My friend Tim Walther has just released his first book, Seeking True North: The Pathway to Freedom, Beauty and Success with co-writer Erick Erickson! Tim is an accomplished climber and mountaineer, a leadership expert and motivational speaker, and longtime friend of my housemate Paul Dickey. Tim and Paul were my travel buddies in Barcelona and Ibiza this winter.

Tim’s business, Grand Dynamics, is based out of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, but he was in Sacramento yesterday, so Paul and I met up with him for a bike ride and a great salmon dinner (thanks Holly!), and I finally got my hands on a signed print copy of the book. I helped Tim and Rick design the new STN blog and user forums, so I’ve had the opportunity to read through much of the material. The book tells the story of two characters who learn many personal development lessons (lessons Rick and Tim learned on the mountainside and in training exercises with thousands of professionals across the world). Seeking True North goes on to explain these personal and business development models and tools in detail and how to apply them in your own life.

Tim and Rick both do corporate retreats across the globe that focus on organizational development, experiential education, and leadership studies. Check out the new blog at SeekingTrueNorth.com. Congratulations on the book launch guys!

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: Shameless Plug for Tim Walther’s New Book

Last time I wrote my travel journals, I left you with my New Years adventures on Ibiza, the serene little Spanish island in the Mediterranean known for its gorgeous beaches and incredible dance music, which has inspired the global house music scene. We then returned to the mainland, checking in to the five-star Hotel Arts Barcelona. Fancy place, but you can read my last Spain post for more on my thoughts about the Hotel Arts…or to catch up on the story so far. Anyway, I’ve been swamped with work, drama, setbacks, and moving for the last month and half (!). We apologize for the technical difficulties, but I’ll finally share the rest of my trip through Spain and Washington, D.C. with you today:

Jan 3: Thursday, while trekking across town for Paul’s misplaced passport, he and I met the El Diablo himself on La Rambla. The Devil first tried to fool with us, but then kindly gave us directions to the Picasso museum. However, as it started to rain, we retired back to the hotel for the night.

Jan 4: Friday, Paul and I enjoyed a café con leche across the street from the towering Sagrada Familia church, a Gaudi design that has been under construction for 125 years through the contributions of the public. Paul treated us to a fun bus tour that circles the entire city. But, it’s eye-opening how much of the city we had seen already with a few locals as our guides! We got off on Diagonal avenue for an €8 buffet (way cheap for 3 plates of food!), and later that night we met up with Tim and his French friend Nathalie at an Irish Pub in the Ramblas. Besides two others, there was a red-headed American gal tending the bar—turned out she was an expat from Southern California working to finance her stay here in Catalonia. Again, it’s funny how many people you find from back home when you’re half-way across the globe! Late that night, it was too late to catch the metro, so on our walk home, after all the Guinness had made my stomach rumble, I decided to give a Spanish Burger King a try. Can you believe a simple whopper will cost you the equivalent of about 5 bucks in Spain! No fries, no drink…just a whopper.

Jan 5: Saturday was Three Kings Day as the locals refer to it, the Catholic Epiphany. We completed the second leg of our city tour, scoping out Parc Guell again, the Palau Reial, the F.C. Barcelona Stadium (a.k.a. where BC’s soccer team plays, for you beginners), Montjuic mountain, the facilities built for the 1992 Summer Olympics, and the Palau Naçional museum.

I guess that traditionally, in Spain, Three Kings Day is when children would receive their Christmas gifts. It makes more sense really, framed within a Christian viewpoint, that the three kings would bring gifts, as opposed to a jolly old fat man in a red suit. I don’t really remember him in the nativity story! So, we joined a few local Catalonian gals—Meye , Iva, Joanna, Núria—that evening for the Three King’s Day parade that snakes through Plaça Catalunya. It’s more for kids really, but around here it’s apparently huge, and pretty fun to see, as a visitor.

Later, we all enjoyed the finest sampling of local Spanish tapas and wine that €20 can buy, at La Vinateria del Call in the Barri Gottic (Meye knows all the best local spots!), followed by a few drinks at the popular nearby DJ bar and disco.

Jan 6: Sunday morning was Tim and Paul’s time to say goodbye and catch their planes home. It was a pretty decent day, so I voyaged over to the beach near Villa Olympica for a while, then I strolled through the Museu Picasso, with great collections not only of his own work, but also many pieces from his private collection of other artists’ work. It was very interesting to see where he got his inspiration! Finally, I enjoyed some prime people watching in the nearby Parc de la Ciutadella. It’s a huge city park—the kind I only wish we had back home. There are people walking dogs of all breeds, lovers basking together, joggers, bicyclers, elderly men enjoying a quiet solitary walk, peddlers, ganja dealers, parrots, peacocks, and a city zoo! Parents playing tag with their kids, young men playing soccer in the wide alleys, a father playfully wrestling with his toddler son, hippies jamming in music circles, and street performers practicing their juggling techniques. It’s an interesting collage of people of all different demographics. Much like Balboa Park in San Diego, it’s the kind of peaceful, pretty, lively place you want to spend all your lazy Sundays!

Later that night, I met Meye at Plaça Molina near her home at north end of city. As a Barcelona native, she had said earlier that the lookout point atop Mount Tibidabo is the best place to see the whole city, so we made the drive to the top to see Barcelona glowing in the night. Tibidabo mountain overlooks the entire city, and has a glimmering church at its summit. It was a great spot to take some of my last photos of Spain. Afterward, we chatted more about travels and business (she operates her own business called MascotRaceClub) and enjoyed some warm coffee at the Mirablau cafe on the hillside overlooking the city streets below.

Jan 7: For my final day in Barcelona, I spent the afternoon sunbathing, reading, and trying not to stare at the topless runner that kept racing back-and-forth across the beach at Villa Olympica! Later, I continued my book from the park bench and did some more people watching at the vast Parc de la Ciutadella again. Not as many people playing and enjoying the sun’s rays as a Sunday, but still a great place to enjoy the good weather. But, I couldn’t stay long; I had to catch the Renfe train across town to get to the airport. It’s time to go back home.

Jan 8: Originally, I’d hoped to catch a friend or two as I passed through London on my way home, perhaps grab a pint with Sarah and crash with Farmer Tom. But, unfortunately engine trouble set us back two hours, and by the time I got through the customs queue in London, I knew it was too late. They have university and work in the morning, so I gave up and spent a long, sleepless night at a Heathrow airport cafe. I finally arrived in Washington, D.C., where my cousin Ian was awaiting my arrival at Georgetown University. We borrowed his housemate’s SUV, drove over to Capitol Mall, and checked out the Lincoln and FDR memorials by night.

Jan 10: I got the chance to meet my colleague Karen Seeh, a successful nonprofit and sustainability consultant who I’ve worked with online several times but never met in person yet. Later I joined Ian and his friends for a fun evening at the nearby Georgetown pub and piano bar with fellow grad students.

Jan 11: Ian and I explore Capitol Mall, including the White House, the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, the Nation’s Capital, and the Washington Monument. Later, we go for some great music and good vibes in the Adams Morgan neighborhood with Karin and Amanda, a few lady friends we made at the piano bar the night before. Nicole, who spent a year in D.C. as an intern for National Geographic, gave me all the hip tips about the nightlife and music scene in town, and the Adams Morgan is a trendy part of town with great dub music and lots of hoppin’ night spots.

###

Also, I just couldn’t help but share Nicole Pefley’s awesome list of awesome things to do in Washington, D.C., because it should benefit others just as it benefited me! I didn’t have time enough to utilize the whole list, but all her hard work shouldn’t go wasted. Let me know if you try out any of these places and enjoy it! Signing off. Here it is:

Top 12 Badass Washington, D.C. Nightspots

by Nicole Pefley

1. Tryst – Adams Morgan (on the main drag 18th st.) -Chill coffee
   house by day with cozy furniture, hip bar with great dub by night.
2. The Diner – Open 24/7, great alternative if you still haven’t eaten
   (they’ve got whatever you’re craving, I guarantee it), cousin and
   neighbor of Tryst. There’s a whole slough of sweet brunch places on
   18th, as well as where most of the Ethiopian restaurants are. GO TO
   ONE. They’re cheap, tasty, and have amazing jazz. Just ask your cab
   driver.
3. Old Glory – Georgetown. Good atmosphere
4. Blues Alley – GTown. Solid blues joint with great jazz too. Show up
   in advance (1 day prior) to buy tix (See also Madam’s Organ in Adams
   Morgan)
5. 18th St. Lounge – Fruit Loop (Dupont Circle) – Tucked in a narrow
   doorway by a mattress store. The best lounge in D.C. Period. Dress for
   it.
6. Cafe St.Ex (as in St. Exupery, author of Le Petit Prince) – 1847
   14th st. NW. Great Belgian beer, Samba and Bossa Nova beats
   sometimes–great vibes always.
7. Cafe Citron – Dupont – nice happy hour that turns into a hot salsa
   club later
   (see also Habana Village in Adams Morgan)
8. Capitol City Brewing Co. – Cap. Hill – Great brewpub with a good
   happy hour, inexpensive and extensive menu, across from Union Station
   in the historic Post Office Building
9. Hawk and Dove – Cap. Hill – Free food at happy hour and good
   political buzz- need I say more?
10. The Front Page – Dupont – Waaaay too many nights here. Another
    killer happy hour hang.
11. Union Pub – Cap Hill – 201 Mass Ave NW, Where I got my first DC
    buzz. Every night has a different happy hour deal. The brews are
    great, like the food, and on thurs. when I was there any beer was $1
    for the ladies. Worth investigating!
12. Tune Inn – Cap Hill – 331 Penn Ave SE – My favorite D.C. dive, bar
    none. Which is appropriate, since it’s really not much of a bar.
    Dingy, with good late night burgers. And check OUT those bathroom
    walls! Scary, but good times:)

And would it be an email from me to someone traveling to one of my
favorite cities without recommending at least one (ah hell I can’t
help myself) restaurant?

• Mai Thai – my fav Thai place in D.C., in Dupont on P st if I
  recall. Lovely interior, bitchin drinks and ridiculously good prices
  for the stylish and beautiful Thai interior. Enjoy what tastes like a
  $40 dinner for $20.
• Les Halles – 1101 K St. – A French bistro place serving those
  working-class unforgettables, steak, fries, salad, anything else
  French you may be craving, and even the finer things like pate foie
  gras with calvados. Won’t break your wallet either. Did I mention the
  great wine list? I should.

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: Our Journey Through Spain Comes to an End; and a Brief Visit to the Nation’s Capital

My favorite positive affirmation is that there is NOTHING you cannot DO, or BE, or HAVE! I like to repeat that to myself daily. But one must do some dedicated goal-setting, and a lot of goal-getting to get there!

This was supposed to be a New Year’s post, but unanticipated changes due to my travel schedule forced me to postpone writing it. That’s okay though, travel will teach you a few valuable lessons about embracing change and rolling with the punches. The nice thing about resolutions is that New Year’s Eve isn’t the only time you can make them!

In fact, you can set positive new resolutions for your life anytime you choose! New Years just gives us a great opportunity to reflect on our achievements in the past year and set some meaningful new goals for the year ahead. But you can do this anytime you choose—you can make yearly goals on your birthday, or on tax day, or you can set resolutions every six months, every quarter, or you can even set monthly goals! You get the picture…

It’s already three weeks into the New Year, why should I set resolutions now?

The advent of a new year simply serves as a good reminder to reflect on all the progress you’ve made over the last 12 months and take what you’ve learned, and build a roadmap for the coming year and beyond.

It’s actually better that there has been time for the hype of the New Year to pass by. A lot of people intentionally avoid setting new goals on January 1st because they see New Years “resolutions” as oh-so-cliche. Or perhaps you set a traditional resolution and already fell off the wagon. Revisiting what “resolutions” mean now might give you an opportunity to set more meaningful goals this year. So, stay with me here and embrace the change. Don’t think of this as a New Years post. Instead, we are going to focus on goal-setting for this year.

We’ve already seen how powerful it can be when you set goals for yourself. You won’t succeed at every goal, but review your personal development progress at the end of each year to see how much you do accomplish! Simply setting the goals for yourself will greatly increase the likelihood that you’ll get much closer to your dream lifestyle in all these areas of your life.

But I can never keep my resolutions anyways. Why should I care?

So, as you can already see from my experience getting this post out much later than I intended, embracing change means that you don’t always get to do things exactly when you planned. But that’s okay, just because the timing changes doesn’t mean you should throw away the whole plan! Just having made the plan in the first place makes you about sixty percent more likely to follow through on the action than if you hadn’t made plans and set a time in your head in the first place. So the timing has changed. So what? You can still follow through. That’s what goal-setting is! It’s setting a plan—not a commandment set in stone. Don’t give up on your goals if you miss your timeline.

Another thing about your goals is that they may change over time, or things may happen that prevent you from achieving them. Or you may simply not put in the effort to complete all of your goals by the end of the year. But what matters most is that you set them. The act of making meaningful, clearly-defined goals, and writing them down, will put you ahead of 95% of people out there, and it will certainly point you much closer in the right direction toward attaining the lifestyle that you desire in the year ahead. I guarantee that if you set ten goals for yourself in 2008, simply the act of setting goals for yourself will put you MUCH closer to achieving your dreams! As Abraham Lincoln said, “A goal properly set is halfway reached.” Get clear on what you want to accomplish in the next year, and focus your energy towards those ends, and you’ll likely achieve many of your goals.

Okay, okay. So how do you actually do this?

Now it seems to be a popular thing to try to create 100 life goals or 100 goals for the new year. (Just do a Google search for “100 goals” and you’ll see how many communities there are out there talking about the number 100!) Maybe it’s just that the number ‘one-hundred’ has so much appeal… There’s nothing wrong with wanting to go about it that way I suppose, but I think that’s going about it backwards. You’ve already started out by adding another goal to the top of your pile of things to do: To create 100 goals! But does having any particular number of goals really objectively have any value to you? No. In fact, the number is fairly meaningless, so don’t start out with any particular number to reach.

Instead, try starting with the bigger picture in mind. As Stephen Covey said in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, “Begin with the end in mind.” To do this, we will examine what roles we play, and what we want those areas of our life to look like in a year from now.

Brainstorm your personal Roles & Areas of Focus

The necessary first step is to brainstorm your life roles, and other important personal areas of focus. Some goal-setting systems will tell you what categories to set goals for, but I believe you will come up with much more meaningful “categories” if you reflect personally about what roles you play and what areas of focus are most important to you. This is the system that Tony Robbins uses in his Personal Power seminars, and many other professional coaches (like my friend Tim Walther) use successfully in goal-setting workshops with thousands of people every year.

Think about your work, your family, your hobbies… What roles do you play? For example, when I brainstormed, my roles included freelance web designer, business owner, professional networker, peer mentor, writer, traveler, and artist. But perhaps you are a mother, a CEO, an accountant, rock climber, church member, or amateur filmmaker. The roles that we play are different and unique for each individual. But what “hats” do you wear? What roles are important to you that you want to improve upon in the next year?

Roles tend to sound like titles or jobs, even if you don’t get paid for them! They are how you relate to other people. But besides your roles, what other areas of focus are important to you personally? For most people this will include things like personal finances, health and recreation, social life, and so on. But maybe your areas of focus include nutrition, or spirituality, or professional development and training…

Take some time to brainstorm and reflect on what roles and areas of focus are most important in your life, and once you have them all written down on a piece of paper, imagine one-by-one what each of those areas of your life could “look like” in a year. This is called visualization, and it’s an important tool in attaining your desires. Visualize how much progress you could make towards positive relationships with your family. Or how much you could improve upon your strengths at work. Imagine yourself in a new profession, being paid to do something you love. Or even picture yourself on vacation to some beautiful exotic location! But don’t imagine these things passively—visualize yourself participating in making those changes…in experiencing those improvements and accomplishments. Write down a sentence or short paragraph next to each role and each area of focus about what that “picture” looks like.

Now set some goals!

Now that you have your big picture and you’ve thought about where you’re going with each of your personal roles, you finally have some direction. Visualizing what each of those areas of your life could look like one year from now should give you vivid images of what you want to DO, BE, and HAVE. So the final piece of the puzzle in making meaningful resolutions this year is to break those visualizations down into smaller steps you need to take to get there. What are the next actions that will get you closer to your desired outcomes? If you want to buy a new laptop, how much money should you set aside each month? If you want rock-hard abs, how many crunches are you going to do each day?

The best way to set goals that are longer-term than your weekly To Do list items is to start practicing SMART goals. SMART, in this case, is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. You can review these questions in your head as you set goals, or you may want to write them out for each major goal you set.

Specific — Is it something concrete, that you’ll know when you’ve completed it? This is one big reason why “resolutions” fail. People often set ambiguous goals that are too broad to be actionable or too unclear to know when you’ve fulfilled the requirements. For instance, a popular New Years’ resolution is “to get in shape.” But how are you going to achieve that? That is only a very murky version of the visualization that we’ve already practiced above. Now make it specific!

Measurable — How will you measure your progress at the end of the year, or how will you know when you’ve achieved your objective? Think about what specific criteria you’ll have to fulfill to reach the specific outcome you want. And a good way of measuring may be to keep a notebook of your progress toward the goal, or involving your friends in keeping you on track.

Attainable — Is it realistic and possible for you to achieve this in the year ahead, or are you reaching too far? Do you have too much on your plate already? Set goals that will make you stretch, and learn, and grow. But don’t set unrealistic, far-fetched goals that will only discourage you when you don’t meet them.

Relevant — This is actually my favorite of these questions to ask when you’re doing these mental exercises, and it is the first one that I ask because it is the best filter because I think it is the most important. Put simply, is the goal important? Is it really going to get you closer to your dreams, and is it really worth investing your energy in? Or should you focus on other, more important goals?

Time-Bound — When will you complete this goal? Specifically? By October? In Q1? On your birthday? Remember what I said about being flexible with changes in timing toward the beginning of this post, but attaching a time to your goals makes them immediate and important. Remind yourself regularly that you have a goal to meet. When do you plan to start, and what is your target date for completion?

You may come up with a hundred goals for 2008, or you may come up with just two or three really important goals for the year. I go through my list and eliminate all the non-SMART goals, and I try to focus on the ‘attainability’ aspect of my goals and think about how much I can realistically accomplish in just one year, so I have about 3-4 top concrete goals for each of my 10 roles/areas of focus.

Examples of My Personal and Professional Development Goals for the New Year

In my own brainstorming, I found that my most important Roles included Web Designer/Consultant, Entrepreneur, Blogger, Peer Mentor, Traveler, and Artist. And other Areas of Focus for me included things like Social & Relationship-oriented goals, Health & Recreation, and Financial goals. After I settled on these nine top areas of importance for my life, I visualized how I’d ideally like to see each of those realms in a year from now… What sort of progress would I like to make? What things would I like to learn? How successful can I be in a year? And I not only asked these questions, but I tried to actually put myself in that future reality—what will it feel like? How will I get there? Is it truly important?

So, once I had the broader picture of where I’d like to be in a year (yet still very specific mental images), I worked backwards to think what smaller steps I’ll need to accomplish to get to that point. I tried to frame each of my goals into the three areas of things I want to BE, DO, or HAVE, and I tried to frame them in the affirmative, to reinforce to my own brain that I will accomplish these things this year! I also tried to phrase my goals positively, focusing on what I should do to get there, not what I want to do less of. Here are the 24 major goals I’ve set for myself this year, broken down by my Roles and Areas of Focus:

I. My goals as a Web Designer & Consultant

• I WILL HAVE a dedicated portfolio site for my web development work.
• I WILL HAVE a new Apple desktop computer.
• I WILL EARN $60K as a freelancer this year.

II. My goals as an Entrepreneur

• I WILL BE the owner of my own web consulting business.
• I WILL HAVE multiple streams of residual income (through products, training materials, and partnerships).

III. My goals as a Blogger

• I WILL WRITE at least one high-value article each week for Thrilling Heroics (52+).
• I WILL REDESIGN ThrillingHeroics.com.
• I WILL DO one interview each month for Thrilling Heroics.
• I WILL COMMENT on other relevant blogs for one hour each week.

IV. Career Development and goals as a Peer Mentor

• I WILL CREATE a dedicated Mastermind group website with forums to enable remote discussion of personal & professional development.
• I WILL COMMUNICATE with Mastermind members monthly to follow up on their goal-setting and career planning.
• I WILL READ one personal development book each month.

V. My goals as a Traveler

• I WILL COMMUNICATE with international friends once each quarter.
• I WILL PARTICIPATE in online traveler communities like The Thorn Tree Forums and The Couch Surfing Project.
• I WILL LIVE in Thailand for 3+ months.

VI. My goals as an Artist

• I WILL SELL my photography professionally via an online gallery or stock photography community.

VII. My Social and Relationship-related goals

• I WILL CONTACT old friends on their birthdays.
• I WILL ATTEND Burning Man.

VIII. My Health and Recreational goals

• I WILL DO 30+ pushups each day.
• I WILL DO 3 half-hour cardio workouts per week.
• I WILL HAVE a great road bike.

IX. My Financial goals

• I WILL ELIMINATE any credit card balances.
• I WILL HAVE a $2000 emergency fund.
• I WILL HAVE my own self-employed medical/dental/vision insurance.

Remember, the more specific you get, the more likely you are to actually achieve your goals! I went through all of my goals to see if they were each Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely, and if they weren’t, I’d throw them out. I won’t include each step for ALL of my 24 goals here because I don’t want to bore you! But, I’ll demonstrate with my first goal how I answered these questions in my head:

GOAL: I WILL HAVE a dedicated portfolio site for my web development work

1. Specific: I will create an online portfolio with client testimonials, service & product offerings, and business contact information.
2. Measurable: I’ll know this goal is completed when I have a freelance site on its own unique URL that directs potential clients properly to my pipeline.
3. Attainable: I have built numerous websites in the past, so I will easily be able to build myself a business site (it doesn’t have to start out perfect!)
4. Relevant: This is important in order to establish an online home for my business and build instant credibility with potential clients.
5. Timely: I will complete this project before the end of February, 2008.

Now that you’ve seen my own detailed example of brainstorming Roles & Areas of Focus, visualizing outcomes, and SMART goal-setting for 2008, what are your personal resolutions for the new year? What goals are important for you to achieve this year? If you haven’t already spent time thinking about meaningful resolutions for the year, brainstorm on this and let me know what you think of my process in the comments.

When setting your career and academic goals for your business advancement, consider one of these online degrees that will help you manage your time better.

Please hit that comment section below and share your thoughts… Good luck goal-setting!

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: Set Meaningful Personal & Professional Development Goals and Make Progress Towards Your Ideal Life

Sat, Dec 29: After cleaning up the apartment and preparing for our flight to Ibiza all day, we caught up with Meye once more this evening, to give her a piece of climbing equipment that Ryan had left for her as a gift. The four of us wandered a off the beaten path to Granja Dulcinea—one of the two chocolateries in the area most popular with the locals. We waited in line for a half hour and then sat down for some xiocolate and churros. Delish! Meye says we must come and meet up with her again on our return trip—5 January is the celebration and parade on the eve of Three King’s Day—when children in Spain traditionally received presents (as opposed to Christmas day).

We rushed out of town to catch our 9:55 PM flight from Barcelona to Ibiza. And while we didn’t know it at the time, it turns out that we boarded the wrong train, even after we could reasonably gather that two metro workers had pointed us to it. It was the most crowded train I’ve been on—the guy who conveniently placed his ass in my face for the majority of the ride definitely needed a change! We still thought we were heading in the right direction toward the airport, but once it got to about t-minus 30 minutes, we were worrying: shouldn’t we be there by now?

It was at this time that Paul also realized he had misplaced his passport, and was frantically searching his bags to find it. After looking through everything twice, he was fairly certain he had left it hidden in our apartment. Moral of the story: don’t hide your passport away like your secret stash kids, you might forget it if you’re leaving in a rush! So we’re tripping about if Paul would even be able to board the flight with us or whether he would have to catch up a day or two late. Meanwhile, it turned out that no, we weren’t on the way to the airport, we were on the way to the absolute middle of nowhere! It seemed reasonable that a free train to the airport would be so busy, but why everybody in Barcelona goes here in the middle of the night, I will never know! And not only was this the middle of nowhere, but it was pretty ghetto too! Oh well, so now it was blatantly obvious that we were not going to make it to the airport in time to catch our scheduled flight—we waited patiently for the return train and used Tim’s Blackberry to search the net for solutions to our little predicament. Over the phone, Clickair (a subsidiary of Iberian Airlines) told us they wouldn’t refund our tickets, but if we came in they would give us a 20% discount on new tix. Oh well, 500 bucks on my credit card well spent! It’s not a true adventure until something goes wrong.

We spent several hours running around Barcelona like chickens with our heads cut off—only chickens with 40 pound packs on our backs—and we missed the 11 PM ferry to Ibiza by a matter of minutes. We missed the internet cafe. So we grabbed a pizza at a local vendor. Que pasa nada. Plan D: we finally gave in to our destiny, checked our bags at the Hotel Arts across town (where we’ll stay next week), and decided to stay up all night and catch the 6:45 AM flight in the morning. No point trying to find reservations and sleep at this point. At about 1 AM we went to Shoko Restaurant & Lounge Club across the street and enjoyed some DJ music for a while. I also struck up conversation with these three local hotties—Yanina and Lupe were two of them, don’t remember the third’s name—a big accomplishment for me with my extremely limited Spanish. Anyways, with them on our arms, we easily got into the big disco next door, Catwalk, and danced until 4:30 in the morning.

Sun, Dec 30: We taxi’d it to the airport by 5, and Tim and I bought new tickets for the 6:45 plane, but Paul had to track down the policia and fill out a lost passport report to get approval to travel without it. Then the fuckers took my laptop lock! Because, of course, laptop cables pose a dangerous terrorist threat to Ibiza! In summary, we barely made the 6:45 flight, but at last we were all on the same plane and destined for the Balearic Islands!

This is why we were meant to be on this plane! There was this incredibly gorgeous Barcelona girl and two friends that I took a seat right next to. Smokin’ hot—easily a 9 or 9.5 if you ask me. So when the time was right, and I finally grew a pair, I leaned across the aisle and asked them about themselves and for tips for a first-time trip to Ibiza. Jennifer, Ester, and Maria. Turns out that Hottie has a house in Sant Antoni, the other side of the island from Ibiza Town, and I got the scoop on what beaches and sunset bars to look for. I also left with two of their phone numbers, so it all worked out alright. Maybe we’ll catch up with them for New Year’s Eve…

We checked into the Hostal Parque. The streets were dead at 7AM, but it turns out that our hotel is right in the center of the winter-time action. Plaça del Parque fills up with locals enjoying coffee and lunch in the afternoon, and lights up with a carnival and live music at night. And we have a balcony that overlooks the whole square and the old town—Dalt Villa, very pretty by night.

Later that night, we spent a few hours wandering around looking for this place Bar Incognito with Lori, a gal we had met at the nearby internet cafe. Lori is from San Francisco, and she’s on a month-long hiatus from work as sadly, she just had a miscarriage—traveling on her own to work some things out before she goes back to real life. Bar Incognito turned out to be VERY incognito, and unfortunately closed for Sunday night. But at least we found the location for clubbing tomorrow night, and some good restaurants on the marina. Back at Plaça del Parque, it definitely seems as though we picked a good central spot with lots of cool-season traffic—we came back to find some pretty cool live music and relaxed at Cafe Bliss on our square for some late night chorizo & wine before calling it a night.

Mon, Dec 31: I met up with Lori for some brunch at Cafe Bliss again, and for some sightseeing. The two of us hit a few clothing shops, where she helped me pick out two nice designer shirts in the local style, and then I joined her in the hot tub back at her fancy hotel the Royal Plaza. Later Tim and I spoke with Ester, the reception girl in our hotel, who helped us find a primo spot for New Year’s Eve dinner. After sharing some holiday sangria, the three of us walked across the marina, where we dined at Trattoria del Mar, an Italian resto right on the water. For 95 Euros each, we were served a fine seafood dinner—caviar, oysters, crab cake, prawns, tuna, and more. The Spanish tradition is to eat 12 grapes when the New Year starts, one for good luck for each month of the year. And of course there were the normal noisemakers, hats, masks, silly string, and kisses on the cheek.

Once dinner died down after 1AM, we went to Pacha, one of only two of the big clubs open for New Year’s Eve. Everyone was supposed to be there. And everyone was! We waited in line for a while to get in, waited even longer in coat check. Pacha’s supposed to have 15 bars, and all of them appeared to be open. I don’t even know how many dance floors, but this place was pretty huge, and cavernous. It was multilevel, and seemed to burrow down into the earth. The music was good. Dancers were amazing. We somehow bumped into a few gals from the US and chatted for a while. All good times, and we ended up back at home and in bed by about 5 or 6. Just in time to get four hours of sleep and go back out again in the morning!

Tues, Jan 1: After a little shut eye, we had a morning glass of champagne to ring in the new year, and caught a taxi to the next club. That’s right, the dancing goes all night, all day, and all night again for New Year’s here on Ibiza. We arrived at DC-10 by about 11AM—the earliest I’ve ever been clubbing. This is the all-day hotspot that all the locals recommended, where the party starts at 6AM and goes until 3AM the next day. And slowly but steadily, everyone came out in style, with their sunglasses to protect them from the sun’s penetrating rays, and with tequila/orange in hand. It was a very interesting mix of all demographics. We met this one gent Alberto, a friendly, gentle guy probably in his 40s that spoke flawless English. Several telltale signs gave him away as one of the bigger drug dealers at the venue, but he was very relaxed and nonaggressive, and actually held a very interesting conversation with us about his experiences in the US, about education, and spirituality. Interesting dude!

Later, we finally had some blue skies and sunshine and were able to explore the Dalt Villa, the old walled village just adjacent to our square, toped with a centuries-old Catedral at the top of a hill. Tim scaled the crumbling ancient wall, and as we climbed up to the beautiful vista point, my camera batteries powered down! The view was spectacular, but I was almost regretting it—almost wanting to turn back, afraid to finish the trip because I had no way to capture the amazing shots of the bay, the cliffs, the ocean, and lighthouse. This is what the Balearic islands are all about! The weather was absolutely perfect. The three of us sat on the edge of the wall and enjoyed the chill, relaxing sound of the waves for about 15 minutes. We kept pressing towards the cathedral at the summit, and we later found some fun local kids that played around with us for a while. A wonderful, beautiful last afternoon on Ibiza.

Wed, Jan 2: Wednesday morning, we were scheduled to fly back to Barcelona, but I woke up at about 5 AM with food poisoning. I won’t go into details, but this was one of the worst days of my life. Tried to make the best of the afternoon by chatting with Ester at the front desk while the guys went out shopping as we waited to leave for the airport. I had to work hard for it, but we finally arrived at the Hotel Arts in Barcelona—very primo, on the 21st floor overlooking the sea and the city, and with a killer Bang and Olufsen sound system to enjoy our chill Ibiza CDs on.

Thurs, Jan 3: Today was a day of rest, and all we really did was set out to retrieve Paul’s misplaced passport at the old apartment. It’s awful nice to have a free room at the 74th rated hotel in all of Europe (earned with Paul’s business travel credits), but the downside to staying at the Ritz is that everything costs money, and it’s out of our league! Can you believe, a bottle of Jack Daniels costs 120 Euros here!? Is that what it means to be rich? To be willing to pay an obscene, complete unreasonable premium on everyday things? It’s a great room, so I’m not complaining, but it’s kind of the place you go to stay in your safe tower, high above the city, not really to experience a place, but to grace it with your presence for a few nights and drop a few cool grand.

So, I broke the rules and bought some groceries and some Wok to Walk, which should last me a few days. There’s no kitchenette, but with a little ingenuity I can make meals for the next few days. Paul and I ran some errands while Tim went to pick up his French girlfriend, but the skies opened up over Barcelona and started pouring rain like crazy so I retired for the day to care for my upset stomach and brewing cold.

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: Balearic Adventure: Spain for the Holidays, Part III

Wed, Dec 26: This morning Tim and Ryan set out to make a local climb, so Paul and I ran a few errands. We paid a visit to a local Barcelona Starbucks for a coffee just off La Rambla (again, the main street in downtown B-town), and discovered that Starbucks uses the same numbers pretty much everywhere you go, regardless of what currency you’re playing with! Actually, I think my coffee was about 10 dollars. Paul exchanged some cash and I stopped at an ATM to pick up some Euros to pay the rental agent. Then we spent an hour at a nearby internet cafe to email family and post photos, while Paul Skype’d his new girlfriend, “the last girl he ever wants to kiss,” in Shanghai! Haha, go Paul!

We got back to the apartment to find Tim had returned home early (apparently he’d gotten a late start and ended up at the wrong metro stop, not to mention that he’s coming down with Bronchitis), so we all relaxed for a while, enjoying some Spanish television and the balcony, and then the three of us went out and caught the metro to Park Guell. Park Guell is a destination at the north end of town that had been recommended to me by every person who’d been here to Barcelona before. Apparently, the landscape architecture was designed by the famous local artist Gaudi, and the park’s central attraction is a great mountaintop vista of the whole city of Barcelona. So, we raced up about a dozen sets of outdoor stairs and escalators on the hill up to the park, hiked around for an hour or two, and Paul was given some unsolicited advice by a Japanese tourist he asked politely to take our photo: she exclaimed, “What background? You want this?! This is NOTHING!” while Tim and I burst into laughter!

Park Guell

I began to feel a pain like no pain I’d ever felt before in my right foot. My shoes are broken in pretty well, and I guess the sole of my shoe has worn down into a funny, uncomfortable shape that is extremely hard on the arch of my right foot after 6 hours of intense dancing and 12 hours of extreme hiking around, so I was limping pretty badly by the time a cafe busboy in the park (actually, a 50-something-year-old man that some spiny, mean creature must have crawled up into and died) got pissy at me for putting my foot up on one of his chairs! Laughs all around, again.

We dined with two local Spanish girls tonight. Meye (“may-yai,” short for Mercedes) is a friend that Tim and Ryan made while on their climbing expeditions—a really neat, very generous Barcelona woman, she runs her own company creating designs for pet accessories—and graciously invited us to her B-town flat for the evening. And Barbara is a younger friend of hers who is also into climbing and apparently an anthropology grad student in town (pretty cute, too). We made ourselves at home, and the six of us shared some great salad, chorizo, pasta, wine, and lots of Spanish sweets, and then shared several stories until about 1:30 am! They were really welcoming and great fun!

Dinner at Meye’s flat.

Afterward, we hired Jason Statham from “The Transporter” to taxi us back home to La Rambla, where he quickly shrieked, “Close the doors!! Aaaghh!” as we were attacked from all directions by African hookers at 2 in the morning! Oh, the adventures of international travel.

Thurs, Dec 27: After I finally rolled out of bed in a stupor and poured a cup of coffee, Paul accompanied me over near Plaça Catalunya to check out the local clothing & fashion shops. I bought some hot new shoes in the local fashion—interesting how Reeboks, Converse, or Adidas here go for about 120 Euros, which is a crap ton in US dollars, but I got these real decent Euro-style shoes for a cheap 42 Euros! Much easier on my foot. These boots were made for walkin’!

Ryan’s been working on some application essays for medical school, so when he returned from the internet cafe, we rented bikes around the corner to tour around the city for an hour. The four of us cycled down to the marina (remember, we’re here on the northern edge of the Mediterranean Sea) and followed the beach to Port Olympia, where we saw the amazing hotel we’ll be staying in on our trip back through B-town—the Hotel Arts Barcelona, by Ritz Carlton! (Five stars, rated like 76th in all of Europe! Thanks for that, Paul!) I had a blast cruising around on bikes with the guys, seeing the beach, all the local sailboats and yachts, and people watching. I visited the supermercado for some milk and 7-up (the water here tastes horrible, unfortunately).

Biking on the Barcelona boardwalk

The Hotel Arts Barcelona

We then hiked a few blocks to the open-air market looking for fresh meats, cheese and bread. At a stop for some seafood appetizers and a drink, we met two nice gals who work in London—one from New York and one from New Zealand. It was neat to hear a native English-speaker! There’s not a lot of them here in the off-season, and I don’t speak Spanish well!

Sadly, it’s Ryan’s last night with us, so the four of us went for a fancy dinner right next door at a nice resto called Biblioteca at about 11pm. Paul had had a few drinks, and was becoming a mild handful giving everyone the 20 questions on camera and talking at length about Shanghai, all in good fun, but a little tiring nonetheless. Oh well. I had duck with a red wine reduction and potatoes, for the first time in my life. Also had a bite of pigeon for the first time! Mmm, street birds! We went to the bar down the street from us, but I needed some air after a while and eventually later on, back at the apartment, got into the inevitable confrontation you get into with extended travel partners with Paul. It was a-okay though, as it’s one of those experiences that makes you closer to the other person afterward, and the two of us ended up going for a 3am walk all the way back out to Port Olympia—which is almost completely silent and dead at this time of morning, much unlike the buzzing part of town we’re in. Now, I’m downloading Moroccan rap & dance music to the laptop.

Fri, Dec 28: Today is a rest day. After staying out until 6 in the morning all week, I’m feeling pretty tired, so I slept most of the day today and tried to preserve my energy. I’ve been writing, emailing, and working from the apartment. And reading my Vagabonding book. It’s just me, Paul, and Tim now. We did go a few metro stops down to visit the post office so Tim could ship some climbing equipment back to the States. It’s funny how the simplest activities can become such adventures when you’re in a foreign culture!

Paul then convinced us to wander toward the local Arc de Triomf, we had a cafe con leche & pastry along the way, and wandered through the park. As we wandered back, Paul & Tim went to a Che Guevara exhibit at a nearby museum, but I was out of steam and header back to our flat. I passed out while the guys got Chinese food. Then strangely, I was restless all night (!), and stayed up chatting on AIM, messaging on the Ibiza discussion boards, and writing New Years resolutions.

Barcelona’s Arc de Triomf

Sat, Dec 29: I’ll be doing chores most of the day today in preparation for our 9:55 pm flight to Ibiza tonight. I’ve got to have a few coffees to feel alive, get my laundry washed, clean up the apartment, and pack my things. So, nothing too exciting, but I’ll report from Ibiza as soon as I can.

Check out my Flickr photostream for more photos!

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: Spain for the Holidays, Part II

Sun Dec 23: I flew out of Sacramento International Airport at 6:40AM. Landing in Chicago was VERY choppy as it was both foggy AND snowy at the same time there, delaying our flight by about an hour. I met a nice couple on the flight to D.C. who recommended a few things near Georgetown for the trip back. Miraculously, our flight still made it with enough time that I could catch a quick sandwich before the Lufthansa flight to Germany. The overnight to Munich was very LONG, and of course, I got stuck next to a boring old guy who didn’t seem the least interested in even saying five words to me during the course of 8 hours! I somehow always manage to get seated next to crappy single-serving friends. Oh well, toto bien.

Mon Dec 24: Munich is completely frosted over, but the pilot made the softest landing I’ve ever felt. I had to double check whether we had even touched ground yet! Thank goodness for German perfection. This was a quick one-hour layover, so I was happy that we weren’t set back in Washington. The next flight was a very quick jaunt to London, during which every crew member spoke German to me, even though it was quite obvious that at least 60% of the passengers were British!

Upon arrival at Heathrow, I had a four-hour window in which to get my boarding passes and eat a decent meal before the last leg of the trip. Unfortunately I was met with what looked to be about a five-hour queue at the British Airways desk. Making the best of it, I met a friendly Romanian student, Mircea, doing an IBM internship in New York. The poor guy had gotten stuck in London on his way back home for Christmas, but we had a lot to chat about — very nice fellow!

On the final flight to Barcelona, I met a couple from Seattle on their way to see their parents in the south of Spain, and spoke at length with my neighbor, a kind older British gentleman, who told me of all his travels and shared that he was moving to Spain. After wandering around aimlessly for a short while, I met Paul at the BCN airport and we happened across a very nice local who pointed us in the right direction to catch the train into the heart of Barcelona. We followed Tim’s directions toward La Rambla, the mainstreet through downtown Barca, but the local tel # didn’t work at the payphone, so Paul and I had to guess our own way to the apartment. =)

The flat is AMAZING — it IS as awesome as the pictures, thankfully! Tim and Ryan have some impressive stories to share about their time traveling through Morocco and Spain so far. The four of us went for a beer at a little tavern on La Rambla, where we met a friendly German traveler who let us chat with him for a while. We then stopped in to witness the midnight mass at La Catedral — a good way to spend Christmas Eve. This seems like a fun place to spend Christmas — almost every street is literally decked out in lights and decorations that span across from building to building! At about 2AM, we did the Spanish thing and headed over to Fellini, a dance club just around the corner from our flat. The clubs here don’t really get going until around 1 or 2AM, and on party nights, the party goes until 6 in the morning. (Then apparently, some of the girls say, people go to work around 10 or so and then real hardcore purists take a siesta break around 2 – 5!) The club had a great selection of top hits and electronic music, and Tim and I kept it going to some energetic house and trance until about 6:30! It was probably the most intense dance club experience of my life! And this is only day 1 in Spain! But what better way to start off Christmas Day?

One of the rooms in our posh flat.

Ryan, Tim, and Paul standin’ on stuff at Fellini.

Tues Dec 25: I woke to the sounds of Tim’s Moroccan drums at about 3:30 this afternoon. I know that makes me sound like a lazy slob, but hey, it was a looong trip, followed by a long night! It’s okay, we can get a chance to catch up during the afternoon siesta, and dinner around here isn’t until about 10PM or later. My kinda place! =)

Paul, Tim, and I wandered up La Rambla a ways to Plaça Catalunya and grabbed a cafe con leche. We later stopped in a take-away Asian food restaurant for some Christmas fried rice across the street from our flat, where I chatted at length with Tim about his travels through Thailand, his leadership retreats that he has given around the world, and his first book on personal development and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, coming out soon. I crashed again for an hour or two, but awoke to the whole gang back at the place, and Ryan was busy whipping up an awesome meal for us all. The four of us enjoyed some marinated pork, spicy ravioli, Catalan peppers, salad, and champaign for Christmas dinner, and shared more adventures while listening to some peppy Berber pop music! It’s my first time meeting Tim and Ryan, and Paul’s first time meeting Ryan as well, so it’s fun to all get to know each other at the same time, and to have such interesting and fun-spirited travel partners! Tim lives in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and runs Grand Dynamics, while Ryan is a physician’s assistant in SF.

Tim, Paul, and myself at Plaça Catalunya.

Sitting down for a great Christmas dinner.

Post dinner-time, we all had a caipirhana at a packed little bar down our side street, and then Paul and I wandered down toward the marina. We walked around the city for a few hours and saw Port Valle and Port Olympia, where we’ll stay on our way back through Barcelona the second half of the trip. One unfortunate thing about European nightlife is that there IS NO escape from smelling like cigarettes! My sweaty airplane shirt smells better than any of the clothes I’ve worn out since! Haha. That, and the fact that my whole body is now thoroughly sore from yesterday’s five hours of dancing and todays hours of walking, so I took the opportunity to use the other guys’ shower for my first HOT rinse in four days! (One drawback to renting a place as opposed to staying in a hotel — the plumbing on our side of the apartment is out of whack.) Now I’ve been up typing and listening to the soothing sounds of Mallorca on the TV, and I think it’s like 5:40 or something crazy in the morning again, so I better get some rest before tomorrow!

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: Spain for the Holidays, Part I

The rumors are for real! I finally got my tickets and I’ll be leaving for Spain for the holidays with my close friend and colleague Paul Dickey on December 23rd! We’ll be adventuring with his best friend Tim Walther through Barcelona and hopefully Ibiza for the Christmas-New Years break.

Tim and Paul are experienced globetrotters, so I’m really looking forward to this trip as a great “training wheels” experience before I go conquer Thailand all on my own! Tim Walther is president of Grand Dynamics, an awesome company that does corporate retreats and team building adventures. He’s also an accomplished rock climber, and he and his buddy Ryan have already been traveling across Morocco and Spain this month doing climbs. Check this site to see some of their recent adventures — these are the guys I’m going with! So far this December, they’ve already ventured to desert kasbahs and been bitten by camels, climbed with a 7-time female Spanish climbing champion, attended a Barça v. Stuttgard futbol match, and more! So I know this is gonna be unforgettable!

Tim and Ryan will be awaiting our arrival on the 24th in Barcelona, where we’ve already booked this incredible executive apartment — 4 bed/3 bath in the heart of the city center on La Rambla. Look at these photos — it’s incredible what you can find at such a decent price when you know where to look.

After the 29th, the plan is to hit up Ibiza, one of Spanish Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is home to the biggest night club in the world and is best known for its intense summer parties, with thousands of European vacationers flooding in for beach raves and foam parties. But it also has a softer side — winter is the off-season, and though several of the clubs close down, the locals say it’s the best time of year, with blooming almond trees, relatively warm-ish temperatures (highs of 61-62), and space to enjoy the beautiful beaches.

We might do Pacha for their giant NYE bash, maybe Amnesia, and DC-10 for their all-day after party. These Ibiza clubs have become the center of the worldwide electronic music movement — tons of house and trance and others of my favorite eclectic musical tastes all come out of this spot, so I’m super excited! The “Balearic Beat” sound in the 80s and 90s was typified by heavy, slow, R&B-influenced beats, with drum ‘n bass, laid-back swing-beat patterns, soul, Latin, African, funk, and dub ingredients. DJ Paul Oakenfold imported this awesome sound to London and it influenced electronic music around the world. Ibiza is also a haven to artists like Sasha, John Digweed, David Guetta, New Order, and the ambient chill-out music of Café del Mar.

I’ll do my best to keep you all updated with some fun travel journals while I’m abroad, so keep an eye on this site. On my way back, I hope to check in with a friend or two in London for a night (I’ll being staying January 7th if anyone’s reading), and then visit my cousin Ian Achimore for a few days in Washington, D.C. (where he’s attending Georgetown) before I return home.

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: Invading Spain for the Holidays!