I have a lot to say about Barcelona, but I just want to get last night out of the way. I was pleasantly enjoying sleeping at the correct time here where it is 7 hours ahead of back home, when I was awoken to a light coming through the door. I rolled over to see a shadowy male figure in the room.

“Excuse me. Excuse me. We have a bit of a problem,” he whispered.

I stared at him as my eyes strained to adjust to the light and dark in the room.

He continues on (I had no idea who this guy was at the time), “Is this your stuff on the floor?”

I responded with a groggy “yes” just as he picks it up and the sound of dripping water fills the room.

“Uhm… There’s a bit of a leak.”

Oh my goodness! Yes, it was more than just a bit of a leak. The entire room was flooded with an inch or two of water! Luckily the stuff I had on the floor was just clothes, so no real harm, but there was another guy’s guitar on the floor!

It turns out the shadowy guy was the night front-desk guy. He turns the light on and wakes everyone up. We all scurried to pick up our stuff before it was destroyed. Then he delightfully informs us it was toilet water we were all enjoying up to our ankles. Nice.

This was 5am. After we got all of our stuff picked up, he runs off to get help. The room of people all fell back asleep until about 6am when the staff came in, turned on the light, and began furociously sweeping the water out of our room and into the hall. Oh man, it was a long and sleepless night for sure.

Can you believe it??!

I’m feeling a bit anxious right now, and let me tell you why. I leave in an hour to get on a bus Chicago-bound. My flight is supposed to leave tonight, only I’m not so sure its going to make it. All summer, Illinois has been lacking in the rainfall category, and it just so happens that today would be the day Mother Nature decides to cut it some slack.

I’m looking out the window at the rain coming down. The radar is showing scattered thunderstorms all evening! The thought of being stuck in the airport all night is making me very anxious, let alone the fact that I haven’t been on a plane in over a year, and I haven’t flown internationally since 2004. On top of this, the airline has some crazy carry-on WEIGHT restriction of 8kg, or 18 pounds! How, I ask, is someone supposed to carry a laptop, DSLR with two lenses, kneepads, chacos, dig clothes, non-dig clothes, and toiletries and weigh in under 18 pounds?!!! Still, I’m determined to make it carry-on only since I have a crazy short plane switch in Copenhagen, and I do not want to be stuck without my stuff for a day in Barcelona.

I called the airline a while back and they said you could have a piece of personal luggage as well, such as a purse or laptop. So, I have a separate messenger bag for my laptop/chargers, etc. which will hopefully keep me down in the weight department. I’m wearing two shirts, my heavy shoes, and jeans - and i’m carrying a jacket in which I’ve stuffed a bag of Euro coins and my glasses.

It may sound like I’m bringing a lot, but let me tell you, I am going pretty darn minimalistic. Instead of a book to read on the plane, I printed off a couple of crossword puzzles to work. Hopefully this works, but just in case I have my stuffable daypack which I will fill if my bag is caught as over the limit and I have to check. Pray I don’t!!!!

Well, this is it kids. I’m off!!!!

As stated in a previous blog post, How to make your own travel website, I am a total blog convert, thoroughly believing in the power of site management through wordpress. Since my love for wordpress was born, I made it a point to help others “see the light” and make the move over to the blog to manage their travel site on the road. I give you: Following the Dream!

Christian and Casey are leaving in January for their long RTW adventure. Christian started building a site like my oldsite with Microsoft Frontpage, but has been meaning to add certain features, like the ability to leave comments, as well as some visual streamlining. I decided to help get Christian and Casey over to their new site with a wordpress install and a template, ultimately fulfilling their website needs in the process. See below for before and after shots. Let us know which one you like better!

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This site was done using a wordpress install and GoDaddy.com Hosting.

If anyone else is needing assistance, let me know. I would be glad to help out once I get back from Spain in November. I am jobless now, afterall!

When the girl rock band I co-founded/fronted broke up in college, my friends said it was the end of an era. The feelings that surrounded the occurrence at the time were a mixture of sadness and relief all in one hard-to-distinguish package. Would it seem funny that I sort of feel the same way now after having my last day of work?

Now don’t get me wrong. I am overjoyed that I no longer have to repeat my repetitive lines over and over, call after call, day after day… after day. I am not sad that I will never have to deal with another angry customer ever again. And, no, I will not find it hard to move on to my next adventures in life. Yet, there is still some small lingering mixed feeling I can’t quite put my finger on, just sitting in the pit of my stomach.

This is probably normal, right?

I’ve only been done for a day now, so I’m thinking this is just me not realizing I’m officially gone. It’s like when people lose a limb, but they can still “feel” it. In that sense, I know I’ve quit, but there’s still the feeling that I will return to the hustle and bustle on Monday morning as if nothing changed. This is my haunting limb.

A part of me will miss being at that level of knowledge I achieved with my position. A part of me will miss the people I grew to know over our time working together. Another part of me says, “Who cares?! I’ve gotta pack my bags!”

Oh, yeah. I leave for Spain in T-Minus 4 days!!!!!

…your boss doesn’t give you a start date.

Yep, utter agony we are still in. Brian’s boss still hasn’t given a definite date that he has to be back to work after our Central Amerca excursion, so what we have is a plane ticket to Guatemala for December 27th, but no return ticket. The frustrating part is that I found some really great deals on Spirit Airlines back to Chi-town, but was unable to book them!

We understand that there is more than just Brian involved in this whole moving process. However, the man knows we have travel plans, so why can’t he just pick a date already?! It’s getting to the point where I’m about to just book some tickets and say, “Hey Mr. Boss Man, this is the date you can have him!”

Ha! Take that!

I just wanted to do a quick little update dealing with easy money. Remember those CD’s Brian and I stashed away last August (If not, that’s OK. You can read up on it here.)? They took a whole 10 minutes to set up at the bank and have been accumulating cash ever since (we’re up to $270 for 10 minutes of work!). The one year anniversary recently passed, so I just wanted to show you all our pride and joy: when our money makes us more money!

I am not a fan of stress, most of the time. There are situations where I feel stress pushes me to reach goals otherwise left behind. For the most part, however, stress = bad. Stress is a strange little ailment, sometimes making itself known in every thought, and other times laying low while it stealthily drains your lifeforce. I was able to diagnose the latter form as being active in my body… until today. Today, I came out to the man. Today, I stopped living a lie!

If you haven’t guessed already, I am talking about putting my two weeks notice in at work. I know I haven’t officially explained why I am going to Spain yet, but tickets have been bought and hostels have been booked. I leave on September 25th for an archaeology/history course on the island of Menorca. I really feel like this will get me back into that “school mode” and expose me some potential career paths (yes, I could definitely see myself as a professor in the future). Long story short, travel plans for Brooke have been pushed up a few months and I had to tell work. What a relief!

I really had no idea that my secret plan to quit my job was such a burden. For months, well even a year, I have felt like I was living a lie. When my teamlead would ask me why I didn’t apply for our 2nd level team, I desperately avoided telling him it was because I didn’t see myself in this position much longer. Knowing I was a key player in the day-to-day work activities, but also knowing my heart wasn’t there, constantly made my soul tremble with a feeling of guilt. I have been so thankful for my job as it was an awesome opportunity for me when I needed it most, but I am also thankful I am taking the next step to pursue others. For me, not being in a job I am passionate about is a total disappointment. I have a drive deep within me that deserves to be put to good use.

Overall, I would say the process went quite smoothly. My notice could have come at a better time for sure - our team is already feeling a little overwhelmed, but it had to be done, right? I offered to come back and work in November and December, which was greatly appreciated even though not a possibility. So now I am set to figure out a way to make some quick cash during those months. No worries, though. I am resilient. I will find a way.

When I first started building oldsite, questions came rolling in as to how exactly it was done. Not being a typical format made it stand out a bit (just a little) amongst other travel sites. Oldsite was a bear, but also my baby, as I spent hours in front of the computer trying to fix all the fun issues Microsoft left behind. Now the era is over, and newsite has prevailed, bringing much joy and simplicity into my website building life. I have seen the light and would now like to pass a little gift onto others in similar need of a website with travel in mind: a guide to making your own travel website.

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Being on the go, you want a website that is easy to access and update from random places across the globe. Your best bet for ease of use is a blog format since you can update the site from any Internet cafe, meaning you don’t need to be tied to a computer. There are plenty of resources for free blog websites from blogger to travel specific bootsnall. However, maybe you don’t want a standard cookie-cutter blog. How would you go about making a great travel blog?

• First, you need to purchase a domain name - something catchy and definitive of your trip plan or purpose. You can get domain names for fairly cheap through GoDaddy.
• Next, you need to purchase a hosting plan (yes, it is starting to sound expensive, but if you take a look at GoDaddy, you’ll see they have different plans and prices to suit your needs. The hosting can also be used as a way to back up pictures, software, and other documents along the way.) I know I keep saying GoDaddy, but I have been using them for some time now. I enjoy their ease of use and features for a cut under the rest. GoDaddy.com Hosting Plans
  
• Now that you have your site name and hosting account, it is time to install the blogging software. I use and recommend wordpress - they are free with great support. You could also go with something like these guys. If you are a little afraid of the wordpress software/installation, let me know. I just may be able to help you out, especially if you have already done the first 2 steps above.
• The fourth step is to find a wordpress template (if you decided on wordpress - otherwise that specific software’s template). This will be the look and design of your new travel site. If you are having trouble finding a wordpress template you fully enjoy, let me know. Again, I would be happy to help you modify a template for your site.
• That’s it! You are all set up. Now just add a couple of plugins and become a diligent blogger, and you’ll have yourself a great travel website, too.