Authenticity

The other day I was talking with a friend and we were having a conversation about our shared affinity for travel. Although, when discussing our future travel plans and wish list of places to go, we quickly figured out we would not be good traveling buddies. I will go ahead and preface the next sentence with the phrase "At this point in my life". At this point in my life I prefer to see the world with a pack on my back, sleeping in a hostel, catching a discount airline or a train to my next destination and with an idea of where i'm going..but no real plan. While he much prefers a first class plane ticket with a stay at the Four Seasons. Now don't get me wrong, I can appreciate the luxury of first-class and the Four Seasons...and there is a time and a place for them in my life as it currently exists. I'm sure there will be a much larger place for it when I am hopefully seeing the world for a second time around in my old age! So he asked me a relatively simple question, "why..what do you enjoy about traveling that way?" It is a question I know the answer to, but had really never thought about in a way that I could verbalize. So I thought about it for a minute and the answer I came up with is Authenticity.

That pretty much sums it up, I feel like I get a more authenitic experience when traveling on the fly. He asked why can't he have that while staying a the Four Seasons. Maybe he can, but I feel like for the most part you sign up for "touristy" tours where you get to see but not touch, watch but not join in. That isn't how I want to do things, I want to touch and to join in. I also like leaving a lot of flexibility to my plans because I have also experienced that the things I have enjoyed the most while traveling were not things I had planned. You also meet so many other travelers along the way, especially when staying in hostels, and you share experiences and learn about so many things you didn't know about. So it is nice to be able to change your plans.

Traveling is about so much more than the places you see, but it is about the people you meet and the experiences you have. With all of the places I have been, the most memorable have little to do with the sites I have seen but the experiences I have had that make me feel a certain way about that place. I like to travel the way I do because I feel it creates more of an opportuntiy to find these people and form these experiences. For me it creates an authenticity that I can't get enough of.

Let Texas Fill My Soul

I've finally made it back home to Texas!  My flight home seemed to take forever, I'm not sure if it was the anticipation or the little boy kicking the back of my seat, but either way it was a long one!  On the flight I had my iPod on random and a big smile creeped across my face as Southbound 35 came across my playlist.  I've always loved that song, and felt an appreciation for Pats inspiration for the song.  I've always loved Texas as much as any good Texan should, but it's hard to really grasp until you've been gone...there really is something so special about this place.  And most would probably argue they feel the same way about their home, but I beg to differ.  But it's not their fault, they don't know, they're just not from Texas. "Let Texas Fill my Soul" that has always been my favorite line of the song, but it sure does take on a whole new meaning.  I truly do love London, but I am glad to be home!

I'm so lucky that I can work in our Dallas office while I am home so that I don't have to take vacation days to visit my family, I am able to be in the States for entire month because of this! I will be in Dallas through the New Year, then off to Houston for a few days, then on to Steamboat to ski with some friends for a week! 

Sorry I have been ignoring my blog the past few weeks, they have been a crazy few weeks! I left off at Thanksgiving with my family coming to visit me in London! We had the most amazing week, but I can't tell you how exhausting it was! We packed in anything and everything in those 6 days, and we did it with a baby!  It was such a great time, I would love to tell you guys every detail, but the thought of that is exhausting! Luckily, my sister has written all about it on her blog, so if you are interested, I will now direct you there!!  One cool tidbit I will let you in on is that we did see the Queen! What are the chances!

After my family left I only had a week before I left to come home for the holidays, so it was a week full of packing, seeing friends, Christmas parties and now here I am....off to let Texas fill my soul :) Family, friends, Mexican food, etc!

Full of Thanks

1. for my parents and what an amazing example they have been for me. for how supportive they have always been of me and my dreams no matter how outlandish they have seemed at the time.

2. for my sister who has provided me unending support (even though I know she would prefer I didn't live on a different continent!) and unfailingly shown me what it means to be a Godly woman.

3. for my precious neice, Hayden, whose never ending fits of laughter keep me smiling!

4. for my friends, both new and old, who make my life a little more fun

5. for the fact that I have a place to celebrate Thanksgiving tonight!

6. and most of all that my whole family will be in London in less than 12 hours!!

Africa - Victoria Falls...In the Lions Den!

Our last stop in Africa was Livingstone, Zambia. They say that your pockets "bleed US dollars" in Livingstone, and they aren't kidding! I was kind of prepared for this, and the rest of Africa had been pretty cheap...well not the really, I just mean I hadn't spent much on food, drinks or souviners up until this point, so I was prepared to spend! Livingstone is an adreline junkies heaven of sorts. They have the 2nd highest bungee jump in the world, a zip line over the gorge, a gorge swing (which looks terrifying!), micro-light flights over the falls, white-water rafting...you get the drift! Well it seems the prices to do anything start at around $100 and go upwards, quickly! Since I'm not much of an adreline junkie (I know you think I'm lying, but I really don't like stuff like that, I just do it usually b/c I say I will and I don't like to look like a scaredy cat!), anyways back on the subject, I opted for walking with lion cubs and an elephant back safari! Most of you are probably thinking, "and how do those activities not induce adrenaline coursing through your body?" Well you are right I guess, it isn't every day you walk side by side with the "King of the Jungle" (haha, sorry, I couldn't help myself!) or sit on top of the largest animal to walk the face of the earth. Yes, I'll admit, I was a little afraid at first...seeing as I we are talking about a girl whose parents had to send her to the "doggie psychologist" when she was young just to get over her fear of dogs! But the "doggie doctor" worked, I went from screaming fits on top of kitchen tables to wanting to be a veternarian all in a span of a few short weeks! That is until I found out that they had to put animals to sleep. So I was very excited to have a chance to interact with these animals on this level. Still, I was ever-mindful of the risks and I didn't want to become the latest YouTube celebrity, think "Girl gets mauled by lion"

Ok back on track, a month or so ago, I ran across the YouTube video of "Christian the Lion". I was in tears by the end and wanted to know more about the story, so I hit up my good friend Google. I found out they had taken Christian to a man named George Adamson in Africa who had a unique relationship with lions and had released other lions back into the wild previously. I was intrigued, needless to say, I had ordered both the Christian the Lion documentary and his wife's book Born Free from Amazon by the end of the day! So with my new found love for all things lion, when I found out that you could walk with lion cubs at Antelope Park in Zimbabwe I called and booked my place immediately. Then, I started to read some things on the internet about how many places breed these lions for the sport of hunting them when they are full grown. I was horrified at the thought that I could be a part of this, so I started doing research on Antelope Park. Luckily, I found out the organization I booked through, Lion Alert, is dedicated to the conservation of lions. They have a program set in place to introduce lions back to the wild as they estimate the lion population in Africa has decreased 80-90% in the last 30 years due to human encroachment and poaching. You can read more about their program here.

We got to walk with two lion cubs that were just 7 months old. Still they were a pretty good size! We walked with them for about an hour, just following them where ever they wanted to lead us. They were so playful and pounced all over each other. They play with each other pretty rough, which is safe to say why the people in the park didn't want us to be their playmates! If you remember from a few entries ago, when I was in the Delta, how our guides told us that if a lion approached us to stand our ground and stare it right in the eyes. Well at the time I thought they were setting us up or something, haha! But again, before we met up with our cubs, the guides at Antelope Park told us before we met the cubs we needed to get rid of any fear we had because they would be able to detect it instantly. We needed to stand tall, maintain eye contact with them, not back away from them and definitely NOT run! Lions prey on the weak and they are innately able to sense this. They told us they would seek out the weakling of the group and harrass them the rest of the day! Sure enough, when we first approached the cubs, they stared us down, one by one! I guess we all passed because they left us alone we had a great day with them! I also found out that they have volunteers at the park who help out with the lions, there was one with us on our walk and I talked to her for a bit about it. I defintely plan on making my way back there one day to volunteer with the lions!

The next day was our Elephant Back Safari, where we got to ride on the back of the elephants and play with them a little bit as well. This was such an amazing experience. You wouldn't believe how graceful these giants are! They are actually good swimmers and are able to climb straight out of steep riverbeds with ease. My elephant was Mashumbi, and she is the Matriarch of the herd. Elephants don't take these roles because of size or age, but more based on personality. So she just leads all of them around and they follow! She is also an elephant of loose morals, as a few years ago, she disappeared her enclosure to be found 10 months later with a herd of wild elephants...she was pregnant! Elephants are pregnant for 22 months and their newborn calves weigh over 200 lbs! Yikes!

Our last night in Africa, Amy and I stayed at this really cute lodge on the Zambezi called the Chundukwa Lodge. The had these little tree hut lodges along the river that we stayed in, it was great! They took us for a sunset cruise along the Zambezi that night and we had our last African sunset. So I guess this is a good place to end my blogs on Africa!

Africa - Chobe National Park

After the Delta we headed to Kasane, Botswana which is a really unique place. It marks the point where the Zambezi River joins up withe Chobe River and also where 4 countries come together. It is the corner of Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. There is a large national park just outside of Kasane, Chobe National Park. In the morning we took a long game drive around the park and later that afternoon we took a sunset cruise up the Chobe River to see what wildlife we could see coming down for a drink. Here are some of my favorite pics from my time there.

The Fish Eagle

While driving around the park we ran into a large herd of elephants. We pulled up and watched them for a bit, it didn't take long for them to take notice of us creeping closer. The Bull elephant made his way towards us and situated himself between our vehicle and his herd and gave us quite a stare down! He remained there while the rest of the herd crossed the road and then headed up the rear after they had all safely crossed. It was pretty cool to see. I have a video of them crossing below.

Bull Elephant protecting his herd

Video of Elephants crossing




Hippos sure have big mouths for all the grass they eat!
Some of the most beautiful landscape you'll ever see! That is Namibia on the other side of the Chobe River. The land along the river in Namibia is farmland and the farmers will shoot the animals if they come onto their land, since they tend to destroy the crops. The animals have learned this and stay off of the land during the day, and only cross at night!

The Cape Buffalo

One of my favorites! Can you find Michael Jackson??

Mokoro Video

Here is the video of the mokoro ride through the Delta, so you can see what it was like. Not quite like the real thing, but you get the drift! It truly was the most peaceful experience.

Westfield Mall...it's a great shopping place!

London has finally joined the rest of the world and opened....an indoor shopping mall! And it's glorious! I realized that I have been so wrapped up in trying to sort and post my Africa pictures and blogs that I have completely neglected my life in London here on the blogosphere. Things have been pretty low key since I got back, but I have decided that my trip to Westfields was blog worthy enough to break my silence! I had lunch and shopping plans this past Saturday with my friend Erin (that I studied abroad with in Italy, thanks Melissa for letting me know she was here!!). We were just going to do a typical shopping day on High Street Kensington, but last minute she sent a change of plans...we were going to do it "American style" at the new mall in Shepards Bush. I'll be honest, there has been a lot of hype over here in the media about this mall, but I wasn't expecting too much. After all, nobody knows malls like America. I'll have to print a retraction, they did this mall right! It is huge, very pretty, and has tons of great restaurants and even a Champagne Bar (cleverly located right outside of Tiffany's!). They had it all decorated for Christmas, which always gets me in the shopping spirit...as if it's really that hard! They even had a Playstation zone with these rooms that are decorated like living rooms that you could play all of the new Playstation games at. The best part about the mall, is it's like a whole new mall-experience for me! It's all stores that completely new to me, not like malls in the States where it's the same store in every mall you go to! So much un-charted territory...that assures I'll be back, it's my civic duty!