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Tell My Feet, I've Made It Home! by Elaine Lee
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"Tell My Feet, I've Made It Home" is a song written by one of my favorite singers, Vinx. It captures the surrealistic feeling that I had upon returning from my second solo sojourn around the world, i.e., "whew, I am finally made it back to ground zero, its time to shapeshift from traveler to homegirl."
Through the orchestration of time, money and movement the journey was a wondrous adventure full of excitement, natural beauty, challenges, miracles, joy, surprises and remarkable expressions of hospitality. When I ponder my freedom to travel as well as my trip to the motherland, I am reminded that, "I am the dream and the hope of the slave".
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Posted by ugogurl on Tuesday, February 12 @ 22:03:49 EST (221 reads)
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To Travel is to Dance by Elaine Lee
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Good news! Heart and Soul Magazine’s December 2007/January 2008 issue featured one of my stories, “To Travel is to Dance: An Afternoon Excursion into Beijing's Premier Participatory Performance Art Park.” Here's an excerpt!
Letting go of the taxi’s door handle, I felt drops of water on my hand as I raised it to wave a spirited goodbye to Hai Yan, my newest sisterfriend.
Tears of joy had unexpectedly sprung forth and as I closed the chapter on an odyssey that was the most joyous and exhilarating experience of my 2007 China journey. Hai Yan introduced me to a traditional Chinese Sunday ritual, the gathering of cultural enthusiasts in local parks to share their talents. Imagine a Disneyland for lovers of the arts, replete with makeshift music schools, impromptu dance performances and myriad choral offerings, all for free and open to everyone.
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Posted by ugogurl on Sunday, December 30 @ 16:25:42 EST (262 reads)
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Go Climb a River: Scaling a New Zealand Glacier
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More good news! The October/November 2007 edition of Odyssey Couleur travel magazine featured a story I wrote about my glacier climbing experience in New Zealand. Here's an excerpt!
I’ve climbed mountains, rocks, trees, and even a vertical San Francisco street. But I never climbed a river until I hiked up the Franz Joseph Glacier, a colossal river of ice in New Zealand.
It started innocently when I joined the Magic Bus, one of New Zealand’s independent traveler’s networks, which provides hop on–hop off transportation along 24 different routes, as well as access to numerous hotels/hostels and activities/tours along each route. I chose the three-week Kiwi Encounter route through New Zealand’s North and South Islands. The Franz Joseph Glacier was, according to our guide and the locals, not to be missed. Having never seen a glacier, let alone climbed one, I decided to give it a try, along with 20 other brave souls on our bus.
The Franz Josef Glacier originates high in the Southern Alps on the South Island of New Zealand, descending inexplicably into the lush heart of a primeval temperate rainforest. This unique blend of ice and mountain greenery is an ecosystem found nowhere else in the world. The Maoris call it Ka Roimata o Hinehukatere (The Tears of the Avalanche Girl). Eight miles long, it plummets in places from a height of 9,000 feet above sea level to a mere 800 feet in the space of a few dozen yards.
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Posted by ugogurl on Friday, November 23 @ 15:11:06 EST (302 reads)
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Travel is the Music of my Soul by Elaine Lee
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The biggest surprise about traveling internationally was to discover that in many parts of the world it is an asset to be a black woman, unlike in North America, where it is often a liability.
When I am abroad, I am usually afforded a level of respect and appreciation that I do not get in my own country.
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Posted by ugogurl on Wednesday, August 13 @ 15:14:30 EDT (5568 reads)
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Egypt: Body and Soul by Evelyn White
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SISTERS AND BROTHERS of all races who want to experience the full force of the achievements of people of color should make a visit to Egypt a top priority. Itís impossible to believe the negative stereotypes American society perpetuates about the aspirations and abilities of blacks after seeing the great civilization the Egyptians developed centuries ago.
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Posted by ugogurl on Wednesday, August 13 @ 15:11:57 EDT (4339 reads)
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Oh, Oh, Those West Indian Men! By Marianne Ilaw
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"Walking past a soccer field at dusk in Barbados, clad in a black, ruffled off-the-shoulder dress with a giant hibiscus blossom tucked behind my ear. The game stopped and the players gave me a rousing round of applause."
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Posted by ugogurl on Wednesday, August 13 @ 15:09:28 EDT (9401 reads)
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Rockin' with the Rhythm: A Canandian Transcontinental Train Adventure by E. Lee
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Longing for adventure, but leery about journeying too far from home? Seeking to experience something different, but your cash flow is abit lean? Then consider a visit to our continental cousin to the north: Canada! Foreign yet familiar, it is beautiful, exciting, safe, pristine, friendly, and you donít have to learn a new language or leave the hemisphere.
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Posted by ugogurl on Wednesday, August 13 @ 14:36:03 EDT (5536 reads)
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Why Paris? by Barbara Chase-Riboud
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I have lived in Paris half my life. Fresh from university, not a Francophile, and with no knowledge of the language, I came to Paris from London for a weekend.
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Posted by ugogurl on Sunday, February 03 @ 00:26:22 EST (6984 reads)
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A Mama Moses Journey by Linda Cousins/Amasewa Okomfo
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Weíd just started doing the storytelling--in fact, the storytelling musical on the life of Mother Harriet Ross Tubman. And then for the first time I heard there was going to be a trip up to her homeplace in Auburn.
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Posted by ugogurl on Tuesday, May 15 @ 11:18:38 EDT (1621 reads)
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Last Minute Internet Travel Deals by Elaine Lee
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Numerous travel deals lurk within the internet's virtual alleyways, the trick is how to find them, because the sources for finding travel bargains are as varied a the bargains themselves.
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Posted by ugogurl on Monday, April 09 @ 17:53:57 EDT (2652 reads)
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Globetrotting 101 - Introduction by Elaine Lee
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My love of travel was instilled by my mother who, as a child, often
envisioned living and working in Africa when she grew up. She shared those
dreams with me, and even though she never made it to the motherland, she
traveled extensively throughout the U.S., many times with me in tow.
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Posted by ugogurl on Friday, April 06 @ 12:56:38 EDT (2053 reads)
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