The Life Goals List

Boy, did I luck out. This house-sitting experience has turned out to be fantastic. Not only did I get to try out a trendy new world-class city…for free…but the house I’m sitting for is beautiful!

It’s funny how we can throw something out to the universe and have the universe answer us.

Other great things happened this weekend too. For one, I was stopped by a police officer while walking around downtown…who stopped me just to flirt!  LOL.  Now I’m asking him for his advice on what sections of town would be safe to live in.

I also followed one of my passions…ballroom dancing…and met some wonderful people who have since been in touch with their own recommendations.

I feel like I was led here because things have been so easy. It was exciting to see and live in this new city as if I was already a resident. What a great way to try out a new place to live.

It’s not that I have to move. I want to. I am following a life dream to live in a world-class city. At least once in my life.

I keep a list of “to dos” that I want to accomplish.  I call it my Life Goals list. They include things like driving a wagon train across the Oregon Trail, digging for dinosaurs in Montana, and attending cooking school in Italy.  Simple items include dinner at the country club and learning magic.  I keep an ongoing list of new things to try, and I check them off as I do them. It is a fun pleasure at the end of each year to look back at the list to see what I’ve done and what I have yet to look forward to.

It is equally as exciting to plan the next challenge as it is to experience it. And working as a travel writer, I can write and encourage others to create and follow their dreams.

Do you have any kind of list of Life Goals? What’s on your list? What do you call your list?

Vacationing Single in the Outer Banks

I returned from a successful week at the Travel Writer’s Conference where I made invaluable contacts for future assignments, and directly headed out on a much-needed vacation. The family rented one of those mega-mansions at the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Nags Head to be exact. Ten days of sun and relaxation.  With 11 family and family friend members?  It could have gone either way, but it was a surprisingly pleasant experience. The size of the house helped. Six bedroom suites.  And so did the mix of people.  Family AND friends to temper everyone into their best behavior.  I created a white board similar to the ones we used in college to check in and out of the dorm. This kept track of everyone’s whereabouts, and you didn’t have to tell anyone where you were going, leaving yourself open for “take me” pleadings.

What surprised me is how LITTLE people went to the beach. Come on, people.  We’re at The Beach.  Sand. Surf. Warm sun. What did they do?  Hang out by the pool at the house. Watch TV. Go shopping.  Not me, as the single explorer I am, I took off on adventure. Now I’m not one to sit still very long, so I took my new toy…my metal detector…and headed for the beach. The first weekend wasn’t too bad as there weren’t many people on the beach. And the sand revealed coin after coin. No diamond rings though…the ultimate treasure. The second weekend I popped up over the dunes with detector in tow to discover scads of mostly-naked bodies covering my prime hunting ground. Embarrased, I slunk back to the car, hoping desperately that nobody noticed my nerdy self with my hat, shovel, pink goodie bag and the oh-so-obvious metal detector. So NOT cool. I hid the detector in the car and quickly left, vowing to return that evening for the spoils. I grabbed my nephew as cover and we did return to find more coins, beer bottle caps, and even a very fine corkscrew.

Being a history buff and a veteran travel writer, I landed some media passes to the historical sights along the Outer Banks, including the Elizabethan Gardens, Fort Raleigh, and the Wright Brother’s Memorial National Park. Nothing excites me more than standing on the ground where history was made. The new(ish) visitor’s center at the Wright Brother’s Memorial was an excellent addition to the park, built to celebrate the 100th anniversary in 2003.   

If only I had my metal detector with me…

One of the joys of being single is the ability to slide into family gatherings without much commitment. The couples do the cooking, the cleaning, the planning. The poor single girl just has to show up and be pampered. A good gig, if I do say so. I ate great meals, enjoyed a luxurious suite with a huge porch and a view of the ocean, and in return performed my magic act and held regular happy hours for the group. I guess it was up to me to liven things up and entertain the crowd. I could come and go without having to check in with anyone. I could sleep with the windows open and listen to the waves hitting the shore.  I saw fabulous historical sights. Not paying for a vacation, but enjoying my visit as an invited guest. What’s one extra person?

Please share your stories of your vacation as a single person with me. How do you fit in with family vacations?  What do you do?

Travel For Free as a Travel Writer

Sailing at 2008's conference in Annapolis, MD

 

I love to travel. But as a single person, I have several concerns. One, I don’t always like to go alone. Two, I feel funny and shy signing up for group tours where I don’t know anybody. And three, they charge more for a single traveler than a couple.  So that’s when I learned how to turn my interest into profit and travel for free by becoming a travel writer. My friends all say, “teach me,” but I just smile and tell them it’s a great gig.  I get to travel pretty much anywhere I want to go, and I get to write about it and get paid for writing. As for friends, I’ve made great friends in the travel writing community whom I often see on the various trips I make throughout the year. So I have traveling companions who share this common interest.

Right now I’m packing to go to the annual Mid-Atlantic Travel Writer’s conference–this year in Delaware. Each year a different state hosts the region’s travel writers with a conference and lots of fun side trips and activities.  And it’s all sponsored by the state’s tourism people.  I’m sure I will come back with some interesting trip ideas that I’ll talk about on my posts.

I’d like to develop a forum where we can share our travel ideas a single people.  Send me your best travel locations for singles, and how you cope with little money, lack of traveling companions, and coping skills for traveling alone.