I don’t know if it’s the first taste of warm weather but May has zipped by. I’ve kept my head down writing and spent a lot of time reading books that are building the philosophical foundation to my quest. In the nearly six months of writing Traveling Savage, I’ve put up few entries describing specific places, such as my recent Bay to Breakers post. To be completely honest, I don’t feel like this type of writing will be the future direction of Traveling Savage. But just a few nights ago I had a breakthrough toward defining the style of my place blog entries – more on this later. Once I get on the road again I’ll give my new tactic a try and see how those posts go over with all of you.

Plans & Happenings

In previous State of the Savage entries I’ve mentioned where I’m planning to travel, and it’s been challenging identifying where I feel is the right place to experientially travel. Well, with my most recent post, What’s Your Motivation to Travel, I’ve crossed a chasm in understanding that it’s not so much the place as the person. Me. The realization has been liberating, but it presents a new challenge in actually walking the walk.

That said, Argentina is still my destination, and I’ve been watching Bueno, Entonces for a language prep and refresher. This is the best Spanish language learning program I’ve seen (I’ve also used Rosetta Stone and Pimsleur). It’s funny, engaging, and hits you with a much more realistic conversation speed (i.e., fast).

A couple of weeks ago I jetted over to San Francisco for a long weekend with my buddy, my brother, and his girlfriend. I didn’t have any delusions that this trip would be like my upcoming month-long journeys abroad, but I anticipated test running some skills and ideas while in the city. It was pretty much just a vacation. What can I say, I really, really needed one. Though I did shoot some video that I put together as this Bay to Breakers video. I just wish Sarah had been with us. Though that reminds me, when leaving loved ones I think it’s important to carry some talisman of them as a reminder. I will write a separate post on this topic later.

I’m happy to report that my Tom Bihn bags performed admirably on the trip out west. There were no issues other than the leakage of someone else’s freakishly unfamiliar liquid spilling on my Aeronaut’s strap while in the overhead compartment. The bags held everything with room to spare and were comfortable to carry. Score!

Sarah’s been looking into a vacation within the continental United States for sometime this summer. Road-tripping out west and Seattle have come up as a couple of options. Rest assured that I will be writing about wherever we go.

Features

May was another busy month on the PR front. Let me just say again how happy I am with the lively and friendly travel blogging community. I’m glad to say that I’ve met scads of people who share the same passion and support each other. Shortly after I posted the last State of the Savage, Gap Year Escape included Traveling Savage in their list of 25 blogs you should know about. Then at the beginning of the month, Sofia and Nathan, the popular creators of AsWeTravel, included my post on digging into experiential travel in their weekly round-up.

My second guest post described my experience in the temperate rainforest that is Portugal’s Peneda-Gerês National Park and debuted on Go Backpacking earlier this month (thanks Dave). The great folks over at Never Ending Voyage included Traveling Savage in the next generation of travel bloggers. I guess I’d be Riker. That same day, Candice Walsh, badass technical writer, blogger, and Matador editor, toasted to Traveling Savage and the ambiguity of my moniker.

Out of the blue I was notified that STA travel buzz profiled Traveling Savage, which I thought was very generous and cool. The fine folks over at Do It While You’re Young (DIWYY) included my post on San Francisco’s Bay to Breakers race in their inaugural Wanderlust Wednesday feature.

Finally, you might recall a post I wrote in early March about my three best kept travel secrets. Well that post was part of blogging “chain letter” started by Tripbase, and they’ve collected all of the bloggers’ secrets and packaged them as a free set of e-books. For every person that downloads a Travel Secrets e-book, Tripbase will make a $1 donation to the fantastic cause, Charity: Water. You can find my secrets in the Worldwide Travel e-book.

May’s been great and I’m looking forward to the summer. I hope you stick around and continue reading Traveling Savage! For all of you Americans, enjoy the Memorial Day weekend. Bring on June.

Drinking: Drambuie on ice (good for a sore throat)
Listening to: Caspian

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Article Comments

  1. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Keith Savage and Jiyeon Juno Kim, Keith Savage. Keith Savage said: Wondering what's up? Check out my new post. State of the Savage: May 2010 | http://tinyurl.com/278o5nj #travel #writing […]

  2. Gray May 30, 2010 at 8:33 am

    May has been a busy month for you, Keith! Congrats on all the PR, you certainly deserve it.
    .-= Gray´s last blog ..Montreal Markets =-.

    1. Keith May 31, 2010 at 9:42 am

      Thanks Gray, really appreciate that. SoloFriendly has been a big part of the PR, so thank you. I haven’t forgotten about that guest post either 😉

  3. Nomadic Chick June 1, 2010 at 8:58 pm

    Awwh! Riker? Not Worf?
    .-= Nomadic Chick´s last blog ..Video Moment – Vegemite & The Aussie Nomad =-.

    1. Keith Savage June 1, 2010 at 10:46 pm

      Ha! Not sure how I’m supposed to take that 🙂

      1. Nomadic Chick June 1, 2010 at 11:11 pm

        Worf is part warrior, part intellect. And aren’t you a travel warrior? 🙂
        .-= Nomadic Chick´s last blog ..Video Moment – Vegemite & The Aussie Nomad =-.

        1. Keith Savage June 2, 2010 at 9:35 pm

          Perhaps I’ve yet to earn the appellation “travel warrior” 🙂

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