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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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Meet Your Hosts
Spoiler Alert: There are LOTS of tulips featured on this trip. Hi all. It's time to kick off another set of blog posts for an adventure - this time it's two weeks through Europe - including London, The Netherlands, and Belgium with a combination of touring on our own and our first ever river cruise and Adventures by Disney trip! I thought I’d take a moment to refresh our “Meet Your Hosts” post because, well a lot has changed. We are Kara and Gayle. Gayle also happens to be a
Kara Monroe
Apr 20, 20252 min read
Origin Story
Gayle: Let’s take the “Way Back Machine” to… 2017? This is the first time I remember Kara ever mentioning interest in a river cruise. Her rationale was to see “inner Europe”, where an ocean cruise couldn’t take us. In researching, I discovered most river cruisers are in their 60s+ and many are retired. Well, we definitely weren’t that! So the trip we were discussing back then ended up being our first Europe Disney Cruise, which was to the Med . Over time we researched a numbe
Gayle Hartleroad
Apr 19, 20252 min read
The Journey To The Journey
A photo from our time a Keukenhof Gardens near the end of the trip Gayle here! If you read the previous “Origin Story” you know the basis for this adventure was booked more than a year in advance. Not only do I/we regularly book this far in advance, but also this is needed when you have limited offering, must-haves for an international trip! That means A LOT of things can and did happen along the way. So here’s a run-down of all that transpired (& a great example of how a Tra
Gayle Hartleroad
Apr 18, 20253 min read
Let's Go To London
We're off on our journey! Sunday, April 6, 2025 Hi all. It’s Kara getting us started off today. After the change in travel plans that Gayle discussed in The Journey to the Journey, she added a surprise for this trip - an upgrade to business class on the Indy>Chicago and Chicago>London legs of the trip. We both prefer to fly Business Class or at least Premium Economy on all international trips. We were booked premium economy for both international legs, but Gayle snuck in and
Kara Monroe
Apr 17, 20253 min read
Welcome to London
Fresh off the plane and ready to hit the town! Monday April 7, 2025 Arrival at Heathrow It's Kara back to start us off again today - fitting since I woke up first. I slept lightly on the plane, but enough that I felt pretty rested. I woke up just as one of the crew was coming around with hot towels. He took my breakfast order. Just as I got my seat put back up, he arrived with my coffee, orange juice and breakfast tray. I opted for the sous vide egg bites with the roasted tom
Kara Monroe
Apr 16, 20258 min read
Day 3 - Westminster Abbey and a Spin Your Own Chocolate and Books Tour
Greetings from Big Ben Gayle: In trying to get settled into a new space last night, it was roughly 10pm by the time we were lights out. It was pushing 11pm for me to get to sleep. After a red eye flight and many hours around the city, it was no surprise we slept until approximately 8:30am - with no guilt! FYI, yes we can hear the Eurostar coming and going, as this is an old hotel. However, they are infrequent and sound more like calm planes. As someone who grew up next to an
Gayle Hartleroad
Apr 15, 20256 min read
Day 4 - Harry Potter Studios Deluxe Tour
Making notes in the ledgers in Gringots Bank Hi all. Kara starting off today. Today actually started way back in 2017. Gayle brought a group of students on study abroad to London. The Harry Potter Studio Tour had opened outside of London and she and some of her students went. To say I was a little jealous was an understatement. I listen to the Harry Potter books (narrated by the incredible Jim Dale) all the time. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban got me through my doct
Kara Monroe
Apr 14, 202511 min read
Day 5 - Hamilton on the West End
Us at the Victoria Palace Theatre before Hamilton started. Gayle: After having re-set the “bedding barrier” and a FULL day with Harry Potter, we each gloriously slept for 9-10 hrs! There’s no guilt in that, as this trip is a marathon, not a sprint. Kara had originally booked us for a Harry Potter tour today. It was to show us sites used in the filming of the movies, like Millennium Bridge, and personal locations, like Daniel Radcliff’s school. While it would use the Tube, in
Gayle Hartleroad
Apr 13, 20255 min read
Day 6 - A Tale of Two Trains
Ready to leave London the Eurostar It’s Kara starting off today. We needed to be downstairs at the train station by 7:30am this morning so we were awake quite early. Sadly, we each slept very badly last night so, it was an especially rough start to the day to have to be up and moving so quickly. The beautiful lobby of the St. Pancras Renaissance. We went down to the lobby around 7:20am. While Gayle filled up our water bottles from the Club, I got us checked out. We then heade
Kara Monroe
Apr 11, 202510 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
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