Crop Over

Kadooment is the carnival we have in Barbados. It is the climax of our Crop Over Season. It's the best. Crop Over happens every year during summer May - August. But Kadooment happens at the beginning of August. Crop Over was originally a festival to celebrate the end of the crop season. But now its mostly a reason to party and ge' on bad.

Everyone is in a great mood because they are all drunk and theres a bunch of new music encouraging you to sweat, drink and ben' over. Which is basically the perfect recipe for a good time. As my calendar goes, Crop Over is in the Top 3 Seasons of The Year.

Everyone is in incredible costumes, again drinking, sweaty and merry. I've never been to Trinidadian or Brazilian Carnival but theres nothing like a Bajan Crop Over. I missed last year because I was in New York, but I'm going to more than make up for it this year.

 Heres a video, one of my friends made of last year's jump. Enjoy. Be jealous. Come out this year.

If you want to keep up-to-date with the Crop Over happenings and goings on, check out the calendar for the season at www.barbados.org.

The music is one of the most important parts of Crop Over so fill your earholes with the music this year, with this Crop Over Mix. 

Discover Outdoors

Discover Outdoors is a New York adventure company who organize excursions. They are all about getting outdoors, being active and being adventurous. They've got activities ranging from photography classes in Central Park to African trips to help elephants.

So far I've gone surfing, rock climbing, weekend hikes and even a photography classes. Its a great time, all the hosts I've met so far have been great. One even popped my shoulder back in after I dislocated it. You meet a lot of awesome people and you can have a little adventure right outside the city. Being able to do these trips and get away from the city was a life saver for me. If I couldn't escape the concrete jungle I'd probably have gone crazy.

Even better they do charity work getting city kids active and outdoors. So by supporting them, you  might get a little good karma coming your way. Better yet, if you become a member you get returns on any trips you book for trips later on. Everybody wins. If you live in New York or just visiting and looking for a good time upstate, check them out at Discover Outdoors.

Don't Tell Me How Educated You Are

The Point of Travel

One of my travel-guru friends posted this video on Facebook. Honestly, I didn't expect it to be so insightful. I think everyone here has figured out, I love travel but when thinking about 'The Point of Travel' it usually doesn't get that insightful.

Preaching that traveling makes you a better person isn't new but the idea of it being therapy is very interesting to me. Figuring out where to go is always daunting since the world is so big and choosing to go to one place means you have to trade going somewhere else. But deciding to go somewhere that may change the perspective of your problems specifically, well, thats worth the travel expenses.

Meanwhile, there is a business plan within this video. Imagine the amount of people that would start using travel agents again if they were able to diagnose and treat mental illness with travel instead of drugs. Better yet the amount of people that may actually start healing.

I think most people who travel are either looking for something or running from something. Ultimately, The Point of Travel is to become a better person. Be a conscious traveler, and mindful of what you are hoping to gain from your travels. For example, come to Barbados for a fantastic tan.

Skydiving in Sydney

Skydiving is #5 on my Bucket List. I decided to just go for it while in Australia, and it was one of the best decisions I've made so far. I've never been afraid of heights but on an abseiling trip,  for the first time I understood why someone would be scared shitless of plummeting to the earth.

That being said I booked skydiving and refused to think about it until the time of action, for fear of not following through. And I did well, didn't think about it until the moment I was pushed out of the plane by someone I met 20 minutes before. Bet in the video you can see the exact moment I realized this was probably a bad idea.

Skydiving is addictive though. I wanted to do it again immediately. One of the best experiences I've ever had and I will be doing it again, and again, until it stops being fun, but I doubt jumping out of a plane will never not be at least a little bit fun.

How about you guys, what scary things have you done that you realized halfway through was probably a bad idea, but in the end couldn't live without?

If you are ever in Australia looking to jump out of a plane look up Sydney Skydivers. I had a great time with them and I didn't die, which is always a plus. www.sydneyskydivers.com.au

Travel Music (George Ezra - Wanted on Voyage)

George's album 'Wanted on Voyage' could be the only travel buddy you need on your next trip. I discovered his album on a particularly grueling flight from Sydney to New York. I had just finished my fourth movie and I was looking for something different. Luckily, they were advertising Ezra as a featured artist and I knew the song 'Budapest' from before, so I bit.

On the first listening, he managed to sing me to sleep. Which was appreciated since I'd given up on sleep after two sleeping pills and no effect. But on the second listen, I'd found a travel brother. Listening to him was like having a conversation with another traveler, where you don't have the same experience but you know exactly where they are coming from. Its that traveling communality that binds us all.

According to the commercial, George wrote most of the album while he was traveling. It shows. Name dropping all over the album; Amsterdam, Budapest, Barcelona, he's not shy about letting you know his passport is pretty active. But more than that, its the experiences he talks about, the randomness of the encounters. That are profound but ultimately fleeting. Everyone can relate but travelers are the ones that really understand.

If you are traveling remember to load him onto your iTunes: George Ezra iTunes

And if you want another sample:

I Live Where You Vacation #2