Sea Lion La Paz

Photo:Dave Rudie

Live your passion to stay healthy! That’s the surprising message in a Huffington Post article by Rita Wilson recently:

“The joy of being able to do something you have a passion for has a side effect: good health. You want to keep doing what you love doing so you can do it longer. That leads to taking better care of yourself,” Wilson writes.

Love of community

The perks are all good. It’s one of the many reasons I’m so passionate about travel and creating a community of travelers. We always inspire and teach each other. I never leave a travel gathering without an invigorating buzz. Especially if the event’s about glamping in Kenya, wandering through the Roman Coliseum, floating in Micronesia on a live-aboard dive trip –  all on my ideal bucket list. They’re just some of the things I’d love to do one day and have no idea how or if I’d ever be able to get away, let alone afford to go.

Strategies to travel well and soon

Saving

There are lots of ideas about how to budget for a long trip. One of my favorites is saving 5 dollar bills. Every time one pops into my hand, I put it aside for my travel fund. (As long as the occasional latte doesn’t get in the way.) It’s adding up!

Exercise

Another part of the plan is exercising regularly. Many of us know someone who did a simple thing, perhaps they reached for a package for example and threw out their back. The simple action is often the end point of a series of small over-extensions and as the final straw, injury was the result. That’s less likely to happen if we stretch regularly.

Moderation

Gone is my power yoga drive. Now staying limber and strong is a less strenuous commitment and I still have far to go to being as fit as I’d like. Regular cardio is a must – it cleanses my mind, leading to inspiration and increased vitality. Power walking on alternating days with restorative yoga makes a huge difference.

Pay off

Several Octobers ago, I was in a small boat of obsessed underwater photographers all bent on getting shots of Hammerhead sharks. We were at a Club Cantamar, a modest dive ‘resort’ outside of La Paz. About an hour’s bumpy ride out the engines cut off. Sitting in the middle of the Sea of Cortez, miles from land, we soon moored above a submerged peak and slipped into the water. They had their cameras ready, but I was simply determined to keep up in the strong current. Once we descended down the mooring line, I paddled for nearly an hour, diving and scanning. The Hammerheads were elusively sleeping nearly two hundred feet below. They were too far for decent pictures, but we’d found them.  It was one of the most physically demanding things I’ve done and every minute was thrilling.

I’ll keep saving 5 dollar bills, exercising regularly and one day hope for a closer encounter with those shy Hammerheads.

Are you ready to travel well?