Have you registered for the Centennial Celebration & Discovery Institute (CCDI) yet? The event is shaping up to be like nothing USAGSO-NA has experienced before. Of course…because a 100th birthday does not come around every day! We have exciting news regarding our Keynote Speaker for Saturday night. She will also be presenting to the OCC Conference and in the older girls’ Healthy Living Track! Read more to find out about this lifetime Girl Scout, Author, Speaker, Coach and Adventurista!
Ten years ago, Janice Booth tried to find someone – anyone – to accompany her on a trip to southern Utah to explore the mystery of slot canyons. Not only would no-one go with her, everyone tried to talk her out of it. ”It’s too dangerous! It’s too weird! Your joints are creaky - what are you thinking?”
She nearly succumbed to their uninformed yet well-intentioned warnings, but decided instead to head out to the slot canyons by herself. “The best thing that ever happened to me,” she says, “was that I had to take that trip alone.”
That was 1998, and Janice has been addicted to solo travel ever since. More than a decade later she realizes that solo travel gave her priceless gifts. ”Travelling alone changed me. It changed the way I look at life and at my future. Every adventure and misadventure made me more resilient, and more capable of handling upsets in my day to day life. What I learned in my travels I apply now to daily living – it’s a kind of recipe for discovering one’s true path, and staying the course.”
Janice shares her epiphanies in the bestselling book Only Pack What You Can Carry, a unique and inspiring travel memoir published in the spring of 2011 by National Geographic. If purchased ahead of time, she will be available for signing opportunities at CCDI!
Born in British Columbia, Janice Holly Booth is a lifelong equestrienne and avid solo traveler. For more than 20 years, she dedicated her life to the non-profit world, working in service of children. Janice is the former CEO of the Pioneer Girl Scout council in North Carolina, as well as several other non-profit agencies. Her many accomplishments have been recognized with local and national awards including: the Presidential Medal of Arts; a “Hero” award from the City of Buffalo; “Woman of the Year” by the Gaston Women’s Commission; the prestigious Community Partnership award from Mutual of America; and in 2011, “Woman Extraordinaire,” from Charlotte Business Magazine. Her occasional travel series in the Gaston Gazette entitled “On Adventure with Janice Booth,” inspired many of her readers to summon the courage to have adventures of their own. She is also an accomplished photographer and writer, and has published short fiction, literary reviews and editorials throughout her career. Between speaking engagements, she is working on a public television special, and has two book projects underway. She is a Lifetime Girl Scout and dreams one day of visiting all the World Centers…solo.