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.

WE LOVE TO TRAVEL! We love meeting new people, learning about other cultures, trying new foods and hearing new types of music. It’s part of what makes this world so great. We’ve also been fortunate enough to make some really good friends in the places we’ve visited. People in general seem to be warm, friendly and helpful; however, on the rare occasion you may cross paths with a “ne’er do well scoundrel“.

I was thinking (and laughing) the other day about the time I was pick-pocketed in Colombia. It was funny to me that when I was being robbed I had absolutely no idea. And later when I did discover my missing money I instantly knew the exact moment when it had happened. Those pesky pick-pockets are true masters of their craft. I even met a man who had both pockets picked while his hands were still in them.

I got to talking with other travelers about their experiences. This inspired me to create a helpful little infographic blog illustrating some common pickpocket schemes. So, for all you travelers and wanderers out there, here are some things to look out for.

The Point and Grab:

This method was made known to me by my South African chum, Otto.

In this two man operation, the victim is momentarily distracted by the first thief while the second thief grabs their goods. This method usually works best in crowded tourist areas, but it’s also useful for stealing your friend’s french fries.

A. The mark (or targeted person) is attempting to take a photograph of a friend, landmark, or event.
B. Thief #1 diverts the mark’s attention by tapping on their shoulder.
C. The 2nd thief stands close by to make the grab.

A. The mark turns to see who has been nudging him.
B. Thief #1 has already begun walking away unassumingly.
C. Thief #2 springs into action and grabs the mark’s camera while they are distracted.

A. Thief #2 then runs and attempts to disappear into the crowd.
B. The victim is surprised and hesitates long enough for the thief to make a get-away.

The Disappearing Act

Most thefts will happen in crowded streets or at events with many people, but keep a look out for your valuables even in quiet, deserted cafes.

A. The mark is enjoying her coffee in a quiet relaxing cafe. Her mind is occupied with thoughts of her trip.
B. A young well-dressed woman sits behind her. Based on her appearance, she doesn’t seem the type that would steal.
C. The mark has carelessly hung her purse from the back of the chair.

A. The mark is still enjoying her coffee.
B. When the time is right the thief will quietly and carefully reach back and take the purse.
C. The thief then sly conceals the stolen purse in her larger bag.

A. The victim will eventually turn around and realize her bag has disappeared.
B. By this time, the thief has long been gone.

Stealing Money From a Blind Man

This is how I was pick-pocketed while enjoying the Independence Day festivals in Cartagena. Luckily for me, I had left all my valuables back in my room and only brought enough money for a couple of beers. I never even knew I was pick-pocketed until much later. And other than this singular incident, we never had any problems in Colombia.

A. The mark (or me) is watching the parades or contests in a crowd of people. I personally was distracted by the contestants for the Miss Colombia Pageant during the swim suit competition.
B. Thief #1 is lingering close by and unknown.

A. Thief #2 runs through the crowd with a can of spray foam. He douses the victim in the face and momentarily blinds him. This doesn’t seem unusually because the foam is sold by vendors as a toy, and everyone is spraying foam at each other.
B. The victim attempts to block the foam and clear his eyes.
C. Meanwhile, Thief #1 silently steals a person’s money or wallet.

A. The victim is left wiping his face clean of foam and unaware of the robbery.
B. Both thieves discreetly walk away.

So there you go. A few things to consider when going out and about with your valuables on your person. If anyone has uncovered any other pick-pocket methods let me know. I would love to add some more to my collection.

*As of today (June 9th 2010) we are are affiliate sellers of her book, we wrote this review before that in full honesty and we only endorse products we like ourselves. If you would like a copy of her book just click here*
When we decided to chunk out our old life and start traveling we got a lot of questions. Most of which challenged our mental sanity, as in them thinking we were insane was actually driving us insane! But after the initial shock wore off most people were interested in learning more about the actual process, HOW did we do it? It’s a tough question, people assume we’re somehow secretly rich…the fact that we had no fancy cell phone, no cable tv, didn’t have any fancy new toys should have been a sign… but the truth is much more mundane. We saved every penny we could for about a year and a half. It’s not easy for people who have gone traveling to clearly express and answer many of the questions posed by the curious.

This is where Stephanie’s new e-book “Art Of Solo Travel: A Girls’ Guide” really kicks in. It’s an easy to read, frank, and matter-of-fact style gives readers the confidence and answers needed to start planning their own big adventure. She writes from her experience, thus the focus is on female solo travel, but if you’re the other half planning on solo travel, or just inspiration to make the big jump into world travel Stephanie’s guide is a good place to start.

What makes this guide not only useful but fun to read is the varied amount of info that’s offered. Check out some of the topics she covers: (not actual title of the chapters but paraphrasing by me)

- What To Pack

- How To Actually Save That Dough For Traveling (VERY TRUE)

- How She Traveled The WORLD For Less Than AUD$15,000 (That’s about US$12,300!)

- How To Be A Better Flyer

- How To Use The Ever Growing Couchsurfing Network

- A Guide To Eating/Drinking Alone (This is very insightful for those planning to travel alone!)

If you’re an “un-average girl” or boy for that matter who’s either planning of traveling the world, or just curious enough to want to find out more go check out Stephanie Lee’s book now available from our friends at Indie Podcast. We don’t normally do promotions, nor do we even have advertisers on our page, so you know that we’ve not only read the guide but like it enough to post it on our site. But don’t take our word for it, go check it out yourself!!

Hi everyone!!

We’ve just launched our travel gear store! It’s been a creative outlet and fun side project for us and we wanted to share what we’ve made with you.

Alien Attack! Be Prepared With A Cool Tee

You will probably notice right off the bat, with the aliens and retro model shots, that this is not a typical travel store. The truth is this is our playground that we want to invite you in. While traveling we were disappointed with both the overall quality and lack of originality in the destination souvenir t-shirts. So while out roaming about, we began sketching ideas for shirts we wished we could have gotten. This site is where we will be showcasing the designs.

The store is a work in progress, we still have a sketchbook full of ideas and designs to put in. But we’re eager to get the feedback from our fellow traveler what they think! We are creating a contest (posted shortly) for our fellow travel bloggers where we will be giving away the TBEX 10 NY shirt. The rules will be quite simple, submit your top 5 unique things to do while in New York and from the entries we will choose the top five we think are the best, then we will have a poll on our facebook page for everyone to vote on the #1 top 5 unique things to do in NY!

TBEX 10 NY Shirt To Rock The City In

We’re working out the details and will post the official contest on our blog today.

It was a couple of weeks before Christmas when John and I decided to heed the call of his family and visit them for the holidays. We managed to find a decent deal flying out of Cartagena (not the cheapest place to fly in and out of) and as a bonus due to the flight schedule we had an entire day to spend in Bogota. The catch was that we had not told a soul, our visit was to be a complete surprise to his family. The only one who knew was his cousin Griffin, who we had arranged to pick us up at the airport. In order to achieve maximum impact we orchestrated the arrival to be on Christmas Eve, at night when we knew the entire extended family would be sitting around the tree at John’s childhood home.

Flying To Bogota

We flew out of Cartagena without a hitch and in a few hours found ourselves racing through city highways and traffic as our yellow cab wound it’s way through Bogota to our hostel.

Airport Vendor in Bogota

Handy Translations For Tourist In Bogota Cab

We arrived in the hostel by 3:30pm and we had to be at the airport no later than 5:30 am the next morning. With such limited time we wanted to hit the city fast to see as much as possible. After checking in we realized a few things about our immediate surroundings: 1.) Our hostel, the Cranky Croc, was the nicest backpacker hostel we have been in, and 2.) It was CHILLY in Bogota at 60F! It was a little worrisome that it was already feeling freezing to us at 60F when where we were going in the U.S., even though in the South, was a nippy 30-40F! I guess spending 8 months where the temperature never dropped under 70F had seriously damaged our sense of hot and cold.

Our hostel, the Cranky Croc, was created by a backpacker who fell in love with Colombia and wanted to create a hostel where all the needs he had identified while traveling where put into practice. The results are quite nice.

Cranky Croc Hostel

Aly at the Cranky Croc Hostel

Our Room At Cranky Croc Hostel

The hostel itself is in the historic university area of the city, easy walking distances from most of the major sights and sounds of the capital. The building is historically colonial in style with several room options. We opted for a private room with a shared bathroom as we were only going to be there one night. As it turns out, since the bathroom was right next to our room it made no difference if we had paid more for a private loo. There were several communal areas, a large communal kitchen, a TV room, and an computer area with several computers available, of course the entire hostel offers wi-fi as well. Though we would have loved to have enjoyed the amenities, such as the bed to take a nap in we only had precious few hours until our boarding time and Bogota was waiting!

The first thing we did was dig through our bags and locate the warmest clothes we could. I had carried a couple pairs of jeans and a North Face jacket with me since leaving on the trip. Throughout the trip we have been getting rid of any extra clothes or items to lighten our load, and every time John would look at me as if I was crazy to keep the jeans and jacket when it was almost always over 80F in the daytime. Now was the chance to finally use these clothes I’ve been lugging around! Though slightly musty smelling the jeans and jacket were a life saver. Oh and it was also the first time since leaving that I wore shoes, literally I had worn my flip flops almost everyday, except when I wore nothing at all! Needless to say I did not even have a pair of socks. But at least I was now ready to go exploring.

The city of Bogota has quite a different vibe from Cartagena. Where  as Cartagena retains it’s laid back feelings from it’s Caribbean roots Bogota inherited it’s look and feel more from it’s European heritage.

Narrow Streets Lead To Mountains in Bogota

Cobble Stone Streets To The Mountains

Cathedral In Bogota

Plaza Buildings

The Archbishopric Cathedral of Bogotá

Plaza Bolivar

Colorful Church

Iglesia Nuestra Señora del Carmen

With the first chilly and overcast day we’ve seen in so long combined with all of the Christmas decorations we were finally starting to get into the Christmas spirit.

Aly in Plaza Bolivar

John at Plaza Bolivar

The main plaza in downtown Bogota, Plaza Bolivar, was decorated with a giant Christmas tree surrounded by a handful of Santas, Christmas Llamas, Santa Shrek, and yes, even Barney.

Sunflower Christmas in Bogota

Santa and His Red Nosed Llama

John, Santa, and Barney

Yep, Barney. Haven’t seen him in a while. The Santas were all over the place and each had a photographer with them, and for a set price will let you take a family photo with him and the tree. We were not willing to pay for a photo at first. So half jokingly we tried posing casually behind the santas, but their handlers were keeping a sharp eye out for us “gawkers” and shooed us away quickly. We ended up coughing up the couple of pesos and took our first official Christmas card photo with the beautiful Christmas llama.

Official Chirstmas Card From The Crew

Red Nosed Llama

We passed by the Presidential Palace and the motionless guard agreed to let me pose by him.

Presidential Palace

Serious Business

As we started walking through the narrow city streets, with views leading to the mountians, we noticed another major difference between the two Colombian cities. The city walls were covered in a wide range of street art, everything from minor taggings and graffiti to major murals where sprayed onto almost every surface of the street. Though out on the highway the graffiti was typical names and gang names. However in the center of town, or La Candelaria area, the skills and artistic talents obviously rose. I wonder if the art college being near by has anything to do with it.

Being graphic designers and doodle fanatics, John and I enjoyed the sprayed streets as much as if we were in an art gallery. Even a local store had gotten cleaver with their guerilla marketing with their line of Cliche designs. We fell for it, however the store did not actually sell the t-shirts with these great designs on them. Too bad, we are always on the lookout for original designs while traveling to pick up. That is why in the newest re-incarnation of our site we are now working on we’ll be adding our own travel inspired t-shirts designs. So do keep an eye out for up coming changes to the site!

Cliche's Graffiti Guerilla Marketing

A Graffiti Mural

Shadow Heart

Street Art Chicken

My Favorite. It Shows Street Urchins Looking Through The Doorway

City Art & John

That evening, after a quick dinner and a little rest we headed back out into the city looking for more sites, sounds, and a night cap or two. As it was a few days before Christmas the city was in a festive mood. Along the main through ways of the city the roads were blocked off for pedestrian traffic,  street vendors, and performers. As we wondered through the crowds we decided to try and spend the last of our coins, as it turned out John had enough to buy himself some pop corn while I spent my change on a very un-Christmasy performance by this man.

Creepy But Funny Performance

He is a “living statue,” popular in many cities but I had never seen one dressed as the killer from Scream before, when I gave him his money he began moving and soon had me in a choke hold. John’s popcorn was good but I got a memory that will make me scratch my head for a life time.

Native Colombian Band

When the chill of the night began to get to us we headed back into the university neighborhoods and sure enough found ourselves in a warm pub. There is an alley there, Callejon del Embudo (Funnel Alley), that is hardly more than a car width wide. This small winding cobble street is lined with tiny bars, cafes,and eateries. Each one was about the same size with a hand full of tables and chairs but what made us smile was that each had worked hard to distinguish themselves with the decor and mostly with the music. Did you fancy a drink with hard rock playing? No, then step three steps further down the road and listen to Reggae, Pop, and even Colombian rock. A niche for every college kid out there.

Warming Up By Fake Fire

Night Cap For A Chilly Night

Last Night In Colombia

Funky Self Portrait

After our nightcap we sadly had to bid Bogota farewell for now, though we had only an afternoon in this fascinating city it captivated our imaginations. Three hours later our cab was waiting for us outside and once again we were zooming through the city back to the airport, much faster without the traffic.

Early Morning Bogota

We walked in expecting the two hour international travel window would be more than enough time and ran smack into the line winding around the lobby. Isn’t flying during the holidays just the best? The man at the check-in counter told us that there was a issue with our tickets. He was going to have to take our passports and leave us for a min….oh no…never a good thing to happen, specially when no one in the world even knows where we are! Luckily he came back after ten heart stopping minuets, and gave us nearly 200.000 pesos! That’s about $100! Ironically we had spent the last few days budgeting to make sure we had no pesos left…

Already Missing Colombia

A Tired International Traveler

As we were about to board the plane the attendant asked John and I to step aside. At this point I was thinking maybe we won a car or something equally good since our luck seemed to be on the rise. This time however the momentary fantasy was crashed when she said ” please wait here until the police arrive.” This comment and the sight of our luggage out in front of us no longer checked in made us gulp aloud. We had just bought this cheap suitcase in Cartagena, on “Contraband Alley.” You can imagine the thoughts running through our heads as we are pulled aside in Colombia waiting for the police as our luggage is pulled aside! The policemen arrived and asked if they could inspect the luggage, “ofcourse!” we nearly yelled. I tired to make a joke in Spanish about buying it on the streets but the policemen were not in a jovial mood. After leafing through every page of every notebook and sketch book in our luggage he took out a ice pick and began poking our suitcase. We had bought the suitcase thinking that the lock worked, however it was such a bad imitation suitcase that when you tried to zipp it shut in the locking position it left the bag half open. So it was unlocked now, we were having visions of someone tampering with our bags. Visions of Colombian prisons, having to prove our innocents, and realizing that the phone call would definitly ruin the family’s Christmas! After the police had stabbed our poor bag for a while they seemed to change their minds about the whole situation and curtly told us to go board the plane. Wow, what an intense moment.

Flying Back To The United States

Safely on the airplane we settled down for our trip back to the U.S. and concentrate on the next item on our itenerary. We were headed to Andalusia, Alabama to surprise his family on Christmas Eve!