A month ago today, I was stuffing the majority of my necessary belongings into a carryon-approved backpack. Russell is a proponent of the Excel packing spreadsheet; I went ahead with the organized chaos of the visual inspection and crossed-fingers-hope that everything made it into my pack. My family dropped me off at the airport, and after a bit of time bellied-up to the bar by my gate, I boarded a Lufthansa 747 bound for Frankfurt, Germany.

After one plane change at Frankfurt International Airport and a short shuttle ride later, it was just me and my overstuffed backpack, trying to interpret Hungarian street signs in an attempt to locate my hostel. I must have rang five incorrect doorbells.

I was not alone from that point forward. While I fully expected to trek my way through Central Europe and the Balkans on my own, I met a couple of guys in Budapest who—the day before I was to hop a train to Slovenia—asked to travel with me. They had both been on the road for several months, and as they had no set schedule or destination, figured they would like to see the part of Europe I was heading to. They would remain with me for the entirety of my trip.

So an American, a Canadian and an Australian headed to the train station. That sounds like a bad joke setup.

From that point forward, Europe was an absolute blur of ups, downs, and days that seemed to speed up immensely. A train station in Ljubljana nearly became our accommodations when our train arrived late and the hostel desk had closed for the night. My original plan to board an hour flight from Zagreb, Croatia to Dubrovnik, Croatia turned into renting a car and driving 13 hours down the Croatian coastline. I ate far too many döner kebabs and walked up more hills than I’ve encountered in my 29 years. It was a freedom I have never experienced, and my trip instilled in me the value of slowing down, accepting that plans can—and will—change, and appreciating the little things around me that I would normally blow past en route to my final destination.

And that was one of my motivations for shoving my life into my backpack and spending a month abroad. I did not expect some kind of world-bending internal revelation, but traveling has a way of altering your overall perspective. It’s great to be back to a normal routine, not sleeping in a room with other snoring people, and having a dresser to put my clothes in, but I will admit that I the travel bug sank its teeth firmly into my heart. Seeing the world should be on the top of everyone’s priority list. Coming from a compulsive planner, my only advice is to buy the ticket and figure the details out later. That is my one take-away from my journey.

We only have so much time on this rock, and we should all see as much of it as possible.

At PR/PR we encounter this, a lot.  Mr. Tobak brings up two very good points.

One deals with the level of expertise and credentials people flaunt these days.  The meaning of the phrase “best-selling” author has been watered down.  We deal with members of the media who tell us the amount of award-winning and best-selling books they see diminishes the accomplishments of those who came before.  Not to take away anything from a book that was a best seller for one hour in a sub-sub category on Amazon.com; with the thousands of books published each year that is quite an accomplishment to be proud of.  However, the media can Google that information very easily, so we recommend being careful how and when you use that accolade if you achieve it.

The other relates to the professional speakers we represent. It seems like more and more, I talk to very sweet, well-meaning people who have worked hard, persevered and overcome a personal tragedy or life-threatening disease.  They have a mindset which says they can write and self-publish a book to become rich and famous.  While we support them and encourage them and are proud of them, we have to let them know about the continued hard work and perseverance it’s going to take to become a self-supporting professional speaker.

Just because PR/PR represents only professional speakers and non-fiction authors, doesn’t mean we’re the right agency for every professional speaker and non-fiction author.

– Russell

Though I do not fancy myself nearly as talented a writer as Carter, I’ll try to do him justice this week! I officially came back from maternity leave on March 4. I’ll be working both out of the office and from home with my four-month-old, Flynn, who, though very adorable, is not very encouraging of productivity. As I write this, with Elmo’s high pitched whine in the background, I’ve had to jump up a few times to grab him as he rolls across the floor; he’s not crawling yet, but he’s trying!

In my 4 months of doing this so far, I can honestly say I don’t know how my mom did it – in the days before the Internet (yes, I am that old). With my moms’ group on Facebook, baby development apps, and websites like Lucies List, Scary Mommy and Kelly Mom, I sometimes feel like I know what I’m doing. If I didn’t have any of that, I don’t know where I’d be right now, but it wouldn’t be pretty. I start to see why I am an only child!

The Internet is a multi-faceted tool. The same entity that brings you the screaming goat can also let you know if that rash is worth calling the doctor for, or if it’s a normal accompaniment to a cold. It can also send you to places filled with misinformation on vaccines, or any other site that will confirm wrongly held beliefs. In the end, you still can’t do any better than consulting a pediatrician, but with the Internet, you may know the right questions to ask!

For now, just know that if you call PR/PR, you may hear Flynn talking in the background. He’s not so great at editing articles yet, but he loves listening to your ideas!