My Magical Mystery Tour of 2006

Welcome to my Magical and Mysterious Adventures in Eastern Europe in 2006!

“What is it that brings me my greatest joy and zest for life?” I asked myself not too long ago. The answer wouldn’t surprise those who know me: the time I spend traveling and volunteering. Since I believe that everyone should follow their heart, live out their dreams, and do what makes them happy, I decided to follow my own advice. Ten weeks of freedom from work in the summer wasn’t long enough to pursue my passions – I felt an urging for a longer, grander adventure! Yes, I had been stricken with the ‘travel bug’ – a far more serious case than before!

So in May I’ll be heading off to Europe to find a cure for this bug. Remedies include wandering around and seeing cool places, visiting friends, and participating in more international volunteer projects (“workcamps”).  The 2-week workcamps I participated in for the past two summers were the highlight of my travel experience. They are a great opportunity to work on a project for a good cause in an interesting place, with a group of international volunteers.  I always get so much out of workcamps and make friends for life.

I’ve only managed to fit in one workcamp for each of the past two summers, but now that I had more time, I was planning to do two. But there are so many awesome volunteer projects that two have now turned into four!  The workcamps I’ll be doing this year are in the Netherlands and Germany (definitely), and Poland and Turkey (hopefully). Very interesting volunteer projects indeed, but I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise by giving away too much information now.  You’ll have to stay tuned to my travel blog for updates! Trust me, it will be worth the wait.

“So where else will I be traveling?” you might be wondering. Well, mainly Iceland, Scandinavia, the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Romania, and Turkey. I’m hoping to visit a small village in Romania that my former work is affiliated with, as it would give me an in-depth and personal glimpse into what life is like in rural Transylvania. And no, I don’t speak any of these languages, but I’m brave and adventurous! (and I need to get crackin’ on learning the Russian Cyrillic alphabet!)

I’ll be updating my travel blog [newideal.org directs you here] with photos and stories of my adventures on the road.  So feel free to check back here soon to read about The Magical Mystery Tour of 2006 which begins any day now! You can also email me at adventures  /~(at)~\  newideal.org if you’re interested in receiving my travel stories by plain-text bcc email, or just to say hello.

I hope you enjoy my adventures. Please check back soon and leave me a comment anytime.  Carpe diem!