The Bootsnall Interview

I had a blast talking about travel, food, and WHERE AM I EATING with Sean Keener of Bootsnall Travel yesterday.

Sean is a busy guy with three kids three and under. In fact, in the video he confessed that his kids and work keep him so busy that, “Sometimes I have to wait hours to take a dump!” I so appreciate him taking 55 minutes of prime pooping time to ask some great questions and getting pretty deep into EATING.

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Hang out with me today at 3:30

In 2007, Bootsall Travel (one of the coolest travel communities online) named me as one of their rogue travelers, making them the first endorsement (other than my mom) of my idea to go all of the places my clothes were made to meet the people who made them.  They hosted my blog. They shared my stories, and in doing so, became a part of my story.

Sean Keener, the co-founder and CEO of Bootsnall, is hosting a Google Hangout with me today at 3:30.  Sign up to attend or just drop in.  We’ll be talking about around the world travel, bananas, underwear (note to self: don’t use bananas…

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“Travel is…the best education.” – Kelly Campbell of The Village Experience

Kelly Campbell and the lovely young ladies from Winthrop U I traveled with in Guatemala.People assume since I’ve traveled a lot, I must be good at it. I’m not exactly sure what makes a good traveler, perhaps it’s the ability to sit a very, very long time as the world passes by out the window, or to go with the flow when plans derail. I have no problem going with the flow because I often travel with no plan, just a to/from plane ticket and a vague idea of where I’ll go in between. If being a good traveler involves being a good…

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Moore Community Mightier Than the Storm

In the age of social media, many of us feel like we need to publicly address disasters and tragedies, as if we’re the President and PR department wrapped into one online presence. I don’t normally address such tragedies unless I have some connection to it or something to add, which I do, regarding the tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma…

The tornado was expected. Maybe not the day or the location, but everyone knew it was coming, and that more will come.

I drove right through Moore last month on my way to speak at the University of Oklahoma in Norman (10 miles south of Moore). There are three things that folks love in the area: the Oklahoma Sooners, The Thunder (the NBA basketball team), and watching the weather. …

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Winthrop U Student looks at #FirstWorldProblems differently after trip

Lauren in Guatemala.

This guest post is brought to you by Lauren Miller, a sophomore at Winthrop University and one of seven students who traveled with Kelly Campbell of the Village Experience and me to Guatemala. I’m not sure Lauren ever stops smiling. She studies biology and is interested in environmental science, so she was our resident Jack Hannah.

By Lauren Miller

#firstworldproblems are just getting out of hand it would seem. We have it so hard. Our chargers are never where we need them, there is never good food in the pantry, and our houses are so big we need two wireless routers.

Now if we look at #thirdworldproblems we will see that we are a spoiled…

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Student makes a connection beyond the words

Fatima in Ceylan, Guatemala.This guest post is brought to you by Fatima Castro, a recent graduate of  Winthrop University and one of seven students who traveled with Kelly Campbell of the Village Experience and me to Guatemala. It was awesome to see Fatima translate for our group.  She was totally in her element. I could see her living in the mountains of Guatemala connecting languages and cultures.  I pretty much appointed myself as her career coach.  Her parents should be worried.  

What a great honor it is to share a little of my experience in Guatemala with Kelsey, Kelly, Jennifer and my classmates! The trip made for the best graduation gift ever.

This was the first…

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Winthrop U student ponders American selfishness in Guatemala

Photo to go with Ali's gust post on my blog.

This guest post is brought to you by Ali Jensen, a junior at Winthrop University studying biology and one of seven students who traveled with Kelly Campbell of the Village Experience and me to Guatemala. It was awesome to see Ali connect her passion for biology and medicine with the experiences we had on our trip.

Often times in the states, kids don’t always like the food their parents prepare for them. So usually the parents just make something else, or don’t make that particular food for their child anymore. Kids in Guatemala don’t have that option. They…

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In Guatemala, students sees importance of people over things

Anita (left) speaking with a local of Ceylan, Guatemala.
This guest post is brought to you by Anita Harris, a junior at Winthrop University studying mass communications with a minor in Spanish, and one of seven students who traveled with Kelly Campbell of the Village Experience and me to Guatemala. Anita loves people. She said that this trip didn’t just enlighten her about where her clothes come from, but it also immersed her in a Spanish speaking culture for the first time. Anita’s cancer as a child impaired her vision, but she doesn’t let it stop her. She walked up mountains and zip lined. It was an absolute honor to travel…

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7 things I learned traveling with 7 co-eds in Guatemala

I traveled with 7 awesome co-eds from Winthrop University. I was the only dude on the trip. Here’s what I learned:

1) If I don’t wear my glasses, I almost look like I could be in college…if it weren’t for my hair line.

2) The Oakley’s that I’ve had for a decade are out of style, while the fluorescent Ray-Bans from my youth are back.

3) I’m old enough to be a college freshman’s father.

4) Girls spend less time trying to be cool and more time laughing and snorting. For instance, if you throw in a couple of dudes, we probably wouldn’t have had a 100% participation rate in singing along to cheesy 80s videos at a pizza place in Antigua.

5) Seeing with your heart is more important than…

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