The One Month Travel Adventure

Over a period of a month, I took trips to Philadelphia, Seattle, and Costa Rica. This might not seem like a big deal for most people, but the only place I went on "vacation" in 2014 was home in DC. I definitely didn't plan to travel so much in such a short period of time but opportunities came up that I couldn't pass up.

The first trip I booked was my March 2015 trip to Costa Rica through Under30Experiences. I booked that back in September of last year because I had been eyeing the trips for awhile and kind of liked the idea of traveling on my own and getting to meet some new people.

One of my ongoing goals has been to get more speaking opportunities, so I pitched a workshop idea to the ITASA East Coast Conference. This was around the same time I booked my Costa Rica trip. The conference was over President's Day Weekend.

In December, my college friend Melinda told me that she won a trip and asked me to go as her plus one. How can I say no to a free trip? We ended up deciding on Seattle because we had both never been before (Austin was a close second) and then found out there was a wine and food festival at the end of February. We entered to wine tickets to it (and won, yay!) and so our trip was scheduled around the Seattle Wine and Food Experience.

Here are a few things I learned about myself:

1. I love being active when I'm traveling. Whether it's hitting up the hotel gym, going on a hike, or playing soccer with kids, I've now made it a point to pack some sneakers and activewear for my trips.
2. I prefer not to make plans. I didn't do any research when I went to Seattle and going with the flow worked a lot better. Same with Costa Rica. They planned everything and it was nice not having to worry about that part of the trip.
3. It's hard for me to completely unplug. I didn't bring my computer with me to Seattle and felt really stressed about living off of my phone for a few days and letting something slip through the cracks. That's why I had decided to bring my computer with me to Costa Rica. There was still a buildup of emails and other to-dos, but I only had internet access at the hotel so had to make that time productive. That worked for me.
4. I'm not the best travel companion for longer periods of time. Given my introverted tendencies, I can only spend so much time with others before I retreat and become quiet or irritated. I need time to recharge and reflect on my own without company.
5. Despite my love of food, there is no way to eat everything. Melinda and I tried eating our way through Seattle, but after a filling brunch, there wasn't much room to enjoy everything at the food and wine festival... and definitely not enough room to really enjoy the dinner at the nice restaurant. Feeling full (and I actually mean whatever the next stage is after full) also didn't help with #4.
6. The people make the trip. Getting to catch up with some old friends in Philly and Seattle were some of the highlights of those trips. 
7. It's fun to push yourself. One of my most memorable parts of the Costa Rica trip was swimming through a waterfall. I didn't think I could do it and felt myself losing steam once I had to fight against the current, but with the help of my travel companions, I was able to make it through and it was so beautiful.
8. But you're on vacation. No need to overexert yourself. There were a few days in Costa Rica where our group when out dancing or wanted to go to a club. FOMO kicked in a little bit, but I knew I needed to choose to sleep if I wanted to make the most out of the day.
9. Getting back on track after a trip takes time. My trips messed with my morning routine and my diet, and I still feel like I'm playing catch up.

I'm back home in DC this weekend for a quick trip but my next one isn't until the end of April. I'm actually excited about spending some time in one place for a couple weeks.

Matterness

It's been a little while since my last post, but now that I'm back from Philadelphia, Seattle, and Costa Rica, I have a little more than a month until my next trip. More on my trips later. It's a lot of traveling, but so worth it.

I went to the launch of Allison Fine's book MATTERNESS. Mind blown. Here are a few of my takeaways from the event.

• Matterness is reversing the traditional notion of leadership, where the leader was the most important person, and replacing it with a new definition where the focus is on making other people matter.
• Even though networks are largely powered by social media, nothing is going to change entirely online, it needs to happen on land. 
• We spend too much time thinking about "what could go wrong?" This is a fear-based culture.
• Call to action: making the world better means making the people in it better. PARTICIPATE. Don't think about "they" or outsourcing it.
• We need organizations. They just need to be better. Volunteer-led networks need someone paid.
• #givingtuesday: What can make the most people inspired to share their cause? Empower people in the network rather than empowering yourself.
• What people are most scared of doesn't actually exist.
• People shared why they were there and the stories changed the work.

I think I lot of these apply to the work we're doing at Diversability.