Garage Sales, the only way to travel!

One thing you might not know about our family is we love garage sales. In fact, it's become a bit of a habit. Every time mom sees one on Craig's List that has "promise," we know our Saturday morning will be spent treasure hunting.
Now, most of the time, we look for video games, cooking supplies, or books, but ever since we heard we'd be going to Italy (it's been almost a year now), we've been collecting luggage. And, apparently, we're suckers for a good deal, because we have enough garage sale luggage for us to have a pair here in the U.S. and one for Europe. And yet, I suspect my parents would like to gather more.
We had our own garage sale last week, but we only sold 2 pieces, so we're still overstocked. I'm wondering at what point my parents need to open a 2nd hand luggage store.

Lord Byron's 31 Flavors of Europe

I'm really looking forward to going to Europe. So I decided to write a list about where I want to go when I'm there!

        

1. Croatia

2. Pompeii

3. Brussels

4. Rome

5. Milan (probably their futbol team there).

6. Venice

7. Barcelona 

8. Catalunya

9. Tuscany

10. Germany

11. Austria

12. Switzerland

13. France

14. Madrid
15. Amalfi Coast
16. La Mancha
17. Slovakia
18. Slovenia
19. Sevilla
20. Berlin
21. Prague
22. Luxembourg
23. Czech Republic
24. Hungary
25. Turkey

26. Salzburg
27. Neuschwanstein Castle
28. Munich
29. Florence
30. San Sebastian
and last but not least
31. Siena

 So that's where I want to go! And I'll see you later!

Down with the Bucket List

I have a problem with Bucket Lists. I get the concept: make a list of things you've always wanted to do, and commit to doing, before you kick the bucket. The problem with Bucket Lists is, whether small or ambitious, you indelibly end up putting it off until you're too old or too busy to do what you've committed out to do. Or, even worse, you've kicked the bucket before you even get the chance to finish your list. The problem I have with Bucket Lists is they're actually PROCRASTINATION Lists.

No, we need a better term for a list of things you really want to accomplish, one that represents living in the moment and taking advantage of opportunities as they come. Borrowing from one of my two favorite travel gurus, Phil Keoghan, I propose the NOW list. No Opportunity Wasted (NOW) is a concept the Eyebrow Raising Amazing Race host initiated with his book by the same name published about a decade ago. NOW represents taking advantage of opportunities as they come.
My concept of a NOW List is more than living in the moment. Rather, it's about living in the environment--to borrow from my other favorite travel guru, Rick Steves. If you've seen Rick Steves' videos or books, they're less about sight-seeing and more about sight experiencing, or more appropriately, culture experiencing.

The best NOW life is one in which you experience peoples and cultures rather than sites and tourist traps.

Therefore, this inaugural post on the InnoSense Abroad blog serves as a virtual brainstorm for NOW Experiences that fall outside the normal Europe Trip Bucket List, where Grand Canal Gondola Rides are replaced with Tomato Fights in Spain and playing pipes on a 150 year old organ in Paris, France. While this post will serve as a reference for NOW experiences, unique impromptu activities will be detailed throughout this blog with the Title and Keyword "NOW List".

Got any suggestions to share? Comment on this post.

The NOW List

1. Play the Pipes in St. Sulpice (Paris, France)
2. Float down the Aare River (Bern, Switzerland)
3. Take a Cable Car over Montjuic (Barcelona, Spain)
4. Join a neighborhood Paellera (Valencia, Spain)
5. Add pictures to the Billion Graves App from cemeteries like this and this while remembering to not BLINK
6. Go cliff diving at Cinque Terra (Cinque Terra, Italy)
7. Brave the sulfur smells and enjoy the hot springs of Saturnia (Orveito, Italy)
8. Teach kids in Italy English
9. Attend the free Italian Puppet Theater in Rome
10. Go "Castling" in places like these 
11. Go coo coo for cuckoo's in Germany's Black Forest
12. ...and then there's this (Italy)

Kidding Around With Power Points

As a professor, I've long held that power points are the kiss of death in a classroom. Designed to liven up a lecture, they actually put an audience to sleep. So when our kids came home asking to create power points for fun, we were dumbfounded. Then we had a bright idea (ok, to maintain journalistic integrity, it was actually Staci's idea)--use their peculiar propensity for power points for our traveling benefit. Here's how it worked:

1. Let each child choose a destination (Our next trip is Europe, so they chose a country)
2. Give them some parentally-guided time online and at the library for research
3. Let them loose on powerpoint (Our kids' slide-count got into the 40s and 50s)
4. Assign them a day/time to present their findings, and sit back and enjoy

We were awestruck by how much they jumped on the opportunity to do research. In fact, instead of playing their normal cadre of video games, they asked to get on the computer to build their power points.