All posts filed under: Confessions of a Jetsetter™

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Gilad Goren

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“About a year ago, about 8 of us set out for the first Sustain The Stoke session, a new take on the ‘traditional surf trip’. Usually people learn about an amazing wave out in some far-flung beach, make their way out there with as little damage to their boards as possible, and settle in for several days of waves, some beers, and little else. Thing is, surfers are a unique kind of traveler. Those far-flung beaches mentioned can easily be in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, or any other standard, and frankly easy, destination. But those beaches can also be in Haiti, Sierra Leone, and even Iran. Surfers are unique in that all they need is a wave. The modern comforts of the standard tourist are, well, nice to haves at best. In other words, those beach bums that come to mind as you read these very words, and there are 35 million of them around the world, can serve as the first wave of tourists upon which any developing nation (with a beach and a wave) …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Sarah Poyet

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“I traveled to Mexico with two friends and a Panasonic home camera. I had no idea what I was doing. We found ourselves in a Zapatista compound celebrating New Year’s Eve, and I came back to New York and made a film about it. We rode buses from Mexico City to Oaxaca City to San Cristóbal de las Casas. Waking up in a sleeping bag… feeling cold morning mountain air in my lungs and on my body… having warm clothes to put on…running for the train with my belongings on my back… life simplified itself so quickly and I never felt as free and uncluttered, rising with my companions in San Cristóbal one buena mañana. It’s hard to live simply in New York! That unfolding feeling I discovered while drinking the scenes into my camera, I’m still seeking through a deeper commitment to my work. It’s a matter of discipline – which contrasts so much to the freedom of traveling. I fiercely resisted at first, holding on to my free spirit – but now I …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Tyler Riewer

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“I traveled to Mali with charity: water last year to meet people in rural communities where we work and capture stories about the impact of clean water. One early morning while we were running around and taking photos, I came upon a man sitting on the ground outside his home. He motioned for me to come over. Normally, I don’t go anywhere without my translator. My local language skills are limited to “good morning,” “how are you,” and “thank you.” But I was merely on the hunt for beautiful photos of people preparing for their day and incorporating clean water into their morning routines — I hadn’t been anticipating conversation! But here we were. “Ouh sogoma!” I began, issuing one of the only three phrases I knew to greet him. “Ouh sogoma,” he replied with a smile. As I approached and took my seat, I noticed the ground before him. He had dug a series of small little holes in the dirt, and it almost looked like he was cleaning them out… quickly picking up little …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Natalie Jeffers

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“I recently spent time in Memphis, which was deep, dirty and delicious. There are many stories I could share but the most life-affirming/transformative event happened on my flight back to Brooklyn, when I took a seat next to this man. Robert Hawkins. I almost didn’t sit next to Robert, as he had a cane and a support brace around his waist so I didn’t want to make him get up and move just so I could get my window seat! But Robert insisted I sit, and we all got settled in. I was so blessed that I ended up in that seat, at that very moment in time…Robert told me that he had been released from prison that very day and that this flight was his first taste of freedom, and our conversation his first with a person who wasn’t his family, lawyer or prison mate in 26 years…intense, right? As Robert shared his story, I gave him my respect and compassion for the tough life he had been forced to live behind bars. Not …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Thom Estifanos

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“I first fell in love with skateboarding as a young kid. Me and my brother started to skate around our neighborhood in Skövde, Sweden. Skateboarding became a big part of my everyday life. My friends and I started a skate crew and all the days we spent together were amazing. Skateboarding gives you the opportunity to be creative on so many different levels… I got involved with Ethiopia Skate by chance. As many things in life happen at random, the more you travel, the more people you meet. I have always loved that about traveling around the world. Getting to know new places. I originally traveled to Ethiopia to work as a photojournalist interning at an English newspaper. On one of my first days in Addis, after doing a story on the National Museum, I saw one of the skate kids with a board and asked if I could try it. He ended up giving me the number to Sean. Sean Stromsoe (from LA) founded Ethiopia Skate with Abenezer Temesgen, who lives in Germany but is originally …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Rose Chang

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“August 2008 — One of my best friends from childhood was getting married in Maui. I think this was the last trip I took where digital cameras were the norm, so all of my pictures and videos are burned on a CD (haha! tell that phrase to a 20 year old!!) somewhere. I’ve never been a huge picture taker anyways. I’ve always thought that what doesn’t stick in my memory just doesn’t deserve to be remembered. I challenge this theory more and more as I age, and it’s a discussion for another time. For now, I’ll describe the moments during this trip in which my memory dwells, and from which sensibilities linger.  So back to Maui, August 2008… Three girlfriends and I planned to attend the wedding together and spend some extra time traveling afterwards. The first few days we went fancy tourist: Gunning down beach side highways in a fire-red mustang convertible. A table setting with six different glasses at The Ritz for a bachelorette dinner party. The wedding was picturesque–on the beach at the …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Maze Marshall

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“I’m a paralyzed veteran who uses a power wheelchair and I have congestive heart failure. I took my wife to Frankfurt, Germany in March. Once we arrived, an old Army buddy met us at the airport. There weren’t any accessible vehicles available so I put my wife, luggage and oxygen in a taxi to the hotel. He and I would take the subway as my research showed we were only 6 stops away. My research was wrong, we got off the subway and were about 1 mile away from the hotel. Normally this wouldn’t have been a problem, but my chair was low on power. We got within a half mile of the hotel when I had to go inside an office building to seek shelter from freezing temperatures and use their electricity to charge my chair. I’m not fluent in German and neither was my friend however, the building we were in had an English speaking receptionist, she used to be married to a G. I. The only problem is I don’t have a …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Danielle Williams

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“I live in Arizona (Tempe) but am from the Diné (Navajo) Nation in Tuba City, Arizona. I travel to many different Native American reservations throughout the nation typically to photograph and visit friends and family. I am full-blooded Diné so let me properly introduce myself (translation to follow) – Shí éí Danielle Williams yinishyé. Kinyaa’áanii nishłí. Ta’neeszahnii báshíshchíín. Tł’ízíłání dashicheii. Tódích’íinii dashinálí. Tónaneesdízí dęę’ naashá. Shimá dóó shizhé’é éí Rose Marie dóó Daniel Williams wolyé. Ákót’éego éí asdzáa Diné nishłí. My name is Danielle Williams. I am of the Towering House clan, born for the Tangle People clan. My maternal grandfather is of the Manygoats clan and my paternal grandfather is of the Bitter Water clan. I am from Tuba City. My mother and father are Rose Marie and Daniel Williams. In this way, I am a Navajo woman. The purpose for “Old Love” was to restore balance because I was taught that love is the most powerful and beautiful gift of all. We know this because of the Love that the Holy Ones have …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Sita Chay

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“Silk Road was such a metaphysical term until I traveled through Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. It sounded far and magical, hard to grasp. Where people from Asia and Europe traveled and exchanged their cultures, I witnessed genuine interaction and creation of their encounters many, many centuries before me. As a western instrumentalist, little did I know the violin and Asian cellos like the Erhu and Haegeum, had the same ancestor until I saw another violinist playing the instrument between legs like a cello. Among many familiar sounding yet exotic instruments, the most memorable was a Mongolian cello called Morin Khuur. It had a magical balance between the folk-like sounds that we hear in Asian cellos and the sensitivity we recognize in the violin or viola. A horse head scroll was attached to its trapezoid box…a captivating, odd beauty which fit perfectly with one of my favorite legends it’s inspired: After a mother camel gave birth to her newborn, she was stressed and exhausted. She rejected the newborn and refused to feed the calf. To restore the harmony between …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Caroline Dignes

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“I started rock climbing about two years ago at the rock gym with my partner. Climbing in the gym feels very comfortable – the ceilings aren’t incredibly high, the gym associates do a belay check on you and your partner, the climbing path is clearly marked by following a set of matching colored plastic rocks to the top, and there’s an ocean of pleasant blue foam padding covering the floor. I am slightly afraid of heights, and that blue ocean is like a smiling friend. I didn’t join the rock gym with expert climber ambitions, I joined because climbing is a fusion of a social hour and fitness. At the end of a session, I had the added benefit of a completed workout.  The first time I climbed outdoors was unpleasant. I went climbing at Smith Rock State Park in Central Oregon. The rock there is volcanic tuff, a porous rock formed by the consolidation of volcanic ash. It looks like a black solidified sea sponge, but the tips of the air bubbles are prickly spines instead …