Write a blog, they said. Write a blog.
I'm heading to Europe this Friday - first to Slovenia for a few weeks and then to Venice with my wife, and then she goes home and I make my way to Cinque Terre to plan Off Road Scholars' first trip, which ideally will take place the second half of this September, but I have had to sit in a vat of some big, uncomfortable truths recently and admit to myself that despite working my tail off on this venture, I won't have a finalized price or itinerary for the first trip until early June at the earliest. That probably is cutting it too close for finding students for the first trip in mid-September. I mean, it could happen. Everything could fall into place. I just need to find 10 people excited to go (ideally, I'd like to book two back to back trips of 14, so make that 28 excited people, Universe!), but that timeframe doesn't give me time to get the word out adequately in the way that I want to. Where are these people? How do I reach them?
So this is big UGH numero uno because since October 2022, I've been hyper-focused on The Decameron and teaching my first Off Road Scholars class in September 2023, but Spring 2024 is a more realistic projection.
I'm lacking some patience. I wanted to be holding another Cinque Terre trip in 2024 as well as teaching a class in Greece - Island Hopping the Odyssey. Ok. Gotta work on that name! Or maybe Norway. Or Portugal! A good friend keeps whispering "Portugal" to me, and I would love to travel there. My vision was to offer two classes in 2024, and then 3 in 2025. I can't wait to blast off with this company, but even at Cape Canaveral, launches are scuttled because everything isn't perfect. so I am breathing deeply with that concept. Plus, this is a one person rocket team. I'm the trip planner, the teacher, the course designer, the accountant, the web designer (err... I mean I put up a web page), the blogger, the maker of all the things. I'm the head with all the hats, and until I'm established, there won't be any other heads coming on board to help out, so I need to be more patient with myself in getting this started.
Not gonna lie - I'm still hopeful I can make it work for this fall. Someone suggested travel vlogging, meaning "video blogging," as a ways of getting the word out. That would entail creating a series of posts here as well posting short video content on the Big 5 of social media (Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter) and hope it goes viral. Enter UGH #2. I don't like social media. I don't even like to have my picture taken. So vlogging? Being on camera? Yuck. However, I regularly create lecture for my university courses, so I am capable. I can do the this even though it's not my thing. I spent an hour today reading about gear I need to get started. Apparently, pro travel bloggers put thousands of dollars into their equipment. They have GoPros and expensive cameras, but even the ones that use their iPhones get expensive add-on lenses for them. And gimbals for stabilizing shots. I got a cheap microphone for $20. I will invest in a tripod. I got one for my last Camino thinking I'd use it, but I decided YouTubing wasn't my thing.
What is my thing?
Traveling. Teaching. Talking about interesting books with interesting people. Good food. Writing. Painting. Connecting. New places. Taking long walks. Getting lost somewhere and finding my way back, and then having a cup of tea and soaking it all in. Or an aperol spritz when I get to Venice.
So I guess that's not really a bucket of ughs. Just two ughs. I'm glad I've put that into perspective for myself.
Here's the plan: I fly to Munich on Friday, get there Saturday, and take a train to Slovenia on Sunday. I've got booking through May 11 and then the trip is wide open. This week I have to pack for this 5-week trip which will have a couple climates, going from chilly spring mornings on a glacial lake in the Julian Alps to sweltering afternoons on the Ligurian seaside. I maybe might pack a packing video ("5 tips for 5 weeks with 1 carry on!").
And maybe I won't. I don't claim to be an expert on packing. Just because you do something a lot doesn't mean you are good at it. It just means you are comfortable doing it, and you hopefully like doing it. I'm sure there are better videos for ultralight packers than anything I could make. I love the phrase "If it doesn't stow, it doesn't go!" but I'm a notorious overpacker - and big reveal- I'm a Taurus! We tend to like to be prepared for all eventualities. I don't care about fashion, so I often don't spend a lot of luggage weight on outfits, but I always have about 20 lbs of art supplies. For example, for 10 days in Hawaii last week, I was ready with watercolors, acrylics, collage, and colored pencils and markers, but I have long hair and didn't bring any pony tail holders. So I am not a packing guru. Like I say in other places on this site, what makes me know I will be successful with this company is that I'm a good teacher and I am passionate about literature as well as travel. But you should be in charge of packing your own bags. I can tell you what you will definitely want to bring, but I can't help you keep your bag weight under the maximum. I have been known to pay luggage overage charges frequently. I'm trying to be better about it, but I'm too close to the limit. I was in Hawaii for 10 days and my suitcase weighed 48 lbs. I mean. That's silly, but I had a mobile art supply store with me.
So in this space, I will post about my travels even before I get to Cinque Terre, and then a bunch more before the Cinque Terre portion starting May 11. Some posts will probably have a literary bent, but some will just be my thoughts from the road.
I don't want to have too much of a plan in terms of the videos- I want to leave room for magic to happen, and maybe this blog will bring me a little bit of magic. Or maybe it will be like that tripod I took on a Camino, thinking I needed it, but I didn't like it, I didn't use it, and eventually I gave it to a pilgrim from Denmark.
We will see where this goes.
If you have questions you want me to answer, write to me below where it says CONTACT!
(By the way, that's a pic of me in Sam Gimignano, Italy, in Christmas 2006, pretending to be a statue).