When traveling solo, whether domestically or internationally, it’s difficult to remember everything. Staying organized is key to a successful and productive journey. To avoid leaving important items behind and spoiling an adventure, Sofia Bartlett, a tour guide extraordinaire from Hungary, offers this suggestion.
“It’s always important, when traveling, to put your valuables in the Safe available in your hotel room,” she says. “But, it’s more important to remember to empty that Safe before leaving.
The night before you are checking out of your hotel, stick one shoe in your Safe, joining your other things, be it jewelry, cash, a passport or airline tickets. In your rush to check-out the next morning, you won’t forget to empty your Safe because you need to find your other shoe,” she explains, with a shrug.
What a great idea! I can apply the “one shoe rule” to many of life’s situations and avoid a misstep or disaster. So, if the shoe fits……………………..
To Avoid At All Costs…………… Photo by Arthur Serating
For the last month, as Lights were dimmed on this Blog, they were shining brightly elsewhere. These past thirty days, I’ve had the opportunity to visit seven European countries. Two, France and Germany, are old and familiar friends. The others, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Austria ( post-Communist Central Europe ), are, for me, new kids on my block.
Foreign travel is not for Sissies, as I reminded myself every day. Flying Solo, as I did, adds yet another layer to an international adventure. And, to my mind, a worthwhile one. Whether this was a “vacation”, “educational experience”, “trip-of-a-lifetime” or “challenging slog” – take your pick – it was not a trip to the beach or a walk in the park.
In my travels, I:
flew on seven airplanes;
drove my rental car over 1,000 Kilometers (621 miles);
negotiated repair of same rental car (dead battery) in French;
Rental Car Broken, Mechanic Speaks no English, I Practice my French
survived one bus/truck crash (I was a passenger in the bus);
stayed in ten different locations;
needed five different currencies;
climbed hundreds of stairs;
spent $250 American dollars on laundry service at the Warsaw Bristol Hotel (filed under “Lessons Learned”);
enjoyed the hospitality and generosity of old friends and made many new ones;
saw, as I journeyed through these countries and their histories, Mankind at its best, and, at its most vile.
Old Friends, Jean, Kent and Ardyth, plotting the route in France
New Friends, Cruising on the Danube in Budapest Photo by Arthue Serating
During my next seven Posts, I will be writing about my personal experience with each of these seven countries. Don’t expect a Travelogue. There will be no Slideshow. No List of Top Ten Sites to Visit. Just some reflections of these places as viewed through American eyes.
Acknowledging Breast Cancer Month Worldwide, Vienna Photo by Arthur Serating
Teens are Jeans are Teens, Worldwide Photo by Arthue Serating
Usually, when flying, I try not to engage in conversation with my seat mate. Since I’ve been in a plane crash, I’m a bit afraid, actually, a lot afraid. I don’t want to chat. I just tighten my seatbelt, clamp my Bose Noise-Canceling Earphones on my head, and pray to God for “calm air, no bumps.” However, on my first leg, a five-hour flight to Chicago, my headgear lost out to Mr. 5A , a professional motivational speaker. Unfortunately, I was 5B. He motivated me for the entire trip and, obviously feeling I had potential, gifted me, at the end of the journey, with his autographed book.
Here’s the thing, he earned the Best-Tip-of-the-Trip Award.
“Do you worry?” he asked me, about two hours and a few bumps into the trip.
“Look at me,” I responded. “Look at these wrinkles. Do I LOOK like I worry?”
“I knew it,” he replied happily. “I can help you with that. It’s simple.”
He went on to explain that most people worry about things that really never come to fruition. He suggested that 95% of the things we worry about actually never happen. (Personally, I question that number. Many of the things I worry about I should be worrying about.)
“So, let’s just pick a time for you to worry,” he continued. “I’d say a good time for you is Thursday from 4pm to 7pm. Every time you start to worry about something, just park it in that Thursday slot and forget it until then. By the time Thursday rolls around, you’ll have forgotten most of them anyway.”
Brilliant. I’ve been re-born as a new un-Worrying Woman. Occupied, Thursday, 4pm-7pm.
Happy Labor Day, The month of September is a good time for me to labor less and take a month off from writing these Blog Posts. I began this Blog eight months ago, not understanding the likes of Word Press, Go Daddy, perma-links nor widgets. Don, my Blog designer/technician, who sits at his desk in Sacramento, has enabled me to limp through this social media maze of mass confusion quite successfully. It still amazes me that I can “totally mess up”, while writing/posting in Las Vegas, Aspen, Flagstaff or Mammoth, send Don a slightly panicky e-mail, and, in a flash, he rights my wrongs, no matter where in the West I am located. Don is a calm man.
This is trite, I know……. but, the past eight months of writing this Blog, have been not only a love labor for me but a purposeful adventure and ongoing healing process. Aren’t we all needing to heal from something? My life seems to move along more smoothly when I can write out, in words, or cook through, with new recipes, my somethings, ponderings and ideas. That anyone would choose to read those words (yes, I know, it’s free) is very flattering.
I won’t be idle. I have a list, of course.
Just a few September suggestions to kick-start Fall 2011:
Read “One-Hundred Names for Love”, author Diane Ackerman’s new memoir.
See “The Debt”, an espionage thriller now in your local theatre. Bravo to Helen Mirren for not only acting her age but “showing” her age. Very classy, Helen.
Attack your closet with a vengeance and let a clothes-purge set you free. Then, work out a Budget and choose 5 items to enhance your Fall Wardrobe. There are all sorts of fashion clues at on-line sites and in fashion magazines. Shop carefully, try different stores, and insist that quality be your guide.
Get a new hair cut.
Re-connect with an Old Friend.
Set One Goal for the Fall. Just one. (My Goal is to do better with the life I’ve been dealt…….to accept it as “my normal.”)
When you’re at the grocery store, buy some products or items you’ve never used before. Experiment and be creative with new foods.
Learn to pick out two or three constellations in the Fall Sky. Choose a clear night, do some on-line homework, and gaze at the stars.
Worry less. Be gentle with yourself. Be kind to others. Smile more. Laugh often.
I’m paying homage to my home state of Iowa with this week’s French Friday recipe – Corn Soup. Dorie’s take on this soup is a bit lighter than my usual version. Think corn chowder. I made it both ways this week, and, frankly, I prefer her’s to mine. Maybe I’ll just save the chowder for stormy, winter days (It’s 106 degrees in Las Vegas this morning. I yearn for a 50-degree day.)
This soup is not only light but simple-in-spirit. You’ll have the basic ingredients on hand – butter, carrots, celery, onions, garlic, and milk. Purchase 3 ears of fresh corn (6 ears for chowder) at your Farmer’s Market, and, 30 minutes later, the soup is in the pot, simmering to perfection.
Dorie suggests that initially, after stripping the corn off the cobs, we plop them into the simmering milk, infusing the broth with even more flavor. Another truc of the trade.
Enjoy these lingering gasps of Summer: Corn soup, greens, a baguette, and a glass of Rosé.
Snap # 12 – Diana Athill’s, “Somewhere Towards the End”
Somewhere Towards the End by Diana Athill
I’ve always believed that “fitting in” is way overrated and British editor and writer Diana Athill apparently is my soul mate to this thinking.
Now, if you’re under 60 years-of-age, this SNAP is not for you. Click off this blog and return tomorrow for “French Fridays with Dorie”, (a great recipe).
Still with me?
Pick up “Somewhere Towards the End”, from your local library or Amazon ($11). Winner of the Costa Award for Biography, the 2009 National Book Critics Circle Award in Autobiography and a New York Times bestseller, this short, well-crafted tome is a critically acclaimed memoir on life and aging. Don’t be put off by the subject. Remember, Athill is a Brit and a woman you must meet.
Athill, now 93, and, in 2008, appointed by the Queen as an officer of the British Empire, is one of the great editors in British publishing. For more than five decades she edited such authors as V. S. Naipaul, Jean Rhys, Philip Roth, Norman Mailer and John Updike. Ten years ago she turned from editor to writer and became a literary sensation.
British Editor and Author Diana Athill
Diana Athill’s mind (through words) will expand yours.
