The Most Dangerous Risk of All…

The more unrealistic I am with my dreams, goals, and imagination, the more I am able to achieve.

I’m a dreamer and I do everything in my power to make those dreams come true. Life is worth living, after all, and I’m making it happen. I believe that I’m going to succeed and I go after everything that I want. At 31 years of age, I’ve been able to travel to 34 countries and experience every extreme adventure I could imagine including flying a jet pack, the ultimate in dreamlike adventure. When I set my sights on a new location, it is only a matter of time before I’m immersed in the environment. We flew to Alaska for a weekend vacation after dreaming it up the day before; we sold everything we owned, resigned from our jobs, and moved to California from eastern Canada after only two weeks of imagining life there; and we spent two adventurous weeks in Costa Rica and Nicaragua after three days of planning. I’ve been dreaming again and I have two new destinations in mind: Fiji and Tanzania.

About these ads

Africa Burning

Featured Writer: Wanderlustress

Fires were everywhere as we drove along 6,000 kilometers through the remote hills of Western Tanzania in order to get to the hard to reach national parks typically accessible only by flight. Bush camping, fighting tse tse flies and rationing water along the way, we found healthy national parks, extremely poor road conditions and some of the most unforgettable faces of the African people. The biggest impression, however, was of forest fires. I left Africa with a lasting sensation of heat, the smell of smoke and the concern for Africa’s natural resources.

Continue Reading…

Pole Pole to the Roof of Africa!

Featured Writer: Jenna Brook

When I was at university, I had a book that I wrote little bits about life in as I learnt them. It had quotes, recipes, tickets from events I’d been to and at the back a list of things that I titles “things to do before the end”. Morbid I know, but it was my bucket list. It was constantly changing as I crossed things off and added new things. One of the things on it was climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.

After getting dumped and quitting my job, I decided it was time to hot foot it overseas for a few months and picked Africa as my destination. Even in 5 months I saw nothing but a snippet of what Africa had to offer, but I did cross a couple of things off my list with the main one being making it to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Before Kili, I ventured to the top of Mt. Meru (the second highest mountain in Tanzania) and to be honest I found it a far more gruelling trek as you ascended much quicker and I was up and down inside 3 days, whereas Kili took 9 days in total. It was on Meru that I learned the practical use of the words poley poley, which translates into slowly slowly. You can do Kili much faster on different routes, but not wishing to spend my entire trek vomiting and with a pounding headache I opted for the longer option and avoided both of these things, suffering only from a drum being played inside my head and the urge to vomit when sleeping inside at crater camp inside the mountain.

Travel is Fatal – Cairo in Review

Travel is Fatal – Cairo in Review
Featured Writer: Marilyn Gardner
http://communicatingacrossboundariesblog.com

A quote attributed to Mark Twain says, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” Perhaps it is also fatal to contentment for it is hard to be content with the normal when you have experienced the extraordinary.

This post then, is an attempt to give glimpses of the extraordinary through pictures and narrative. Thank you for taking the trip along with me to Egypt, an extraordinary place with extraordinary people.

The Meaning of New Shoes

The Meaning of New Shoes
Featured Writer: Jenn Winter
www.jennwinter.com

“Ah, Jenni,” Irene smiled as she picked up a small pair of the faux Converse All-Stars, “they are really going to remember this!”

“Huh?”  I looked up from a long list of names and measurements in my little black notebook, “remember what?”

Top 10 Favorite Cities Visited – #4 Djanet, Algeria

Top 10 Favorite Cities Visited

With 33 countries under my belt, I’ve experienced some of the most amazing cities that the world has to offer. From great beaches, climate, friendly people, personal interests, world-famous attractions, architecture, history, and culture, there are many different factors that make a city great, let alone top ten!

#4 Djanet, Algeria - A Whole New World in a Grain of Sand

In the southeastern part of Algeria lies Djanet, which is hardly a city; rather it’s more like a cluster of buildings around the same oasis and a palm grove. Nevertheless, Westerners zip by in crowded jeeps, and covered faces trudge through the powdery sand led by a single Touareg. They follow a typical route that takes in the prehistoric cave art and visit the local market. At night, they find themselves nestled sweetly in comfortable rooms with toilets, showers, running water, and even mattresses. A smaller group of adventure-fueled travellers set out on a more demanding excursion by camel. They travel the silent dunes atop the creature of the desert. Almost no tourists will venture the limitless sandy land without four wheels or feet under them; I was about to embark on a journey beyond my wildest imagination.

Kyangwali Refugee Camp: Between Hope and Despair

Kyangwali Refugee Camp: Between Hope and Despair
Featured Writer: Ella Rychlewski
http://ellamr2.wordpress.com/

Soon after I arrived in Uganda, I had the opportunity to visit Kyangwali Refugee Camp in Hoima district, western Uganda. COBURWAS, a partner organisation of Educate where I work, is based in the camp. The journey from Hoima district town to Kyangwali takes over four stressful hours on dirty bumpy roads.

Through Hell and Back – Ishmael Beah’s Story

There may be as many as 300,000 child soldiers, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s, in more than fifty conflicts around the world. Ishmael Beah, author of A LONG WAY GONE, used to be one of them. As a member of the Human Rights Watch Children Advisory Committee, he spoke to teachers and students at Hampton High School in Hampton, New Brunswick. It was here that I first heard Beah speak about his horrific, terror-filled childhood. He lived with his family in Sierra Leone until 1991, when rebels attacked and violently destroyed his village. They raped women and girls in front of their husbands, fathers, and brothers, took young girls as sex slaves, and killed the rest of their families. When most 12-year-olds were enjoying the innocence of childhood, including me, Beah was struggling to stay alive. I thank Beah for pouring out his soul to the audience. It is proof of Beah’s theory that “…children have the resilience to outlive their sufferings, if given a chance”.

A Whole New World in a Grain of Sand

In the southeastern part of Algeria lies Djanet, which is hardly a community; rather it is more like a cluster of buildings around the same oasis and a palm grove. Nevertheless, Westerners zip by in crowded jeeps, and covered faces trudge through the powdery sand led by a single Touareg. They follow a typical route that takes in the prehistoric cave art and visit the local market. At night, they find themselves nestled sweetly in comfortable rooms with toilets, showers, running water, and even mattresses. A smaller group of adventure-fueled travellers set out on a more demanding excursion by camel. They travel the silent dunes atop the creature of the desert. Almost no tourists will venture the limitless sandy land without four wheels or feet under them; I was about to embark on a journey beyond my wildest imagination.