Understanding American Tour: Tennessee

Click HERE to see more pictures from my trip to Tennessee

The Extremes of American Tourism: Pigeon Forge and Dollywood

I hadn't planned it but it almost seemed like we were sucked towards Dollywood and Pigeon Forge, Dolly Parton's idea of how to bring prosperity to her home town. Even in the off season, when we had the roads to ourselves and the amusement park was closed, we found magic in the good old American excess: Mount Rushmore pop culture style with Roy Rodgers, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe and Charlie Chaplin; a possibly life sized Titanic with a big iceberg, that I guess you could go into and relive the story; a giant upside-down house imaging a crash after a tornado that is called WonderWorks. Anyhow, I doubt I can put accurate words to describe the craziness, but I enjoyed it in the same way that I love Vegas.  Americans are strange tourists!  I can't imagine actually paying to go into any of these places, but they were fun to look at from afar and certainly one part of the American travel experience.

My first trip to the New York State Capital

Yes, I know that it seems unfathomable that a person who has been to 56 countries and 40 states could possibly never have been to her own home state capital when she has lived in the state on and off since she was 7 years old!!! But its true.  So today I expanded a work trip to Albany into a tourist exploration.  I was up there putting on a forum about community college completion.  (Yes, yes, might sound geeky to some of you, but I embrace my geekyness and now get to work focusing on interesting topics like this.)  Anyhow, I digress, it was a chance to come to Albany and started me off on the right foot for any state capitol visit. At the event I made sure legislators and their staff, as well and other government and nonprofit folks learned about an important issue and hopefully were inspired to legislate to improve things.  So, by the time I set off on my Albany exploration I was in a legislative state of mind.  

Farewell 2013, its been great...

Hello Friends - 

Somehow December sped by, but I didn't want to miss the chance to send my holiday hellos, updates and warm wishes. It’s hard to sum up a year in a few sentences, but here are my high points. I started a new job as Deputy Director of the Center for an Urban Future, a think tank that focuses on economic and workforce development in New York City. I finally decided to take the plunge and start grad school and enrolled in NYU Wagner's Executive Master in Public Administration program. I traveled to Machu Picchu in Peru, out to explore the west in New Mexico and had a fun weekend in DC for Obama's Second Inauguration.

I continue to explore New York and have been trying to get my exotic travel fix in neighborhoods I can get to by subway vs plane. For me that has meant dining on Russian food overlooking the ocean in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, discovering a huge Hindu temple in Elmhurst, Queens, visiting a gigantic food court in Flushing, Queens selling every kind of Chinese food imaginable, rivaling any hawker stand I saw in Singapore, and much much more. It also means chasing Banksy and other street artists who continue to change NY's streetscape.  Walking around the city is more fun when I try to look at every wall and light pole to see if there is anything new.  And most importantly, I continued to help NY recover from Hurricane Sandy by volunteering in the Rockaways and helping the city's Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency (SIRR) by facilitating community workshops.  It has been incredible to follow the process closely and see just how hard recovery is.  The world moves on, but there is sooooo much to be done.

I really didn't plan to lead a life like this. I haven't gotten my white picket fence in the suburbs yet, but the black railing on my terrace between me and my skyline view seems to work for me too.  I'm doing my best to embrace the hand I was given and New York just keeps giving back.

I love watching your lives on Facebook and through other means. I hope you have found peace and balance in this endlessly stressful fast paced world.

Cheers!

Cordelia

"I'm often asked about the difference between a tourist and a traveler. To me, a tourist visits all the big sights, sees spectacles on stage, and returns home unchanged, with a suitcase full of knickknacks. A traveler becomes a temporary local, engages with the culture, and comes home enriched, with a vivid collection of experiences and a broader perspective" - Rick Steves

New Mexico 2013 - Another Chance to Hunt for the Real America

This was my second trip to New Mexico, but this time I was looking at it from much wiser, more-traveled eyes.  After all my travels I know how to find the road less traveled and the quirky special places that are a little hidden.  I pick between the more touristy places and decide which are a must see and which can be passed to make time for a more local real neighborhood that might give me a little more insight into what lies below the surface.  Now when I go to a city like Santa Fe, I want to see where people really live more than the main square or seeing every museum.  I'd rather wile away an hour in a local coffee shop watching people then wander through endless galleries the city is famous for, though I try to travel at a pace where I can do a little of both.

The purpose of this trip was to go visit my brother in the north eastern corner of the state in Mora County, a poor, rural farming valley tucked in the soaring, stunning Sangre de Cristo Mountains.  My brother and his family have relocated here to live a different kind of life.  They bought a plot of land and have begun homesteading there.  They are building a yurt to live in and collecting water from two streams on the property.  Until the systems are better set up, they spend short periods of time on their land, and also have been lucky enough to stay at a local farm on other nights in exchange for work there.  

Photos from Arizona and New Mexico

Click HERE for pictures from my trip to Arizona and New Mexico

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

- Mark Twain

More Reasons Why I Travel (In No Particular Order)

At a World Food Program feeding site in Benin

Why I Travel #1: To Think, Process and Feel

The other thing about traveling alone is that I have a lot of time to think, process, write... In real life, I fill my time and my head so much that sometimes I don't let myself sit back and reflect and feel.  Reflecting is not always fun but it is necessary.  Every so often I need a check in.

When I travel my feelings are much more present. Sometimes I get really lonely, but then out of the darkness, I sit next to someone and have the most inspiring conversation and suddenly feel deeply connected.  Or I feel frustrated and lost, but just as I am about to crumble, I turn a corner and discover something magical and new. It teaches me about possibilities and reminds me how easy it is to survive the extremes.

Why I Travel #2: It Opens Me Up 

In my daily life in New York, I don't have that many chances to talk to random strangers.  We all know that it's a bit frowned upon to sit down next to someone on the subway and strike up a conversation.  It doesn't mean it never happens, it's just not encouraged and my behavior has adapted to it.

The opposite is true with the kind of travel I do.  When traveling I strike up conversations with everyone.  I have lots of short genuine interactions. I feel open and constantly connected.  I love it.  As an extrovert, I get my energy from others and fresh random conversations are like crack for me.

The funny part is when I get home and I find myself chatting in the subway with mixed results.  I try to find tourists to target, so that they think all New Yorkers are that open and friendly.

Meeting Iraqis in Iran.  Stereotypes be gone!

Why I Travel #3: To Meet People From All Over The World

I know that it might sound funny that living in New York doesn't put me in contact with people from all over the world, but it really doesn't.  I love travel because I not only get to meet people and learn about the culture of the country I am visiting, but I also get to meet people from many other countries.

Over the years I have learned that Aussies speak practically a totally different English.  That I feel deeply connected to Brits. That the French have a very inquisitive eye. I have heard about places I have never knew existed before. And I have made real friendships out of it.  I have visited friends I met traveling in London (2), China, Tunisia, Indonesia, and Greece.  Plus I have hosted people from Switzerland and Austria in NY. This past year, I loved getting birthday greetings from across the world and particularly from Australia so many hours before my birthday was even happening in my time zone.

And most importantly I have been able to share my reflections and examine my American bias. It helps me understand the world better and understand what I am seeing better.

Don't worry though, my volunteer activity with Big Apple Greeters taking tourists out on personalized tours of New York gives me a chance to meet at least a few folks in my home town too.

North Korea really blew my mind

Why I Travel #4: To See/Learn/Experience and Understand Other Worlds

The most obvious reason I travel is that I am an experiential learner.  I can read tons of books and watch lots of movies and tv, but I can't really understand a place till I've been there.  Suddenly when I set foot in a country everything I have read comes to life and I have a bottomless desire to read more and understand a country better.  History in books tends to go in and out of my brain too easily, but somehow if I am walking on the same ground as historical figures, I can absorb all the information. 

As a current events junkie, I love news, but often I feel the US news doesn't give enough context or cover the full story, so instead I fly off to Afghanistan to hear about life after the Taliban. Or to Israel/Palestine to see the wall and feel the distinct separate feeling on each side of it. Or to Iran, where I met Iranians and saw just how different they were from the way they are covered in our press.

It all started when I was in high school learning about the The Soviet Union and the Cold War and just having a hard time buying what I was hearing. My dad was Russian and had a PhD in Russian Studies so I asked him if I could go visit and meet real Russians.  He said yes and boy did I learn a lot. Yes communism was different and parts of the Soviet system were shocking to my American Capitalist self, but I also got to meet many young Russians who seemed to have dreams just like me.  I got to basically see that the world is very complex and nuanced.  I haven't stopped traveling since.

Photos from Peru

Ladies at the market in Puno, Peru

Click here to see my online photo album from Peru

In Peru, It All Seems to be About Hats

When traveling through the Andes in Peru, there is so much to see.  Radiant green landscapes with soaring mountains and sprawling valleys.  Snowy peaks in the distance.  Incan ruins clinging to the mountains above.  Fuzzy llamas and alpaca grazing on the high altitude slopes.  Enormous, ornately decorated cathedrals showing the Spaniards wealth and power...  But for me, a person who travels to see people and culture, my eyes were mostly focused on the hats.  Tops hats, bowler hats, straw hats, woven hats, leather hats, fabric hats, flowered hats...  Round tops, flat tops, soft tops, ruffled tops...  Brown, black, red, white, tan or brightly colored...  It never ended.  It was a feast for my eyes.

Wearing traditional dress is still the norm for large parts of this mountainous region where the Quechua people have been able to retain their cultural traditions.  This means most people are sporting bright colored textiles: men in ponchos intricately designed with customary patterns, women in woven or embroidered skirts that they wear sometimes up to 15 layers deep to create the full look with multi hued ruffles showing underneath. The vibrancy doesn't end there though.  Goods from the market are packed up in vivid cloths and tied to ones back along with babies and everything else.  Then add the piles of fruits and vegetables in all shapes and sizes.... Color, color, color! Viva Peru!

Taquile Island, Peru in Lake Titicaca

Visiting Machu Picchu. One of the 7 Wonders of the World

Perched way up in the sky on a mountain top, often hidden by clouds, lies Machu Picchu, an intricate and sprawling complex built in the 15th Century and abandoned in the 16th Century when the Spaniards conquered the Incan Empire.  I arrived in the early morning in the pouring rain.  The clouds were so thick I could only see 30 feet in front of me at a time and even then not too clearly.  I walked with no concept which direction to go. I spent hours sitting watching the clouds come and go and the scenery focus and then fade again.  At first I couldn't see all the mountain peaks surrounding the site or the valleys deep below it.  Finally the sun broke through and there below me was this amazing sight.

The incredible part of Inca building is that they didn't use draft animals or even use the wheel but somehow managed to transport all these huge stones up mountains and build walls that still lie intact today without any mortar between them.  Many of their stones were cut to interconnect much like Lego and throughout Peru, a highly volatile seismic region; their buildings survive earthquakes as modern architecture falls.

Incan structures are visible throughout the Sacred Valley of Peru clinging on the side of mountains and nestled in valleys.  In Cusco, the main city of the region and the capitol of the Incan Empire, the Spaniards built right on top of the Incan sacred sites, perhaps in an effort to quickly replace their religion and introduce Catholicism. Luckily the Spaniards never found Machu Picchu though, so it remains for all of us to enjoy.

The Difference Between 12 Days and 12 Months of Travel

Going to Peru means wandering the well worn backpacker trail.  In the US, we celebrate a one week vacation, which is a striking contrast to the travel that is going on in here in Latin America.  Conversations with fellow travelers here talk about 3, 6 or 12 months of travel.  I even met a French guy who has been traveling for 2 years and isn't sure when he is going to stop.  This type of travel has few set itineraries and is filled with 24 hour bus rides on local buses sometimes to places you just heard about at breakfast the day before, sleeping in bunk beds at hostels, eating in local markets and checking out the best of the world's sights one by one, but also believing that those sites are better if you take time to explore the wider land and community around them more.

Cusco - The Heart of the Peruvian Highlands

Why I Like/Need to Travel

I'm embarking on this journey to Peru partly to appreciate and get the most out of life at home. It might sound strange for a person who has traveled as much and as broadly as I have to admit that I have a really hard time leaving home. I sleep best in my own room and am very fond of my daily routine. While I like being in new places, the process of leaving my own place is really painful sometimes. People always ask "Are you excited to be going to xxx?" And I feel terrible when I have to admit that I'm not because there is a big pit in my stomach at the anticipation of leaving.

So why do I do it, you might ask? On one side, I absolutely love to see new places and cultures and see the daring, fearless person I become when I travel away from the normal constraints of home. But almost as importantly, going away always makes me realize what I have. I miss my home, my city, my friends... In my regular life routines, I end up taking those things for granted and getting lazy. I like my friends, but in the context of normal life, I sometimes don't make the effort to reach out and make plans with them. I love New York and all the exciting happenings and cultural opportunities it offers, but after being in my routine for a while, I get lazy and spend the day at home watching tv vs getting out there and discovering something new.

Travel away motivates me to appreciate and seek out what I have at home. It energizes me and I come home from a trip and take advantage of that energy and live more fully by reaching out to people, making plans and discovering new things. Travel revives me.

The 2013 Inauguration of President Barack Obama

I was lucky to be able to attend the Second Inauguration of President Barack Obama.  Washington, DC shined brightly as I toured its great monuments and enjoyed the political energy pulsing all over its streets.   Seeing the Martin Luther King, Jr. Monument for the first time on MLK holiday weekend moments before swearing in America's first black president for his second term, gave it even more meaning.  Seeing so many black faces in all the crowds who were so jubilant to live in a country that has come so far felt powerful.  What a weekend!

Click HERE to see more pictures from the weekend

2012: What a year its been!

Hello Friends -

I can't believe 2012 is almost over.  Where has the year gone!?  Who knows... but I do know where I've gone during it!  I rang in the New Year in Bali, Indonesia and then went to Singapore in January, headed off to Guatemala for the most memorable Semana Santa/Holy Week that I've ever had, drove around Utah in May in an effort to understand another part of America, Mormons and Mitt Romney and see our famous wide open red rock landscapes.  Over the summer I visited friends in Greece, family in France and was able to attend the London Olympics, a long time dream for me, a person who loves events and happenings! The fall was all about politics, starting in Charlotte, North Carolina for the Democratic National Convention in September and then on to campaigning for Obama in Ohio and Virginia and ringing in 4 more years in Times Square.  Click the links to see my various blog posts and online photo albums from each trip and scroll down to see a few more images from my last 6 months.  

But, as I said, even with all that excitement, mostly I've been here in New York working, sharing my local point of view with tourists with Big Apple Greeters, taking classes at NYU and seeking out fresh new New York street art along the way everywhere I go.  Lately I've been grateful to have time to help with Hurricane Sandy clean up. Seeing the storms effects first hand has been an eye opening experience of the raw power of nature and being part of the clean up has connected me to the kind, generous spirit of New Yorkers and only makes me love New York more.

I hope 2012 has brought you closer to achieving your dreams and finding contentment with where you are now.

Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas!  Happy New Year!

Warmly,
Cordelia

NASCAR Hall of Fame - Charlotte, North Carolina

The famous saying goes, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do."

So... when in Charlotte, do as the Charlotteans do and that means car racing.  North Carolina is NASCAR Country and The thing to do in Charlotte is to go to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.  I was able to go explore it during one of the convention parties.  The whole experience was so fun.  They make it very interactive.  They taught us to drive and then sent us out into cars set up with simulators and we raced.  We got to play like we were in the pit and change tires and jack up cars.  There are also many cars on display.  All in all it gives a fun overview of NASCAR and a window into a world I don't know anything about.

Unfortunately September is not racing season so I couldn't actually go see a race.  I tried though as I do whenever I get into car racing country since its not something I can see in New York City.

2012 Democratic Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina

Watching Michelle Obama's speech at the MSNBC telecast stage in Charlotte

Click here to see my online phone album 

from the 2012 Democratic Convention in Charlotte, NC