Planning a Trip to an Unfamiliar Destination

May 1, 2017 No Comments

Traveling is an exciting part of life, but heading to an unfamiliar destination may be pushing the excitement too far for some people. When there’s familiarity, it’s easy to know where to begin your vacation planning. But how exactly do you travel to a place that you know nothing about? In this post, we’ll give you step by step instructions to assuage your traveling fears and make your next trip to places unknown a reality!

Unfamiliar_Destination

 

Step 1: Choose a Destination & Length of Stay

First, you’ll need to figure out what kind of vacation you’d like. Would you prefer to lounge on a beach chair soaking up the sun or are you dying to explore a cultural hot-spot? Do you want to have a thrilling time and knock items off of your bucket list or do you need to re-energize and rejuvenate? Once you decide on your vacation style, you should be able to narrow down your destination options. Minube is a fun app to try. It suggests destinations based on your mood and other factors. If you have a few places in mind, do google searches for “experiences” or “vacations” in your chosen destination cities for comparison.

Read More

Choosing an Eco-Friendly Vacation

April 14, 2017 No Comments

Ecotourism is the newest booming trend in the travel industry and for good reason. With so many travelers venturing deeper into the world’s most remote places, we humans are leaving quite the footprint. In an effort to preserve these beautiful and wild places, more tourists are turning to eco-friendly vacations that minimize their environmental footprint in these wild areas. If you’re dying to explore an exotic locale, but want to do so in an environmentally-responsible way, take a look at these three great eco-tours!

 

Trip #1: The Wild Side of China, A Nature Odyssey

sichuan_800

panda_china_800

Experience China in a way you never thought possible with this fabulous tour offered by Natural Habitat Adventures in conjunction with the WWF. This eco-tour takes you into the Minshan Mountains of the Sichuan province to get you up close and personal with one of the world’s most endangered species: the Giant Panda. Venturing out in small groups of only about a dozen people or so, the tour visits 3 panda research facilities where you can learn all about pandas and their habitats. You’re offered the opportunity to volunteer your time to help in a variety of ways from cleaning enclosures to preparing panda meals.

Read More

Top Historical Sites in Europe

April 3, 2017 No Comments

There is no better continent for history buffs to visit than Europe. There are countless historical treasures peppered throughout all of the countries, each with its own charm and mesmerizing backstory. If you’re planning a visit to Europe, you should add a educational element and be mentally transported back in time with these top seven historical sites!

 

1. Ruins of Pompeii, Province of Naples, Italy

pompeii_800

If you’re headed to Italy, you have to plan a visit to one of the most intriguing historical sites to ever exist. The famously doomed city of Pompeii was covered in lava and ash almost 2000 years ago when Mount Vesuvius suddenly erupted. This resulted in an almost instant death for Pompeii’s unfortunate residents but created a perfectly preserved city. Today you can visit to get a glimpse of daily life as it was in 79 A.D. when Pompeii was a bustling Roman empire. The buildings still contain preserved people as they were going about their day as well as all of their belongings such as furniture, gold, and tools. Seeing a city frozen in time almost 2000 years ago makes for an enlightening historical trip!

Read More

7 Travel Safety Tips

March 15, 2017 1 Comment

When vacationing out in the great wide world, safety can be a concern, especially when traveling alone. But while traveling in a new city can seem scary, don’t ever give up on your dreams of visiting a particular city just because you’re feeling nervous about safety. There are precautions that you can take while on vacation to ensure that you’re as safe as possible. In order to help you feel more at ease, we’ve compiled the top seven travel safety tips to assuage any misgivings you may have.

travel_safety_6

1. Research your destination

Before you even book your trip, spend some time researching your destination. This is one of the best sites to check out before traveling: The State Department offers updated travel safety information on every country in the world. You can also read travel sites like tripadvisor.com to read other people’s experiences in particular areas to get an idea of what to expect. It’s also good to know where the closest police station is to your hotel, and research how to contact the local embassy just in case there’s a bigger issue.

Read More

How to Find Cheap Flights

March 6, 2017 2 Comments

Blog_Hero_CheapFlights

Flights can take up the majority of a trip’s budget, so finding the best price can make the difference between taking that trip of a lifetime or staying home and watching Netflix. And oddly enough, despite all of the technological advances when it comes to flying, booking inexpensive flights seems to be even more nerve-wracking now than it was 20 years ago. With all of the different travel sites and airlines offering various deals coupled with all of them claiming to have the lowest prices, you could spend days searching for the best flight without ever finding that magic price point. Instead of wasting hours bouncing from one site to the next, enjoy this time-tested guide to finding cheap flights!

Read More