How I'm prepping #1

Logistically, a lot of people wonder how in the world one can prep for a 6-7 month trip where you live out of a backpack. I'm not sure I have the answers yet, but with a little research and my previous experiences of long trips, I'm beginning to come up with my own plan. 

I've been being thoughtful about the types of clothing I've been purchasing and I've already started making changes to my personal beauty regimen (not that I've ever really been that high maintenance, let's be honest) to prep myself, including...

Shampoo Bars:

Easier to carry, able to pass through airport security without a plastic baggie, less wasteful and SLS-free, shampoo bars are just like bars of soap that you lather into your hair then rinse out with water (and once every three weeks or so after the transition period, I use a rinse of diluted apple cider vinegar to cleanse the whole head. Shockingly, this doesn't even smell like vinegar once it's dried.)

From my understanding (and I am NO expert), Sodium Laruryl Sulfate is in most liquid shampoos, conditioners and soaps. It's a detergent and an irritant. I'm not someone who is going to get all preachy about what we're putting on our bodies, but this to me is just a plus of this switch over. 

The way normal liquid shampoos and conditioners work is they coat your hair to get rid of the natural oils to make it silky, untangled and smooth. That's why our hair gets SO greasy not long after washing it: our scalp is fighting back against the shampoo. A SLS-free shampoo will not rid your scalp of all it's natural goodness than coat it with something else, it will get rid of the gross stuff and allow your natural oils to do their work and make your hair healthy and grease-less. It takes a few weeks  (and lots of vinegar rinses) for your hair to regulate, but once you're there, it's great! I've had many compliments on my hair and love that it takes less time in the shower (A+ in SoCal where we're in a major drought), and I need to wash my hair less often. My first bar lasted me about 2.5 months with a shower every 2-3 days, which is comparable to regular shampoo. Plus it'll be SO much easier than buying, storing and carrying on the road, partly because of the handy little travel carrier I got as a part of the deal.

My hair remains luscious, soft and beautiful,
even after 4 months with only bar shampoo! 

I use J.R. Liggett's Coconut & Argan Oil Bar and after using their "original" bar for the first few months, I must say I'm very happy with this product (the other one was great, too, for the record). I'm surprised, with my long, wavy-curly hair, that I'm not missing conditioner. Especially with this coconut oil-based bar, I've never had trouble brushing the tangles out of my hair and it still feels silky and smooth. This is a small vanity which I was admittedly worried about giving up. 

The Diva Cup (For the ladies only):

I have transitioned from tampons to using the Diva Cup and I can report after 4 cycles that everyone, and I mean everyone, who can wrap her mind around using a tampon can and should use the Diva Cup. It saves money, you don't need to think about it during the day, no need to carry anything extra in your purse and with my experiences being abroad and not being able to find the personal products I'm used to and comfortable with (most tampons outside of the US don't necessarily come with applicators, if you can even find tampons for sale, for example) I'm happy to have something that will take up much less space, as well as be usable the whole trip. Their website is great for answering all questions and calming all uncertainties. 

Seriously, ladies, just get over the mental block and try it.

(I also use a couple Party in Your Pants Pads for night times or end of cycle times. I've got 2 on rotation and they feel clean and usable with a quick scrub and air dry.)

What's in my medicine bag?

I purchased a new medicine bag with a small mirror attached, for putting in contacts, as well as a hook on top so that I'll be able to hang it in crowded or sparse hostel bathrooms. Besides the normal medicine bag stuff (toothpaste, deodorant, contacts and prescription meds for 8 months - because who knows? - Advil, etc) I've been collecting a small batch of things specific to traveling which will be easier to use on the road or needed for those just in case situations.

Ta-Da! Earring Magic!

Small hair brush
Earring magic is the term I've coined to describe the genius way to keep your pairs of earrings together while traveling - put each pair through a button! I'll be able to keep everything in one little bag and not worry about too much tangling to loosing each morning while getting ready!
A used tic-tac box for bobby pins
Travel clock with an alarm and a light
Power adapter
Ear plugs for, you know, super crowded hostels or loud buses
Sea bands wrist bands with pressure points which help with motion sickness but don't make you sleep for 2 hours like Dramamine does. I'll also probably stock up on a bit of ginger, which I dislike the taste of, but also helps with seasickness.

Imodium my stomach is my least favorite part of traveling.

Tide-to-Go sticks

Sink stopper for doing my laundry (probably mostly underwear) in hostels.

Dr. Bronners Magic Pure-Castile Soap which will clean anything, like my body or my clothes, depending on the need. I use the eucalyptus scent at home, but I'll have peppermint on the road since I anticipate more clothes washing with this.
Quick Drying Towel and Washcloth
Bar soap in a plastic tub
Aroamas I just discovered these excellent hard perfume sticks which are great for traveling because they have no liquids so no spills or TSA issues, and much like a chapstick, they last forever. I ordered a sample pack and liked Parisian the best.
Neosporin, Bandaids and Moleskin for cuts and blisters (read about my shoe options in a follow-up planning post).

What kind of purse will I use?

This won't be the first time I say it: I'm not going to give a damn about how fashionable I look, which may not be very common for Europe. I've simply given up. I believe that in some ways and on some days I will be very fashionable, but in others, like my purse, it's just a battle I'm letting go of now.

My purse is a little shoulder satchel I got from my sister for Christmas which I was inspired to ask for after meeting a Canadian teacher in Peru who spends 6 weeks of every summer in some awesome foreign country and had something very similar. I like that it includes pockets for cash, cards and a hiding space for my passport. Inside, I'll have:

My Kindle the sort of device I was against for a while, on principal as a writer who loves used book stores and the idea that one day I will be able to hold my own published book in my hands, see it on a few shelves and sign it for others. However, after living in Venezuela where getting a book in English was very expensive and before my move to LA I realized that carrying books around the world with me is not actually that smart. And I have grown to love my device, with it's pretty leather case with which I'm admittedly trying to disguise it a little bit. 
A new notebook I am very very picky about what I write in and on, and I recently purchased a new notebook that would suit my needs for this trip - small lines, large pages, but it fits into my not-sexy purse. There will be a lot of note taking a'comin'. 
Passport protector that little notebook with the maps on it? That's actually my passport. I love the holder because I can be carrying it or flash it around and it doesn't look like the most important document I have on my person at any given time.

Plus I just really love maps.



There's (always) more for me to talk about when it comes to planning! Follow up post about clothing and packing in my big pack to come!


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Help fund my artistic journey through Northern Ireland where I will be researching and finishing my book, working title Dear Bird for 3-4 months. Learn more about my campaign and donate here. Thank you!

This is a Sacred Space: A Letter About Leaving

I was asked to write to the current class of Episcopal Urban Interns, the program I participated in the first year in lived in California. The program director wanted us alumni to share insights with those who are nearing the end of their time in the program, and for most of them, in Los Angeles. These are things I've been thinking about, considering my own current circumstances. Here are my thoughts on the matter, less than two months out from the Great California Escape, as it's been named.

Hello Current EUIs! 

My name is Katy Cashman and I came to Los Angeles from Minnesota to participate in the program in 2011-12. I lived in the Glendale House and worked at a food pantry in Pasadena, and I have ended up staying here in Los Angeles for 2 more years since finishing the Episcopal Service Corps. I remember well the time in which I was about to leave the program, especially because I am also currently going through the transition of leaving: I'm moving back to Minnesota at the end of June, so I am also in a stage of reflection, reassessing, anticipating and beginning the process of saying goodbye while also trying to remain present.

Leaving is one of the strangest, saddest things. Even when we are happy or ready to go. Especially when we do not feel like an experience is quite over. These are sacred and emotion-filled times, when we are forced into reflection of what has been good, and bad, and are contending with the fact that all at once we are in control but completely out of control of our own lives. We celebrate, mourn and praise God for what we are leaving. Here we all stand on the precipice of another great adventure and another great leaving and it's different for everyone, but I encourage us all to be quiet for a moment, love what has been and what will be. The challenge can be to accept and honor the beauty of what an experience has been, whether awful, lovely, boring or transcendent. Whether we feel we have done everything we wanted or could. We are leaving something, even if we are staying in town.

I do admit that I always ached to get away from where I was. I have lived in a lot of different cities, traveled through more countries and I'm now backpacking through Europe for the next 7 months to finish my book. I'm a wanderer, but this space of change is not one I can say I enjoy at all, though I am learning to appreciate it. 

For a long time, when approaching the end of an experience, I would try my best to run backwards, push time aside and recreate all of the moments I was heartbroken to leave behind.  I would stand at the end of something, holding my empty hands opened and shuddering with all of the things that I felt rushing from me, never to be felt again. Now I worry that I’m beginning to get really good at leaving. 

When ending important things I’ve scared people I love with my supposed distance. I’m usually so emotional, they feel cheated by my acceptance of the fact that all good things pass from us at some point only to transform into other good and bad things. There was a day, right before I left Yellowstone National Park, where I waitressed for a summer and met one of my best friends who at the time I was convinced I’d never see again, that Lauren and I snuck into the closed side of the Yellowstone Canyon and at the top of the lower falls we lay on the ground, our feet suspended thousands of feet in the air. We were 19, and felt the weight of the entire world upon us, all the sorrows and joys and experiences that were to come to us looked down from the sky that day and winked as the sun set. I’ve never felt so ready to take on the world, and so scared to leave a meaningful experience all at once.

As for today, I trust that I can leave the relationships I’ve formed and honor them by knowing the blessing they have been, whether or not I ever see some of my favorite people here again. I’ve learned to trust that this is alright – that there is nothing wrong with moving beyond one part of your life and into another and that sometimes it is important to feel the whole weight of the world fall on you, while you cling to the hands of your best friends, kissing them goodbye.

Love and blessings to all of you during this time of transition. I'll be thinking of you, and I hope you will do the same for me. 

- Katy

The wish lantern Sarah, Hannah, Christina and I released at the end of our intern year to
celebrate all that had we had experienced together and all that was coming to us. 

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Help fund my artistic journey through Northern Ireland where I will be researching and finishing my book, working title Dear Bird for 3-4 months. Learn more about my campaign and donate here. Thank you!

Poetry Month #5

Sorry - It's May 1. And I can't even say I wrote it on April 30 and was just late posting it. I've decided I don't care. 

May 1, 2014

I've come here to untie the ribbons
which knotted round my ribs
holding all the different lights
tight against my spine.

And now these lungs are sails
gasping and flapping with hot air
Pulling the ship out of port
into the morning light, 
now that Orion, that winter watcher
is gone from the sky.

These boards are creaking, 
my neck needs cracking. 
My belly is rumbling, reaching,
out to the thing upon which 
These fingers will find traction.


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Help fund my artistic journey through Northern Ireland where I will be researching and finishing my book, working title Dear Bird for 3-4 months. Learn more about my campaign and donate here. Thank you!

Rough Itinerary

First of all, one thing I learned in Peru that I'm trying my best to remind myself daily (when I'm getting lost in guidebooks late at night, highlighting roads and railways) is that though you can plan everything out for a major, multi-city trip to a new country, you really should not. (It can also be argued that you can not, either, but that's another blog post.)

This is very hard for me because I am a proud planner of epic proportions. It not only makes me feel more ready to take on the trip I'm going on, but I simply I love to do it. My friends will tell you (and I hope most will say they appreciate) that  before a camping or road trip, I will make a color-coded googledoc for the group, assigning the food and gear, offering suggestions for hikes and activities. And for the record, this method has not yet failed us: there's always plenty of food and hardly ever two of the same thing.

When I got to Peru, I'll admit I was very happy to be in Lima with a sense of what I wanted to do and see. It did help to drive me towards the things I found most interesting. However, in retrospect, I could have allowed the last week of my trip to be free and opened, rather than planning out time back in Lima. I met so many people on the road who were coming from the jungle, or on their way to Lake Titicaca or Arequipa and a myriad of other amazing places and I found myself wishing I could follow in their tracks, rather than heading back to that big dirty city.

I'm trying to take this lesson with me and not actually plan all the details of the upcoming adventure. God, does that make me sad... I recognize the value in the unexpected, though, and know I will be pulled to much more exciting and worthy adventures along the way. All that being said, and to appease myself a little, honestly, a rough foundation of a plan seems like it will serve me well, not to mention there are some places I need to be at during a given time. For example, my WWOOFing sites (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) and I have arranged a specific arrival and departure date for my volunteering and my GAdventures tour is set in stone. Between all of that, though, there is plenty of room for changes and movement, and I'm using all of my effort not to hold too tightly to any one plan at this time.

So all of those disclaimers being put out there, the plan for the big trip is, for now:

July 7th (aka my 25th birthday): fly out from Minneapolis
July 8th-10th Iceland
July 11th - 14th Amsterdam
July 14th - 25th WWOOFing in Bavaria on a goat farm which specializes in goat cheese. They have gardens and orchards as well, along with horses they offer up for riding through the nearby national park.
July 26th - August 10th
Meeting Jezelle and my good friend Greg in Munich, and going through some semblance of Prague, Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Belgrade and Sofia
August 11th - 19th WWOOFing in Bulgaria in a small eco-community up the mountains from Sofia. In their description of how to get there, they suggest being prepared to hike up, but if you need it and they find time they'll come get you on a donkey.
I'll then make my way down to Greece and visit Athens before heading to the island of Lipsi.
August 25th - September 5th WWOOFing on a vineyard on the island of Lipsi. This very small island is where Odysseus was held for 7 years under the spell of Calypso and is said to be quiet and off the beaten path. The vineyard I'm volunteering at is just 150 meters from the sea and the end of August will be harvest season, so I'll be busy picking grapes, then dipping into the Aegean Sea to wash off the day's work (if you can't tell, I think I'm MOST excited about this part of the trip).
September 12th - 26th Tour through all of Turkey. I'm going with the same group that provided my Inca Trail adventure, GAdventures, a group which I truly cannot recommend enough to the adventurous traveler. I'll be doing their Turkey on a Budget trip, which will take me all over the country, from Istanbul to a few home stays to a night on a sailboat to Troy, among other things.
October - Mid January Northern Ireland. This part of the trip is a bit up in the air. I'm working on volunteering locations which will fit into my research needs for the book, and won't announce anything there until it is arranged. No matter what, I'll be staying somewhere, doing research, working feverishly on the book and enjoying my family's homeland.

I still don't have a plane ticket home. I'm waiting for some more things to materialize and come together before I make any decisions there, but my little planner mind has several flights on a tracker, just because it makes me feel good.

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Help fund my artistic journey through Northern Ireland where I will be researching and finishing my book, working title Dear Bird for 3-4 months. Learn more about my campaign and donate here. Thank you!

Eat, Pray Love?

There are two things that people seem to be asking me when I tell them about the trip I'm embarking upon. 1) Do you have a publisher for the book, then? and 2) Is this your own adventure of Eat, Pray Love? 

To answer the first question: no. No, no, and no again. I realize that this is a reasonable question, and in some ways certainly a metric of the work I'm doing. However, I find it a little disheartening each time I have to say "No. I'm just following my dreams without support from the outside world yet. Sorry to disappoint you." (Which is not to negate all of the wonderful and humbling support I've received through my gofundme campaign. Obviously people do believe in and support me, they just don't happen to be publishing houses.) 

I would love to be the sort of author who is given a book deal before they even go off to the far away land and do their research or write all day every day somewhere peaceful and quiet. Maybe, with a little luck and a hell of a lot of work, I could be. But today is not that day. So no - no one has agreed to publish my words. This is a deal I've made with myself to follow something through. And damn it, that's meaningful too! 

The answer to the second question is interesting. My first response was along the lines of "Not at all... I'm not a 36 year old divorced woman who is trying to discover spirituality and happiness. (Not to mention Elizabeth Gilbert got PAID IN ADVANCE to go on this journey and write this book). I'm a 25 year old who's taking advantage of life because I can and that's good enough!" 

Recently though, I've decided to re-read Gilbert's infamous book again to wrap my hands better around what that means for me. 

The first time I read Eat, Pray, Love, I had just turned 18, I was sitting in the parking lot between the cabins I cleaned in the morning waiting for the guests to leave and stealing a few minutes behind the pie cutters stand at Betty's Pies. I was about to move to Colorado for my first year of college. I had not faced the crippling anxiety that was about to take over my life. I was mourning coming out of my two best years, but full of hope, excitement and ready to be moved. 

This time I am certainly enjoying Gilbert's story of taking life by it's for different reasons, perhaps most importantly that it is getting me really excited to travel. The other most common question I get about the trip is, "who are you going with?" to which I usually respond "I'm meeting a lot of friends there!" which does mean that some people are meeting me along the way, but mostly I'm trusting that when I'm alone for a few days there's a good reason for it and when I meet people and we share experiences there's a good reason for that as well. 

It has made me dedicated as well to keeping better notes of the trip, to writing down more of my experiences in my own voice as they are happening, rather than with the oh-so-smart goggles of the present looking backwards. 

I'm remembering that this will be a lonely trip sometimes and that no matter what, when I get home I'm going to think of it as nothing but beautiful and wonderful for the rest of my life. (This is something I've gotten really good at remembering in the lonely moments. Today, even Venezuela was beautiful, though at the time I'd have given anything - besides, it turned out, my college degree - to leave early.) There is also something to be said for the personal journey I'm going on. I think in some ways I've lost bits of myself here in LA which I would like to reclaim, or at least focus on the woman I want to be most for a while, in new places, with my eyes wide opened. 

I'm still reading the pleasure-seeking Italian part of Gilbert's book. She relays the story of a greater heartbreak than any I can imagine, though I'm not sure it's fair to actually compare, then talks about choosing joy, relaxation and self-love. This is beautiful and wonderful for me to remember, especially right now when my life here is winding down rather slowly and I'm feeling a little bleh about the whole thing - ready to just get a move on, honestly.

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Help fund my artistic journey through Northern Ireland where I will be researching and finishing my book, working title Dear Bird for 3-4 months. Learn more about my campaign and donate here. Thank you!

Poetry Month 4

April 24th

I reached the end of 

too many ropes that day. 

I didn't mean it like that - 

I promise - 

but once the realization

came into my bed

I strung it between my fingers

sighing.

I could no longer touch you

without it rubbing against your skin

and there was only time then

until it all came loose and I ran 

out of rope to tie me to our dreams. 

Now all the space I 

rushed to fill with tenderness

even as I retreated

stands hollow

and I slowly breathe into it

my little lungs giving 

new meaning

to emptiness that is so full

of itself.

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April 22nd 

I broke something
and so much beauty came
rushing from it.

I stand bewildered.

Even if I wanted to go back
to look for the pieces
hoping to meet you on the road

I know better than
to interrupt this sacred light
that's come into these little lives of ours
with my human
fumblings

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April 15th

This place

has taken away my 

soft edges

The things I loved

most

about my sweet womanhood.

and now all these
little things

are snagging on my personality.

There are burrs 
and spider bites

to pull out of this skin

Things that have crept 

into my bed.

Now absolutes stand

boulders blocking a path

towards the place between

all of our bodies.

It's a time
to lie down in the swollen spring river of my life
and let mountain water flush my skin.

I am made of water,
but I'm becoming a mountain here.


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Help fund my artistic journey through Northern Ireland where I will be researching and finishing my book, working title Dear Bird for 3-4 months. Learn more about my campaign and donate here. Thank you!

Poetry Month 3

Seams

All my friends
are cracking at their seams
dreaming of other beds
other quilts we could be making.

Is this the burden
of being young women?
making a home for
ourselves and all that is to come
and all that has passed,
all at once?
No wonder we all break down
together
flush ourselves out of it all
from time to time.

We rinse our souls out with poetry,
tug and twist all the excess,
hang the lace and burlap and chiffon
in the warm breezes.
All of those seams tugging and pulling
at the spring time
while I sit up in bed late,
pulling out the seams of another quilt
I tired to cover this little life with
this winter

And above us the moon
cleans her own soul;
slips in behind the earth
and comes on out, hands opened -
a mother come back from the grocery
surprised at her children's tears
and hunger for her arms.
Unwilling to give us any understanding
that it is her wild movements that
send us spinning,
break the bonds we thought sacred.
And unwilling to promise never to leave again.


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Help fund my artistic journey through Northern Ireland where I will be researching and finishing my book, working title Dear Bird for 3-4 months. Learn more about my campaign and donate here. Thank you!