Oh, The Places You Can Go

The obnoxious number of pictures I have posted on Facebook the last two weeks have come with an internal battle for me. 

I have a hard time knowing how much of my private life I want out there for the public to see. Sorry Gen X, I'm slightly too young to be one of you - I do appreciate the value of social media. And sorry Milleneals, I'm a bit too old to be one of you - posting, tweeting and snap chatting everything for the world to see.  I guess I'm the man without a country when it comes to social media use...

But for the last two weeks, I have posted like a fearless teenager. For one, I know most of my family and at least some friends really enjoy the pictures, if for no other reason than to know I am still alive. 

BUT MORE THAN ANYTHING, I WANTED TO SHARE MY LOVE FOR TRAVEL BY BRINGING THE WORLD TO YOU AND HOPEFULLY INSPIRE SOME PEOPLE TO DO SOME TRAVELING OF THEIR OWN.

You see, less than four years ago I had never traveled internationally without a group and professionally organized itinerary. I saw international borders as impermeable lines that could not be accessed without travel groups and major price tags.

What I have found since is that there is nothing more exhilarating than creating, planning and taking a trip to the places of the world that aren't found on the first - or even tenth - page of travel guides.  

The adventures that come from these places have been endless.  Trying to figure out transportation from one unknown point to another. Tasting new food free of preservatives with flavors I didn't even know existed. Seeing the ingenuity of people who make less money in a year than you do in a week. Scalping tickets in a foreign language. Drinking fresh squeezed mango juice all day in 100 degree humid heat because mangoes are so abundant that the juice is .20 cents per glass rather than the $2 it costs for bottled water. Hiking miles through the jungle with monkeys and snakes to reach a beach with water so blue you look around to see if anyone is putting artificial color in it. Eating the best fried chicken dinner you have ever had from a street food stand and paying .67 cents for it.  

There is a liberating freedom found in ditching all forms normalcy and packing life in to a backpack for a few weeks.  These are all experiences that just can't be found any other way except by going out and seeing it!

And more than anything, these places not known for their tourism provide the most amazing opportunity to meet the people of the world and see how they live their lives.  This has been fascinating and makes me realize that from the jungles of South America to the Middle East to the heart of Tokyo, nearly every human has a warm and welcoming heart that wants the best for their family and the world. Seeing this live allows to come to my own conclusions about places and cultures rather than settling for the misleading mainstream perspective created by the media and politicians.

I'm hooked and I don't see an end in sight. The more I travel, the bigger the world gets. The number of places I want to see accumulates exponentially every trip I take!

If these pictures make you think "I want to do that too!", there aren't enough exclamation points to express my encouragement and tell you GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And if you're thinking you would like to do something like this maybe, but are also feeling scared, remember less than four years ago I was there too! Hold your breath and jump in... I promise it will be worth it!

So take this as my apology to any of you who got tired of picture after picture posted the last two weeks. But to the rest of you, I hope you enjoyed and hopefully at least someone can be inspired to take a trip of their own! You will be better for it. And so will the world.

Five Days in Rio

This is the unedited version of the column that appeared on August 11, 2016 in The Daily News - The newspaper servicing Cowlitz County

Going to the Olympics had long been a dream of mine. As did visiting Rio de Janeiro. So with a chance to see the Olympics in this dream destination of Rio, I booked my flights and packed my bags not knowing what to expect.

Upon arriving in Rio, the natural beauty of this city - rugged mountain peaks scattered all over town with the tropical paradise feel of Miami - provided a perfect welcome. Add in the international spirit of the Olympics and the the first impression did not disappoint!

I traveled with my roommate and we were able to get tickets to the Opening Ceremonies on the secondary market outside the stadium. The event was a perfect display of worldly beauty with spectacular performances and an indescribable energy provided by a crowd that represented nearly every nation.  There was a neat feeling of pride seeing the American Flag come out of the tunnel with a trail athletes behind it. And the whole stadium shared this sense as their respective countries came out, capped off with an enormous cheer from the hometown fans as Brazil entered the stadium.

I got to see five events live and the swimming finals proved to be the most memorable. I didn't know what to expect as I don't know the sport well and personally have a hard time swimming from one end of the pool to another.  But one race in to the event and I was hooked. Here were athletes from every corner of the world who had dedicated literally their entire lives to this pursuit of this Olympic gold.  

It was a sport that allowed for zero margin of error.  In one race four-tenths of a second separated second place from ninth place. I marveled at the thought of the detail of the training the athletes must put themselves through every day for many years. The difference between Olympic Gold and not medalist at all was found literally in the blink of an eye and every second of preparation from practicing to weights to dieting played in to this!  Seeing the faces and body language on the winners as they experienced this life long dream was priceless.

Another memorable moment came on a wild taxi ride back to our Air B&B. Portuguese is the language of Brazil and English was relatively hard to find among the locals in Rio. A mix of English, Spanish and hand gestures could usually get our point across enough to get what we needed. But this particular night we had the hardest time explaining to our cab driver that we needed to go to the Parque Olimpico which was blocks from our Air B&B.

After about an hour of winding through Rio, we found ourselves stopped by a guard. He asked something in Portuguese close enough to "De que país" (Spanish for what country are you from) that I could respond by saying "Estados Unidos" (United States). With that he let the cab advance and before we knew it we were in the heart of the Olympic Village where the athletes from every country were housed.

We had convinced the cab driver and guard in charge of security for the entire Olympic Village that we were Olympic athletes... Without even knowing what we had done!  Upon realizing the confusion we explained the miscommunication and eventually found our way home. It was quite the adventure and Michael Phelps may never know how close he was to waking up with two strangers sleeping on his floor!

The undisputed highlight of the experience was the Brazilian people. Rio is the first South American host of the Olympics and the people had spent years preparing the city for the games. Pride emanated as they got to show off their majestic city and vibrant culture to the world. 

This spirit of the Brazilian people - lost in the American media by unrealistic and exaggerated stories of Zika and flesh eating bacteria - was the true hero of the 2016 Olympic Games.

We got to experience this first hand as Cowlitz County native and owner of Kelso's Black Lotus Salon Jennifer Radcliffe is Brazilian and has an aunt and uncle who live in Ipanema - a neighborhood in Rio where many Olympic events were being held.

Her aunt and uncle graciously took us in for two nights and welcomed us as family in their beautiful apartment in this beach neighb
orhood. They oozed this spirit, proudly showing us the local's beach, teaching the Brazilian game of Frescobol and making sure we got to taste the finest Brazilian cuisine.

It was a true local experience capped off with about ten of their family members and us two crazy Americans gathered around the TV in the living room watching the Olympics as we cheered for our respective countries.

In the end, five days were not enough in Rio - I could have stayed for five months! But it was an adventure I will never forget. For years my mind has created so many fantasies about the glory of attending the Olympics and the paradise of Rio de Janeiro. The real experience was even better!

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