Day 326: Lady Gaga, senior nomads and more

Wow! I heard that Lady Gaga did a surprise appearance at the last evening of the Airbnb Open. But that time I had already moved on, to see some friends in San Diego. And besides, I've never listened much to Lady Gaga anyway.

But I'm super satisfied with all the other sessions I did go to. Everything from a practical workshop on how to take better photos of your home, to more inspirational talks about topics like "universal belonging" and "urban nomads".

Some of my favourites where these:

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love (and her new book Big Magic, which we received a copy of). She talked about connecting with people in a more authentic way. And how she, instead of asking "where are you from?" or "what do you do?" ask people "what are you most excited about in your life right now?" and some of the answers she'd got.

The senior nomads. A retired couple who sold their house and who has been traveling the world three years living at Airbnb's. Now they've written a book about their experiences. Don't you get homesick? was one of the questions they got. "It's hard to be homesick when you don't have a home."

The session "Expanding your mind through travel" with Jason Silva, futurist and host of National Geograpics "Brain Games", and Steven Kotler, cofounder of the Flow Genome project. They talked about how traveling and adventures release signal substances in the brain and in a way alters our state of consciousness. It's a way of breaking away from reality, helps your brain to connect ideas and be more creative, and helps you to be more in the present. I couldn't do a fair summary of the whole talk here, but many of the ideas they brought up was mindblowing.

Elisabeth Gilbert

Brian Chesky and Gwyneth Paltrow talking about entrepreneurship.

The senior nomads. 125 Airbnb's in over three years.

"Tell me your travel story and I'll write a haiku about it."