Preparing For A Journey

In less than a month I will be co-leading a group of travelers and friends to Italy, exploring several Tuscan towns.  I have been planning and preparing for this journey visually and literally for over a year.  As the days near for departure it is always an interesting introspective journey for myself, and a process that I would like to encourage anyone that is traveling to observe all the challenges of preparing for the leaving, as a gateway to something much larger and yet known about taking a journey.

I do not separate myself from anyone else who is preparing to leave on a journey. We all go through what I call separation anxiety. The leaving our homes, family, work, and mostly what is familiar. We all carry great expectations and anxiety with all the packing and making peace with what we need to lay down and promise to do when we return home.  It is important not to miss this symbolic piece of preparation.

Notice if what you think you need to complete or get done....are tasks that have always kept you from stepping into more joy and contentment.  Taking a journey can represent letting go....

Give yourself the gift of making peace with those things that are gathering too much of your attention. Do not allow the 'The Do List" to sacrifice your wish for how you want to arrive to your destination. A tired body is the natural process of unwinding. But if you can accomplish bringing even a shadow of a nourished spirit and mind the beginnings of your journey will unfold in an unforgettable way.  Imagine bringing an uncluttered mind and openness to new surroundings and new friends.

Many years ago when I took my first group trip to northern India I remember arriving in the dark of the night and offered the group a simple exercise upon arrival to New Dehli. I asked them to write down within the first minutes of arrival every smell, sense, sight, sound and emotion without thinking what they were experiencing.  It was a wonderful exercise and it was astounding to read back how much I was able to write down, just by being fully aware in the first moments of a new destination. To this day I have those writings to remind me of the quality I strive to bring to the beginning of a journey.

I have learned rather than focus on what you are taking... why not ask yourself, what am I bringing? Or what is the best aspect of myself I am bringing on the journey?  Here are a few questions to ponder as your prepare for the 'taking of a journey.

• What place in me is leading me on this journey?
• What quality of myself would I like to bring to the group I am traveling with?
• What kind of gifts or acts of kindness would I like to leave with the countries' people I will be    meeting?

I wish for you to bring joy, laughter, openness, flexibility, wonder, surprise and expect everything different and the same.  May this journey open your invisible eyes to see the immense detail and color around you.

And in the words of St. Augustine - "The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."

How Do You Want To Travel?

How Do You want To Travel?

Creating group travel with purpose, mindfulness, and leisurely rhythm, while still not missing the essential sites…is artful traveling.  Then gathering a cohesive group of travelers to engage and be curious together about the country and each other is what fuels my spirit to seek out interesting people, places and then craft an itinerary to match.  Just as an artist who at first may not even know the palette of colors he or she will choose – it is much the same for special focused travel. 

One spends long days and nights creating and crafting an itinerary that will hopefully contribute to the temple of memory…long after the return of a journey.  And sometimes all of us, who are wrapped up in the constant changes in our lives, just need someone to guide us, if only for a week or two.

I have learned that one does not need to travel to such unusual places to discover what matters in life.  Where ever we go… all of us have the same longings and common wish – to be content and to know that our lives matter. Group travel is a full immersion experience. Unencumbered from the details travelers can explore the inner and outer boundaries of themselves… And sprinkle fabulous food and wines to nourish and embellish the stories – it is a fine recipe.

Travel Agents and Tour Companies have queried me on why don’t I just come up with a ‘cookie cutter’ recipe? That would not be as much fun. My methodology for the way I choose to organize my travel planning – one trip or one country at a time is far more adventurous and at times challenging to put all the pieces together. It may not be the best well thought out business plan, nor the easiest path to greater financial gain. However, it has become my way, giving attention to each traveler that chooses to travel with me and the lessons I learn makes the return “priceless”.

As life begins to become more complicated with daily decisions, a journey can be an opportunity for time well needed for reflection and pure joy embracing a quality of time that cannot be carved out in our daily lives.

My travelers come from all over the world and have all become part of the fabric of my life and teaching.   What a privilege to recall a name connected to an experience that draws a smile – or the loss of someone once part of a journey.  Journeys can be a collection of memory like a deep sparkling spring that one can draw from and

stoke remembering a time not so long ago…

Take the leap… experience the fear… and then thank those that take the leap with you. That is the magic of what a journey is all about….

The Art of Travelling

Greetings Travelers and Friends.

It is a beautiful Friday morning on July 2, 2010 here in the Sonoma wine country where we live.  Thank you for your overwhelming response so far to Traveling Matters News and your encouragement for my new venture with a Travel Blog.  Yikes…so much to learn.   I trust you will be patient as I fumble and navigate around the blog world and find the best sources to bring to your attention and write my travel experiences – the agony and ectasy of it all……

Today I awoke to asking myself once  again about the meaning of the word travel and why I continue to care so much about my desire to offer travelers more than just a trip.  I was thinking about my own journey with what seduced me toward making a majority of my life's work about connecting myself to others through the art and ritual of travel. Always having a curiosity for cultures starting at a young age reading National Geographic magazines - my world formed larger than the small town I was raised in.  In 1993 after a significant career change, I woke up one morning to an awareness that I wanted to 'travel with purpose' and began a few solo sojourns around the world... So here I am continuing to organize journeys with meaning and mindfulness, with of course large daily sprinklings of FUN and LAUGHTER too!

Anyone can buy a guide book, maps and get to any place I offer travel to but the question of inquiry is to ask yourself: How do you want to travel and who do I want to travel with?  

If you explore the word travel, it has many meanings; some metaphorically and spiritually defined through pilgrimage and often we take a trip just to 'vacate' ones hectic life, schedule and to vacate the mind of the chatter, right?  Here are few interesting words to play with around travel and might assist you when you are thinking about even taking a journey. 

To Travel - A passage.  And if you travel light, you travel without taking much luggage (except for all those different style of shoes that women must pack).  However, metaphorically we may be traveling heavy from an inner perspective and the act of travelling with purpose can open up those unanswered questions, nourish and renew us for our return home.  

I enjoy knowing the origin of place names and words and incorporate this in my journeys to the countries we visit.

The Latin word for traveler is Viator.  Sounds pleasing to say I am a Viator. 

And did you know that the Latin phrase for travel is:  eo ire itum - To go, advance, progress  toward.......

For today consider this  Irish musing:

As you journey through life

choose your destinations well, but do not hurry there.

Wander the back road and forgotten paths

Seek out new voices, strange sights,

and ideas foreign to your own.

Such things are riches for the soul.

And may happiness always be your companion wherever you go, 

Whatever you do.  

Let The Fun Begin: Join Me in Writing and Sharing our Stories

Today I'll start my blog. Ummm, what shall I say? I like to write, write, and write.  I dream about writing and long last..with the encouragement of many friends and family I have dared to expose myself to express my words and stories.  I understand that a blog is about spontaneous thoughts and feelings - and then find a few words or more to convey meaning, imagination, and perhaps evoke memories, happy and sad - but mostly to invite all of us to share what we most have in common - learning to truly embrace this one life we have to live... through common stories and support, encouragement, and of course, my journeys of connecting all of us  through the handcrafted journeys I will continue to be inspired to plan.


I will share my experiences through travel, relationships, poets, authors...and I just might dare to share my own musings - along with  some of my favorite friends' art and photography through my blog.


I attempt to live by my word and truth..sometimes having to dig deep to get to it..but have a deep spiritual core and concern that I can live my life in a full and contented way.  I often get my inspiration to write through poetry, landscape, cultures and traveling with the many groups I have been privileged to take to many places in the world.   However, I am learning that inspiration first must come from one's own self and anywhere your feet, ears and eyes land.


Recently, a friend shared a wonderful quote with me: 


"If you want to build a ship don't drum up people together to collect wood and assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea"   - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.


Keep your journeys open and wide.  Expect a surprise each day!