Find Your Grow-Zone!

Happy Birthday Bob Marley!

Jamaicans around the world, rasta men and women, and people who believe in equality and love for humanity are celebrating the Earthstrong of Bob Nesta Marley!  Happy bday Bob!

The World is as BIG or as small as You Make It.

If you ever wondered how to travel without leaving your own home, you might want to speak to an awesome group of kids from around the globe featured in a Sundance Short Film with the title of this article, and recently featured on Upworthy.  

Thanks to some incredible teachers, and their own interest and participation, they've been making the world a smaller place, pulling themselves closer to one another.  Once a week, they are given time to connect and communicate with students around the same age from different cities and countries across the globe.  They sometimes speak the same language, and sometimes they'll use interpreters.  They share pictures and videos of where they are from and what they like to do.  

What they have is better than any generic movie one could see in the theater; they are essentially virtual pen pals.  These students have a unique "tour guide"-type system that shows them around the world through the perspective of other students their own age from every corner of the planet.  It is beautiful to see their connections, their smiles, and their stories.  I love hearing their honest questions to complete strangers and the answers that bring them closer, until they become friends.  They've never met in person, but they know more about one another than some of their own neighbors probably do.  It is a beautiful and shocking reminder:

The world is as big or as small as you make it.

See the film on Upworthy to get the full impact.

Get Hyped, Your City Is Awesome!

Small city, Rochester, NY beat out every other city in the nation to win the title of "Most Hyped" leading up to the Superbowl...and their (Buffalo Bills) home team isn't even in it.  What makes Rochester so hyped?

It's a small city but there is a lot of good stuff going on.  Rochester, and it's larger neighbor, Buffalo, are cities in New York State that are often overlooked or brushed aside in the shadow of their world-renowned distant cousin to the southeast.  That doesn't stop their residents from getting hyped every game, every season, every year for their sports teams to win out.  It seems that it's not just for the home team that Rochester gets hyped, though.  They may not win the Superbowl this year, but they won the Superbowl Halftime Show...and that's a pretty good consolation prize for fans of a team that didn't make the playoffs.

Still hatin' on lil' old Rochester?  Appreciate your hometown.  There is beauty in every place and everyone if you'll only take the time to get hyped about it!  This Pepsi video of their free-ganza in the winning city is sure to give you a glimpse at how great a city can be when it gets pumped for something bigger than itself.

Thank you, Pepsi, for putting Rochester and its fans in the spotlight 

(it probably didn't hurt that the Bills colors match your logo...)

P.S. Go Bills!

Things we miss about traveling...

Here is a good list of 14 things every traveler misses when they return home.  Definitely not the full list but a good start, for sure!  I'd only disagree with sleeping in.  Though I love sleeping in, I wish I ddi it less when I'm traveling so I could pack more adventure into every second!

My favorite two are "meeting new people" and "getting lost."  I've found that when you combine the two, it's the best way to create lifelong friendships and to get to know the best parts of a place!

Lost...with direction

Never fear if you're feeling lost...we're all lost!  Just find your direction :)

Lower Airfare Near the Witching Hour?

Totally in the experimental stage still...but for the past two-three weeks when searching for airfares, they were almost always cheaper when I looked late at night (between 9pm and 12am EST) than when I searched during the daytime at the same flights.

By waiting until nighttime to buy, the price drop was significant going from as high as $346 to as low as $211 for a one way ticket, which is obviously an even larger gap if you need two of them.  Since a lot of airlines are changing over to an equal-equal pricing system, where you even buy your round trip tickets by combining individual one-ways, it's worth thinking about this daytime vs. late night buying timetable.  So if you're searching, try it for yourselves, and let me know if you guys are getting the same results!