Do you want to live in Hawai’i for free?! Um… maybe. The answer to this question isn’t as simple as you might think. I lived and worked on Maui for 2 months by WWOOFing. To refresh your memories, WWOOF stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, and provides people with the chance to take part in work-trade programs all around the world. In exchange for room and board, volunteers work part-time as farmers. I’ve written about this program and other alternative ways to travel the world before. This time around, though, I want to talk specifically about my experiences WWOOFing, and share with you the pros and cons of…
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Quality Content, Dream Jobs, and the BlogHouse
Lately, I’ve been thinking about content creation, content creators, and what I want to do with my life. I started thinking seriously about these topics earlier this month at TBEX, and, more importantly, at the BlogHouse. You probably remember me talking about TBEX — the largest travel blogging conference in the world, which bills itself as “the future of new media” — and Navigate Media Group‘s BlogHouse — an opportunity for up-and-coming junior bloggers (like me!) to live with established senior bloggers for three days of intensive group workshops and one-on-one mentoring. If you don’t remember me talking about TBEX and the BlogHouse, you clearly don’t follow me on twitter,…
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Guest Post: Pampering Yourself Turkish Style
(This guest post is from Katie Little, who was my backpacking buddy for three weeks, and, as such, appears frequently on the blog. When she’s not busy being written about on An Opportune Moment, she’s working at an animal hospital, practicing her sign language, or trying to convince herself that teaching English in South Korea for a year isn’t a big, scary commitment.) I was a bit apprehensive when Emma said she wanted to go to a hamam as we were throwing around ideas for what we wanted to accomplish in Istanbul. (My list consisted of markets, tea, and lokum, all of which we experienced in abundance.) I had never…
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This Tea Tuesday, It’s Actually Ti Tuesday
I decided not to write a new post on Sunday because it was Father’s Day, and, if you don’t know why that matters, please see the previous blog entry. You don’t even have to read the post, you can just look at the title. I’m back today because it’s Tuesday, and on Tuesdays I drink tea. Well… I drink tea everyday, but I write about drinking tea on Tuesdays. Except this post isn’t about drinking tea. Oops. It’s about a different plant, which I encountered while living and working on an organic farm on Maui, called “ti.” And, yes, pronounced “tea.” So, it’s Ti Tuesday. (Ha!) And, for Ti Tuesday,…
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Let’s talk about my dead dad
(Note: As the title would suggest, this post is not about travel, nor tea, but rather, my dead dad. If you’re interested, read on, but if you were looking for travel or tea, come back next week.) Tomorrow is Friday, June 14th. The two-year anniversary of my dad’s death. And this Sunday is father’s day, which is not a large, in-your-face holiday, but its closeness to my dad’s death feels a bit liked being kicked when I’m already down. It’s been a rough week. Every task has seemed wildly difficult, and I’ve been on edge. My mother and E have been patient while I’ve stormed around the house on the…
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Turkish Tea: Dark, Rich, and Economically Sustainable
Maybe you’ve heard of Turkish coffee, known for being thick, dark, and rich in flavor. Well, Turkish tea is actually quite similar. Traditionally made in two kettles, which are stacked on top of one another, the larger bottom kettle is the one that is filled with water. Once boiled, the water is poured into the smaller top kettle, which contains several spoonfuls of tea leaves. This makes for a strong cuppa, so some of the boiled water is saved in the larger kettle, to be used by each individual tea drinker to dilute the beverage to their preferred tea strength. At the end of the process, it is acceptable to…
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Istanbul: First Impressions and a note about the demonstrations
I visited Istanbul last November. In light of recent political events, I’m apprehensive of writing about my time in this city. I don’t want to trivialize what’s happening by writing casually about my experiences as a tourist, but I also don’t want to skip over this part of my trip or act as if traveling to Turkey is a terrifying feat. It’s not. Even now. Unsurprisingly, according to Turkish Travel Blog, tourism to the country has been largely unaffected by the demonstrations. Please see their post for more information, and take note of the headline: do not cancel your holiday in Turkey. If you’re looking for information about the demonstrations,…
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Travel Linkspiration: May 2013
During May, I roadtripped through the Southeastern United States, spent a weekend in rural Maine, and visited Canada for the second time in my life. I took a photo of this Moose Mountie in Toronto’s CN Tower. He looks like a fun guy, no? In case you missed it, here’s what else happened around the internet in May: Ever in Transit ponders how travelers hope to make deep connections with places and people, but admits this isn’t always possible. Remember what I learned in Amsterdam? Well, Ali’s Adventures learned a similar lesson and explains how she’s ignoring what she should do while traveling in favor of what she wants to…
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DAVID’s TEA is trendy and I am an old grump
Last week I was in Toronto at TBEX (the largest travel blogging conference in the world) and the #BlogHouse where I spent a lot of time talking to people about travel blogging. And tea. Every time I told someone about my blog, I would say, I write about travel — my personal travel narrative to be exact — and I also write about tea. Because TBEX is a travel blogging conference no one is impressed by how many countries I’ve visited or my chosen lifestyle, but everyone was surprised when I mentioned tea. And everyone had an opinion. My conversations with other bloggers went a lot like this: “You blog…
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That Time I Went to Canada for Lunch
I’m in Toronto right now for TBEX (the largest travel blogging conference in the world) and the BlogHouse, and while this is my first visit to Ontario, it isn’t the first time I’ve been to Canada. Nope, I’ve been once before. I got lunch. In Fall 2011, my brother, Ian (who wrote a guest post for me 2 weeks ago), and I spent a weekend in Carrabassett Valley, Maine. We own a condo there, which we inherited when my father passed away two years ago. Carrabassett Valley is a small town in Western Maine, which is known for one thing: it’s home to Sugarloaf Ski Area, a large, destination mountain.…
