Author: HairWeavings Editorial Team

How many countries have you visited?

I’ve logged 33 to date, a discovery I made after mapping them with Pin Traveler. The app makes it super simple to track the wonderful places I’ve explored. Pinning destinations was a trip down memory lane. A blurry one, at times.

It’s not that I don’t remember my travels. It’s just that I habitually arrive in a new destination and assault it with a checklist of must-sees, must-dos and must-eats. My vacations are exhausting. But there are so many places to see and I’m running out of time.

Fast Travel or Bust

I return home with a million photos and snatched recollections of the people I’ve met and places I’ve seen. This style is described as “fast” or “rushed” travel. Devotees praise it for several reasons, including:

• Efficiency: You see more in a limited amount of time, great for people with limited vacation days.
• Variety: Visiting many different places and attractions on a single trip is exciting.
• Budget-friendly: Finding affordable tours and cruises with many destinations is easy.

I’ve adopted fast travel as my preferred mode because I want to see as many places as possible before my clock ticks away.

Acknowledge the Problem

My friends and family have intervened, encouraging me to slow down and take time to smell the roses.

Time?

My days continue to march on. Although I’ve ticked some major bucket list trips, including an African safari, I still haven’t…

• Photographed cherry blossoms in Japan.
• Watched a sunset in Maui.
• Road-tripped through New Zealand.

And that’s my shortlist.

Choosing a slow travel holiday never crossed my mind.

The Case for Slow Travel

There’s an argument to be made for slow travel. By spending more time in a place and focusing on the path less traveled, it’s possible to have a richer experience. Other benefits include:

• Increased sustainability from traveling fewer miles and not straining overly touristed destinations.
• Reduced stress and anxiety when you’re not rushing from place to place.
• Personal growth from reflection on a place, its people and culture.

Could I do it? Trade quality for quantity?

There was only one way to find out.

A Slow Boat

Canal barges offer travelers a leisurely way to explore a region. I’ve been to France several times, but never to Burgundy and certainly never on a 12-passenger vessel that cruised at an escargot’s pace, covering about 50 miles over six days.

I boarded La Belle Epoque, one of European Waterways’ 18 vessels, unsure about going cold turkey. I expected to get antsy about two hours into the cruise, itching for sights, sounds and souvenirs.

But the gentle ride, pastoral landscapes and pleasant conversations made for relaxing days.

Liberal pours of Champagne and Chablis helped.

A Different Kind of Sightseeing

The week included five ½-day outings that were very different than the port experiences I normally seek out. For example, if I docked in Stockholm, I’d jump on a tour bus and hop on and off for hours, ticking off as many sights as I could before reboarding the ship.

By contrast, one Burgundy morning was devoted to touring a 12th-century abbey, a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. We had the buildings and grounds practically to ourselves, so we could intently listen to our captain’s commentary about the history of the order and the incredible architecture. No crowds. No cell phone conversations. Just birdsong and beauty. It was delightful.

A Changed Woman?

My Burgundy barge cruise was the right trip at the right time for me. I’ve had a stressful year with many life changes, including the death of my mom. The chance to spend a few days in a scenic destination with a friendly crew that plied me with French food and wine while slipping through scenic countryside was the kind of therapy I needed.

I can’t say I won’t go back to my old travel habits. As I write this, I have an upcoming 10-day, 9-countries cruise on my calendar. I’m tired and smiling thinking about it. That’s a lot of place pins!

What I will do is seek out more opportunities to sink into a place now that I’ve experienced the benefits of slow travel.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

Do you prefer fast or slow travel? Would you consider a canal barge cruise? If so, where would you want to go: France, Italy, Germany, Scotland, Ireland, England, Belgium, Holland?

Happy Masturbation May!

Is there jealousy brewing in Hollywood?

Not all couples on The Amazing Race make it to the finish line, both on and off the show

The first line of my friend and former business coach Colleen’s recent email hooked me. She wrote: “No, I’m no Indiana Jones, but I did step out of my comfort zone and try something completely new last Saturday.” By the end of the day, after trying something new, Colleen felt like an excited little kid who’d rediscovered her sense of adventure and who couldn’t wait to tell everyone the tales of her day.

Doing Something New

Even though she doesn’t think of herself as an “outdoorsy” person, she’d signed up for a 4-hour adventure in geocaching at a nearby city park. (And if you’re like me, and don’t have a clue what geocaching is, it’s an outdoor treasure-hunting activity where participants use GPS-enabled devices to find hidden containers (geocaches) at specific coordinates, often containing a logbook and sometimes small trinkets for trading.) You can learn more at https://www.geocaching.com/play.

It wasn’t so much what Colleen did, but the fact that she did something new. Taking that step to sign up for this new adventure made her realize the power of micro-adventures which can bring new-found fun and joy into our lives. Colleen defines micro-adventures as “little steps into the unknown that can help us reconnect with ourselves.”

What Are Micro-Adventures About?

Micro-adventures can reignite our curiosity, get us unstuck from our same routine and out of a rut, add spark to our life and help us rediscover how much fun it is to try something new. Most likely, we’ll meet new people, go to new places, try new things and in the process add fun, joy, excitement and discovery into our life – without overwhelm and a lot of commitment – one micro-adventure at a time.

Colleen was so impressed by the positive impact this one new adventure had on how she felt that she realized she could help other women over 50 experience the joy of their own micro-adventures. So, she decided to create a simple self-study program that she could make available to all of us.

How to Find Micro-Adventures

She documented the entire process she went through to find resources and ideas for her local micro-adventures and what she did to plan them. This documentation process helped her create an easy self-paced, online program (which can be easily downloaded) that provides a step-by-step roadmap to creating simple, fun experiences that bring fresh energy into our lives. Colleen’s program includes:

• A Quick-Start step-by-step guide.
• A Comprehensive Planner to design, plan and track your micro-adventures.
• A Curated Adventure Vault of over 90 adventure ideas to inspire you.
• A Resource List which is a collection of go-to sources for finding new adventures.
• And she also included an AI Adventure Guide where we can learn how to use ChatGPT to uncover and plan unique experiences.

And Here’s How It Works

Step 1: Download the planner and start with the Starter Map.

Step 2: Use the planner to brainstorm and schedule your micro-adventures.

Step 3: Try your first adventure and track your experience.

Step 4: Keep the momentum going – one small adventure at a time.

By the end of the program you’ll have your first three micro adventures planned and completed which will help you reignite your curiosity and discover what excites you. And, fortunately, Colleen has made this program available to more of us by deciding to price it at an extremely reasonably cost of $27.00. I know I’m really excited to get started!

So, if you want to:

• shake up your routine or
• if you feel restless, uninspired or unsure of your next step
• or if you want to do more exploring, are a life-long learner and want to experience some low-pressure excitement
• or if you crave more adventure, connection and joy in your everyday life,

Micro-Adventures just might be your cup of tea. Here’s a link to the Micro-Adventure program if you want to get started.

She Helped Me, Too

And by the way, I would never have been able to start my YouTube channel without Colleen’s wonderful help. Colleen is a corporate refugee turned entrepreneur who at the age of 50 was laid off. In 2018, after 20 years of marriage, her husband passed away, and she once again found herself having to recreate who she was.

The next year she launched a business to help women from the typewriter generation launch their own businesses (which is when I found her) and her commitment to helping women over 50 start their own businesses doing something they love remains as strong and unwavering as ever.

Her 3^rd Act Collective is an online business school for women over 50 as well as a community-based resource. The women in her program – who come from a variety of interesting career backgrounds (including teachers, nurses, private chefs) – meet with her each week over Zoom to learn how to create different types of online businesses.

Colleen also has a regular newsletter called “Third Act Field Notes” where she shares information on making money online as well as advice on how to build a new life and start over in our third act. You can learn more about her work through her website, her Facebook page, Tik Tok or Instagram.

Also read, Reflections on My Challenge to “Do New Things” in January.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

Have you heard about micro-adventures? Would you try one? Do you think you would benefit from doing something new?