29 Ways To Perpetuate Peace
John Lennon sang, “Imagine all the people living life in peace.” John was not the only dreamer. While some people are quick to dismiss...
A Letter To My Future Self
Many people are afraid of the future because they don’t know what it holds. Fear of the unknown is the greatest of all fears. But think...
25 Life Observations From A Shoe
You ever notice how many things we take for granted? Like food, clothes and shoes. I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately. I...
Witness The Spectacular! Are You Missing Out On This?
How much of life do we miss out on by not paying attention? How much do we dismiss in an ordinary moment that can...
Loyalty: The Lifeblood of Everything
Loyalty is faithfulness, first to commitments and obligations, then adherence to a cause, a set of principles, or to a person or a group of...
Anger Management: 10 Ways To Tame Your Temper
Anger is a strong feeling, sometimes intense, that arises from a sense of injustice, the displeasure of being wronged, the exasperation of not getting what...
Taboos, Tattoos and Other Labels That Stick
Something that is taboo is deemed by society as totally off limits. Taboo topics are treated as improper, and range from politically incorrect all the way to...
Decisions! Decisions! 10 Ways To Make Right Decisions
Every day, we make and are asked to make decisions on a wide variety of things. Almost by habit, we don’t need to put much thought...
Identity Theft is Epidemic: Are You Getting Ripped Off?
We live in a world where some people are what you would call less than honest. As a result, we have a widespread problem...
What Can We Learn From A Blade Of Grass?
A single, solitary blade of grass was seeded into this rich, round ball of earth. It was born with the innate desire of becoming tall fescue,...
Release These 17 Things And Finally Be Happy
Have you ever stopped to think about why people hold onto things that hold them back? Do you ever find yourself hanging on to...
The Trouble With Traditional Thinking: Can You Afford It?
Are you stuck in a rut of doing the same thing, the same way, with no hope in sight of doing any differently? Have...
The Biology of Belief: Does What You Think Really Matter?
The Biology of Belief: Does What You Think Really Matter? Do you give much thought to how you think? Does what you think really...
What the Lines Of Our Lives Teach Us
Recently, I wrote a post about some things that puzzle me. Something else has intrigued me for a very long time, and it is this: The...
The Wisdom of Suffering…
The Wisdom of Suffering… At one time or another, we have all experienced suffering to varying degrees. Physical pain is a form of suffering,...
Life Lessons From A Puzzle
There is a certain amount of mystery to a puzzle. Like puzzles, people are different shapes, sizes and colors. Each carries his or her...
13 Essential Vitamins For Personal Success
According to the National Institutes of Health, there are 13 vitamins that are essential to our development, function and growth. Most people have a basic awareness...
To Wait Or Not To Wait, That Is The Question
To Wait Or Not Wait – That Is The Question There is a tendency in today’s world to not want to wait. We want...
How To Get Rid Of Laziness Once and For All
How To Get Rid Of Laziness Once and For All Do you have difficulty making decisions and find yourself floundering in a sea of...
Numbers, Large and Small, and the Secret of Life
Numbers play a vital role in our day-to-day lives. From the day we make our appearance known, right down to the minute, we enter...
Travel and comfortable shoes
There’s something about an upcoming vacation that just makes me giddy. Constantly checking the weather forecasts, trying to determine what to pack and figuring...
These are a few of my favorite things . . .
Some people get excited when their favorite fashion magazine or catalog arrives. Me, I thrive on travel catalogs. I just love opening my mailbox...
Alsace, merci beaucoup!
Planning this one has been a moving target. While I’m nearly always my own “travel agent” there are so many ways to bring a...
Where oh where to go next?
“But didn’t you just take vacation?” I hear that frequently, but personally I just think people have short memories! It’s time to think about...
How do you say . . .
Phrasebook French at it’s finest. I picked up a pocket phrasebook for the upcoming trip to France. While I studied French in high school...
Sadly the RV trip is cancelled
Unfortunately, the Grand California RV Adventure, also known as touring Sequoia and Yosemite has been cancelled. Some lucky camper is going to snag a...
Fall vacation is in the works!
Looks like it is Austria in the fall. Just booked airfare yesterday to fly into Salzburg and return from Vienna. Why so early? Well,...
J’adore Paris!
This summer I’m trying something new. A vacation. I never vacation in the summer. Crowds, heat, high prices. Nope, not for me. However, this...
Munich Madness
I can now officially claim to be going on vacation “next week.” The countdown to Europe and unplugging from all things work is speeding...
Beyond Paris: Paris to Loire Valley
We’ve been having too much fun visiting adorable villages and UNESCO heritage sites not to mention eating good food and drinking great wine to...
Paris Day 5: Flea Markets
One of the great things to do on a Saturday in Paris is explore one of the vast flea markets and Les Puces de Saint-Ouen is...
Paris day 4 – central paris highlights
Today is all about central Paris. Visiting some of the sights that make this city so famous. While I’ve explored many of these places...
Packing bundle in action
Thought I’d share my most recent experience using that packing bundle technique I shared a few posts ago. Plus of course there’s my new...
New packing technique
I thought I had packing light and my technique down pat. Then I came across this video (pack for weeks in a carry on bag) from Packinglight.com. I’ll...
Full day in Copenhagen
We arrived in Copenhagen yesterday late afternoon and spent a few hours walking around the city, enjoying a dinner of open faced sandwiches before...
And anyway we Getaway
Norwegian Cruise Lines mega ship GetWay is making her maiden voyage through the Baltics and we’re on it! She just arrived after sailing 16...
Packing for a short business trip
I’m off to Chicago. Since this is a short one lasting only two nights it’s a very light packing trip and I can get...
Warnemunde, Germany
NCL Getaway dwarfs the fishing village of Warnemunde as nearly four thousand passengers descend upon this sleepy seaside town. We’re exploring on our own...
A different kind of fast & furious
With less than two weeks until Paris (9 days to be exact) I’m entering the fast and furious travel shopping mode. Not exactly sure...
Makeup on the road
One thing I’ve been asked about is what make-up I take when I travel. I pretty much narrow down between my “nice to haves”...
So, what did I pack for Germany?
In case you’re curious about how I pack for all this travel, let me share with you my Germany packing list. As you can...
Baggallini Town Tote Review
The Baggallini Town Tote was a recent purchase made to use instead of a large Eagle Creek tote bag. I was looking for a...
What to wear in Europe
Whenever I watch travel shows I spend most of the time trying to see what everyone is wearing. Show the shoes, show the outfits!...
Warnemunde to Rostock
After enjoying our morning in Warnemunde we took the short 20 minute train down to Rostock and subsequent tram to The city center. The...
Day at sea
After staying up late to enjoy the departure from Warnemunde it was nice to sleep in and have a lazy morning. Unfortunately we missed...
Second day in St. Petersburg
Our second day in St. Petersburg was spent in the city visiting landmark sights including the Hermitage, Church on Spilled Blood, Sts. Peter and...
Russia! Experiencing St. Petersburg
It feels surreal to be in Russia yet the actual experience is just like any other major European city with the exception of signage....
Helsinki
After two exhausting days in St. Petersburg we spent a relatively short day in Helsinki and must admit it’s my least favorite stop so...
In Beautiful Stockholm
One busy day in port led to another and this time we’re enjoying the beautiful city of Stockholm. Sadly, due to our ship size...
Vacation challenges
My mom once told me that a vacation should challenge you. Step outside your comfort zone. Learn. Grow. Do something different. Sometimes it’s new...
Take a moment
All too often we get caught up in our own lives and the travel chaos we create. But the greatest thing about travel are...
Paris arrival day
I’ve been enjoying Paris for the past several days yet sadly have not been blogging about it. I didn’t think I’d do much this...
Vacation all I ever wanted
Time again for vacation! While most of my trips are relatively short this is another big one. Two full weeks. Off to Copenhagen and...
Back to Paris!
Over the past several days Facebook is reminding me of where I’ve been the last several years. Apparently I love going out of the...
King Stanley to Wotten-under-Edge
Let’s rename this section to Hell’s Steep Climbs and Descents. The first leg is described as 6 1/2 miles of “streneous in sections” between...
Wotten-under-Edge to Old Sodsbury
The morning greated us with blue skies and a clear forecast. Such a relief from yesterday’s rain. We can expect some muddy trails but...
Old Sodsbury to Pennsylvania/Cold Ashton
It’s a solo walk for me today. Linda’s badly bruised toe took a beating over the last two days and it needs a break...
Pennsylvania/Cold Ashton to Bath
It’s the last leg of our journey as we push on toward Bath. We’ll walk a little over 11 miles over a variety of...
Painswick to King Stanley
First day of our walk. Bath here we come! Today we’re tackling Painswick to King Stanley covering 9 1/2 miles down the Cotswold Way....
Next trip is set!
The winner of the fall international travel destination is . . . . Brussels! Chocolate, beer and french fries dipped in mayonnaise. Yep ....
Guten Tag!
Me thinks Germany is in my future. Beer, sausage, castles . . . speeding down the Autobahn. Well, the Autobahn won’t likely happen as...
Driving and more driving
For someone who doesn’t really like to drive on vacation, looks like 2012 will be the year of driving vacations! There’s definitely a trip...