Travelcloseup.com

Hi everyone!

As most of you know I have moved my operations full time over to my new blog

www.travelcloseup.com

But in case new people come over to this blog, I wanted them to know where to go!

Thanks to everyone who stops by!

Lions and Tigers and Bears Oh…well maybe not!

…More like Giraffes and Florida Panthers and Alligators, oh YEAH!That essentially sums up our little excursion to Silver Springs, Florida. It is home of the Silver River, glass bottom boat tours and some of the friendliest animals down South, as you will see…..

(for pictures and more info, please visit me @ www. travelcloseup.com)

Check out Brave New Traveler!

Hey Everyone!I have exciting news to share.Brave New Traveler has just published an article I wrote about my time on the Navajo Reservation. Please go check it out! It is my first article for someone else! I am really excited about it! http://www.bravenewtraveler.com/2007/03/20/black-mesa-navajo-resistance/#comments

REDESIGNED WEBSITE!!!!

Roberto just re-designed my website for me!!!!
I have been getting a lot of new visitors and so as a treat for me, while I was out last night, he redid the whole thing! It is absolutely beautiful!

www.travelcloseup.com

You Say Gelato, I Say Gelato Americano

As soon as I got to FL I started my quest for where to find a good gelateria. Luckily my search was not a long one, for we found one an hour north in Gainesville. The Gelato Company is a cute little café located on SE 1st avenue. The server was very helpful, asking us if we had gelato before. We said of course and he asked us where. When Roberto said Italy, he kind of stopped his spiel mid-sentence. But I liked the fact that the server knew his product and was willing to educate new converts. The day we went they had many flavors to choose from, but we were a little disappointed because they had strayed a bit from the traditional gelato flavors we love.

(for more information and photos visit me @ www.travelcloseup.com)

Is the Universe Talking to ME?

Maybe I need to start listening! Moving to Florida from New England has been a really big change. We left that North East culture and came to something totally different. We left a winter wonderland filled with ice and headed for the balmy breezes of the south. We left our jobs, Roberto’s girls and dear friends to start over and have a clean slate. We craved change and we decided to go big!Whenever I move to a new place, I usually always have a job beforehand. This time, I just decided to wing it. I had some money saved and I thought it would be a breeze for me to find a job. Not so. Since I got here, I have applied for over 25 jobs in my field. I got called for 2 interviews, and neither place offered me the job. I got really bummed out. This was strange. Usually I get offers for most jobs I apply for….Had I lost my mojo?During this same time, I started this blog in earnest, because it is my baby step towards the life I want to lead - as a world traveler and writer.

(For more information and photos, please visit my Travel Blog: www.travelcloseup.com)

The Beginning.....

After high school, I spent a year in Norway as an exchange student. It changed my life. All through my teenage years I was obsessed with other cultures….learning about foods, spiritual beliefs and daily life. I often pondered what would it be like to have been born somewhere else? What of my beliefs would be different, just by the location of my birth? Finally, after going to Norway I was able to experience that for myself. It was safe for me at that time, as Norway is not that different, demographically from the US, but I was in for such a surprise. It was so hard being thrust into a new environment where you don’t speak the language and where you don’t know a single soul. But it was also exhilarating! It was a chance for me to be ME. No one knew me there, so I was able to be myself to the fullest extend. It was liberating! At the same time, I was like a sponge, soaking up the culture and the language and knowing for the first time what it was really like to be in a different environment. It was challenging in so many ways, but I had never felt so ALIVE!

Back in the Saddle

A big part of deciding to move was to start my travel blog up again. I needed the time to devote to this, and to make it a big part of my life. Something I didn’t have the time I wanted before. Traveling is my passion. Not just going to another place, but by entering another culture and being a part of another people’s way of life for a while. It has always taught me so much about myself, and so I think it is invaluable to our world today. Especially because our world is becoming so integrated. It is essential to have respect for all people, and one way to do that is to understand people from human being to human being. One of the best ways to do that is to stretch yourself and your personal limits through travel. Going to a different part of the world helps you to be able to relate to many different kinds of people. The more you do it, the farther out of your comfort zone you desire to go to.

(For more information and photos, please visit my Travel Blog: www.travelcloseup.com)

Figs with Prosciutto

Prosciutto is a cured paper-thin ham. The most well known is the kind from the region of Parma in Italy. It can be used for sandwiches, in omelets, on pizza or in Antipasti (appetizers). In this recipe it is paired with fresh figs, a sweet, soft fruit found all over the Mediterranean region. Serve this as an appetizer with some crusty bread and cheese, like a good parmigiano reggiano and a glass of wine.

(For more information and photos, please visit my Travel Blog: www.travelcloseup.com)

Imparo l'Italiano

Well, one of the things I have been doing to get myself “travel ready” is I have been learning Italiano. Roberto was teaching me some words here and there which was fun, but he is not a teacher and so I decided that I needed to really do my best to actually learn the language. Especially because his family does not speak English, so when we go to Rome, I want to be able to have basic communication. So I decided it would be great to share an Italian word of the Week: Parola della settimana

To get la parola della settimana please visit my website @ www.travelcloseup.com

Foods of the Mediterranean

I am a HUGE foodie. Food is as important to me as life. It is sustenance, it is delicious, it is beautiful and the right foods can be emotional as well. I am an emotional cook. I put love into my food. I grew up in a big Italian American family learning from my Grandmother and my mom how to cook. So essentially, I grew up cooking and to me, it has become second nature.

While I am cooking I imagine the people I am feeding (myself included!) enjoying the outcome. For me food is an artistic expression of myself, a part of me that must come out! People marvel at how I can take a bunch of random ingredients and “create a masterpiece”!

Since food is such a part of my life, part of my culture and because I believe through food we can travel without leaving our homes, I decided I will have a recipe of the week. In this way, even if you don’t have a plane ticket to the Mediterranean, you can experience some of the flavors of the region. Because the ingredients can sometimes be unique and because spice pairings can be different from what we are used to, eating different foods can be journeys unto themselves.

(For more information and photos, please visit my Travel Blog: www.travelcloseup.com)

What Traveling Means to Me.....

Travel. It is the one way a person can really get to know them self. One of the healthiest ways to understand one’s self and all its abilities and limitations is to go to some place that is different from what we are used to. It will challenge the traveler to navigate through the streets of his destination and sometimes the murky waters of the soul. There is nothing like travel. It is always an experience that one will always learn something from, it is the ultimate teacher. It gives each traveler the gift of a new perspective and new understanding about the world. It can be at once awesome, frustrating, humbling and inspiring. Sometimes our journeys do not lead us where we want to go, but where we are supposed to go. We are given the opportunity every time we travel to learn the lessons about life that we can learn in no other classroom but the vast world, and all its people, animals and plants have to teach us.
I am a traveler and also an aspiring traveler. I have been many places and seen many things and it has enriched my life in a way not possible through any other modality. But, I know there is so much more to learn and see and gain perspective on. Life is a journey, and each person’s journey is enriched by the people we meet, the places we go and our own experiences.
I have a degree in Anthropology and Native American Studies from Hampshire College, in Amherst, MA. In learning about other cultures, especially ones in our own country, that are so misunderstood, I realized that you can learn so much by putting yourself there, with the people and on the land. Many Americans, unfortunately, are misinformed about other countries in the world, because all we see on the news is the bad parts – the poverty, the dangers, the misfortune. However, I firmly believe that if people were actually to go to those places, interact with the people there, eat the food, walk on land, see the art and just BE in that space, that perspectives are certain to change.

(For more information and photos, please visit my Travel Blog: www.travelcloseup.com)