From the Desk of Thomas Ott

A friend at work recommended that I check out Bing Travel instead of Kayak for my fare deals, and he's right.  Bing appears to be more comprehensive and will give you a prediction if the fare price will rise or fall within 120 days of your travel date.  Neat!

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Yes I was, perfectly delighted with Minot ND. It's in the middle of
northern North Dakota with a domesticated wild west feel to it, if
that's even possible.

I found this post card from yesteryear in the Soo Line Rail Depot.
Its now a historical research center and mueseum, filled with all
kinds of interesting goodies. More to come...

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I'm pretty sure that Leigh Morlock didn't read my blog to help her decide whether or not to move to Cambodia, but she just moved there from New Jersey.  After being laid off from her normal day job, Leigh took some time off to do soul searching and then sign up with an NGO to help build local businesses in Siem Reap, Cambodia.  Here's a small blurb from her site:

I chose to live as an optimist. I started reading personal development blogs that resonated with who I wanted to become. A fellow dreamer who my mentor introduced me to last April contacted me in September. He remembered a conversation we had in April when I told him I admired the work he did and would love to be a part of it. He wanted to know if I would be interested in moving across the globe to work for his NGO. Yes! Of course! I jumped at the opportunity. [Am American Girl In Cambodia]

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I’ve always been a curious sort of fellow.  Perhaps that’s why the idea of traveling around for months at a time, exploring new cultures and meeting new people, just plain excites me.  Who wouldn’t want to take 3 months off and roam the Italian back country or hike around the rim of Australia? 

This is why I’m such a fan of Rolf Pott’s Vagablogging blog.  Rolf’s blog is inspirational to me because he’s actually living his dream of a Vagabonding life.  He routinely shares tips and travel tricks for Vagabonding your way to happiness.  Most of the stories posted are from contributing travelers who were curious and decided to go somewhere new.  They chose break out of their shells and it drove them to visit a new country and take a road less traveled.  In my opinion, this attitude eventually drives us to happiness and contentment

I fully believe that happiness is made up of at least a generous helping of curiosity.  It’s is like that special gift you unwrap on Christmas morning with ferocity!  What’s in the box?  What special meaning does it hold? Only you can find out! 

That’s why I say, stay curious my friends!

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I loved to roam around as a kid.  I remember riding my bicycle with my friends Marshall and Andre down streets that were less traveled looking for something, anything that would make our minds race of adventure.  Sometimes we got to the end of the road and found nothing interesting, other times we discovered new ponds, abandoned ruins, and cool looking woods.  We were modern day Marco Polo's in Northern New Jersey, peddling hundreds of miles on our biycles and had nothing to show for it but sore legs, flat tires, and smiles.

I'm sure the vagabond bug bit me back then as a teenager and it was the reason why I moved out to New Mexico after college.  It was also the reason why I took my first cross country trip the year before, and why I love to go hiking and camping.  I love to explore and I was fortunate enough to take two extended "vagabonding" type of trips before I got married and had kids.  I spent a total of 6 weeks roaming around the southwest deserts in the US taking pictures.  Mostly I lived out of my tent or my truck and I vividly remember rationing my money for gas, waking up at dawn to take pictures, and just exploring places like Moab, Capitol Reef, Joshua Tree, and Escalante. I was never happier in my life except the time I got married and welcomed my two children into this world.

The vagabond life really inspires me and I wish to do it more often, but the demands of my family, work, and children currently keep me home.  I'm not complaining but I'm longing for adventure again and to go out into the world and see new things, stay for a while in one place, and take in all the "flavor" of the place.  I'm really hoping that in the next year or two I'll be able to go roaming around again but this time with a smaller co-adventurer at my side!  I'm sure that I'll have at least one kid in tow, each of us with a camera in hand, visiting out of the way places in the world, experiencing new cultures, meeting new people, and shooting them.  Ahem, their picture! :)

Take a friend, your spouse, your Dad, your kids, or go by yourself, but just get out there!  Life's an adventure, what have you done today?

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