I’m Not Going To Costa Rica & Other Announcements

As many of you know, I was recently selected as a finalist in an online contest to win round-trip airfare and a free 2-week trip to Costa Rica. Unfortunately, I was not selected as the winner and I will not be going to Costa Rica in the next several months.

I know. I’m pretty bummed about the outcome of this as well. That said, I do want to take this moment and thank the thousands of people who supported me in this endeavor. Nearly 1,000 people voted for me to win the Costa Rica contest and several dozen left comments about me on the contest voting page. The comments were so nice and positive – you would not believe! Several of them totally blew me away… and they definitely made my mother proud. So thank you, thank you, thank you! Those of you who were rooting for me to win this trip, I can’t thank you enough.

Part of the reason I felt so bad about not winning this trip to Costa Rica is because, in many ways, I felt like I was letting you all down. I wanted to win the trip so I could go to Costa Rica, create some amazing content for you, and feature it here for you on Bicycle Touring Pro. I felt bad about not winning for myself, but I mainly felt bad because I thought that I was letting you down as well.

But you know what? I shortly thereafter realized that I don’t have to go to Costa Rica in order to bring you amazing, inspirational new content. No! I can do that from anywhere in the world! So, here’s the deal…

Over the next several months I plan to use my home in Park City, Utah as my home base. I have been skiing for the past several months and hosting a number of friends who have flown in from California and Germany. But with spring and summer quickly approaching, I have planned out a number of close-to-home micro adventures that I will definitely be sharing with you. Some of these adventures include:

• Running a marathon
• Conducting my first unicycle bike tour
• Exploring the Wasatch National Park (by bike and by foot)
• A Motorcycle trip to Wyoming (and possibly Colorado)
• And a whole lot more!

Even though I didn’t win the free trip to Costa Rica, the contest was a positive thing in that it introduced me to a number of other touring companies around the world – some of which have since gotten in touch with me and are now talking with me about having me come out to work with them, write about their tours, and promote their part of the world. For me, this is exciting… and something I plan to do more of in the future. (Hint-hint: If you work for a travel/tour company that would be interested in having me come out, photograph, record video, and write articles about your adventures/tours, please get in touch with me!)

It has been nearly six months now since I returned from my 9-month bike tour in central and eastern Europe. And as much as I love my home in the mountains of Utah, I want to get out and see as much of the world as I possibly can.

That’s why this summer I hope to conduct at least one larger adventure outside of the United States… in addition to these more local adventures I plan to take near my home.

And then, later this year, I plan to set off again on another multi-month adventure – somewhere overseas. I don’t yet know where I will be going (because there are so many places I want to go that narrowing it down to just one or two is becoming extremely difficult), but I am considering trips to China, Peru, Central America, Eastern Europe, or possibly New Zealand.

In the meantime, Bicycle Touring Pro will continue running as normal. I will continue to post 2-3 new articles, interviews or videos each week and I will continue to educate and inspire you with information on how to make your own travel dreams come true.

In other news, I will soon be releasing the new and improved version of “The Bicycle Traveler’s Blueprint.” This new version is stuffed with some amazing new content… and I really think you are going to like it! And  don’t worry: If you have already ordered a copy of “The Blueprint” you will be sent a copy of this new version at absolutely no cost! Be sure to keep an eye on your email inbox over the next several days… as I will be emailing you with more information.

Also, I am planning to make a big announcement with coming Monday (March 22nd). For the past several months I have been working on a new project with three other famous bicycle touring bloggers… and I’ll be telling you more about the project on the 22nd.

Plus, I’m going to be doing another live video broadcast sometime in the next two weeks where I will be talking about long-distance bike travel and answering any questions you might have about world travel, bike touring and lifestyle design.

So until then, thanks for reading… thanks for your support… and thanks for being a part of the Bicycle Touring Pro community! Make it a great weekend… and be sure to come back on March 22nd for my big announcement. See you then!