We were working late the other night at HOP & JAUNT’s office in the warehouse district of downtown New Orleans. There was a crawfish boil going on at the bar next door, but other than that it was a pretty quiet night. Suddenly, we heard this loud crash outside, and then roar of cheers and laughter. We jumped up from our computers and ran outside.

Sure enough there was a wreck outside. Some poor guy in a van got hit by a police car. Fortunately, the only thing injured was the police officer’s pride. The bar crowd got a big kick out of that.

John’s goal was to start this past week with creating an illustration of what he saw around town everyday. Luckily we’ve been swamped with work and illustrating for clients this past week, the downside is that he’s not quite able to create a drawing a day as hoped. But here’s the first couple, let’s encourage John to keep it up!

Day 1: View From Our Office The Day After The BSC Championship

Day 2: Morning Commute Sight: Tall Bike Guy & Smart Car Lady

Day 3: Its a nice, warm January day. And sometimes the people in the hotel across the street don’t realize we can see into their windows.

Guest Post by Charlotte Piper, a panelist in New Orleans for Meet, Plan, Go! Here’s a couple of short stories she’s written about her travels. You can find out more about the New Orleans event on the Facebook page we’ve created! We’re aiming to create a travel community in the city, not just for the one event.

“Why I Went”

As I sat in my desk chair, May 2009, disliking the project I had been assigned and feeling overwhelmed by work, I promised myself that in a year’s time I would leave my job and comfortable reality for an adventure.

The decision to go traveling was easy. I knew I enjoyed it, I had been before, and I had this undeniable urge to see and experience different parts of the world. The hard part was leaving.  What would it mean to leave my job, family, friends, familiar city, and altogether “normal” path that school and society had prepared me for? What would be the financial and overall life consequences to my decision?

I experienced a roller-coaster of emotions preparing for my trip, at once feeling like I could write my own rules while doubting my choices and conviction. The greatest help was the support I received from friends, coworkers, and even strangers each affirming what I believed: I had to get out there and do this before looking back one day and regretting never taking the plunge.

In the end, I left almost exactly a year later with a one-way ticket to Asia on the first of hopefully many journeys abroad.

A top travel experience for me is SCUBA diving

“ Whale Shark, Red Sea, Egypt”

A top travel experience for me is SCUBA diving in warm waters filled with incredibly diverse underwater life. On a trip to Egypt in August 2009, I went on a day trip from Dahab to the Ras Muhammad National Park off the cost of Sharm el-Shiekh.

The focus of the dive package was the Thistlegorm, a 1942 WWII transport ship that sunk in the waters off the Egyptian coast. Dive groups are frequently brought there for the day to explore the outside and inside of the wreck. The sensation of being 100ft down so close to a part of history lost years ago was amazing. The interior of the ship was filled with trucks and motorcycles, rusted over and covered with algae, as schools of brightly colored fish swam from deck to deck making the ship their home.

The third dive of the day was meant to be a little bonus-dive, a cool down from the excitement of the wreck. In groups of five we entered the dive site only to be signaled by our dive master: flat hand perpendicular to forehead—meaning shark. Swimming towards us was the most beautiful creature I have ever seen, a 20ft long whale shark slowly undulating in our direction from out of the deep. It swam around us and out of sight, only to return at the end of our dive watching us with heightened curiosity. Back on the boat moments later, tanks and flippers removed, the 14 divers on board rejoiced in the experience and bonded over one of the best dives of our lives.

On October 18th, 2011 in the city that never stops dancing, eating,  singing , and mostly drinking we’ll be hosting Meet, Plan, Go! Meet, Plan, Go! will be hosting their second annual nationwide event in 17 cities to inspire people to fulfill their career break and long-term travel dreams. The event will offer participants the opportunity to MEET inspirational speakers and like-minded travelers; get motivation, contacts and resources necessary to PLAN the trip of a lifetime; and start taking concrete steps forward to GO on that global adventure. Meet, Plan, Go! is a nationwide event created to inspire and encourage Americans to take a career break, a sabbatical, or just to go out and travel for an extended time. The idea being, that taking time in your life to explore and live in another country and culture is not a career breaker but a career and life enhancer!

Tickets are on sale now! Limited space available so reserve your tickets today!

Go check out the facebook page we’ve created for the New Orleans group, and if you’re not in the Big Easy check out an event close by!

We have some amazing panelists gathered for this event, let me introduce them to you!

Meet our Panelists!

Kelly Lewis: Founder of Go! Girl Guides, Kelly is a writer, a dreamer and an avid traveler. Originally from Hawaii, Kelly lived in New Zealand for a year before traversing through South America and the South Pacific. After a prophetic dream in late 2010, she started Go! Girl Guides, the world’s first series of travel guidebooks made just for solo female travelers. Go! Girl Guides: Thailand debuts this fall.

http://www.gogirlguides.com

Twitter: @gogirlguides

FB: facebook.com/gogirlguides

Kirsten Alana: is driven by an intense wanderlust, never feeling more at home than when boarding a plane or living out of a suitcase. She is addicted to the butterflies that occur right before an unknown, becomes known!

It wasn’t always like that, at 28 during bitter divorce proceedings, she decided she would change her life for the better and follow her wanderlust wherever the wind blew. More than a year of traveling has taken her to Mexico, France, the Bahamas, Argentina, Uruguay, western Canada and a dozen US states. A career and life break has helped her grow and sharpened her focus. Now, she plans to make a home in NYC where flights are easy to catch and the wind is very multi-cultural. She writes and shares her photographs at “Aviators and a Camera” hoping to inspire others to realize how important travel is to a well-rounded life.

http://www.aviatorsandacamera.com/
http://www.kirstenalana.com/

Twitter: @kirstenalana

FB: facebook.com/kirstenalanatravels

G+: gplus.to/kirstenalana

Charlotte Piper: Charlotte grew up in Canada, the United States and the UK. She believes international travel is an important educational experience and has prioritized it in her life. In May 2010, she left her corporate job in NYC to begin an open-ended, solo backpacking adventure. In 7 months, she made her way through 10 countries, mainly in South East Asia. Upon her return, Charlotte worked as business development manager at Wanderfly, a travel start-up based in NYC. She is currently developing a personal website of travel photos and journal entries.

Jordan Franklin: he would rather be traveling than doing anything else. With a degree in History of Latin America from Tulane University, he spent two years teaching English in Guadalajara, Mexico, is fluent in Spanish, and loves all things Latino. In 2009, while working for a law firm in New Orleans, he started a blog with a friend on politics and current events. What started as a way for them to vent their frustration at the rat race turned into a small media company focusing on digital publications. He left the law firm, and is currently studying for a masters in English at the University of New Orleans. When he graduates next spring, he plans to return to Mexico and make his way towards Chile and Argentina over the next several years, with no particular path or plan in mind.

Ryan Michael Murphy: Shortly after graduating from university, Ryan taught English in Harbin, China. He backpacked extensively through China and Europe before a foray to law school in Boston. He later returned to China as a Contributing Editor for China Economic Review magazine in Shanghai. He has settled in his birthplace, New Orleans.

Twitter: @nouveausouth

And I’ll be hosting this event:

Alyson Kilday grew up as a traveler/expat all of her life. Her parents were “corporate gypsies” and sailors, having sailed the Pacific with an infant and a toddler, ultimately ending up in Japan when she was 3. What was supposed to be a short visit turned into 10 years of living in Nagasaki. After leaving Japan they continued to travel and live in Buenos Aires, New Zealand, Philippines, and the Caribbean.

After saving up for about a year, she and John quit their “good” corporate jobs to go backpacking and hitchhiking on sailboats across the Caribbean to Colombia for nine months. They started Hop & Jaunt as both a travel blog and as a platform to showcase their designs. And freelance work allowed them to extend their trip much longer, and at a pace that they enjoyed. They now use their design and marketing background to help brand other travelers, small businesses, and non-profits locally and internationally.

Website: Hop and Jaunt  |  Twitter: @hopandjaunt  |  Facebook: Hop and Jaunt

Are you looking to change up your life and needing a little inspiration and encouragement? Then join us! Let’s start the movement towards Americans taking time to travel and learn about the world around them. If you’re in New Orleans on the 18th we’d love to meet you!

A few weeks ago Alyson and I had an unique and amazing opportunity. The chance to view our city of New Orleans from aboard the world’s largest airship.

The Farmer’s Airship

The Farmers Airship Eureka is a 246 foot Zeppelin owned and operated by Airship Ventures of California. It is the only commercial passenger airship in the United States, and one of only two Zeppelins flying in the world.

Awaiting Take off

Releasing the bow line.

Take off is as smooth as going up in an elevator.

The Airship had just arrived in New Orleans to film the Zurich Golf Classic. Its ability to hover in one place makes it ideal for filming sporting events, but also for observation and scientific research. It also allowed for some great views and amazing pictures. So here are some of the incredible sights of New Orleans from 1200 feet*.

A Beautiful Day for Flying.

The aft window offered an amazing panoramic view.

Spencer Spellman, the Traveling Philosopher was also on the guest list.

Audobon Park

The Garden District. The Pilot kindly flew over our house.

The Superdome

Canal Street

The Natchez Steamboat

Mississippi River

Jackson Square and St. Louis Cathedral

The French Quarter

Hotel Monteleone

The Jazz and Heritage Festival is about to begin.

The Fairgrounds

Alyson getting what the crew calls “Zep Head”.

Eureka is currently on its Covering Communities tour of North America. It may be coming to a location near you, in which case, you can grab at the chance to take a bird’s eye view of your own city. For dates and tickets, visit Farmers Airship.

*an estimate.