Did you know that it was possible for alarms to go off at 2:30 in the morning? Until Saturday, I had no clue. However, that is what needed to happen in order for me to accomplish #16 on my list: climb a mountain. It was a two and a half hour drive to the Devil’s Lake Trail head, just outside of Bend, Oregon. The goal was to hike the South Sister, which is the third highest peak in Oregon at 10,358 feet. I don’t think I have been on a hike over 5 miles in the last 5 years, so I was unsure as to exactly how this whole thing would go. My question was quickly answered in the first
Continue Reading > 18 Comments posted: September 1st, 2009
In my first carnival of blogs I wrote about some of the sites and posts that have inspired me to continue down the path that I am currently on. In this next iteration of the carnival I wanted to focus on articles that I have read that provide motivation for me personally. Maybe someone has become successful at being location independent, or perhaps they are doing something on my list. Either way something about their writing has motivated me enough to want to share it with you. A few will be familiar names if you are a regular reader of my blog, but this is only because I am a true believer in what they are doing, and they
Continue Reading > 7 Comments posted: July 27th, 2009
As most of you know, one of my biggest reasons for starting this blog is to hold myself accountable for accomplishing things on “My List“. I have realized that for being such a big part of my adventure, I have spent very little time talking about it. The creation of this list has actually been on going for quite some time, and by the time I published it there had already been a few that were crossed off. So this is an update on some of the things I have already done, as well as progress that I have made on new goals. #1 Hang Glide Over Rio (Completed February 2009) This is the one that almost didn’t happen. We
Continue Reading > 12 Comments posted: July 20th, 2009
Since I began my site a few months ago, I have been fortunate to speak with numerous other bloggers in my niche. Speaking with them and spending time on their blogs has been extremely valuable when it comes to getting this site on solid ground. If you search through my archives, you will undoubtedly find links to many of their sites, but I wanted to recognize all of those people/posts that have helped inspire me and keep me moving forward. So without further adieu I would like to introduce my very first carnival of blogs! The Art of Non-conformity – The first blog on lifestyle design and travel that I ever found was Chris Guillebeau’s. I remember the first time
Continue Reading > 15 Comments posted: June 29th, 2009
Have you ever wanted to learn how to sail? Experience exotic destinations? Embark on an adventure? We all have at some point or another. Well I would like to tell you about a website that enables these things. Findacrew.net is a website that is designed to match up sailors (you) looking for a boat to work on, and boats looking for crew members. You can sign up for a free account that then allows you to send very basic emails expressing your interest in working aboard the ship. You can’t customize these emails in any way with the free account, however if a captain shows interest in you, they will send a response with information on how to get a
Continue Reading > 4 Comments posted: June 15th, 2009
Typically on Wednesdays I post my “Happy Hour of the Week”. Due to all the new readers that have checked out the site over the last couple days I thought I would postpone my Happy Hour post until Thursday and write about something a little more interesting. – #27: Golf at Augusta National Golf Club They say nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it. Well I am going to test this theory. Long regarded as one of the best and most exclusive golf courses in the world, Augusta National is a legend. Whether you are a golfer or not, the chances are you have heard of this course, and a little tournament held there annually called The
Continue Reading > 5 Comments posted: June 10th, 2009
Every one has a list of things they want to do before they die. Whether it is written down or not, there is something in this world that you would like to do, but have yet to experience/accomplish. Writing out a “bucket list” is the first step you can make towards accomplishing some of these goals. However, this can be a harder list to write than you might expect. If you use the following tips, you should be able to not only write a meaningful list, but actually accomplish it as well. For reference, here is the beginning of my list. Mine still has a ways to go. 1) Don’t try to write it all at once. This isn’t an
Continue Reading > 24 Comments posted: June 8th, 2009
This is part 3 of 6 in Gringo-izing Brazil: An American’s Guide to Carnival. In this post we will talk about the Carnival parade itself. One of the biggest draws of Carnival in Rio is obviously the parade. There are two ways to go about experiencing this. The first of which is to watch the parade. It occurs on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights of Carnival. Each night the parade begins at about 8pm and goes to 6 the next morning. That is A LOT of parade. You really only need to plan on being here for one night, and chances are you wont be there for the full ten hours. After awhile everything starts blend in, and you
Continue Reading > 3 Comments posted: May 25th, 2009
Welcome to Gringo-izing Brazil, my in depth look at Carnival in Rio from the eyes of an American. This is part two in the series, in which we will set expectations for your arrival. Alright, so you are near the tail end of your 9+ hour flight. You are a little disoriented from the combination of anticipation, a sleepless night next to Chatty Cathy, and having an entire drink cart spilt all over you after a bout of turbulance. Sidenote: Yes, this really happend. While it was actually on our Aerolineas Argentinas flight from Buenos Aires, we hit a patch of turbulance which sent the contents of an entire drink cart on to me and the two New Zealand girls
Continue Reading > 4 Comments posted: May 18th, 2009
This is the first in a six part series documenting my trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for Carnival in February 2009. In this series we will cover everything from expectations, places to see, what to do/not to do, and hopefully share some of the more interesting stories from the trip. Well lets see, where to begin. Carnival in Rio is the biggest party in the world. We had no idea what to expect when we headed down there, and to say the least we, were not disappointed. Whether it was dancing in the Sambadromo for the parade, hang gliding over Rio, or visiting Iguassu Falls down south, nothing was as expected, but everything lived up to expectations! However,
Continue Reading > 8 Comments posted: May 11th, 2009
