Couchsurfing safety

Couchsurfing (CS) is a great way to save money and meet locals while traveling. It is often the best way to find great places to dine, drink, and hang out in a foreign city. It keeps you from staying at a sleazy motel with gross beds or a packed hostel with noisy roommates (who may even steal your stuff). I couchsurf as often as I can and have never had a bad experience with it. I have made amazing friends and family with it.  However, I am often asked about the safety of couch surfing. “What keeps crazy people from using the site?” “How do you know that they won’t kidnap or kill you?” “What if you don’t like them?”

These are all valid questions; with CS you are about to travel to an unfamiliar city to stay with someone who you’ve only met through their profile and a brief couch request. Couchsurfing has three main safety measures to keep killers, kidnappers, and other creeps from using the site: verification, references, and vouching. Verification is easiest to get (in my opinion). You make a donation to CS and they send a postcard to your billing address. On this postcard is a code that needs to be entered to become verified, which shows other users that your identity and location have been verified (you need an identity to get a credit card and a physical address to receive a postcard).

References are left by people have met on CS (either previously or through a CS experience). A reference contains the length of stay, the type of experience (surfing, hosting, or traveling), your comments on the user, and if the experience was positive, negative or neutral.

Vouching is most difficult to explain, and the hardest type of verification to get. When a user has three vouches (from three different users), he can in turn vouch for other people. You can only vouch for people you have met in person, and you should only vouch for people who you trust beyond all doubts to host or surf, no matter what.  Initially, only the people that started the CS movement could vouch. They in turn vouched for others, and others could eventually vouch when they had received three vouches. Got it? If not here’s how CS describes it.

Couchsurfing.org is an amazing travel tool, for all ages and types of travelers. Go to their site, check it out, sign up, and find some members in your town to talk with if you don’t believe me. 

Kony 2012: A reflection

The Kony 2012 movement has introduced the world to some of the atrocities committed in Africa. In its wave of controversy, it has also introduced many Americans to a concept that many had never known before (or taken the time to think of): 100% of money donated to charitable organizations will never get to their cause. Never. Some organizations get close with very low overhead costs compared to their income, relying heavily on volunteer labor. However, 100% is just an impossibility, but that's okay. The percent that goes to management, organization, etc. is what makes sure that the rest of the money gets to the right place and gets used for something meaningful.

Think of it like this: you can either send an envelope to Africa with $100 dollars and hope that whoever receives it will use it how you want them to OR you can donate $100 knowing that only $70 will get to Africa, but that it will be spent on what it is intended for.

I'd probably choose the second option. When that $100 dollars starts turning into $50 or $30 or $10, the decision gets harder. There is no concrete line for when it is no longer a good idea to donate. That decision is made by the individual.

As it stands from their 2011 financial report, Invisible Children gets 30-40% of their income directly to their cause. Probably still worth donating for most people. As this campaign is new, I expect this percentage to increase as they will no longer need such a large budget for awareness campaigns. All in all, I support IC's movement for increasing awareness of Kony. Awareness is a good thing. I have yet to decide on my support of their business model.

Note: Of the percentage of you donation that gets to the cause, you can also expect some portion of that does not get used correctly. Most organizations are pretty good at keeping this kind of misappropriation under control, but it is known (and a sad fact) that embezzling and misappropriation of funds in non-for-profit organizations exists on both ends (at the cause and in management).

The Traveler's Pledge

As travelers, we have a responsibility to the communities we visit, to the people within those communities, and to ourselves. We owe it to the community hosting us to preserve its integrity. We owe it to the people hosting us to respect their culture. We owe it to ourselves to enjoy our travels and represent our own communities well. I enourage you to take the traveler's pledge:

I pledge to travel responsibly, to show the utmost respect for the people, community, and culture.
Wherever I travel, I shall find my family, my community, and my culture.
I will treat the people as family, listen to them, care for them. I will enjoy my time with them.
I will treat the community as my own, preserve its beauty so that others can enjoy it.
I will show understanding for the culture, learn about it, participate in it.


While traveling, I will be a representative of my home community. 
I will teach others of my culture.
I will teach others of my people.


I pledge to travel as a world citizen, to participate and engage, to learn and teach, to respect and protect, so that those who have been there before me and those who will be there after me shall have the opportunity to enjoy the world as it should be.

The Bucket List

You should have a bucket list. You need to have a bucket list. Everyone, no matter what their age is or where they are in life, should have a bucket list. I don't care if you are 5, 55, or 95, start and maintain a bucket list. NOW!

Find a piece of paper. Buy a journal or notebook. Use the last page in your planner. Start your bucket list by dedicating a place for it.

What do you want to do before you die? Eww, that sounds a bit grim. What do you want to do during your life so that you die feeling accomplished? What experiences do you want to have? What knowledge do you want? What do you want to see, feel, eat, or learn? Write it down. No matter how small the chances are that you will achieve your goal, write it down. 

Knock some items off the list. Make plans, break plans, do it spontaneously, do it with friends, family, co-workers. Start heading towards your goal.

It feels oh so good to check an item off of a to-do list. Multiply that by about a million, and you get the feeling of checking off an item from your bucket list. Rejoice that you have accomplished one of your goals. Enjoy the moment, revel in it as you continue down the path of life.

Note: It is my opinion that everyone should have skydiving on their bucket list. Do it! NOW!

The 7th and Final Dislocation

Seven dislocations. 1st one during softball. Next three snowboarding. Two more skydiving. One during jiu-jitsu. The 1st, 5th, and 7th were extremely painful. Each time it's a complete surprise.

It's impossible to describe, but dislocating my shoulder is the most embarrassing thing that I can do. I work out 3-5 days a week to strengthen the muscles that support the joint. I wear a brace. I limit my range of motion. Still, I can't keep my shoulder from cutting-short a day of skydiving or ruining jiu-jitsu class. All of my friends look at me inquisitively as I reduce my shoulder into the socket, "You gonna be alright?" I feign a smile and let my eyes stray away from theirs in shame.

It can be fixed with one of two surgeries. The choices are repairing the shoulder capsule or using a bone graft from my hip to shape the socket. My insurance covers most of the surgery; I can probably afford the portion that isn't covered. Typical recovery times are about 6 months for 80% strength. Yet, it's been seven years since my first dislocation, and I still haven't gotten my shoulder fixed.

Although dislocating my shoulder is embarrassing and it keeps me from doing what I love, I haven't been able to shake the fear of surgery. With any surgery there are obvious risks. The shoulder is such a complex joint; it has the largest range of motion of any joint. What if surgery doesn't fix it? What if it makes it worse? What if I never regain the strength I had before surgery? What if I dislocate it after surgery?

So, I'm left with three choices:
1. Stop doing all of the things I love,
2. Do the things I love and deal with the dislocations,
3. Get surgery and hope it works.

What would you do? Not number one. Take away skydiving, SCUBA, biking, snowboarding, motorcycles, skiing, swimming, running, football, softball, and tennis; What would be the point of living? Not number two. Two dislocations during skydiving are enough; no one should have that much practice at landing a parachute one-handed. That leaves option three, and although it's scary, it's gotta be done. The things that make me who I am are the same things that dislocate my shoulder. I'm left with no choice but to get surgery.

So, here it is. My pledge to get surgery. I will get my shoulder repaired. But I need your help. I will use all types of delusion and deceit to get out of it. As soon as the joint no longer hurts from this dislocation, I will convince myself that "Next dislocation is the one that I warrants surgery." When you see me, ask me how my shoulder is. Ask me when I am getting surgery. Remind me of my pledge. Force me to get surgery. I need it. Remind me that I can't be Julian without it. I need your support. I will hate it at the time. I will shy away from the scalpel. I will curse your name as I struggle through physical therapy after surgery.  But some day, I will thank you, when I can skydive without thinking about my shoulder, when I can snowboard without a brace, when I can grapple without fear of shoulder pain. I will thank you.

Find your travel buddy.

The only way to travel is with your best travel buddy. Trust me: I love my best friend to pieces. But if you stick us together 24/7 in close quarters for a few weeks in another country, we are both ready to strangle each other (sorry Ann...you know it's true).

Get me stuck in the middle of nowhere with my best travel buddy (Gare Bear, you know I'm talking about you), and I'll have the time of my life. So what is the difference? Why do I butt heads with Ann and not Garet on my trips?

A great friend is brutally honest, will never leave you behind, and is always there for you. A great travel buddy will use honesty, deceit, or whatever necessary to push you to be your greatest when traveling. While your best friend is often so similar to you that you can finish each others sentences, your best travel buddy is often the foil to your traits. They fill in your gaps and support your weaknesses, and you fill in and support theirs. Your strengths push them to be better as their strengths do you. I am a morning person, Garet is a night owl. I'm a conservative with risks, Garet is willing to do anything once. I'm more extroverted in public, Garet is a bit more introverted. I wake him up at 7 AM with coffee, he keeps me up 'til 2 AM with gin and tonics. He makes me more adventurous, I keep him safe. I introduce him to new people, he keeps us away from strangers. He's the perfect travel buddy.

Choose your travel buddy wisely; your trips will be infinitely more memorable, infinitely more fun, infinitely safer. If you choose wrong, don't worry. There are always more trips. Travel safe!

Travel Tools: Kayak.com

Why do I use Kayak.com when planning trips? Kayak is simply the best travel site for planning trips. No contest. It's the best search engine for finding flights when your dates are flexible. While Kayak has always allowed easy trip planning for flight flexibility within a week of your desired travel, they recently upgraded to a new style that also lets you search weekends near your trip dates and an entire month around your trip dates.

When using these features, Kayak generates a unique, easy to read chart detailing the prices of your tickets based on possible departure and return dates. While other travel sites have similar "flexible searches," most do not offer results in an easy to read format or they require additional user interactions to find the actual prices (Expendia.com >:-0 ). If you desire to search other travel sites for tickets, Kayak allows you to simultaneously search Priceline, Expedia, Travelocity, CheapOair, and Vayama without entering any more information. In addition to all this, Kayak saves previous searches for later, and remembers your home airport. 

Kayak, saves you money on tickets, while saving you time on searching.

5 ways to concrete your travel memories

I got a memory like an elephant, erm...or maybe it's a goldfish...I forget. It's definitely not a steel trap, more like a sieve. If that isn't bad enough, I only exacerbate the situation when I travel and start my no-sleep, sensory-overload marathon of a trip. If I only knew how many travel moments and memories I've lost, I'd probably cry. They're not easy to get back either ("You remember, talking with that old man in Japan who knew where West Virginia was?" "No, but I do now."); so, how do you remember those lost moments or keep from losing them in the first place?

Take picture: The pictures don't have to be the exact moment you want to remember (trying to capture the moment with a camera can ruin the atmosphere), but taking pictures around that moment will jog your memory enough for your situational memory to kick in and fill the gaps.

Write in your journal: A journal entry can tell you so much more about the moment than you would ever imagine. Is your writing shakier than normal? Is it smoother and more relaxed? Did you make more mistakes than usual? All these are tell tale signs of your mood at the moment you write. Journals are a great way to supplement your memory, in an old-fashioned but relevant way.

Take home a momento: A shell from the beach where you met her, a pressed flower from outside your hotel, a bottle of fresh mountain air. A concrete reminder of the place you were will get those gears turning.

Souvenier: Similar to that momento, a souvenier is something concrete to remind you of what you did. Maybe it's a painting of the area, maybe it's some kitschy touristy souvenirs, maybe it's just a postcard. Unlike a momento, purchasing a souvenir will support local merchants while establishing your memory.

Blog: Combine words, pictures, and videos into the ultimate scrapbook of your travels. It doesn't have the exact feel of the journal, but the extended features make it better in some ways. This allows other to experience your memories, too (if you desire to publicly blog). Unlike the rest of the ways of concreting memory, a blog is hard to lose and is posted somewhere you can access at any time.

Those are my ways of plugging up the holes in my memory sieve. Did I forget anything?

Traveling sickness - Making the best of a bad situation

I've taken a short hiatus from travel blogging for some satire, some writing tips, and some personal stuff. And after a terribly timed cold this week (during project crunch time), I was inspired to jump back into the world of travel script.

I hate being sick. Okay…everyone hates being sick (right?!). And what’s worse than getting sick? Getting sick while traveling. I’ve had my fair share of travel bugs: malaria, food poisoning, “runny stomach,” colds, allergies. Each made worse by the fact that I was thousands of miles away from home, thousands of miles away from the solace offered by a familiar bed, home-made chicken soup, and cold medicine in a package printed in English.

Traveling puts you in a vulnerable situation should you fall ill. But surely, the risk of suffering a cold without your mom to rub Vick’s on your chest and tuck you in to bed isn’t enough to avoid a trip, right?

So, there you are in beautiful Rome in early summer, and all of the foreign pollen irritates your allergies. Maybe you’re in the Caribbean for spring break, and the first day on the beach, you come down with the cold being passed around your engineering class. Or maybe you’re spending some time in West Africa, and your stomach churns and growls like your breakfast is about to explode from your bowels. Now what?

The first rule of travel sickness is to tell someone as soon as you think something is wrong. It is much better to catch diarrhea when your stomach growls strangely than when you need a bathroom more than I need a suitable metaphor to end this sentence. Tell your travel buddy, tell your tour guide, tell a local. Please tell someone. Everyone gets sick, and even though it may seem embarrassing to talk about, I promise it much less embarrassing to tell someone you are sick than to vomit on them. They can keep an extra eye on you or seek help should you be disposed of.

Second, if you are sick, ensure that you always have someone with you. I speak from experience that being sick and alone screws with your mind in ways you cannot imagine (me in Ghana awake in my bed at 2 a.m. with food poisoning, holding my phone with Patrick’s number pulled-up, ready to dial, yet somehow unable to make the call). In addition to boosting your mental clarity, having someone around means you have someone to care for you while you are sick, accelerating your recovery.

Third, get comfortable. Whether you need to fly cross country or you have the luxury of a few days in the same city to rest, spend the extra money to make sure you have everything that you need to recover. Drink some juice, buy some tissues, take some cold medicine, get your favorite magazine, eat your favorite candy bar. Do the big and the little things that will comfort you.

Above all, seek help just as you would if you were at home. If you are violently ill, forget the flight home, get to a hospital. It shouldn’t need to be said, but rescheduling a flight, hotel, or excursion is worth saving yourself or your health.

Big Sis

Big Sis

Dedicated to my big sister Lauren

You're the best, and I'm proud of you for all you do.

Your color was pink, or was it sparkly pink?

Either way, mine was too.

If you only knew

How cool you were then,

I'd give anything to be just like you.

And when you were with your friends,

I was sure to be outside your door.

Sitting, listening, waiting for you;

Ears perked, I sat silently,

All to hear more.

You'd talk and you'd play

Nearly all day, brother sitting outside your door.

Yet on you played, as I laid, silently there on the floor.

Peeking through the crack 'neath your door,

Never wanting to let you be,

Waiting for big sis to come play with me.

Untold Truths and Untruths Told

Liar, Liar! Pants on Fire!
I don't care, I don't care! I'll just buy another pair!

Something unusual happened today. I told a lie. I didn't want to, and I didn't really have to. I just did to save time, avoid an uncomfortable situation, and hopefully, keep from hurting someones feelings. Such an unusual occurrence made me ponder the value and validity of lying. What is a lie? Is it ever okay to lie? Is there value in lying? Do the rules of lying change based on the form of communication?

To lie is "to make an untrue statement with intent to deceive" or "to create a false or misleading impression." The first definition is pretty clear, deceiving someone on purpose by giving information known to be false. This is the standard definition of a lie. The second definition is where lying gets a little hazy. A vast amount of situations fall under the umbrella of a "false or misleading impression." Omitting information. Letting someone act on a idea that you know is false. Lies? They can certainly be interpreted as such.

In most occasions, it's not okay to lie (planning a surprise party, it's probably okay). You shouldn't lie to friends, family, or people you respect. In general you shouldn't lie to anyone, but it is a helluva lot easier to lie to someone who you don't know well or don't respect. How many times have you been asked by a homeless person if you have any money and replied, "No, I'm sorry," even with a pocket full of coins or a wallet full of cash? Every the freakin' time for me. In many cases instead of lying, it's probably best to say, "I'd prefer not to talk about it."

There can be value in lying. Although we most often recognize the value for the liar, a lie can hold value for the ly-ee, as well. Take for example a sleazy used car salesman. Lying about features and prices of cars boosts his sales and profits. Now take for example a parent lying to a child about a dead pet. This lie has no real value for the parents, but it saves emotional turmoil for the child. Less obvious, the value of "white lies" is often saving face or saving time. In general, it is easier to tell lies that have value. Conversely, there can be cost to lying. Getting caught in a lie causes a liar to lose credibility, which is an enormous cost as it is difficult to regain trust. That sleazy car salesman caught in a lie will lose customers. The parents with the dead pet will have to deal with an angry or devastated child.

The rules of lying don't exactly change over different forms of communication, but it is much easier to lie through text, email, Facebook, or dating sites than it is in person (I lied over text). The same rules should apply (you shouldn't lie to someone over text that you wouldn't lie to in person), but often don't.

It is probably best lie sparingly if at all, and when you do, be prepared for the cost.

Liar, Liar! Pants on fire! Hanging from a telephone wire,
Squirming, squirming, pants are burning. When I lie my hips start turning.

Cool it.

Ten ways to be cooler than the average person:

• Write in a journal regularly
• Know how to cook a few really good meals
• Be able to hold your liquor
• Learn a second language
• Take good photos
• Wear clothes that fit and look good on you
• Be on time
• Write thank you letters
• Text only at appropriate times
• When you notice something you like about someone, give them a compliment

And five cool ways to gain respect from those around you:

• Stop to help someone change a tire (or at least ask if they need help)
• Offer your seat to someone on a bus, subway, or train
• Listen to others, instead of waiting for your turn to talk
• Remember the names of acquaintances
• Thank those who have served or are serving in the military

Beard Season

Ladies, have you caught a real man this beard season?

A real man (scientific name, Taldarc enhansom) can most easily be identified by his broad shoulders, deep voice, and gentlemanly manner. He is a prized catch when he has his full winter beard, a mane covering his lower face, jaw, and neck. Once thought of as a means of keeping warm in the winter, the beard is an evolutionary tool which makes the real man appear larger and stronger, cushions his face from blows, and hides scars from previous altercations. It is also thought to offer the real man a reproductive advantage over his non-bearded counterpart, as the most fertile females of his species (scientific name, Phittsmart enbyutiful) seem to prefer his mane. Scientists studying the real man in his natural habitat have reported wide variations of fullness, length, color, and grooming of the beard across the species. However, there are no conclusive links between beard variation and a man's rank within his social pack.

When tracking and hunting a real man, it is important not to alert your bearded prey of danger. Be certain not to wear too much make-up as this may bewilder, confuse, or frighten a real man. It may be tempting to hunt a real man at his favorite watering hole, but these areas are often crowded with the species and prone to displays of dominance; all too often, the hunters become the hunted. Certain areas may allow the use of bacon and beer as bait, but be sure to check your local laws and regulations before use. For certain men, a relationship may be the most effective trap, but not all men can be caught this way. Adjust your hunting techniques accordingly.

Beard season ends in early spring as the men shed their winter mane. So ladies, hurry up and bag your man before the season is over. Happy hunting.

Effective editing

Communicating clearly and concisely is extremely powerful. Writing clearly and concisely is nearly impossible. Good writing starts as an unintelligible mess of thoughts on paper. It is from this unfinished slab of writing that editing will sculpt your Venus de Milo. There is something to be said about taking a big, unwieldy, and almost incomprehensible paper and trimming it down, shaping it into something simple and elegant. However, editing is not a skill that many people do well.

For most, it's pressing spell check once or twice and reading the whole paper through from start to finish. Your first step in editing is using the spelling and grammar check, and the last step is reading through the paper from start to finish, but the process is much more. After spell checking the paper, read through each section once or twice. Your job is to identify grammar and spelling errors, awkward wording, areas that need clarification, and areas that need to be re-ordered to flow well. Identifying grammar and spelling mistakes takes time and a keen eye. If grammar isn't your thing, try reading Eats, Shoots & Leaves; it'll pique your interest with some humor and get some grammar rules stuck in your head. Awkward wording is easier to identify. If you misread a sentence when reading it at full speed, it's awkward; reword it. If you get that feeling that something "just doesn't sound right," it's awkward; reword it. Areas that need clarification are also easy to spot. If you have to read a sentence more than once to grasp its meaning, so will everyone else; rework it. Change the wording so that you convey your message clearly. For me, the hardest part of editing is making sure everything is in the correct order. In creative works, your climax is at the end to build anticipation. In technical works, your climax is at the beginning to convey the most important information quickly. For both, the writing must be continuous so that each sentence flows into the next and supports those around it. Good luck fixing these errors; there are almost infinite possibilities for the order of paragraphs, sentences, and words, and the best/most pleasing order isn't always cut and dry.

Keep in mind that there is a great deal of room for personal preference in writing style and editing, and editing will vary based on what you are writing for. Editing my blog is an entirely different beast than editing my engineering reports. Additionally, know that it is harder to edit your own work because you often read what you thought you wrote, rather than what is written. If you must edit your own work, you need to put it down for a day or two before editing to do a good job. For a good paper, editing will probably take much longer than writing.

Finally, remember: When writing, don't hesitate to include it; when editing, don't hesitate to remove it.

Surviving the Airport: A date with Security

Got a thing for a man in uniform? Trust me, we all do. But how do you set yourself apart from the thousands of other travelers and snag that cute TSA agent at the security checkpoint? Try these conversation starters, and I will guarantee you some hands-on time with your TSA agents:

"Dude, you gotta check out my new Nike's. They are the Bomb!"
"How much you wanna bet this doesn't get through the scanner?"
"Did you listen to Rihanna's new album? Her career is just Blowing Up."

Ok, so you've started the conversation, and I bet you'll let the TSA agent get to second base during that pat-down you're about to get, but how do you hit the home run and go all the way with your sexy man in uniform? During your frisk definitely say:

"If you're more handsy, I'll put my seat-back and tray-table in the upright and locked position."
"Watch out for the python, he bites."
"A little lower...oh yeah...and just go slow for a bit."

Alright! He's nearly yours now, and you've certainly gotten yourself some one-on-one time with the officer in a private room. Here's your chance at romance! Forget the mile high club, you're about to experience the pleasure of a full-on cavity search. It's time to close the deal:

"It's a shame you can't smoke on planes, because I'm going to need a cigarette after this."
"Can we grab the lube from my carry-on? Oh, don't worry it's the 2.8 ounce bottle."
"How about next time, I play the TSA agent and you play the naughty drug smuggler?"


Assuming everything goes well, your TSA agent will have booked you an overnight stay at an offsite facility for some..."additional questioning." What you do from here on out is up to you. Good Luck and Happy Travels.

Writer's Block

Writer's block. That's all that came to mind when I sat down to write. I sat and stared at the keyboard, put on some music, and I couldn't think of anything to write.  That's what writer's block is, when you can't think of anything to write, right?

Nope. It is literally impossible to not think of anything to write. That big brain of yours is filled with things to be written; ideas, thoughts, words. Writer's block is your brain telling you not to write because your idea isn't yet "perfect." My "perfect" idea is something that is entertaining and interesting to you. If I can't think of anything entertaining or interesting, I can't write. Writer's block is easy enough to cure, just write something.

Beat writer's block: Don't worry about writing the perfect idea. Begin by writing an idea. Start with a word. Put that word on paper. More words will follow. Editing will sculpt those words into the perfect idea.

Surviving the Airport, Pre-Departure Tips: Part 2 - Morgantown, WV

If you read the first Surviving the Airport post, you're probably well on your way to becoming a savvy traveler. You're dressed for success with your comfortable, functional clothing and ready to hit the airport. Right?

Wrong! Ask any girl; it's not just about the outfit. You need to accessorize!

Gotta-have Handbags: Fashion before function, I always say, but forget the Louis Vuitton clutch at home. Strut the jet-ways in style with this season's hottest weekender-bag. Weekender bags are pretty standard; you are looking for a small-medium duffel-like bag. And forget the roll-aboards, they are soooo last season.  As a weekend warrior, you need the space that those wheels and handle take up, and trust me, the stiff, boxy frame on your roll-aboard just doesn't compliment that slender figure of yours.

Every girl has to have the carry-all, Big-Ass-Bag. For a larger, checked bag, I recommend The North Face Base Camp Duffel. The fabric is water resistant, durable, and highly visible. It can hold enough clothes for 2+ weeks. If it is lightly packed, most airlines will let you carry it on, and on top of all that, it solves the worst part about duffel bags - the fact that you have to lug them around - by adding backpack straps. Doesn't match your Jimmy Choo pumps? Take the roll-aboard. There is little shame in toting a roll-aboard, if it is checked! 

Earrings that bling: Classy, pearl studs or big, gaudy hoops? Minimalist ear-buds or big, in-your-face headphones? A girl's gotta have her pearls. Yes, I know; big, flashy, colorful Dre Beats or the ever-so-slightly more subtle Bose noise cancelling headsets are what’s hot for the under-25-with-too-much-money crowd. Even if you’re wearing the gaudy headphones to send the signal that you’re not to be talked to; trust me, putting in your iPod ear-buds will give Chatty Cathy in the seat next to you the impression that you want some quiet time. As a bonus, you can toss them in your carry-on without worrying about damaging them, and when that fateful day comes when you do forget them on the plane, ear-buds won't break the bank like those Beats or those pearls.

Well-kept woman: This is the time to be the girl that has it all. The shiny new phone, the moleskine planner, the e-reader, snacks, chapstick, gum. Sorry to disappoint; no poorly drawn parallel here. Bring your smartphone, journal, Kindle, iPod, and every other creature comfort that you probably already have crammed in your Long Champ handbag. Use that 4 hour layover in ATL to your advantage and catch up on your reading, jam out to some Ingrid Michaelson, or work on that new year's resolution to write in your journal, all while enjoying that trail-mix or cliff bar that the airport security-god was kind enough to let you keep.

Ever heard, "There's surviving, and then there is living." Survive the airport with the bare minimum: hand-me-down luggage and that Vanity Fair magazine that you picked up at the last minute. Or spend your travels living by carrying your stylish weekender bag, blasting hip music through your ear-buds, and killing layovers and downtime with your tech savvy time-wasters.

2 for '12 - Morgantown, WV

Wheelie a Motorcycle: Check.

If it is going to be 60 degrees in January (insert Al Gore/global warming joke here), I may as well get out on the bike. Emboldened by declaring my bucket list to the world (insert joke about my actual number of readers here), I decided it was time to cross off my second item.

 Just two days earlier, my attempts to wheelie had been foiled by a snapped clutch cable and an embarrassing ride home on a motorcycle stuck in second gear. Today I would not be stopped. Again emboldened, this time by my ability to replace the clutch cable, I set out to a deserted parking lot at the edge of town.

"And....?" You might wonder. Nothing spectacular. Unlike skydiving, this is one of those been-there-done-that bucket list items, and I'm ready to leave it in the dust. In all my adventures, I do my best to mitigate risks. Having wheelie'd, consider the bucket list item checked and the desire to wheelie gone.

12 for '12 - Morgantown, WV

If I put my New Year's resolution in print I gotta do it, right? Now that you know what it is, you can remind me to do it before the year ends, or make fun of me on January 1st for not making it. Your choice.

New Year's Resolution: Knock 12 items off my bucket list. More specifically, these 12:

1. Shoot a Gun (Jan 13, 2012)

2. Visit New York City (Tokyo, London, Istanbul, San Fran, LA, but never NYC)

3. Run a marathon (Two countries? One marathon?)

4. Hitch hike (If the marathon goes bad...)

5. Polar Bear Plunge (It's been a mild winter, I better knock this one out now)

6. Drink Hennessy (Warm up after the plunge?)

7. Graduate (If I don't get this one done, I will have plenty of time to do the others)

8. Play golf (Full size golf)

9. Become fluent in another language (Das ist nicht so kompliziert!)

10. Visit Toronto (eh?)

11. Wheelie on a motorcycle (Maybe this one should be 12)

12. Learn CPR (Now that you don't do mouth-to-mouth it is considerably less fun)

Good luck on your resolutions! I'm gonna need it on mine...

Travelers Torture: Rollaboarding

Ok, drawing a connection between waterboarding and a roll-aboard may be a bit extreme, but I'm not happy about either of them. American travelers are addicted to wheeled luggage. I am officially making public my vendetta against the clicky-clack, standard-black roll-aboard. I'm declaring war against the masses of mindless travelers with roll-aboards in tow.

My guerrilla tactics have been rendered ineffective by the sheer number of roll-aboard travelers. I can only flip so many roll-aboards when I "accidentally get my foot rolled over." I can't fight the good fight alone. I'm calling on you to join the fight. While we may not be able to flip all of the roll-aboards, maybe we can start a revolution and turn back the clocks to a time when a simple weekender bag was the only way to travel. 

Declare independence from rigid, wheeled carry-ons that take up all of the overhead room. Take back the space at the bottom of your luggage that your roll-aboard frame has taken from you. Free yourself from boring-black-boxy luggage. Silence the clack-clack-clack of wheel on tile.

Join my ranks and reap the rewards. Once the enemy is eliminated, I promise you that your soft-cased weekender duffel will fit easily into the overhead. No cramming, no jamming, no gate checking. 

Surviving the Airport, Pre-Departure Tips: Part 1 - Houston, Texas

Face it. Getting through airports sucks. Some more than others (I'm talking about you O'Hare). And no matter what you do or who you are, every flight you take, you will have to jump through whatever hoops the TSA has in place, just like every other schmuck traveling that day. However when it comes to sailing through the airport in record time, you've got the advantage over the typical Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Traveler; you've got brains and a little experience on your side.

As you wait in line for security, you find yourself picking off your little metal trinkets and placing them in your bag. As soon as you get to the X-ray machine, you can slam your appropriately sized carry-on onto the belt and breeze through painlessly. But I'm here to tell you, your boarding pass to a pain-free experience at the airport is issued way before you get to the security checkpoint.

Over the past year, my 30+ flights (80+ if you count my one way tickets to 10,500 feet) have led me through a trial-and-error experiment on leisure travel. I've tested everything from clothing to luggage, shoes to snacks, toiletries to accessories.Compiled below are my Pre-Departure Tips for my tested and true departure day clothing:

1. Underwear: Something comfortable (Duh!). I choose brightly-colored boxer briefs. They don't bunch-up when sprinting to catch that tight connection, and when you luck into getting the random strip search, those neon-pink American Eagle briefs are bound to bring a smile to the sternest TSA agent.

2. Pants: Comfortable and functional is the goal here. I choose the most comfortable pair of jeans that I am bringing on the trip. For me, this usually means my Lucky Brand selvage denim. They have a little stretch to them and are not so baggy that TSA targets me for that strip search. On longer international flights, I pack a pair of running shorts in my carry-on; I don't want to spend a 14-hour flight to Japan in jeans. Functional means that I wear a pair of pants that I actually want to have on my trip. I don't recommend sweat pants (Yes, they are comfortable, but I can't think of any situation that I need sweatpants during travel). If you wear sweatpants, I can guarantee that your favorite chap-stick will fall out of your pocket and your pants will drop to your knees as you run to your gate.

3. Shirt: Whatever you want here. As long as your shirt does not voice your support for Al-Qaeda or other terrorist organizations, it won't matter what shirt you wear. I choose a nice dark-colored, soft cotton tee. Soft for comfort, dark to hide any dirt or stains from the day of travel.

4. Socks: Wigwam Rebel Fusion Quarters. I don't compromise on this. With these your feet will be comfortable and dry, and more importantly, when you decide to secretly slip off your shoes on that red-eye to San Francisco, you won't wake your neighbors from their slumber with your terribly smelly feet.

5. Shoes: Comfort. See the pattern yet? I choose the most comfortable pair of shoes that I am bringing on the trip. Also, I go for the pair that has a speedy on-off feature. When I get to that dreaded point in security when I need to sock-it through the full body scanner, I want to get my shoes off and especially back on quickly.

6. Jacket: I always travel with a light jacket that has multiple pockets. The pockets are useful for storing things during security screening, and having a jacket allows you to adjust your layers when you transition from the neutral airport to the freezing jetway to the hotter-than-hell plane.

7. Others: I always wear a belt. It is my one feature that slows me down during my travels, but I find it necessary to keep my pants on. I keep my watches/jewelry/etc. to a minimum. The less stuff you have on you, the better.

All in all, don't wear anything that you don't want to have with you during the trip. Wear stuff that is comfortable and functional, and don't wear things that will attract negative attention from security. Travel often, and travel safe!