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From January to September 2009, 21,833 people died in my home state of Oregon. Just like that, each one of them left the world—here one day and gone the next. Several weeks ago, three hikers also died on our nearby Mount Hood in a tragic accident. After their deaths, there was the usual pontification about what they could have done differently. Despite the fact that they were all experienced climbers, and despite leaving for the hike when weather conditions were good, some people blamed their “risky behavior” and suggested various reforms that wouldn’t have made any difference in their case.
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Greetings from Auckland, New Zealand, where I'm in transit to the South Pacific island of Samoa – via Vancouver on one side and Nuku'alofa, Tonga on the other. (If you're coming from North America, it takes a while to get settled in this part of the world.) I've been to New Zealand, the Cook Islands, and Hawaii before, but this is effectively my first trip to the inner South Pacific. On the way home next week I hope to visit Fiji as well.
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Dear friends, This photo from Ivan reminds me yet again what it’s all about. Thanks for an amazing 2009. I can’t wait to hear your stories of awesomeness in 2010.…
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Happiness is either free or priceless – I guess it depends on your perspective. But if you'd like to learn about a great writer's year-long quest to discover what really makes her happy, your cost is a mere $14.03. Or you can win a copy paid for by me. In case you haven't heard, Gretchen Rubin's new book, The Happiness Project, is out today. It's currently #40 on Amazon.com and killing it ... well, as much as a book on happiness can kill something.
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If you're involved in any kind of creative work, you and inertia are probably well acquainted. I wish I were an exception, but no—inertia and I are mortal enemies. Every day I get up and fight a battle against that beast. Sometimes I win; sometimes I lose. Sometimes we get “stuck” in something and have a hard time figuring out what to do next. If you're feeling stuck, try one or more of these ideas ...
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This week I finally got around to seeing Up in the Air, a movie everyone’s been asking me about recently. Aside from movies on airplanes themselves, of which I usually watch the first 20 minutes before doing something else, this was only my second movie of the year. Up in the Air, if you’re not familiar with it, is about a guy who loves travel so much that he essentially lives on planes and in Hilton suites throughout the U.S.As he says in the movie, “Last year I spent 322 days on the road, which means that I had to spend 43 miserable days at home.”
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Dear Friends,
Here’s wishing you well on the morning of December 24th.
For those who celebrate (I do), I hope you’re all having a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas. Everyone else, I hope the holiday month is also treating you well.
Things are great over here. I’m in Portland with my family, taking a few days off before getting a head start on what looks to be an intense 2010.
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After beginning in early 2008, 2009 was the first full year of AONC articles. It’s also been a pretty full year in general! This wrap-up post includes every article that was published during the year, in chronological order.
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As part of my annual review series, I’m looking back at everywhere I went in 2009. It’s a long list! Let’s kick it off with an observation that’s either interesting, awesome, or troubling (I can’t decide which): when I started writing this post, I had trouble remembering all the places I went this year. I had to go back to old calendars, itineraries, boarding passes, and even my much-loved passport to figure it out.
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As part of my Annual Review series, I’m looking back at the development of AONC and the related business during 2009. I hope you’re having a great December, wherever you…
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Greetings, friends and readers. I still have three posts remaining in the Annual Review series—this week we’ll look at Business Lessons and a 20+ country Travel Roundup… but first! A word of gratitude from our sponsors, or me to be precise ...
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This is part of my end-of-year series while I’m away on vacation. Future posts will cover business lessons learned, a travel roundup, a list of every post from 2009, and the shape of things to come. Happy December! 2009 has been a truly amazing year for me personally and for AONC. It’s no exaggeration to say that my entire life has shifted dramatically from the place where it was a year ago ...
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This is the first in a series of five articles about my Annual Review. Every year since 2005 I've set aside an entire week in December to look back on the previous year and set goals for the next year. This time I'm taking two weeks (it was an intense year!), but I'm also editing my book and outlining a couple of projects for January at the same time.
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This site update comes to you live from the Costa Del Sol in Southern Spain, where I’m on vacation and planning out the next year. Each month I look back at what’s happened with AONC in the previous month (or two, in this case). If you’ve missed some articles, you can catch up here ...
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Greetings from vacation-land, where I've just arrived. I'm looking forward to sharing my 2009 Annual Review with you. But first, some big news in the travel hacking world has come up –-
Yesterday I spent a little over $2,000 on stickers I don't expect to use. On March 1, 2010, I expect to receive at least 280,000 new Star Alliance Frequent Flyer Miles in one of my mileage accounts as a result of the purchase. This is a case study in travel hacking, and in this example, something I call mileage arbitrage.
