How to Live Like You're Traveling : Part 1 - Anatomy of a Travel Day

Have you ever stopped and wondered what is it that makes us so happy when we travel?

Why are we so engaged and interested in our surroundings? Is it really because we're visiting amazing places, or is it something within us responding differently? These are the questions we tirelessly try to answer here at Live Like You're Traveling headquarters. The question of why we are happiest when we travel and even more importantly, how to bring that high into our everyday lives so we can be just as excited and tuned-in. 

We are excited to introduce a new how-to series that will explore these very concepts by exploring the science behind it. We invite you on a journey to discover once and for all what it is that makes us feel happy when we travel and exactly how to bring those elements into our everyday. In other words we want to help answer the ultimate question...

How do you live like you're traveling?

PART 1. Anatomy of a Travel Day (Template) 

First, we are going to re-create one of your favorite days. A Travel Day...a day that brought you inspiration, a day that made you feel excited about life all over again. We will re-live this wonderful day and write down absolutely everything that made you feel amazingly happy. In doing this we will create the ultimate model day that we wish we can live daily. This is the first step to understanding what is it that makes us happy when we travel. After that we will look at each element separately to understand why it made us happy and of course how we can achieve this happiness when we're not traveling. 
 

• • •    LET'S REMINISCE    • • •

Start by thinking back to one of your holidays. Think about a favorite day you spent, copy and paste the questions below into a document or grab a notebook and describe everything that went on that day.

1. Waking-up: How did you wake up? When? What did you do?
    
2. Breakfast: Think about your first meal, what did you eat, who did you eat with? How did you feel about the coming day spread out ahead of you? 
    
3. First part of the day: Write down everything you did in the first part of the day. Did you sight see? List all the activities and think about how they made you feel. 
    
4. Lunch: One has to eat! What did you eat, where did you have lunch? Remember the tastes, aromas, views... 
    
5. Second part of the day: What did you do after lunch? How did you feel? Who were you with? Who did you meet? Why did you enjoy it?
    
6. Dinner: How did you decide what you will eat? Where did you have dinner? What did you eat, who were your dinner companions? What was your favorite part about this dinner? 
    
7. Evening time: What evening activities did you do? Did you do some more sightseeing, did you relax? Did you go to a party? Remember how you felt.
    
8. Night: Perhaps you stayed up all night? Or maybe just the opposite, you had the best night of sleep? 

• • •

In the next post I will share one of my favorite travel days and together we will take apart our day to individually look at the elements that came together to form this amazing day. Stay tuned... 
 

Get everyday adventure ideas @LiveLikeYoureTraveling  

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Blue Apron : Travel the World without Leaving Your Kitchen

Some of you may already be following along on instagram and seeing how I've been experimenting in the kitchen and having #culinaryfirsts over and over...and OVER! Every week I cook with exotic ingredients and spices like watermelon radish, forbidden rice and korean gochugaru...but how am I pulling this off without a lot of time in the market and looking up recipes? At the beginning of the year, I had a case of analysis paralysis from all the pinterest boards of carefully categorized recipes, but I got over it and I'm going to tell you all about my little secret to how. 

I really take pride in knowing that I'm selecting good ingredients, but I also want to know that I'm growing as a cook. I want to continue adding to my repertoire and tackling new culinary feats in the kitchen. But of course, who has the time? I first stumbled upon Blue Apron (a weekly meal subscription service) via a friend of mine who gave me one of her free trials (3 meals for 2 people, worth $60). It could seriously be one of the best free trials out there. So I signed up, selected my dietary preferences and my meals were to be sent to us by the end of the week. You can change delivery settings within a week's notice.  

How it Works

• • •
Get Food Packaged Exactly by the Amount Necessary
All the veggies and select cuts of meats come prepackaged, as well as all the seasonings,
cheeses, and other ingredients to make sauces and dressings from scratch.

• • •
Prepare Food Using Step-by-Step Visual Recipe Cards
You're given a dose of the cultural influence to the dish, with all of the ingredients needed plus  a visual display on the front of the card. On the back, a visual step-by-step that acts like a mini cooking course at home. What's great about it is that hubby (who's less cooking inclined) and I can both jump right in and divvy up our efforts, where as traditional recipes tend to require an extra step of organizing and strategizing. Even if you don't subscribe to the service, you can access all of their visual step-by-step recipes via their online cookbook.

Some of My Favorites

Mexican Chicken Mole with Cilantro Rice 
• • •
Wasn't much of a fan of mole until this dish. The rich decadent chocolate and peppers mixed against the lime cilantro accents, collaborated well together. I think we ate in silence, (which is the marker of a truly delicious meal for us).

Chicken Shawarma with Tzatziki, Hummus & Beet Salad
• • •
All I need to say is "Tzatziki spilleth over." A zesty sauce made from scratch
and beet salad. A surprise rush of flavors in such a simple dish with vibrant colors.

Beef Ramen Noodle Soup with Choy Sum & Enoki Mushrooms
• • •
I was a Hoisin virgin until this meal. Quality steak and enoki mushrooms.
Handmade noodles? The noodle lover in me was swooning.
{ ...awww shucks, thanks for including this photo in your Autumn Cookbook }

Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps with Forbidden Rice
• • •
I was excited to use watermelon radish for the first time, (so delicious to the eyes) and we discovered forbidden rice (which is a rich source of anti-oxidants)! What a great replacement for white rice. It's hearty and has an earthy flavor on its own.

Korean Beef Chapchae with Sweet Potato Vermicelli 
• • •
FYI I love spicy food! I loved making yet another culinary first, with the Korean chili spice, gochugaru. The sweet potato vermicelli noodles were a unique element that soaked in all the flavors. Added bonus:  being that I am more conscious about the amount and type of carbs I eat, I liked that it was a great substitute for rice noodles.

 Dukkah-Dusted Tilapia with Eggplant Sofrito and Peppers over Quinoa
• • •
Having never tried dukkah-anything, I was excited to experience new flavors and fish with extra texture. The blistered peppers were a surprisingly delightful way to prepare them whole and we're always down for Quinoa.

 Salmon Burgers with Corn-on-the-cob & Basil Butter 
• • •
Hello juicy-ness! My goodness this was the best burger of the year. The lemon aioli drizzle on the made-from-scratch salmon made for a summery refreshing pairing. 

Savor the World & Learn

1 - Try the world. Hop cultures from meal to meal. Sample before you decide to invest in a full size carton of miso, or bottle of hoisin sauce. Cook with exotic ingredients like sweet potato vermicelli, kumquats or pattypan squash for the first time.

2 - Less anxiety in trying to figure out what to make. We set our preferences, for the dish types (vegetarian, pescatarian, chicken, beef etc.) and the majority of the time it's something we want to eat. I would love it if eventually they could include more specific dietary requirements like dairy free, gluten free etc. 

3 - Cooking class at home  Learn a new cooking technique in every meal. The visual recipe cards give it a "demo" feel. 

4 - Feel accomplished. There's something about the combination of trying new techniques and unique ingredients and doing it on your own from scratch that add up to a sense of accomplishment. I love feeling like I'm learning and exploring right in my kitchen.

Have you tried Blue Apron, or a service like it?...what has your experience been like? 
 

• • •    LESSONS LEARNED    • • •

Let someone else take the driver's seat
so you can enjoy the ride. 

Get everyday adventure ideas @LiveLikeYoureTraveling  

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