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Goals and Objectives for Traveling the World

by Keith on January 24, 2011 · 6 comments

Being a goal-oriented, type-A professional, I always look to define clear Goals and Objectives for any significant undertaking.  I am fine with leaving the tactical elements or “details” to chance and because of that was fine with not having every aspect of our trip planned ahead of time.  In fact, one of the things I miss most about our trip is that at home we are so scheduled.  I know that this Wednesday from 12:00-1:00 pm I will be dialing in for a “Beyond Ecolabels: Green Marketing – Communicating Sustainability Initiatives” conference call, whereas most days while traveling I did not know what I was going to do that very afternoon.

While I enjoyed the freedom of a not having a detailed schedule, I could not spend a year without a clear set of Goals and Objectives to help guide our decisions while traveling.  So before we packed our backpacks, or even thought about destinations, I set out to draft a clear set of Goals and Objectives for this great investment Amy and I were about to make.  Now the time has come to see how we did.  And while we were not courageous enough to share these publically at the beginning of the trip, except for some health goals below,

I feel the need to air our successes and shortcomings now that we are back.   After reviewing below, let us know how you think we did.  The goals are italicized with the results following.

Overall Objective: Take an unforgettable RTW trip that will be a catalyst into lives and careers aligned with our passions for a more sustainable future: Result: An unequivocal success for Keith; still TBD for Amy.

Professional Goals

  • Utilize this free time to explore and clearly articulate our ideal career path and goals when we return. Keith: Result: Complete, as I articulated the “Was Our Trip Career Suicide?” post I was able to come home with a clear vision of what I wanted to do next professionally.
  • Gain fluency and demonstrated skill in utilizing social media as a way to connect with advocates creating a “tribe” of followers. Result: We were able to successfully create a presence on social media gaining a tribe of followers and friends.
  • Create a website that is credible in the travel and green space:
    • 1000 average monthly visitors: Result: 1,047 rolling 3 month average.
    • 300 Facebook fans: Result: 170, but you can still help us by becoming a fan here.
    • 200 email/RSS subscribers: Result: 154, most of which came after we were listed on almostfearless’s best of 2010 post – never underestimate the power of a fellow blogger to help drive traffic!
    • Google Page Rank of 3: Result: Exceeded, current page rank is 4.
  • Establish professional connections with key sustainability Opinion Leaders in our relevant industries. Result: Achieved, we have been able to make connections at: Masdar City, E+Co, SME-RE, KEA and other relevant companies in the business of sustainability.
  • Secure placement of our story with two credible outside publications: Result: Achieved with placement of our story for GreenBiz.com and multiple articles on other blogs including Briefcase to Backpack, Almost Fearless and eLifeMentor.

Personal Goals

  • Create a shared positive experience that we will treasure for the rest of our lives. Result: Absolutely achieved

  • To ensure we are living our lives with no regrets by “seizing the day” and the tremendous opportunity that lays in front of us. Result: By undertaking this trip, something many people talk about but never do, we have proven our ability to seize the day and pursue our dreams with meticulous planning.
  • Connect with family and friends through visits and sharing this experience through our website. Result: We were able to spend significant time with our families both before we left and when we returned.
  • Challenge ourselves mentally:
    • Read an average of 1 book per week each: Result: Total books read Keith = 48,  Amy = 68
    • Become better creative and persuasive writers. Result: The challenge of regularly writing blog posts increased our writing skills.
    • Improve ability to use technology; iMovie, iPhoto, WordPress, Still and Video cameras. Result: The challenges of developing and maintaining an interactive and visually interesting blog has increased our ability to use these software tools as well as lots of practice with the camera.
    • Learn and use key phrases in local languages. Result: We were able to learn key phases in most countries we visited including: hello, delicious, thank you and importantly for Keith cilantro.
  • Challenge ourselves physically:
    • Travel in challenging conditions with patience, humor and a positive attitude. Result: For those that have heard the story the best example of meeting this goal is traveling on in hard sleeper class on  14hr train ride from Shanghai to Xi’an where Keith had a pretty nasty stomach bug and Amy couldn’t sleep.  More info here.
    • Keith to learn to scuba dive, completing 25 dives:  Result: 27 dives completed across Egypt, Thailand, Vietnam and Australia.
    • Snowboard in New Zealand. Result: Did not complete in New Zealand, but did snowboard in Dubai.
    • Try surfing, hang gliding and bungee jumping: Result: We both surfed at Bryon Bay in Australia, but did not hang glide or bungee jump.
  • Improve physical health. Result: Keith BMI (Body Mass Index) <26 and cholesterol <200: Achieved half: BMI 25.5 cholesterol 240. Amy improved strength and flexibility:  Completed couch to 5k running course.
  • Gain a global perspective by connecting with fellow travelers and locals. Result: Connecting with Gillian and Jason from One-Giant-Step and Akila and Patrick from The RoadForks were a couple of the highlights from our trip.
  • Volunteer in 2 locations as a way to further give back and fully experience the people and culture around the world. Result: We did not complete this goal.

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Being a Tourist in Your Hometown

by Keith on August 30, 2010 · 1 comment

Riverboat cruises, baseball games and day hikes were just a few of the fun activities we squeezed in during our week in Cincinnati before heading west on our grand road trip.

Usually, when we come back to Cincinnati it revolves around one holiday or another.  With both of my parents and much of the rest of my family still living in Greater Cincinnati area we usually make one or two trips out a year.  One of the best things about this trip has been the opportunity to spend more time with family without the frantic rushing around that comes with the holidays.  I would highly recommend anyone considering a career break or extended travel to use the time you have at the beginning or end of the trip to visit with family. Well, that is if you enjoy your family’s company.

One of the first things we did once we were in town was to spend a beautiful evening on the Ohio River aboard a B&B riverboat for a charity dinner cruise.   Starting the evening with a buffet dinner we quickly moved out to the outside decks to take in the city views and eventually the beautiful sunset sinking below the western horizon.

One of the great views we had while on the Ohio River was the new Cincinnati Reds Ballpark.  While I was in town when the old Riverfront Stadium was imploded in 2002, I had yet to make it to a game in the new stadium.   By a happy coincidence, while we were home the Reds were running a promotion offering half price tickets to teachers.  A good friend of the family, Craig Smith, is a teacher in Northern Kentucky and is also a huge baseball fan.  He offered to buy tickets for all of us and was able to secure great seats 15 rows back from home plate.  And despite a brief rain delay in the 5th inning we saw an amazing game by the Reds with a 7 to 2 win over the Washington Nationals.

One of our final adventures in the Cincinnati area was a day hike in Yellow Springs, Ohio.  Yellow Springs is about an hour north of Cincinnati and its claim to fame is that the during the Christmas season the Clifton Mill, just south of town, is decked out in millions of lights.  While it is not quite as postcard picturesque in the summer as it is in the winter, the hike along the Little Miami River was wonderful.  The 5-mile path winds along the river and showcases southern Ohio geology, including erosion of the layered sedimentary cliffs and the fossils contained in them.

This trip to Cincinnati reaffirmed something that most people seem to agree with when we have asked them about it: the unique phenomenon of local residents never making the time to see the sights located in their own hometown.  New Yorkers that have never been to the Statue of Liberty, Australians that have not made the trip to Ayers rock and Philadelphians that have never laid eyes on the crack in the Liberty Bell.

What attractions in your hometown have you not made it to that an out of town tourist armed with a guidebook would hit in the first 24 hours? Let us know in the comments below.

For more pictures from Cincinnati be sure o check out the Road Trip Pictures page here.

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The Truth About Travel in China – Part One: Language

by Amy on May 5, 2010 · 7 comments

China’s really difficult for Western travelers.
No one speaks any English.
The menus, trains and street signs are all in Chinese.
The food is terrible.
The people are pushy and rude.
Good luck with that one.

- Advice we heard on the road before we arrived in China

It was almost enough to make us pay for a package tour.  Everywhere we went it seemed someone had something scary to say about traveling in China.  Anytime we mentioned our future plans for a month in China, faces would turn serious and travel terror tales would abound, filling my head with doubts.  Were we really hardcore enough to backpack through China?  Will it really be so hard to get around?  How much is that Intrepid Travel tour?

We have now been in the People’s Republic of China for two weeks, and it is time to separate the facts from the fiction about independent travel in China.

Yes, it is true. Many Chinese, and most taxi drivers, do not speak a word of English. Tourist sites often cater to Chinese tourists, with signage and tours only in Chinese.  Announcements in bus stations and metro stops are not always translated into English, and can be confusing even when they are. And unless you have been studying the language for some time, the characters are completely indecipherable.

So communication in China is not as simple as it was in many other parts of Asia.  But with a little forethought and a sense of adventure, it’s really not so tough.

First of all, street and directional signs are increasingly being translated into English.  In Shanghai, for example, all of the street and metro signs are translated.  Even the bus route signs in Guilin were occasionally written in English. This might be a recent phenomena rooted in the Olympics and the World Expo, but as more and more Westerns travel to China, I think it is a trend that will continue.

But of course not all signs are in English, so for us, the key has been to ask someone, either the staff at our hostel or someone in a tourist office, to write out our destination or request in Chinese.  This is how we got from the train station to our hotel in Shenzhen, mastered the bus system in Guilin and purchased train tickets in Shanghai. It’s kind of like being back in kindergarten, when your mom would write a note and leave it in your backpack – you know, the one that said, “If I am lost, please call my mom at…” – only in Chinese.  Carrying the business card of our hostels has also been invaluable, and we highly recommend it no matter what country you are traveling in.

It has also been the case that we have been sought out by English-speaking locals anxious to practice their skills and share their culture more times in the past two weeks than in the six months prior.  In Guilin, we met John, an English tutor who spent a few hours with us walking around the beautiful lakes and chatting about what it is like to be a young entrepreneur starting a business in China.  In the hostels we’ve stayed in, we’ve often been asked by staff to correct vocabulary and grammar errors.  We’ve also been the recipients of cheerful “hellos!” and smiles as strangers on the street practice their greetings.

We have found that most communication is nonverbal, and the Chinese have been extremely friendly and helpful even when they don’t speak any English. While biking around the Yangshuo countryside on our way to the Dragon Bridge, we stopped to consult our highly inadequate map.  The rocky dirt paths crisscrossed through the rice paddies in all directions; the map showed one straight line directly to the bridge.  Within a minute, a man on a motorbike approached to help.  He spoke no English, but through a series of hand gestures and head shaking he let us know that he was going to the bridge and offered to lead us there.  He’d ride along ahead of us, waiting at each intersection for us to catch up.  We never would have found the bridge without him. A little charades can go a long way.  My sister-in-law Jenn, a charades master, would have no trouble getting around here.

And there is Chinglish, perhaps the best and definitely the most entertaining aspect of the language barrier.  Our first encounter with Chinglish was at the Shenzhen railway station, listening to the translated train announcements:  This train will be leaving in…no time at all.  Please, all passengers get on board. While the word “immediately” is what was meant, it just cannot compete with the current translation when it comes to the amusement factor.  It has been nearly impossible to travel around China without finding some funny sign or announcement that brings huge smiles to our faces.  Thailand might be the land of a thousand smiles, but for English speakers, China is the land of a thousand giggles.

Stay tuned for The Truth About Travel in China – Part Two: Food

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