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Musings, Travel Plans

Our New Traveling Companion: The Opinel

December 31, 2011

The craziness of packing is upon us! As we pare down to the final core of life essentials and prepare to stuff it all in a bag, we’re gratefully thinking of all the family and friends who are behind our plans with 110% of their cheer and prayers.

Departure: O-dark-hundred AM on Thursday morning.

We received the sweetest farewell gift  this past week from Jane: an Opinel Knife meant to keep us company on our travels and serve as butler during many a fine picnic of bread, apples, salami, and cheese…

“Originally sold as a simple working man’s knife, the Opinel has since become an iconic symbol of French culture and lifestyle. Pablo Picasso used an Opinel to carve his sculptures, while Roger Frison-Roche, the Savoyard alpine guide and mountaineer, never made an ascent without carrying an Opinel along. Éric Tabarly, the long-distance solo sailor and yachtsman, swore by the Opinel, which he always carried aboard his sailing yacht, the Pen Duick.”

If I do say so, I was charmed to learn that “In 1985 the Victoria and Albert Museum in London selected the Opinel as part of an exhibit celebrating the ‘100 most beautiful products in the world,’ featuring the Opinel alongside the Porsche 911 sports car and the Rolex watch.”

Jane: thank you for keeping us classy on the road! No matter the grime of tangles in our hair or days without laundry, we’ll be able to whip this out and feel quite sophisticated.

However, I think this seals the deal about not always going carry-on. (wink)

For those of you in the area, Ted’s parents are hosting a farewell from 2-4pm this Sunday afternoon. Come find us on Facebook for details.

Much love and joy to you in the New Year!

Musings, Portland, Social Work

What To Do With Open Eyes?

December 26, 2011

This post is part of the 2011 #TBGB Travel Bloggers Give Back project.

In an earlier post, Moving a Mile to Live Abroad, I shared about our recent 18-month experience starting a transitional housing community for formerly homeless families in Portland, Oregon and how the season of unconventional travel opened my eyes anew to invisible cultures.

In letting you in on my thoughts, I’ve honestly shared that I’m still learning what these lessons mean and wondering how to carry the responsibility of awareness.

My conclusions thus far: We do well to be actively acknowledging the existence of the troubles, connecting with people, partnering with programs, and resisting cheap guilt-assuaging fixes that only feed the problems.

Continue Reading…

Musings, Portland, Social Work, Tidbits About Us

Moving a Mile to Live Abroad

December 26, 2011

Our story of cross-cultural travel and seeing the world with new eyes.

This wasn’t the trip I expected.

I’d been talking for years about traveling the world, chirping in Ted’s ear about experiences in foreign cultures, fresh perspectives, and challenging the middle-class-American-outlook we unwittingly take for granted. (And of course I tried enticing him with prospects of exploring foreign markets’ colorful stalls and opportunities to sample Portland Food Cart fare in situ.)

Winter 2009: One of those What-If? pillow talk conversations. Normally, travel was my suggestion, but this time, it was Ted advocating for scenery change and promising new experiences. He painted a vivid picture of connecting with people willing to share their unique histories and and share their cultures and perspectives, and I agreed to the adventure.

Within five months of that exchange, we woke up in a new land. Continue Reading…

Inspirations, Musings, Travel Plans

Free Travel Education + Inspiration

December 13, 2011

It’s really no secret that I’m a library junkie.

Benefit: this addiction comes in handy when saving money for travel.

The internet teems with free blog posts and paid-for subscriptions that, at the end of the day, leave me wishing for more depth and/or less fees.

So I instead turn to my local library and its ridiculously vast collection of paper-in-the-hands resources with tables-of-contents, indexes and glossaries, coffee table books with rich photos, DVDs featuring footage and histories of far off lands, and, yes, user-friendly how-to guides to accompany me on my let’s-make-friends mission with the camera.

And let us not forget the other beautiful thing about the library: free wi-fi sans coffee purchase. I’ve found this perfect perch, next to the spinning globe at my little Belmont Branch of the Multnomah County Library. While Ted has been finishing up his last few weeks of work and we’ve been commuting back into Portland from my family’s home in the country, I’ve been carpooling with him and finding digital work spaces to use during the day.

Must remember this library hack when we’re abroad. (Also, it turns out the National Library in Buenos Aires provides guided tours in Spanish and English. Who knew? Maybe I can score a card and stash it alongside the one I received at the Library of Congress in D.C.?)

If I seem a little over the top about libraries, it’s because I am. Continue Reading…

#indie30, Musings, Travel Plans

High Sights, Diligence, and Travel Goals

November 1, 2011

Thanks to Sean, Chris, Olivia, Jessica, and the rest of the wonderful crew over at BootsnAll for feeding travel dreams and equipping adventurers to live boldly. This month they’re at it again, inspiring travelers to reflect on experiences and memories during November’s 30 Days of Indie Travel. I look forward to posting from time to time and reading stories in the #indie30 stream.

The Question – Day 1: Goals

What were your travel goals last year? Did you accomplish them? What travel goals do you hope to accomplish this year?

Tools and inspiration: Learn more about setting a BHAG–a big, hairy, audacious goal. 

The Answer – In a Nutshell:

Travel Goals 2011: Save, Save, Save. (A continuation of travel-related goals from 2010, 2009, etc. — and yes, we’ve met the mark!)

Travel Goals 2012: Go, Go, Go. (Things are looking good: there’s a date on the calendar and we have tickets in hand to begin our Round the World Journey.)

The Musings – Since marrying, Ted and I have intentionally compiled a list of goals each year and agreed to aim toward them together, praying for wisdom and direction as we go.

I’m a firm believer in the power of putting goals in plain sight, whether writing a list and taping it to the mirror or covering a wall with images of inspiration. Day in and day out, seeing, reading, acknowledging the priorities we’ve said to ourselves we value – these practices have kept us on track to meet and pass milestones on the journey.

Our Wall of Dreams, Pinning Inspirations and Mapping Out Travel Calendars in Clear Sight

Too, it would only be fair to acknowledge our bigger ambitions in life. Beyond travel, beyond adventure, beyond possessions (or lack there of), we have a goal set before us as a couple of faith: to experience God’s love and truth in profound ways, and to reflect that beauty to the world.

12 I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. 13 Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward-to Jesus. 14 I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.

 15 So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision-you’ll see it yet! 16 Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it. -Philippians Chapter Three, The Message

Funny BootsnAll’s mention of BHAGs. This past year, I spent time reading or listening to audio recordings of recommended books on business and leadership; one in particular was James Collins’ Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t. Mr. Collins referenced his concept of BHAGs (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals) several times throughout, and I so appreciated his acknowledgment of the effectiveness of setting overarching, unifying, unusually audacious goals.

Such bold visions rally troops in a company, band together family members, and motivate the individual to set high sights and apply diligence with every last ounce of strength.

There’s a favorite Dave Ramsey quote posted on a sticky note above my office at work:
“Diligence is discipline with excellence over an extended period of time.”

Another favorite of his: “The difference between a dream and a goal is a PLAN.”

As this year (and entire life season, really) of diligent, disciplined saving and planning draws to a close, I’m so grateful to report that we’ve met our 2011 goals, and as part of the “Go, go, go” of 2012, we hope to cross paths, enjoy company, and share stories with friends we’ve yet to meet but are sure to love.

Here’s to dreams.

And here’s to fruition of so many years’ worth of plans.

Cheers,
Bethany


Musings, Travel Plans

Throwing Antiques from Covered Wagons…

October 27, 2011

…and other lessons in abandoning material possessions to reach the trail’s end.

You’ve heard the stories (and perhaps played the computer game?): Wild-minded risk-takers threw caution to the wind, kissed their hometowns goodbye, buttoned up canvas awnings, and wobbled their wagon frames across the plains and prairies and mountain passes of rugged North America.

They’d heard of the Willamette Valley. A land of fertile soils and ripe possibilities. A new way of life for those who dared risk it all to reach the goal.

It’s true.

Oregon sang a siren’s song, and the adventurous were drawn to come.

What happened to the possessions unable to be jammed into tight corners of the settlers’ prairie schooners? Who gave them a new home? The in-laws? Dear friends? Neighbors remaining on the east coast?

How many valued pieces of sentiment and function remained in Missouri, I wonder? How many more soared over the side of wagons, perhaps accompanied by tears and sweat?

How did their meaning shift from top-priority-packables in a 4’x12′ bed to dead weight no longer carried by weary oxen?

I imagine a couple discussing the reasons for adding goods to the packing pile: “It’ll be useful for our new life at the end of the journey… We won’t be able to buy another one… It’ll be a reminder of our loved ones…”

But a thousand miles in, I imagine the conversation shifting to practicality in the face of survival. Health trumped comfort. Determination trumped desire. Reality trumped fantasy.

Now, a hundred and some odd years later, it’s our turn to grit our teeth, sort through artifacts of settled life, and part with all but the household basics and the dearly cherished. And I still suspect we’ll need to chuck a few more items over the edge when all is said and done…

If you find yourself in the area this weekend, come drink a celebratory mimosa and buy our stuff!

We’re clearing out our house before we pack up and leave to travel the world. Furniture, books, clothes, tools, odds and ends…everything* that doesn’t fit in a backpack!
(*not really everything. but sort of.)

Saturday, October 29th: 9am-noon

The Corner of East Burnside + 92nd Place:
9205 E. Burnside Street #201
Portland, OR 97216

Musings, Travel Plans

Home: Letting Go of Place and Things

October 9, 2011

Sunday night. Holed up at home. Desperately avoiding to-do lists.

Day 88 (but who’s counting?) until departure.

I visited a recommended link and landed in the middle of Cheri Lucas’ thoughts: “Roots vs. Wanderlust: On Home, Accumulation & What’s Missing.”

I’ve wrestled deeply with these themes during our season of preparation.

I’m a designer. A cook. A homemaker, too. In Jr. High, I purchased my own subscription to then-brand-new Home and Garden Television. When Cheri writes about the arrival of the CB2 catalog and visions of housewarming parties and guest bedrooms, I know instinctively what she means. That tug of the heart toward a cultivated place. A home that cannot simply spring up overnight, but rather grows slowly, evolving from time and attention, investment and use.

Even as we’ve steered away from mortgages in favor of ship cabins and known the decisions were right, I’ve still craved a back yard and soil of our own. An alternate reality. A life with “a place for everything and everything in it’s place” (as my grandma says).

But we’re saying goodbye to place and things. And I don’t know if or how to imagine resuming a physically rooted lifestyle on the other side of this experience.

And Cheri, too, acknowledges the connundrums.

When she reflects on memories and on picnics, alleys, and reading books aloud, savoring the slow pace of days abroad, I think about the plans we have for life on the road.

Especially lately, as we are parting with possessions and preparing for a nomadic year, I’m challenged to release my home-based rituals. It’s no secret among my friends that I’ve experienced a strange disequilibrium in the kitchen, watching the seasons change without preserving food for winter and letting empty mason jars leave my doors in the arms of new stewards.

Dwelling . . . inhabiting . . . settling: each so very good.

Wandering, exploring, waving goodbye: the cadence of story very different.

Our roots cannot be entwined in the things of life, but the connection to family and friends, the relationships longer lasting and more deeply meaningful than any accumulation of possessions or pinpointed place.

So home, as it seems, remains in our hearts.

It’s unforeseen how these mixed desires and decisions will meld into one, cohesive, future life. For now, I’m learning the value of the full heart and outstretched, empty hand: ready to give, and ready to receive.

Musings, RTWdinnerparty, Tidbits About Us

Traveling Couples’ {Digital} Dinner Party – October 2011

October 1, 2011

Welcome, friends, to our corner of the web!

On this, the first of October, we’re hosting our first digital dinner party as a way to extend hellos and exchange stories with fellow travelers we’ve met through Twitter. So, without further ado…

Friends, foods, and table talk from travels around the world.
(For visitors unfamiliar with the back story, see our #RTWdinnerparty page.)

{Meet and Mingle} So…we’re cheating! We’re supposed to introduce ourselves by name, but we have about a week left of going stealth since the travel-cat’s not quite out of the bag here at home. If anyone really wanted to figure out who we were, it’d be pretty easy…but we’ll keep the mystery going for kicks. (And as a way to honor the relationships we have with employers who don’t yet know we’re leaving town…)

We’re B&T:
Full names disclosed by this time next week! (Well, maybe not middle names, but you get the gist.)

We were both born and raised in Oregon’s beautiful Willamette Valley. My (B’s) great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Etienne Lucier, set out from Montreal, Canada in the early 1800s to explore the Pacific Northwest and make his living as a traveling fur-trapper (pre-dating the infamous Oregon Trail). He eventually settled in the French Prairie of the Northern Willamette Valley, married a native American woman, cleared land, planted crops, and in the history books became known as the “first farmer of Oregon.” Years later, I grew up on a farm in the country, not too many miles from his original homestead, and as an adult, now living in the city of Portland, I carry my love of family legacy and of the land into my work as a landscape architect.

T’s family came across the country from the Midwest, and he, too, grew up in the Willamette Valley surrounded by big-hearted communities living in small towns. He works in a job providing social services to homeless populations and is no stranger to uncovering people’s stories of life and heartbreak, hopes and dreams, struggles and breakthroughs.

Our roots at home run incredibly deep. As we set out to venture together beyond the bounds of Oregon territory, we’ll carry with us the pluck and spirit of our ancestors and the blessing and encouragement of many dear family and friends, and we’ll look forward to encountering the world and its people: landscapes, legacies, and all.

{Dinner Specialty} We’re bringing the Main Course to this month’s Dinner Party, and If we could truly have you over for a feast, we would serve a repeat of our 2006 wedding meal: masterfully grilled Pacific Northwest Salmon and Prime Rib.

And, of course, if we could provide a venue, it’d be one of the most beautiful spots on earth: my {B’s} family’s home… Look! It’s even set up for us. (No, not really. Wedding pictures circa 2006 — but we could rig up something similar for you travel blogging friends. Maybe one giant rough-hewn wooden farmhouse set in the lawn, with white lights in the trees and seats around the fire pit and hours to pass the time telling stories…?)

And speaking of telling stories…

{Table Talk} Updates on our recent travel(planning) escapades:

The ever-ticking clock continues reminding us of the soon coming adventure and the frightful list of things to do before January 5th arrives.

We’ve been hard at work spending extra hours each day making dents in the per-departure to-do list (a list that partially includes the following: continue earning money for the savings account, pare-down-pare-down-pare-down, remain calm, finish up travel vaccines, book an apartment in Buenos Aires, finish overdue projects around the house, remain calm, revel in the excitement of seeing bank statements aligned with pie-in-the-sky goals scratched into 2007/8/9/10 notebooks, bring our plans to friends and family for wisdom and prayer, jump for joy when the countdown app finally revealed less than 100 days to launch, cherish time with our loved ones, remain calm, etc., etc., remain calm).

And then there are the ongoing reminders that keep us working together and working on our attitudes: Just tonight, we tried jamming an altogether-too-large desk into an altogether-too-small Camry in an effort to transport said piece of furniture to its appointed home at our friends’ place. No go. Turned and carried the whole thing back upstairs. Thwarted by an altogether/impossibly-too-small-car-door-frame. Bit my tongue. Chose to laugh. C’est la vie.

Not the first time, and certainly not the last that plans and logistics don’t quite shape up the way we’d imagined. But the experience is in the attitude.

We’re about to spend a great many more hours together, tackling challenges, reveling in adventures, eating good food, sending postcards home to dear hearts, and sharing our stories from the wide world of travel.

Wish us luck, and we’ll keep you posted from the road!

Thanks for reading, and thanks to our Twitter friends for taking part; it’s such a pleasure to meet our fellow travel comrades!

Cheers,
B&T

October 2011 #RTWdinnerparty link-up:
We’ll continue adding links below as additional #RTWdinnerparty posts are published.

@twoOregonians (Main Dish) Pacific Northwest Grilled Salmon
@GQtrippin (Vietnamese Feast) Roasted Suckling Pig, Peking Duck, BBQ Spare Ribs, and more!
@luggageinhand (Dessert) Bougatsa: Greek Pastry
@backpackforever – (Side) Migas: Tex-Mex Specialty
@CaptainandClark – (Dessert) 호떡 (ho-dduk) and bungeobbang (붕어빵)
@twoyuppies – (Side + Beverages) Burgushi & Napa Valley Vodka

Interested in participating in the next link-up?
Head to the Traveling Couples’ {Digital} Dinner Party & @RTWdinnerparty on Twitter for details and updates.

Musings

The Grotto: An Inward Journey Near PDX International Airport

August 4, 2011

I do love the Portland Airport.

It’s been a spot of promise all my life. Growing up, an hour long drive from the country led me to the city’s portal to other lands. My first commercial plane ride: Oregon to California. (Family wedding flower girl duties called.)  Then later, Oregon to France. Oregon to Italy. Oregon to New Zealand.

Little did I know, all those years of driving up I-205, that I’d eventually be living in a neighborhood just ten minutes from PDX International. Since moving to Montavilla in 2007, I’ve joked with my husband about taking me on dates to the airport, just to watch the planes come and go.

Nearby the airport stands another Portland portal: a connection to calm and quiet.

A week and a half ago, my brother left Oregon to return to his job and home in Southern California, and I met him for a farewell up near the airport. On the return drive, I stopped on whimsey at The Grotto, just off the intersection of NE Sandy and NE 82nd Avenue.

It seemed a good idea. In between the recent hustle and bustle of juggling work and trip planning and life obligations, I’d been feeling scattered, distracted, out of touch.

I’m not Catholic, but the peaceful, contemplative setting yielded just the pause I hoped for, allowing time to pray and journal and walk the grounds.

A $4.00 elevator ride reveals space of peace and solitude and calm sitting high above the 110 foot cliff at the north face of Rocky Butte.

The Elevator Shaft

The View North from the Meditation Chapel toward the Portland Airport

Details from the Peace Garden’s
Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious and Luminous Mysteries Bronze Sculpture Series

This trip planning process alternates between soaring hopes and agonizing heartache. The goodbyes, the chances traded…the pausing on other pursuits. All this balanced out by promise of adventure and trust that our steps are not aimless but ordered.

 “The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.” -Psalm 37:23-24

In all, I spent nearly two hours in the Upper Gardens, passing time and sinking deep in thought.

I wandered along the marked routes, and stopped at the private paths. I wondered about the Monastery and the rhythms and calendars and seasons of an alternate way of life.

I walked the prayer labyrinth up on the top of the butte: I let myself trust the path.

In a few months more, we’ll head to the Portland Airport, tickets in hand. Between now and then, I hope to return to The Grotto as I travel the inward journey unfolding in tandem with our Trip.