When I originally sketched out My Grand Adventure, I had envisioned starting with a summer in Europe, before moving onto the Middle East, Africa, Asia and then travelling to Latin America in 2022. However, just like most of us COVID changed my 2020 plans. Instead, I started in the autumn with a relatively long sojourn […]
Mexico
(note: another really long post) After getting grounding on some basics, I felt I was ready to move beyond short, introductory spiritual sessions. I decided to do some immersive and intensive deep dives into spiritual consciousness. I honestly had no idea what I was in for. Mayan spiritual journey By now I was ready to […]
Mexico
(note: longer than normal post) Though I’m neither religious nor spiritual, I do take an interest in and appreciate different belief systems, as they have been the cornerstone of most civilizations. That being said, I surprised myself on the number and level of involvement in religious and/or spiritual activities in which I participated. To say […]
Mexico
As a life-long art history student (both formally and informally), I’ve spent many hours strolling through museums, studying museology, volunteering at museums and dreaming of working at a museum. In fact, my entire purpose of pursuing my MBA was to go into museum management. With COVID, one of my favorite travelling experiences – museum exploration […]
Mexico
Food is a culture’s greatest ambassador. The aromas quickly tap into your memory and flavors transport you back. Every travel experience I have there is a stamp in my gastronomical passport. Growing up in Southern California and Arizona, Mexican food was always the food my family would crave when we came home from traveling. After […]
Mexico
One of the major goals/milestones for My Grand Adventure was to explore Mayan ruins, and in the past three weeks, I’ve immersed myself in three different ruins sites – Coba, Chichen Itza and Tulum (Note: I’m hoping to explore Ek Balam, but Tropical Storm Gamma has damaged the access road and closed the site. Not […]
Mexico
When my waiter, Carlos, first asked if I wanted to go out on a three hour boat trip to fish and snorkel, my initial, mental reaction was “no.” Because who, when you are a female travelling alone, accepts a stranger’s offer to go out on a boat by yourself. Especially, if said female grew up […]
Mexico
A restive sojourn in the Yucatan jungle to reset, relax and re-establish healthy habits were my intentions for the next several weeks. Mother Nature had other intentions. The primary intention was to say “wake up lady, you aren’t in Chicago anymore,” and she more than delivered on that. Within 36 hours of my arrival, the […]
US
Hustlerfest, the calendar of events says it all. But if you are itching for more, Hustlerfest is an annual village fete, that originated in 1922. There are your typical country fair staples: tractor parade, pie eating contest, bale throwing, and bingo. However, there are some unique activities including chicken throw (organized by gender and age, […]
US
My road trip started off later than I had planned. Originally I was going to pick my rental car up at 8 a.m., but since I didn’t get out of bed until 8 a.m….well, things were delayed from the get-go. I again battled Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), it seems every 20 miles there is […]