Clockwise from top left: Carole hanging out with new friends she made through the Hekab Be Biblioteca literacy project in Akumal, Mexico. Carole in Ireland at the Cliffs of Moher, otherwise
known as the Cliffs of Insanity from the movie The Princess Bride. Carole in Europe's largest synagogue, the Dohany Street Synagogue. Carole feeding the hungry and homeless in Budapest
with a local nonprofit organization.

Smartest Traveler. He told her to "go
for it."
"I'm fascinated by her intrepid
spirit and sense of adventure,
and I think her readers are, too,"
said Elliot, who has been advising
Rosenblat on her blog. "Carole has
taken a love for travel and turned it
into something most of us can only
dream of. I count myself among her
followers and admirers."
Since she launched her travel
experiment about one year ago, her
nearly 2,000 followers "dropped"
her onto St. John's Island in New
Foundland, Canada, a trip down
Oregon's Willamette River, Ireland
and, currently, a trip to Germany
and Hungary.
With each destination, Rosenblat
attempts to meticulously chronicle
every experience — good and bad
— on her blog. Her posts go beyond
the usual reviews of where to stay,
what to see and what to eat. For
example, during her latest travels in
Europe, she goes into detail about
the pitfalls of buying the wrong rail

ticket — only to try to exchange it in
broken German — to taking in the
famed thermal outdoor baths in Bu-
dapest to find out that some of her
fellow bathers were Michiganders.
Among all the details of her ad-
ventures, Rosenblat hopes to convey
to her readers not only pointers on
what she has experienced, but also
to convince them to leave room in
their schedules to wander around
and make their own discoveries.
"Lots of people go away heav-
ily scheduled with every second
planned," Rosenblat said. "The trick
of traveling is if you plan every min-
ute you may really miss out on last-
minute encounters — like asking
the locals where they like to go to
eat or what they like to do for fun."
At the end of each trip, she posts
a summary of her expenses, her top
tourism picks and acknowledge-
ments of thanks to those she met
along the way. There are also links
to vote for her next destination. As
of the end of February, it was a toss-
up between India and China.

DETROIT IS HOME
Even though it has been decades
since Rosenblat has lived in the
area, Detroit is still her home. She
said it is her upbringing of grow-
ing up around Detroit in the 1970s
that has given her the street-smart
edge and the confidence to be able
to travel to foreign places, keep an
open mind to people of different
cultures and backgrounds, yet keep
her guard up to feel safe and confi-
dent while traveling solo.
"It is very exciting to see a single
woman demonstrating that it is per-
fectly possible to take that plunge
and live a fulfilling life, one where
you can explore the world and enjoy
yourself," said high school friend
Emily Eichenhorn, 52, of West
Bloomfield, who reconnected with
Rosenblat several years ago over
Facebook.
"I know she worked very hard to
be able to enjoy this part of her life,
and she is setting a great example to
other women who also want to set
out and see the world."

It was no easy decision to pursue
this dream full time. To fund her
passion for travel, she sold her car
and many of her possessions and
dipped into her life's savings. To save
money, she skips staying in hotels
and instead rents homes and apart-
ments or even spare rooms through
the website airbnb.com . She found
a reasonable deal in Berlin by cat
sitting for an opera conductor who
was working out of the country.
As she writes in her blog, Rosen-
blat is a believer in refrigerator
magnet philosophy. A refrigerator
magnet back in her Phoenix home,
a home she is currently renting and
hopes to sell, reads, "Take a leap,
and the net will appear."
"When you first fall in love, you
feel like a better version of yourself,"
Rosenblat said. "That is what travel
does to me. Travel is my lover. I
do not know how long the money
will hold out, or if I will make
any money by documenting these
adventures, but for now, I am very
happy." RT

RED THUD I March 2015 37

