As 2010 is coming to a close, each of us finds our selves reflecting on the year that is passing, as well as the year ahead. Many of us will sit down over the next few days and create a list of resolutions for 2011. We may have financial, health or even travel goals. Whatever our goals are for 2011, each and everyone of us should have at least one goal in common. To be more aware.

It is so easy to get caught up in the daily grind and have blinders on. We’ve all done it. I know I have. It’s easy to do.

In 2010 I learned to give my blinders a break. I began to step back and notice the world around me. It’s amazing what one can learn when they decided to focus on their surroundings. While I was in Thailand, I took the opportunity to work with refugees and street kids. I allowed my vision full access to the world around me. It many ways, the reality of what I was seeing, broke my heart. It also changed me. It created a deep desire to cast aside my blinders.

Tonight, I had another opportunity present itself. As I was leaving the Senior’s community where my parents live, I noticed a man bent over the wheel of his car. He was driving a little slow and strange, but he eventually pulled out into the road. I continued with my errands and picked-up dinner. As I returned to the park, I saw the same man. His car was parked outside the gates. His walker was by the sidewalk about 10 feet away and he was standing in the cold night air. I pulled over and asked if he was okay. Naturally, he said yes. I chose to not believe him.

Cor needed to go to the bank machine and then to 7-11 to buy cigarettes. He claimed he was waiting for the bus. It was way too cold for him to be outside. He had already fallen and had a bump on his head. At first, I tried to talk him into letting me drive him home. He wouldn’t let me. It took me 15 minutes to convince Cor to drive home & that I would follow him. In that time I learned he had Parkinson’s disease and that his license had been suspended.

During our time outside the gates, over 20 cars passed us. Nobody stopped. Seeing a walker 10 ft away from an elderly man who is completely bent over due to Parkinson’s, didn’t raise any red flags. After getting Cor’s car home, I then took him to get money from the ATM and to buy his cigarettes.

Now, I’m not telling you this story about Cor to toot my own horn. I’m telling you because I was gone 20 minutes before I found him outside the gates. I then spent 15 more minutes trying to get him back into his car. I cannot tell you how many people just drove right passed. No stopping. No helping.

It is so easy to be so focused on our tasks, that we forget to look around us. If we’re in a hurry, we don’t think to stop, we just keep going. However, we can change that. We can open our eyes a little wider and become a little more aware of the world around us.

Maybe the lady bent over her shopping cart is having a health issue, but nobody is stopping to help her? Maybe the guy laying on the pavement is not the local drunk, maybe he actually needs help. Maybe the woman with the screaming kids needs some sympathy and help, rather than scowls and groans.

One of my main goals for 2011, and for the remainder of my life is to ‘Be More Aware’. If we can become more aware, and offer help when help is needed, perhaps the world will be a little less depressing at times. Becoming more aware does not require huge changes. It’s a small change in the way we think. It’s the pebble thrown into a pond whose ripples will grow bigger and bigger.

Will you join me? Will you make a resolution to ‘Be More Aware’?

It’s been a crazy year. We kicked off 2010 at Kruger National Park in South Africa and we’re sending it away on the beach in Florida. From Africa, to the Middle East & Europe, across Asia and finally home we searched through our pictures, memories and posts to bring you our favorites from 2010. So without further ado….

Kalahari Transnational Park
This was our favorite national park in South Africa and one of the most memorable experiences of the trip. Danny barbequed as lions wandered around the camp’s electric fence and we fell asleep to the sweet lullaby of a lion’s roar. It was scary but it was awesome. There were so many lions by the time we left we were practically bored of seeing them. Oh yea, and there were cheetahs!

Sufi Dancing in Khartoum

Mystical, mystifying and (well what’s another “M”, magical?) the Sufi dancing in Khartoum defied our expectations. It was absolutely enchanting and in a world where so much seems familiar it was a distinctly different ritual. The whirling was incredibly hypnotizing, even from outside the ritual area. We stood out like sore thumbs in the crowd of religious muslim men and chai sellers and as the ritual continued the head religious man made eye contact with Danny. With a knowing smile the man posed for a photograph – his intense gaze, even from across the field will be something I can never forget. We were completely fascinated and to this day when I see our pictures I have to pinch myself to remind my brain that it was real.

School Children in Lesotho
One of my favorite parts of this trip were the kids. Without a doubt we met some of the most amazing kids, many of who didn’t have the opportunity to go to school, read a book and may never see a movie in a theater. Walking back to our lodging from a hike through the canyons in Lesotho we came across a group of primary school kids on their way home. Seeing us from afar the children mobbed us, introducing themselves, asking us to play with them, showing us their text books, their drawings and writing out their lessons. They were curious about our cameras and for the first time many of them saw themselves on video. They were a complete joy and we had an enjoyable hour or so joking, playing and laughing with them. Their joy and laughter was infectious and whenever I’m feeling upset I think of them.

Italiani
Maybe I have a thing about jolly people, but the Russian mini-van driver we met in Georgia is probably one of my favorite interactions of this whole trip. From our comical attempt to find a common language (Italian) to our fateful encounter near the Russian border this guy was overwhelmingly friendly and amicable. We could hardly communicate, but in the words of Anne of Green Gables, he was a kindred spirit. I know if we were to ever see him again we’d just have to tell him we are his italiani amici and he’d greet us with one of his vice grip hand shakes.

Smugglers

It’s not every day you meet smugglers on a train. Well, actually that’s more common than you think…let me revise that. It’s not every day you meet a train conductor who is also a smuggler. Crossing from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan the conductor and his wife took us under their wing. With very little common language between us, we used our picture dictionary, maps and charades to pass away the time. After helping us negotiate the customs form (only in Russian), the customs officials (who didn’t harass us too much) and the currency changers (they got us the best rate of our entire time in Uzbekistan!), we were close friends and the conductors wife shared with us her little secret- boxes and boxes of contraband. Turns out contraband is pretty similar in Russian!

Share and Enjoy:

Does this sentence sound familiar to you? “I can’t wait to plan my next trip!”  Travelers will do anything for that familiar feeling of sitting on a plane anxiously awaiting their arrival to a new city. Looking back at every trip I’ve made, it’s been for the reason of finding a great deal. It’s the best way, and sometimes only way I can travel on a budget. But, how 2010 became the year of travel for me was pure kismet.

January 2010

At this point in time, I had just been laid off my first Editor position at a travel website. I’m in a financial and life rut; feeling stuck in a routine going 10mph on a route to nowhere. My appetite to learn, explore and grow is insatiable at this point. The love of my life at this point in time is on his RTW trip and he wants nothing more than for me to join him. How could I possibly do so in the middle of my Quarter Life Crisis? What would my parents think of this far-fetched idea to galavant around South America for a few months to figure things out? Little did they know my real plan was to travel through South America, into Central America with him and make it back home by land. (Finances and other upcoming events would cut this plan short.)

“So this is the New Year. And I have no resolution. For self assigned penance. For problems with easy solutions.” I’m house sitting for my then traveling boyfriend’s parent’s home; listening to Death Cab for Cutie. I too wanted to share in the experience of a lifetime. It was time to make a resolution to myself. “This year will be my year of travel.”

Two weeks into the new year were spent on multiple travel aggregator sites. I’d find myself a one way ticket to one long and unexpected adventure. This was done for two big and personal reasons:

• Traveling has been my calling since I’ve been able to cross the street. I had been writing for so many travel sites, including my own and lacked a true vagabonding experience.
• It was my opportunity to see my boyfriend that I had not seen in 8 months as he had been conquering the world one city at a time.

You can say I foolishly followed my heart; my dream to travel, and a desire to see a lover abroad.

At the crossroads of America and Argentina

I didn’t think I’d be standing in front of the flight prompt alone, exhausted and with the slightest clue of what to do. There I was at JFK International Airport in Jamaica, Queens staring at my fate. I would either hop on this plane, sleep for 10 hours and see him for the first time in 8 months. Or, I’d go home and wonder: “What if?”

(excerpt from my personal blog)

Summer clothes fill my half empty backpack; ready to be even more stuffed with warmer sweaters I’d purchase later in Bolivia. I’m ashamed at the temper tantrum I threw at my parents; anxious about making this trip and throwing myself into a cab alone; crying and absolutely nervous about this trip.

What was I so nervous about? I’ve been on Cloud 9 since he told me to come on down and join him on the South American leg of his Round the World journey. Two months ago, I was in Barcelona and was told I was the one for him and that he couldn’t imagine being with anyone else.

american airlines plane, JFK by postopp1

Fast forward to present day with a one way overnight flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina and there I was, staring at the American Airlines gate with a backpack I’d soon carry for the next 5 months. This was my crossroads. Here I was commemorating a new year; a new backpack; a new hair color; a new body 30 lbs lighter; a new pair of flip flops; a new chapter in my life. January 1st may have been my last day at my previous job, but the days that follow would give me plenty more to write about for months to come.

(excerpt from my personal blog)

My sister would be the last person I called as they announced the final call for the flight. Her advice was to just get on the plane and go! This trip wasn’t about him; this was a journey for myself and that something told her that this would change me for years to come. Worst comes to worst, you went to South America and saw amazing places! Boy was she right.

What happened 5 months later

There could easily be at least dozens of posts about the up’s and down’s of my journeys. (That’s why you should subscribe to Art of Backpacking to find out!) In a nutshell:

• The trip with my now ex-boyfriend was a journey of realization for us. We had been together roughly 4 years at that point; with a short in-between confusing status while he backpacked for 8 months. We broke up in Mancora, Peru; a few days before I was robbed abroad. Talk about a rough week.
• Although breaking up on the road was by far one of the hardest parts of my trip; especially when we’d try to continue traveling in our strange limbo-relationship status, I could not lose focus of why I was here. There I was in a new country, a new city, breathing new air, seeing new places and I would not let a fall-out of a relationship ruin that atmosphere. I’d have a deep cry at the beach early in the morning; run into the ocean and let the waves wash away all my anxieties; take my day pack and let the travel experience take me to a better place. Lucky for me, romance would find me on the road when I least expected it!
• Roughly, I spent about a month in each country- Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador; a little less time in Ecuador and more time in Peru, which I was extremely fascinated by. Being a part of the Art of Backpacking team since day one really has its meaning after this trip. The rush of being on the road, living out of a backpack, sharing stories in a hostel, eating meals with locals is the backpacking experience. I’m finally a writer with a story to tell and with a pen that wants to continue writing!
• The trip became my travel therapy. Not only did it cure me of a toxic relationship; it bettered my relationship with others. I had lost focus of my dreams and desires; dare I call it my life sabbatical. Taking yourself out of the routine of a life rut can truly clear the cobwebs and put you on the fast track back to success.
• It opened the doors to a new community; a travel community filled with other travelers with stories of inspiration that would filled my Google Reader, keep my planner filled with travel tweet-ups and give me the opportunity to speak about my travels to others. (Not only once, but twice!)
• With the above said, I want nothing more than a life of travel; in any shape, way or form.

Saying farewell to 2010

Closing the door to this chapter of my life only brings nothing but a huge smile on my face. Looking back at photographs and videos of almost half a year of traveling through South America and having an experience worth sharing with others is only the start of so much more to come. I can only hope 2011 can be filled with more travel experiences of not only indulging and exploring my desires abroad, but to also give back to a world that has given me so much.

Thankfully, I can also announce that 2011 will finally be the year my college rut is over. While traveling those 5 months; I continued to pay my college loans which deterred me from finishing my studies. Thankfully, with the help of my loving parents, the debts are paid and I can say hello to college diploma very soon.

Cheers to 2011 and to hopefully, even more years of travel.

I’d personally like to thank my parents for supporting me on so many levels, my sister for being that final voice to get on that plane already, my friends for being my cheerleaders while I was on the road via Facebook updates and comments, and my ex-boyfriend for breaking my heart on the road; for it was quite possibly the best thing (though I didn’t know it at the time.) that could have happened to me on that trip.

On behalf of myself and the Art of Backpacking team, Happy New Year!

Can you believe it's already 2011? Time to dust off those resolutions and think about how you're going to fulfill them. We have a few ideas. Watch and see. [pro-player width='300' height='200' type='video' image='http://podcast.careerbreaksecrets.com.s3.amazonaws.com/podcast.2011-New-Years-poster.jpg']http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WyV8ZAc0qw[/pro-player]

Yes I know what your thinking another one of THOSE posts. Where I write about how much fun I’ve had during the year doing this and this and this. Bragging about my best work and constantly trying to one up Wes and his increasingly awesome blog posts.

Well your WRONG. Yep I don’t need to tell you all that as you already know I’m the beez neez (see I’m modest too). Instead I just want to wish all my fellow readers, friends, travellers and soon to be travellers a safe and merry new year. May your 2011 travels bring you many a perfect photo, a life changing experience and hopefully not too many “OMG did I really drink that much last night” moments.

Now where is my beer… oh here it is

Related posts:

1. Hello Year of Travel

Wow! Has a year gone by already.

Time has flown by and yet stood still all at once. It feels like a lifetime ago that we were standing on the roof of our friend Hussein’s hotel in Jaipur, India a year ago today.  Was it really only 13 months ago that we left our careers to pursue the life of full time travel bloggers?

I barely remember what it feels like to be a Make-Up Artist. A career that I held for nearly a decade.  Was Dave really a Rigging Gaffer in charge of lighting equipment on big budget Hollywood movies?

On one hand it seems like only yesterday that we were on our Princess Cruise to Alaska this past June. On the other hand, it feels like years have passed since our more recent trip to Fiji in November.  Where does time go?

When one is truly content can time stand still?  We almost feel that time has slowed down for us, stood still if you will. We live simply, day to day and enjoy the beauty in life and what the earth has to offer.

So much has happened over the year that we feel as if we have lived several lifetimes.  When we travel, we feel the days become longer and weeks stretch out, yet it melds into a swirl of emotions and events that intertwine with one another.

Here are the round up posts about our amazing year!

• Best Adventures of 2010
• Our Favourite Photos of 2010
• 20 Best Travel Moments of 2010

Our summer flew by while we were home to visit our families and friends.  We never had enough hours in the day to get things done. I remember thinking that we had been home for months, but it all went by so quickly and we accomplished so very little.  We missed out on valuable time with our families and we missed out on taking part in our passions of mountain biking, cycling, camping and rock climbing.  It all passed too quickly and we couldn’t grasp where the time went.

And then we stepped on a plane.

Since leaving Toronto in November, we have been to three different countries, made new friends, seen world wonders and suffered through many hours on planes, trains and buses.

It now seems like we were never home. We once again feel more at home on the road than while we are home.  We talk to our parents on Skype and cherish the moments, we chat with our friends online and relish the conversations.
I know we are lucky. We have each other. Many have to travel alone to fulfill their dreams.

Dave and I have each other to share our experiences with and we feel fulfilled. We have a sense of family, because we are each other’s family. Of course we have our parents and brothers and sisters, but they have their own lives. We can move around the world content in knowing that our families have each other to rely on and we have each other for comfort and company.

What is the meaning of this post?

I don’t know. I started out with the intention of writing about our goals for 2012.  But once I started typing I thought about how time is relevant.  Who knows where we will be in 2012.  We have our goals that we made. We make them every year. We fulfilled our wildest dreams in 2010 and yes, we have outlined and written down where we want to be this time next year.

While we have goals, we are more than willing to take a detour here and there to see where life takes us.

Life is one fun ride and we are ready to follow it wherever it decides to take us.

Don’t worry, our goals and accomplishments post is coming out tomorrow, a New Year wouldn’t be complete without the year end wrap up.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year 2011! is a post from: The Planet D: Canada's Adventure Couple

Cynicism is easy; dreams are hard.  Stephen Colbert once said cynicism is self-imposed blindness.

It’s effortless to sit in an armchair and lob stinging barbs at the world, call oneself satisfied, cloak fear and hurt in the folds of wisdom.

We suffocate inklings of faraway adventures or new selves, leaving such idleness to children, holding our adult ideals in a death grip.

And that makes me sad.  Because dreams form the fabric of our lives, can be discovered in the doodles of our notebooks, our computer wallpaper or what we tune into on television.  Literally, imaginings of who we should be are everywhere.

You just have to look.

As I gaze forward after launching Nomadic Chick a year ago, this site may be new, but my dreams were germinating seeds in my mother’s womb.  As old as the wind.

Next year rests on swampland, could sink downward any second, but I float above untouched, because no matter what transpires I am encased in gold.  A Fort Knox of memories, that were realities, that were tossed away as once unreachable make me a helium balloon.  Weightless and uninhibited.

Clocking the steady lines of the prairies on the Greyhound from Calgary to Moosejaw.  The night I hobbled with sore feet through Manhattan and witnessed Times Square come alive under an electrician’s wand.  Riding an elegantly designed train from Copenhagen Airport and disembarking into a Carl Nielsen concerto. København stilled my breath.  Giddy with laughter every time I flashed a press badge at The World Travel Market, feeling like a science nerd crashing a jock party.  Lighting sandalwood incense at the village temple as a black dog sleeps at my bare feet.  I close my eyes and hear silence.  Then rouse to sound the bell and leave.

I gather those yards of fabric and wrap them around myself like a sari, wear my year of dreams eagerly, flicking cynicism to the ground.

This isn’t magic, or guru mutterings, just a woman who refused to see the possible.  Someone who once viewed dreams as foreign now embraces boundless potential.

In these skeptical times of government scandals, narcissistic Facebook status messages, and bite-sized journalism, remember that dreaming can be comfortable; the world is still an alchemy of exotic and wonder.

Remove that coat of cynicism; next year could be your best.  And the year after, and the year after that.

You just have to believe.

Photo: Janet McQueen

A while ago we did our ridiculous video in which we dress up as a dragon and unicorn and Dance in Korea. In that video, Martina stopped by a Hello Kitty Cafe, but it was closed. We went back afterwards and filmed a video of what it’s actually like inside. Check it out!

Now, you might be aware that we really like Korean Coffee Shops, more specifically, the indie ones that don’t cram thousands of people into a few square meters and sell overpriced sugar-soaked burnt espresso beverages. Bah! Again, recently we went to Angel-In-Us (which we always want to call Angel Anus) out of desperation and bought a drink that we couldn’t even finish half of because it was so terrible. Stay away from franchise coffee shops! More often than not, they’re terrible. Anyhow, Hello Kitty, even though it’s a worldwide brand, isn’t really a franchise coffee shop, so we still consider it somewhat Indie. And, hell, they’re few and far between as well, while you can throw a stone from one Starbucks to the next, nowadays.

Anyhow, the main reason we went to the Hello Kitty Cafe wasn’t because of the coffee. Martina’s a big fan of Hello Kitty stuff, if you didn’t already know. Check out our How to Dance Kpop Style 2010 video. See that toilet cover? Yep. It’s Hello Kitty. Also, last year for Christmas Simon got Martina a coffee maker: Hello Kitty, of course. So when Martina saw the Hello Kitty Cafe she was determined to go.

Well, let’s just say Martina was excited at first. The idea of it was great, and at first glance it seemed like it would be wonderful. But, after a few minutes the charm wore off. It was very crowded, terribly lit, overheated, and covered in graffiti. No joke! We’ve never seen so much graffiti in a coffee shop. The back wall was entirely covered with one set of initials being in love with another set of initials at a specific date, and lots of B2ST written on the walls (and ceiling) as well. Kinda took away from the Hello Kitty vibe. As well, it just didn’t seem like what we expected. We thought it’d have nothing but cutesy music and the staff dressed up Hello Kitty-ish, but it wasn’t really like that at all. The baristas were just regular looking, and the music was – for some reason – from the 90s. Like, Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” was playing in the background. Not what I’d expect in a Hello Kitty Cafe. In the end, when we left the place, it seemed like just a pink coffee shop with lots of Hello Kitty paraphernalia. It was quite disappointing. Drinks were good. Atmosphere wasn’t.

If you’re interested in going, even though it’s not too great, just to be able to tell your friends that you’ve been to the Hello Kitty Coffee Shop, we’ve attached a map:

Except, err, the map isn’t all too great. It’s from the official Hello Kitty Cafe site, and the English is a bit off (like Starbugs, for example). Anyhow, just remember these directions:
1) Get off Hongdae station Exit 5 and walk straight.
2) Turn left and walk up the street.
3) Turn at your second right.
4) Keep looking to the left. You’ll see it on its own side street eventually.

And there you go! If you’ve been to any of the other Hello Kitty Cafes, please let us know. We’d like to know if the others are worth visiting, or if they’re equally as disappointing. Also, thanks again to JB and Annie from [닉쑤] Enjoy Your Happy Life~* for translating our silly videos. Yay!

Related posts:

1. Our Favorite Korean Café
2. Indie Coffee Shops: Bucheon’s Café Lua
3. Korean Coffee Shop Snacks

For the original post on Hello Kitty Cafe or for our kpop videos, check out our Life in Korea blog!

I was talking to a friend the other day about traveling, I was sharing my big travel plans and she was sharing her dream travels.

We were talking about the same thing, only I called it a plan while she called it a dream.

It’s only a word, but there is a lot lying behind it - I believe that by thinking of your travels as dreams, it will take you so much longer until they become a reality.

A dream doesn’t provoke you to take action, it just lies there on a pink cloud in your head. A dream is just a place you sometimes escape to when life gets too dull and you need that escape.

We all have dreams, but few of us ever get to see them come true.

I think a lot has to do with the way we look at things – our perspective. If we accept to leave plans as dreams we won’t even try to make an effort to achieve it and turn it into a reality.

A dream is almost something that isn’t supposed to come true, because, well – it’s a dream!

Someone once told me that dreams that always came true were no longer dreams.

She said she wanted to keep her dreams as dreams because if they came true she wouldn’t have anything to dream about anymore.

I think that the reason why some of us don’t follow our dreams is because we don’t believe in ourselves enough that we can actually do it, and we are afraid of failure.

You have a choice, and which one you choose depends on what you value the most.

If you take a risk you might fail, but you might also succeed. If you never take a risk, you will never fail, but definitely never succeed either.

I believe that if you just change a few words in your head, and think of your dreams as plans, it’s more likely to happen.

When you have a plan, you have already taken the first step to action.

So what are your PLANS for 2011? Tomorrow is the start of another year, have you taken the time to write down what you would like to achieve?

We would love to hear about your plans for 2011 - whether they are travel-related or not. Share them in the comments below – also, are your plans different from your dreams?

(photo credits: gi – pasotraspaso)

Related posts:

1. (VIDEO) The As We Travel TV Show – Episode 1 (1/2)
2. Our Random Travel Plans (5-Days) In Switzerland, And Maybe Some More Ryan Air Stress?
3. Travel Photo Of The Week – Bali Celebration – Is Sending An SMS More Important Than God?

Travel Dreams Vs Travel Plans – Which Are More Important? - As We Travel - Around The World Travel Blog - As We Travel - Around The World Travel Blog - As We Travel is a travel blog for young travelers who are about to leave and explore the world for their first RTW trip (round the world).

Young Monks – Luang PraBang, Laos

Purchase this print

As I walked with the morning alms procession in Luang Prabang and took photos, I eventually came to a temple where the monks were finishing their procession. One of the monks said that it was ok if I came in as it was a good chance for them to practice their English. I respectfully went in and sat below the monks and talked to them about their lives in the temple, the procession of alms in Luang Prabang, their educations, their families – it was a wonderful exchange.  Plus – I was able to capture some moments that most tourists don’t get to see.

View the complete photo documentary on Giving Alms

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