Live Inspired travel — Page 6 of 6 — Amelia Rayno: wayword

Live Inspired: What I can’t wait for, what I’ll miss while in the U.S.

October 3, 2018October 9, 2018all posts, Live Inspired2 Comments

• Brought to you by John Reamer and Associates •

By the time you read this, I’ll be back in the United States for a welcomed two-week break from everything being, well, so hard.

No more search parties for every item I need. No more lapses in communication. No more cold showers, constellations of mosquito bites, difficult kitchens, lifeless WiFi, lack of water, or feeling dirty. For at least 18 days.

As excited as I am (honestly, I’m so pumped), I still don’t know how it will feel to abruptly shift back to my old, comfortable way of life. Will it be jarring? Will as feel as disconnecting as it felt when I took the plunge in leaving it?

Have I become accustomed, more than I even realize, to this harder degree of living?

I’ll have some idea soon.

But in the meantime, I thought I would share my list of all the things I’m excited for and all the things in this wild, new life that I believe I’ll miss until my return.

Here we go:

Continue reading ➞ Live Inspired: What I can’t wait for, what I’ll miss while in the U.S.

Live Inspired: Cooking, everywhere

September 19, 2018September 30, 2018all posts, Live Inspired

• Brought to you by John Reamer and Associates •

The journey, so far, through five kitchens and a couple dozen markets and to the simple realization that everything is different, yet the same, began in Hualtuco, a beachfront village on the Oaxacan coast of Mexico.

It was the first place in my travels that I had access to the basics: two tiny gas burners, a toaster oven and a small collection of cutlery and bowls, pots and pans.

My host uncle, there, was a fisherman, and would bring home beautiful, pink huachinangos, or red snappers. Once he saw that I had a love for both fresh seafood and using my hands, he began showing me how to prepare them — cleaning and scaling the plump, shimmering bodies and then frying them in chunks, or grilling them whole on the two-foot-high asada, butterflying the ribs open and slathering them with chipotle sauce.

Continue reading ➞ Live Inspired: Cooking, everywhere

Live Inspired: What I hear when you tell me to “be careful.”

September 13, 2018August 22, 2019all posts, Live Inspired, Solo travel thoughts20 Comments

• Brought to you by John Reamer and Associates •

An unintended conversation began on my Facebook page earlier this week when in response to a post I put up, an older male follower of mine told me to be careful.

He stated it, first, in the context of my complaints that men were using my social media presence to sexually harass me, but soon, the conversation turned to my travels.

I wasn’t surprised, as this is something strangers say to me quite often. But as usual, it frustrated me. And this time, I decided not to let it go.

Continue reading ➞ Live Inspired: What I hear when you tell me to “be careful.”

Live Inspired: that healing fresh air

September 6, 2018September 30, 2018all posts, Live Inspired7 Comments

• Brought to you by John Reamer and Associates •

I live outside now.

Maybe that seems obvious, but I didn’t really think about it until a couple weeks ago, when I was working on my casa’s terrace in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico.

I started calculating how much time I was spending completely indoors, and I realized it was almost never. I’ve become accustomed to this without realizing it, but already I can’t imagine it any other way. I believe all this fresh air has somehow healed me.

Continue reading ➞ Live Inspired: that healing fresh air

Live Inspired: old beauty, new discovery

August 30, 2018August 17, 2019all posts, Guatemala, Live Inspired2 Comments

• Brought to you by John Reamer and Associates •

I rounded the corner and gasped a little.

That sounds a little dramatic, but you’ll have to trust me that it was warranted.

Between the crumbling stone pillars, I had caught my first glimpse of the garden and the kind of beauty that makes you lose your breath for just a second.

Surrounded on all sides by stately arches bordering a broad, open-air cloister, the space was carpeted by soft, green grass except for a x-shaped walkway, converging at the masterpiece at center stage: a faded but stately fountain that sent delicate streams cascading down the sides. Behind, the Sierra Madre mountains, blue and green water color paintings from this distance, were framed through every aperture.

It was immaculate. I tried to remember the last time I had seen something so beautiful that it sort of hurt my heart (then I remembered it was less than a week ago at Lake Atitlán).

The sound of the water falling was magnified because except for a couple of maintenance workers floating around the edges of the complex and the cooing pigeons fluttering through the nave, I was completely alone.

Suddenly, I felt so fortunate to be right here, right now, gifted the opportunity to see the Convento de Santa Clara — a church and convent built at the start of the 18th century and preserved beautifully in the city’s core — as it was originally destined to be; peaceful, quiet.

I wondered if the pigeons knew how lucky they were to abide in such an incredible home.

Continue reading ➞ Live Inspired: old beauty, new discovery

Live Inspired: the language barrier

August 23, 2018September 30, 2018all posts, Live Inspired2 Comments

• Brought to you by John Reamer and Associates •

It wasn’t until I’d finished my first beer and had ordered the second that we first spoke.

I had arrived in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico half an hour earlier, wandered onto the main street and sat down at a table with another diner, not an unusual move in Mexico when the tables are full.

The conversation, in Spanish, started simply. I felt good.

Aldo was there with his pet Collie who boasted a name I attempted to pronounce for two hours, but never quite mastered. Occasionally someone walked by and called the Collie “Lassie,” to the great annoyance of Aldo and I’m sure the Collie as he was *clearly* a manly, manly dog.

“Que embarazoso,” Aldo said, rolling his eyes and petting his wounded manly dog whose name was difficult to pronounce but definitely not Lassie.

Continue reading ➞ Live Inspired: the language barrier

Live Inspired: how to be a rubber band

August 16, 2018September 30, 2018all posts, Live Inspired3 Comments

• Brought to you by John Reamer and Associates •

It seems far away now, but I haven’t forgotten the frustration that once bubbled up, regularly.

Sitting in a cubicle, under fluorescent lights, abiding to stiff work hours, I felt like I was going a little insane. I was trying to be creative in the most uncreative space I could imagine.

How much better could I be, I thought, if I could remove this bulky structure, if I could write when and where I was inspired? If I could wander and discover, until creativity struck. And certainly it would strike all the time.

Those urges were among the reasons I decided to take this leap, and I expect a lot of people who make major change in their lives have similar motivations.

Yet, as I’ve discarded that resented framework, I’ve found, the pieces within it sometimes threaten to unravel, too.

Continue reading ➞ Live Inspired: how to be a rubber band

Live Inspired: finding peace on the road

August 9, 2018September 30, 2018all posts, Live Inspired5 Comments

• Brought to you by John Reamer and Associates •

I realized I felt it, truly, for the first time in weeks on the way to San Cristóbal de las Casas, a mountain town on the southern border of Mexico.

Already, it had been quite a day.

After a week each in Mexico City, Oaxaca and Huatulco, I was on the move again, a process that had become stressful as I started my transition from “avid traveler with a steady job” to “full-time nomad struggling to pay her bills.”

I’d taken two flights, discovered I needed to pay for my overweight carry-on (apparently that’s a thing in Mexico), and then nearly missed my connection from Mexico City after mistakenly walking out to Baggage Claim 7 instead of down to Gate 7 (why were they next to each other anyway?!), making my way through security again and then losing said boarding pass.

Now, after all that, I was on an hourlong shuttle to my next destination.

Continue reading ➞ Live Inspired: finding peace on the road

Live Inspired: a new, strange life

August 3, 2018September 30, 2018all posts, Live Inspired3 Comments

• Brought to you by John Reamer and Associates •

Over the last three weeks, traveling solo through Mexico has given me some of the most memorable moments of my life.

It’s also given me some of my biggest challenges.

I’ve traveled overseas alone, a lot. But in the past, I’ve always had an end date, a more luxurious budget, an ability to go with the flow — because the pressure of getting real things done was low.

I would soak it up. Live in the moment. Then I would go home.

Now, I am attempting to start a business while learning living abroad. Either situation, alone, might have be enough to overwhelm me. Managing the two, together, has been almost breaking at times.

Last week, I called my mom while sitting at a cafe in a new place, where the WiFi wouldn’t work. My voice cracked in a way I rarely allow in public. I hoped my sunglasses would hide the tears rolling down my cheeks.

Continue reading ➞ Live Inspired: a new, strange life

Live Inspired: an introduction

July 29, 2018September 30, 2018all posts, Live Inspired6 Comments

• Brought to you by John Reamer and Associates •

I am extremely excited to officially announce my new partnership with John Reamer and Associates!

Every week, I’ll be sharing a short story about my travels here and on the John Reamer and Associates social media pages, under the banner Live Inspired.

My first post…

For the last eight years, I’ve worked as a newspaper reporter at the Minneapolis Star Tribune and have lived a mostly happy, mostly comfortable existence.

But last month, I gave all that up. I quit my job, I sold all my things and said goodbye to my house.

Why? Because I was inspired to pursue a lifelong dream instead — traveling the world with an open itinerary. And in order to do so, I’m severely pushing myself out of my comfort zone. After a few weeks on the road (hola from Mexico!), I have a new appreciation for some of the basic amenities I’ve lost: hot showers, clean bathrooms, a kitchen to cook in and even conditioner (I’m carrying my life on my back, so toiletry items are very limited).

Still, I’m inspired to keep trekking, to see new things, to meet new people, to challenge myself, to find gratitude for things I’ve long taken for granted, to better understand a corner of the world so different from my own.

Along the way, I’ll be sharing my experiences, my victories and my struggles. Already, it’s been emotional… and I’m only just beginning. I hope you come along for the ride.