Sheron Long's Blog, page 23
May 23, 2016
The Travel Sketchbook
Sketchbook in chest pocket, Kolby Kirk is always ready to draw on the trail.
© Kolby Kirk
There’s an Aha Moment on Every Page!
For me, it’s impossible to start a trip without this one essential item: my travel sketchbook. It is my eyes, my memory, my inquisitive mind on paper. Together we take on the world.
It is in the act of drawing that I learn to look, listen, perceive, and remember. In fact, I have not experienced a place fully unless I have sketched it.
The Jungle Collection: taking a moment to record and remember.
© Eva Boynton
For travel sketchers like me, there is something powerful in the act of drawing—the magnetic draw to draw. The gift back is a travel sketchbook that offers surprises, discoveries, and a souvenir collection of aha moments.
OIC Insights about Time
It was during a train adventure from Chicago to Los...
May 16, 2016
Challenging the Cultural Traditions of Food
The beauty of healthy food
© Meredith Mullins
A Fascinating Fasting Adventure
We love to eat. It is one of the pleasures (and necessities) of existence. Food is a feast for our senses—a visual journey of color and form, a delight in smell and taste, often a tactile adventure (especially when you eat with your hands!), and even an auditory experience as we crunch an apple or carrot . . . or as we listen to the popping of popcorn or the sizzle of shrimp on the barbie.
The familiar crunch of an apple
© Ableimages
The cultural traditions of food are a cornerstone of family and social life, as well as a marker of longstanding ethnic and national history.
So what happens when we set off on a fasting adventure to cleanse our body and perhaps reweave our psychological and spiritual fabric? What happens when we challenge the very idea of food?
Preconceptions about...
April 26, 2016
Travel Stories: Good Thing We Took the Wrong Train
Travel isn’t all plain sailing, but a little luck can help you wing it.
© Joyce McGreevy
Travel Mishaps, Mosaics, and Memories
If two trains travel toward the same station at different times . . . Remember those math questions from school? Call them my least favorite travel stories.
I recall Mrs. Newton asking our fourth grade class to brainstorm solutions. As the collective desperation mounted, I burst out with “Agh! Stop the trains!”
Okay, so not a mathematician.
Yet those equations proved instructive. As emblems of bewilderment in motion, they offered a preview of real-life travel problems.
Making Tracks, Italian Style
Like the time my son and I transferred to the wrong train. We were traveling “home” to Florence from Ravenna, once capital of the Western Roman Empire. The glittering tesserae of Byzantine mosaics had seemed illumined from...
April 18, 2016
A Virtual Journey via Landscape Photography
The stunning beauty of our planet (Aurora Borealis in Norway)
© Björn Billing
Celebrating Earth Day and the Beauty of the Planet
Whether we explore the world on foot, wheels, or wings, with all our senses tuned to high gear, or whether we spend time on a virtual journey shared through someone else’s eyes—we are fortunate to be touched often by the beauty of our planet.
Sunrise at Botany Bay, U.S.
© Rocco Mega
Now, we can be reminded of this resplendence at any time with the magnificent landscape photography of Terra Quantum.
Vietnam rice terraces
© Sarawut Intarob
The Power of Landscape Photography
The Terra Quantum program was founded in 2015 by French landscape photographer Samuel Feron. His goal was simple. He wanted to magnify the beauty of the earth through the extraordinary photographs of passionate landscape photographers around the...
April 12, 2016
When Does a Journey Begin?
Does a journey begin as we move toward our destination, or when we first imagine being there?
© Joyce McGreevy
Our Answers Hold Clues
to Why We Travel
Your office resembles an archaeological dig. In your inbox, emails line up like stalled planes on a runway. Meanwhile, status meetings about The Project keep you scrambling to fit in actual work.
But you’re smiling. Why? Because soon, you’ll be traveling for pleasure.
As a result, your brain has upgraded to Frequent Flyer, briefly but repeatedly transporting you to your destination—although you’ve never been there.
It’s travel anticipation. As scientists have reported, looking forward to a vacation can boost one’s happiness for up to eight weeks.
For entrepreneur and Ted Talk speaker Jen Rubio, travel anticipation is a barrier to the journey. The construct of a place in our heads may keep us from...
March 28, 2016
Travel Inspiration from the Sounds of the Sea
The sea organ (Morske Orgulje) in Zadar, Croatia
© Meredith Mullins
The Haunting Sea Organ of Zadar, Croatia
Travel inspiration is born from many different sources. The power of nature. Layers of history. Beauty of land and sea. Discovery of new cultures. Freedom to wander. A feeling of community, wherever you are in the world.
The allure is irresistable.
And, if you are able to put all of those inspirations together, a truly memorable experience emerges. Such was the case for me with the sea organ in Zadar, Croatia. A convergence of “Oh, I See” moments.
Close to a Dream
A spontaneous visit to Croatia introduced me to the rugged beauty of the Dalmatian coast, the friendliness of the locals, and, in many places, the luxury of being the only traveler in town (an off-season advantage).
Croatia’s unspoiled coastline
© Meredith Mullins
I...
March 22, 2016
The Sociable Solo Traveler
Did you know that you have friends in Australia? Thanks to volunteers like the Brisbane Greeters, visitors can count on a warm welcome in cities around the world.
© Brisbane Marketing
The Singular Art of Solo Travel Connections
“But don’t you hate being all alone?” That question—intoned with tragicomic emphasis—is one that solo travelers hear a lot. In fact, when it comes to the art of travel, soloists have plenty of company.
According to a recent study, solo travel has more than doubled among first-time travelers since 2013. Half are Millennials, while Boomers who’d rather pack and roam than pine at home make up another 18 percent. That’s a two-percentage point increase from 2013, and it’s expected to soar like a hypersonic jet over the next several years.
Vintage art of travel can reflect a sad stereotype of the solo traveler.
From “Me Time” to...
March 14, 2016
The Underwater Museums of Jason deCaires Taylor
Enter a world of blue, where sculptures function as art and habitat.
© Jason deCaires Taylor
Dive into Innovations by Artist and Ocean
Under the blue line of the ocean’s surface is a world alive with movement. The environment is itself in constant motion; sunlight ripples across the scales of fish, while coral reef plants sway with the push and pull of the currents.
Often this world is forgotten by us land-dwellers, but not by sculptor and naturalist Jason deCaires Taylor. He has created, in the world’s first underwater museums, the perfect exhibit space for his larger-than-life sculptures.
His are museums that need no curator. The ocean does that job, constantly updating the exhibit and transforming the sculptures into a functioning artificial reef. Perhaps it is this partnership between artist and ocean that is the true innovation.
The ocean is an...
February 29, 2016
The Street Cats of Istanbul
Wherever you go in Istanbul, you see cats. A new documentary explores the
charms and challenges of their urban habitat.
© Termite Films
How a Cat Kit and a Movie Keep Cultural Heritage Alive
They greet you from doorways, welcome you to parks. If you are kind, they may join you for a stroll. Others watch shyly from rooftops and balconies.
Still others enjoy people watching from the windows of businesses they have adopted.
The Cat in the Hat (Shop): Some street cats find homes in
Istanbul’s commercial districts. Not all are so lucky.
© Joyce McGreevy
Then there are those who snooze through it all. Having located a cozy spot, they catnap amid a human population of 20 million.
Born to be mild: Many Istanbul municipalities have animal care centers
to ease the rigors of street life.
© Joyce McGreevy
Oh, I see: They are the...
February 15, 2016
Three Ways to Make Travel Adventures More Memorable
Welcome to the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnival.
© Meredith Mullins
Carnival Celebrations in the Canary Islands
When I told people I was headed to the Canary Islands, most folks responded with some form of a “W” word. Where? What? . . . and the ominous Why?
Some had heard of the islands, but couldn’t quite place them. Most had not.
Even as I finalized this trip from many possible choices, I wasn’t quite sure myself where or what these islands were. Or if canaries would become a dominant theme in some strange Hitchcock-like way.
I flew into North Tenerife; and, for the first time in many years, I entered a new land alone—one where I did not speak the language and one where I had few preconceptions.
Sometimes, that’s the best way to go. Travel adventures of the memorable kind.
Cymbalic travel adventures
© Meredith Mullins
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