has designed just in time for the holidays. And, she is running a special right now, so get on over there and scope it out!

And finally, you *might* want to check back here Monday for a Giant. Huge. Life-changing. blog post.

Sometimes, Travel Rears Back and Slaps you in the Face

Today's title is a little dramatic I suppose. But it's kinda how I felt last weekend. 

Theme parks close for the season. Christmas tree farms close for the season. Pools close for the season.
Apparently the southern half of my state also closes for the season.

Hmmmmpfffff.

Last weekend, a good friend and I set off for Part II of the Best of West Virginia Road Trip. The friend in question was the "I"m so stressed about turning 30 that I will take all of my friends to Istanbul, Turkey to drown my sorrows celebrate" and Part I was a journey I never wrote about.  (For some reason, I was too snobby to write about anything other than foreign countries when I first started writing this blog. I hadn't yet accepted the idea of adventures in my own backyard).

As I mentioned before, I grew up here, but did my best to ensure that I never saw much of the state, preferring the big cities and exotic locales of places like.........Philadelphia. But the first time I journeyed around the state, I immediately fell in love with my home and became a true fan of the Wild and Wonderful-the good, the bad, and the ugly. Anyway, this post is not about that trip. This post is about the sequel trip.

We set a weekend to go, made a loose itinerary, and then promptly made no plans, made no phone calls, nor did any research until the morning of departure.

And by morning of departure, I mean, we did not start researching vital details until approximately 30 minutes after pulling out of the driveway and headed in a westerly direction. I live in the far extreme eastern part of the state, just under an hour from Washington D.C. We were headed to the far western part of the state, clear over to the blasted Ohio River and Blennerhasset Island State Park.

The very same Blennerhasset Island State Park that had just closed for the season a mere four days earlier.

Since when do state parks close? Since Halloween, apparently. But that wasn't the only place that calls it quits post scary holidays.

It was at that moment that my friend tossed the Crackberry to me, accompanied by a gasp of dismay that did not make me feel particularly hopeful that Blennerhasset was to be our only bump in the road. On the contrary.  Our next stop-the exhibition coal mine-the ONE THING I had my heart and soul set on?

Closed for the season, a mere four days earlier.

I could feel a fit, as in hissy, coming on.

And so this is how the entire weekend went. Plan C, D, and E materialized, and then, just as quickly, vaporized.
The TransAllegheny Lunatic Asylum? You guessed it. Closed for the season, a mere four days earlier.
The glass-blowing demonstration in Weston, WV? Last one in  30 minutes, when we were still an hour away.
The Blenko Glass factory in Milton, WV? No tours on Sundays. We were there on a Sunday.
The Tex-Mex restaurant that my friend promised was well worth a stop? Not just closed for the season......noooooo..... closed permanently. FOREVER.

Various power and water outages at both overnight locations merely added insult to injury. 

Hawk's Nest State Park

SERIOUSLY?!!!

After the third travel slap in the face, all I could do was laugh. And find Plan F, G, and H.

We managed to salvage the weekend. Sulking is acceptable for only five minutes. Then it's time to buck up, and find the adventure in the misadventure. Enjoy a few pics of what we did manage to find to keep ourselves occupied.

It seems like I only have issues when traveling in my own state. Remember when I came home without any of my luggage? 

Pt. Pleasant Mothman pose. Creepiest little town in all of WV. Ever seen "The Mothman Prophecies?"

In case I wasn't sure where to pose in the glass museum

Our beautiful state capitol-Charleston, WV

Dressed and ready to kill.......something.

Hillbilly Hot Dogs. As featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on the Food Network. The bus is the dining room.

Oh, the People You'll Meet!

Ok, so I wrote this yesterday, while it was actually October

I am livin' the dream today. Today, while it is still October, on a Monday, I am relaxing at home when I should be at school. That is because an unexpected pre-Halloween snowstorm has knocked out my school's power and therefore, the children cannot learn. There has not been an October snowstorm since 1979, before I was even born. Thank you gods of snow and electricity for waiting 32 more years.  Now, let me assure you, I truly love my job. Love it. But after spending six years as a substitute teacher and agonizing over every snow day or holiday because it meant less money to cover my bills, I feel I have earned the right to be gleeful, joyous, even ecstatic, about days off.

Besides, it gives me time to catch up on your blogs, as well as my own. I know you've missed me. Don't deny it.

I have been thinking for a while now about the people I have "met" while blogging whose stories, while different from my own, are so very similar. We all love to see the world and simply can't get enough of the adventure that is travel.  So this post is dedicated to all of you reading this (insert mushy air hug here), but I want to highlight one of you in particular. And I am giving something away so let's move on past the mushiness and get down to business. Oh, and the book from my first giveaway actually made it to Kalyan  in India, thereby restoring my faith in the United States Postal Service. My faith was previously lost when a random postal worker STOLE some books out of a package sent to me from Arizona. Yes, I said STOLE.

So since I started blogging three years ago, I have encountered people who have traveled to Antarctica, or have settled down in Moldova, and  still others who recount their adventures from Washington D.C. There have been regular commenters, and there have been random commenters. I love them all.  I thoroughly enjoy the glimpses of your life on the other side of the world, or just down the road from me. Shivya from A Shooting Star keeps me informed and wanting more from India, while Kristina seems to never have a dull Vagablond moment wherever she is (Turkey right now). I am waiting for Scott to take the Shirt off his Backpack and depart on a RTW in a few months, and I found a book I must buy from Fearful Adventurer. Pretty cool huh? I have never even met any of you people.

Love these!

But there is one fellow blogger whose been a constant here and you can find her comment on nearly every one of my posts. She just might get the award for Most Faithful Reader Whom I Have Never Met (Yet!). She has been there since just a few posts after my First Post Ever and has been around ever since. We started emailing after I bought some jewelry from her new shop and I feel like our "blendship" (blog friendship!) was settled. If I am ever in Italy, Reese will be the first person I contact.  Anyway, if you have never stumbled over Rambles with Reese or her pretty cool new shop on Etsy, you should. If fact, I am giving you the chance today. For my birthday, she sent me an online gift certificate worth $15 USD to her shop.  Since I already own some of her goodness, I am passing it on to one of you. (She said this was ok-and no, I don't normally give away people's gifts to me) All you need to do is leave me a comment and share a link to another blogger you like/appreciate/love/follow and you will be entered. I am always looking to read new material, plus it always helps when you spread the love. Guys, don't be afraid to enter this. Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Diwali is just around the corner.

Reese makes everything herself and she does a pretty darn good job. I ordered a bracelet and earrings, and I love them. She ships it fast and her prices are extremely reasonable. If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that I like to......spend as little money as possible. There. We will just leave that at that. If she was doing this when I got married, my entire bridal party would have been outfitted in a sweet, sweet style. The pieces are simple, classy, colorful.  Plus, it's also really fun to get packages from other countries that have lots of stamps on them. I can't deny it.

So what are you waiting for? Go and browse. Send Reese some love-she's a pretty nice person.  If you don't win, dry those tears and click "purchase" anyway. Reese will thank you, and so will I.

You have until Monday 11/7 at 5 p.m  EST to enter. The winner will be chosen via the trusty "husband picking your name out of a Ziploc bag" method. 

PS-Apparently Diwali just passed. Must brush up on my cultural holidays. Thanks to Payal for mentioning this.

Philadelphia, I Love You

As I proclaimed in a recent Facebook status update, I have country roots, and I have urban roots. If you have been hanging out here for any length of time, you know my country roots lie square in the Wild and Wonderful beauty of West Virginia. (Although to be fair, it's not that reeeeally that country where I live. Wait, never mind. Yes it is). It took me a while, but I grew to love it here and here is where I shall remain for the foreseeable future.

My urban roots on the other hand, were not established until the ripe age of 17 when I went off to college, fresh-faced and clueless about most of life. I chose to attend Eastern University, just outside of Philadelphia. Nice suburban campus, twenty minutes to downtown. By the time I went to college, I had spent more time in foreign countries than I had in big cities, so count me in as a wide-eyed wanderer. My very first memory of a big city still leaves me amused and confused to this day. See if you can explain this one:

First Saturday morning on campus. I was piled into a van with a bunch of other freshmen, headed to begin our semester of required community service. It was my first venture out in my new city and I was craning my neck out with window when I happened to spot THIS scene on the sidewalk:  It was early morning. There was a very handsome young man walking down the street. Head held high, shoulders back, walking with a purpose. He had no shirt on, nor was he clad in pants. He did have a very nice briefcase, very nice dress shoes (wingtip perhaps?) dress socks, and boxers.  He was also carrying a briefcase. He did not look to his right or his left, he was on a mission. This man was definitely very secure in his near-nakedness. I was instantly mystified. Who on earth does this?  Nobody else in the van seemed to really care or notice, but I needed this to make sense.  I came up with two scenarios.

1) His clothes has been stolen after a one night stand. He was on his way home and had no money for cab/bus fare. 
2) He had just been robbed, was really embarrassed about it, and was attempting to pass his outfit off as the new normal. I am telling you, there was no shame in his game. That man was confident,  head held high and no clothes on to speak of, and a briefcase. 

Wooowwwwww. This place was wild. I was HOOKED!
And that is the moment where I threw off my country roots and embraced the city life. I quickly declared my major as urban development and began attending classes on EU's downtown campus.

Philadelphia is where I learned to:
A) Love all things food.  From Pat's Cheesesteaks on the gritty south side, to Penang in Chinatown, to the pretzel factory at midnight, my love affair with food was cemented here.
B) Drive like a woman on fire. Philly traffic is where my hatred of gridlock reached epic and fiery proportions, and I learned to weave, cut people off, honk my horn, and slam on my brakes with the best of them
C) where I learned that white girls can actually dance if they just follow the beat of the music.  18 to party, 21 to drink nights at various clubs were in abundance, and I made sure to frequent them as often as possible. Especially on school nights, so that I could ensure academic success.

Ahhh Philly, I love you.

I love to return as often as possible and last weekend was one of those opportunities. We had a wedding to attend and it was very nearly like old times. I ate cheesesteak, thoroughly enjoyed Malaysian curry and roti canai at  Penang, and my husband was white-knuckled in the passenger seat beside me as I determined to beat everybody else on I-76 to where ever they happened to be going.

I have lived in Washington D.C and Atlanta since college, and while I love both of these cities, neither holds quite the pull that Philly does for me.  I embraced it all- from the 'hood to the grit to the glam, I had found a place I loved.

And still do. 

What about you? Where do you love to go back to, and why?

A few random pictures for you

Occupy protest. Don't see this in WV.

City hall with William PENN at the top. Thanks Jonathan Hobbs for the correction to my glaring oversight.

The beautiful bride and crew at Bartram's Garden

A Little Shame and Embarrassment Abroad

We have all been there. Embarrassment happens and we find ourselves scarlet-colored and shame-faced. The moments that happen abroad though, can find us with an extra deep hue of red and sense of mortification.

"What if they think all __________(insert nationality) act like this?
"What if they think I am THAT tourist?"
"Why is there toilet paper coming out of my pants in the middle of this bus station?"

I bring you three of my most embarrassing moments, all experienced on foreign soil.

1. The "I don't care if you're kosher!" incident.
This one occurred at the ripe age of 14, a time when not many of us know very much about life or love, or about the kosher diet of  Jews. The location was Israel and I was on a tour with my mom, best friend, and some members of our church. It was the second time out of the country for both me and my best friend and we were living the life. We thought we were pretty hot stuff and we took that hot attitude wherever we went. Including to lunch one day, where my friend attempted to order butter to go with his bread. Acting appropriately as only teenagers can,  it was our assumption that our every wish would be granted, in life and especially in restaurants. Imagine our shock then, when the nice lady serving our lunch denied the request for butter in an incredulous tone-"But we don't serve butter. We are kosher!" This little piece of information was digested by both of us with confusion and a sense of  indignation. But..... but....WE are not kosher, therefore our need for butter should be fulfilled!  Right? Of course not. We were in their country, eating their food, abiding by their customs. Ahhh, fourteen year olds are clueless, aren't they? My friend decided to voice his outrage by informing anyone within earshot....(brace yourselves)....
"I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE KOSHER!"
Oh. No.He. Didn't
Did he just announce that for the whole kosher restaurant to hear?
Affirmative.
Odd looks ensued. The nice lady huffed. It seemed like all conversation within a two mile radius stopped.
I wanted to crawl under the table.
She probably spit in our food.
 I may have been just 14, but I did know that  telling someone that their religious dietary restrictions mean nothing to you was ummmmm....crossing the line.
Shame face.


2. The "Lost in Translation" incident.
I actually devoted a whole post to this one-my second post ever on this blog. It was my first time in Myanmar. I was living the life, thinking I was pretty hot stuff and generally behaving as without a care in the world. If that sounds similar to Embarrassing Moment #1, it is, except now I was 24, not 14. Burmese is not a language I ever intend on learning, let's be honest. There are way too many circlely looking letters and tonal sounds. But I thought I should at least master a few phrases. I happily learned "Let's go!" and used it quite liberally-on public transportation, amongst the group I was with, and towards the Burmese friends I made. I did this for approximately eight days before one of the aforementioned friends kindly and finally informed me that the way I was pronouncing it actuallllllly meant something else.
What, pray tell, did it mean then?
With a giggle, Mii Mii whispered to me on the crowded bus "I have black teeth!"

Well isn't that just fantastic?

3. The "Inappropriately Dressed" Incident.
A few years ago, I spent two months in southeast Asia. I hung out in Thailand, Myanmar, and hopped over to India, but most of my time was spent in Bangladesh. It was my first time on that side of the world and each experience was wilder than the last. I attended quite a few weddings while there and was happy to do so-I loved dressing up in a sari, watching the dancing, and eating the food. Loved it. Imagine my surprise one evening when I out for a little neighborhood stroll with a friend and we heard a commotion coming from a nearby home. Of course, we just had to find out what was going on and craned our necks to peek over the wall. We quickly realized it was a wedding and tried to scoot on past.

Too late.
We were spotted and exuberantly invited in. I was wearing sort-of clean sweatpants and a green hoodie with a rainbow on it. My hair was a hot mess, as it usually is when I am in foreign countries. My friend wasn't looking much better. Going into the wedding was absolutely unthinkable and we thanked them and pointed to our clothes and attempted to continue on our merry way.
They wouldn't hear of it and after approximately 15 minutes of polite arguing, we realized that we would need to attend the stranger's wedding reception or risk offending said stranger and possibly an entire country.
Siiiiiigh.
Our reluctant acquiescence was met with exultation and we were led into the reception where everybody, and I do mean everybody, was dressed to the 9's and looking beautiful and magical.
Everybody except us. I tried to slink past the guests of honor, never making eye contact, looking wildly around for the first corner in which I could hide. It's bad enough crashing a wedding, but crashing one in SWEATPANTS?!
Not gonna lie, we did get a few looks that night. Ones that I read as "Oh look at those poor ratty Americans. Don't they have any better clothes?" But mostly, the wedding guests were thrilled to have us join them. We stayed as long as was possibly polite and then hightailed it out of there.

I sent telepathic apologies to the bride on the way out.

What about you? What are your most embarrassing travel moments? 

The hair and sweatshirt. Same trip, but on a more appropriate occasion.