The Art of Adaptation

After four months traveling in Europe, we arrived back in the Pacific Northwest on January 12. We are here to recover from the colds we had recently, take care of a few appointments, enjoy seeing friends and family, and prepare to changeover to spring traveling in the United States desert Southwest. Since we no longer have a house to come back to, normally we would continue to use Airbnb as we do when traveling about, but this time we are staying at a friend’s condo while they are out of town.

Traveling as we do, and not as if we are on vacation, allows us to experience traveling more intimately. We visit communities, not just destinations, and become temporary locals. With all the change, one learns the art of adaptation. Every time we move into a new place it’s not about just seeing the sights and eating good food. We do not consider ourselves on vacation, and must figure out where things are in our neighborhood and in the home(s) we live in. That’s something you probably hadn’t considered, but with each home we encounter different internet connections, beds and pillows, appliances, toilets, showers, light switches, kitchen setups, and more. Sometimes, when we first move in, I find myself simply standing in one spot trying to remember which direction to go for what! But oddly enough, when setting up in our temporary homes, we have fallen into a routine, of sorts. There’s usually a period of adjustment, but it doesn’t take us long to settle in and adapt.

You might be wondering if we miss having a home to come back to? The answer to that would be - absolutely, not! While that may be surprising to you, it’s not to us at all. We were more than ready to downsize stuff and the lives we had established; and quite frankly, it’s a relief to have that behind us. We may not know where our beds are going to be down the road, but that’s okay with us. And you should also know, we get antsy after a time depending where we are and what we are doing. In other words, we’re ready to leave and move on down the road when the time comes.

We’ve been asked if not knowing so many things about our daily lives, and traveling to so many places, is scary in any way? Again, absolutely, not! There's a certain sense of freedom in the lives we are living now, and we wouldn’t put ourselves in harm’s way, but if something happens, then we will deal with it. We travel with a heightened awareness, but not with fear. Fear would not work with this lifestyle. What we are experiencing with all this adapting is unlike most people will ever know. We love getting to know communities and the people, and the sights come as a bonus for us. We are grateful for this new lifestyle and the experiences. We are embracing adaptation and all that it may have to offer.

Michelle

Swiss smile photo courtesy of DaMClarks

The Year of More

I want more this year. I would like to be more centered, more focused, more random, more giving. I would like to listen more, laugh more, and love more. I want more of what life has to offer. Forget resolutions that make you feel less when you don’t hold up your end of the bargain, and join me in choosing a word or theme for the year. It’s something I’ve been doing for a while now, and I find it empowering because it gives me the opportunity each day to activate and infuse my word into the day.

2016 heralded in the theme of change – extreme change! Having sold our home and are currently living out of a few suitcases, the word change reminds me to roll with the flow and be more patient and flexible. At times, change has been a challenge for me. But I will continue to embrace it and learn from it as I move on to more in 2017.

So, go ahead, forget the resolutions and choose an empowering word with me. Place the word in your mind as you wake each morning and as you drift to sleep each night. You’ll find you will be reminded throughout the day of your word – I love it when that happens! You are in charge and can be more along with me.

Welcome to my year of more!

Michelle

More photo courtesy of Thomas Hawk

More or Less

Over the years as my husband, Dennis, and I have traveled, we have learned that less is more and have possibly taken it to more of an extreme than most would - as in, we have sold our house and sold or given away most of our stuff. Traveling full-time now, we travel with less than we used to - interesting since we are living out of our suitcases! We both have carry-on size backpacks, I have a carry-on size roller, and D has a slightly larger roller to check. I have a lunch size insulted bag with my medication and icepacks for keeping medication in proper range, and D has a small bag for our tech incidentals. We consider everything and I mean everything we carry. One thing may not seem like it matters, but if we kept too many one-more-things they would add up and then we would be lugging the one-more-things up and down hills and stairs, on to and off of trains, through narrow alleyways, and across busy intersections. It doesn’t take long to determine we must carry less, thus gaining more freedom to roll our stuff around from place to place.

Having been in Europe for nearly 3-months at this writing, we have determined we could have taken less and still have had what we needed. Making better choices and examining everything about our lives is ever-changing on a day-to-day basis. We are learning what is less and what is more as we continue to travel - and it's not all about how much we have packed into our suitcases, but that would be a post for another time. It’s learning to balance our needs versus our wants; and we are realizing how much more important our needs are. This whole adventure is a process, and balancing the more with the less will be an ongoing challenge. A challenge we think we are up for.

Michelle

Photo courtesy of DaMClarks

Let The Wieners Fly

A day in the lives of the DaMClark’s – intrepid travelers! On our first full day in Munich, Germany we decided to try something different and take an audio tour we each downloaded onto our phones. We like to get an idea of what our neighborhood and surroundings areas have to offer and usually take self-guided tours. We recently took an English language guided tour in Regensburg and that went well, so now for an audio tour.

We arrived at Marienplatz just prior to 12:00 p.m. to see the massive glockenspiel (clock that tells a story). It takes about 15-minutes for the chiming of the bells then the old carillons to chime in. Different levels of the clock have characters that spin around and move through telling the spiel. It was a great way to start our Munich stay. We then attached our personal headphones to our cell phones and began our audio tour. To begin with we enjoyed the history of this and that, but we had trouble following the audio walking directions from one site to the next, then I was having a lot of trouble as I hadn’t really considered what I would need to do with the audio, clicking it off and on, and how I dressed that day. It seemed I was always fussing with trying to pause and getting my phone in and out of my pocket. I realized how uncomfortable I was and figured out why it was bothering me so much. You see, normally when we head out for a day we don’t like to fuss a lot with our pockets and backpacks as that is a distraction to us and draws the attention of others who may decide all the distraction would make one of us an easy mark. Rather than ignoring my feelings, I announced we needed to go back home so I could dress more comfortably and use the proper headphones in order to pause without digging out my cell phone.

Forty-five minutes later we were back where we had turned around. Feeling more comfortable now, we walked through the Viktualienmarkt (vitals market), daily farmers market founded in the 1800s, and decided we should sit down and grab a meal prior to continuing with the audio tour. We sat outside in the sun at an outdoor cafe having the local specialty of weißwürst (white veal sausage), pretzel, and beer. When the waitress arrived she set a bowl with a plate-lid down in front of us, but in the process sloshed the hot liquid out of the bowl and onto my pants through the slats of the table. Not wanting to make a fuss I did my best to clean off the wurst of it – sorry about that but I couldn't resist. I lifted the lid on the bowl and there were four plump veal sausages swimming in what was left of the hot water liquid. I grabbed a sausage with a fork and plopped it down on my plate. We were told to slice it lengthwise and scrape the meat out of the casing, dip the meat in sweet hot mustard, and enjoy with the pretzel and beer. I couldn’t quite hold onto the sausage so I decided I would cut it in half before slicing lengthwise. As I did this half of my lovely veal sausage went flying. I ignored it completely as I knew others saw this and were probably thinking - Gut Got im himmel fliegel wursts! (Good God in the sky flying sausages), but I continued with what I was doing as if I planned it that way. The first thought going through my head was, oh well, it looked like more than I could eat anyway, but after my first bite I knew I was going to miss the other half sitting five feet away on the ground. Very seriously Dennis tenderly but gingerly commented that I really wasn’t having a very good day - I agreed wholeheartedly. I could have gotten a bit angry with the whole thing, perhaps out of embarrassment, but I decided it wouldn’t be worth it. I was just having one of those days that happen to me once in awhile, as if I'm off my game, and I knew I needed to pay more attention and just let the wieners fly.

After our meal we started up the audio tour again and saw some interesting places and learned more history. But then it kept guiding us back to big shopping corridors and the very busy Marienplatz. At one point it told us to look down the road to the old gate from when Munich was a walled city. We decided to take a look for ourselves (which was worth the walk and we couldn’t figure out why the audio tour hadn't taken us there) then we walked back up the shopping street. At the other end of the street I realized I had lost one of my gloves! Geesh, what a day. I calmly told D I wanted to retrace our steps and see if we could find it. Sure enough, there was my glove sitting outside a shop where we had stopped to look at a window display. Definitely an off day but I was just happy no dog had peed on the glove!

The audio tour continued to guide us through more shopping districts and when it guided us to a hotel Michael Jackson had stayed at, and note people continue to set up a memorial to him, that was about it for us. Dennis announced we were done with the audio tour. As we walked back home, we decided to end our day on a brighter note. So we stopped at a café near our home where we sat outside with heat lamps overhead, blankets on our laps, and enjoyed an ice cream and espresso for Dennis and a brownie and red wine for me. We watched the sky turn pink as the sun set, and we talked and laughed about our day – flying wieners and all.

I tell this rather detailed story to give you an idea of how we do things. We are trying different ways of traveling and finding what works and what doesn’t. While I was having my own issues with the day, D was patient and understanding. It’s one of those things we do best. When one is off the other works at achieving a better balance for both of us. It’s about acceptance and finding the best within ourselves on any given day. In the end we celebrated our day, and you won’t find us doing an audio tour again unless it's in a museum. We would rather pick up the tourist info maps and plot our own course even if we don’t see everything a tourist should see. Case in point, the following day to this story the DaMClark way will be posted soon at www.damclark.com - see you there.

Michelle

Photo courtesy of DaMClarks family album

Mindset Shift

I’ve been houseless since we sold our home in April of this year. For the first four months my husband, Dennis, and I traveled the Western United States. Now, we are traveling in Europe for approximately three months. While we mostly stay in Airbnb apartments equipped with kitchens and laundry facilities, we do occasionally stay in hotel/motels when we are traveling from place to place. All this traveling makes it difficult to have a routine, and I have always been a routine oriented person. I feel better when I am able to follow a routine, most people do. So how does a routine oriented person adjust to a constant change in routine?

In January I chose the word change as a central theme to remind me that change would be a distinct part of my life in the months, and perhaps years, ahead. This daily reminder inspires me to become more comfortable with change by learning to accept and adapt to whatever change comes my way. I think this reminder even sets up a mindset shift in how I look at and respond to change. Here are a few key points I focus on in an ever-changing environment:

Falling into a regular sleep pattern and getting a good eight hours is important for my overall health. But when my bed location is changing every few days it can be difficult to settle in and get the sleep I need. If I fall behind and am tired, then it's time for a nap, a sleep-in day, or a day at home - wherever home may be.

Exercising is not only good for my body but for my mind - and therefore, once again, my overall health. While I am walking five to 10 miles each day when not traveling from place to place, those traveling days plus the walking are wreaking havoc with my regular exercise routines. At this point I am doing what I can to hold onto my running and yoga when possible. But there again, sometimes it is more important to rest my body as all the walking at times takes its toll. I can feel the heaviness of my muscles and know they need a rest too - even if it means I may not get to my running or yoga.

Eating well and not overindulging in all the wonderful breads and sweet delicacies is important, too. I know it would not be in my best interest for many reasons, so it really doesn’t bother me to pass on them on a regular basis and enjoy them on occasion.

Focused breathing and meditating is something I start my day with and do for short moments throughout the day. I may be mentioning this point last, but it is what is most important as both focused breathing and meditating calm my mind and feed my spirit. I might even say the breathing and meditating prepares me to be more flexible in my mindset and allow for an automatic shift when necessary - as if I am tapping the shift-key on a keyboard.

Right now I feel as though I am in transition with all the changes. And while I am at peace with change, I am still adapting to it. Perhaps my old routines will be in a constant state of flux and I will fall back to them when we are in one place for more than a week at a time. Maybe all this change is transforming my old norm to a new norm. Whatever it may be, knowing a mindset shift is ultimately what will help me deal with ever-present change in my life, I will be able to be my best self in mind, body, and spirit. Isn’t that what helps us all whether traveling or just dealing with the day-to-day routine of normal in our lives? Now, where's that shift key?

It's been nearly two months since I have posted on this blog. I am working on balancing my writing here with my travel blog posting. With this post I am hoping you will be able to hear more from me now that I am finding my way with the travel blog. If you would like to follow my adventures on a more regular basis, please note the sidebar of this blog - you will find the travel blog and my Facebook and Instagram links. I encourage you to sign up so you won't miss a thing. As always, thanks for following It Is What It Is. 

Michelle

Shift key photo courtesy of C Slack