Why I'm Obsessed With Traveling (and other musings on seeing the world)

"One's destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things." ~ Henry Miller

I just realized I'm virtually done with travel for the rest of the year. It makes me relieved in a sense - I love consistency and it's hard to keep healthy habits when you go-go-go all the time. But it also makes me wistful to know that the next adventure in store won't happen until 2013 (we're currently contemplating Jamaica and Japan, plus a guaranteed visit to see my sister in the Dominican Republic). I realized I talk so much about traveling but never my motivation or history with the beast.

Travel is at once the most fun and most difficult thing you can do. While the excitement of seeing a new place is thrilling, the stress of going somewhere where you may not know anyone, may not speak the language, may not know what to do when something doesn't go according to plan - causes a lot of people anxiety (myself included). It is also a relatively expensive hobby, depending on what you are willing to trade off in order to do it. Traveling alone is an entirely different beast altogether. I've done both - and this coming from someone who couldn't do sleepovers at friends' houses as a child (go ahead, ask my mom how many times they got calls at 2am saying "your daughter refuses to sleep and insists you come get her.")

Why? Well at heart I'm a homebody. I joke now I'm something of a nomadic-homebody hybrid (if such a thing exists - that's me). I am most myself and most comfortable when I'm in one of my two homes - with Nate in NYC, or at my parents' house in Florida. A glass of wine and a funny TV show and I'm completely content. Why then, the seeming obsession with travel? 

In short, read the quote above - after a while I get restless for that sense of adventure and new perspective. I have learned so much about myself from travel, because when you travel you are outside of your comfort zone. It's dizzying and thrilling at the same time. Moving to a country for an extended period of time which to me is defined as a period of time in which I had an address, had to grocery shop, get a cell phone, and develop a social life and routine, thus generally more than 6 weeks - is even harder. I have had minor (okay, major) freak-outs for all 3 countries I moved to - England in 2005 (2 months), Italy in 2007 (7 months), and Tanzania in 2009 (3 months). Freaking out is normal and wanting to go home because it's overwhelming and scary is too - it's working through and overcoming that fear that is SO worth it.

To me, travel is not just stamps in a passport, events on a Facebook timeline, or even the amazing pictures I come back with - it's that my view of the world is constantly evolving and changing. Things I thought I knew about myself - boundaries or limits I thought I had - bend or break. Seemingly small victories feel huge - the first time I ordered in French, the moment I "signed" (AKA, wrote my name on a piece of notebook paper) for a sublease in Rome, the first time I was able to have a quasi-conversation in Swahili with my students in Tanzania. These moments were milestones. It's also interesting how certain things don't escape you (case and point: my fear of heights paralyzed me from ziplining in our most recent adventure in Costa Rica.)

I'm at the point where I've visited more than 20 countries, and at my age I feel like that's pretty amazing. Yet in many ways, I feel like I've only begun to see the world. I wouldn't have been able to do it without the support (and at times, pressure) from my parents. You see when I first left the US in 2005 heading to London for two months, I didn't really want to go. But my mom was adamant that I would have opportunities she'd never had - so off to London I went. Did I love it? Not the first time. But I started to learn tough lessons that have carried over in the years to come. Going back in March this year  with Nate was eye-opening - with an entirely evolved perspective and appreciation for travel, it was like a brand-new city to me. 7 years made a world of difference. Now I look back on the laundry list of countries and sometimes I can't believe it.

The running list... for those who are curious... in chronological order: USA (primary residence and place of birth), The Bahamas, England (lived), Ireland, Belgium, Italy (lived), Vatican City, France, Spain, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Germany, The Netherlands, Cayman Islands, Mexico, Qatar, Tanzania (lived), Zanzibar, India, Canada, and Costa Rica. In terms of continents I've hit North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. I've yet to reach South America (Costa Rica is the closest I've come.) One day I'll go to Antarctica and walk on the ice... that will be amazing! And Australia is definitely on the list.

Even within the US I feel like there are so many places I haven't been yet. I've had the experience now of living in three unique regions - born and raised in the south (Florida), two years of grad school in the mid-Atlantic (North Carolina), and going on three years in the northeast (NYC). In the past few years Nate and I have been lucky to travel to California for the first time, as well as Colorado, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington DC, and Florida (many times). Still I hope in the future I get to visit places like the Grand Canyon, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Montana, and Texas. I want to go so many places sometimes I feel like the better question is - where DON'T I want to go?! I'm incredibly lucky that my partner in life feels the same way - now that Nate is bit by the travel bug he's got travel on the brain as much as I do (he's thinking Japan for his 30th!).

Finally, I leave you with a funny meme summarizing my life goal - to be a modern day Carmen SanDiego. Maybe one day Barack Obama will be wondering this about me!  (highly unlikely but I can dream). It would be fun to do this for a living but I haven't quite figured that part out. For now, I will settle for where life takes me and Nate: our careers and vacations. If you have the opportunity to travel somewhere new, take it. You will learn so much about yourself... and it can make returning home all the sweeter :)

End of Summer Gazpacho

So arriving back in New York City after an amazing week in Costa Rica I realized something...

Summer is ending.

[sigh]

If I were still in sunny Florida I'd have another month (or two, or three) of summer weather to look forward to. But NYC is already getting temperature dips. So, to commemorate the last few days (maybe a week? maybe two? I'm hopeful...) of summer, here is my favorite summer soup recipe: gazpacho! My mom introduced me to her recipe years ago, and it's one of our summer staples. It makes a ton, keeps for over a week (or more, I'm not sure actually, it never lasts longer than a week because it's so good!)

It's an assembly-only recipe so it's foolproof, even for someone like me who doesn't love to cook. You start off will all your ingredients - fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, green pepper, onion, garlic, and lemon - plus dry ingredients including salt, pepper, sugar - and a few wet ingredients - water, v8 juice, tabasco sauce, olive oil, and white wine vinegar - and a half an hour later (depending on your dicing skills) you have yourself gazpacho!

A couple notes: first, I recommend making it the day before so all the flavors meld together. Second, as you can see below, I recommend dicing all your veggies first, THEN adding the wet ingredients, and lastly the dry ingredients. If you start with the water and V8 juice, all your veggies will splash as you add them in. Makes a mess (trust me on this one)!

Finally, enjoy the gazpacho while it's still warm out... nothing like cold refreshing (and HEALTHY) soup on a hot day :) It also works great for parties - or picnics in the park. We've done both!


Fresh Ingredients:

• 4 medium tomatoes, minced
• 1 green pepper, minced
• 1/4 cup onion, minced
• 3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 2 cucumbers, peeled and minced

Wet Ingredients: 

• 2 cups water
• 2 cups V8 juice
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon tabasco

Dry Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Costa Rica Adventure - Pura Vida!

We had an absolutely amazing time in Costa Rica!!! Five days flew by, but they were filled with a ton of adventures. The first thing for me was that this was really my first time in Central America - while I have technically been to Mexico, it was on a cruise and we stopped at the port but I didn't venture beyond Cozumel. So for me this was really the first experience being immersed in the region. We stayed near the Arenal Volcano in the city called "La Fortuna." On our drive in we drove around the beautiful Lake Arenal, which is a beautiful man-made lake that also powers over 80% of the country's electricity - I found this fascinating!

Our hotel had incredible views of the Volcano, and on clear days we could see it from our back patio.

One of my first impressions about the country was how GREEN it was - the colors are so vibrant (all of my pictures look photoshopped) - we couldn't believe the colors. A stark difference from what we are used to in NYC!

Our first adventure lined up was called canyoneering and rappelling - wading through water up to waterfalls and then rappelling down. It was really fun! The only one I couldn't do was the 225 foot free fall - Nate did though, and of course he loved it! I was not a natural but I did try!

At one point our guides convinced us to sit and have a break - and before we knew it they had surprised us with an avalanche of water spewing over us!

After a long day of trekking through the rainforest, that night we relaxed at Los Lagos Hot Water Springs! The springs look like regular pools, but they are actually natural mineral springs that are heated from the volcano. The best part was that there was a wet bar in the hot springs where you could order drinks - and our pina coladas came in pineapples! There were also water slides into the hot springs and smaller pools where you could enjoy the springs with more privacy and less noise. Highly recommend it to anyone!

The next day we had another adventure lined up - white water rafting! We were on class 2 and 3 rapids (next time I would do 4, the harder one was the most fun). We had a great guide and friendly people in our boat - and the rapids were amazing!

Our last adventure lined up was ziplining - I had really hoped to do it but unfortunately my fear of heights got the best of me. Nate was a natural though and despite the fog and rain he did the whole zipline course!

We also did a walking tour up to the base of the volcano and through the rainforest - it was really cool to get that close, and to walk the floor of the rainforest. Since the Arenal Volcano is active, being so close to it and seeing smoke come out of the top is a little surreal! And the rainforest was amazing, despite not seeing many animals (huge ants and a snake were all we saw). I still couldn't get over all the colors! 

To unwind at the end of the day, we relaxed in our hotel's hot tub that features a view of the volcano, and played in the pool, which had a mini waterfall. We absolutely loved our hotel and would recommend it - Volcano Lodge & Gardens.

Finally we enjoyed a beautiful sunset on our last night in Costa Rica. It was an incredible trip, and one day I would love to go back and also see the beaches on the Pacific which are supposed to be gorgeous! I have heard good things about Punta Gorda from other travelers on this trip, so I'm noting it for next time!

Florida Fun

"The most beautiful discovery that true friends can make is that they can grow separately without growing apart."

 My two weeks in Florida flew by - it was such a blast!!! I spent time with my family and friends back home. The highlights include a dinner at my Tateen's house - she was my babysitter from when I was born until I was about 3 - home cooked Puerto Rican cuisine that was phenomenal! I also spent a day with three of my best friends from high school - Jessica, Janeen, and Ashley. Jess and Jean have baby girls now who I love so much - it's incredible to see how much has changed - but some things stay the same, like girls days at the pool! I also had some fun out and about in Gainesville at Dragonfly with Courtney and Amanda, plus several pool days (it's one of the biggest things I miss up in NYC). I love being home and I'm so thankful I got to spend quality time with the people I love!

Courtney and I also took a weekend trip to Sarasota to visit two of our friends from college (and fellow LSHers and B-club members) Natalie and Laura and Laura's sister Caroline! We had SUCH an amazing time at the beach, we visited Siesta Key, the Ringling Museum, and downtown Sarasota. It's a beautiful area and has one of the most beautiful beaches in the world!

Pictures from the Ringling Museum and Grounds:

Downtown Sarasota:

Fun at Siesta Key:

PS: Stay tuned for my post on Costa Rica! I leave tomorrow... it's going to be an amazing adventure I can't wait!

Weekend in Atlanta!

The second part of my contract break was flying to Atlanta, followed by Florida. I stopped in Atlanta for 4 days to see one of my best friends Chrissy and celebrate her 27^th birthday. Like me, she’s a planner and we had a busy and fun weekend planned! My first night we went to lunch at JCT Kitchen which was absolutely fabulous – it’s like an upscale twist on traditional southern cooking. I had chicken and ricotta dumplings and a mac-n-cheese with a bacon twist (incredible). After eating we were treated to live music upstairs with stunning views of downtown Atlanta:

Friday we headed to the World of Coca-Cola which has changed a LOT since I first visited it back in the 1990s. Really interactive and fun with exhibits of past advertising, it was a unique way to see the history of this beverage and its impact on the world. We also got to meet the very large polar bear mascot, which was not at all intimidating (okay, a little bit intimidating – he was VERY tall!):

Friday night we went to dinner in Decatur, which is a really cool area of Atlanta, I loved it. The dinner was amazing too, tapas and sangria at the Iberian Pig. Highly recommend it! It was fun to celebrate Chrissy’s birthday with all her Atlanta girlfriends, some who I’d met before and some who I hadn’t.

Saturday we went boating all day on Lake Lanier – total blast. A huge group of us rented a pontoon boat and we spent the day eating, drinking and swimming – couldn’t ask for anything more!

Finally, my last day we took in Stone Mountain, which I was dying, to see again! It was too hot for me to hike it (my tolerance for heat and humidity has clearly plummeted) but it was still a beautiful sight to see:

It was a great trip to Atlanta and I’m so glad I got to visit! Every year I’m more and more thankful for the friends I have and my ability to travel and see them wherever they go. It’s not easy and I wish I could go more frequently but I really treasure weekends like this!

Stay tuned for parts 3 and 4 of my break… Florida vacation and Costa Rica!