An interesting article in The Seattle Times yesterday about Americans becoming long-term tourists encouraged me to reflect on the nomadic leap I took over a year ago. Missing the sense of freedom and the living-in-the-now feeling you get from traveling, I was drawn back to what many would consider a rather precarious lifestyle. Though, who wouldn’t agree that, within reason, life is precarious no matter how you live it? (Read the Seattle story here.)

So, if you are intrigued by the thought of diving off into the unknown, here are a few things to think about. If you have other ideas or thoughts, please comment:

Possessions – How would you feel owning little more than what you could carry? How much will you miss your high-thread count sheets? For me, it’s liberating. “Travel light, travel fast,” my dad always says. It’s true, and you are also less likely to want to purchase more than what you need. There are things I do miss: Wine woes

Preparation – Where will you go and what will you do? The transition will be smoother if you do your homework. Making it easy, there are lots of good online resources:

• Transitions Abroad (excellent resource about work, study, life and volunteering abroad)
• CIA Factbook (get the scoop on any country)
• Women-on-the-Road (from tips on health and safety to finding a job)

The ups and the inevitable downs – What are the pros and cons of a nomadic lifestyle? It’s energizing to map out new environments, to meet new people and to soak up the sights, sounds and smells of the many stunning locations around the world. It’s also exhausting to regularly break routine, so you really have to pay attention to your body and know when it’s time to rest. It can also be lonely. You are away from friends and family, even though technology has softened these distances. (Read more.)

Whether or not you choose a modern-nomadic lifestyle, the life-altering lessons we take away from even short trips can be applied to our everyday lives. Focusing on the now, engaging in a process of self-discovery—by pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone—and developing curiosity can help you form your own Nomadic Narrative, whether it take place close to home or in distant lands.

I couldn’t help but laugh. Most people immediately fancy the idea of travel writing. After all, it’s like being on vacation all of the time, isn’t it? Well, yes and no. I was in transit to yet another tiny little island because the tide was too low around the lodge to leave early enough in the morning to catch the only flight, a 6:30 a.m. flight, back to Panama City. Most people who visit the lodge travel to Colon province in the early afternoon, after the tide rises, and then drive about three hours back to the city — if you don’t have a helicopter. However, because I was flying directly to Piñas Bay in the Darien, I didn’t have time to spend the day driving. It’s hard to tell how remote the Coral Lodge is on this map, but it’s somewhere between Portobelo and El Porvenir. Piñas Bay is indicated:

So, I had to spend the night in more “rustic” accommodations on an island close to the Cartí airport, near El Porvenir. This is where a travel writer really needs to have a bit a lot of flexibility.

When I was led to the bathroom and I saw the plastic container on top of the trash can, I knew immediately what to do. Traveling around Indonesia in the early 90s, just about every bathroom I visited during those two months was similar in design. Unphased, I did the old scoop and soap routine.

The room was quite clean and I had a bird’s-eye view to the happenings around town.

My room looked over the bustling main street. At night, it wasn’t much different from a small town in the United States where young people come out to walk up and down, and up and down the main drag. After an hour of people watching, I knew who had a crush on who, and who was allowed to stay out late, etc.

So, it’s not ALL five-star resorts and bubbly, thank goodness!

I opened the collection of short stories I’m reading and perused the table of contents. When I read short stories, I don’t always go from beginning to end. I decided that “Have Book, Will Travel” by Thomas Swick sounded appropriate, so I flipped to page 222. In the sixth paragraph, I read: “probably sounds as uplifting as a solo honeymoon.” As I reached for another sip of my piña colada without a single thought of what I’d be doing in the next few minutes or even hours, I couldn’t have disagreed more with Mr. Swick.

We walked a few blocks from our house to a tiny, three-tabled restaurant called La Fonda. It’s the kind of place that if you arrive after 1 p.m., the especial del día is gone. I guess that’s when you can really get the most authentic casado since you will pretty much be served leftovers.

La Fonda restaurant sits exposed to the street.

La Fonda’s owner is chatty (and quite handsome) which makes this place the perfect in-the-know spot.

The following day, I visited another one of my favorite spots, the Hoja al Aire. You could easily pass by it on the beer stained streets outside. (It is a small refuge at the edge of the bustling university area.) I love heading straight for the covered patio in the back. The walls are decorated with bromeliads and dried bunches of thistle. The six tables attract a hip crowd appreciative of great food. The best part is the menu which is scratched in black pen on two sheets of green and orange paper. I like that there are only a few choices and that the menu changes daily. I can be sure that everything is fresh and seasonal.

Hoja al Aire Restaurante, San Pedro, San José

I’ve only been back for a few days, but it seems like weeks. Someone said that this is a sign of feeling at home. Food is one thing that connects us to a place. Favorites are something you miss when you’re away, and delight in while you’re home. Right now, I’m delighting.

Though off to a risky start, 2008 turned out to be a life-altering year. I wanted to write and publish, and I achieved those goals repeatedly. Hand-in-hand came more peace-of-mind as I felt myself being driven by my interests and my passions – travel, language, culture and the many amazing personal stories you hear along the way.

Apart from adding a stricter exercise routine to my New Year’s resolution list, I’m making just one alteration. In addition to writing as much as I humanly can, I’m going to work on developing my writing niche. After a lifetime of extensive and often remote travel, I’ve often quipped that I should get paid to travel professionally! Can I turn this passion into a profession? I’m going to spend 09 taking a shot at it.

I’ve backed up my resolution with two New Year’s good-luck dishes:

I ate a hefty helping of black eyed peas for overall good luck, and

a couple of spoonfuls of collard greens for money (Thanks, Diane!).

My dream was to become a better writer. I knew that if I returned to teaching English outside of the U.S., I could achieve that adventurous inspiration I only get from traveling. I knew that if I paired down and therefore had less to worry about, I could really focus on getting those thoughts, obstinate at times, on paper.

It’s working! The living-in-the-present mindset that traveling affords is helping me delve into each moment of the day, to really indulge in each experience. This is giving me the state-of-mind I need to write, to market my writing and, cross-my-fingers, to publish.

I’ve been pretty busy. In good marketing spirit, check out my new website, a work in progress, at www.beverlyagallagher.com Adding to my upcoming adventures, I signed a contract today with Northstar Travel Media to review hotels in Panama for two of their websites, STAR Service Online and Professional Travel Guide:

STAR Service Online is an electronic directory containing detailed descriptions of more than 9,700 hotels and 300 cruise ships worldwide. Its subscribers are travel agents and corporate travel planners throughout North America.

Professional Travel Guide contains the world’s largest database of more than 159,000 hotels, plus 7,000 destination travel guides and the latest information on security and business etiquette around the globe.

Following my dreams…

I stood mouth agape at such surreal beauty framing the stop-and-go traffic, the tangled power lines and the side-by-side buildings. The pink, green and purple crescents were so vibrant that I could still see them burned onto the back of my eyelids after I looked away. I took a deep breath and tilted my head even further upward. I followed a mauve blanket toward a dimmer set of stripes. The double-rainbow captured a powder-blue sky and pierced a single whale-shaped cloud swimming away.

We always talk about stopping to smell the roses, but routine often lulls us away from the beauty of living in the moment. It takes concentration and practice. It’s easy to be in the present while we’re traveling. When we arrive home, it’s a way of being worth reliving. Italians call it: Sensazione — “the continual refinement of the senses, especially sight, as the means to enliven experience.” Leonardo Da Vinci, an expert in sensazione also described it as: saper vedere, or knowing how to see.

Learn more about living la dolce Da Vinci vida.

I’m probably stating the obvious here, but I think we have an opportunity to consider alternative ways of living. There’s so much out there tempting us. We need to build the confidence to say no to consumer expectations. Having a couple of quality shoes that we take to the cobbler to re-sole instead of tossing is responsible living. It also means “free” living.

It’s empowering to put on a great new pair of shoes. I look great and I’m going to have an awesome time in my new heels! This wears off soon, doesn’t it? If the majority of our energy is derived from purchases, we will be constantly tapping our bank account to replenish that feeling. In the end, we’re bound to end up broke and unhappy.

Living a contemporary nomadic lifestyle means making smart consumer choices both for ourselves and for the environment. It’s a win-win situation.

Clearly, this debaucherous cry for help was directed toward his parents. At least asking a family member for a handout is a legitimate way of getting funds. (Family members please don’t respond.) A friend of mine recently showed me a new travel scam. (Wait, this is not the clearest segue into my next point, but anyways…)

It was an email from a friend (the hotmail address contained the first and last name of this person) asking for money. The email explains that our friend is stuck in Malaysia, has lost all of her identification and belongings in a taxi, and has racked up thousands of dollars in hotel bills. This particular friend travels constantly, so it seemed realistic—except perhaps for the 4-digit hotel bill.

It would have been easy to copy the information and run down to Western Union as instructed before checking into the situation, especially since you think you’re helping a friend.

We have to be careful with our personal information. Blogging and using personal networking sites are great, but if you’re new to the medium, definitely take some time to read up on how to protect yourself from prying eyes.

Here are two Web resources that talk about this “friend in need” scam:

• friend in trouble scam

• Nigeria scam

Here are some Web resources that can help you identify a scam or an urban legend:

• www.snopes.com

• www.hoax-slayer.com

• FBI escams

• LA Times: Social networking sites attract friends, but also enemies