December 2nd, 2009
Photo by Έλενα
Well, I may have a bad memory for some things but at least I remembered to write a follow-up post to Part 1 of Preserving Your Travel Memories! I am a visual learner and find that photos help to trigger memories I had thought were lost from the sieve forever. Here’s the next memory preservation tip:
Snap it up.
Travel with a camera and use it! When reading through pages of old diaries and blog posts is too time-consuming or hard to share, pictures provide proof that you were there. When words fail to capture all the little details, pictures fill in the blanks.
Before you Go - There is nothing worse than getting home from a trip and realizing your photos didn’t turn out, so find a camera that suits your needs and skills, and learn how to use it. Consider your photography needs when packing to make sure you don’t forget the camera, case, charger, photo card/film, and any hardware needed to backup your photos.
On the Road - Getting and keeping great trip shots comes down to two simple things: Use it and don’t lose it. Use your camera, and don’t let it (or the photos) out of your sight. If photo space isn’t a problem, err on the side of taking too many photos rather than too few. You can always delete, you can’t always recreate.
When you Get Home - Edit, print, publish, share. Truthfully, not everyone will care to see your photos but it’s nice to have them nicely presented or at least well-preserved for your own trips down memory lane. Photographs make wonderful wall art and photography books. We used Blurb to create a coffee table book of our photos, but check out this comparison chart to find the company that works best for you.
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How do you manage your travel photos? Do you use the same techniques to organize your life story of photos?
Here are some of my favorite travel photographers/sites:
Nomadic Matt
Almost Fearless
Photojournalism Planet
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November 15th, 2009
Photo by Barnaby
My memory is like a sieve. Some things stay rattling around in my brain, other things fall through the holes and are hard to retrieve. It’s fine to forget things like heartache, fights with friends, or bad Christmas presents. But it is frustrating to forget important conversations, experiences, and past events. I especially want to remember my travels, so I’ve developed a few tricks to help with the memory retention and recall. Here’s the first:
Write it down.
Diaries are an ancient tradition of recording history that still works well for travelers today. They are small and portable and often even virtual, making them easy to keep track of as your feet keep wandering and your mind keeps filling up with new stories.
Preserve your travel memories by recording the sights, sounds, feelings, and conversations you want to remember from your travels. Bring a journal, start a blog, send email updates to your friends, or write a book. The best part of journaling or keeping a diary is that you can make it anything you want. It can be self-indulgent or an objective list of facts. It can be private or shared. Whatever works for you, just write it down before you forget the little things that help you remember your great adventure.
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How do you preserve your travel memories? Do you use the same techniques to remember other important life events?
Watch for Part 2: Snap it Up, on how photos keep memories alive and how to manage them.
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November 4th, 2009
We’ve talked about this before, but committing to fitness is difficult and deserves a repeat visit. I found this article with some new ideas to help you make fitness party of your regular routine.
First and foremost, it is vitally important that you get rid of any barriers that are in your way. These barriers can appear in your life in many different ways, including negative energies, negative people, unhealthy stress, unhealthy habits and poor eating. Once you have removed all of these dangerous barriers from your life, you can truly begin your new weight loss and health adventure. Here are some more tips for beginning:
>> First and foremost you should detox your body. It is important to cleanse your body of negative toxins and other issues that are in your body.
>> Make sure that you have a proper pair of shoes and comfortable clothing for working out. Your work out does not need to be brand name, but it should be comfortable, breathable and easy to work out in.
>> Put together a workout bag so that you always have everything you need. When you are prepared to work out and be healthy, it becomes even easier to take the necessary steps.
>> If you do not feel motivated enough to work out at home, join a gym. Paying for a gym is usually enough to motivate people to attend, and once you try it, you will find something that you like!
>> Let your fitness habits and eating routine grow, change and evolve with you. As you lose weight or hit plateaus, allow these things to be adjusted accordingly. Just make sure that you are always committed to your plan, do not stop just because you plateau - Just change things up instead.
>> Think about the benefits often. You will be less stressful, you will be healthier all over, you will have less depression, and you will feel and look better all over. You will also enjoy life better because you value yourself enough to take care of your body.
I have to disagree with the first (and foremost) point, and wouldn’t say detox ranks high in scientific importance, but otherwise it’s a pretty solid credo. But it can be more basic than all that. First, you have to decide (aka commit). Then, you have to do (aka get off the couch). Everything else is a hint for continued progress, but committing to fitness really just comes down to…well, committing to fitness. It’s binary - yes, you will. Or no, you won’t.
Where do you stand?
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October 29th, 2009
Hi. I’m still alive!
When I wrote last, we were still in New Zealand, frantically soaking up the last few weeks of our freedom, adventure, and kiwi hospitality. Since taking a Leave of Absence from work was so great, I decided to take one from writing. And then I extended it.
Here’s a quick flashback of the last 5 months:
June: Spent the month lying to everyone at home about how we were going to keep traveling and come home never. Why lying? Because we sold our house in Canada and decided to go home and move our things….and then surprised everyone by showing up on their doorsteps when they thought we were still in NZ. Believe me, you’ve never seen so much screaming and pinching. Surprised parents and siblings scream, then cry, then pinch. Are you really standing there? It was priceless. You get so few chances to really surprise people in life, so we fully embraced it.
Sold the house, eh? Yes, we were homeless this summer. We moved our things to our parents’ basement, earning ourselves a place in the beautiful world of No Fixed Address. Enter July.
July: Homeless, but still in possession of a wicked VW diesel, we decided to hit the road with little more than our camera, GPS, and running shoes. Highlights included: 4th of July in DC, Atlantic City NJ (ok, this was not a highlight), visiting family in Charleston, SC, Miami and hot-hot-hot South Beach FL, Preservation Hall in New Orleans LA, and rain, rain, rain in the Mammoth Caves KY.
Oh, did I mention that while I was supposed to return to work July 1, I asked for a one month extension on my leave and ended up with 3 more months? And that what we really wanted was to take a train from Beijing to Moscow, and that the whole 1 week notice my employer gave me on the approval of my leave extension didn’t give us enough time to plan such an awesome trip? That may or may not have been part of the reason why we went home in June.
August: After 7 months on the road, we wanted to put down our bags. So we did, just long enough to welcome our visitors from New Zealand, show them some great Ontario sites, and promptly whisk them off to New York City.
And then we really set down our things, in a new city, new home, new life. We rented a place (owning felt suffocating after our year of wanderings) in the centre of Canada’s biggest city and started exploring. Toronto, we love you already.
September: Back to reality; we both needed to work. I started back at my regular job mid-month, and the adjustment was strange. You know the saying, “A man cannot step in the same river twice, for both he and the river have changed?” Yeah, I’m the man. And besides that, my feet don’t like being back in dress shoes. They prefer flip-flops or running shoes.
October: This being the month in which I celebrate my birthday, it’s official, I’m closer to 30 than 20 now. And? I’m officially a commuter. Again. I’m spending 3-4 hours in the car every day, concentrating on Pimsleur’s French soundtracks and clinging to what shreds of my relaxed-yoga-self are left from my time in New Zealand. The parts of October not dedicated to driving or working were spent running, reading, and baking to keep me sane. Balance, schmalance. I’m learning to sleep less.
Et voila, I’m back. Thanks for waiting! What have you been doing since June?
If you’re new to Defining Someday, check out our highlights from this time last year:
The very popular The Way I See it #76, the lesson from history On Choosing a Spouse, and the practical 3 Simple Steps to Stop Procrastinating.
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June 8th, 2009
Kiwis love their extreme sports. Bungee, bridge climbing, skydiving, hang gliding, rugby, jet boat racing…they just can’t seem to get enough of the heart-racing sports.
This past weekend they went a little crazy (for my liking) and decided to hold dirt bike races in the middle of downtown. Red Bull, the event sponsor, brought motocross right into the city - dirt piles, log-jumping, rock gardens and all. It was a big course so I’m including two pictures today.
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