Travel Inspires!
Aside from always leaving you wanting more, travel possesses a few other transformative qualities. It can change the way you view the world, yourself, and those around you.
Gaining a Global Perspective
Every country’s news media reflects the viewpoint of that specific country. When you meet new people from different cultures, you start to get all the other sides of the story and piece together a new international worldview that can only be gained through foreign exposure.
Learning to Pass Time
Whether it’s due to 20 hour flights to New Zealand or what …

This guest post comes to us from a wonderful couple we met traveling in Manizales Colombia. We had the opportunity to share a hiking adventure through the Los Nevados mountains . Even though we have said goodbye in real life, we have kept in touch through emails ever since we met. Through our travels, Miro and I have met the most wonderful people and it’s our honor to share with you here, their story of inspiration. 
~Lainie
Inspiration
The cheapest and most sustainable way to travel is simply by opening a book. When I was growing …

Finding Your Inspiration
As a kid growing up in the big city, I would constantly gaze up at the majesty of the skyscrapers downtown in an uninhibited state of wonder. How was something like this possible? Bereft of any sort of engineering knowledge, I understood them to be a product of some type of magic. As grew older, I learned about how such things came to be and found that the scope and ability of man inspired me–look at us! Conquering the elements in such grandiose and terrific fashion!
While the sheen …

Exploring while sharing and serving the needy. Being together and growing in love…these are a few of our favorite things !” ( insert musical notes)

We do have the sound of music in our home..piano, guitars, accordion, harmonicas, viola and now the ever beloved Pandora ! Of course there is more than just music in our home. My husband and I have been blessed to have given birth to 7 children, 4 boys and 3 girls. Starting in 1990 I stopped working in the New York City fashion industry to stay home and have our first child. By the time he turned 11, we had our 7th ! It’s been a whirlwind of happiness and craziness ever since. They are now 9 – 21 years old.

There is no denying, traveling as a family is a bonding experience. Slow travel is another way to experience the world, allowing each family member to immerse themselves into a new culture. But volunteering as a family together adds a whole other dimension to that experience, with countless rewards and growth opportunities.

On our travels, Miro and I have volunteered with numerous organizations and the experiences have enriched our travels ten-fold. Some of the volunteer experiences we’ve had together include: volunteering at an animal shelter in Belize, a dog and cat hospital in Nicaragua, contributed to a sustainable community in Guatemala and volunteered at a organization for family nutrition, a performance arts school for street children in Nicaragua, and at a children’s library in Ecuador.

“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”
~Alexander Graham Belllsh

Goodbye 2011, it’s been swell!
Today is the last day of the year, and for me it’s analogous to the ‘one door closing’ saying. However in general, I don’t like looking back. Equally, I don’t like looking forward. There is an obvious dichotomy to living in a linear time frame while trying to relax into the present moment. And …