fun : The Art of Non-Conformity

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6 Discoveries from Near and Far: Volume XLII

Things I found on long walks in foreign cities, or perhaps when someone posted them on Twitter.

10 Travel Hacks The Tourism Industry Doesn't Want You To Know -- Featuring comments from me and several other experts
Be a More Productive Writer While Also Achieving Balance -- Lots of contrarian advice here. I still like my to-do lists, but I appreciate this perspective
Traveling to Cuba? Book one of the 1,000 listings available on Airbnb -- While you’re waiting for the Park Hyatt Havana to open, here are some alternatives
How to Be Funnier -- A new film from FiveThirtyEight
"Live free, die hoppy" -- One man’s quest to visit every craft brewery in the U.S.
Winston Churchill’s Guide to Life-Work Balance -- Including a morning whiskey in the bath and a daily uniform of pink silk pyjamas

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6 Discoveries from Near and Far: Volume XLI

Things I found on long walks in foreign cities, or perhaps when someone posted them on Twitter.

Momentum -- A new community from longtime friend Jenny Blake
Traveling Is Exhausting -- Alyssa’s notes on adventuring through Europe
27 Sites with Royalty-Free Stock Images -- Tons of photos for your blog posts or social media
My Creative Burnout -- The author of “How to Survive Creative Burnout” navigates a setback
When Is Cheryl’s Birthday? -- A math problem from Singapore (aaaah! so difficult)
The Secret to Never Being Frustrated Again -- “You don’t get frustrated because of events. You get frustrated because of your beliefs.”

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Giveaway: Win a “Boarding Tote Bag”

Win a Boarding tote from Airportag, an online business started by "Captain Greg"—a flight lover and designer who got creative with the world of airport codes and made a fun shop.

You can find a ton of airports represented on totes, coffee mugs, and pillows over at Airporttag. Naturally, I have a lot of favorite airports, so it would be hard for me to choose a single one... but on the tote bag page, I especially like the styles of MEX, BKK, LHR, and LAX.

Profiles

The Amazing Marriage Adventure: Liz and Ryan Bower’s Quest

Liz and Ryan Bower are wedding photographers who believe in the marriages they document—and not just that first special day. They noticed that champions who might share the realities of life-long partnerships seemed to be few and far between.

They decided to hop in an RV and find true stories of loving marriages to share from every state of America.

We are millennials, story-tellers, wedding photographers, and dream believers. Most of all, we believe in helping to create amazing marriages that stand the test of time.
Our love of love dates back to our teenage years. We were high school sweethearts with an entrepreneurial spirit and a passion to live a more meaningful life. So we started a photography business, Liz and Ryan. Six years later, and after 100 weddings captured, we realized there is a lot of hype surrounding weddings, but not a lot of hype surrounding marriages.
This eventually led to our quest: The Amazing Marriage Adventure. For 2015, we are living in an RV and traveling the U.S. to document at least one married couple’s story in all 50 states. Along the way, we’ll host couples' coffee-shop meetups to encourage community and truly open the lines of communication in celebration of marriage.

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New! Sign Up to “Make Your Dream Trip a Reality” (A 30-Day Creative Live Course)

Link: Register for Free "Dream Trip" Course

Attention, everyone! My travel hacking colleague Stephanie Zito and I will be teaching an all-new online course starting later this month, and I'd love for you to join us.

We previously taught a one-day workshop that was watched live by more than 12,000 of you. The feedback we got after that one was: “Whoa, this is great—but there’s so much info!”

For this one, we’re teaching everything through 30 short, action-packed lessons (a new one unveiled each weekday once we begin on April 26) and focusing on something more specific. It’s not just “earn a ton of miles and points,” although we'll certainly show you how to do that. More importantly, it’s about taking a dream trip, going somewhere you’ve always wanted to but haven’t planned for or thought was too expensive.

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6 Discoveries from Near and Far: Volume XL

Things I found on long walks in foreign cities, or perhaps when someone posted them on Twitter.

5 Secrets of a Successful Ted Talk — Hint: Being a famous person has little to do with giving a popular talk
Hacking Weight Loss — What Jeff learned from losing 30 pounds
10 Places to Go Before They’re Gone -- Don’t miss Madagascar! I once stopped off in every domestic airport on the island/li>
Changing Perceptions of Time While Dying (Video) -- A Stanford neurosurgeon who was diagnosed with lung cancer in his mid-30s reflects on the experience
The Most Aspirational Miles Award -- Use your Virgin miles (a lot of them…) to book travel on Richard Branson’s Necker Island
Gifts for Highly Productive People -- My choice would be: more iPhone cables. I leave them everywhere!

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Giveaway: Stridebox – A Treasure Chest for Runners

Friday is giveaway day. Comment to win!

This week's giveaway comes from Oregon-based company, Stridebox. This runner-lovin' business collects the latest racing goodies and sends them monthly to subscribers (...in a box, hence the name). It's a fun idea and only costs $15 a month.

Even if you're not an avid runner, you could use this box as inspiration to get started, or just use the reflective laces and lights in your hip-hop dance class.

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6 Discoveries from Near and Far: Volume XXXIX

Things I found on long walks in foreign cities, or perhaps when someone posted them on Twitter.

The Most Advantageous Places to Visit with American Dollars -- An updated report highlighting Mexico, Argentina, and some of Europe
The Economics of Busking -- Notes on best practices and how much money you can expect to make
How to Tell the Difference Between Planes — Do you know that there are only two double-decker aircraft? This infographic will teach you how to spot all the major aircraft types
“Disco Dog”: The smartphone-controlled LED dog vest -- Take your dog for a walk and a dance with this fun Kickstarter project
A Man and His Van -- "Adventure is freedom"
Living in an Internet Cafe in Japan -- Depression and Japan's big unemployment challenge

Travel

Fuel Dumping: A Little-Understood Trick to Save Hundreds of Dollars on Airfare

There’s a fun trick that can help you save hundreds of dollars on your next long flight—but it’s a little complicated and requires a bit of work.

Bloggers get hate mail over sharing this tip (I’m not kidding), presumably because some people feel entitled to keep secrets to themselves. In my opinion, the only reason this loophole hasn’t been closed has nothing to do with its public knowledge but rather that it takes effort and attention to benefit from it.

Basically, "fuel dumping" is a ticketing strategy to help you strip the fuel surcharges from certain international airfares by adding on an extra, unused segment to the end of the trip.

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6 Discoveries from Near and Far: Volume XXXVIII

Things I found on long walks in foreign cities, or perhaps when someone posted them on Twitter.

A Master Comedian’s Advice for Becoming Famous — Steve Martin’s unconventional perspective
Birds That Bring Gifts — Maybe your most generous friends are in your backyard
How to Become a Brunch Buffet Ninja — Learn how to win gold in the buffet game
The Himalayas from 24,000 Feet — Live from Kathmandu, here’s the first ultra HD footage of the Himalayas shot from above 20,000 ft
A tour of the most expensive Airbnb rental in San Francisco — The 10-bedroom mansion will cost you $7,010 a night
How to Cry on Command — Actors use this trick to generate real tears over and over

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6 Discoveries from Near and Far: Volume XXXVII

Things I found on long walks in foreign cities, or perhaps when someone posted them on Twitter.

Crashing the Ivy League -- What one man learned by crashing elite colleges for 4 years
Oddly Priced Routes when Using Miles — Some interesting redemption opportunities for all those miles & points you’ve been earning
Amazing Tea-Pouring Video — Finding talent in unusual places
A Glimpse Into the Lives of Golbi Desert Nomads -- A photo tour of eight Mongolian families living strong on the empty terrain
Cargo Delivery Drivers Get Free Waffles from Waffle House -- File under: I wish I was a cargo delivery driver
Surviving a Tsunami in Indonesia — "It was like the hand of death had come out and tickled us"

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Giveaway: The World Kitchen Box

Friday is giveaway day. Comment to win! This week's giveaway is a super cool World Kitchen Box from GlobeIn. GlobeIn is an online marketplace that curates fair-trade, handcrafted goods from artisans around the world into a monthly themed "globe in a box."

What you need to know:

This month's box comes with a mini ceramic made in Tunisia and a hand-woven towel from Guatemala
Includes Madagascar pure ground vanilla and Inka salt from Peru
And fresh Nicaraguan coffee with Indonesian coconut sugar
This giveaway is available to readers worldwide
Our cats and biased judges will pick someone on Sunday night at 6pm PST

Enter this week’s giveaway by posting a comment. Check back on Sunday night and we’ll announce the winner!

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6 Discoveries from Near and Far: Volume XXXVI

Things I found on long walks in foreign cities, or perhaps when someone posted them on Twitter.

I’ll Just Put This Here, Where No One Will Read It -- On allowing people to make mistakes (or even to fail)
Buy a Monopoly Set and Get Real Money -- Everyone's childhood dream coming true
If It Doesn’t Serve a Purpose, Get Rid of It -- Advice for industrial design and life
28 (Better) Things No One Tells You About Publishing -- My favorites are #15 and #17. I disagree with #13
Astronaut Chris Hadfield’s Flight Suit Found in Toronto Thrift Store -- How it got there remains a mystery
How Too Many Products Can Hurt Your Business -- A counterintuitive lesson from the precocious Nathan Barry

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6 Discoveries from Near and Far: Volume XXXV

Things I found on long walks in foreign cities, or perhaps when someone posted them on Twitter.

Don’t Waste Those 30-Minute Gaps Between Meetings — How to take advantage of little pockets of time
Quintessence -- An essential part of maturing is learning to avoid discontent
Etihad Offering Free Status Matches -- May be limited in quantity; don’t wait! (hat tip: Gary)
Don’t Throw a Life Raft Into the Kiddie Pool -- On running marathons and raising children
Why Travel Makes You Smarter -- “Don’t tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you’ve traveled.” - Mohamed
Discouragement Is a Natural Part of Achieving Goals -- A lesson in “living with open hands”

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Urban Yoga Project Takes Flight in New York, Madrid, and Paris

I like yoga, which means I tell people I practice all the time, but in reality only go to class a couple times a month. When I saw these photos of Slovenian architect Anja Humljan, I was amazed.

Anja has taken her passion for yoga and movement into urban environments—a global experiment in how we connect with cities. Take a look for yourself.

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