I’m sitting here in Joberg airport waiting for my next flight, a bit amazed at this whole situation. Of all the places I have been to in my life I have never been to Africa, and yet, here I am in this incredible, beautiful, troubled continent. The last 48 hours since I left Washington DC have been blissfully smooth. Thanks to the unreasonable amount of travel I do, I have earned enough air miles to be able to upgrade to business class for this flight. That and a surprisingly awesome 11 hours in Frankfurt have brought me here in an outstanding level of comfort. Good thing, too, because this is going to be a long, hard month.

Now, before I go any further, it is worth mentioning my time in Frankfurt for, as I said, it was surprisingly awesome. Not because I didn’t expect Frankfurt be fun, just that I didn’t expect it to be quite as much fun as it was. I arrived at 11AM and promptly took the train into town. I spent the afternoon wandering around the city center and managed to stumble across the flea market that runs along the southern shore of the Main River every Sat. Full of all kinds of hawkers selling everything from fake samurai swords to bootleg DVD’s to chipped imitation antique china, 1960’s ski boots, to 1970’s Soviet Union pushpins—it’s good to know that junk is junk no matter what country you’re in. Though who am I to judge—one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

From the flea market I promptly forwarded myself to biergarten (pub), a logical progression if you ask me, and proceeded to tour the various local brews and apfelwien (apple cider).

A tour of the Modern Art museum followed and proved to be quite a marvelous experience. It has been a long time since I went to a modern art museum and though it suffered from the typical big blue canvases in the middle of an empty room and even a pile of cow dung encased in glass, there was a photographic exhibit by Taryn Simon that was fantastic. The premise was to capture images of American social, political and cultural significance that would otherwise be closed to the public. Photos included everything from spent nuclear fuel rods to the interior of the Ku Klux Klan headquarters to art exhibits in the CIA building. It was, in a word, brilliant.

With little time to spare and an empty stomach I decided to wander through the city center looking for a place to eat. My requirements were simple, really REALLY good local food at a reasonable price. Unfortunately it proved harder than I thought and after an hour of chattering teeth and the countdown to departure ticking away I passed a very nice hotel. Here’s a tip: if you find yourself in a city that you don’t know, go to a nice hotel and find a door man, or concierge. Tip him or her 10 or 20 bucks and ask for a recommendation. Even if you’re not staying let the money do the talking. Sure enough the doorman pointed me towards a very popular local place behind the hotel and down an alley. Just like he promised, it was packed and I was lucky to find one seat at the bar. It was absolutely fantastic, unpretentious, friendly, packed with locals, and only 20 Euros for two huge beers and a wonderful main course. Once I sat down and put my bags under the bar, I asked the bartender a simple question: if you had one last night in Frankfurt before heading off to Africa for a month, what would you order? He promptly pointed me towards the ‘woodcutter steak with fried potatoes and the local beer;’ and let me tell you, ladies and gentlemen, it was divine. Now, if any of you ever find yourself in Frankfurt looking for a wonderful place to eat, go there. The place is called Klosterhof but if you go there you have to promise me you’ll be polite, patient, and keep your voices down. Americans are always the loudest people in any place I have been, and with the current high esteem in which the rest of the world holds us, it is a good idea to be as respectful as possible.

Belly full, I jumped in a cab and headed off to the airport and a 12-hour flight, which brings me full circle to the here and now…Africa and a month of adventures the likes of which I can’t even imagine. Trepidation, excitement, joy and wonder have all combined into a tight ball of energy in my stomach which releases a short burst of adrenaline every few minutes reminding me of how incredible it is to be here.

This is going to be quite an adventure and as my father once said, “adventure is where you lead a full life.” Next stop…Tanzania in a few hours. Stay tuned and I’ll keep you updated as much as I can.

Turkey Day is past us, and the rest of the holiday season is right around the corner. In celebration, and to encourage you to buy green gifts for the holidays, we wanted to provide you with a list of green stores in the Washington, DC, area. I’ll keep the list short since you’re probably eager to get started right away!

• Eco-Green Living: Keith’s store has been around for a few years and offers a great variety of green and fair trade products, ranging from home and building to home and personal accessories to organic and fair trade clothing. It is located in Logan Circle, one street away from Whole Foods.
• Greater Goods: Recently opened, this store on U Street focuses on products for energy efficiency, water savings, and waste management. As a side note, Eco-Coach will be doing workshops there in the new year, so check out their website for an upcoming schedule!
• Hoopla: Another recently-opened store, this Adams Morgan store is for the green fashionista. They carry a range of fair trade, green, and eco-friendly jewelry, handbags, clothing, and art.

And if you want to take a break from shopping and get some good, sustainable food, here are some of our favorite restaurants for you to try out!

• Java Green: Absolutely wonderful vegan food - I’m not a vegetarian nor a food critic, but Java Green has a loyal following (yours truly being one of the disciples), not to mention that all the plastics used are biodegradable (down to the straws!).
• Hook: For those of you who like fish but don’t eat it because it’s not sustainable, I’ve got great news! Now there’s a place to go to get your fix! Did I mention that EarthEcho International helped them with their sustainability messaging? The food is great, can’t say enough about it!
• Restaurant Nora: A classic - or should I say two classics - Restaurant Nora and Asia Nora are both certified organic. Actually, Restaurant Nora was the first certified organic restaurant in the United States. Pretty exciting and, again, great food.

If you’re in other parts of the country, we’d love to hear what your favorite places are - and if you’re in DC and have discovered other green places, let us know!!

I’m happy to post yet another “guest blog” from my pal TaRa Redavid, who joined us on the Warped Tour eco adventure. Check it out:

Before Al Gore and those inconvenient truth’s, there was a time…when being green wasn’t so cool. Believe me I know. I organized school clean up days in third grade and started my school district’s recycling program in 5th. I lobbied to have the Styrofoam school lunch trays replaced with cardboard and with a bit of pressure the local McDonald’s soon followed suit. I would collect six pack wrappers and cut them up and I even went through all the trash cans after school talent shows and picked out the aluminum cans to recycle. I was on a mission to save the world and I didn’t care who thought it was nerdy. This was good, because back then almost everyone did.

When it was 110 degrees this summer on warped tour and my truth.com co-hort Jeannine and I felt that we could handle no more, we would joke,” It’s okay we’re going to go on the eco-expedition when this is all over.” We’d haul bags of cans to the warped eco-initiative tent at the end of everyday, like I had done as a kid but things had changed. This summer caring actually became cool…and we won! It took me 26 years to get here but I feel like I earned it!

For as long as I can remember I have felt an incredible depth of respect for the ocean but to have been so lucky to be rewarded with the chance to experience in the way which we did is literally just life altering. I got to spend time with the world’s leading experts on marine conservation-people who are working to help coral regenerate as well as preserve the existing coral and with some of the most beautiful creatures the world has to offer.

We watched the most jaw dropping sunset I’ve ever seen. We kayaked among the mangroves which look like small islands made entirely of trees. Whether it was sea kayaking with new friend-for-life Philippe Cousteau and dunking each other in the ocean or having Warped Tour creator Kevin Lyman help me steer my kayak into a cove in the mangroves where if you sat quietly you could hear dozens of different bird calls; I have all these incredible moments burned into my brain. I’ve become nothing short of obsessed with sea kayaking since leaving Key West and am currently looking into purchasing my own sea kayak. I came home feeling lighter and happier then I have in years and relaxed and content in a way that would only serve to undermine it if I tried to type words to explain it.

The ocean’s singular ability to illustrate the web of interrelated life systems and mutual aid of vastly different and beautiful organisms floored me. Getting to see so much of the ocean world only further increased my incredible desire to save it. I realize now that not only can we do it…but we must! My endless thanks to all the amazing people at EarthEcho, the Warped production staff, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, and MOTE Marine Lab for hands down one of the best weekends of my life. Every single person on the trip was engaging, fun and inspiring to be around. It felt so nice to be in the midst of such wonderful people in such a beautiful place and I am forever grateful for this experience and all of you!

Locals Only,
TaRa
“It’s 5:00 somewhere.”

P.S.
I also learned that islands with intact coral reefs were spared some from the worst of the wave’s impact from the Tsunami and if the coral had not been depleted in other areas it would have saved countless lives and property. That might have been the most shocking fact I learned that weekend second only to finding out that Key Lime Spaghetti sauce is more delicious then it is weird.

Emails among the VANS Warped Tour eco adventure trip winners are still flying back and forth. I’m happy to share with you this post from Diane Boschert, who is the Mom of Kacey, one of the winning fans. Diane is definitely the coolest Mom EVER (with the exception of my own, of course)! Here’s what she has to say:

What more can I say? The Eco Trip experience in Key West truly was an unforgettable adventure. We were in one of the most beautiful places on earth accompanied by some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met. On Thursday many of us were complete strangers. By Friday evening, we were friends. Through a common love of music, positive energy, and environmental awareness and action, a dynamic group of people came together for 3 days to celebrate our environmental efforts while learning more about this precious “water planet.” Thank you, EarthEcho and Friends, from the bottom of my heart for including us in this trip and for what you do. We will never forget the moments of awe and laughter. Being “blue” has never been better!

-Diane Boschert (Kacey’s Mom)