Cuba!!!

Going to Cuba has generally been a difficult task until recently.  Now, not only can you travel directly to Cuba from the United States but you can also bring back Cuban cigars!  I went to Cuba in October and had a great experience.  From the people, to the culture to the beautiful terrain, Cuba has something for everyone.

Check out my video about Cuba Here

Before flying out of the U.S. there are a few things you want to make certain of:

• When booking your flight make sure to get insurance that covers you specifically in Cuba.
• Make sure to get your Visa (select Educational Purposes: People to People as your reason for visiting Cuba).  The Visa is $85.
• Exchange your money to Euros prior to going. Your credit cards wont work there so calculate how much you will need.  I would suggest having $100 a day plus whatever you may need to cover the hotel stay if it is not pre-paid for.
• Look at airbnb.com as a lodging option if you want to be more a part of the culture.
• Book some tours before going so you have a plan in place.

From Miami the flight was only 33 minutes to Varadero where I flew into.  This is about 2.5 hours from Havana.  You can also fly directly into Havana.  When you get to Cuba you will want to exchange your Euros to CUC (Cuban Convertible Peso). You can do this as soon as you exit the airport. You will also want to get a WiFi card if the place you are staying has WiFi access.  Keep in mind, if they have access you still need a WiFi card if you want to try to call out on WiFi or use the internet.  The WiFi is sketchy so even with the card there may be times where you are unable to access the internet.

You can look into some tour companies as this is the best way to see different parts of the country.  You can email Zoila for tours and transportation:  Zoilam81@nauta.cu

You will want to know some basic Spanish to help in getting around as most of the taxi drivers and even restaurant workers know very little English.  However, everyone I came across were generally willing and happy to help.

One of the things people love about Cuba is the Cuban cigars and they certainly didn't disappoint.  I went to a farm in Viñales where me and some friends tried some cigars and went horseback riding.

Cuba has something for everyone.  From the mountainside to the beautiful beaches in Varadero I can say I had a magical time there.  It was once a forbidden place that now we all have the opportunity to go see.  Don't miss out on this chance of a lifetime!

If you have any questions about going to Cuba add a comment and I will be happy to reply! Thanks for sharing in my journey. ~Gen

New Year: New You

If you think you can't travel the world during the holidays and have a great time with great people you would be wrong!

Coming to Peru alone was a big step for me and I really didn't know what to expect.  I didn't think I would meet any friends and certainly never thought I would have this much fun.  For me, New Years is really important as its a time to celebrate an amazing year and to embrace a new year to come.  It allows me an opportunity to reflect on my goals and my life and determine what changes I would like to make in the new year.  It's also important for me to be dancing, enjoying some cocktails and spending time with friends.  I was able to do all these things right here in Lima, Peru.  It gave me a new outlook on who I am as a person and who I can become but more importantly what I am capable of. 

I found the thing I said I was looking for despite not knowing what it was

I had not quite figured out why I was on this trip when I first booked it or even after being here for several weeks but now I get it.  I mean maybe I knew it all along but I still wanted my aha moment.  

My entire life I have always pushed myself to do more and be more because I am always in competition with myself.  I don't expect that to ever change and for now, at least, its a benefit to my life.  I know there are deep rooted reasons why I do it but what is important is that it continues to enhance my life and make me step further and further outside my comfort zone to become the woman I want to be.  I am not her yet but I know I am on my way.  In the meantime, I needed to know I could come to a foreign country, not know anyone and not only survive (surviving is a major plus!) but meet friends and become part of the community and not just a tourist.  I didn't just want to see Peru, I wanted to become part of Peru.  

I have started to learn my way around and how to get to places I want to go.  I have new friends that I can call and go out with, have lunch with and talk to. I also feel comfortable in my surroundings as if I belong despite the occasional stares from passerby's and the clear language barrier.  I am starting to really love living here.

New Years was the icing on the cake.  I confirmed that I can live anywhere and not just be content or okay but be happy.  You don't need people around you to be happy but when people want to be around you it's a good feeling.  We danced and drank and danced some more.  I spoke to new friends who don't speak English and they taught me how to dance to songs I have never heard of.  It was a truly great night.

If I can do it, you can too.  New Year: New You.  We are all one on this Earth to love and connect and share with one another.  We do not have to look the same or have the same religion or even speak the same language to learn to love each other.  When you realize that you become one with something so much bigger than yourself.  Check out my New Years photos below.  I hope your New Year was full of family, friends and lots of love, like mine was.

         

As you can see from my photos from New Years, I meet some amazing people and had an amazing time.  I have talked to many people who say I am crazy for traveling the world alone but with over 7 billion people in this world I am never alone!  Happy New Year!!!

                                                 

                                                                                                                 

  

Reasons to go to Peru: Huacachina!

So I never in a million years would have known that Peru had such an amazing landscape until I came here.  Now that I am here I am learning about some pretty cool areas.  To know me is to know I love to venture out and that is exactly what I did.  Normally I travel solo but my sister flew in for the week to head to Huacachina with me.  I think the pictures speak for themselves on how awesome this place is:

Where the fun began

If you love adventure you will love Huacachina.  It has a beautiful Oasis in the middle of what I describe as amazing sand mountains.  The dune buggy rides are crazy awesome as they zoom down sand mountains as if on a roller coaster.  Sandboarding was like enjoying snowboarding in the winter in the states but without the cold weather.  It doesn't get better than that!  Peru should definitely be added to your bucket list and you cant come to Peru without going to Huacafuckingchina!!!

                                    

Bittersweet

While I was planning this trip I imagined so many amazing adventures I would take and the new experiences I would have.  I also imagined the new friends I would make and the new me I would become.  I never thought about the current friends I would be leaving behind, the family I would miss and the love that I cherish daily that I would be walking away from.

It seems contradictory to be so excited about leaving and miss the people you love tremendously in the process.  I see my life changing drastically and I know I will never be the same and neither will my relationships.  When we travel we make a sacrifice to some of the relationships we once had in order to grow.  I want to grow but change can be hard. I love my current life, my friends, the long relationship I have had with love but its time for a new me.  Maybe a better me.  Maybe just a different me.  I  know for sure I wont be the same.  I guess that's the point.

For anyone who ever saw the movie, "Eat, Pray, Love" I can say I feel as though I will have a similar experience.  I am not gone quite as long as in the movie (although I did only buy a one way ticket) but I think the impact will be just as intense.  This is my eat, pray, love experience.  I am becoming one with myself and the new world around me.

Many people have a journey like mine so I am not alone, but yet I am...alone.  Alone to make my own decisions.  Alone to live my own dreams.  Alone to enjoy my own passions.  Alone can be so freeing when you have nothing standing in the way of a Life Best Lived.  I plan on living it to the fullest every single day.  I intend on eating the foods I want, drinking the best wines I can find and tasting the happiness that comes from being free.  Oh so sweet.

However, although I have yet to land in Peru I already taste a bitterness on my tongue from the loved ones I miss.  I sit here writing this in the airport with a heavy heart trying to avoid any songs that will make me tear up.  I wont cry though.  At least not today.

This, for me, is the adventure of a lifetime.  I hope if you are reading this you realize how possible this is for you too.  Traveling the world is not for just the privileged or the wealthy or the special.  We all have the ability to live whatever life we want.  We just have to believe in ourselves to make all our dreams come true.  Every day I am one step closer to having the life I only imagined just a short few years ago.  I just tell myself I can and somehow I do.

So before all the cool pictures of mountains and shops and nightlife and people, from a place many will never see, I just open myself up to tell you that for today the journey to somewhere is bittersweet.

On a Journey to somewhere

My Journey will be starting soon and I would be lying if I said I wasn't somewhat afraid.  Not afraid of traveling alone or afraid something bad will happen to me but afraid that the thing I don't know I am looking for won't find me.

In a few short weeks I will be heading over to Lima, Peru to spend about 2 months and then hitting up Rio, Brazil for a few weeks before finding my way back home only to jump on a cruise ship to Mexico for a few days.  This will be the longest I have been away from home and will be the first time I am spending this much time alone.  I will be surrounded by people who speak a language unfamiliar to me as the most Spanish I retained was how to count to 10.  Of course I know even less Portuguese so the language barrier may be a challenge.  I love to talk so it will be frustrating to learn a new way to communicate.

People that know I am leaving for a few months always ask me why.  I seem to be surprised each time and have yet to come up with an answer.  I have always wanted to travel the world and although I have been to a great many tropical places in my day I have never stayed somewhere long enough to start to feel like its home.  Being an entrepreneur for Degrees of Success I can work from anywhere in the world.  I guess part of me is leaving so I can tell myself I can.  Somewhere inside me I am also hoping to find something.  I cant put  my finger on what that something is or if it will benefit my life in some way but deep down I think it will.  Clarity maybe or a oneness with myself or some type of closure to the old chapters in my life.  I don't really know.

I think some people think I am going through a midlife crisis but I don't think that's it.  I may not have everything I ever dreamed of but I am getting closer to it every day.  I am still single which I guess at the young age of 38 would seem too old to still be going it alone but most days it doesn't bother me.  I say most because some days it does.  It's not easy to do everything alone and sometimes I wish I had a travel buddy but this journey of mine only requires a Ticket for Just One.

Sometimes I think we have to step outside our comfort zones to become the people we are destined to be.  I guess ultimately I am hoping I will become her somewhere in between Lima and Rio.  I will update you with pictures and videos and stories of my travels.  This is the beginning of my journey to somewhere.