LIFE TO DATE TRAVELS

Not sure if I've shared this before, but by the end of last year 

this was my life-to-date footprint for travel.

Three oceans, five continents, and dozens and dozens of items clicked off the NOW list.

Lots left to see, and some really cool things in the next few years 

once we refill the financial coffers after 2016...

Stay tuned for the fun.

Heading down to Laguna Beach today for a couple of days in the sun. 

I'm sure some shots will be posted shortly of this mini-cation.

The Importance of Urgency, Pt 3

  
“Voyage, travel, and change of place impart vigor”   – Seneca

In the last two columns I've remarked on how quickly things can change, and that a sense of urgency is oftentimes the difference between realized and unrealized travel dreams -- or dreams of any kind, really.

This does not mean you need to run out and do things you cannot afford, or make no realistic sense. I want to dip my toes into the Arctic Ocean. But it's not a "drop everything, do it NOW" target. It's just something I'm planning to do before I die. That noted, it has to have a place in the overall planning for my trips and activities over the next handful of years.

But sometimes life throws curves at you that make you realize that certain things should not be put off. That putting them off becomes a commitment NOT to do them. Nor does just "wishing" you could someday do something contribute much towards actually doing it.

What has to occur -- and this is more your internal battle than anything happening in the "real" world -- is for you to commit to certain steps to accomplish the next thing on your agenda. And having a reminder that our stay here is not an extended one can give you that sense of urgency.

Since 2010 we have been on a tear. We do not have children, and so it became almost a game to see how much we could check off our Life Lists during any given year. Our usual gambit is for one big trip and several smaller trips throughout the year. This doesn't include any of my business trips, nor does it include "weekenders" in which I might take off up into the desert or up the coast on my own, just for a photo safari or to get "away from it all".

The timing was opportune in ways we could not at that point have even grasped, but gave strong truth to the need to do things NOW.

Three years ago we received medical news which increased our sense of urgency. It was not of the immediate "you have six months" variety, but it reinforced we are not immortal and need to double down on accomplishing those things which feature prominently on our list of intended adventures. (The nature of the news is also irrelevant. Friends who need to know, know.)

So we asked ourselves: what is important in life?

And among the several answers which came immediately to mind -- love, family, friendship -- was an urgent sense of adventure and discovery about our world. There were -- and still are -- things we NEED to see and do in life which (we hope) enriches us and our lives in ways that are important.

And so we ramped up what had already been a fairly solid schedule of things we wanted to accomplish as soon as possible. And we did a LOT. Shortly I will publish a recap of our last decade of travel, and it's a doozy. Better than anyone could possibly hope for.

In less than a week we're off on the last Grand Adventure, at least for a year or so. A cruise through the Panama Canal. With notable exceptions -- Wind Star -- we tend to avoid cruises unless we're going with friends, as we are in this case. But cruising the Panama Canal, which has been an ambition of mine since I was a young boy, cannot be accomplished without boarding something, and a cruise ship -- medium-sized, seems like the most graceful way to accomplish this.

As with all of our trips, items will be checked off our respective lists. Obviously cruising the canal will be. Also our first time setting foot on South America. My fifth continent, my wife's fourth. We'll add Guatemala and Colombia to our countries list. My ambition is to photograph much of our journey, and probably capture a few martinis along the way.

So now it's almost time to stop, take a rest to regain health -- and assess the world from a different perspective. The recently retitled "Daily Escape" will continue to publish for the two weeks we're out of the country. I promise a full accounting upon our return.

Time to revisit the No Opportunity Wasted Life Lists and revise them with new goals for the coming decade. I'll publish mine when it's ready fro Prime Time. 

It's been a blast, and so much more to come. I have a couple more essays to publish -- including an open letter to Phil Keoghan, creator of No Opportunity Wasted, which has changed our lives in a number of ways-- and then will see you in a few weeks.

Pic of the Day: Next Up, Panama Canal

Though I am not a "cruiser" per se, my wife and I do occasionally go on a cruise if there is something in the ship's itinerary that appeals to us and is something worthwhile.

Other than one weeklong cruise down the Mexican Riviera (notable for introducing us to our traveling friends and partners  from Perth Australia), our to-date four cruises have been to celebrate another friend's 40th birthday; to explore the Croatian and Italian coasts; to attend yet two other friends' wedding. As noted, the Mexican Riviera cruise brought us traveling companions, so it earns its place.

One of my NOW Life List goals is to transit the Panama Canal. In January we will do just that. It's been a desire for me since I was very young, and in the spirit of Do It NOW, we're doing it.

More updates to come, but cruise #5 promises some true adventures.

Cruise ship passenger photographing Messina, Italy

Pic of the Day: A Dream Fulfilled

I have written a few times about the need to set specific Life List goals and work to achieve them -- No Opportunity Wasted, as TV presenter Phil Keoghan would say.

A lifelong dream of mine -- since early childhood -- was to walk around the stones at Stonehenge. It was a mystical thing, and reinforced every time I watched a documentary on England, or Stonehenge itself.

As we approached our plans for our 30th Anniversary, we decided upon London for our next adventure. We'd been there for a few days in 2001, but otherwise never been to the UK. But to me, Stonehenge was a must-do. 

We discovered one very specific tour which would allow you to wander the grounds, and immediately booked. At 54 years of age I am still, thankfully, capable of awe and wonder.

Stonehenge did not disappoint.

(I will blog a lot more details of our visit at some point in the next few weeks.)

Why NOW Matters

 "Never confuse movement with action."

                                - Ernest Hemingway




I have mentioned and even blogged about television presenter Phil Keoghan's book and philosophy of N.O.W. -- No Opportunity Wasted. It's an approach to life which my wife and I espouse (pun intended) wholeheartedly.

When we first discovered the book -- roughly around 2006, 2007 -- it made a lot of sense. Generally speaking, NOW simply suggests you set specific Life-List goals and outline the way you are going to achieve them. It differentiates between the material and the self-enriching goals, rightly suggesting that those things you can do which enrich your life, make yourself happier, are as -- if not more -- significant than simply making more money. 

(Don't get me wrong: making more money does serve as a means to your Life List end, but it's not in and of itself, the goal.)

In the first chapter of the book, Phil recounts how he came to develop the philosophy. As a young man he found himself in a life-threatening (and terrifying) situation which caused him to re-examine his priorities.

If you are given a short duration to live, what would you do to make yourself as fulfilled as possible? Chances are it doesn't involve spending time at work, putting more cash in your wallet.

So we embarked on our own series of goals, setting up specifics and knocking them down one by one. By creating the Life List, you're only doing half the job. As Phil repeatedly notes, the concept is not to simply write down what you want to do, it's creating a plan to get it done.

Since that time, my wife and I have achieved a goodly number of adventures which might have otherwise remained on the "I Wish" list rather than being on the "Done That" list. She and I both served on the board of The Jazz Angels, a local nonprofit which teaches young people about America's native musical style, Jazz, and the social skills it can represent.


We have had a number of adventures. Seeing Polar Bears in Churchill, Alaska. Scuba diving on The Great Barrier Reef and with Manta Rays up-close and personal just off the Big Island of Hawaii. Ridden a hot air balloon over Albuquerque. Visited Venice and Rome. Gone backstage with comedians Penn and Teller. Tasted wine in several major wine regions around the world.

All well and good. Up until two years ago, when the List gained new importance.

(Let me start by stating that all is okay at the moment. No need to panic, no need to stress.)

Two years ago my wife had a blood test come back a bit...weird. She felt fine and it was a routine test, until the results came in. Two months later her doctor ran another test which came back...weirder. Her white cell count was well above what she should have had, but no infection could be found to explain it. Her doctor referred her to a specialist, and to cut to the point, she was diagnosed with very early stage Hairy Cell Leukemia. A cancer of the blood.

Ten years before this would have been a death sentence, but medical science has advanced to the point where, according to her doctors, this is readily treatable. Very, very rare, but treatable.

But a cancer scare is a cancer scare, no matter early and how treatable the variety is. There's always that off chance, right?

Suddenly the importance of doing things, seeing things, accomplishing things came roaring to the front of our consciousness. Put things in perspective, so to speak.


And so that is why NOW matters. Even though my wife is expected to make a full recovery we have reinforced The Dogma of Adventure. In the years to come we have plenty of others things we need to see, to do, and to experience.

A little later today we're attending the Travel and Adventure Show at the Long Beach Convention Center. Phil is speaking about the Importance of NOW. 

It's a presentation we don't want to miss because, hey, you never know where life is taking us next.

New Year, New Thinking

Every once in a while I allude to my NOW list -- the list of things I want to accomplish in life, and these items comprise my current "top of".

If you're a steady reader of this blog, you're already familiar with the N.O.W. philosophy as created by Phil Keoghan, the host of the CBS tv series The Amazing Race. If you're not familiar with it, think of it as a planned-out Bucket List of accomplishments in addition to activities. 

(For the record for the umpty-umpth time, I dislike the term "bucket list" -- it has the ring of finality and urgency to it that isn't quite right. It reeks of "gotta get this done before I die", which to me is a very negative approach. I far prefer "I have to do this in order to have lived" instead.)

At The South Sawyer Glacier, Alaska

So, despite my frustration with Keoghan and his producers over the criminal acts of a team in the most recent season of TAR -- and no, I have no intention of letting it go -- I still maintain my NOW list and still continue with its planning and execution. One of the keys of a successful NOW list is the continual examination of it to make sure it's still relevant to your life. There are things that change as we get older, have new experiences and change our priorities. What once might have been important to us might have slipped enough to be replaced by another priority. As we grow, we change. What is important to us in our twenties may become meaningless in out forties.

So, as I do pretty much every year, I take a look at what I considered significant and at the top of my list, to see if it merits inclusion or has slipped enough to drop for the top priorities. This doesn't mean I no longer want to do them, but it does mean something else may have become more important to me.

So, offered here, is my revised 2013 No Opportunity Wasted List for Life, with a few thoughts and comments as to why they have been added or dropped from the top..well, thirteen. You guys know I can't count. (The parenthetical comments reflect which specific NOW challenges are covered by that activity.)

Swimming with Dolphins in Mexico

Revised NOW List - 2013

1 - Small ship trip up the Amazon -- or down, if coming from Peru

This is kept on the list for a very important reason: traveling up (or down) the Amazon appeals to the sense of adventure I try to impart in all of my trips. The Amazon still holds a strong mystique in a world grown entirely too familiar and everyday. 

2 - Snorkel or SNUBA the Great Barrier Reef

It is no secret the world's natural areas are under assault. Polar ice is melting, vast forests are being cut down, and the Earth is warming at a rate faster than historic record suggests it should. This is having a profoundly negative impact on our natural world, and the threat is evident in many of the world's great reefs. The Great Barrier Reef, so large and complex it can be seen from space, is not immune to this. I desperately want to see it before it is destroyed.

3 - Sleep under the stars in Wadi Rum (Get Lost)

This is new to the list, though shouldn't be. I've made my fascination with deserts known in a number of previous posts. Wadi Rum is one of the most spectacular. When I read that one of the adventures offered there was a night out under the stars it just seemed to be a natural for me. 

Monet's Garden, Giverny

4 - Cruise to Antarctica, walk amongst penguins (Break New Ground)

Okay, who doesn't dream of visiting the ends of the Earth?

5 - Lose 75 lbs by December 2013 (Test Your Limits)

I am acutely aware that my current weight is limiting me. Not just from a health standpoint, which it is, but also from an experiential one. It's not that I want to go rock climbing or bungee jumping…I simply want to see a trail and explore without concern that I will exhaust myself before getting back. Or, worse, become unable to do the sorts of things on this list. So, heath has become a top priority for me in the new year. It will be a true test of my limits, since I'm a real foodie...

6 - Photograph both sunrise and sunset in Yosemite NP

Something so simple, and something so near. I live four hours from Yosemite, yet have never been there. It's one of the most beautiful scenics in the country, yet I haven't photographed it. Got to change that.

A Warm Day in the Yukon

7 - Take a hot air balloon ride (Face Your Fear, Leap of Faith)

I suffer from acrophobia, to a degree that ranges from slightly nervous to highly anxious -- and no predictability as to which reaction is going to show up at any given moment. I've stood at the rim of the Grand Canyon with an only slightly elevated pulse rate, but backed well away from the edge at the top of New York's skyscrapers. No problem on the London Eye, but sweaty palms at the top of Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas. So, in order to face my fear I have vowed to take a hot air balloon with my wife. Years ago we had actually booked the trip -- in Sedona -- but weather prevented my checking this little doozy off my NOW list.

8 - Get a book of my photography and travels published (Shed/Express Yourself)

I'm just egotistical enough to think this is worthwhile.

9 - Drive the length of Route 66, end to end

Think CARS on steroids. I love the Mother Road, and have driven portions of it several times. But never end to end. Need to plan this and do it.

10 - Take an African Safari

This has been on the list for years, and lacks only funding for its accomplishment. In all likelihood we'll be able to carry this off in the next three years.

11 - Cruise Loch Ness

Okay, this one came up as a side trip from a planned cruise later this year. The cruise ends in Edinburgh. In the planning of that trip, it occurred to me that for years, as a boy, I was fascinated by the supernatural. Nessie was one focus of that fascination (just loved the thought of monsters roaming the Earth..well, except when it came to bedtime, that is). Since we'll be in the neighborhood, I've talked my wife into a day trip from Edinburgh in order to check this one off the list.

12 - Ride a boat through the islands of Phang Nga Bay

Abbey Road

This is one of several "otherworldly" landscapes I have to see in my life. This one goes first.

13 - Visit Stonehenge

Speaking of otherworldly and supernatural, Stonehenge gets marks for both. Sadly, the tourists (of which I will be one, someday) have limited the interaction with the stones themselves. Thirty years ago my ambition would have been to touch one. Now, it's simply to see them at sunset (or sunrise.

Several items dropped:

Walk the Havasupai horseshoe over the Grand Canyon - This was dropped because of the unreasonable cost and regulations involved. There are plenty of other challenges for my acrophobia, so this gets dumped.

Hell...Cayman Islands

Dipping my feet in the Indian Ocean - Why just my feet? I'd like to swim in the Indian Ocean. But it's no longer one of the top fifteen.

Eat at a 3 Michelin rosette restaurant - Yes, I'm a foodie and this would be a wonderful experience. But is it worth inclusion on my NOW list? No…but if it comes up, I'll be there.

Stay at every major casino property in Las Vegas - Since the definition and identities of "major casino" are completely up in the air, this one goes for being too hazy an ambition.

Drink a glass of wine in every major wine region - See above "casino for this one, too. I *do* want to have glasses of wine in the major districts, but this one will be a slow and steady accomplishment, rather than a "get it done NOW" one.

Spend a couple of nights north of the Arctic Circle - Still want to do this. No current opportunity, and this one isn't on the highest priority

Spend the night in an ice hotel - Again, if offered, yes. Seek it out as a single experience? Not so much any more.

Northern Canada, near the Hudson Bay

Attend a performance in the Sydney Opera House - Yes, if in the area. I have a lot of other reasons to go to Australia, this is a side trip, not a destination.

Drive the Great Ocean Road - Same thing as Sydney. I love the idea of a drive down the Great Ocean Road. I'll do it when other things take me to Australia.

See the Great Pyramids - This may surprise some people to see this has fallen from the uppermost perch. It's certainly on what you would call my bucket list, but less so on my list of current projects. For one, I have to express some unease about the political climate in Egypt at the moment. I greatly agree with where they are trying to go as a culture, but the arguing factions do little make me feel welcome or safe. So, until it is stabilized, this one goes on the backburner.

Okay. That's it for 2013, though I reserve the right to change the list again at a whim -- or an accomplishment.

Sunset Dinner at Sea on the Mediterranean