Category: travel

California, choices, transportation, travel

Beautiful: Los Angeles Sans Car

Christa Avampato
LA’s Rapid Transit bus system from Pinterest

“You need to get a car.”

I have heard this statement over and over again. I’ve done the research. I almost pulled the trigger and got a car for the remaining 6 weeks that I’ll be in LA. Then a few incidents happened that caused me to reconsider:

1.) My dear friend, Amy, who shares my love for public transit, sent me an article from AFAR entitled Another Angle on LA by Aimee Bender. In it, she skeptically explores the world of public transit in LA.

2.) Traveling back from Lake Tahoe, I got caught in all of the confusion in SFO after the horrific plane crash there. To get back to LA from San Francisco, I ended up having to rent and drive a car. The traffic wasn’t bad, but I found myself reaffirming what I’ve known all along: I don’t enjoy driving. At all. It’s one thing to rent a Zipcar here and there for specific reasons. It’s another thing entirely to depend on one to get from every point A to every point B.

3.) It’s also quite synchronistic that the people I swapped houses with this summer also prefer public transit and walking to driving. They’ve left me numerous resources on how to navigate LA via bus, subway, and my own two little feet.

So I’m listening to the signs and taking an adventure: I am going to attempt to navigate LA, and enjoy everything it has to offer, sans car as much as possible. I’m excited for the road ahead – especially since I won’t be driving on it. I promise to share all of my transit adventures here.

adventure, travel

Beautiful: You Don’t Always Need to Know Where You’re Going

Christa Avampato

photoWith our smartphones in-hand, we rarely get lost thanks to the advent of Google Maps. I have a horrible sense of direction and I remember the days of printing out Mapquest directions so I wouldn’t waste valuable time wandering around aimlessly. Many times they didn’t help. I spent a lot of time wandering around, but it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes I get a little wistful for those days. I had some of the most extraordinary adventures when I was completely lost.

This summer when I’m in Santa Monica, I plan to spend some of that time sans map. I hope to get delightfully (and safely) lost, and then find my way back to the light. In the immortal words of J. R. R. Tolkien, “Not all those who wander are lost.”

family, time, travel, vacation

Beautiful: Trading a New York State of Mind for a Florida State of Mind

Christa Avampato

7fc4ceabaf49fec6884473bce8bfb40bWhenever I hear Billy Joel sing “New York State of Mind”, I get a little misty-eyed. Call me a sap. This is my city and I love any and every tribute to it. Don’t get me wrong – it’s a loony bin here and you need to be a little crazy to call this place home. When God doled out the crazy genes, or at least the ability to tolerate and even revel in it, I got more than my fair share.

Just as it’s good to step away from work to feel more energized about it, it’s also good to step away from our homes to appreciate what they offer. So off I go to the sunny skies and sandy shores of Florida, one of my 4 annual pilgrimages to see my family, horse around with my nieces during our spontaneous the-world-is-our-dance-floor dance parties, and shop with my mother and sister at places like Target and Publix, the stalwarts of suburban life where everything closes by 9pm and Ellen DeGeneres is queen. It’s such a different pace of life than mine in New York, and I welcome it.

Also, my pup, Phin, is there while I hunt for and settle into a new apartment that’s quieter and more spacious for the two of us. I wish I could tell you I am more excited to see my family than my dog, but it’s just not true. They’re even-steven. I miss his fuzzy face on a minute-by-minute basis and can’t wait until he’s with me again full-time. In the meantime, he’s being lavishly spoiled by my mother, a devout dog lover who thinks canine-liness is next to godliness. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, folks.

I’ll also be rounding the bend into year 37 on the 17th while I’m in Florida. My sister asked me what I’d like to do for my birthday. Honestly, I just want to relax as much as possible, take a few long walks, barbecue, and watch cartoons with the people I love most – in that order. The older I get, the more fun I find in the ordinary.

While I’m away, my posts will be considerably shorter, composed mostly of images and a few words. I hope you enjoy them as much as I’m prepared to enjoy Florida.

happiness, sunshine, travel, work, worry

Leap: If You Want to Find Meaning in Your Work, Find the Sun

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

I spent the weekend in Buffalo with two of my best girlfriends, Kelly and Alex. Kelly is getting married next Fall to a wonderful man and Alex and I are in the wedding. Alex and I made it to our flights home just in time as Hurricane Sandy approaches the Eastern seaboard.

On my Delta flight, I had the most delightful flight attendant. As we broke through the clouds, I commented that it had been at least a week since I’d seen sunny skies.

“That’s the greatest thing about my job,” said the attendant. “It’s always a sunny day at the office for at least part of the time.”

How many of us can say that? And how many of us would like to say that?

This year, following happiness and joy has been a good strategy for me. I don’t always know what lies around the bend with my newly designed career. Heck, sometimes I barely know what lies in wait for me in my morning inbox. I don’t worry though because I just keep following goodness, sunshine in some form or other, and so far it’s always been a good day in my (home) office.

adventure, New York City, technology, travel

Leap: Unplug and Play

Christa Avampato

This morning I am happily unplugging from my devices and taking a field trip up to City Island, a tiny fishing village in the Bronx.

Did your face just crinkle in confusion? You read that right – a small bucolic fishing village is nestled into the shoreline of the Bronx. I’ve been fascinated by its existence for several years and I finally blocked out the time for a visit. My friend, Moya, is joining me for the adventure.

I’ll be taking pictures and noting points of interest that we find during our day of meandering. Tomorrow you’ll have the full scoop. Get out there and enjoy your Sunday!

adventure, child, childhood, children, creativity, discovery, inspiration, travel

Leap: Have a Little Awe

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest

“He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.” ~ Albert Einstein

I spend time with my nieces, Lorelei and Aubree, because I love them. I also spend time with them because I am incredibly selfish. They are a constant reminder to me that life is filled with the exciting, the unexpected, and the unprecedented. There are millions of surprises just waiting for us. The world wants to astound us, to make us wonder and wander. It wants us to be free and open to its magic, to follow its lead into the miraculous and previously unimagined. My nieces remind me of all of that whenever they see something I have seen a million times before and regard it with amazement.

Show up with a full heart, open eyes, and perked up ears. You won’t be disappointed. You’ll be inspired.

family, Life, movie, travel

Leap: The Importance of Pilgrimage

Christa Avampato
A scene from the movie The Way

I recently saw The Way, a movie that records the trek of a grieving father, played by Martin Sheen, along the Camino de Santiago through the Pyrenees from France to Spain taken in honor of his son, played by Emilio Estevez, who died along the trail. It’s a beautiful story of love and loss, misunderstanding and faith, harm and healing. It made me think about the motivations behind pilgrimage and the importance of a purposeful journey. A pilgrimage provides a bridge that carries us from the life we live to the life we choose.

In a way, my trip to India was a bit of a pilgrimage in that I went there with a purpose – to better understand the practice of yoga by seeing its roots. I didn’t have a specific place I was trying to go, just a feeling I was trying to capture, a thread I was trying to find and weave into my living.

I would like to take an actual pilgrimage as illustrated in The Way, some kind of trek through the natural world that leads to a specific destination for a specific purpose. I’ve got some loose ideas but I’m taking suggestions, too. In this time of great change in my life, a true pilgrimage seems apropos.

adventure, India, travel

Leap: I Finished the First Draft of My Ebook about My India Trip

Christa Avampato
One of the many signs I stumbled across in India that let me know I was going in the right direction

Yesterday I finished the first draft of my ebook about my Indian adventure. I’m using it as my research project for my advanced yoga teacher training which wraps up next weekend. This research project was one of the main drivers for writing this ebook so quickly after my return.

I felt an amazing sense of relief writing that last sentence. It was difficult and wonderful to relive everything captured in my journal, particularly with the perspective of 2 months of elapsed time. So much has changed in that 2 months since I returned from my trip and I am grateful for every ounce of it.

More than anything, I am in awe of our ability to change our lot once we simply commit to making a change. Overcoming inertia is no small feat though once we get ourselves moving in the direction of radical change, the train will keep moving and take on a life of its own. It’s empowering and inspiring to realize our own strength and courage.

This week, I’ll be doing some very light editing of the ebook and adding in pictures. Then I’ll wrap it up in a bow, post it up on my blog, and set it free. I hope you’ll download it, read it, and let me know what you think.

adventure, India, travel

India Takes It To the Limit, Everytime

Christa Avampato
The store where people who live along the backwaters of Alleppey buy just about everything they need.

I’m not sure why I have Eagles songs running through my head as I’m re-reading my India journal. I’m sure there’s a cosmic reason for that but it has yet to strike me. I’ll get back to you on that.

India is a land of contradictions. It is at once limitless in its diversity and possibility and yet it tested my personal limits every moment of every day. Just when I thought I had it all figured out, or at least had figured out the tiny footprint of ground I happened to be standing on at any one time, it would flip head over heels into a different realization.

One concept of limits that India revealed to me was the idea that every object has a full life.

“In India,” Jose said, “we use everything until the end of its life.”

Indians don’t run out and get everything bright, shiny, and new because there’s a sale or just because they feel like it. They replace items when they need replacing, and not a moment sooner. In the mainstream throw-away American culture, we’re more likely to toss something away because we’re tired of looking at it than we are to use it until it’s used up. We’re changing our ways, some more quickly than others, but we’re a long way off from collectively using everything we have until it’s no longer useful.

I love the idea of honoring everything we have for the lifespan it’s intended to have. It’s caused me to think and re-think my own buying and tossing habits. In actuality, we don’t need much in the way of possessions to get by and what we do have we should use to its full extent.

This is the thing that stunned me more than anything else about India: in the smallest of moments lie the greatest of lessons.

determination, India, nature, travel

Leap: A Tree Grows in India, Where Everything is Possible

Christa Avampato
Tree growing on mountainside in Munnar, Kerala. India.

This picture is one of my favorite photos from India. After a torrential downpour high in the mountains of Munnar, Kerala, the sun came out and lit up the entire valley as my incredible driver and guide, Jose, wound us safely down toward the hotel. We pulled over to the side of the road to take in the pastures down below and the mountains up above.

On the side of the mountain, we found this tree. The roots entirely exposed and yet solid as a rock, healthy and strong. Jose said it had been in that state for years, monsoon season after monsoon season.

“How is that possible?” I asked, thinking of all of the tree that are routinely knocked down by storms in New York City’s Central Park.

“Miss Rose, this is India. Here everything is possible.”

As we made our way toward the hotel, Jose told me about his plans to leave his current job and start up his own bike tour business when his contract is up at the end of the year. He has been leading mountain bike tours all over southern India as a side business.

He’s become so passionate about it, that he’s undertaking his venture full-time. He sees the upside of this risk and wants to capitalize on it. The worst that will happen is that it won’t work and he’ll easily go back to working for a tour company because he is so sought after for his knowledge and expertise on everything South India.

Here I am fretting about my upcoming leap when we have so many more advantages here in the U.S. to change our lives for the better. Meeting Jose was certainly the Universe speaking to me loud and clear. “Go and see what you find. Learn. Explore. Do. Everything is possible. It’s up to us.”