I ask a lot of questions. If I don’t know something, I ask or I research it. And I finally feel smart enough to know I don’t know much and what I do know probably will change quickly. So this what I’ve learned about the planning and getting there, wherever ‘there’ is.

1. Where would I be without my travel books? Some in print, others electronic. Several traditional travel book publishers like Lonely Planet reformatted their handy guides so I could buy only the chapters on the particular city or region of my liking in Brazil . This makes for easy and light  transport and pocketbook friendly.

2. Rule 240. Well, I’ve long heard conflicting information about this contract paragraph in an airline customer’s contract. So, I went researching and found a lovely article from CNN’s Christopher Elliot which sums up the issue nicely. In the past, I’ve done just as he suggests. I don’t call shenanigans at the ticket counter and point to “Rule 240.” Instead I politely smile. It’s amazing what a smile can do among so many frowns.

3. Pre-flight check. No matter how you acquire your airfare, you can make your trip more comfortable by visiting these two sites before you commit to your flight schedule. Seatguru.com helps you pick the best seat on the plane, and it’s not always in the exit row. Choose your airline, flight and aircraft and tah-dah! The site shows you the best seats and explains each sections’ limitations so you will sleep like a baby and have plenty of leg room. Pair seatguru.com with Flightstats.com and you’ll be worry-free your entire trip. Flightstats.com aggregates all the airline arrival and departure data to tell you in real time which flights routinely or recently were delayed and by how long. Knowing this before you book your layover to catch that international flight to Rome could be a Godsend.

4. Hostels and Couchsurfing.org. Nice hotels are great if you need a place of solace, but when traveling solo, I love to stay over in hostels. Yes, I don’t always know what to expect, but that’s what I like about it. I hostel it if I can’t find a couchsurfing.org host to take me in. I absolutely love the idea of couchsurfing.org. And I have felt safe surfing as a female traveling alone. The organization has many checks and balances to best help its member be and feel safe. But then again, I also follow my intuition when I read and submit requests to potential hosts. I want to get to know the person(s) I’m staying with. I’m just not looking for a place to crash. One of the first surfers I was lucky enough to host was Eddie, a 31 year old from Sydney Australia, who was on his last week of one year’s travel around the world. And I got to host him on his birthday. We spent an entire night on my porch swing talking about his adventures, motivating me to make my own travel dreams a reality. More about couchsurfing.org later.

5. Don’t forget the simple things. Avoid bloating airline food. Bring some snacks, a sandwich or trail mix with you on your flight. It makes for one happy tummy.

6. I believe I mentioned this one before. Smile. Maybe even hug. But more about that in the next post.

What are your favorite travel sites, blogs, books/series?

A South African

Fifty-five weeks ago Patric entered the Crown Room in Portland, Oregon, sat down at the bar next to me and our mutual friend, Laura, who introduced us mere weeks before, and asked,

“You two wouldn’t want to go to Rio for Carnival, would you?”

Perhaps in one of my previous iterations of myself I’d have easily brushed off this kind of offer as mere day dreaming, but over the last several years, I’ve accepted these moments as wonderful opportunities awaiting my faith in them. So, I played along and asked,

“When do you need an answer?”

Over the next days, we discussed pre-flight requirements. Flight. Check. Hotel. Check. Vacation request approval. Check. Travel visa…

“You need a visa?” Patric asked.

We realized South Africans don’t need a visa to travel to Brazil, but Americans do. After speaking with a plethora of visa agencies, I discovered I couldn’t conceivably receive my visa in time to travel. Dream trip thwarted – for the moment, because now, I had the Brazil bug. I asked myself “How?” and “Why not?” rather than tell myself, “I can’t.” And then one day I just decided, “Travel doesn’t have to be expensive or difficult.” And this was what that beautifully blossomed belief manifested:

A Barcelonan

Monday night. Burning Man. Playa dust clouds swirled off my sparkly heels as I stepped onto my first art car for the week, with a full suited Cookie Monster at the helm. Just as I gained balance, several foreign, reveling Burners descended the staircase to await their stop. I grabbed the stair rail, ready to climb, but as I did, one of the revelers intently took my hand, looked me squarely in the eyes and in a Spanish accent said,

“Wait! You! You need to travel, and you need to fall in love.”

“Both sound wonderful,” I reply, “Where are you from?”

“Barcelona!” he said.

“Oh, I loved Spain! But I never made it to Barcelona,” I respond. We paused for a moment. I embraced the message, thinking our momentary interlude was over, but he continued,

“You Americans. You travel to Europe. This is not travel. No. You, my dear, need to go to…” He looked intently into my eyes and with gusto said, “Brazil!” And then he kissed my hand in gentlemanly fashion and jumped off the art car into the night.

And a Burner

So, I make this music guide for Burning Man. And this year among the many lovely people who emailed me sweet something thank yous, I received an awesome, energy filled message from Tony who suggested I stop by his camp to say ‘hi’ and receive a proper hug and thank you (I am a sucker for long, unpretentious hugs!) . But as is Burning Man, the time I stopped he wasn’t at camp. So we reconnected post-Burn over wine and whomp. It was then I discovered Tony had travelled to Brazil and was excited to connect me with people he knew living there, including another Burner. And so it seemed, the universe decided 2011 was to be the year I travelled to Brazil. Who was I to argue? But how? Wait. I remembered, “Travel doesn’t have to be expensive or difficult.”

I’ll explain this in the next post.

First thing’s first. I am a rock star. And I believe you are a rock star, too. Not your flashy, world famous singer or musician. No. I prefer the second Oxford English Dictionary entry to the more well-known interpretation: a celebrity within a particular sphere of activity. By this definition, I am the celebrity of my own life and so are you.

Second thing’s second. I am an actual librarian. I believe smart is the ultimate sexy, and everyone is smart on something, therefore everyone is sexy in their own way. No, I don’t fit the quiet, bookish stereotype, whatever that is. In fact most the people I work with are alt cool in their own right and wicked funny. (Did I mention I love my job?) But when I was in grad school, I *did* bond with Parker Posey’s Mary character in the movie, Party Girl, and knew I had found my true calling when I learned this: knowledge is power, even for my DJ friends.

So, how does one travel through life like a rock star? I don’t claim to have the answers. Instead I invite you along on a journey. Wait, please don’t roll your eyes. I’m not going to blog about yet another search for inner meaning. Nope. This is going to be fun. I invite you to come along with me as I playfully apply child like wonder and playa magic to my adventures in Brazil, beginning this week.

But first I should explain how a South African, a Barcelonian and a Burner got me to Brazil in the first place. Next post.