Here’s the thing: Living the American Dream is expensive.
If your income is unpredictable or fixed, as it is for self-employed and retired Americans like my husband Hank and me, the financial weight of home ownership and a rising cost-of-living can feel overwhelming and render travel an unaffordable luxury you once enjoyed.
Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".
Whether I’m traveling or running errands, I carry a leather Moleskine journal for jotting down notes, dialogue and observations. It’s a journalist’s habit that hasn’t yet yielded to my otherwise digital lifestyle.
But there’s an art to keeping the type of journal that can provide a transformative lens through which you can learn to see yourself with greater awareness.
I recently teamed with career and life design consultant Kendall Dudley to teach a storytelling workshop and when he told me he was leading a 12-day Morocco Journaling & Life Design Adventure (October 8-19, 2014), I was immediately intrigued and eager to share.
Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".
I’ve been itching for an excuse to visit India. I’m also a gluttonous bookworm. So when travel professional Marta Rabins told me about this January trip centered around the Jaipur Literary Festival, I was instantly tempted.
There’s space still available. Should we go? Read on for details…
Diggi Palace, Jaipur, India.
When?
January 11 - 26, 2014.
Why go?
While the annual Jaipur Literary Festival attracts world renowned speakers like author Gary Shteyngart and the Dalai Lama, it’s still a virtually unknown to U.S. travelers. The largest literary festival in the Asia-Pacific region, it’s held in the beautiful heritage Diggi Palace in Jaipur, the capital city of Rajasthan, one of the most colorful states in India. The festival draws authors, journalists, scholars and visitors from all over the world. While there, you can meet interesting people devoted to literature. You can also find fantastic new authors to follow, like Kota Neelima and Ashok Ferrey, a fabulous opportunity for anyone who enjoys discovering the world through books.
About the trip.
This journey with Ponte Travels begins in New Delhi, the nation’s thriving capital and a microcosm for the rest of India, and then takes you to Rajasthan to attend the annual Jaipur Literary Festival. Once the festival concludes, you’ll be off to Pushkar, Jodhpur and Udaipur, exploring and meeting village artisans along the way.
Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".
If you’re like the half a billion Apple addicts on this planet, myself included, your iPhone is the one item you rarely leave home without.
And with a built-in camera offering impressive image quality and the explosion of creative photo apps that enable you to create and share instantaneously, iPhone photography is not just fun and fast, it’s also evolved into a respected art form of its own—iPhoneography.
Discover a few of my favorite photo apps at National Geographic Traveler. Or, take your iPhone on the road and learn how to shoot, process and share artistic images on this dreamy iPhone photography workshop in southern Italy.
Polignano a Mare, Puglia, Italy
Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".
Since 1925, when their small-format 35 mm camera revolutionized the field of photography, Leica has had a profound influence on the way people view and document the world.
Today, the Leica Akademie invites you to the remote wilds of southern Chile to learn and record the story of Patagonia conservation in legendary Leica style.
@Ellen Barone. Melimoyu Glacier, Patagonia Sur
Led by conservation photojournalist Bridget Besaw, and hosted by Patagonia Sur, the workshop, held March 23-30, 2013, is designed for photographers of all levels. The highly immersive experience offers eco-conscious photographers the opportunity to learn tips and techniques first-hand while exploring one of the world’s most legendary landscapes with access to the latest additions to Leica’s storied M-System, the Leica M9 and M9-P.
Better still, the entire portfolio of M lenses is also available throughout the workshop, including the latest Super-Elmar-M 21 mm f/3.4 ASPH, an amazingly compact super wide angle lens.
As an avid adventurer and outdoor photographer, I joined the 2012 workshop for the sheer visual promise of the Patagonia landscape, people and culture, but returned with much more than memorable images. The experience not only expanded my knowledge and how I perceive the world, but also how I perceive myself and my abilities. I highly recommend it.
For information and registration visit Leica Akademie or Seedlight Workshops.
To read more about my Patagonia Sur experiences or view images created in the workshop, click here.
Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".
Travel Film Scholarship 2012 - Go on assignment to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and experience Carnival.
Our partners at World Nomads just launched their World Nomads 2012 Travel Film Scholarship. They are looking for talented, aspiring filmmakers and front of camera talent to apply to go on assignment to Brazil with professional filmmaker Trent O’Donnell. The scholarship winner will head off to Rio to experience Carnival, visit a favela project, and experience a farm home stay. The resulting films will be considered for broadcast by Nat Geo Adventure.
Check out the opportunity here. Entries close October 15, 2012.
Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".