Last week, Destinations and Dreams blogger, Donna Janke, kindly included my blog on a lovely list for the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award.

I was truly honoured to be included with some pretty cool women, but balked when I read the part about the obligations that accompanied it. That is, I needed to answer ten questions and then, make up ten new questions and bestow the award upon ten other worthy women bloggers.

It reminded me a little of those chain letters that I refuse to forward. Instead I delete them and probably end up causing untold mayhem, death and destruction in the world as a result. In short, it felt like if I forwarded the award to ten other bloggers I would merely create one more obligation in their lives.

The thing about me and rules and expectations is probably summed up best from those long-ago comments written on each and every one of my grade one through seven report cards. All those observations were basically variations on the following:

“Colleen continues to disrupt the class.”

“Colleen would not have to spend so much time writing lines in the hall if she would listen.” 

But funnily enough, although it felt a little like homework (eek! see above),  I actually had fun answering the questions. I think I’m going to subvert these rules a little (surprise!) and ask you, dear reader, what your answers would be to any or all of these questions. Don’t feel obligated!

I will also add some of my favourite bloggers on my FaceBook page. These are women I like to read but I will not be asking them to do any homework unless they feel like it. 

With apologies to Donna for not completely conforming to the plan, I have answered her questions below:

Why did you start blogging?

As a certain eight-year old boy once said (and I’m paraphrasing Gabriel now), when I blog, I get to  write about what I want to write about when I want to write it.

I love the freedom of not having to pitch editors and wait for the responses, or more often, big freaking fat silences.

How did you select the name for your blog?

I picked Traveling Light because it can include many interpretations, all of which I write about; packing light and taking only a carry-on, living simply with a lighter footprint or trying to journey through life with a lighter heart. Not to mention my endless fascination with graveyards and all things memento mori and the idea that we are all traveling toward the Ultimate Light.

 

 

How do you like to travel? Alone, in a group, fast-paced, laid-back, luxury, budget, structured, unplanned, . . .

All of the above.

What has been your most unusual travel experience?

Being at the front of an open car on a train in Mexico’s Copper Canyon.  We hit a cow and the shit, as they say, hit the fan. I was covered in green spatter and laughing so hard that I could hardly breathe. I wrote about it for WestWorld Magazine. 

What is the weirdest food you’ve eaten?

Mopane worms in Malawi which are essentially like thumb-sized maggots. Not high on my list of must-eat-again items.

What do you do to plan and prepare for a trip?

I hardly plan at all.

How has blogging changed your travel experience?

Like the travel writing I do for other media, blogging helps me focus. I pay more attention to what I’m doing and where I am so I can write with more clarity about what I learned/experienced. It’s a great way to find out what moments stand out and to dig a little deeper.

Where will you go next?

Leaving tomorrow for Saskatchewan via Kelowna and Banff.  A press trip to the Yukon for a week in August. Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzgovina for the month of September. Writing retreat some time/somewhere in October.

What is your favourite thing about blogging?

The connection to readers and the immediacy of publication and writing about whatever I want (see Gabriel’s quote above).

What is the most important thing travel has taught you?

That, for the most part, people are good and, no matter where they live, they desire most of the same things; education, safety, home, friendship, community, good food, clean water. Most of all we all want to love and be loved.

In other words, we are all one. We only appear different.