It can be a real adventure ... having a life.

  Sedona!

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The headline for this blog is a quote from "The World According to Garp." It has always stuck with me. And now, as I pursue adventure after adventure through travel, I often find myself smiling.

The whole idea of pursuing adventure through travel got stuck in my head when I was a kid. In fact, I wanted be an international journalist (thank you, All the President's Men).  I wanted to report from Russia and travel the world. 

Life had other plans, of course. I had a great career in journalism, politics, public relations and nonprofit leadership. And, in a move NO ONE would have ever predicted, I took about a decade off to be home with the kids when they were little.   So this affected the travel budget, as you could imagine. 

I didn't really start pursuing the travel dreams until the kids were done with school. Since then, I have been to Paris, Rome, Venice, Florence, Prague, Lisbon, Seville, Vienna, Salzburg and too many other cities to name.  I have done a roadtrip down the coast to the Redwood Forest, driven through the national parks in Utah and Colorado, drove up the East Coast to Maine and done many, many hikes.  One of the greatest blessings in my life has been how much I have been able to travel in the last seven years. And a couple of times, I traveled with my daughters! 

 (me on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon)

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Now that I am a college faculty member at the University of Washington (another lifelong dream that came true!), I look forward with great joy each year to the Public Interest Communications Summer Institute.  This is a gathering of people I have come to adore. They are professors from Florida, Texas, Minnesota, California and more. And year after year we meet to talk about issues facing our field, grapple with things like the decline of trust in higher education, etc.  And, we connect with old friends.  I always build a trip around it, and this year we met in Phoenix.

 At the wonderful Tlaquepaque Village in Sedona

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Sure, the trip was not seamless. I lost my suitcase (more on that in my earlier blog...). That really challenged my resilient spirit.  But I survived and saw amazing places, including the Grand Canyon, spectacular Sedona, the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert and even Winslow, Arizona (and if you don't know why I visited there, I urge you to listen to The Eagles singing Take It Easy.)  I even squeezed in a Scottsdale visit to my old boss/friend Elaine Zielinski, whom I worked for in the federal government 30 years ago. 

What a trip.  

I keep thinking of those studies that show people stop traveling when they age. It becomes overwhelming, too challenging for some.  I have a lot of traveling to catch up on. I have many miles to go before I sleep. And I love every mile.

 (me with Elaine Zielinski, who ran the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's Oregon/Washington office at the start of my career, way before women rose to success very often in land management agencies. She was a great boss. More importantly, she and I are still friends.) 

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And as I hang at the airport in Phoenix, waiting to go home to my little island, I find myself thinking of things like:

- gathering with dear friends and mentors and talking about how to be a better professor in these challenging times;

- sitting on the rim of the Grand Canyon in a hastily purchased Target t-shirt (thank you for the challenge, American Airlines!), laughing outloud because I finally made it there, regardless of the lack of a suitcase;

- looking at the spectacular red rocks of Sedona, which photos cannot adquately capture, knowing I will be back again;

- going to Winslow, Arizona, visiting the abandoned car on Route 66, checking out the Petrified Forest, seeing the adorable town of Jerome and its "ghost town" and other fun sidetrips.

 "Well, I'm a-standin' on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, and such a fine sight to see. It's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford slowin' down to take a look at me."

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Truly, Jenny in The World According to Garp was correct. And here's the whole quote:  "The thing is... to have a life before we die. It can be a real adventure... having a life."

I might not be a foreign correspondent.  But I am definitely covering some ground!

See you on my next trip!

Surviving bad travel karma

The last day has been... interesting.

Let's start with Seattle.  I was booked on American (I know, I always do Alaska or Delta.  Now I know why?).  I was ready to depart for my adventure at 11 a.m. when we learned there were plane problems. Everyone was booted from 11 am until a flight at 8 pm, which would have really affected my short vacation. So I asked to be put on another plane, and they switched me to Alaska, leaving at 1:45. 

That's when the fun began.  American made the arrangements and told me to go to Alaska (two terminals/subway away) to make sure it was all arranged.  I got there and no dice.  Alaska told me to go back and tell American it had not worked.  Two iterations followed, lots of walking and subway before I finally got it all squared away, after a lot of waiting in lines (I had to go to the back every time), lots of tense people, lots of tempers.  But I did it. I got on the Alaska flight.  But I decided to just go to Phoenix (intead of Flagstaff) so I would be closer to my vacation plans and take a rental car from there. So.... apparentlyl this was a bad move.  I got to Phoenix, but my bag didn't.  

By this point, I was pretty exhausted and at wit's end. The folks at Alaska were, as always, quite wonderful. I hit a Target so I had a couple of things to wear, got the last rental car and then drove for three hours on a dark twisty road.  I mean, really dark and twisty.  And it was a long drive and I was pretty tense.  But I got to my vacation just before midnight!  And, the host checking me in said, "You don't mind moths, do you?" Apparently they are having an infestation in Holbrook, AZ.  Friends know I am TERRIFIED of moths.  So at that point, I just burst out laughing.

                          This is the TeePees in the Petrified Forest

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Did someone not want me to take this trip?

This morning, I decided to start fresh and leave my hotel at 5:30, bound for adventure.  But my tire indicator came on.  So I found a gas station and fixed it, feeling quite proud of myself. I got to the Petrified Forest by 6:15, only to find it doesn't open until 8 a.m.  But I am happy to say, I spent that time hanging out with a shopkeeper and talking about polished rocks, one of my childhood passions.  

So things are looking up.

So.. now it is 24 hours and the bag is still bouncing back and forth somewhere between Flagstaff and Phoenix.  They are hoping to figure it all out so I can pick it up on Monday morning on my way to my conference.  I am definitely missing my hiking boots (thank goodness I was wearing sneakers on the plane), basic stuff, my glasses, etc. But it looks like I will have the bag Monday.

So... crisis is over (almost?). I am trying to find humor as I wash my clothes in the hotel sink and fight frustration. 

And this is where the surviving bad travel karma comes in.  We all have it at some point, right? A missed connection. A lost bag. Too many hours on our feet, surrounded by crabby people who have also spent too many hours on their feet.  How do we find a way to stay positive when your travel gets off on the wrong foot?

Here's one idea:  it's really not tragic.  

Yeah, I miss my suitcase. I miss my clothes and toiletries and the hiking boots and poles I brought for my adventure.  But there are people who NEVER get to travel.  And the people at Alaska were so lovely.  When they handed me the little emergency travel bag, I started crying. Because it was so nice to be with kind people

And I find myself thinking of why people STOP traveling. When people get older, they start having a tough time with setbacks, challenges, frustrations.  But I want to travel... a lot.  So I need to find a way to deal with it.  I want resilience to be my middle travel name.  .

And the show has gone on!  Today I covered the Petrified Forest, the Painted Desert and am now writing to you from the lobby of the glorious El Tovar Hotel, right on the rim of the Grand Canyon!  Seriously.  Looking out at the Grand Canyon was everything I imagined it would be.

And earlier today, I went to one of my places I have always dreamed of visiting! I went to "Standing on a Corner Park" in Winslow, Arizona.  And it was such a fine sight to see! (if you know, you know).  

 

Route 66 is all the rage here in Arizona.  You have placards, museums, baseball caps and lots of nostalgia. Since my sister and I watched WAY too much "Route 66" when we were kids, I gotta say it is pretty cool to jump in on the nostaliga.  Where is George Maharis when you need him?

Another extremely cool thing I have always wanted to visit is the old Studebaker, abandoned near the road and serving as a monument to Route 66.  It was pretty cool to see!

Tonight, I was talking to my lovely host here at the El Tovar, telling her my tale of woe about my suitcase.  She said, "Yeah, I lost a suitcase once.  They finally got it back to me two months later."  Nothing like a little perspective.

So.. the shot below is me at sunset next to the Grand Canyon.  I mean, really -- who cares about my suitcase? (well, I would care a bit less if my medicine wasn't in the suitcase, but that's a whole different story.)  Note to self: always have medicine and glasses in the carry-on.

But -- I am here. I am having my adventure.  I will have the suitcase I HOPE by Monday, and then the adventure will continue. 

And my advice to you all for travel?  Be intentional about what you put in your carry-on if you are a luggage checker like me.  Try not to be affected by all the anger. Try to say thanks to the customer service people out there. Try to enjoy and take time to look at the scenery.  Find the beauty.

And breathe.