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Hi. I'm Kara. Never far away is my furry shadow, Kona.
By day, I'm a higher education consultant. I specialize in helping higher education employees be more innovative and engage with new forms of teaching, learning, and working. I also create content online about personal growth, productivity, and technology, faith, and my well lived life.
I'm honored that you've taken a few minutes to stop by my little home on the Internet. While you're here, subscribe to my newsletter, learn about my coaching services and classes, or participate in one of my free events. And you can always scroll on down and read about what I'm up to.
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Time to Head Home - Boooooooo :-(
Heading Home - Booooooooo :-( Kara: I was NOT looking forward to today at all. Our trip home from Orlando in October about did me in. There was nothing specifically bad about it - it’s just a really LONG day in a mask moving around all those people. I used to enjoy air travel a LOT. I find it abysmal now. That said, all in all, it was a simple and easy travel day. We had good flights. I did have trouble with my headphones so wasn’t able to watch a movie but I read and played

Gayle Hartleroad
Mar 5, 20222 min read


Meet Your Hosts
(I chose this photo because it's from Monte Carlo, where we got to tour the Grand Prix track from Iron Man 2!) We are both Platinum Castaway Club, reside in Indiana (USA), and each work in the higher education field, although Kara has recently branched out on her own and launched her own consulting company. Our Disney Cruise Line experiences include the Bahamas, Caribbean (Western & Eastern), California Coast, Mexico, West Coast Repo, Alaska (only Kara), and Mediterranean. O

Gayle Hartleroad
Feb 28, 20222 min read


The Origin of This Adventure
What a saga this one has been! And keep in mind this ISN'T our first COVID/Return to Cruising sailing. So join me in a Marvel-style time jump! June 5, 2019 - No kidding. This was a Placeholder from our Med cruise. March 19, 2021 - Very soon before my birthday, I suggested applying the Placeholder to this cruise, as my desire to experience a Marvel Day at Sea had steadily grown. (Yes, I'm a notable member of a strong Marvel fan podcast - to the point they gave me a nickname!

Gayle Hartleroad
Feb 27, 20223 min read


Pre-cruise time in Miami
Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022 Suddenly Travel Day was now 48hrs earlier than originally planned. A turn of fate had me waking up to my COVID test result (finally) from Friday: Negative! Phew! However, Kara didn't have time or access to get one closer to our travel, so we'll see how that goes?! We left Kara's around 8:30am to go to the Panera closest to the airport. We got a full lunch meal to immediately eat in the car since we would be masked for COVID precautions non-stop until

Gayle Hartleroad
Feb 25, 20225 min read


Boarding Day
5am. We woke up (involuntarily) at 5am. UGH. We slowly got up, went downstairs to get some breakfast, watched Olympic ski jump, and got ready. Since it was a 30+ minute ride to the Port (Terminal C), I elected to call a Lyft Lux. The Lexus ride was quite comfortable- except the driver who obviously had an affinity for techno music. Ugh. Kara: FUN FACT: Gayle and I have arrived at the terminal by car on four occasions now - once at Port Canaveral when my Aunt and Uncle dropped

Gayle Hartleroad
Feb 24, 202215 min read


Marvel Day!
From lack of sleep/exhaustion and ⅓ of a Dramamine, other than one time of surprisingly being too cold, I blissfully slept 11pm to roughly 7am. Wonderful. Except I still didn't feel fully rested. After a quick shower, it was up to Cabanas for a quick breakfast. After feeling miserable (over-stuffed) last night, today I tried to commit to only eating when I was hungry. I'd heard on a different podcast the Magic now offered Churro Mickey Waffles . I initially wondered if this

Gayle Hartleroad
Feb 23, 202214 min read
One verrrrrrrrry long day!
Yesterday, we finally left on our trip to Paris and London. We flew from Indianapolis to Newark and from Newark on to Paris. Both flights...

Kara Monroe
May 27, 20092 min read
The Plan
Those of you reading this know at least one of us. Something to know is we are both detailed planners. As such, we've developed the...

Gayle Hartleroad
May 25, 20091 min read
My turn
Okay, here's my first post (finally). Kara & I are chatting online about the plan for this weekend. Basically we're working to reset out...

Gayle Hartleroad
May 22, 20091 min read
We're in the single digits
The countdown calendar is officially in single digits. The packing list is made, the trip books are done and my house is starting to look...

Kara Monroe
May 18, 20091 min read
Getting Ready for the Trip
Well, the countdown calendar is now almost to single digits and it's time to make final preparations for the trip, including starting...

Kara Monroe
May 13, 20091 min read


Day 1 - We actually left and what happened to Disney "service"?
Previous: Pre-Trip Info On a frozen, winter morning, Kara and I loaded our overly packed bags and set off for the Indy (IND) airport. This was to be my 17th trip to WDW! (As of Sept. 2012, I’m now up to 30!) After a quick gate change and turning our bags & selves inside-out for security we were off on our NWA direct flight to Orlando (MCO). Usually when flying with Kara, something with our flight goes wrong. However, this time we escaped the “Kara Kurse”! Arriving at MCO, I l

Gayle Hartleroad
Jan 19, 20063 min read


Pre-Trip
The Disney Wonder docked at Disney's private island, Castaway Cay. Photo taken while parasailing, 2006. Background My college graduation gift was a trip with my best friend, Kara; my choice was Walt Disney World (WDW) or a cruise. Wanting to be a “grown-up” I chose the cruise. However, it was a Carnival cruise. We’d never cruised & did no research. We don’t really drink or gamble. Before we left I was already sick. Then we both got seasick. Mine was so bad I had to get 2 doub

Gayle Hartleroad
Jan 15, 20062 min read
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