So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.

~ Christopher Reeve

Almost a year ago we had the vision for the Global Hug Tour…..

2 people in a small prop plane, flying 31,000 miles around the world on a 5-month tour to gather inspiration, deliver 100,000 hugs and share millions with important non-profit causes.

We created a preliminary flight plan, an itinerary, identified the non-profits we wanted to help and actively searched for the funding. Knowing the cause was great; we created a team and believed the funding would show up.

It was much less important to know how it would happen than it was for us to understand why we were doing this.

Many of you have generously sponsored hugs for $10 on our site. Rest assured, every penny is in a dedicated account, untouched, waiting to be delivered to the causes once the tour begins.

We choose not to use any of these funds for the operational cost of the tour but rather fund the tour through sponsorship.

We knocked on the doors of corporate American only to be told, “Times are tough”. One company told us that what they love the most about the Global Hug Tour is that it’s never been done before, it’s crazy and it’s unproven. They went on to tell us that they can’t fund it because it’s never been done before, it’s crazy and it’s unproven. They were afraid to sponsor it for exactly the same reasons they loved it! They want to be first in line to sponsor Global Hug Tour #2, but we need funding for #1 or there won’t be a #2.

Over the last few months you may have noticed changes on the website where we’ve revamped the plan, downsized the tour and tried to make it more “doable”. Unfortunately, with each change, I became more disillusioned. As much as I tried, I couldn’t find the passion to do anything less then the original version.

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to interview Guy Laliberte, founder of Cirque du Soleil. Interestingly enough, our interview via Skype took place while he was at the cosmonaut training facility in Star City, Russia, just an hour from Moscow, as he was in the final days of training for his 12-day mission to the International Space Center, blasting off on September 30th.

Guy is a man who doesn’t think small and who isn’t afraid of life. He plays BIG in everything that he does.

My interview with Guy was a reminder of what makes each one of us great. It was a wake up call for me that my playing small benefits no one.

For the past 6 months associates with good intentions, recommended that we down size the tour. With each compromise I felt like I was selling out.

Instead of holding onto my faith and the original dream that came to us,  I whittled it down to fit in the possibility box of others. It was such a big idea that people were having a hard time wrapping their head around it. It was easier for them if we broke it down into segments. I allowed my size of my dream to be dictated by what others deemed possible. As the dream morphed into baby chunks and individual places, it lost the magic and luster for me of how it was born in the first place!

This dream came from asking ourselves, “What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? How can we be of the greatest service to the world?” It never was about “What do we think we can do!”

I am committed to the vision that wants to be born through us. Believing that with faith and belief anything is possible, the last thing I want to do is compromise! I would rather do something and do it right, or not do it at all. Play big and play full-out, or go home.

The Global Hug Tour is a story that scares some people because it challenges their understanding of what’s possible.  But, this story also captures the imagination because it is an outrageous idea!

Just as in 2006 we didn’t know how we were going to create and deliver all 18 miles of the World’s Longest  Letter of Love and Support to our troops on a month-long tour to Iraq, today we don’t know how we’ll pull off the Global Hug Tour either.

Unfortunately, I had expectations. This process has been a lesson in letting go.  I planned out the timing and was embarrassed when it didn’t show up as it “should” have.

My lesson in this is that the timing of the Universe and my timing may not always coincide. However, just because the timing is off- that doesn’t mean the dream is wrong or should be compromised, or that I should stop working to make it happen as it originally came to us.

I know from past experience that when the timing isn’t right, it just means the Universe has something better in store for us. Divine timing is always right!

My brother-in-law has a saying that everything works out in the end. If it hasn’t worked out yet, it’s not yet the end. So, I’m holding onto the original dream, in the form in which it came to us, and being open to finding a way to make it happen. You’ll notice the original dream is back on our website, where it should be.

What I can tell you is that the Global Hug Tour will happen. What I can’t tell you is when. This is in the hands of something much bigger than me.

And for me, in my surrender to the greater will of the Universe, there is peace.  I know we’re back on track to bring this to the world.

I’m now at the point where I’m ready to allow it to happen rather than trying to make it happen. This Global Hug Tour has taken on a life of it’s own. It may have come through us, but it does not belong to us. This is here for the benefit of the whole wide world.

Funny thing is, by releasing my attachment to making this happen, I think something just shifted that will bring the funding to us with grace and with ease. Isn’t that how it always works anyway?

I am grateful to you for your continual love and support. We’ll keep you posted on the progress of the Global Hug Tour and I know that soon, we’ll get this off the ground- literally.

As always, your love and support are so greatly appreciated!

Imagine the planning that would go into a two-week vacation to Europe. Now make that a 5-month trip with 50 events worldwide and you have the picture of the task we’ve been facing. The logistics alone are staggering, let alone adding in things like weather patterns and safety issues.

Did we bite off more than we can chew? Maybe. Are we going to let that stop us? Never!

We’ve talked with sponsors who are enthusiastic to support us because this kind of project has never been done before, but are also leery because, you guessed it, this has never been done before. We’ve tried to wrap our heads around this project like we already have with our hearts, and the massive amount of work seems overwhelming at times.

I’m reminded of when we launched our website, InspireMeToday.com. We were in the process of gathering inspiration from Luminaries to feature each day. I didn’t want to launch until we had 120 days- 4 months of daily content in the can. However after waiting and waiting until everything was perfect, we decided to launch with just 20 Luminaries and trust that we would figure it out as we went. You know what?

Everything lined up, one Luminary referred another and we’ve had a waiting list ever since. And it all happened because we took the first step, with faith.

We’ve been waiting to launch the Global Hug Tour until we can afford the perfect airplane, until we can find the perfect sponsor, until, until, until. In the meantime, the world needs the inspiration, tangible donation dollars and love, not to mention the hugs.

Take the 1st step!

So, with little more than a great deal of faith, we’re launching the Global Hug Tour. As many things in life can appear overwhelming, we all know the best technique is to break it down into smaller, more manageable portions and then start on the first one now.

I mentor others on how to take an idea and bring it to reality. My number one piece of advice is to take the first step, even if you don’t know what the second step will be- just take the first step! You can climb the biggest mountain, one baby step at a time.

Our team has an expression- “If you’re going to eat an elephant, you have to do it one bite at a time. While I’m not advocating that anyone actually eat an elephant, the concept remains the same. Take the first bite. Take the first step. Yet here I am, waiting until everything is perfect to start. That’s just silly!

A natural consequence of getting started is that the pieces of the rest of the puzzle will suddenly appear obvious and easily align, once we’ve placed the first ones on the table.

So, our preliminary plan is this: YES, we’re still going the whole way around the world, but it will take much longer to do so under the new plan. We’ve had an overwhelming amount of requests for us to visit South America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand- none of which were on the original tour. We’ve had requests for many more cities in North America too. We asked, you answered and we’re listening.

We’ll start with the North American Global Hug Tour first, followed by the European tour, the Middle East and Africa tour, then the Pacific/Asia tour, followed by the South American tour after we return back to the US.

This new tour schedule will be spread out in two to five-month chunks through the next few years, but will allow us to focus on one region at a time and make a greater impact. Details are coming soon!

Our entire reason for doing this is to make a positive difference in the world, to highlight the wisdom from all corners of the globe and to celebrate our commonalities. To do that properly we need to spend more time than a day or so in each city. If you’re going to do it, do it right!

We’re planning to begin the North American Global Hug Tour this fall, with stops along the west coast. Stay tuned for the exact dates to be announced very soon! Depending upon the amount of buzz generated and the reception locally, we’ll then take the tour to the rest of North America and then to the world, one region at a time.

Because of the scope of the project, we need your help even to take these first baby steps. Please check out the top ten ways you can help. Also, feel free to contact me at gail@inspiremetoday.com with any questions or any offers of assistance. Your recommendations, advice and support are greatly appreciated- thank you!

And so with this transparent email, I’m sharing with you what’s been stopping us so far, and also explaining the leap of faith we’re now taking to make this happen. I know you understand, because chances are, you’re going through something similar in your own life.

I’m writing to ask you to jump off the ledge with me with your own project. What baby step could you take that would open the door for you? What bite of your own elephant could you take today? What one action could you take that would move you closer to your dream? Go do it!

I encourage you to step off the ledge with me, in faith, and together let’s go make our dreams happen. The world not only needs our dreams too, but it has been waiting long enough. Let’s go make it happen together!

When I was at SobCon in May, I was interviewed by J.D. Lasica. I just received the link and I’d like to share it with you here. In this interview we talk about the Global Hug Tour.  I hope you enjoy and share it with your friends.

Thank you JD for doing the interview!

Hugs to you,

Gail

I shared our plan for the Global Hug Tour with the powerful folks in the room and they embraced it. We were all inspired by a recent interview from one of our Inspirational Luminaries from InspireMeToday, Balaal Rajan.

Eight years ago Bilaal was eating a clementine for breakfast when he saw a photo in the newspaper. He was horrified by the devastation of an earthquake in India. He started raising money, by selling clementines door to door to help the children who were victims and he hasn’t stopped giving since.

In the last four years, Bilaal has raised over $5,000,000 for charity. And here’s the kicker- Bilaal is only 12 years old!

After speaking with Bilaal, I realize we’re playing too small. If a 12 year-old kid can raise $5 million, what can I do? More importantly, what can a group of social media entrepreneurs do? After all, we label this phenomenon as “Social Media”, and what’s more “social” than reaching out to one another.

I can’t think of a better way to unite the power of our social relationships than to help the world in a direct, tangible way. Bilall made a comment to me that struck me with the power of his words. “As one person, I can make a difference. But as a group, we can change the world.” He got me thinking in a much bigger way.

Armed with this inspiration and the passion and support of SobCon09, we’ve selected this week- the week of May 11th to unite to make a difference.

You can help us by doing a few easy things:

- Go sponsor a hug! $10 will probably not make a huge difference in your life, but by joining together, your personal donation will change the life of the recipient.

- Share the Global Hug Tour with your tribe by posting a blog, share it on Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn and in any

- Help us spread the word. We invite you to put a Global Hug Tour badge on your website.

- Ask your friends, family and members of your tribe to purchase a hug THIS WEEK and to ask 10 of their friends to do the same thing. By the power of exponential connection, we should be able to reach $1,000,000 raised for 50 charities in just a week!

What is the Global Hug Tour?

When my husband and I asked ourselves the question, “What would we do if we knew we couldn’t fail?” the Global Hug Tour was born.

We’re planning to fly 31,000 miles around the world in a small prop airplane on a 5-month tour, stop in 50 international cities to gather inspiration, deliver 100,000 hugs and raise and share more than $1,000,000 with charities worldwide. More importantly, we want to help shift the focus from doom and gloom to one of connectivity and possibility through love.

We developed a plan where anyone can go to our site, GlobalHugTour.com, sponsor a hug for $10 and send it to one of the 50 cities on our path. To make a tangible difference in each area when we land, we’ll deliver the hug and the full donation to the non-profit or NGO.

For example, one hug in Chicago ($10) will feed 3 homeless people, two hugs ($20) in Cambodia will educate a child for a year and one hundred hugs ($1000) in Chennai, India will pay the cost of heart surgery to save the life of a child.

Our goal for the Global Hug Tour was to raise a million dollars for charities around the world, and I thought that was a pretty big goal, until Bilaal inspired me to dream bigger.

Through SobCon and the power of the folks in social media, we can unite to make an even bigger difference. Bilaal is right- “I can make a difference, but together we can change the world”.

We invite you to help us help so many in need. Please share this right now with at least one other person, sponsor a hug and pass it on. Please know that we greatly appreciate your support and assistance. Big hugs to you!

Gail and Darryl
The Global Hug Tour

I was raised with the teaching, “Ask and ye shall receive”.

In my life, I’ve always found it easier to be a giver than one who receives… and very hard to ask for help,  but I’m learning. Sometimes to do something so big to really help others, it requires us to reach outside of our comfort zone and ask for assistance. That’s what this post is for me- asking for help from you.

As you know, we’re planning The Global Hug Tour.  This project is huge!

My husband and I will fly 31,000 miles around the world in a small private plane, stop in 50 international cities to gather inspiration, deliver 100,000 hugs and share $1,000,000 with important causes. More importantly, we want to share much needed love with the world and help shift the focus from doom and gloom to one of possibility.

Our project is big and the possibilities are endless. We intend to develop curriculum for schools to learn geography and global culture by following our tour, connect people from one country to another, tie in celebrity hugs for charity, and have classrooms adopt classrooms  across the world, just to name a few.

You can go to the Global Hug Tour site, sponsor a hug for $10 and send it to one of the 50 cities on our path. When we land, we’ll not only deliver the hug (along with 1999 other ones!), but we’ll also deliver their full donation, to the non-profitor NGO to make a tangible difference in the area.

For example…

-  One hug in Chicago will feed 3 homeless people.

-  Two hugs in Cambodia will educate a child for a year.

-  One hundred hugs in Chennai, India will pay the cost of heart surgery to save the life of a child.

In order for 100% of the hug donations to go directly to the cause, we’re looking for angels and corporate sponsors to help us cover the operational cost of the trip.

In order to pay the ongoing expenses of our GHT team, I’m reaching out to you, our community.  Where else can your dollars literally grow exponentially to have such a direct, and tangible impact? Your donation will allow us to not only send more than a million around the world, but will also bring hope and love where it is needed most.  We can’t do it without you.

We’ve already been blessed with the donation of a social media team in San Diego (Square Martini Media),  a world-class PR firm in Boulder (Metzger and Associates), and a team of virtual volunteers (AssistU).  Blogger & Podcaster Magazine has picked up my blog and will be syndicating it to 200,000 bloggers globally.  We have great things in place but, we still have ongoing expenses to get the ball rolling in a bigger way, and that’s where we need your help.

I know the gift it is to be able to give to others and share in a real way. I’m offering you the opportunity to do just that. I’m asking you to dig deep and help us to hug the world. I know the difference that each one of us can make- especially when we all come together for something bigger than all of us.

This morning, I sent this information to some friends who called me and encouraged me to post this on our blog- so here it is. We can all do something to help- even if we can’t write a big check, and it is all so greatly appreciated! We have our Top 10 Ways You Can Help listed below.

We didn’t know how we were going to create and deliver the World’s Longest Letter of Love and Support to our troops, but we delivered a letter more then 18 miles long on a 29-day tour in Iraq and the Persian Gulf. We didn’t know how we were going to create and provide inspiration for the world, but  I’ve spent the last year of my life interviewing Inspirational Luminaries for our site, InspireMeToday.com, and giving this inspiration away for free. We now have members in more than 100 countries!

We don’t yet know how we’re going to pull off the Global Hug Tour either, but we know that we will make it happen- with your help, just the same as we’ve done in the past.

Anything you can do to help us literally HUG THE WORLD is greatly appreciated. This project will take all of us coming together to make a difference. If you are able to and believe in our cause, will you please be one of the givers in life and help us cover the hardest part- the initial operating costs? Your generous contribution is any of these ways is greatly appreciated!

The Top Ten Ways You Can Help the Global Hug Tour:

1-  Write a check and send it today to Global Hug Tour (email gail@inspiremetoday.com for details)  THANK YOU!!!!!

2-  Introduce us and recommend us to your executive level corporate contacts for potential sponsorship.

3-  Introduce us to your personal hotel company executives- (Starwood,  Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt or Radisson) for the donation of hotel accommodations worldwide.

4-  Donate your hotel points to help us cover the cost of hotel rooms worldwide.

5-  Donate your frequent flyer airline miles to cover media trips in the US and team members joining us worldwide throughout the tour.

6-  Introduce us to any of your personal media connections.

7-  Help us spread the word by sending an email to your email list talking about the Global Hug Tour, write a blog post, or post our GHT badge on your site/blog.  The more people we reach, the more people we can help!

8-  Make introductions for public speaking opportunities to help us spread our message to the masses.

9-  Introduce us to your celebrity connections (we’re selling celebrity hugs on eBay!) to raise dollars for our 50 global charities.

10-  Forward this to someone else (or 10 or 20 others!) who can help if you can’t.

Thank you for reading the whole letter! For those that have made it this far and are perhaps wondering, “What’s in this for me?”, here’s your answer. Thanks to the generosity or TradeToTravel.com, the top donor will receive a credit with TradeToTravel.com to be used at any one of more than 1500 villas worldwide- equal to TWICE the amount of your donation! Thank you http://TradeToTravel.com!

For example, if you’re the top donors and your check was for $25,000, you’ll receive a credit for a week at any one of TTT’s villas- up to $50,000 per week! (can be used anytime in the next year!) Some of these amazing places rent for more than $80,000 per week and host up to 24 guests! THANK YOU TradeToTravel.com!  (If you’re serious about making sure you’re this person, please email gail@inspiremetoday.com!) This offer is good only until 5/15/09- so check out tradetotravel.com today!

Also, you will receive a mention (either corporate or personal) on our angel page, and our sincere, eternal gratitude for helping us make the world a better place.

Thank you again for taking the time to read this and reach out with your heart to help us. We greatly appreciate your support! Please act on this today!

Should you have any questions, wish to discuss this or brainstorm additional possibilities, I’d love to talk with you. Just email gail@inspiremetoday.com at your earliest convenience.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your generosity. I’m reaching out and sending you a huge, warm, grateful hug.

With gratitude and hugs,

Gail

We recently discovered a cool new online tool from Symantec, called GoEverywhere. Our entire team has registered for an account because it’s so convenient to use.  GoEverywhere is considered a “webtop” – it’s like having your desktop on the web so you can access your files from any web-enabled device. And with the amount that we travel, this is very convenient!

It takes a little set up to get started but it’s so worth it.  I don’t have to remember all my passwords for my web software – programs like Amazon, Linkedin, Facebook.  I sign in once to my GoEverywhere account and I can quickly toggle between the different programs without signing in to each one separately.  Seem like a small thing?  It’s not!  I’ve been amazed at the time I’ve saved.

It’s early days yet – GoEverywhere is in beta – and I love that Symantec is reaching out to the community of users to get feedback.  I’ve always wanted to be able to tell corporations what to create for me to make my life easier – and now I can.

We’re continually on the lookout for tools that will simplify, streamline and support our efforts to make the Global Hug Tour an incredible success.  I’ll share more ideas as we find them and I appreciate you sending in your ideas too.  The whole idea of the Global Hug Tour is that we can inspire each other and really make a difference in the world.  I can’t wait to see what you come up with.

More than anything, thank you for your help. We greatly appreciate your support!

Hugs,

The Global Hug Tour Team

I’m having a blast supporting The Global Hug Tour to raise money for charities and bring the world together through hugs. Sound weird? Nope – it’s MARKETING at its finest!

Look at it this way; we buy for emotional reasons and humanity is really craving some positive emotional connections right now.

The Global Hug Tour is the perfect blend of individual, charitable, and corporate contribution. Contribution and collaboration are the perfect foundation for great marketing!

Gail Lynne Goodwin, the founder of The Global Hug Tour, got the idea of having celebrities participate by donating a hug that people can bid on through eBay. She asked me which celebrity I’d like to bid on to give a hug. I immediately picked Seth Godin and Malcolm Gladwell There was a long pause in the conversation. “Not Brad Pitt or George Clooney?”

Nope, Seth and Malcolm are the celebs in my marketing world. I’d be honored to give both gents a hug in appreciation for all their insights, great stories, and generosity of spirit. It takes courage and a ton of hard work to publicize your thoughts about how the world works in a way that motivates and encourages those around you. These guys repeatedly give generously of themselves and I’d love an opportunity to thank them publicly for all their hard work.

In my opinion, there is no greater human acknowledgement than a reverent and respectful, heart-felt hug. We’re all connecting more through social media, yet there’s something profound about the human touch that technology cannot replace.

So, Seth and Malcolm, please volunteer to donate a hug in one of the Global Hug Tour locations. I’d love to win the bid for both of you… Something tells me there will be a ton of competition!

In the meantime, please consider yourselves hugged and very appreciated.

Best,

Elaine Starling

He offered to pull together his social media network in Atlanta to talk about the Global Hug Tour. It didn’t take but a few minutes until Andrew named the ‘Tweet up about hugs’  a Twug Up.

As it turns out, getting to Atlanta was the difficult part. I flew United Airlines from Denver, departing around 1pm on Sunday, March 1st, and was supposed to arrive in Savannah that evening around 10pm. United had some difficulty with the flights and after repeated delays on the connection out of Chicago, they downsized the flight and bumped ½ of us from the plane, at 1am, leaving us in Chicago.

The next day and had a similar experience, until United just announced that the flight was canceled at 7pm that night. No explanation, no delay- just canceled, leaving us there for a 2nd day.  We acted fast, booked flights on another airline and flew into Atlanta directly arriving at midnight that night- only to find out that our bags had already arrived in Savannah. ☹ How could our bags get there when we couldn’t??

My husband and I drove from Atlanta to Savannah, arriving in Savannah at around 5am on the 3rd, got some sleep, got our bags, and then I turned around and drove the 4 hours back to Atlanta for the Twug up. I just couldn’t show up in jeans and a sweater that I’d worn for 2 days! More than once I caught myself thinking, “This Andrew guy had better be worth it!”. ☺

Sharing a hug with Andrew

And as expected, the Twug Up was a great success. Atlanta is a beautiful city, but the people welcomed me with open arms- literally!

I had the privilege of meeting many of Atlanta’s top social media movers and shakers and talking about how individuals can get involved with the Global Hug Tour:

1) Sponsor a hug! Your hug will make a tangible difference in someone’s life!

2) Ask others to do the same. Share this with friends and family and ask them to sponsor a hug too!

3) Spread the word! Blog about it, talk about it with church and/or civic groups. Help us spread the word.

Andrew is a great networker. He asked all of us to do something that evening that I think we can all benefit from right here, right now too. “When you’re talking with one another, instead of just saying who you are and what you do, please share your biggest hurdle in front of you that you’d like removed, or the biggest resource that you need right now to move forward.” Great advice Andrew!

If you’re like the rest of us, you’re already going there in your mind right now. (Please feel free to comment on this blog and share how we can help you!)

During the Twug Up, people talked, we all shared hugs and found solutions for one another. It was a productive evening and well worth the two days it took me to get there.

My personal thanks to Andrew Windham for making the Twup Up happen. Andrew, you are a master at networking. I’d like to clone you so that we can do Twug Ups across the entire country!

If anyone else is interested in hosting a Twug Up, please email our team at- team@globalhugtour.com. We look forward to meeting you and sharing hugs with your community too. Thank you again for your support of the Global Hug Tour. We can’t make this succeed without you!

We’ve been quite busy with so many aspects of the Global Hug Tour as well as our parent site, InspireMeToday.com. Because of the global reach of the Global Hug Tour, we made the decision for InspireMeToday.com to be 100% free. We invite you to check it out and make it a part of your morning routine.

As for the Global Hug Tour, each day brings new opportunity to us. At this time, our team is very busy with the PR, the social media, sponsorship, finalizing the itinerary and many other things.

We’re currently identifying important causes in each geographical area that we can donate to for the Global Hug Tour. We’re being extra careful, as we want the funding to go to causes that make a direct difference. We’re building relationships in geographical areas that we don’t yet have a presence and sifting through the many important charities, to provide a wide variety of places for our hug sponsors to send a hug.

We’re still looking for quality organization in these areas and would greatly appreciate your help:

Nagasaki, Japan (we’re open to another city here also- but not Tokyo as we can’t land there!)
Singapore
Berlin, Germany
St. Petersburg, Russia
Prague, Czech Republic
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Rome, Italy
Paris, France
Dublin, Ireland
Glasgow, Scotland

If you know of anyone doing amazing work in any of these areas, please be in touch with me directly as soon as possible, at gail@inspiremetoday.com. Thank you!

I look forward to hearing from you soon and promise to keep you updated on what’s happening. Thank you for your continued support of the Global Hug Tour!

Please spread the word to your friends and family. The more people know about our project, the more people globally will benefit!

Big hugs to you,

Gail

We are elated, as this is also our first grandchild. However, the timing created a quandary for us, as the baby is due in late August, a month before we were to return from the Global Hug Tour, previously scheduled from May-September.

This is my only daughter and my first grandchild. Not only do I want to be there for the birth of the baby, but I also want to be there for my daughter as she goes through her first pregnancy.

Therefore, with mixed emotions, we have made the decision to delay the launch of the Global Hug Tour until September 9th, 2009. I sincerely hope this doesn’t create any difficulties for anyone planning to coordinate with us in any of the cities. If so, please accept my heartfelt apologies for the change in plans.

Our tentative itinerary now begins from Boulder on 9/9/09, to New York City for 9/11/09, heads west to Dallas and Los Angeles before leaving the US for Canada, Russia and points beyond. We’ll return into Washington, D.C. on 1/21/10, National Hug Day. Seems fairly serendipitous, no?

Sometimes when things are changing it appears that the plan is going sideways or that the path is wrong. Yet in the end, what originally seemed to be negative can easily turn into the greatest positive. Reminds me of a blog I wrote recently called “We’ll see”.

I know that all things happen in Divine timing and for the perfect reason, even when I try to resist the change. I had my heart set on leaving in May, but I also have my heart set on being there if my daughter needs me when the baby is born. And, I’m quite excited to give my first hug to this beautiful little child, my first grand baby.

Thank you for your understanding in this decision!!! It didn’t come lightly and I’m hoping that we still have your love and support for the tour, even if it’s delayed for a few months. I’m sure the extra time will help The Global Hug Tour be even bigger and better than we’d originally planned.

Here’s the new itinerary:

Boulder, CO      9/9/09

New York, NY      9/9

Dallas, TX        9/13

Los Angeles, CA        9/15

Vancouver, BC, Canada        9/17

Juneau, AK

Anchorage, AK       9/19

Adak, AK       9/22

Petrapavlovsk, Russia        9/23

Sapporo, Japan        9/24

Nagasaki, Japan        9/26

Seoul, South Korea        9/29

Shanghai, China        10/2

Hong Kong, China        10/5

Ho Chi Minh, Viet Nam        10/8

Siem Reap, Cambodia        10/10

Singapore, Singapore        10/13

Kuala Lumpur, Maylasia        10/16

Chiang Mai, Thailand        10/19

Kathmandu, Nepal        10/22

Chennai, India        10/25

Mumbai, India        10/28

Dubai, UAE        10/30

Kuwait City, Kuwait       11/2

Beirut, Lebanon        11/6

Amman, Jordan        11/9

Haifa, Israel        11/12

Athens, Greece        11/15

Pristina, Kosovo         11/18

Prague, Czech Republic        11/20

Berlin, Germany        11/23

Vilnius, Lithuania        11/26

Riga, Latvia        11/28

St. Petersberg, Russia        11/30

Helsinki, Finland        12/3

Stockholm, Sweden        12/6

Copenhagen, Denmark        12/11

Amsterdam, Netherlands        12/14

Rome, Italy        12/17

Barcelona, Spain        12/20

Paris, France        12/23

London, England        12/27

Dublin, Ireland        12/30

Glasgow, Scotland        1/2

Reykjavik, Iceland        1/5

Kangerlussuaq, Greenland        1/8

Gander, Newfoundland        1/8

Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada        1/9

Washington, DC        1/12

Toronto, Ontario, Canada        1/15

Chicago, IL        1/18

Boulder, CO        1/21

We greatly appreciate your understanding, love and support and look forward to meeting you along the way.
With gratitude and big hugs,

Gail