By Nancy Dorrans
“Where have you been lately?” and “Where’s your next trip?” These two questions I get asked quite often. Since my work revolves around travel—and because I truly love it—it makes sense that friends and family use these questions to connect with me. While I usually go traveling in search of adventure, sometimes the adventure comes to me.
Warm Showers & Stories to Share
Just before Memorial Day weekend, Bec and Guz, a couple of long-distance cyclists, pedaled their way into Portland. They had started their journey in Key West in early April and were riding north between 40 and 60 miles a day toward their final destination of Calais, Maine. They reached out to me through Warm Showers to see if my guest room was available.
Warmshowers.org is a global community of and for touring cyclists, operating as a free worldwide hospitality exchange. I first learned about Warmshowers.org in 2016 when I met long-distance cyclist Rory McLeod at the Holy Donut shop on Exchange Street. Soon after, I began hosting, and I’ve welcomed many long-distance cyclists since.
I was happy to host Bec and Guz for the night when they arrived here in Portland. And so, their adventure came to me. Bec (short for Rebecca) is originally from Portland, Oregon, and now lives in England with her husband, Guz. Together, they own and operate The Drip Coffee Company—a “lil coffee shop inside a bike shop” located in Wollaston, a small village just west of Stourbridge in the county of the West Midlands, England. It also has an on-site tattoo studio.
Bec had this dream to cycle the entire East Coast and Guz eventually agreed. To quote Bec: “If it’s a dream of yours, a passion, or an interest… you’ll never know how things will turn out or the experiences you’ll have UNLESS you make it happen! Stop wondering ‘if’ and just DO IT!!! Whether you have good or bad experiences… at least you’ll have experiences!!! You’ll have stories to share and proof that you chose to live your life…”
Like Bec, if you read my column regularly, you know that I too have stories to share. So to answer your questions….
Where have you been lately?
In mid-April, a small group of ten of us ventured to New York City to jump-start spring. This Adventure Marketplace itinerary, “Broadway, Birds, and Blooms New York City Spring Adventure,” included a morning tour with David, a native New Yorker, experienced guide, artist, photographer, passionate community builder, and gardener.
We visited the Central Park Conservatory Garden, the Shakespeare Garden, and the Butterfly Garden before heading to Greenwich Village, Washington Square, and an East Village park.
Lastly, we visited David’s “El Jardin Del Paraiso” (Garden of Paradise) in the East Village. David homesteaded an abandoned building for $1 in the 1980s and has been a resident there ever since. He worked to save the adjacent small parcel of land for public use and has helped create nature trails and a few raised beds in his cherished neighborhood Garden of Paradise.
New York is full of small, “secret” garden parks, and we walked past several on the way to Katz’s Deli for lunch. The smaller group size worked out perfectly. Instead of a larger coach, we used a sprinter van, which had an easier time navigating the streets in, out, and around the city.
We also visited the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, where we witnessed the annual Orchid Show. It was simply breathtaking. I hope to organize this adventure again next April!
Where’s your next trip?
From June 9t to 20th, I’ll be in Peru as a hosted buyer at the ATTA (Adventure Travel Trade Association) AdventureELEVATE Latin America educational event in Lima.
In addition to several networking events, I will have the opportunity to experience the host destination firsthand during a four-night/five-day pre-adventure to Ancash (Huaraz). I’m expecting high-altitude trekking in the ancestral Andes.
Wish me luck! My last hike was up Gorham Mountain in Acadia National Park, with an elevation gain of just 500 feet. Stay tuned for more of that story once I catch my breath.
