And Away I Go...

     Not too long from now I will be boarding a plane and traveling to Guyana. Without getting into too many details I'll be taking part in an expedition to discover, catalog, and hopefully one day protect the biodiversity of the Guyanese rainforest. How did I end up with this job? I'm still trying to figure that one out. This is just the next step in what has been a very long journey. I'm looking forward to this new chapter. 

     I've already written a few pre-scheduled blog posts that will be up at random times over the next few weeks. Keep checking back in for those. Don't expect anything insightful or terribly interesting while I am gone. This is going to be my chance to get away from technology for a bit. It will be nice to take a breather. I've become too dependent on my laptop and cell phone. I need to take a moment to center myself. I think we all need moments like that from time to time. I've always tried to use travel as an excuse to get away from technology and to reconnect with people and places. I've never understood people who don't take the time to travel even though they have very few obligations like a job or a family but I also stopped trying to understand people's actions (or lack thereof) in general. I wonder and find great interest in what other people are thinking but I know that I will never fully understand them and they will never fully understand me. I guess that's why we have to keep the lines of communication open. We may not be able to understand each other completely but hopefully we'll get close enough. So, I encourage you to travel. See other places. Experience new things. Live life the way other's live it. You may find out that you like their lifestyle. Their habits may become your habits and before you know it, you've grown as a human being. It's funny how easy it happens. Look around every once in a while. You could be missing some very interesting things.

What are some of your favorite travel stories. Share them with me.

Take care of yourself and each other...  

      

  

Blogging from the road.

     I returned to North Carolina to visit family for a few days. I'll be the first to admit that this is not my favorite place in the world. In fact I very rarely have anything positive to say about my hometown. However, the time for negativity in my life is over. I'm trying to make it come to an end at least. Besides, I'm here to see family and family is everything. Or as Don Corleone famously said, "A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man."

     There is one spot in my hometown that I always make time to visit even though at times I have no reason to. It's one of the oldest parts of the city and has gone through countless stages of reinvention (much like myself). It once was the commercial and economic district of the city and then later it was a haven for criminals, drugs, and prostitution. Now, its an area filled with locally owned small businesses, coffee shops, and independent movie houses. I started frequenting the area in my late teens during the decline of the crime and prostitution era and the very beginning of what the area is now. In fact, my favorite hang out when I was younger was an unassuming coffee shop that later turned out to be a front for a local drug trafficker. The coffee shop was obviously shut down and has since been a endless chain of shops, martini bars, restaurants, and now a techno club.  Here are a few pictures I snapped this morning.

This is a picture of the top floor of the old coffee shop. I never realized how beautiful it looked until this morning.

Take care of yourself and each other...