Gettin’ Carried Away

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated my blog, and I’ve had good reasons.

• I haven’t been traveling.
• I haven’t been keeping up with travel trends.
• I haven’t spoken to any of my TBEX/Twitter travel buddies.

When you travel, do you ever get the feeling that you’re invincible? Let me put it this way…

• Your flight leaves on time.
• Your flight lands early.
• You receive a great hotel upgrade… at no cost.
• You get to see and do everything you planned.
• Your return trip home is also smooth sailing (or driving, or flying).

When everything is seemingly perfect, when you successfully avoid Murphy’s Law while traveling, you may gain a sense of infallibility. I know I do. So when things go wrong at home, it makes sense that travel, and everything to do with the world of travel, takes a HUGE back seat.

~* Buzz off, rapid strep throat! I’m still going to NYC! *~

It all started when I contracted rapid strept throat last month. An impromptu (and expensive) trip to the ER confirmed my sickness, and I postponed my latest New York trip by a day (losing out on a few hundred dollars to change the flight last minute). And while I was in New York, I couldn’t do everything I wanted to do because I was really sick. I was in pain, I was fatigued, and I went to bed before midnight every night in the city that never sleeps. It–for lack of a better word–sucked. Yet, I was still able to get to the new Yankee Stadium for Game 1 of the ALCS (Yankees vs. Angels), and I got to stroll through Central Park, which is GORGEOUS in the fall, hand in hand with the love of my life.

Although I fought through one hurdle, once I returned home, the sickness and the drama just wouldn’t leave me alone. I’ll spare you all the gory details, but for the past few weeks, I’ve been dealing with reoccurring sickness, loss, anger, frustration and more.

I started to put things into perspective. Travel is a part of my life, and it’s a part of my life I refuse to give up. I’m going to get sick. Dear friends are going to pass away. Bad people are going to try to drag me down. I am going to have money struggles. However, I will not compromise my values, my beliefs or my passions just because I am feeling under the weather.

Life happens. Sometimes, you can’t travel, but that doesn’t mean it is out of the question.
I’m back and ready to rock!

A big thank you to all of you who have sent warm wishes in the form of emails, text messages and comments. Thank you for your support!

Happy Halloween!

It’s no secret that fall is my favorite season. Naturally, I enjoy Halloween, as well. I love to watch terrifying movies (even though I’m easily scared by the smallest noise), and I always have fun putting up scary decorations. Most of all, though, I live for the costumes. Over the years, I’ve dressed up as a lot of characters: Jasmine from Aladdin, a referee, Devil Wears Prada. However, I think that my costume for Halloween 2009 trumps all of my past outfits.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Carmen Sandiego, let me give you a brief back story, courtesy of an amazing vocal group, Rockapella.

Well, she sneaks around the world from Kiev to Carolina.
She’s a sticky-fingered filcher from Berlin down to Belize.
She’ll take you on a ride on a slow boat to China.
Tell me, where in the world is… Carmen Sandiego?

Essentially, Carmen, and her merry band of crooked followers, travel the globe, stealing famous landmarks, paintings, sculptures and more. She was the subject of an old computer game that taught young kids geography. You had to follow clues and chase her around the globe to secure the loot and a warrant before you could arrest her. For example, a clue could be: “I think she was headed towards Montpelier, the capital of the East Coast state.” Then, you’d head to Vermont to keep the chase going.

I first played it on an old Apple Mac (one that had a black screen with green lettering and used actual floppy disks) during my computer class in grammar school. Eventually, the game was made available for our home PC (an IBM at the time), and I played it religiously. It also evolved into a TV show that was on every day, Monday through Friday.

Being an avid traveler, I don’t know why I never thought to be Carmen Sandiego. She may be a thief, and a fictional character, but she has traveled the globe more times than I can count. Another lyric from her theme song reads, “She go from Nashville to Norway, Bonaire to Zimbabwe, Chicago to Czechoslokvaia and back!” Aside from trying to lift iconic landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben, she’s my idol. And so, for Halloween 2009, I dressed up as the “double-dealing diva” known as Carmen Sandiego.

When I’m taking a trip, I prefer to travel with a companion. Why?

Well, for one, it’s easier to document my trip. Sure, I’ve perfected the whole “let’s take a cheesy, Facebook, vanity pic of myself” thing. But if you want to get yourself into an iconic scenery shot, you need another human being to help you out. I suppose you could ask a stranger, but when it comes to that, I always have visions of that camera-stealing French guy (at least, I think he was French) from that National Lampoon movie invading my brain. And I guess a tripod would come in handy for solo adventures, but then I worry someone will run up and take my camera within the 10 seconds I leave it unattended.

~* Carrie in Canterbury, England *~

~* Photo taken by travel companion, Lindsey *~

Secondly, it’s more fun for me to share experiences with someone in the flesh. Yes, I’ll still update my Twitter and Facebook pages constantly. However, there are some moments you just can’t describe well via the Internet. And how many times have you ever said, “You just had to be there” in your life? Yet, I’d still travel by myself. And though this may seem contradictory, I’ll tell you why I would take a solo trip.

Next week, I plan to head out on a road trip through Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky. I’m hoping to hit Charleston, West Virginia, as well, but we’ll see where my car takes me. I planned on taking this trip with my mom. Also known as a workaholic, my mom seems to be the brains behind the computer system at her hospital. She puts in 10-hour days (without getting paid overtime) and she even heads to the office on her DAYS OFF! If she can find the time to leave for five days, we’ll hit the road together. If not, I’m flying–make that driving–solo.

Onto the next problem. When Megabus.com was promoting $1 one-way fares, I snagged two round-trip tickets from Chicago’s Union Station to Cincinnati. What better way to check out one of the 23 MLB stadiums I’ve left to see than to travel there for less than $3 a person? That person I planned on bussing with to Ohio was none other than my boyfriend. However, we both forgot that he signed up for one-day-a-week night classes for the fall semester, so he’s out. While I’m not sure if I can get anyone to take this overnight trip with me, I’m fine going alone.

So you’re probably wondering why I’m OK with going to Kentucky and Ohio by myself, even though I prefer to travel with a companion? See, that’s just the thing… I prefer to travel with another person. That doesn’t mean I have to do so.

I think that part of the reason I like to travel with someone is because my mother worries… a lot. However, she’s still not sleeping much whether I am on a trip with one person or 100 people, so it might not matter as much if I’m by myself. Well, it might matter a little bit, but I call her all the time, so she won’t have to worry too much.

Will I back out of planned trips if my mom or my boyfriend can’t come? No way! I love to travel. I live to travel. I lead a different life than my family, my boyfriend and my friends. So it would be unrealistic to expect to find a travel companion every time I want to go away. Plus, I’m inspired by people like Nomadic Matt and Andrew, the Brooklyn Nomad.

I could list a lot of reasons why group travel is great, and I could do the same for solo travel. Again, it’s really just about preference. Just remember, the world doesn’t wait for you, so why should you wait for travel companions? Keep taking trips with your loved ones, but don’t be afraid to venture out on your own when everyone else is busy at work or school.