jeffstaple describes his inspiration.

People. Different people. Not just creative people or hard-working people or noble people. All people. I draw inspiration from everyone I interact with. I even draw from people I observe and never actually meet. The more people I meet the more I feel inspired. And because of that, I travel. I travel a lot. But travel is just a means to meeting more people

He was not only the greatest traveller I’ve ever known (because he was the truest), he was also one of the happiest people I have had the good fortune to meet. I’m sorry not to know what has become of him, though, to be honest, I’m not really sorry, I only feel that I should be. I’m not really sorry because today, ten or more years on from that brief period in which I knew him, he must be a grown man, stolid, reliably fulfilling his duties, married perhaps, someone’s breadwinner—in other words, one of the living dead.

—Fernando Pessoa

Posting will be non-existent the next two weeks as I will be on a vacation through Brussels, Amsterdam and a number of German cities. I will resume posting on my return.

The man behind the William Brown Project has an approach to travel that doubles as mine.

His approach to travel, not surprisingly, is authentic, food-focused and fiercely local

I just swooned over Gypsy, a big white 2010 Mercedes Benz Sprinter Van.

He had spent the previous two-month’s worth of evenings building out Gypsy from an empty panel van into a super-deluxe road trip machine, complete with recycled-denim insulation, stove, sink, fridge, queen-size bed, benches, folding table, cabinets, cupboards, ceiling fans, heater, cork paneling, bamboo and paperstone counter tops, and interior and exterior LED lighting. Gypsy was rad.

It’s sentences like this that make me believe I will love Portland, OR when I finally visit there.

But my favourite part of Portland is that despite its reputation as a hotbed for knowledge workers, there’s a strong sense throughout the city that people there still build things by hand

There’s a new “creative class” in town. Or, more accurately, out of town. Increasingly, young entrepreneurs, activists, and small-business owners are trying to make lives that blend the wildness of the city with the wellness of the country.

I’ve been away from a city for a couple of years now and I don’t miss it like I thought I would. I love to travel and when I travel I go to cities. I need a balance of both urban and rural. I get that now and wouldn’t change a thing.

When I am looking to purchase something one of the first questions I ask myself is, “Could I take this with me on a trip”? I have found it’s a great way to help edit what I buy. If I can’t use it when traveling it’s a quick sign that I probably don’t need or will use the product. Mr. Wong seems to be in agreement, however I think we may be coming from different ends of the thought.

traveling teaches one to be more concise in what they wear & to minimise the fluff that we see in media

Royal Dutch Airline KLM has the best example of putting social media to use that I have seen in a REALLY long time with the KLM Suprise Campaign.

When passengers check in at KLM’s Foursquare locations, the KLM Surprise team then uses social networks such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to find out information about the passenger.

Some passengers have received champagne, food and books. All of this is with the intent of spreading happiness. I know who I’ll be booking my flight to Amsterdam/Germany with.

Add this to my Germany to-do list: surfing in Munich.

Munich, a German city that perhaps couldn’t be further from the ocean. And I was shocked. Barefooted Germans in wetsuits carried surfboards past others in suits and ties, and no one batted an eye. The surfers were all headed to Munich’s Englischer Gartens for a ride on one of Europe’s best waves, albeit in a river.