Volunteer Travel Q&A on Facebook with Shelley Seale

Writer and travel junkie Shelley Seale will be a guest on a Q&A discussion about volunteer travel this Saturday, May 16 from 10 am to 4 pm.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=86033206565

The discussion will be hosted on Facebook by The Voluntary Traveler Book Project. This is an anthology of volunteer travel tales that is coming out this fall; Shelley is a contributing author to the book (more info below).

About the Book
The Voluntary Traveler is a travel anthology penned by writers from all over the world. Focused on inspiring volunteer vacations and/or encouraging adventure-minded people to see volunteer work as a part of ones longer journey, the book will also include a volunteer guide section, listing charities needing volunteer assistance, plus organizations that coordinate service orientated travel.

The Voluntary Traveler is being published by Dog’s Eye View Media. The book’s creator and content editor, author Nola Lee Kelsey, has a goal of producing a title that helps people see the best aspects of making a positive impact through “voluntourism” and dispels the perception of volunteer vacations as a sacrifice. In other word, we focus on the good, the amusing, the mind-expanding and the adventurous facets of this type of travel.

This book is designed with the hope of:

Opening up new worlds to readers with intriguing and inspiring stories by real-life travelers who have walked the walk, not just talked the talk of volunteer travel

Illustrating the fun/adventurous side of volunteer vacations

Giving publicity to smaller charities world-wide who can benefit most from your help, but have the least budget for networking and recruiting assistance

Presenting an intelligent/interesting option to mindless tours and mankind’s innate travel practices.

Offering tips, advice and options to people considering making a difference along the way

Inspiring an army of volunteer-minded travelers to lend a hand, helping charities large and small meet their goal of making the world a better place

Fall Bhutan program: new price!

THIS JUST IN: The Bhutanese government has just lowered their daily travel tariff to encourage visitors to Bhutan and so we are passing that savings directly on to you!
The fall trip price is no longer $3800; it’s now only $3420. (Single supplement is still $300)
We will be booking this program soon, so if you are interested to join us contact Chris Mackay at chris@crookedtrails.com before the end of May.

Click here to read about this fantastic program.

Venetian Carnival is SOLD OUT!!!

Hope you got your tickets, because the ticket sales were swift this year and we are now officially maxed out!

For those of you who missed the cut-off – we’re sorry we can’t welcome you to join us (fire marshals must be obeyed) but hope to see you at one of our next events.

For you lucky ducks who will be partying with us, see you Saturday!!!

Lonely Planet guidebook: help or hindrance?

Our intrepid co-founder shares her expertise and Crooked Trails gets a shout-out in this article about the right way to use the “Backpacker’s Bible”, the Lonely Planet guide book.

Every Backpacker’s Bible: Unpacking the Gospel According to Lonely Planet

We Came, We Chatted, We Drank

Crooked Trails staff, board and volunteers had a blast hosting the March GreenDrinks at Ecohaus. A huge thanks to all of you who came out!

Folks from all over the green spectrum came out to connect, learn about our work, share a drink and get to know each other.

Besides holding a bingo game and drawing for door prizes, we also gathered GreenDrinkers’ nuggets of wisdom from their own travel experiences. A few of the highlights:

What’s the most exciting means of transportation you have found abroad?

“Green Sea Turtle, Galapagos, Ecuador”
“The top of a bus for 4 hours. Pig behind me in a bag – alive. 2 chickens, many bags of coal + me = fun in Palawan!”
“Free bike share in Amsterdam!”

What is your favorite food experience traveling?

“Hot peppers while vegetarian in kurdish Turkey but forgot to wash my hands before hitting the head for a whizz.”
“Whatever’s available in the Sahara”
“Breadfruit over an open fire, Tuamotu, FP”

Seattle Supterfuge was there too – read their account.

A Chat with Philip Swanstrom Shaw from Golden Lasso

Over the years, Crooked Trails has received a lot of support and helping hands from “angels” in our midst. Often, it is just the thing we needed at the exact moment it is most beneficial.

When the mavens at local marketing firm Golden Lasso offered up their pro-bono services to help us develop a new set of marketing tools and messaging, the timing was impeccable. The ensuing months of working with them were a testament to a true business with heart. The care, patience, respect and generosity they brought to the table while working on our behalf allowed us to reach beyond our own mental cul-de-sacs and aspire for greater heights in delivering the message of who we are and what we do.

Wrapping up the current phase of our project with Golden Lasso (we’ll be happy to look towards working with them more in the future!), we asked Golden Lasso’s Creative Director Philip Swanstrom Shaw a few questions to learn more about this extraordinary group and their vision.

How did Golden Lasso come about and what is the scope of your services?
Golden Lasso is 12 years old and was originally called the Culligan Group. Bridget Culligan, our Principal, chose to rebrand her agency into Golden Lasso because of her philosophy that a brand needed to express what our clients are about and not about who or what the agency was. The following is a brief list of the services Golden Lasso provides: Design, Advertising, Marketing and Communications, Strategic Messaging, Direct Response Programs, Lead Generation Programs, Web Development, Broadcast Quality Audio and Video Services, Environmental Graphics and Trade Show Support.

Why the name Golden Lasso?
Golden Lasso, the fabled “Lasso of Truth”, existed as a tool to both determine a person’s truth and to get them to tell it. For us, the Golden Lasso represents how we work hard to tell our client’s truths to their audiences and get those audiences to respond.

How did you hear about Crooked Trails and what prompted you to donate your time and talents to us?
One of our designers, Sarah Steiger, was directed to find organizations who could use marketing volunteers so that what we could offer our collective expertise to improve an organization’s communications and ultimately, their bottom line. Sarah found Crooked Trails online and there was unanimous interest in our agency for Crooked Trails mission.  Sarah has been the driving force at our agency to provide sharp and usable communications for Crooked Trails and she works closely with Renee Porter for strategy and Jules Binder-Sifford for copywriting. It’s been a team effort and we love doing what we do when it makes a difference.

What are some of the creative strategies that GL has developed and applied to the world of marketing?
We specialize in Direct Response marketing. We define that further by calling ourselves a Direct RESULTS marketing and communications agency. This means we apply targeting, response and analytics to our strong design, communication, advertising and strategy backgrounds to deliver approaches that can be measured and modified based on knowledge.

What are some examples of your work that Seattlites may recognize – logos, marketing campaigns etc?
Holland America Line is one of our largest accounts and we handle a large portion of their direct marketing communications. If you have received something from Holland America Line in the mail, chances are we produced it. We produced packaging for Seattle’s Chocolates for more than 5 years and a lot of that packaging is still being used season after season. A brand that we worked to develop and are very proud of is The Seattle Public Library. We were selected to redesign their identity in coordination with the groundbreaking of the Rem Koolhas Central Branch. We created tools and branding that could be applied to that iconic effort, as well as, neighborhood branches.

What are your hopes and goals for 2009?
Over the last 5 years we have exhibited a commitment to non-profits and social causes by providing bottom-line value to those organization’s brands and development activities. While we believe that Golden Lasso will always have a broad variety of industries and clients we serve, we are excited to continue the growth of our social-cause marketing clientle. The current economic climate is further proof of what we have been encouraging our social-cause clients to consider for the last several years: the old way or “the way we have always done it” is no longer going to provide the same returns. With our experience in the for-profit world and emerging media, we can apply tried and true marketing to new communications to maintain an organization’s position in this time of uncertainty while better preparing them for times ahead, good and bad. Simply put, we are excited to prove this to our client’s whose missions are near and dear to our hearts.

If you could take a month off and travel anywhere in the world right now, what would be your top 3 destination picks?
Azores. South Pacific. Middle East. Those are mine. However, if you asked the whole gang, those locations would go on to include: China, Africa, Germany, Czech Republic, Mexico, Alaska, Japan, Nepal, India, the list goes on. We are a traveling bunch and we also live vicariously through our co-workers travels.

Anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
I think it’s an obvious statement these days, but maybe more obvious to Crooked Trails supporters and travelers, that we are at a crossroad of history – economically and politically. Every dollar we spend and every hour we commit to anything should be aligned with our personal philosophies, whatever they may be. Living the lives we want to live, or believe in, should be tempered with the impacts and benefits that living that life can have on others. It’s my hope that we can keep our eyes, minds and hearts open and offer grace in every step. To that end, thanks Crooked Trails for the opportunities you offer the world and thanks for allowing us to be a part of that.

A Peek Inside Cascade View

by Crooked Trails intern, Lindsey Goldberg

It has been quite exciting to launch a partnership between Cascade View Elementary School and Crooked Trails. It is powerful to have found a way to fulfill the mission of Crooked Trails, to facilitate cultural exchange rooted in service learning, locally. Already we have developed meaningful relationships with members of their academic team and look forward to the relationships that we will cultivate with the students in the near future.

On Thursday February 26th, a group of seven of us from Crooked Trails went down to Cascade View. Anne Marie Sorenson, the school’s social worker met us and helped to facilitate the fingerprinting and documentation needed in order to volunteer in the Tukwila school district. Anne Marie described the culture of school, the nature of the needs and how we will help to fill those areas of need. In conversation many of the volunteers voiced how their skill set could come in handy and there were some great ideas raised as to how we can make a positive impact on their school community. We went on a tour of the school where we were shown different wings, including the after-school program in action in the art room, tech lab and library. It was fun to walk the halls admiring the abundance of student work covering the walls. We shared laughter and emotion as we were all moved in different ways by the sweetness, creativity, and intelligence we witnessed in the students’ work.

Kelly Meloche, volunteer, “One thing I noticed hanging in the halls was art that prompted the children to complete the sentence ‘If I were president I would…..” One child wrote “If I were president I would make sure everyone had a bed to sleep in”. Which made me realize that not having a bed is often a reality these children face in their lives and how scary that must be.”

We finished the tour in the gymnasium and adjoining cafeteria, Anne Marie introduced us to the members of the Cascade View community who were helping prep for the potluck and put a couple of us right to work. We taped down tables, sliced bread and prepared prizes for games. As the families began to arrive with heaping platters and bowls of food reflective of their cultures, we mingled, made small talk and exchanged smiles with adults and kids. At 6pm, the table was lined with more food than most of us knew what to do with, we got the opportunity to serve food to the 300+ members of the community who came to eat! It was fun engaging with all types of people, encouraging some folks to try a dish they had never tasted before, getting excited with the kids over the array of desserts and helping out moms who were carrying two loaded plates. I got to try Samoan delicacies and Injera, moist bread from Ethiopia.

It was a lovely evening. The staff, administration and greater community were appreciative of the time and energy we gave to the school. I really enjoyed getting to know the other volunteers and look forward to times when we will all meet there again to engage with the community.

Reflection is an important part of service; I have especially moved upon reflection in the days since the event. I know that this opportunity will invite growth in the lives of the students and family we reach as well as growth in ourselves as we find ways to connect that may transcend language and culture. This experience is about people across age groups, socio-economic and cultural groups. We are privileged to have access to this opportunity.

Kelly Meloche, volunteer, “When I walked through the halls at Cascade View I was greeted with warm smiles, friendly faces, bright colors and creativity. There was an unexplainable amount of excitement about the magic that is created within Cascade View Elementary… After the night was over and I walked out to my car with a sense of renewed appreciation and respect for life and realized that together we build a community where the possibilities are endless.”

Child & mural photo by woodleywonderworks

Join us March 10th – we’re hosting Seattle Green Drinks!

Money’s tight, job uncertain, looking for options or just a good time?

All good reasons to come out to GreenDrinks this month.
Hosted by Crooked Trails!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009            5:30 – 9:00 pm

at Ecohaus flagship store 4121 First Avenue South, in SoDo
Join us and several hundred of our friends in the “green” world for a fun, FREE night to make great connections in all facets of Seattle’s environmental community and celebrating the silver linings for a change!
WIN cool door prizes!

We’ve got some sweet door prizes for you Green Drinkers, kindly donated by outdoor clothing makers Ex Officio and Seattle’s fantastic Smash! Wine Bar.

You’ll also have a chance to win tickets to Crooked Trail’s Venetian Masked Carnival Ball, the wildest partythis year!
FREE beer, wine & snacks!

As always, we’ll be enjoying fantastic beer from Sierra Nevada Brewing, wine from Kestrel Vintners and organic munchies from Full Circle Farms.

Keep it Green – Bring Your Own Cup!

What constitutes “responsible travel”?

Find out in this great article about Crooked Trails on the Seattle International Travel Examiner:

http://www.examiner.com/x-3068-Seattle-International-Travel-Examiner~y2009m2d18-Travel-Responsibly-with-Crooked-Trails

Tumbao joins the April 18th line-up

We’re so excited about the band we recently lined up for our April 18th Carnival event that we thought we’d share it with you – check these guys out!

Click on “listen to our new cd” on Tumbao’s website:  http://www.tumbao.us/Home.htm

“…an exuberant, joyful, energetic and amazing musical ride that soars and swings. Trust me when I say that you will be more than willing to go. “
JIM McELROY – JAZZREVIEW.COM