Kick-Ass Travel with a Kick-Ass Teacher

Wheee!!!

If you are a follower of my other travel blogs, I’m so glad you found me again. If you’re not, welcome!

I bet you’re wondering what this new blog launch is all about. No? C’mon… it will be fun!

A few weeks ago I returned from another epic journey to southeast Asia – particularly, Vietnam and Indonesia. You can read about that kick-ass adventure at asiparttwo.wordpress.com

What I have learned from traipsing around the world the last few years is that it’s fun. By opening up my life to the people and places I’ve met and discovered, I’ve opened up a new life full of new adventures, opportunities, and challenges. I’ve also learned a lot about myself and – interestingly – what I want to be when I grow up.

Now, don’t get me wrong – I’m not in a big hurry to grow up. Anyone who knows me knows that I’ve actually been postponing this activity for as long as humanly possible. But at some point, when one discovers that s/he might need to make some money in order to support a rather pricey habit, they learn that they might need to go to work. And now I’m ready to work at what I love to do.  It only took 42 years to figure out what that was!

Finally, I feel I am at a moment in my life when I can figure out how to take my passions for teaching, traveling, and writing, and sprinkle some magic pixie dust on those passions and poof!  Turn them into something that might actually become a career. What will this next venture look like? I have no idea – that’s part of the fun. This I DO know:

1.  I will not return to Beaver Creek to teach snowboarding this winter. Beaver Creek and all the guests and co-workers I’ve known and grown to love there will always have a special place in my heart; now I get to enjoy the mountains as a recreational snowboarder. Thirteen years of teaching snowboarding might make this transition difficult, but I’m ready. Telling my legs to get ready is another story.

2.  I will return to Bintan and Tana Toraja (and probably Jogjakarta), Indonesia next summer to continue the teacher development activities we started last year. This work changed my perspective on so many things I’m surprised my head is still attached. But it is, and I’ve been invited back. Yippee!!!

3.  Somehow, some way, I will use this blog to explore the world of kick-ass travel.  I will share stories of trips I took and just didn’t bother to tell; I’ll write about new adventures; I’ll invite you to travel along with me vicariously (which has been lovely for me, BTW); and I might even invite you to travel along with me in REAL TIME. That’s right, folks – this “virtual” experience that we’ve enjoyed together has been grand, but wouldn’t it be even better if you were right there with me in person?  I’d like to take you there… But I’m getting ahead of myself.

By “kick-ass travel” I mean travel that changes lives. First, it changes the life of the person who has dared to leave their home toilet and see what else was out there. Those who have done this don’t take this challenge lightly. We are forever moved by the people and cultures we meet. And the people we meet are moved by us. We have no idea how they could possibly be changed by our presence, or we by theirs, but are all moved. Long story short, travel exchange is a win-win.

Of course, like everything else in life, the devil is in the details. How this next chapter of my life unfolds is about as certain as whether or not it will snow on any given day in my beloved Colorado. As my Indonesian friends say, “Never try, never know.”  And in poker, if you don’t play, you can’t win. The cliches go on and on…

On a bit of a side note, please know that as I learn more about my “target audience” (mainly, by talking to you, through your comments, likes, etc.), and as I read other blogs that REALLY resonate with me, I conclude that my previous blog voice, while authentic, was definitely Rated G. That was by design and felt like the right idea at the time. But as we all know life is not Rated G. Don’t be surprised if some of my adventures, observations, or commentaries on travel and life trickle into the Rated PG or – gasp! – Rated R categories. Aren’t those more fun anyways?!? Boy, do I have a lot more to tell you now that I’ve gotten THAT off my chest…

I’ll leave you with this:  THANK YOU for being there for me as I stumbled and bumbled around the world these last couple of years. For every one of you who has said so, I know there are two of you who haven’t told me that you followed along – yet (WordPress and Google have some handy tools for measuring that!) I hope you will continue with me on this kick-ass journey, and that you will feel free to comment and pass my blog along to others you think might enjoy it.

P.S. I promise not to get too carried away with the “kick-ass” thing. For today it feels right. Who knows what tomorrow’s tag line will be?