#AdventWord #DARE - Thursday, December 10, 2015

Today's #AdventWord is #DARE
I LOVE this word! I offer to you Theodore Roosevelt's words:

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, 

because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

A little bug on a mountain overlook at St. Mary's, TN in June 2015.

I'm often struck by how small and fragile we humans are. Still, we have dared mighty things and continue to take those risks which advance humanity. 

Our very act of survival is daring! 

On a personal level, I have taken many risks which have brought me to today and I'm ever thankful I had enough guts for it all! Another of my favorite quotes is by Georgia O'Keeffe:

I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life - and 

I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.

While I haven't been terrified every day, there have been a-plenty!

Go ye and DARE to do something new today! :-)

#‎Episcopal‬ ‪#‎Anglican‬ ‪#‎SSJE‬ ‪#‎EDOLA‬AdventWord was created by SSJE (The Society of St. John the Evangelist) and is the Anglican Communion's Global Advent Calendar. I'm using it as a daily meditation, prayer, photo post, and a way to connect in spirit to millions during this season of light and hope. You can join me in creating your own. Just take a picture and post it with the day's AdventWord tags! Click HERE for their website and for their daily AdventWords.

#SSJE

10 Reasons Why I'm Not Afraid to Travel Alone

I'm not afraid to travel alone - not in the least! 
I am pretty afraid of spiders though...as any of my friends or students will tell you!
It's a very common idea that it is dangerous to travel alone, and even more so as a woman. There are differences of experiences when you compare men and women traveling alone, but it's 2015 and taking safety precautions has become a habit for almost everyone. I'm occasionally more worried about getting to my car safely on an early, quiet Sunday morning on deserted Frenchmen Street in New Orleans, than I am worried about trying to find a train station and get myself to an airport in a foreign country. Knowing about where you're going, the cultural differences, knowing how to dress appropriately in that culture, and being resourceful are all things that are vital to traveling alone. Being watchful of your surroundings and having an idea of where others are is good advice for anyone at any time.

Me in the amazing UNESCO site of Uplistsikhe, Georgia

I've written some about some of my travels here in former blog posts. Here are a few:
Chiusa, Italy
Mungeli, India and Mandwa Mahal, India
South Korea and Cheorwon
I usually get questions about my travels, ranging from "How can you afford that?" to "WHY are you going to X when you could go to Y or Z?!"
I'm expecting similar questions and a little more concern from folks regarding possible upcoming trips. I will surely blog about them, but in the meantime, wanted to write down some thoughts I have on solo travel.

                           The beautiful rolling hills and cattle of Azerbaijan. Photo by Caroline Carson

I mostly travel alone, not because I dislike people, but because I actually LIKE to have freedom to make my own choices about places to visit or activities and to be on my own schedule. Often, I am traveling with a group first, on mission work, a choral trip, or workshop, and then I want to explore another place alone. If I'm in one location for a week, there might be a day when all I really want to do is drink coffee in a park staring at flowers and petting dogs in Italy or to read a book along the banks of a gently wafting river in Scotland. I prefer visiting UNESCO sites, churches, and museums, but I love meandering through markets, strolling down picturesque streets, or finding myself a spot on the ground where I can lie down on greeny grass, and look up at the sky to ponder the meaning of life.

Handsome and sweet dog in Padova, Italy. Photo by Caroline Carson

10 Reasons Why I'm Not Afraid to Travel Alone

1. I have a sense of adventure that I refuse to limit simply because I live alone
I'm not going to wait until someone comes along and says it's ok to go to a certain place or decides to join me. Planning can often be easier when preparing a trip for yourself. I like having adventurous "me time". 

Paragliding outside of Ljubliana, Slovenia. Selfie by Caroline Carson :-)

2. I Do My Research
I enjoy spending time carefully crafting a unique trip! I spend hours online looking for deals and looking into the distances between cities. I was able to see the oldest musical instrument in the world and go paragliding for the first time while in Slovenia after I discovered that balloon rides were temporarily banned in the country. If I had not looked into this, I would have missed out on some history AND some fun. This is not to say that one should not be spontaneous while traveling - that has its own awesomeness to it! 

Throwing paint on a Buddhist stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal. Photo by Caroline Carson

3. I Trust My Gut
Regarding safety, I try not to do anything abroad that I wouldn't do at home. I stay aware of my surroundings, decently aware of the time and how much daylight I have left. I don't flash money or my cell phone around. I ALWAYS let people know if I am hiking or climbing somewhere. If any hikes include forested areas, I have a walking stick as well as a knife with me. I take enough water and some food for energy. I always carry Benadryl with me. Yes, sometimes it's possible to forget something (like sunscreen) or do dumb things (like the time I was on a mountain when clouds & lightning came up too quickly), but less over time and with experience! If something feels unsafe, it very well may be so I will avoid it.

Sunlit reeds and tree outside of the UNESCO Bulguska temple site in North Gyeongsang province. 
Photo by Caroline Carson

4. The real world isn't always what we see on TV...even in the news
The media can display much more violence than nonviolence. Some assume that all people of a certain culture are what they have associated with a negative person, group, or incident. On the ground where the real folks are, people around the world eat dinner, they dress and go to work or school or about their days, and they laugh and cry JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. 
We are HUMANS on ONE planet.
We need to make an effort to get to know one another!

Dancer of Columbian origin at a Rafain show near Iguazu, Argentina. Photo by Caroline Carson

5. People are people
With solo travel, I feel that I become a better observer of people and places around me. I'm much more compassionate as a result. I also occasionally realize what it feels like to be an outsider, however minor or major the situation may be. It can be uncomfortable sometimes, when you stand out based on your looks, gender, religion, language, etc. It can be an especially strong difference when you spend time with some people who have been born into certain conditions which prevent them from having a healthy or free life and/or future. These are very important feelings that can change your life and open your mind to what goes on in the world.
I'll repeat what I said for # 4 here! 
We are HUMANS on ONE planet.
We need to make an effort to get to know one another!

Kids playing in the mud and water. There is something universal in having a great time.
Outside Bilaspur, India. Photo by Caroline Carson

6. I can stay within my budget. 
I have been EXTREMELY lucky to have traveled internationally on choir tours, mission trips, conducting workshops, partially or fully funded trips, and getting paid for teaching in various international programs. When I make trips like these, I try to go somewhere nearby afterwards - on the cheap. After a conducting workshop in Bulgaria when I was a student, I created a proposal to return the following year and teach about music and American music education. It was accepted and partially sponsored! I did this three times. Each time, after I left Bulgaria, I had saved up for a ticket and few days in a hostel, a friend of a friend, or a bed and breakfast in a nearby country. Buying tickets when and where I want them saves me time and money. Sometimes, I spend hours online, plugging in different cities within a specific distance from my original destination. I love Travelocity, SkyScanner, Booking.com, Hotels.com, and I read reviews ad nauseum.

Mask in Venice, Italy. Photo by Caroline Carson

7. You'll make plenty of friends if you want to
Sometimes, it's a kid sitting next to you in a train and he also has a big ice cream cone. Sometimes, it's a person you meet while asking directions. 
Whether it's a person, dog, elephant, butterfly, or capybara, you will have opportunities to make friends. 
You might even make friends with yourself.

My friend Bernardo, a Capybara from Brasil. Photo by Caroline Carson

8. Scenes like this:

Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain. Photo by Caroline Carson                  

When traveling alone, I have often have time to ponder and document my journey. Personally, I love photography and having several hours to photograph an area, building, or event makes me happy. My father was a photographer and sometimes when I'm deeply transfixed by the beauty of afternoon light (as above) or a scenic view in a particular country, I feel closer to him when I'm photographing it.

Paprika at a market outside of Sighisoara, Romania

9. Personal Growth and Confidence
You have to follow directions, find your way around, problem solve on the spur of the moment, figure out where to eat, learn who to trust, etc. Once, due to a series of train delays, I arrived in my destination in Slovenia at 11:00 PM. The station was closed, everyone disembarked and went about their merry ways, and I had NO idea in which direction to go from the station to find the street where my hotel was. In fact, it was quite scary. I had no cell service and my battery was dying. I ended up walking eight blocks and popping into a bar or two before I found someone who spoke enough English to point me in the right direction! I learned from this: to check out not only the map on my phone before I went, but the street view as well so that I'd know how it looked on the ground. I also learned that sometimes you just have to start walking.

No matter how much personal growth one experiences, being able to have gelato
any time you want it is still cool.

10. Life is Bigger Than Me
You might find yourself in the back of a truck with eight Chinese tourists at midnight, about to climb over the locked fence to get back INSIDE the nature reserve where your hotel is in the jungle of Nepal only to find the power is out, it's 100 degrees, and the mosquitoes aren't deterred by your netting. It happens. Or, you might explore a cemetery at the top of a mountain in Sighisoara, Romania and climb down the wrong part, to find yourself, and your students, lost. You didn't expect that and now have to figure out how to get everyone back to the city safely before dark and you can't go back UP the mountain because the cemetery is walled on the other side and now locked. You might even end up being the only hotel guest in a gigantic and creepy mansion on the edge of a massive loch in northern Scotland which provides you with nightmares, but also homemade whiskey pecan pie, stories from the barkeep, and two hours of throwing stones into the loch and pondering life as the dreary sun sets around midnight. 
Whatever it is, it makes you grow. It doesn't just enrich your life, it GIVES you life.

Hiking to the Obergurgl glacier, Austria. Photo by Caroline Carson

Dunnottar Castle, Scotland. Photo by Caroline Carson

Paragliding in Slovenia

On my final day in Ljubljana, Slovenia, I went paragliding for the first time in my life! I definitely hope I'll get to do it again sometime! My experience seems to have come as a surprise to many....I guess for a couple of reasons. Many people don't know that I used to be rather athletic, train horses, bike 20 miles every other day, and compete on a top swim team, etc. Indeed. I haven't done anything except walking/hiking for several years! There are many things that don't necessarily come up in music conversations! :-) Almost every trip I've been on, I've done some sort of hiking. Sometimes, it's low and slow and other times, it's rather rigorous. I remember when came back from Brazil and remarked that I needed a new camera and mentioned that I had dropped it while hiking in a portion of the jungle down to the Foz do Iguacu and then it got super wet from the rainy falls. That turned some heads. LOL. People see what they want to see I suppose. Sometimes overweight people actually ARE active movers and shakers (and eat like the average person, but whatever).

My view from taxi on the way to the Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport (Letališče Jožeta Pučnika Ljubljana),
also known by its previous name Brnik Airport

I've always wanted to go hang gliding, but on my past two trips to Europe - while on trains between cities - I have seen a TON of paragliders over the hills and valleys. This sparked my interest and this summer, I decided to give it a try. Being a novice, I tried tandem paragliding - when you have a pilot and they really do the flying while you hold on and enjoy! I did not travel for one weekend so as to be able to afford it. When I got to Slovenia, I was also on the lookout for hot air balloon rides, but they were not available and paragliding was! A new friend of mine that I met in Slovenia, knows someone who is a paragliding pilot so I used her wonderful help and connection to meet Primož Lajevec who works for the Loop Acrocup Propilot company and team. He actually does all the extreme sports and knows Felix Baumgartner (Red Bull "space" jump). In fact, Primož helped break the balloon drop record, info here.

Paragliding in Slovenia, 2013 - I took this pic of the pilot that went just before us!

Primož picked me up at the Ljubljana airport and we drove througha small town over to the base of the Krvavec mountain. Then, we drove up to the walking point and walked a tiny bit up to the gliding site. It was steep and I quickly got out of breath. There were also a LOT of black ants all over the place on the walk up there, odd. Anyway, once up at the site of a slope on the mountain, there were several pilots waiting for the wind to be just right and to take off. We got fitted with all the gear.

Next, Primož said that when he counts down and says go, to  > R U N <
The first try, I fell after four steps and we had to start over. The second try, I slipped on some rocks and fell, bringing us both down and I scraped the HECK out of my leg. lastly, he added guys on my left and right sides to help pull up and sure enough, they did when I fell a third time. I had tried leaning more forward and that really helped, but I still fell. My legs were somewhat weak and I can only guess that it might be because I was about two months out of surgery and still occasionally feeling low on energy. Nonetheless, we got airborne and it was GLORIOUS!





I took some video for a couple of minutes and then discovered that it didn't take. GRRRR so I tried it again and was able to get about 33 seconds before I realized it was making me dizzy. We were up there for about 25 or so minutes I think and when he began to circle like a bird, I did indeed start feeling motion sick and wished I had remembered to take my medicine. Then, I remembered I'd gone through a cab ride, car ride, and now was airborne so I really should have taken it. I will never forget again. Here I am enjoying it though! So awesome! It really was like being a bird.

I saw a castle and we went toward the castle. Ljubljana looked INSANELY SMALL from up there! I was surprised at how high we were! It wasn't any cooler (it was 99 that day), but it was windy up there. I got a bit dehydrated, but it was all worth it and I really want to go again. I also want to try parasailing!

Here is the video I took. I wave my feet, haha! I also am giving a thumb's up at the very end :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1U4SjDaOhA