I’m grateful for this opportunity to blog about poverty along with my fellow bloggers out there in the blogosphere on Blog Action Day.

Poverty is an important topic of discussion as it affects every single person, even if they don’t realize it. Poverty affects people of all ages, races, all around the world. It also can not be easily defined. Although the government believes it can. According to the US Census Bureau 37.3 million people were living below poverty level in 2007.  The government takes into account the number of family members living in the household and gives them a monetary value based on their threshold of need. Then the amount of income for that household is divided by the amount of threshold for need. If the income is greater than the threshold of need then that family is not considered to be in poverty by official definition.

But unfortunately the world does not always work like that. Can living paycheck to paycheck be considered poverty? I mean sure you aren’t going under- but still… your not making anything to better your situation. It’s all quite controversial really, but this isn’t the point of my post. My point is that it’s not only the homeless and hungry who are suffering. Because there are speculations out there that the gap between the upper class and lower class is widening and the middle class is disappearing, this tells me that there are many many more than just 37.3 million people out there who are suffering from poverty.

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Even though it was yesterday I wanted to support the holiday. Here are five blogs  that I would highly recommend:

Jeff Pulver’s Blog: This is one I read on a regular basis, and I do recommend because not only is he a great guy but he has great insights on the Web 2.0 world

Full Of It: I love this blog. Random ramblings from a close certain somebody

PR-Squared: The next generation of PR. Todd Defren from Shift Communication’s blog

StaynAlive: All about Social Media and anything tech. From a new acquaintance Jesse Stay- who you better watch out for, this guy he is going to go far

And to stay true to my blog: 

Amateur Traveler: podcasting about unique travel locations- Chris interviews someone who knows the location really wel,l offering great insider tips and tools

I often ask myself why I love to travel so much. I have yet to come up with a definitive answer to that question. But why do we like anything? What in our brain allows us to like and dislike…stuff? Totally random I realize. When it comes to snowboarding and wakeboarding, it’s obvious why I like it, it’s fun. So I like to travel because it’s fun? Is it really though? I mean think about all the stress that comes with traveling. Planning, rushing, waiting, packing and often times in the nature of my travels- even disappointment. So, why do I do it to myself? I guess the reason I am writing this post is because this summer has been the worst. I’ve had a handful of trips that I have planned and gotten excited for, and then to have it fall through- only offers disappointment and frustration. As of now, another trip is on the verge of great disappointment.

But then I look through my pictures, and I remember why I love to travel. Traveling for leisure is by far one of the most satisfying inner victories (other than winning the Olympics of course).  Had I not gone through the stress and the agony of some of these trips, I would not have been able to see glaciers in Alaska, enjoyed baseball and football games with family, or relaxed by the beach and enjoyed the sunsets.

Traveling is truly a zen like expirience. Once you leave your stresses behind you and vow to not let a simple thing like missing flights get you down, is when you truly live, learn and love. I urge you, sit down and plan a vacation. Your mind, body and soul will thank you. If I didn’t travel, I would have gone crazy already.

I am so excited to share my travels and unique expiriences with you. I also hope to offer some great advice as well as keep my ear out to the industry and be a travel related news source. I often search the web for tools that make traveling cheap and more affordable. I plan to share my finds with my readers and rate the usability and savings that come from these finds.

My hopes are to make this a place to connect with other travelers and to assist my readers with their travel plans. Come back soon, I plan to post often!