Recently I discovered How I Met Your Mother, which means I was the second-to-last person on Earth to get obsessed with it. This show nails what it's like to be a young adult in the city. And so far my favorite episode has been "Murtaugh." In it, Ted says he has a list of things he is now too old to do, like pull an all-nighter or drink from a beer bong. The list is named after the main character in Lethal Weapon, Roger Murtaugh, who famously says, "I'm gettin' too old for this sh*t." But the item on Ted's Murtaugh List that resonated the most with me was: Crash on a friend's futon for the night instead of getting a hotel room.

I'm all about getting sporty on my trips. When I was training for the NYC marathon, I had to visit Washington, D.C. at a crucial point of my training. Instead of halting training or spending hours running on the hotel treadmill, I hired a running guide through City Running Tours who took me on a sightseeing run through our nation's capital.

So when I heard about a physical fitness event  -- again, in Washington, DC -- coming up on October 11, I thought I would share it with you. Bike for the Heart is a day-long event put on by the Sister to Sister organization, a group dedicated to educating women about heart health and risk prevention and providing free heart health checkups.

The day consists of four events:

 - a family-friendly five-mile bike ride around our nation's capital (this would be my choice)

Later this month, I will be sharing a cabin on the north side of Lake Tahoe with 11 friends, plus one baby and two dogs. That’s 14 souls sleeping all under the same roof! Even though I’m expecting it to be tons of fun, and even though I live in a pretty big city where there are zillions of people everywhere and I can practically reach out my arm through my apartment window and shake hands with my neighbors across the way, I’m just not used to sharing such close quarters with so many people. And while I enjoy the company of everyone who I’m going with, I’ve got to be honest. I’m a bit wary of sharing living space with so many people in such a concentrated dose.

This week's question comes from Susan in Omaha, NE, home of the world's richest man:

This week's question comes from Tamyra in Baton Rouge, La., home of the giant Frostop roadside root-beer mug:

“Are you all by yourself”?
“Is it just you”?
“Only one tonight”?

If you’ve ever traveled by yourself, then you’ve probably faced one of the questions above, all of which seem to imply that you’re somehow, shall we say, lacking, for being unaccompanied. But the truth is, many solo travelers, like myself, are perfectly happy to be alone. Who doesn’t want free reign over an entire hotel room, or the chance to do everything on your list and nothing you don’t want to do, or the power to set the pace of each day?

Based on a recent trip to wonderful Waikiki, here are some of my tips for solo travelers:

I don’t know about you, but in the day of the digital camera, I’m a prolific and perfectly undisciplined photographer on my vacations, snapping random pictures of every flower, tree, rock, and seascape that catches my eye. Funny-looking bird? I take a picture. Pink sunset clouds? Shutter-click. Friends laughing at some inane joke we’ll never remember later while posing in front of a very serious statue? Smile for the camera.

When I return from my trips, I always look forward to downloading my camera’s memory card and seeing the pictures in their full pixellated glory. At most, I might then download these photos from my computer onto a public gallery site, to share with my friends and family, but I admit that beyond that, I haven’t made an actual physical photo album in years.

But, there are a few ways to parlay pictures into practical day-to-day items. Here are a few crafty, non-album ways to put your favorite vacation photos to use:

You know those Facebook profiles that are absolutely cram-packed with applications: Wall, Super Wall, Fun Wall, quizzes, compare-your-friends tools, What Kind of Car Are You? assessment, and so on? They’re the visual equivalent of a noisy construction site, a virtual brain dump that doesn’t really tell you a lot about a person besides revealing their propensity for accepting every application invitation they receive. These junked-up online profiles are my latest pet peeve. But while I don’t really care which of my friends was voted #1 hottie or which Disney princess everyone is, I’ve long held that knowing how someone travels is an excellent indicator of personality.

If you’ve ever heard or uttered any of the following on the road, my guess is that you were in the midst of a stress-induced, sleep-deprived travel meltdown: “I hate you.” “I can’t believe you’re being this mean to me.” “I can’t handle this anymore.” “All you do is freak out.” “There’s hatred in my blood right now.”

This season, on the Amazing Race, team Nate and Jen have responded to every stressful travel situation by completely unraveling into shouting matches, name-calling, and even shoving. Yet somehow, they’ve managed to eke through the finish line week after week. Sunday night, after making all the above quotes in the course of just one episode, they finally met their elimination with Jen confessing sadly, “I think we killed our relationship along the way.”

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member globalroamer.

The best traveling companions aren’t always the ones with whom you left home. Some of my most memorable travel buddies are people I’ve met along the way: Erwin of the indigo hair in the Paris Laundromat; Paula of the free pizza on the train to Rome; Christos and Jason of the ouzo on the Greek ATVs. The list goes on.

A few weeks ago, I spent two days with a group that inspired me in ways none of my previous friends of travel happenstance can claim, and, perhaps not surprisingly, I met them in New Zealand, the friendliest and most inspiring place I’ve ever visited.

Their names are Niko, Baldy, Auntie Sugar, Reina, Corrinne, Claire, and Brent; their mountain is Ruapehu; their river is Whanganui.