Viewing entries in
Adventure Travel

GO NOW: 5 Cuba Adventures for 2015

2 Comments

GO NOW: 5 Cuba Adventures for 2015

Do improved relations between Cuba and the U.S. have you eager to visit the island before broader tourism changes it forever? Here are 5 Cuba adventures for 2015 with government-approved permits that legally allow Americans to go now. 

2 Comments

Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".
What Our Travel Stories Teach Us About Ourselves

2 Comments

What Our Travel Stories Teach Us About Ourselves

Here’s a secret: Pay attention to your conversations after you return home from traveling. Listen for the insights and observations you exhale as naturally as your breath—the stories that are so much a part of you that you barely notice. This is where you will find the lessons of your trip. 

Do you complain incessantly about the lack of WiFi at the remote Patagonian lodge where you stayed?

Perhaps you tell everyone how much you enjoyed the experience of eating in Italy—the outdoor cafes, the leisurely pace of meals, shopping for fresh produce in the markets? 

Are you unable to stop talking about the 10-day silent retreat you’re just back from?

Hidden in each story is a nugget of self-awareness.

2 Comments

Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".
JUST IN: New Craft Beer Theme Cruises Explore Islands and Shoreline of Coastal Washington

Comment

JUST IN: New Craft Beer Theme Cruises Explore Islands and Shoreline of Coastal Washington

The Pacific Northwest put craft beer on the map and now you can discover some of the region’s best brews on four new craft beer theme cruises with Un-Cruise Adventures.

The Seattle-based adventure cruise line has just announced new fall and spring departures in Washington’s Puget Sound and Salish Sea that bring together local micro-brew experts with adventure while cruising the scenic area from South Hood Canal to Olympic National Park and the San Juan Islands.  

Comment

Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".
CONSERVATION TRAVEL: Discover the Story of Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest with Canadian Geographic and Maple Leaf Adventures

Comment

CONSERVATION TRAVEL: Discover the Story of Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest with Canadian Geographic and Maple Leaf Adventures

For me, the ideal adventure not only introduces me to places of wild beauty - its landscapes, wildlife, cultures and history- but also plays a role in protecting and sustaining it for future generations.

So I was thrilled when Maureen Gordon, co-owner of Maple Leaf Adventures, told me that they had added a second sailing vessel to accommodate interest in an upcoming collaborative conservation expedition with Canadian Geographic into British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest, a vast protected area currently under the environmental threat of a controversial pipeline proposal.  

 

Comment

Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".
CREATIVE TRAVEL: Journal Your Way to a New You in Morocco

1 Comment

CREATIVE TRAVEL: Journal Your Way to a New You in Morocco

Whether I’m traveling or running errands, I carry a leather Moleskine journal for jotting down notes, dialogue and observations. It’s a journalist’s habit that hasn’t yet yielded to my otherwise digital lifestyle.

But there’s an art to keeping the type of journal that can provide a transformative lens through which you can learn to see yourself with greater awareness. 

I recently teamed with career and life design consultant Kendall Dudley to teach a storytelling workshop and when he told me he was leading a 12-day Morocco Journaling & Life Design Adventure (October 8-19, 2014), I was immediately intrigued and eager to share.   

1 Comment

Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".

Comment

WANT TO BE A TRAVEL AGENT? Insider Tips and Advice from Travel Advisor Susan Kelly

A few weeks ago I was eating breakfast with my friend Sandy. When talk turned to travel, I quickly realized how skilled she was at sleuthing out great travel deals. “You should be a travel agent,” I told her. 

As it turns out, I’m not the first friend to have told her this. So, when Sandy admitted that she secretly harbored a desire to become an agent but had no idea how to get started, I offered to introduce her to respected Virtuoso travel advisor, Susan Kelly, owner/agent at Luxury Adventure Trips and my personal go-to gal for trip planning for the past fifteen years. 

Have you ever wondered what it would take to get started in a career as a travel agent? I asked Susan if she’d be willing to share with Sandy her thoughts on how, if she were starting today, she would go about it. In typically generous Susan style, she not only encouraged Sandy to go for it, but also allowed me to publish her insider tips and recommendations.

Luxury adventure travel advisor, Susan Kelly, on safari at Okonjima/Africat, Namibia.Editor’s note: What follows is an e-mailed reply by travel advisor, Susan Kelly, to a reader’s question about how to become a travel agent.

Comment

Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".