sarah. word.

Top 10 Things I Miss About Traveling (But Hated at the Time)

Brave New Traveler has just published an article of mine in which I describe the attitude shifts one must come to terms with after embracing a vagabond lifestyle:

When you travel for more than a few months at a stretch, it becomes a job. A job you don’t really like all the time. A job you start to complain about.

I should know - while skipping around the world for a year, I did a lot less skipping than I did budgeting, reading transportation timetables, and gesturing wildly to unsympathetic street vendors.

But eventually the journey ends, you return to your normal life, and something magical happens: you find yourself wanting that old job back, warts and all.

Here are ten things I couldn’t stand then, but am pining for now.

Read the full article >>

(Almost) Forgotten Hmong Gems

 

As you may know, I recently spent some time traveling the world. Somewhere between East and West, I forgot about a handful of short Quicktime videos I shot with my little Nikon Coolpix 5200. Man, I wish I'd used that feature more often. When you're traveling with an expensive HD cam, you often find yourself caring more about video quality than about the captured moments themselves. Sure, the little Nikon didn't take world's best videos, but it did go everywhere, and instant playback was a huge hit with the Hmong kids in northern Laos.

Check out more pics in my Laos Flickr collection.

Soooooo....

Many of you are already familiar with sarah.word.'s sister site, sarah.on the run. But for those of you just tuning in, things will be slowing down around here as I finally get up and "running," so to speak. Hardy har. Unfortunately, I think sarah.pic. is also going to suffer during my world travels. Reliable worldwide service just isn't on T-Mobile's roster yet, and I sort of hate my Sidekick II anyway. I want to thank Textamerica for being awesome hosts for my camera pics all these years, especially the handsome and intelligent Jade. You guys are awesome. But the good news is alive and well in the adventure just beginning for me and my brand-new husband! Our new main site will be "brendanandsarah.com", complete with photos, contact info, FAQs, and links to: sarah. on the run. - Sarah's travel blog Brendan Moran's Exciting Travel Adventures - Brendan's travel blog The Traveling Morans- Our future Pulitzer Prize-winning video podcast This site will stay up and I will certainly check in periodically, but I think it's safe to say the commotion will be elsewhere until I have a desk job again. Hope you guys enjoy our adventure! I'm pretty sure you will. Love, Sarah

Donning a New Skin

I've spent the better part of the last few days reading other folks' travel blogs, trying to get some inspiration for our own site redesign. sarah.word. has always been my personal outlet, but as it will soon serve as a base for the Amazing Adventures of the Traveling Morans, it deserves a facelift and restructure to reflect our new direction. Hardy har.

What's comforting is the number of really well-done travel blogs upon which I've already stumbled. I have little doubt we'll be able to update regularly, no matter where we are. What's daunting are the countless choices I have in regards to organizing our own journey. I'm leaning toward something like what Mark Yiin has done (his link was posted in my comments section, thanks!!). Not only is his blog easy to navigate, but he takes swell photos and tells good stories about his follies in a lot of the same places we'll be enjoying. Hey Mark, I want my Sunday back!

Anyway, I'm all ears if you have advice and suggestions for how this blog should look going forward. Be honest! Have your say! Brendan has already banished my present (and adorable) pink/gray/green color theme. I'm going to go ahead and blame it on his colorblindness. Besides, it's time for a change.

:)
s

The Road Less Traveled

As promised, here's a look inside the first six months of married life with Brendan and Sarah! The actual dates may vary by a day or two, but that's the beauty of travel.

Late May- Do that whole vow thing

May 30- Fly to Greece's most romantic island (can you guess which one?)

June 8- Take a ferry into Marmaris, along the Mediterranean shores of Turkey. Spend some time exploring the "Turquoise Coast."

June 19- Head into central Turkey via bus to explore Cappodoccia's fairy chimneys.

June 26- Continue busing it north to Istanbul for a couple weeks exploring churches, mosques, bars and bazaars.

July 10- Fly into St. Petersburg, Russia at the tail end of "White Nights". Get used to the sun never setting.

July 17- Splurge on a 1st class train to Moscow. Observe very tall women who can hold their vodka better than Sarah.

July 25- Board the famous Trans-Siberian Express railway on a week-long journey through Russia, Siberia, Mongolia, and China.. finally deboarding in Beijing.

August 8- Fly south to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). Spend the next couple weeks enjoying pho up and down the coast of Vietnam.

August 28- White-knuckle it on a bumpy bus over the border into Laos. Hop on water taxis along the Mekong River to access various cities. Eventually settle in Vientiane.

September 19- Fly from Vientiane into Phnom Phen, Cambodia. Try to avoid landmines, but fail miserably. Just kidding. Glad you're paying attention.

October 3rd- Make our way into Siem Reap, Cambodia, to visit the wonder of the world known as Angkor Wat.

October 10- Fly into Thailand for one night in Bangkok.

October 11- Fly out of Bangkok and into Denpasar, Bali. Spend the next month happily among rice paddy fields. Hop over to neighboring Lombok for a night or two.

November 6- Make an appearance back in the States for a wedding in Wisconsin. Suffer from acute culture shock. Gain back the 10 lbs we each lost.

November 20- INDIA.

I'm going to stop here and continue the second itinerary leg next time so I don't drone on too long in a single post. But here's the deal- neither of us have been anywhere we're about to go, and even though we're dutiful researchers, we're still totally clueless. So if you possess knowledge on any locale I've mentioned above, share the wealth! Email me or comment below.

Our favorite resources thus far:
Airtreks.com - Reliable round-the-world plane ticket agents
Rough Guides - Amazing book series, better info than Lonely Planet
Adventure 16 - Best outdoor/adventure store in SoCal, if not ever

More deets coming soon!

:)
s

The Best Week Ever

Some pics from Verana, the closest I've ever been to paradise:

Every morning as the sun rose over the jungle, tea and muffins were delivered to our patio. Sometimes Verana's resident feline, Max, would stop by and ask for cream before following us down the hill for breakfast.

On a day trip to the Marietas Islands, we were lucky enough to run across a family of blue-footed boobies, rare birds usually seen only in the Galapagos Islands, and some humpback whales on our way back to the mainland.

Anyone up for a strenuous afternoon of book reading, fishing boat watching, and cerveza sipping? Me too! I read three novels in seven days.

Our dinner chef, Fabian, unveiled a taco feast you'd have to see to believe. All meals were included in our stay at Verana, and every single dish was outstanding. I can't say enough about how well we ate, though I'm not sure I should have polished off all those desserts (14, to be exact).

Ok, just tell me this doesn't look romantic! Actually, all the houses were pretty open to the elements, so a hanging net kept the mosquitoes, scorpions and bats from sharing our nightly abode. We never really had a problem, but better safe than sorry in the jungle.

See our Stone House? We blended right in with nature. All the houses at Verana are very, very unique and have their own special perks, but I loved ours the best. We even named our bat.

A little vino at dusk, overlooking the pool, overlooking the Pacific. Not too shabby, my friends. Remind me again why I need a computer?

Now we're officially into 2005 and it's back to work in a couple days. As you can imagine, I'm dragging my feet juuuuust a tad. Hope this marks the beginning of a wonderful new year for all of us, and here's to sticking to our resolutions.

There's No Place Like Home.

Don't let the title fool you- I really could have used another week or two. Man, do vacations rule! Kevin and I each took about 500 pictures- put 'em together and we've got a TON of frozen memories. And a few cool videos, too- one featuring an Irish burro eagerly devouring the apple we offered out the window as a peace offering. My Nikon held up. More on that during our Digital Cam War Finale on Monday's TSS.

It was a truly wonderful journey through the U.K. and Republic of Ireland. I'm too jet lagged and hungry to say much more, but rest assured I'll be writing a novella after a night or two of hibernation. For now, enjoy a few pics!

From London's ferris wheel we marvel at Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament:

My Mirror Project obsession produces a fine piece at the local laundrette:

Chillin above Ireland's Cliffs of Moher:

A nice little beach along the Ring of Kerry:

I hear my bed calling me. It's been terribly neglected and I must try to salvage our friendship. More pics and stories to come!

Dublin. Word.

Ok, I'm in Dublin, in a little internet cafe above Grafton St (main shopping hub). Just used Burger King for the bathroom- the only reason I would ever enter BK inside or outside the States.

Ireland is so great. Moving here as soon as I win the lottery. We stayed out on the pier north of the city in a little town called Howth for a couple nights, right alongside the ocean and a unique tidepool. Now in the heart of the city, staying one more night and then renting a car and heading for the hills.

A highlight from this morning was when an elderly man stopped us and asked where we were from (Kevin's Oregon shirt tipped him off). When learning we came from NorCal, he told me he knew I was of Irish descent- the lips and the cheekbones gave me away, he said, although he said my jaw was Anglo (damn). He approved of Lane, as it's a strong Irish surname. He wasn't so sure about Rose, but thought Kevin to perhaps have lineage from Eire's Northern regions- the hair and the eyebrows. A really cool chance encounter with a friendly old Irish fellow, and then he was gone.

This has been SUCH a trip so far, and I still have a week left!! The laptop's at the hotel, no pics this time. But trust that I have hundreds. Still love the Nikon, though I admit to being jealous of the Canon's petite frame.

It's so refreshing to go somewhere far, far away, and be remined that the Earth spins around the sun the exact same way every single day, regardless of where you lay your weary head. That said, absolutely nothing puts the spark back in my eye like a good vacation far from home. Dr. Bobby helps.

Viva Europa!