by Joe Hearn | Oct 17, 2022 | Pursuits, Travel
The year has flown by. It’s hard to believe, but the holidays are just around the corner. If you’re looking for a unique experience or just a great way to get in the Christmas spirit, consider planning a trip to a Christmas market. Here’s how to do it.
What are Christmas markets? Christmas markets originated in Europe during the Middle Ages as a way to usher in Advent and the Christmas season. The tradition has since made its way to many US cities. They are generally held in a city’s town square and feature festive decorations and a number of open-air stalls that offer food, drinks and unique seasonal gifts or souvenirs. In addition, many markets have things like music, dancing and ice skating to help you get into the Christmas spirit.
Why is now a good time? Yes, it has been a rough year in the financial markets and budgets are tighter, but there are several reasons why now might be a good time to plan a visit to a Christmas market. First, if your city (or a nearby city) is putting on a market, a visit can be an inexpensive experience. Admission is usually free, so you can enjoy the sights and sounds and browse all you want without ever reaching for your wallet. Unless, of course, you find the perfect gift or treat. And if visiting one of the European markets is an option, the dollar is the strongest it has been in decades against the euro and the pound, so your money will go a lot further than in years past. Also helping: airfares have dropped significantly from their summer peak and winter is generally the slow season in Europe so prices are lower than during the peak season. Bottom line, travel timing is never perfect, but before dismissing a trip out of hand, think about what options might work.
How do I plan the trip? I think a Christmas market trip can be one of the easiest trips to plan because they’re usually held in the town square of a major city. That means lots of flight and hotel options and you can skip the rental car and just use public transportation. Once you decide which market you want to visit (see some options below), all you need to do is book a flight and a room. And it’s even easier if you’re going to a local market or one within driving distance. Just pick a day and show up. For more info on trip planning, see my article A Practical Guide to Planning and Packing for Trips.
What are some of the main markets in the US? Below (in no particular order) are a few of the main markets in the US with links to their official websites. For more cities with markets just Google “US Christmas Markets.” And don’t forget to check for markets in your hometown. No flight or hotel required.
- Chicago, IL: November 18 – December 24
- Bethlehem, PA: November 18 – December 18
- Washington, DC: November 18 – December 23
- New York, NY: November 17 – December 24
- San Francisco, CA: November 19 – December 18
- Cambria, CA: November 25 – December 23
- Arlington, TX: November 25 – December 23
- Austin, TX: December 17 – December 23
- Denver, CO: November 18 – December 23
- St. Paul, MN: November 25 – December 18
- Atlanta, GA: November 25 – December 24
What are the main markets in Europe? Below (in no particular order) are a few of the main markets in Europe. For more cities with markets just Google “European Christmas Markets.”
Note: Many of the European Christmas Markets don’t have their own websites so here is a link to a Times of London article that contains info on the markets listed below as well as many more.
- Vienna, Austria: November 19 – December 26
- Budapest, Hungary: November 18 – January 1
- Cologne, Germany: November 21 – December 23
- Brussels, Belgium: November 25 – January 1
- Bruges, Belgium: November 25 – January 8
- Strasbourg, France: November 25 – December 26
- Gothenburg, Sweden: November 19 – December 30
- Copenhagen, Denmark: November 18 – January 1
- Basel, Switzerland: November 24 – December 23
- Edinburgh, Scotland: November 19 – January 3
- Seville, Spain: December 5 – January 5
Just imagine. With a little planning, six weeks from now you could be sipping hot cider as you stroll through the market in Denver or buying a pair of hand knit socks from a local vendor in Belgium. Where would you go if you had the chance? Who would you take? Why not give it a try? Do some research, make a plan and go. After all, life is short, so…
Be Intentional,
Joe
by Joe Hearn | Apr 5, 2022 | Happiness, Lifestyle Design, Pursuits
Most people want their life and retirement to be rich with purpose and meaning. How can you make that happen? I just posted a new video to the Intentional Retirement YouTube channel that will give you some practical ideas.
To watch, just click the link below or you can go directly to our channel to see everything available. And if you haven’t already, be sure to click “Subscribe” when you visit our channel. That way you’ll be sure to see the latest content when it’s available and it will help more people find us. Thanks!
YouTube Video: 15 Practical Ways to Live a Purposeful Life
Be Intentional,
Joe
by Joe Hearn | Aug 3, 2021 | Lifestyle Design, Pursuits, Saving
The Observer Effect is the tendency for people to change their behavior if they know they’re being watched. The interesting thing about it is that it seems to work even if you’re both the watcher and the watched. In other words, monitoring what you do seems to change what you do. Management guru Peter Drucker said it this way: “What gets measured gets managed.”
Intuitively this makes sense. If you weigh yourself regularly and track what you eat, it will likely impact what and how much you eat. And it works with more than just diet and exercise. It can have a positive impact on your finances and lifestyle as well. What do you think would happen if you started to consistently track what you spend? Or how much you save? Or your progress toward paying off your debt? Or how close you are to your retirement goals? Or how much progress you’re making on that particular hobby. Or how intentional you are with your holidays and time with family?
At Intentional Retirement, we help clients with money and meaning. The money helps them sleep at night. The meaning gives them a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Since those two things are part of our DNA, we’re always looking for ways to not just educate and inform, but to actually prompt people to make positive changes in their lives. We want you to take action. To change for the better. To become the person you want to be. To have a secure, meaningful life doing the things you want with the people you love. The Observer Effect might just help. Give it a try. Start watching yourself. Decide what you want to do or what you want to change and start tracking your progress. I think you’ll find it will help you be more disciplined, focused, consistent and…yes…intentional.
Be Intentional,
Joe
by Joe Hearn | Jul 20, 2020 | Pursuits, Travel
My family and I just finished a 4,200-mile, 7 state road trip. A few nights we stayed in hotels. More often we camped. Sometimes camping was a luxury tent with a fireplace and running water (Thanks Under Canvas!). Sometimes camping was our trusty tent deep in the backcountry of a National Park or on the banks of the river we were rafting. This isn’t our usual trip, but after cancelling a trip to Italy in March and after being in lockdown mode for several months, we wanted to get out of the house. And while 2020 is a terrible year in most regards, it seemed well suited for a good, old fashioned road trip. So we plotted our itinerary on Google Maps, made a few bare bones plans, loaded the car and hit the road. Here’s a bit about the trip and what things are like out there right now. Hopefully, you can use it as inspiration for a Kerouac-style adventure of your own.
The Itinerary
We’re trying to get our daughter to all 50 states before she graduates from high school, so any trip in the US usually involves trying to check off a new state or two. This time we got 3: North Dakota, Montana and Idaho. On our way north, we visited Badlands National Park in South Dakota as well as Mt. Rushmore where we stayed for a night. We left early the next morning and drove to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. This is the rugged land where Teddy went to disappear after losing his mom and his wife on Valentine’s Day 1884. The campgrounds are closed due to COVID, so we got a backcountry permit, which is basically just telling them the dates you’ll be there and what trailhead you’re departing from, so they know where to look if you don’t come back. We shouldered our packs, hiked in several miles and then found a good spot a few hundred yards up a hillside and away from the trail. Sunset, moonrise (the picture at the top of this post) and sunrise the following morning were all pretty amazing. We didn’t see any other people, but we had three buffalo visitors while we were watching the sunrise.
After exploring the park a bit the following day, we drove to Whitefish, Montana where we enjoyed the town for a few days and did some hiking in Glacier National Park. From there we drove to Oregon where we met up with friends from Washington, rented two whitewater rafts and started a four-day river rafting trip down the Wallowa and Grande Ronde rivers. The first few hours were a little hairy as we learned to read the river, row the boats and avoid large boulders, but it quickly became second nature. Each day consisted of rafting for about 15 miles and then finding a place on the shore to camp. Like us, our friends enjoy a good meal, so we left the dehydrated meals at home and instead had things like Dutch Oven lasagna, breakfast burritos with all the fixings and fish tacos made with freshly caught trout. We’d talk and play games around the campfire and then get up the next day, load the boats, shove off and do it again. It was a really fun experience. After reaching the pullout, we loaded the cars and drove to a BNB in Joseph, Oregon for some much-needed showers and a few days of hiking and exploring. That’s where we parted ways with our friends and started heading towards home via Hells Canyon and Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho and then Yellowstone National Park and Grand Tetons National Park in Wyoming before eventually making it back to Nebraska.
In case you’re wondering…
Was everything busy? Not terribly so. International travel is shut down, so more people are choosing road trips for sure. But many others are choosing to stay home altogether, so it didn’t seem overly busy, with the exception of a few National Parks that are always busy regardless.
Are the national parks open? Yes and no. Most parks are at least partially open, but many have closed their campgrounds and lodges. Visit www.nps.gov to check on a park your considering. And if you don’t have a National Park Pass, you need one. It’s an incredible deal. $80 per year if you’re under 62 and $80 for life if you’re over 62.
What about gas stations, hotels, restaurants, etc.? All open for the most part, but they may have reduced capacity or certain requirements like wearing a mask.
Did you wear a mask? Yep. Anytime we were using the gas station, checking into a hotel or generally around the public, we wore a mask to try to limit the risk that we’d catch anything or spread it if we’re asymptomatic. Most places have signs requiring it or at least strongly requesting it.
How much can/should you plan? We made reservations for things like our raft rental and some of our lodging. It was pretty bare bones, however. We often made hotel reservations in the car by looking at Google Maps and figuring out how far we’d get that day. We never had a problem finding anything.
Tips for staying safe
Don’t go if you’re sick. Sometimes the symptoms of COVID are mild, sometimes not. We traveled to some pretty secluded places and didn’t want to be stranded far from medical care. If you’re not feeling well, stay home.
Watch for travel restrictions. We traveled through a number of states, so we checked ahead of time to make sure that they didn’t have any travel restrictions. Just google “current state travel restrictions.”
Design the trip with social distancing in mind. We chose to drive our own car rather than fly. We chose camping where we could instead of hotels. We wore masks when we were around people. We met up with friends who we knew have been social distancing for several months. We chose places that were secluded and activities that were solitary. There are plenty of ways to have a great trip and still be a little cautious.
Bring along some PPE. We brought masks, disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer. Again, a bit of caution is a good thing.
Pack snacks and food. We brought snacks for the car and food for when we were camping. We ordered takeout a few times, but only ate in a restaurant once toward the end of the trip. It had a large outdoor seating area and there was only one other patron there. With a little planning, it was easy to avoid large crowds.
Armchair Travelers
If you want to hit the road from the comfort of your own home, here are a few great road trip books that I’ve enjoyed and you might as well. Safe travels!
Be Intentional,
Joe
by Joe Hearn | Feb 5, 2020 | Happiness, Lifestyle Design, Pursuits, Relationships
Quick thought for today.
If you want to live an intentional life, you should focus primarily on
the present. Let me explain. We all spend part of our days—either mentally
or physically—in the past, present or future.
You’re sitting there right now in the present, but maybe you’re thinking
about something you did this past weekend or dreaming about something you hope
to be doing 5 years from now. Past, present
and future. We all spend our time
inhabiting each of those spaces.
Unfortunately, most of us mess up the proportions. We spend too
much time and energy on the past and the future and not enough on the
present. We look back and worry about the
things we did or didn’t do. We look
forward and dream about the things we hope to eventually do. That only leaves a small amount of our time
where we’re honest to goodness living in and making the most out of the
present.
I’m not saying that you should ignore the past and the
future, but the present should be your priority. Anything else means you’re focusing on things
you can’t change (the past) or things that might not happen (the future). Here are a few suggestions on how to get the
balance right.
How to use your past:
Don’t obsess over it. Don’t
waste your time thinking about regrets or wishing you had done or said things
differently. Don’t cling to
bitterness. Don’t hold grudges. Instead,
think fondly of the good times and be grateful for the wisdom earned and lessons
learned from the challenging times. Use
it as a foundation to build on. Remember
the people, places and things that made you who you are.
How to prepare for your future: Don’t push everything to the future. Don’t treat it as some magical time where you’ll finally start living. Delayed gratification is great if it’s allowing you to work toward something, but it becomes a problem if it becomes an excuse for life avoidance. Use the runway between the present and the future for planning and preparation. Use it to set the proper direction for your life and to get any necessary prerequisites out of the way. Use it to set goals, dream, plan, save and even to experiment. All of those things will help you hit the ground running and make the most out of your future years.
How to live in the present: Don’t get bogged down in the routine of
life. Don’t focus all your time on the
maintenance of living. Don’t live a life
that is frantic and unintentional. Be
present in your days, with your friends and during experiences like vacations
rather than worrying about how to make it look a certain way on social
media. Decide what you really want out
of life and start doing that. Today. Even if you have to start small, start. Have intentional action in your relationships,
activities, health, hobbies, pursuits and every other area of your life. Be proactive.
Learn. Do. Go. Experiment. Take risks.
In other words, live.
A good balance of past/present/future is something like
10/60/30. If yours looks more like
30/20/50, you’re not really living life.
You’re worrying about the life you’ve already lived and dreaming about a
life you hope to someday live.
At Intentional Retirement, we believe that retirement is an
intentional way of living that prioritizes freedom, fulfillment, purpose and
relationships. It starts today and is an
incremental process of aligning your lifestyle and actions with your highest
priorities. To do that, you need to
focus on the present. Stop fretting over
what is past or dreaming about what is to come.
Today is a new day. Start doing.
Be Intentional,
Joe
by Joe Hearn | Jan 9, 2020 | Hobbies, Lifestyle Design, Pursuits
Happy New Year! Just a quick thought today on doing (i.e. taking more at bats). One of the biggest retirement mistakes I see people make has nothing to do with money. It’s that they constantly defer their dreams. They just don’t do stuff. Everything is “someday” this and “someday” that. And I totally get it. It’s hard to decide what you really want out of life. It feels risky to put yourself out there to try stuff. But you absolutely have to do it.
The best advice I can give you for 2020 and beyond is to start
taking some at bats. Right now. Even if you’re not retired. Especially if you’re not retired. The worst that can happen is that things
don’t work out, you get rolled a little bit, so you dust yourself off and try
something different. Ironically, that’s
also one of the best things that can happen.
Because that failure is feedback.
It turns out we’re pretty terrible at knowing what’s going to make us
happy. The more stuff you try, even if
you don’t end up liking it, the better idea you’ll have of what’s important to
you, who’s important to you, what you like, what you dislike, what makes you
happy and what you’re passionate about.
All of those things help you understand yourself and they make
you more self-aware so you can design a life that takes you where you want to
go. Finding out that you actually hate
to travel or you stink at gardening or golf is awesome. That means you won’t waste any time or money
on those things during the prime of your retirement. Instead you can triple down on the things
that you do care about.
So start taking some at bats today. Get out there and try stuff. Take a trip.
Pick up a new hobby. Learn
something new. Meet new people. Challenge yourself. Get outside your comfort zone. Sure, you might strike out a few times. But you’ll get better. You’ll figure out what you really want out of
life and you’ll be doing something about it.
And that’s what living an intentional retirement and an intentional life
is all about.
Be Intentional,
Joe
