The World by Road Expedition

I had the incredible opportunity to meet many of these girls on my trip to Afghanistan in July and I actually got a chance to get out and ride bicycles with them in Bamiyan Province. I have witnessed a small glimpse of what they go through on a daily basis just to do something that people in nearly every other country in the world take for granted... ride a bicycle. But for theses girls, the bicycle is more than just a joy ride, it is a means to get to school, a way to stay safe, and a mechanism for social change. Take a look at the documentary trailer below and support if you can. It is an incredible story and one that deserves to be heard around the world. Afghan Cycles

Afghan Cycles: Breaking Barriers on Two Wheels Afghan Cycles is a feature documentary about a new generation of Afghan women pushing gender and cultural barriers by riding bikes.

https://vimeo.com/120206922

The Thousand Year Journey: Oregon To Patagonia I hope that this film is a healthy nudge for people to shake up their lives a little bit. Jed's radical choice to quit his job and ride his bike across the world…

50 Reasons to #LoveTheWorld We asked a range of people, from writers and chefs to musicians and photographers, to share one experience from the last year that truly inspired them – something that, in no uncertain terms, reminded them why they love the world. Madly. Here's what they told us.

WORDS MATTER Words matter. Especially in Iran where what is permissible — to say, to do, to be seen to say or do — is an ever changin…

Follow-up to the work of Mountain 2 Mountain and women breaking barriers in Afghanistan on their bicycles. Check it!

Liv Beyond: Shannon Galpin and the Afghanistan Women's Cycling Team For the past two years Liv has worked with Shannon Galpin, a 2013 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year and her Mountain2Mountain non-profit organizatio...

Stepping outside the comfort zone (and into a war zone) for the greater good. If you are looking for inspiration, or just an amazing story, preorder now!

Mountain to Mountain: A Journey of Adventure and Activism for the Women of Afghanistan Being inspired to act can take many forms. For some it's taking a weekend to volunteer, but for Shannon Galpin, it meant leaving her career, selling her house, launching a nonprofit and committing her life to advancing education and opportunity for women and girls. Focusing on the war-torn countr...

Noodle on this a bit before you decide to go somewhere and save the world... "Voluntourism is ultimately about the fulfillment of the volunteers themselves, not necessarily what they bring to the communities they visit."

#InstagrammingAfrica: The Narcissism of Global Voluntourism Voluntourism is ultimately about the fulfillment of the volunteers themselves, not necessarily what they bring to the communities they visit.

Some great insight and advice!

#Vanlife vs. #Houselife, or, The Greener Grass | adventure journal vs. , or, The Greener Grass by hilary oliverJune 12, 2014My friend’s smile lit up as she pulled up the photo on her phone and held it across the table for me to see, like someone showing off a photo of her child. Except her photo was of a van. She and her boyfriend were retrofitti…

The hardest step is the first step... commit and the rewards will follow!

Advice on quitting your job and travelling for a year Embarking on an extended adventure often means taking a leap of faith and leaving key responsibilities behind. But those that have done it say the experience is more than worth it.

I was looking through the TWBR "gas log" the other day and reminiscing about all of the cities, towns and villages around the globe where we stopped to top off the tanks, wondering how much they have changed or how they have somehow remained they same. Just like the price of fuel, travel is like the lottery... on any given day, the places you've been and the places you hope to go can change and that's the magic.

These things are always a little bit gimmicky, but I was shocked to find that this time, it actually suggested the only place I've been where I saw a real possibility of living. For me, Cape Town is calling. Where should you be living?

What City Should You Actually Live In? Just because you were born somewhere doesn't mean you belong there.

It's hard to realize how much someone can have an influence on you, especially when you are young. For me, looking back over time, I realize a teacher at Montera Jr. High in Oakland, CA was one of those influences. Mr. Ray was my phys ed and cross country coach and not only did he instill in me a love for running, he lead by example. He ran every single mile of every single workout with us. No other coach in any other sport I participated in joined in on the workouts... they ...just yelled at us. Mr. Ray could have sat on the sidelines, he was 60, and he could have yelled and people probably would have listened... I later found out he was awarded the Soldier's Medal for Heroism in 1944 while fighting on the beaches of Normandy in France during WWII. But I remember Mr. Ray simply smiling and saying "let's go for a run shall we." Come to think of it, I don't actually remember him telling anyone to run or making them run, we just wanted to when we were around him. I actually think it was hard for him to hold back and not jump in and run with us in the weekly meets during the season. I also remember Mr. Ray driving the team around in his Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia. He loved that thing. So much so that he put thousands of more miles on it during long road trips in the summers when school wasn't in session. Running and road trips. It's been 23 years, and I've done my fair share of running, a lot of it actually, and I've been on a few road trips, some bigger than others. Looking back, I can't help but wonder if somehow, without force or judgment, Mr. Ray had a subtle yet influential hand in shaping running and traveling into two of the most important things in my life. Running and traveling have taken me to the ends of the earth and back, and much, much farther from the practice fields at Montera Jr. High than I could have ever imagined. Thanks Mr. Ray, rest in peace.

Charles Ray - 1924 - 2013