Ok whether you have ran a 1/2 or full marathon you will relate to this hilarious video. Even if you have trained for this great running event, eaten the best you can, slept the best night, this is how you will probably feel.

Enjoy - if you can't laugh at yourself who can you laugh at,

Karen

4 grams = 1 teaspoon of sugar

Over the most recent years food companies have been ‘sneaking’ in fat, salt and sugar into our foods. So be aware some of the foods you have been eating may be higher in sugar than you think.

Take Care,

Karen

We learned that we are not really nomads. Our desert guide Yussuf is a true nomad – he does not remember when his family became nomads – that is just the tribe they are for as far back as he knows. A true nomad does not move homes – they travel all day in search of food for their animals to let them graze, returning home every night. The only time they move their home is when there is no rain and there is no grass growing for their sheep, donkeys and dromidaries.

Yussuf never went to school, but speaks 5 languages (not perfect but well enough). He works with tourists a few days (cook, cleans and entertains) and then walks for hours to find his family and give them money to buy food.  He knows where his family is because his father comes to town once in a while to buy food at the market – otherwise they live from what they grow. When the sun goes down they play music, sing, dance and go to sleep.

Yussuf never wants to leave the desert or his nomadic life – he wants the silence only found out there in the dunes, surrounded by nothing but sand and a sky like a screen of stars....

Who knew it was over 20km? Apparently not us, locals kept cheering us on in French. It’s funny, we are constantly hassled in the souks to buy things from the locals. We have been approached approximately 10 times in the evening to buy hash. We also didn’t know it is the hash capital of the world, thanks to the foreigners. Our guide books even tell us how to buy it safely. Wild.  But when you are outside these areas the locals are not aggressive at all. I also think that they are just plain surprised to see 2 women running without burkas. I was told years ago by a carpet salesperson in southern Turkey,  that no matter what country you live in the ‘dregs of society’ will gather around an area of high tourism. Same,same all over the world. Out of the big city now, the journey continues....

Karen

Websites such as www.vrbo.com, www.booking.com and www.sabbaticalhome.com are great websites to find apartments anywhere in the world. Having a kitchen even if it’s small allows you to have a space to have meals, even if it’s only breakfast.

     2.Go for the set menus, at lunch.

Not only is this a great money saver it also allows you to have a large meal at lunch. We just had a 3 course lunch in Barcelona for 10 Euro. That included bread and wine and in Barcelona lunch is 1 – 4pm so eating at 4pm was like an early dinner to us.

     3.Go to the local supermarket and/or farmers market.

Not only will you get to see what the locals eat you can stock up on fresh fruits and vegetables. Don’t forget about the cheese (when in Europe). Even in third world countries fruits and vegetables with skins are fine. Pick up staples like cereal bars, quick snacks , etc.

     4.Take a few things from home.

I love peanut butter on bread first thing in the morning. Because in many countries they don’t have PB, I bring mine from home. I have never been in any country that didn’t make their own wonderful bread.

    5.I’ve said it again and again, eat in moderation

Many countries have great regional food. Just use common sense and don’t eat too much.

      6.Watch the drink calories.

Those creamy drinks with straws in them are delicious but ingredients such as coconut milk can add a lot of extra calories in your day. Also be aware of too much juice, again, secret extra calories. I myself like wine and maybe a mojito.

      7.Walk, walk, walk

It’s no surprise that Europeans are healthier than us. They walk everywhere, especially in cities. Walking is the best and easiest form of exercise. It is especially great after a meal.

Travel safe and stay healthy!

Karen

I travel to Europe often. I have just started another European experience in Barcelona, Spain.  In Europe, many countries are experiencing troubles due to excessive sovereign debt. In particular, there are problems in Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain (the “PIIGS”), with Greece and Spain particularly noteworthy cases.

What is the Source of the Problems?

The standard explanation for the problems in some of the countries, e.g. Greece, is that lack of effective monitoring of government deficits within euro area countries and lack of enforcement of the rules on how much debt a country can have allowed excessive debt levels to accumulate. In other cases such as Spain, the problem wasn’t irresponsible budget behaviour; it was the recession that caused the government budget to collapse.

Thus, the problems were generated both by bad behaviour and by bad luck, and once these countries got into trouble, the deficit problems were made worse by the fact that countries within the euro area do not have the ability to use independent monetary policy. If these countries had their own currency, they could devalue and stimulate exports and this would offset the negative effects from raising taxes or cutting spending to address the deficit problem, but that option is not available.

What are the Possible Solutions?

There are two problems to address, how to prevent debt problems from happening in the first place, and what to do if problems develop despite attempts to prevent them.

A key factor here is the ability to measure debt loads accurately. Accounting tricks such as those used by Greece to hide its growing indebtedness should not be allowed. Thus, in addition to the need for penalties when countries are out of compliance, the reporting rules need to be strengthened so that compliance can be accurately assessed.

I have seen no attempts to reduce spending, Saying that I am in areas that see a lot of people. But in booking this trip I did not see any ‘reduced’ prices for accommodations and food. Maybe these countries need to look at other areas to stimulate their economy instead of looking for the government for relief.

Travel Safe,

Karen

How great CEO’s keep their teams connected as described by Ibarra and Hansen.

They require strong skills in the four areas:

1/  Playing the connector roles

2/  Attracting diverse talent

3/  Modeling collaboration at the top.

4/  Showing a strong hand to keep teams from getting mired in debate

The good news is that these skills can be learned.

Part 1;

I will start out this series with “Play Global Connector”

In his bestselling book ‘The Tipping Point’ , Malcolm Gladwell used the term connector to describe individuals who make ties to different social worlds. It’s not the number of people they know that makes the connector significant, however it’s their ability to link ideas, people and resources that wouldn’t normally bump into one another. In business connectors are critical facilitators of collaboration.

Take Davis Kenny of Akamai Technologies. He uses a number of tactics to do this.

1/  I check in on Foursquare often and post my location to Facebook and Twitter. It lets my employees in different locations know I am in town. So that any one at any level can bring me suggestions.

2/  Every time I go to one of my locations, I have lunch or coffee with 20 – 40 people. We go around the room and ask people what topics they most want to address.

3/  If I see a big opportunity when meeting a customer or colleague, I will schedule a follow-up and bring along the right experts.

4/  Whenever I travel, I try to make room to meet 2 or 3 people I know in that location. Whenever possible I bring someone else from the company with me.

Take Beth Comstock from General Electric.

She is famous for her weekly ‘Blackberry Beth’ blog, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/beth-comstock in which she shares what she has learned in her external role for busy GE managers. ‘I work hard to curate information that I don’t believe many at GE will have heard and to translate info in a way that is relevant  to our challenges.’

Connectors can work in an external environment or can be a strong connector internally. Both have the ability to link people, ideas and resources.

Stay connected,

Karen Sytnick