"May the odds be ever in your favor"

Last week I discussed how I enjoy reading books before they are made into movies. This week, I will continue the theme. The Hunger Games franchise recently came to an end when the final movie came out last week. I grew up reading these books and thoroughly enjoyed all of the movies as well. A few weeks ago I was learning about social media and how people and companies use social media success to contribute to actual success. One young girl in a Frontline interview linked this to The Hunger Games, comparing the two to the fact that in the arena of the games, tributes have to get people to like them in order to gain sponsors and gifts by silver parachute. Although this is way more extreme, social media follows the same guidelines; in order to be successful on social media, content produced has to be liked and valued by others. The young girl spends hours each day tweeting and helping promote the franchise for fun, Katniss Everdeen, the girl on fire devotes her life to the rebellion of killing President Snow. Although both different scenarios, the important message is to follow your passion and work towards a goal. The Hunger Games trilogy helps empower young girls to never give up.

Long drives

Audio books are a lifesaver and time killer when it comes to long drives. Since I spend a lot of time driving to Gainesville or Jacksonville from Pensacola, that can be at least five hours of driving at a time. Sometimes I can not always find a driving buddy and it is easy to get sick of the same music. I have found that downloading a good audio book helps the time pass. The first audio book I ever listened to was Gone Girl, and recently The Martian, but currently I am listening to In the Heart of the Sea. Also made into movie that will be hitting theaters in December. I like reading books or rather listening to books that are soon to be movies because it gives me a deadline to finish the book and comparing the two is fun for me. So for this post, I encourage you to consider checking out an audio book next time you need to take a solo road trip!

Not all who wander are lost

However, sometimes they are. On my last travel experience to the Bahamas, my boyfriend and I got lost. In a world of GPS and smart phones that can tell you where to go down to the last foot, when traveling abroad, the luxury of using your cellular data is often accompanied by high roaming fees and extremely slow because of the lack of locating a signal. In all of my travel experiences I have had to rely on a paper map to get by. My dad is a cartographer, meaning he makes maps and uses ariel photography to do so. The point of this post is to urge you to rely less on your smartphone, and learn to live in simplicity. Although phones make our lives so much easier, they need extra sources to provide the power we may need such as a charger and data or wifi. When away from all three things, it is smart to know how to function without the help of a smartphone or the internet.