Monday I returned from a British Columbia road trip, face planting onto my bed, feeling nearly crippled by anxiety, rather than being relieved to be home. I took several big breaths, attempting to re-gain normal breathing, while mentally cycling through the next 15 days – what I consider one of the most important personal and work months of the year. Overwhelming feelings and anxiety set in, thrusting me into this feeling of fight, flight, or freeze. Yet I don’t do any of those. Instead, I put on my headphones and Chuck Taylors and run out the door, with the expectation that I’m not coming back until those feelings of anxiety have been replaced with contentment. An hour and a couple miles later and I’m sitting on the floor of a map store, previously undiscovered, with maps laid out all around me, bobbing my head to music while I plot out my next big adventure. It’s then that I feel a tap on my shoulder. “Sir, I’m not sure if I’ve seen someone older than 5 in here with such a look of contentment, but nonetheless, it’s time to close up shop.”

It was about a year and a half ago that I had hit something of a ceiling. Much of my work had become humdrum, I was starting to get restless after not traveling abroad for nearly a year, and I was starting to ask questions again about the story I wanted to be writing for my life. It was then, at the beginning of 2012, that a seed was planted to start doing things even more unconventionally than I had already been doing. 2011 had seen me just returning from a year of living and traveling abroad, which had changed my life. Yet as inherent as travel was to me, something told me that it wasn’t just travel that could change my life. I began disrupting my day-to-day life with things that whether big or small, weren’t part of my life before, but things that I hoped would bring greater challenges, happiness, and purpose to my life. Months later I’m still doing many of those same things and the following is a little bit about what I’ve been doing and learning from this pursuit of happiness.

1. Take an unplugged vacation at least once per quarter. I've been doing this now for a year and a half and there's nothing more important that I do during the year than this. I go completely offline (No phone, computer, texting, calls, etc.). Sometimes it's with friends, while other times solo, yet its impact is far-reaching, as I come back refreshed, with new perspective, and often pages of notes and ideas that help shape the coming weeks.

2. Take a daily walk. Every day in which it's not raining, I take a walk, sometimes with headphones in my ears, but always with something to write with. It's typically at dusk and doesn't replace physical exercise, but has rather become a mental exercise. Similar to above, it spurs creativity. Sometimes I return without having written a single thing down, but having just taken a brief mental vacation. Other times I've got pages of notes, such as this blog post, which was written on one of those walks this week.

3. Partake in activities as an adult that I did as a kid. Sometimes this is spending an evening at the map store, while other times it's going to a playground, and other times it's going to Best Buy and playing video games. There is a childlike wonder that has existed in me as long as I can remember, and I may not get carded as much any more, but I'll be damned if I'll let being an adult get in the way of doing the things I want to do.

4. Watch the sunset. Some people like flowers, others like mountaintops, and still others like the rain. Well I like sunsets. It blisses me out, giving me a reverence for the natural world that nothing else does. So any time it's not cloudy, I try to head for a window or go outside for a view. My most frequently searched item on Google: "Time of sunset in __________."

5. Make friends with people who are better than me. This is my best friend Matt and his entire little troop, who I consider family. He and his wife are extremely talented, ambitious, and delightful to be around, inspiring me and giving this divorced dude hope. There isn't a photo big enough to fit all of my friends, each of whom I feel indebted to. I've resolved to making friends who are better than me, because they ground me, while also inspiring me to be a better brother, a better friend, a better worker, and a better human.

6. Take one short trip per month. This is typically at least a weekend, if even just an in-state road trip. I don't travel for travel's sake or for the sake of respite, but rather I travel for change of place. As the philosopher Seneca is quoted as saying, "Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind."

7. Do one thing per month that scares me. Recently this has included learning to surf, flying an aerobatic plane, paragliding, and dipping my hand into online dating (Yes, online dating, and it was miserable and I hated it, but I did it). The more I've done this, the more I've noticed a couple things. One is that it's given me more tolerance, as I don't have the same fears and level of fears that I've previously had. Secondly, it's helped me embrace challenges and problems.

8. Say "No" to work that doesn't leave me satisfied and "Yes" to work that combines my passion, skills, and purpose. I've worked hard for five years, doing many menial tasks and part-time jobs to reach a sense of contentment and place in life where I can be more picky about my work. But now that I'm doing work that satisfies, yet challenges me, I don't want to ever go back.

9. Take one big trip every 6-9 months. As satisfying and refreshing as the short trips are, there's nothing better than those longer trips that immerse me in a new culture and help me see life and the world with new eyes. Travel is the best version of myself and the more I travel, the more it shows me how little I know about the world, and how much I still have to learn.

10. Take at least one day off per week. I take at least one 24-36 hour break from the computer, work, and life every week, be it a full day on Sunday or from lunch on Saturday until dinner on Sunday. This seems like such an easy task, but in the technology-driven world that we live in, I find myself always gravitating toward some form of busyness. At the end of days, I'd rather say that I spent too much time enjoying my way through life than working my way through life.

11. Do a timed life list. This is the most recent addition, a 30 at 30 list I started on my 30th birthday three months ago this week. Now three months in and I've done 13 things that I've never done before. That means I'm on pace to do 50 things this year. I find that bucket or life lists are just too open-ended, while this has given me more defined goals and urgency to do things I've always wanted to do, yet never done.

Listen, I’m not saying I’ve got it all figured out. All this is coming from a guy who got the feathers of an arrow stuck in his finger when shooting a bow and arrow last weekend (<<I’ll save that story for later). I’m no Katniss. The thing is that life doesn’t always pan out like we dream. But if we believe that life can in fact come pretty close to how we imagine, then sometimes it does. Well here lately, it feels like it’s come pretty close for me. And yet this week I can’t help but feel like I’ve just scraped the surface, like I’m on the cusp of something. Something big and groundbreaking for me. It’s as if my response is, “Why stop now?” And so, there’s no slowing anytime soon.

These things I’ve done to create a life of happiness might not work for you. In fact, none of them might. But find whatever it is that does. You won’t find happiness like I do, nor should you. Finding purpose and happiness isn’t an out of the box solution, because life isn’t a problem with an exclusive solution. Life is a reality to be experienced. In the words of Butch Walker (Not to be confused with Butch Cassidy), “For once, once in your life, won’t you do what feels right instead of waiting for the next big compromise.”

What have you learned from your own pursuit of happiness?

“Do you need another barf bag?” Whip, my co-pilot, asked me as we came out of another maneuver and after I had filled up one already. That’s right, my co-pilot, Whip. And for the intents and purposes of this blog post, you can call me, “Stormy.” Stormy being the pilot name I was given before being handed the controls of an aerobatic plane to fly ove Las Vegas and the Nevada desert. “Sure, just to be on the safe side,” I (Stormy) replied to Whip, though knowing that it would be mere minutes, if not seconds, before I’d need it. Something told me that this wasn’t exactly the normal conversation that pilots named “Stormy” and “Whip” should be having mid-air. But then again, this wasn’t a normal trip to Vegas. Because how many people wake up in Vegas one morning and decide to go fly a plane when they’ve never done so before?

When I was putting together my 30 at 30 list, I began by thinking about what childhood dreams I had always wanted to do, but had never done. But I didn’t want to just stop there, but rather do something that pushed myself to the limits. I knew that if I started at the top and did something that really stretched me, then I could do just about anything. And so there I was, at Henderson Executive Airport, being tossed a flight suit and being told to suit up before jumping into the cockpit of a two-seater aerobatic plane with Sky Combat Ace.

Before I jump into the flight itself, let’s go ahead and jump to some of the questions that you may be thinking. Spencer, is the Top Gun Experience worth the $599 price tag? And would you do it again even if you lost your breakfast once twice three times? For the first question, I’m going to be a bit coy, especially being that I was hosted by Sky Combat Ace with Expedia. This is a rare experience that you can’t just do anywhere, and can’t do anywhere else in Las Vegas. I hold firm to a mantra of investing in experiences, rather than things. This is an investment in such experiences. It’s hard to put a price tag on that. Now would I do it again? Absolutely! I’d throw up all over again if it meant being the one behind the controls performing loops, barrel rolls, tailslides, and hammerheads through the sky. It’s one of the most unique, adrenaline-pumping experiences I’ve ever done.

You’ll need to allot a few hours for the Top Gun Experience, beginning from the time you’re picked up at your Las Vegas hotel until you’re dropped off. After arriving to Henderson Executive Airport, you sign your life away, put on a flight suit, and undergo a safety demonstration that goes through everything from how to sit, to how to operate an emergency parachute, to how to perform each maneuver. It is a lot of information packed into a short amount of time, because let’s be honest, you’re not there for classes, but rather to fly a damn airplane. However, don’t worry about taking notes or even remembering everything, especially when it comes to the maneuvers, since your pilots will be up in the air with you walking you through every part of each maneuver. Wait, what? You thought I took off, landed, and did aerobatic tricks up in the air all by myself? Silly kids.

After the safety demonstration, you’ll head out to the plane to get strapped in, test your headset, and have a few photos taken of you. Relax, smile, say “cheese”, and don’t look as nervous as you feel. After your flight you’ll get both photos from before your flight and video of your flight, as there are several video cameras on the outside and inside of the plane. It’s mere moments after the glass cover is latched down that you’re up in the air, flying high above the Nevada desert. Whip was nice enough to take a few photos, mid-air (And mid-loop) with his iPhone, so it wasn’t necessary to take a camera. That and they recommend leaving loose items like a camera behind lest they get tossed around and become a distraction to you or the pilot.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIce1L32x24

If you’ve ever take an adventure sport lesson, such as surfing, then I think you’ll find some similarities between that and the instruction you receive from Sky Combat Ace. With a trained pilot sitting right behind you, there’s nothing you’ll do that they can’t quickly correct. Once at a safe elevation, the pilot will do several maneuvers to make sure you’re comfortable and not getting sick. Then they’ll hand the controls over to you, letting you first test with turning the stick left and right, before pulling up and pushing down to get a feel of resistance. After that, it’s time for the maneuvers, starting with the simplest maneuvers first, such as loops and barrel rolls, before working up toward the more advanced maneuvers, such as a hammerhead and tailslide. Instead of hearing the words “Paddle, paddle, paddle,” you’ll hear phrases like “Keep pulling back.” As you complete each maneuver and start feeling more comfortable, your pilot will advance you to the next maneuver.

I’m 100% in the moment during most experiences in life. They are those experiences that are commonplace, like taking the bus, writing emails, working out, and so on. But then there are some moments, which I feel somewhat removed, as if I’m a spectator watching earnestly as life goes by in slow motion. This was one of those moments. Even now, weeks after I completed the Top Gun Flight experience, it all feels so surreal. While I’m over 1/3 through the 30 at 30 list, flying an aerobatic plane still sits atop as the most exhilarating experience I’ve done, and not one that’ll easily be trumped. For that, and many other reasons, I’d do a loop, barrel role, tailspin, and hammerhead all over again, even if it meant losing my breakfast.

Additional Reading

Sky Combat Ace is the Best Thing I’ve Ever Done by @leeabbamonte

Adventure Girl’s retiring: after a fighter jet ride finale by @abbytegnelia

My post on Expedia.com with more practicalities.

What’s the most adventurous thing you’ve ever done or want to do?

I was lying flat down on my apartment floor, paralyzed with fear and pain, beating my arms on the floor, crying, and screaming aloud about why this had happened. A routine Monday morning had been interrupted by a call from my aunt, telling me that my mom had unexpectedly passed away. You see my mom had a certain invincibility to her. She volunteered, worked her ass off for years at a job where she was undervalued, rarely missed a service at the church she had spent decades at, and took care of everyone else before she took care of herself, which too, was flawless, being that I knew of her only ever having to go to the hospital once. Fear enveloped me. When my father passed away several years ago, it set off a string of events, each unraveling my life more and more. But I had now come way too far and created too good of a life for it to all just unravel again.

This is one of the days I find myself missing mom more than most. She’d want to hear me verbally say that I had completed my taxes and talk about what happened in Boston, if just to say she loves me and to hear my voice.

Last Monday, April 15, some of those fears and emotions returned, as strong as they had since my mom’s passing, causing me to email the words above to my best friend Matt. That’s because that while my mother and I didn’t talk on the phone frequently (Just once a week most of the time), April 15 would’ve been a day that she called, even though it was me who typically called her. I just know that while being miles away from tragedy that dominated every news station, she would’ve just wanted to hear my voice and be assured that I was alright. And it’s a moment that I would’ve wanted to hear my mom’s voice and tell her that I loved her too. Because it’s moments like those in which I realize that time is life’s real currency and one day we’ll realize that we have less time than we think.

It’s been four months since I got that call about my mom’s passing. I didn’t stay on the floor very long and my life didn’t unravel. After a couple minutes on the floor, I stood up, collected myself, and made a conscious decision to not let fear envelop me, but rather confront it and use it as opportunity. I took that moment and my life by the horns and decided that it wouldn’t be death that won that day, but rather the well lived, legendary life of my mom that would win the day and be celebrated through my actions both on that day, and the days to come.  From as young as I can remember, my mom had ingrained in me this idea of taking every opportunity, whether good or bad, and making the absolute best of it. What better way to apply that then at this moment when she was no longer there for that principle to be spoken, but only lived.

It’s tragedies like the events that happened in Boston that often bring into question the value of travel. Is travel safe any more? Do the rewards of travel outweigh the risks? Are the fears worth the cost of travel? If I’ve heard these questions once, I’ve heard them a million times. My mom often worried about me, much more than my other siblings. She didn’t always understand my lifestyle of travel and worried that it would end up costing me. I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that I’ve had my share of close calls, such as being at Centennial Olympic Park the night of the 1996  Summer Olympics bombing, Do these events question and challenge my lifestyle of travel? Yes, just as much as losing someone who I love has challenged my lifestyle at home.

I don’t think anyone would have blamed me if I would have taken the entire next month off from life, work, travel, and writing following my mom’s passing. I could have separated myself from the world, crawled into my own little cave, and no one would have faulted me for it. But I didn’t (Which isn’t to say that others shouldn’t do that). The day of my mom’s funeral I wrote the following post about the silver lining in the clouds and just a couple days later I was back in the swing of life in Seattle. Did it slow me down? You’re damn straight it did. But I think life often slows us down, making us come to a near standstill, to give us perspective, broaden our worldview, and remind us what’s important. We don’t stop, we don’t quit. We renew, replenish, and continue on.

I have a lot of fears. I’m scared to move somewhere that I have to make friends all over again. I’m scared of ever getting into a long-term relationship that I may fail at. I’m scared of starting a business that may be unsuccessful. I’m scared to write a book that will get all one-star reviews on Amazon. I’m scared to drink vodka again. I’m scared that the next Star Wars movie will suck. I’m scared to travel to a country that I don’t know the language of. But if no one did that thing they were scared of, what creativity, strength, and uniqueness would there be to the world?

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt

The fact is that my desire to challenge myself, be a better human, travel the world, and be changed, overrides my fears every time. I truly believe that life isn’t so much about what happens to us, but rather how we react to what happens. I won’t stop moving, going, traveling. Some part of travel and adventure finds its way into my life on a daily basis. There may come a day when I want to do nothing else but settle, but that day is not today. Until then, I’ll book last minute trips, try foods that look disgusting, dance with strangers, attempt foreign languages, climb mountains, and explore the world.

Recommended Reading:

Faith, Fear, Family and Milepost Moments by @hiptravelmama

The Indomitable Need for Travel by @mattvillano

What fears have you conquered through travel?

Quick, name five national parks in America not named the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, or Yellowstone. What’d you come up with? Zion? Maybe Central Park? That last one was a test, as New York City’s Central Park isn’t exactly a national park. You passed. The fact is that while many people may be familiar with America’s iconic national parks, such as the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Zion, there are tons of national parks scattered around the U.S. that many people have never even heard of, let alone visited. I was fortunate enough to be introduced to many of these national parks as a teenager when my parents and I embarked on a three-week, 20+ state road trip around America. I’ve since re-visited many of those national parks, as well as many others. With National Park Week coming up this weekend, it only seemed natural to highlight a few of my favorite national parks that many of you may have never visited.

1. Glacier Bay. Nothing says a road trip like a visit to a national park, or multiple national parks. However, Glacier Bay is no national park that you’ll be able to just hop into a car to go visit. That’s because Glacier Bay National Park is only accessible by boat or airplane. Now if that doesn’t scream preserve and make you want to explore the great outdoors, will anything? Glacier National Park is located just west of Juneau on the Alaska panhandle, yet far removed from anything resembling human life. Many of the visitors navigate the narrow waterway of the bay via cruise ship. It’s not uncommon to see whales and if you’re lucky, you might see a bear fishing for lunch by the shore. Besides the obvious sights and large chunks of ice floating by, Glacier Bay is home to hundreds of different bird species and numerous other kinds of wildlife. For the real adventurer, rent a kayak to get a more up-close experience of the bay.

2. Hot Springs. Did you know that Hot Springs National Park in Central Arkansas is one of America’s most visited national parks. Part of this is due to portions of the national park including downtown Hot Springs. If you guessed that you can find hot springs here, then you’re right. The most popular and well-known part of the national park is Bathhouse Row, which as you may have also gathered, is a row of bathhouses, located in downtown Hot Springs. It’s the largest collection of bathhouses in the U.S., many of which feature post-Civil War architecture, given the fancy name of Gilded Age architecture. Only a couple of the bathhouses still operate as so. Oh, and did I mention that it’s in Hot Springs where you’ll find Bill Clinton’s boyhood home?

3. Great Smoky Mountains. I know, I know; this is one national park that most people have heard of, certainly aided by the success of The Hunger Games, which was shot in and around parts of the Great Smoky Mountains. However, having spent my college years in Western North Carolina near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, I couldn’t leave it off this list. Covering over half a million acres, Great Smoky Mountains National Park is one of the largest protected areas in the eastern United States. Of note is the fact that both of the main entrances are located in two of the more touristy towns in the Appalachian Mountains, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and Cherokee, North Carolina. Some of my favorite highlights include a plethora of waterfalls and hiking trails, and Cades Cove, one of the most visited areas of the park and where you’re most likely to see wildlife, such as white-tailed dear, elk, black bears, and woodchucks.

4. Joshua Tree. Joshua Tree and the area surrounding it may be one of the most unusual parts of America. Come on, think about it. It’s a national park covering nearly one million acres, named for a tree. However, there is more to the park than just Joshua trees. There are unique, ominous rock formations that are millions of years old and the convergence of two deserts, the Colorado and the Mojave. Speaking of convergences, one of the best sweeping views comes from an overlook that looks out over the San Andreas Fault. For the common traveler, no more than a half-day’s visit is necessary, although rock climbers and star gazers may make it a weekend trip since Joshua Tree National Park is one of the best places in California for both.

5. Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. On my recent trip to Hawaii, the Big Island, this was the one place that was recommended to me far more than anything else – and for good reason. Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park is home to one of the world’s most active volcanoes, Kīlauea, and the world’s most massive volcano, Mauna Loa. The most notable road in the park is the Chain of Craters Road, which is just that, a road winding around the park that drives by several craters that are the result of eruptions. While active lava can’t always be seen by visiting the park by car, it can often be seen by taking a trip with one of the island’s helicopter companies. I coupled this with a tour of Waipio Valley when I was hosted by Paradise Helicopters with Expedia, and it was one of the most scenic excursions I’ve ever done.

Recommended Reading:

National Parks – America’s Best Idea by @nvrguys

‘National Park Week’ Great for Family Travel by @mattvillano

What’s your favorite national park?

As a child, I lived my life through stories, and more specifically, what I considered at that time, daring, dangerous, and defiant stories, like those that confronted MacGyver. After our family sat down to watch it together every Monday night, I would excuse myself from the living room, exit through the hallway door, and enter into another world filled with danger and dangerous people, while I was armed with little more than a paperclip, Swiss Army knife, and duct tape. “What in devil’s name are you doing,” I’d hear as I saw the faint glimpse of light arise out of darkness. “MOM, I’m trying to pick this lock before Murdoc comes after me.” Mom would chuckle, give me the five-minute bedtime warning, and then close the hallway door as I continued trying to pick the imaginary luck with a paperclip. Stories, be it cartoons, movies, mystery novels, or television shows, filled me with wonder, leaving me with an insatiable desire to create such adventures in my own life.

Little Spence chasing down conspiracy theories in D.C.

As adults, we similarly approach stories, such as movies, like we did as children, living vicariously through them. Except there’s a difference; when the credits roll and we turn the television off or walk out of the movie theater, the imagination comes to a halt. We come back to “reality” and the real world, going about our day-to-day lives just as we did before, just like everyone else around us. It somewhat follows the logic of a saying that most, if not all of us, heard one or two or one hundred times as a child, “If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you?” But would it be so crazy to create a life like the movies? That is, to pursue that same wonder in our day-to-day lives that we had as a child. If it’s really true, that we shouldn’t jump off a bridge if everyone else does, but instead think and build a life for ourselves, why is it that it seems like so many lives that people live, are the ones that expectation and history has bestowed on them? Or is this wishful thinking? That such a life that I question above, is only for children, the wealthy, and retirees.

I’m not advocating for a life of recklessness and irresponsibility. I’m not even advocating for a life of long-term travel. Some of you may never travel more than two weeks out of the year, using up all of the allotted vacation you receive annually from your employer. And that is completely fine. However, what I am advocating for is a life of yearning, which suppresses those things that don’t make sense and pursues those things that drive, satisfy, and challenge you, making both yourself, and everyone around you, better. For some, that’s being a stay-at-home parent. For others, that’s spending your life in a service profession, such as a nurse or teacher. And still for others, it may be starting your own business or non-profit. Only you know what that thing is. But you have to test and risk, because with no risk, is no reward.

The fact is that as much as I chose this life, this life chose me. For years on end, I in effect, jumped off a bridge because everyone else did. I followed the line to the bridge, jumped off, and got back up, only to do it all over again, without ever thinking for myself and what it is that I wanted.. What it left me with was broken relationships, a string of jobs I loathed, a pile of debt, and depression. So finally, at the most broken point of my life, I walked up to the bridge, looked way down, looked left and right at the line of people standing beside me, looked at the line behind me, and then turned around and ran. I’ve been running ever since. What am I running to? I’m not so sure. I don’t have all the answers. Is it life? Is it the dream? It’s my life. It’s my dream. And I know that with every passing day I run like this, life becomes all the more coherent, satisfying, freeing, and blissful.

The presence of the bridge and the expectations of other people are somewhat unavoidable. Whether you jump or not, however, is entirely up to you. – Chris Guillebeau

People often ask how I do what I do. My response: I don’t have a solitary thing that I have responsibility over that breathes (I don’t even own a plant). And because this isn’t merely a career choice or life choice. This is life. Would I like to settle down and have roots somewhere for more than just a year and a half? Absolutely. Would I like to date someone? Of course. But until I find someplace or someone that I don’t want to leave, I’ll continue to follow my heart, quitting everything that I don’t want to do and that doesn’t make sense to me in pursuit of everything that I want to do and that does make sense to me. The greater risk isn’t the risk itself, but rather risking nothing at all.

What parts of your childhood do you wish to relive as an adult?

The following post came under the influence of Mumford & Sons’ Hopeless Wanderer, Coldplay’s Talk, and The Head and The Heart’s Rivers and Roads. It was the influence of Chris Guillebeau’s The Art of Non-Conformity (AONC), which I’ve  picked up to read from start to finish after reading excerpts the last three years. AONC is his message of applying to adulthood the logic of the childhood message, “If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you?” I don’t have it all figured out and I’m learning and growing every day, but in my world, I’d like to think that I’m putting a dent in my dreams.

“We’re just going to start walking, followed by a full on sprint, and before you know it, you’ll be kicking your legs against the air, 3,000 feet above the ground.” I feel like that’s probably how a lot of Wilbur and Orville Wright’s conversations began just moments before attempting any number of their flights. That’s probably not a conversation you’ve ever imagined having, right? Yet lo and behold, there I was, on the last day of my twenties on the island of Maui, just below Mt. Haleakala, hearing those very words from my pilot Dexter. I stood there waiting for knots in my stomach to well up and tighten, since I get butterflies at the smallest things, be it seeing a state trooper in my rear view mirror or talking to a girl I like. Yet they never came. One moment we’re sitting on the grass talking about the virtues of Aloha spirit, and the next, just as Dexter described it, I’m kicking my legs in the air, 3,000 feet above Maui’s Upcountry.

What’s the most resilient parasite? An idea. A single idea from the human mind can build cities. An idea can transform the world and rewrite all the rules. – Inception

The thought of paragliding had never even crossed my mind. It, like most things I’ve done, began with an idea. One minute I’m hearing about it from my friend and Maui expert Wendy, and the next I’m on the phone with Dexter of Proflyght Paragliding, booking a 3,000-foot tandem paragliding flight for the last day of my twenties. While some people may have had questions about flight experience, track records, or safety, I had bigger fish to fry as I was on the phone with Dexter. “When you say ‘shoes that you can run in,’ does that include Chuck Taylors?”

Unless you’re a local, you’re likely going to be coming to Proflyght’s flight park from at least an hour away, if not longer, since it’s located in Upcountry Maui, just below Mt. Haleakala. But don’t give yourself just enough time to make your flight, but plenty of time to make a day of it and experience Upcountry Maui. Maui’s Upcountry is one of my favorite parts of the island because you get to experience a more local vibe than you’ll find in the resort towns. If you’re lucky, you may reach the top of Maui’s Upcountry as the sun is rising over the ocean. Since your flight time will likely be early in the morning, start off with at least a cup of coffee, if not a snack too, at Grandma’s Maui Coffee, which is a renowned coffee shop and just 10-15 minutes from the flight park. Afterward, head to Maui’s only winery for wine tasting (Don’t go expecting Napa wine) and have lunch at Kula Bistro (Go for the crab cake panini).

Upon arriving, you’ll be greeted by instructors at the landing pad, who will take your payment (Cash or credit), give you a couple pages of paperwork to fill out, and a brief overview of the flight. While you can back out once on top of the mountain, let’s be honest, once you hand over your paper or plastic, you’re in it to win it. From there, it’s a 10-minute steep, curvy ride to the top of the hill. I talked with Dexter and some of the other instructors about the paragliding sport and their loves for both it and the island of Maui, since all of the instructors had moved to Maui from the mainland. Once at the top, you have plenty of opportunities to take some photos of the landscape and of yourself getting suited up. It can take some time to unpack the glider, suit up, and go over safety and instruction before actual lift off.

After instructions from Dexter about the basics of flying, I was suited up and locked in, ready to run down the mountain and in the words of Seal, fly like an eagle. But it’s in this way that paragliding is like surfing. Like waiting for the right wave to paddle and catch, with paragliding you wait for the right wind conditions. This could be mere seconds or minutes, depending on the wind conditions. For us it was about 15 minutes, during which time Dexter and I talked about my fondness for the Aloha spirit. We started with a slow walk until I felt the resistance of the parachute behind me. It was then just several seconds of sprinting down the hill and then all of a sudden I was kicking my feet in the air like I was Fred Flintstone driving the footmobile off a cliff.

I’ve done a few adventure sports in my life, such as surfing, parasailing, rock climbing, and ziplining, but none have brought with it such feelings of being carefree and bliss as paragliding over Maui did. One moment I was running as fast as I could down a hill and the next I was kicking back, manipulating the turns of the glider with my arms, while flying over treetops, lavender farms, and even a full circle rainbow. I gripped tightly to my iPhone as I took photos of the countryside and coastline that I wouldn’t see like that again. As cheesy as it sounds to say, I indeed was flying like an eagle. There really was a serenity to flying above the rolling hills, farmland, and treetops that even now, I find hard to put into words. Minutes later we came in for what was a soft landing and without even taking the time to get unstrapped or take off my helmet, I was giving high fives and asking Dexter what the process was for taking solo lessons.

Shortly upon landing, I immediately reflected on my 20s and what that experience on the last day of my 20s meant. The first three-fourths of my 20s were rather ordinary and what many would probably call normal. Yet I wasn’t comfortable in my own skin. It felt like there was this wonder and beauty to the world that was out there, yet something that was elusive, always just short of my grasp. So I figuratively strapped on a parachute, got a running head start, and jumped. I feel like I’ve been flying ever since. Paragliding that day over Maui was the exclamation point on my 20s. I may have limped through most of my 20s, but I was flying high out of them and into my 30s. It was on that hilltop that the idea of my 30 at 30 list was conceived. If the first of 30 new experiences was any indication, year 30 will be pretty fly.

Know Before You Go

• Prices are $185 for the 3,000-foot descent and $95 for the 1,000-foot descent. I highly recommend the 3,000-foot descent. While you’re up in the air for 10-15 minutes, it feels like no time, and if you’re like me,  you’ll want to immediately go back and do it all over again.
• Bring either cash or a credit card.
• Wear shoes you can run in. In other words, don’t wear flip flops or Uggs. While Chuck Taylors may suffice, I recommend some running shoes.
• Wear long sleeves and bring a jacket to be on the safe side. I was fine with long pants and a long sleeve shirt, but have a lightweight jacket on hand in case you need it. It’s a little cooler in Upcountry Maui than it is along the coast.
• If you bring a camera or iphone, make sure it has a strap. You can take photos while up in the air, but make sure it’s strapped to your hand, as you aren’t likely to find it (Or find it in one piece) if it drops out of your hand from 3,000 feet in the air.

“His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy.” Yes, that is in fact the beginning to Eminem’s Lose Yourself. However, it’s also my reaction to anything that even remotely begins to raise my adrenaline, such as walking through the Tenderloin district of San Francisco after midnight, traveling to a country that I don’t speak the language of (Which is 95% of the world), driving by a state trooper (Even if I’m going the speed limit), and talking to a girl who I like. But something happened recently. I was standing perched on a hill, just below Mt. Haleakala on the island of Maui, waiting for my palms to get sweaty, my knees week, and my arms heavy. I waited…and waited….and waited. But it never happend. Instead, I ran 25 yards down the mountain until my legs were kicking in the air and I was paragliding 3,000 feet above Maui’s upcountry.

“How are you feeling about turning 30?” I can’t tell you how many times I got that question leading up to my 30th birthday last month. It seemed to come with the same tone and expression as if I was being asked how I felt on my wedding day or before going into life-altering surgery. You know those types of questions; it often begins with, “Bless your heart.” I almost felt like I was being pitied, as if turning a big age was a sign of things to come, like terminal depression. If anything, I was bursting at the seams with excitement to turn 30. I felt much older during my mid-twenties when I was living a very unnatural and uncomfortable suburban life in the south. I feel younger than I ever have. Every year since 27 has built on the last, with each making me feel more alive, more free, and with more permission to live life wide open.

Live, travel, adventure, bless, and don’t be sorry. ― Jack Kerouac

It’s at this point in life, that some people are either just completing a “30 by 30″ list or embarking on a “40 by 40″ list. Not one to indulge in social norms, I wanted to undertake something like this, but I wanted to do it on my own terms. So I have. The day after paragliding, I got a tattoo. Just a couple weeks later, I was in the Southwestern U.S., doing a flurry of things I had yet to do, which included experiencing March Madness in Las Vegas, flying a plane, having a meal with a professional competitive eater, driving a muscle car, attending spring training, and going to the men’s NCAA West Regional Final. It’s not 40 things to complete by 40, but rather 30 things at age 30 (View the entire 30 at 30 List).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUzi4E43n1Q

This isn’t a mid-life (or even quarter-life) crisis. It’s not living the dream. It’s simply the extension of my motto over the last three years, to quit everything that I don’t want to do and that doesn’t make sense to me, and do those things that I want to do. It’s my passion and something of my purpose in the world -- that is, to live a life of want, while inspiring people to feel empowered to do the same. Travel isn’t the be-all, end-all for my life, this blog, or this list. It is the means for some of it, but at the end of the day, I want to live a life that is meaningful and one that empowers others to do the same. Traveling for a year, moving across the country, and now this 30 at 30 list have all been means to that end.

Over the next 11 months I’ll be documenting my experience with this 30 at 30 list here on my blog, Twitter, and Facebook. Many are in fact travel related, such as visiting a new continent, hopping on a plane for the purpose of going on a date, and attending Oktoberfest. Others are quirky adventures, like catching a fish with a spear, sleeping in a tree, and rappelling down a waterfall. Some are work-related, such as developing a webisode series, reading my byline in an in-flight magazine while in flight, and starting on a non-fiction book transcript. Still others are downright silly and out of the ordinary, such as dressing up as a storm trooper and competing in a cooking contest. The actual list will include much more than 30 items, but the goal will be to do at least 30 things from the list that I’ve never done. If the first six weeks are any indication, year 30 won’t disappoint. I hope that along the way, you can take away some snippets of inspiration as I’m inspired by life, travel, and new experiences. As The Most Interesting Man in the World would say, stay thirsty, my friends (View the 30 at 30 List in its entirety).

Recommended Reading:

How to Quit Everything by @jessicabrookman

31 for 31 by @middleseatview

“Should we get the margarita in the yard test tube or the strawberry daiquiri in the plastic guitar?” My friend and I went back and forth for a couple minutes, even asking the bartender about specific portions and alcohol levels. It didn’t matter that we weren’t going to drink the entire thing, or even half of it, and it didn’t matter that it would potentially be our worst investment of the trip (Depending on how the next game of pai gow went). What mattered is that it would look funny while filming and would certainly get us a whistle or two while walking down the strip. What really mattered is that this was Vegas and in Vegas, anything goes. “We’ll take the margarita in the yard test tube,” I finally quipped back to the bartender, mainly because I just liked saying “test tube” aloud. “And hand me one of those straps. I want to hang it around my neck walking down the strip.”

We all have those destinations. You know what I’m talking about. It’s that ONE place you could just go to over and over again. For some, it’s the lights and action of Manhattan. For others, it’s the ocean and breeze of San Francisco. And for others, it’s the aloha spirit of Maui. Sure, there are hundreds of new destinations we could go to, yet instead, we go back to a sense of familiarity, wondering what it would be like to live in those destinations full-time. Evidently that destination for me is Las Vegas, as I’m less than 24 hours from a return trip, my second in the last few months, as I get all the closer to hitting double digits for Vegas visits. But before you check out, thinking that I’m just another “Vegas guy” here to justify the sexual appeal and gambling of Sin City, I urge you to stick around a bit longer, as I’m not what you’d probably call your typical male Vegas traveler, being that I’m not into the clubby scene of Vegas, nor do I gamble, being that you’ll likely spend more at happy hour this weekend than I’ve spent in total on gambling in Vegas.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckBtiC64jAM

I’ve heard it all. Vegas is weird. Vegas is raunchy. Vegas is sin city. Vegas is Hangover waiting to happen. Vegas is overpriced. Vegas is too touristy. Many of these same things could certainly be said about areas of many cities around the world. But not all travelers concentrate their time in these areas, as most cities worldwide are more sprawling and don’t have the compactness of Vegas. Las Vegas comes at your face, from the time you step off the plane and are greeted with slot machines in the airport, until the time you leave. If you go to “Sin City” and see it through the lens of its stereotypes, then those stereotypes will likely manifest themselves. But like any destination, if you look beyond the surface, I think you might like what you see.

The very reasons that many people visit Las Vegas are the very reasons that I don’t. Vegas isn’t gambling and strip clubs to me. It’s an all-in-one destination that’s rare to find in the world. In the same afternoon that you’re drinking a boozy milkshake overlooking the Las Vegas Strip you can be in a helicopter overlooking the Grand Canyon.  While one moment you’re riding a gondola within the Venetian Hotel, the next you’re rock climbing in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. While Vegas may be absent of a beach, it’s rare to have such accessibility to everything from restaurants featuring world-class chefs to bars run by award-winning mixologists to famous entertainers to nearby hiking trails to adventure activities that can be experienced few other places. Did you know that just off the strip you can fly an aerobatic plane or drive a bulldozer? Or that you can even drive exotic and muscle cars. Or for the quirky traveler, there’s the Neon Museum, which is something of a neon sign boneyard of old Las Vegas signs.

Crazy as it may sound, not all Vegas nightclubs resemble that of the Hangover. Can you have a Hangover experience in Vegas? I can’t guarantee that a tiger and Mike Tyson will be involved, but if you try hard enough, I’m sure you could have a night in Vegas that involves nudity, plenty of shots, and a wedding that you don’t remember the next day. However, like many destinations, if you do a little research, you’ll find that there’s more to the nightlife scene. I found this out at Hyde Bellagio, which has more the feel of an upscale lounge with the added perk of one of the best seats in Vegas for viewing the Bellagio fountains. Will it cost you? Absolutely, as all of the better experiences in Las Vegas typically do. Yet for what you’re likely paying for a hotel and flight to Vegas, should you be surprised?

Tomorrow morning I will get on a plane yet again for Las Vegas, spending the longest time there I ever have, an entire week. I will eat at new restaurants, try drinks I’ve never even heard of, experience March Madness, and fly a plane. I’ll do it because eating, drinking, flying, and March Madness in Vegas, isn’t eating, drinking, flying, and March Madness anywhere else. Vegas is America’s wild card and similar to how Forrest Gump referred to life, Vegas is like a box of chocolates.”

“Well I hope you don’t get frostbite up there.” Those aren’t the words you ever want to hear from someone, no matter what you’re doing or where you’re going. Yet that’s what my tour guide jokingly said as he greeted me. Was I knee-deep in snow awaiting a trek up to Mount Everest? Nope. Was I preparing to mountaineer up Mt. Rainier? Nope. I was standing in a parking lot amidst tourists in shorts, flip flops, and Hawaiian shirts on Hawai‘i Island, waiting to board for a trip up to Mauna Kea, the world’s tallest base-to-peak mountain. The tour hadn’t even started and I knew this was going to be unlike any tour I had taken before. I’m sure the tour guide thought the same thing as he looked down at my toes wiggling in a pair of Vibram Five Fingers and looked up to see me grinning from ear-to-ear.

Few places have left me as breathless as the summit of Mauna Kea did. So maybe part of that was due to the fact that there is 40% less oxygen at Mauna Kea’s summit than at elevation (Stands at 13,796 ft. above sea level, but most of it is below sea level, which is why it actually has a base-to-peak height that is greater than Mt. Everest). Yet I can’t imagine that there was anyone among the hundreds on Mauna Kea’s summit that day who weren’t mesmerized by what they were seeing, be it the summit that hovers over a blanket of cloud cover, the line of observatories that make Mauna Kea one of the best places in the world for astronomical observation, the sight of the adjacent volcano, Mauna Loa, rising above the clouds, or the sun setting below the horizon. Even being the sunset chaser that I am, no sunset I had seen could quite compare with the experience atop Mauna Kea.

But sunset is just half the reason that so many people are willing to risk altitude sickness to journey to the top of Mauna Kea. If you think that stargazing is like watching Westerns, that if you’ve gone stargazing once, you’ve gone a thousand times, then you haven’t been stargazing at Mauna Kea. While part of me wanted to sit in the van while everyone else froze their asses off outside (“Freeze” and “Hawaii” should never be in the same sentence together), our guide lured me out with hot cocoa and warm brownies. While I pictured this idea of “stargazing” being to look up at the sky and point at the Big Dipper and Little Dipper, I was again pleasantly surprised when Robert began assembling the 11-inch telescope, which was much larger than any telescope I had used before.

What followed was one of most fascinating visual displays I had ever seen. It wasn’t long after the sun had set that the sky began to be dotted with stars. If Robert wasn’t pointing out a famous constellation like Orion, then he was pointing out a planet, such as Venus, or a shooting star. But that wasn’t even half of it. Far off in the distance I could see a faint haze, which just happened to be Andromeda, one of the furthest objects that can be seen with the naked eye at two million light years away and a galaxy that is larger than the Milky Way. It was a couple minutes later that Robert pointed out the Hubble Space Telescope cruising by. Yes, that Hubble Space Telescope. The elevation, dry air, and distance from city lights is what makes Mauna Kea such a prime astronomical observation spot. But why bore you any longer by talking about how beautiful Mauna Kea’s summit is. See for yourself below.

Know Before You Go

• Bundle up and dress in Layers. “But Spencer, this is Hawaii we’re talking about?!” Yah, I said the same thing, but I was singing a different tune when it took all the strength I had left in both hands to push down on the shutter button to take my last picture atop Mauna Kea. Don’t wear flip flops, clogs, or Vibram Five Fingers. You’ll be uncomfortably cold. Just ask those who went atop Mauna Kea last week when there was snow on top of the mountain. If going with a tour group, inquire ahead of time, since some tours provide parkas and mittens.
• If you have a smartphone, download one of many stargazing apps. Wired recently published an article with a round-up of space and astronomy apps.
• Do the trip up to Mauna Kea’s summit independently as a back-up plan or if you’re short on time. There is a ton of history and education that really paints the full picture of Mauna Kea, but that’ll only come by going to the top with a local or a tour guide. I know what some of you may be saying. “Spencer, but I just hate taking group tours.” I know, I’m with you, but this was unlike any group tour I’ve taken. There was just over a handful of us and this wasn’t the profile of your typical tourists. We sat around a picnic table at the base for dinner and went around telling stories of our most unique travel experiences, as most of them had traveled more then I did. One couple had even done this particular tour once before and were back for seconds.
• I was in fact hosted by Expedia on this Hawai‘i Island excursion. You can read my full report and book that exact tour below:

Hawai‘i, The Big Island from Up in the Air

Mauna Kea Summit and Stars Adventure

“Momma’s boy.” Those were often the words directed toward me from other kids on the playground as a child, often followed by a shove on the shoulder and other names, some of which included Bucket Head and Marshmallow Man. Let’s just say that my head was somewhat disproportionate to the rest of my body as a child and I had curves in all the wrong places. As much as I’d tried to shrug that “Momma’s boy” aura by trying to engage in a game of tackle football or help my dad around the house doing “manly chores”, there was a certain sense of pride to it.  It was somewhat common talk between family and friends that I had three moms growing up, one being my birth mother, and the other two being my much older sisters, since I was something of an “accident”, or “special blessing”, as it was typically referred to in the Spellman household. The fact of the matter was that deep inside, I really was not only a momma’s boy, but damn proud of it. And I still am.

The earliest memories I have of my mom and two sisters revolve around travel. One of my earliest childhood memories comes from the first trip I actually remember, taking place when I was four. It was a road trip our entire family took from Central North Carolina up to Washington, D.C., taking something of a historical tour of our nation’s capital, being that my father was a history teacher. It was just a few months later that the younger of my two sisters walked me onto an airplane for the first time, taking me into the cockpit, where the pilot gave me a Delta model plane, one that I still have today. Who needed a candy shop, when there were airplanes. In no time we were halfway across the country, where my oldest sister picked us up for a week gallivanting around Dallas, Texas.

“The Carolina Panthers just aren’t worth a darn this year.” I chuckled at that statement from my mom last December, similarly to how I’m chuckling to myself about it now, but with tears welling up in my eyes. Once again travel had brought us together, this time to Atlanta, Georgia, as I had made an impromptu trip from Seattle and my mom from North Carolina to spend a few days with my sister and her family. We made talk about what was happening in each of our towns, me Seattle, and her Graham, and like I did when I was young, I’d explain calls during the Panthers/Eagles game that she didn’t quite understand. It was a nostalgic moment, reminding me of Sunday afternoons as a kid, when we’d all sit around the TV after church and a big Sunday dinner, something of our family tradition. But that would be the last time that travel would bring us together, as just days later I got the call saying that my mom had unexpectedly passed away.

My inspiration and insatiable desire to travel comes from that of my mom and two sisters. While some people go through life not knowing what it is to travel, I’ve gone through life not knowing what it’d be like to not travel. It was something my mom and sisters imparted to me at an early age – that to travel the world is to know yourself, each other, and the world around you. While some families play sports together and others have careers together and still others volunteer together, our family traveled together. It was as much a part of my life as going to school. If my father wasn’t a teacher, onlookers might would say it was even more important than school, being that my family wasn’t above taking me out of school a couple hours (Or Days) early to take a trip. For me, to not travel, is to not live.

There was a period of my life in my mid-twenties that was absent of travel and the period of my life that felt the most lifeless. When my life hit the fan in my mid-20s, my sisters didn’t swoop in to correct it or tell me what I should do. They gave me room and let me be, I think knowing that being the wanderers that we all are, that I would find my way again and life would course-correct itself. And it did and so much more. For that and for the sense of travel they imparted to me, I feel forever indebted to my sisters. I try to live what I think is an inspiring life, but it’s my sisters who I take my inspiration from. The oldest was the first true writer in our family, having been writing for years, even publishing her first book recently, Dry Souls, and has spent more time living abroad than I have. The other has traveled more than anyone I know, having flown for the same airline for over 20 years, all the while juggling three kids. This is my family. This is the women of The Traveling Philosopher. These are my inspiration.

Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching. – C.S. Lewis

While integrity, as C.S. Lewis defines it, is what you do when no one is watching, someone was clearly watching my mom. My eyes welled up with tears, yet immense pride, when person after person stood up at my mother’s funeral a couple months ago to share about how my mom touched their life. The pastor said he had never seen such a response like that in 20 years of officiating funerals. I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t devastated when I got the call on December 6 about my mom’s passing, but as I sat there listening to people’s testimony of my mom’s life, I knew what I had to do. The best way I could remember my mom was by continuing to live my life the way that she had lived hers and told her children to live theirs – that is to make the very best of every moment, whether good or bad.

Today is International Women’s Day. It’s also the week of what would have been my mom’s 70th birthday. Today I honor the women in my life, those who really made The Traveling Philosopher even possible, my mom and two sisters. I recently wrote openly for the first time here about dating. In a sentence, I may meet and date a woman who challenges my quality of life and love affair with travel, but to do so, would be to challenge the very essence of who I am, and what my family imparted to me at an early age. I think such a woman would be one worth letting my guard down for and not just being a serial first and second dater, but undertaking something of a pursuit. To my sisters, thank you for living such a lofty life that teaches me what’s to be admired in a woman and giving me reason to try to be a better man.