So after my beer meetup to kick things off for WDS, I headed over to get registered and get my WDS schwag, which included a backpack, t-shirt, water bottle, small notebooks, luggage tag, and other miscellaneous items. They try to do a pretty good job of putting together useful, nice stuff, and it is appreciated, I know. I saw plenty of t-shirts from previous years and plenty of the green backpacks in use all over town.

After checking in, I headed off to knock out some other Unconventional Race points before the Welcome Party that night. One of my first stops was to drink some local coffee and also buy a cup for the person behind me in line. I managed to find a great local coffee shop called Case Study, and the girl behind me in line was more than happy to let me buy her a cup as well.

I snagged a few more points in the race by buying a cupcake from a specific local bakery, finding an elephant, and finding the site of the Welcome Party from the very first WDS. Then it was time to head to the Welcome Party.

They were a little late getting the space for the Welcome Party opened up to everyone, and there was a line, so I decided to finish out one more task on the race list – buying an ice cream cone for someone else. I spotted a Ben & Jerry’s from the line, so I headed over there. There was a group of teenage girls in line in front of me, and it turned out that they were celebrating a birthday among them. So, I got to buy the birthday girl an ice cream cone. Buying these things for other people was one of my favorite parts of the race. It’s so funny how we go through life and almost never talk to strangers, just ignoring them as we go on about our own life. Turns out, most people are really friendly and like interacting with others. Who knew??

The Welcome Party was fun, and of course I got to meet even more new people. I stuck around for a while, but soon headed out for a wine crawl with more new friends. Funny how I wasn’t entirely sure about coming to WDS and if I would fit in since it seems like there are a lot of entrepreneurs, and I’m really not one, but instead work a pretty “conformist” corporate job. But, oddly enough, in the first day there, I had easily managed to find people to talk both beer and travel (two of my favorite things) with. No worries about fitting in here!

Finally sharing some of my thoughts/experiences from WDS. Here we go with Part 1…

What. A. Weekend. I have SO much to share with you guys from my WDS weekend in Portland. You know how when you have a good thing going on and sometimes it just seems like the energy is flowing right and all kinds of cool things happen? That was this weekend. Just… so much. I’m kind of in awe. And I love it. But let me tell you about it. Or at least start telling you about it, because there really is a lot to tell!

So my weekend at WDS kind of started before I even left. If you are registered to attend WDS, then you get emails about it. And there were increasingly more the closer it got to this weekend. One email that I got this week before I left was about something called the Unconventional Race. Now, I had no idea that they did this until I got the email. But it is the type of thing that is right up my alley. It was basically like an Amazing Race/scavenger hunt type of game that they were doing at WDS. It included all sorts of tasks that you could earn points from. Some of the tasks were for before the actual WDS event and included things like dressing your pet up as a WDS mascot, borrowing a metal spoon on the flight there, and taking photos with your flight attendant and pilot (all of which I did and earned points for, BTW!). I started doing a few of the tasks and realized – hey. I’m actually near the top of the list here! So of course, I had to keep going. ALL weekend. Because I stayed in the top 3 highest point earners until… about a half hour before the deadline. Doh! I only missed being in the top 3 by 1 POINT. What. The. Heck. But… while I did honestly miss out on some things because of competing in the race, there were also a lot of cool things that I DID make it too, and also a lot of cool things that happened because I was in the race. So, we’ll get to all of that, because I do have a lot to tell.

I boarded my flight prepared to start knocking out some more of these tasks for the race. First up, borrow a metal spoon. Now, did you even know that they had metal spoons on flights? I’m pretty sure they are for people in first class, because I know I’ve never seen one before. But I asked the flight attendant about it when they came around to bring drinks, and she was nice enough to let me borrow and take a picture of it for the race. Which also sparked a conversation with my seat mates, earning me more points for making friends on the plane. Then, when we landed, I asked for a picture with the flight attendant as well as the pilot. Did you know that pilots are actually really nice people in pretty thankless jobs? They were so friendly that I’m pretty sure that people on their flights rarely talk to them. They were all about the picture and even invited me into the cockpit to sit in the pilot seat! So, so cool. Between all of that and the amazing scenery I got to see (we flew over the Grand Canyon and right next to Mt Hood), I’d honestly say it had to be the best flight I’ve ever been on, hands down.

Taking a step back in time for a minute, I had actually been following the #WDS2014 hashtag on Twitter the last couple of days before WDS, and tweeted with a lot of cool people and talked to some on Facebook in WDS groups. There were a lot of meet ups planned for before the summit, and I was actually kind of sad to not get there until Friday morning. But, someone tweeted at me that figured out I was into craft beer. If you are into craft beer and don’t follow @brewexplorers on Twitter, do it! They are a really cool couple that are into beer and adventure, and I hope to meet up with them again next month while Ricky and I are in Portland. They said to me and a couple of other beer lovers, “hey, let’s meet up at this place at noon on Friday!” So I said “Sure!” Now, coming back to the race… one of the tasks was to create a meet up. And since this one wasn’t official, I decided to make it official and earn some points. It worked out well because I found out that @brewexplorers (aka Jon and Kimberly) actually weren’t even going to WDS this year. They just like the mindset of it and had been following the hashtag and found us. But creating the meet up prompted several others to come join us, and we ended up with a great group of beer lovers and had a lot of fun discussing life over great food and great beer. It was a perfect way to start my weekend!

As you can tell, this is going to involve several posts to tell you all about this, since I’m only up to Friday afternoon right now. But I hope you might keep following along, because it was a weekend that I want to share and if you’re interested, I think you might get something out of it too. So please – stay tuned! Part 2 on the way soon…

Also, if you’d like to view ALL of my photos from WDS and you’re friends with me on Facebook, go check them out here.

In 3 days, I will be heading to Portland, Oregon for the first time. It’s kind of funny that it’s my first time there, but yet I will be making the trek there again with Ricky in just over a month. This time I’m heading there alone. Well, I will be making the trip alone, but I won’t be alone much after I get there. I’m going there for something called World Domination Summit. You might be asking “what the heck is that?”. I’ve talked about it a bit on my blog and social media, but mostly just to mention that I’m going this year. So I thought before I headed out and started talking even MORE about it, I’d give some explanation about what it is and why I’m going.

What is World Domination Summit?

Hashtagged on Twitter (yep, I used hashtag as a verb – you’re welcome) as #WDS2014, World Domination Summit is defined on its website as a gathering of “a small army of remarkable people”. Still confused? Understandable. If you want the official story, it’s on their website here. But you might still be kind of lost. Here’s the story of how I came to learn about it.

A few years ago, I somehow stumbled across the blog of a guy named Chris Guillebeau. I may very well may have found it by looking for stuff having to do with travel, since you know, I’m into that. Turns out, so is this Chris guy. He’s into it a LOT. Like “hey, let’s visit every country in the world” a LOT. Now, to you that probably either sounds really cool or a little bit crazy. If you think it sounds cool, then you’re going to want to read on. If not, then well… you might just stop here, because WDS is probably not for you.

Chris’ approach to life and his stories of traveling have attracted quite a following, myself included. I own a couple of his books (including one advanced reader copy) and even went to a book signing to meet him the first week I lived in Arizona. This following of his has become so large that in 2011, Chris started an event to bring these people together. His first book is called The Art of Non-Conformity, and that was also the original title of his blog/website. It has kind of evolved from there (yes, I’ve been following for a while), but I’d say that title still sums up some of the things Chris and WDS are about pretty well. WDS really is just as it’s described – “a small army of remarkable people”. And while it is an event with activities and seminars included, I’d say it’s about the people more than anything else. People that aren’t content with just a status quo or mediocre life. People that want to make the most of what they have and live life to the fullest. And they are all excited to meet other people that do as well.

Now, I’ve been following Chris’ website since before he started WDS, but I have wanted to go ever since I first heard about it. But… well, it’s not cheap. Plus, it’s in Portland, so I’d have to pay travel expenses too. But knowing how much I have wanted for a while just to see what it’s like, this year, I bit the bullet and bought a ticket. So far, even though I’m not there yet, I have no regrets. I’ve been following #WDS2014 on Twitter and have already talked to some really interesting people and made plans to attend some fun events while I’m there. I mean, sure I’ll be around for the seminars and “official” WDS stuff, but there are so many cool social events planned outside of that as well. Like, I’m signed up for a wine crawl and photography walk. You can’t tell me that both of those don’t sound like fun in a city with the reputation of Portland!

Why am I going?

(Besides the fact that I kind of already answered that above…)

So, that’s what WDS is. And I guess somewhere in there I answered my question about why I’m going as well. But on top of just the desire to go, I think it will be good for me too. I think I’m starting to get in a funk again and get away from some of the things I like in life and the ways I want to be, the ways I know I am when I get out of my comfort zone a little. And this will definitely force me, Little Ms. Introvert, to get out of my comfort zone. I mean, I’m going alone! I don’t know anyone there. (Although a side visit to see the newly-married Ms. Gwyneth Colleen is being included in the trip also.) So the end goal… while hopefully achieving a bit of new direction in my life, is to take care of my little introvert self while also not being alone for too long, but instead among a ton of new friends. Looking forward to seeing you all there, #WDS2014ers!