This is part of BootsnAll’s 30 Days of Indie Travel project, a daily blogging challenge with a prompt for every day in November 2011. Check out the prompt at the bottom of this post to find out how you can participate! “The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.” –Don Williams, Jr. Something I’ve learned to appreciate from traveling is the waiting and the process of “getting somewhere”. After returning from my RTW trip, I waited to re-purchase a car, and almost three years later, I still don’t have one. Just like when traveling, I’ve found that when I’m actively engaged in my journey (transit) by walking or biking or taking public transportation, I’m experiencing my community and city in a different way. Each trip is unique and can vary from a fairly standard ride to yoga class, to chatting with Portland tourists on the Streetcar and giving them restaurant recommendations, and even the occasional drama like having a bus pull over and call the police because some crazy person is getting mad at the driver), or discovering a new shop because you decided to walk a new route. As I started biking in Portland a lot more in the past year, it’s [...]
This year’s Meet, Plan, Go event may be over, but we’re continuing our monthly indie travel meetups here in Portland! November’s meetup is at Bunk Bar (corner of SE Water & Taylor) and starts at 6:30-ish. We had an awesome time at the Meet, Plan, Go at Ace Hotel last week, so whether you attended and want to chat with all the new PDX travelers you met or didn’t get to attend but still ♥ travel… join us! And as always, if you have a meetup location idea for next month, do share. 6:30pm-whenever-ish, Tuesday, November 15, 2011 @ Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water Ave www.bootsnall.com Please RSVP on our Facebook page so we can stake out a spot for you! We’re also starting a Portland travel meetup newsletter to keep you up-to-date on the latest travel meetups and events happening in PDX. Sign up below: Sign up for the Portland Travel Meetup newsletter: Happy Travels! –The BootsnAll Portland Crew: Sean, Chris, Dave, Jessica, & Olivia
For last year’s inaugural Meet, Plan, Go! national event, I took the train up to Seattle – the closest Meet, Plan, Go! city to Portland – and spent an evening with my Seattle travel bloggy pals. It was great fun to feel the enthusiasm in the room, and to sense the relief on the part of people whose families don’t quite “get” their desire to travel as they recognized a familiar longing in the eyes of other attendees. In short, my positive experience at the Seattle event last year was one of the reasons I was so looking forward to BootsnAll being a host of this year’s Meet, Plan, Go! – especially since we brought Portland to the list of host cities. I wish I could come up with something eloquent to say about last night’s Portland event, but frankly I’m still pretty exhausted, so the best I can do right now is this: Last night was freakin’ awesome, y’all. The room looked big and empty when I arrived early to help setup, and I was worried it would still look big and empty when the event began. I needn’t have been concerned. The room was half-full within moments of the doors officially opening, and anyone who arrived closer to the 6:30 start time considered themselves lucky to find a [...]
Ever wanted to quit your job and travel the world? If you want to learn how to make a career break a reality, meet other travelers who’ve taken career breaks and those still in the planning stages, then you’ll want to check out the Meet, Plan, Go event happening in 17 North American cities on Tuesday, October 18. “This was a fantastic event! It made me realize that long-term travel is a completely realistic goal and that I have amazing company also doing the same.” –- Seattle Attendee BootsnAll is the local Portland host, so we’re excited to share that after the quick sale of early bird tickets in May, tickets are back on sale! Location: The Meet, Plan, Go! Portland event will be at The Cleaners at Ace Hotel in downtown Portland. Panelists: Laura Crawford & Russ Roca Laura and Russ sold everything they owned in 2009 to travel by bicycle. They took the value off of their stuff and put it on the opportunity to live deeply, to follow their dreams — to create everyday adventures. They’ve pedaled over 12,000 miles, given presentations about bike touring, connected with bike advocates, explored the connection between cycling and rural economies, and written two e-books. Over the past two and a half years, Laura and Russ have turned their passion for [...]
We’re continuing our monthly First Thursday Travel Meetup, with a look at Italy! Jessica Spiegel is BootsnAll’s resident Italy expert and writer of WhyGo Italy, an online Italy travel guide. Jessica has been traveling in Italy for over 10 years and writing the WhyGo Italy travel guide for almost five years. Her special areas of expertise include trip logistics (especially train travel) and helping first timers to Italy. The only thing she likes as much as being in Italy is talking about Italy, so come with your Italy questions and learn why Italy should be your next vacation. Come out to Popina’s new location in the Pearl on Thursday, July 7, 2011 to learn more about Italy, chat travel with the BootsnAll Travel crew, plan your next getaway with Popina’s retro-inspired swimwear, and enjoy a complementary beverage, courtesy of Kona Brewing! Giveaways include: 2 First Class upgrades on Alaska Airlines $75 travel voucher from Alaska Airlines a selection of Italy coffee table books an Ellington travel bag First Thursday: 6:30-8:30pm, July 7, 2011 @ Popina Swimwear, 318 NW 11th Ave www.bootsnall.com www.popinaswimwear.com You can RSVP on our Facebook page or just show up! Happy Travels! –The BootsnAll Portland Crew: Sean, Chris, Dave, Ian, Jessica, & Olivia Photo by Jessica Spiegel and may not be used without permission.
Ever dream of quitting your job to travel the world? We are joined this month by Meet, Plan, Go! to host our monthly travel meetup for Portland’s Pearl District First Thursday! Sherry Ott and Michaela Potter, creators of the career break movement and Meet, Plan, Go!, will be stopping in Portland on their West Coast Career Break Road Trip. Ever dreamed of quitting your job to travel the world? Meet, Plan, Go! will share how you can make taking a one year break from your career, a reality. This event is free, in preparation for the October 18 Meet, Plan, Go! nationwide event, and will include saving & budget, where to go, how to quit your job, making the decision, and creating your own journey. If you have ever dreamed of escaping your cubicle to strike out and discover the world on your own terms, then don’t miss out on this event. We also still have a few early bird tickets for the October event, so the June meetup is a great idea if you’re interested in checking out the national event. So come out to Popina’s new location in the Pearl — the largest women’s swimwear store in the Pacific Northwest featuring the made in Oregon swimwear brand Popina — on Thursday, June 2, 2011 to learn how you [...]
What are you doing for Cinco de Mayo? If you’re going to be in the Portland area, come out to our First Thursday Travel Meetup. We’ll be celebrating our neighbors to the south with free beer and a presentation on the Mexican “Riviera”. Join us at Popina Swimwear in the Pearl on Thursday, May 5 to chat travel, learn a few things about Mexico, enjoy a free beer, and enter to win 2 first class upgrades from Alaska Airlines! BootsnAll Travel and Popina Swimwear — the largest women’s swimwear store in the Pacific Northwest featuring the retro inspired Popina brand, have teamed up to host a monthly event for Portland’s First Thursday! First Thursday: 6:30-8:30pm, May 5, 2011 @ Popina Swimwear, 318 NW 11th Ave www.popinaswimwear.com www.bootsnall.com You can RSVP on our Facebook page or just show up! Happy Travels! –The BootsnAll Portland Crew: Sean, Chris, Dave, Ian, Jessica, & Olivia
It’s time again for our First Thursday Travel Meetup in Portland! So if you’re going to be in the area, we’d love to see you! Join us at Popina Swimwear in the Pearl on Thursday, April 7 to chat travel, learn a few things about Las Vegas, enjoy a free beer courtesy of Kona Brewing Co, and enter to win a $75 travel voucher from Alaska Airlines! BootsnAll Travel and Popina Swimwear — the largest women’s swimwear store in the Pacific Northwest featuring the retro inspired Popina brand, have teamed up to host a monthly event for Portland’s First Thursday! First Thursday: 6:30-8:30pm, April 7, 2011 @ Popina Swimwear, 318 NW 11th Ave www.popinaswimwear.com www.bootsnall.com You can RSVP on our Facebook page or just show up! Happy Travels! –The BootsnAll Portland Crew: Sean, Chris, Dave, Ian, Jessica, & Olivia
It’s time for our [second] First Thursday Travel Meetup at Popina Swimwear. And once again, we’re looking forward to seeing all of our Portland area travel friends next week! Join us at Popina’s new location in the Pearl on Thursday, March 3 to chat travel, find out 10 things you should know about Kona on Hawaii’s Big Island, enjoy a free beer courtesy of Kona Brewing Co, and enter to win a $75 travel voucher from Alaska Airlines! BootsnAll Travel and Popina Swimwear — the largest women’s swimwear store in the Pacific Northwest featuring the retro inspired Popina brand, have teamed up to host a monthly event for Portland’s First Thursday! First Thursday: 6-8pm, March 3, 2011 @ Popina Swimwear, 318 NW 11th Ave www.popinaswimwear.com www.bootsnall.com You can RSVP on our Facebook page or just show up! Aloha! –The BootsnAll Portland Crew: Sean, Chris, Dave, Ian, Jessica, & Olivia Photo by: chucklepix steve
We’d love to see all of our Portland area travel friends at our BootsnAll First Thursday Travel Meetup @ Popina Swimwear next week! Need travel ideas, have questions about your next trip, or just want to chat travel and enjoy a free beer? BootsnAll Travel and Popina Swimwear — the largest women’s swimwear store in the Pacific Northwest featuring the retro inspired Popina brand, are teaming up to host a monthly event for Portland’s First Thursday! So come out to Popina’s new location in the Pearl on Thursday, February 3 to chat travel with the BootsnAll Travel crew, plan your next getaway with Popina’s retro-inspired swimwear, grab some “liquid Aloha” courtesy of Kona Brewing Co, and get your chance at winning a $75 travel voucher from Alaska Airlines. First Thursday: 6-8pm, February 3, 2011 @ Popina Swimwear, 318 NW 11th Ave www.popinaswimwear.com www.bootsnall.com You can RSVP on our Facebook page, Tweetup, or just show up! Aloha! –The BootsnAll Portland Crew: Sean, Chris, Dave, Jessica, & Olivia
This is part of BootsnAll’s 30 Days of Indie Travel project, a daily blogging challenge with a prompt for every day in November 2011. Check out the prompt at the bottom of this post to find out how you can participate! “The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.” –Don Williams, Jr. Something I’ve learned to appreciate from traveling is the waiting and the process of “getting somewhere”. After returning from my RTW trip, I waited to re-purchase a car, and almost three years later, I still don’t have one. Just like when traveling, I’ve found that when I’m actively engaged in my journey (transit) by walking or biking or taking public transportation, I’m experiencing my community and city in a different way. Each trip is unique and can vary from a fairly standard ride to yoga class, to chatting with Portland tourists on the Streetcar and giving them restaurant recommendations, and even the occasional drama like having a bus pull over and call the police because some crazy person is getting mad at the driver), or discovering a new shop because you decided to walk a new route. As I started biking in Portland a lot more in the past year, it’s [...] 
This year’s Meet, Plan, Go event may be over, but we’re continuing our monthly indie travel meetups here in Portland! November’s meetup is at Bunk Bar (corner of SE Water & Taylor) and starts at 6:30-ish. We had an awesome time at the Meet, Plan, Go at Ace Hotel last week, so whether you attended and want to chat with all the new PDX travelers you met or didn’t get to attend but still ♥ travel… join us! And as always, if you have a meetup location idea for next month, do share. 6:30pm-whenever-ish, Tuesday, November 15, 2011 @ Bunk Bar, 1028 SE Water Ave www.bootsnall.com Please RSVP on our Facebook page so we can stake out a spot for you! We’re also starting a Portland travel meetup newsletter to keep you up-to-date on the latest travel meetups and events happening in PDX. Sign up below: Sign up for the Portland Travel Meetup newsletter: Happy Travels! –The BootsnAll Portland Crew: Sean, Chris, Dave, Jessica, & Olivia 
For last year’s inaugural Meet, Plan, Go! national event, I took the train up to Seattle – the closest Meet, Plan, Go! city to Portland – and spent an evening with my Seattle travel bloggy pals. It was great fun to feel the enthusiasm in the room, and to sense the relief on the part of people whose families don’t quite “get” their desire to travel as they recognized a familiar longing in the eyes of other attendees. In short, my positive experience at the Seattle event last year was one of the reasons I was so looking forward to BootsnAll being a host of this year’s Meet, Plan, Go! – especially since we brought Portland to the list of host cities. I wish I could come up with something eloquent to say about last night’s Portland event, but frankly I’m still pretty exhausted, so the best I can do right now is this: Last night was freakin’ awesome, y’all. The room looked big and empty when I arrived early to help setup, and I was worried it would still look big and empty when the event began. I needn’t have been concerned. The room was half-full within moments of the doors officially opening, and anyone who arrived closer to the 6:30 start time considered themselves lucky to find a [...] 
Ever wanted to quit your job and travel the world? If you want to learn how to make a career break a reality, meet other travelers who’ve taken career breaks and those still in the planning stages, then you’ll want to check out the Meet, Plan, Go event happening in 17 North American cities on Tuesday, October 18. “This was a fantastic event! It made me realize that long-term travel is a completely realistic goal and that I have amazing company also doing the same.” –- Seattle Attendee BootsnAll is the local Portland host, so we’re excited to share that after the quick sale of early bird tickets in May, tickets are back on sale! Location: The Meet, Plan, Go! Portland event will be at The Cleaners at Ace Hotel in downtown Portland. Panelists: Laura Crawford & Russ Roca Laura and Russ sold everything they owned in 2009 to travel by bicycle. They took the value off of their stuff and put it on the opportunity to live deeply, to follow their dreams — to create everyday adventures. They’ve pedaled over 12,000 miles, given presentations about bike touring, connected with bike advocates, explored the connection between cycling and rural economies, and written two e-books. Over the past two and a half years, Laura and Russ have turned their passion for [...] 
We’re continuing our monthly First Thursday Travel Meetup, with a look at Italy! Jessica Spiegel is BootsnAll’s resident Italy expert and writer of WhyGo Italy, an online Italy travel guide. Jessica has been traveling in Italy for over 10 years and writing the WhyGo Italy travel guide for almost five years. Her special areas of expertise include trip logistics (especially train travel) and helping first timers to Italy. The only thing she likes as much as being in Italy is talking about Italy, so come with your Italy questions and learn why Italy should be your next vacation. Come out to Popina’s new location in the Pearl on Thursday, July 7, 2011 to learn more about Italy, chat travel with the BootsnAll Travel crew, plan your next getaway with Popina’s retro-inspired swimwear, and enjoy a complementary beverage, courtesy of Kona Brewing! Giveaways include: 2 First Class upgrades on Alaska Airlines $75 travel voucher from Alaska Airlines a selection of Italy coffee table books an Ellington travel bag First Thursday: 6:30-8:30pm, July 7, 2011 @ Popina Swimwear, 318 NW 11th Ave www.bootsnall.com www.popinaswimwear.com You can RSVP on our Facebook page or just show up! Happy Travels! –The BootsnAll Portland Crew: Sean, Chris, Dave, Ian, Jessica, & Olivia Photo by Jessica Spiegel and may not be used without permission. 
Ever dream of quitting your job to travel the world? We are joined this month by Meet, Plan, Go! to host our monthly travel meetup for Portland’s Pearl District First Thursday! Sherry Ott and Michaela Potter, creators of the career break movement and Meet, Plan, Go!, will be stopping in Portland on their West Coast Career Break Road Trip. Ever dreamed of quitting your job to travel the world? Meet, Plan, Go! will share how you can make taking a one year break from your career, a reality. This event is free, in preparation for the October 18 Meet, Plan, Go! nationwide event, and will include saving & budget, where to go, how to quit your job, making the decision, and creating your own journey. If you have ever dreamed of escaping your cubicle to strike out and discover the world on your own terms, then don’t miss out on this event. We also still have a few early bird tickets for the October event, so the June meetup is a great idea if you’re interested in checking out the national event. So come out to Popina’s new location in the Pearl — the largest women’s swimwear store in the Pacific Northwest featuring the made in Oregon swimwear brand Popina — on Thursday, June 2, 2011 to learn how you [...] 
What are you doing for Cinco de Mayo? If you’re going to be in the Portland area, come out to our First Thursday Travel Meetup. We’ll be celebrating our neighbors to the south with free beer and a presentation on the Mexican “Riviera”. Join us at Popina Swimwear in the Pearl on Thursday, May 5 to chat travel, learn a few things about Mexico, enjoy a free beer, and enter to win 2 first class upgrades from Alaska Airlines! BootsnAll Travel and Popina Swimwear — the largest women’s swimwear store in the Pacific Northwest featuring the retro inspired Popina brand, have teamed up to host a monthly event for Portland’s First Thursday! First Thursday: 6:30-8:30pm, May 5, 2011 @ Popina Swimwear, 318 NW 11th Ave www.popinaswimwear.com www.bootsnall.com You can RSVP on our Facebook page or just show up! Happy Travels! –The BootsnAll Portland Crew: Sean, Chris, Dave, Ian, Jessica, & Olivia 
It’s time again for our First Thursday Travel Meetup in Portland! So if you’re going to be in the area, we’d love to see you! Join us at Popina Swimwear in the Pearl on Thursday, April 7 to chat travel, learn a few things about Las Vegas, enjoy a free beer courtesy of Kona Brewing Co, and enter to win a $75 travel voucher from Alaska Airlines! BootsnAll Travel and Popina Swimwear — the largest women’s swimwear store in the Pacific Northwest featuring the retro inspired Popina brand, have teamed up to host a monthly event for Portland’s First Thursday! First Thursday: 6:30-8:30pm, April 7, 2011 @ Popina Swimwear, 318 NW 11th Ave www.popinaswimwear.com www.bootsnall.com You can RSVP on our Facebook page or just show up! Happy Travels! –The BootsnAll Portland Crew: Sean, Chris, Dave, Ian, Jessica, & Olivia 
It’s time for our [second] First Thursday Travel Meetup at Popina Swimwear. And once again, we’re looking forward to seeing all of our Portland area travel friends next week! Join us at Popina’s new location in the Pearl on Thursday, March 3 to chat travel, find out 10 things you should know about Kona on Hawaii’s Big Island, enjoy a free beer courtesy of Kona Brewing Co, and enter to win a $75 travel voucher from Alaska Airlines! BootsnAll Travel and Popina Swimwear — the largest women’s swimwear store in the Pacific Northwest featuring the retro inspired Popina brand, have teamed up to host a monthly event for Portland’s First Thursday! First Thursday: 6-8pm, March 3, 2011 @ Popina Swimwear, 318 NW 11th Ave www.popinaswimwear.com www.bootsnall.com You can RSVP on our Facebook page or just show up! Aloha! –The BootsnAll Portland Crew: Sean, Chris, Dave, Ian, Jessica, & Olivia Photo by: chucklepix steve ![Join us for our [1st!] First Thursday Travel Meetup!](http://www.bootsnall.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/thumbs/926-oahu-225x300.jpg)
We’d love to see all of our Portland area travel friends at our BootsnAll First Thursday Travel Meetup @ Popina Swimwear next week! Need travel ideas, have questions about your next trip, or just want to chat travel and enjoy a free beer? BootsnAll Travel and Popina Swimwear — the largest women’s swimwear store in the Pacific Northwest featuring the retro inspired Popina brand, are teaming up to host a monthly event for Portland’s First Thursday! So come out to Popina’s new location in the Pearl on Thursday, February 3 to chat travel with the BootsnAll Travel crew, plan your next getaway with Popina’s retro-inspired swimwear, grab some “liquid Aloha” courtesy of Kona Brewing Co, and get your chance at winning a $75 travel voucher from Alaska Airlines. First Thursday: 6-8pm, February 3, 2011 @ Popina Swimwear, 318 NW 11th Ave www.popinaswimwear.com www.bootsnall.com You can RSVP on our Facebook page, Tweetup, or just show up! Aloha! –The BootsnAll Portland Crew: Sean, Chris, Dave, Jessica, & Olivia