Unique digital nomad travel adventures from around the U.S.
Fun work trips are possible. I promise. Do you have to travel for work? If the answer is yes, below are some suggestions for how to make your next business trip a little more enjoyable…provided you can find some free time of course. Suggestions for …
When I was getting ready to go on my first international trip as an adult, my mom’s sister, Aunt P, called me up with an offer I couldn’t refuse. She told me that before she left on a big trip the year prior, her husband …
Travel disappointment is real. Disappointment in general is, unfortunately, a part of life. But it is also a part of travel. No matter how well planned or thought out, a trip rarely goes off without a hitch. Whether it is flight delays, an upset stomach or overpriced attractions, something will happen that tests your patience and threatens your fun. Hopefully, your disappointments will be small and manageable, but there is always a chance they will be something big.
I have been lucky and have never experienced a travel horror story like the ones you sometimes read about. However, I have certainly experienced hiccups, disappointment and frustration. Below are some personal stories about some of those experiences and the lessons I learned from them.
Few things disappoint R as much as a closed visitor’s center at a National Park. When we arrive at one after 4 p.m., the closure is understandable (although no less disappointing). However, when we stopped at the Gulf Islands National Seashore and found the visitor’s center closed for no apparent reason, the disappointment was extra sharp. It was a rather quiet car ride for a while as R worked through her disappointment. Eventually, she came to terms with it and we moved on to finish a really fun road trip through the South.
Sometimes the store, museum, attraction or restaurant you want to visit is closed on the day you plan to do so. Unfortunately, no amount of research can prepare you for every closure. If you are lucky, you will be able to rearrange your plans. Other times you will not. In the case of the Gulf Islands National Seashore experience, there was nothing we could do but move on down the road.
Lesson learned: give yourself time to feel disappointed, but do not dwell on it. Other adventures await and may be even more fun than your original plans.
In R’s post about our recent trip to Puerto Rico, she talks about the various cancelations we experienced both before the trip began and while we were on the road. Some were understandable and some were not. All were disappointing. However, our only option was to adjust our plans and make the best of it. Guess what: we had a great time and we saw some amazing things. It may not have been the trip we originally planned, but it was a darn good one.
Lesson learned: be flexible and go with the flow. You may end up experiencing something better than you could have imagined.
A few years ago, I visited New Zealand with my friend W. There was really only one thing she wanted to see on that trip: penguins. We did not do a lot of research in preparation for that trip. It was not until after we arrived that we learned it was not a good time of year to view penguins. The little buggers were out at sea instead of hanging around the coast. It was big blow to W and her heart’s desire. We still had an amazing trip, but it did not feel complete for her and was a major travel disappointment.
Lesson learned: if you really want to see or experience something, make sure you do some research ahead of time to see if it is feasible. A little research can help set realistic expectations and mitigate potential disappointment.
We knew we would be visiting Helsinki during Vapuu. What we did not realize was how big of a deal the holiday is in Finland. The merriment and festivities had a huge impact on our ability to explore the city and its sights. It was a bit disappointing. However, rather than focusing of what we missed, we focused instead on the opportunity in front of us. We got to see how Helsinki celebrates one of its major holidays. It was a very unique experience and one few tourists get to see.
Lesson learned: embrace whatever is unique about the situation you are in. Instead of a travel disappointment, you may end up with a one-of-kind travel experience.
After a delightful weekend exploring Washington D.C. with a friend, we found out that our flight home had been canceled. Mostly I was upset because we were already at the airport when we received the news. Our wakeup call was somewhere around 4 a.m. and had I known the flight was canceled, I could have gotten a little more sleep. Oh well. We did make it home eventually.
Delayed or canceled flights are one of the most unfortunate parts of travel. And I suppose I should mention that delays or cancellations are not exclusive to flights. Trains, buses, taxies, etc. all get delayed and can majorly affect your vacation. It is pretty much a guarantee that at some point in your travels, some form of your transportation will be delayed. Accept it now and be prepared.
Lesson learned: always be prepared for a delay. They are inevitable. Make sure to pack something to entertain yourself (e.g. a book) as well as a snack or two. Some breathing exercises would not be remiss either.
I have so many travel stories with some sort of weather-related component. While visiting Venice, it rained like crazy. Since our time was short, we bundled up and made the best of it. It was cold and wet, but the crowds were few and we found several delightful cafés to enjoy a cup of hot cocoa. In contrast, when it rained while visiting Tallinn, Estonia, we opted to rest and relax. The little respite we took in our medieval chapel (thanks Airbnb) was one I enjoyed very much.
Lesson learned: make the best of your situation and go. Or sit back and relax. You cannot control the weather, so either embrace it or stay out of it. But do not let it ruin your trip.
When it comes to staying healthy on a trip, I have been very blessed and have rarely been sick. R cannot quite say the same thing, but even still, neither of us has had a trip ruined by an illness. The worst experience I have had was in Morocco. I had some sort of stomach issue for a day or so. Thankfully, it was short lived and easily treated with some strong drugs. It was not pleasant, but it could have been much worse and a major travel disappointment.
Lesson learned: always pack some basic medications. Check out R’s post about which medications to always have on hand while traveling.
I have never been robbed or held at gunpoint or anything like that. But I have been scammed before. In Indonesia, we fell for a fairly common scam. We thought a nice, grandpa-like local was giving us advice on where to buy authentic artisan goods. Turns out, he was in cahoots with a fake art center that takes advantage of tourists. We did not find this out until after we had bought our goods. Thankfully, it had been a fun experience and we did not spend too much money. We felt a little foolish, but no real harm was done. From my travel journal: “Yesterday, we were scammed. There is no official arts center and that nice local man clearly caught us hook, line and sinker. Oh well. It was still a fun experience, we still got some cool Batik and we didn’t spend too much money. It could have been much worse.”
Lesson learned: read up on possible scams before you go. And never fork over too much money for something you cannot verify. You can avoid this travel disappoint by being an informed tourist.
I wrote a post about dealing with other tourists while traveling. They have the potential to ruin your vacation if you let them. In fact, I feel like other tourists cause me more travel disappoint than almost anything else. I suggest you learn how to prepare yourself to deal with other tourist and avoid this travel disappointment as much as possible.
Lesson learned: preparation is key to dealing with other tourists. Unfortunately, they are not going anywhere anytime soon.
Twice, I have had to watch the changing of the guard in London. Even after those two experiences, I still have no idea what the big deal is. Why does this anti-climactic event make must-do lists in London? Given all there is to do and see in this wonderful city, I find the experience a complete waste of time.
Often, “must-see” events and attractions are just not worth your time and money. Unfortunately, you do not always know that before you go and when that must-see does not live up to your expectations, it can be disappointing. This is where is can be useful to find a local or someone who has been there and ask them what they recommend you should see and what you should stay away from.
Lesson learned: do your research. Talk to locals and recent visitors. Know what you are getting yourself into. However, if you find yourself bored or underwhelmed, do not be afraid to bail. Your time and money are precious. Try not to waste either.
Never forget to pack your good attitude. Travel disappointment will happen when you are on vacation. Although there are things you can do to mitigate those disappointments, the most important thing you can do is focus on the positive. If you do so, you will have a much better trip and even better memories.
Last spring B, C and I were thinking about where we could go in the fall for a quick, affordable vacation. After looking through Google Flights and seeing where we could get from Boise on the cheap, we narrowed it down to two options: Aruba …
Other tourists. They are that element of travel we sometimes forget to think about until we find ourselves surrounded. No matter where you go in the world (but especially at must-see places) it is difficult to avoid buses full of people as eager as you …
After finishing grad school in 2008, I still wasn’t ready to face the real world and get a grown-up job. Instead, I decided to cash in some skymiles and head down south to Peru with a pilot friend, L, with whom I had worked over the summer in Alaska. We didn’t do very much research for the trip and kind of played it by ear where we would go next when we got there. Looking back, I feel we were very fortunate to have had such a great time, and frankly, I don’t think I would have done anything differently. Here are the top five things that we saw and did in this bonita South American gem.
I met up with L in the Lima airport and after we had dropped off our packs at our hotel we headed to the coast. Lima is a huge city. Like over EIGHT MILLION people huge. The downtown area has a cool stretch that runs up right next to the coastline where there are some pretty dramatic cliffs to the water below. I had read in my trusty guidebook about how people ride the airwaves and paraglide right above the city and wanted to check it out. The guidebook said there were several different companies that took people on a tandem ride in that general vicinity and sure enough, we saw the paragliders in the air and headed that direction. Just a little context–paragliding is when you are strapped to a big kite and you use the air currents to go up and down.
When we got to the cliffs, L was a little skeptical about the whole operation, and to be perfectly honest, justifiably. But we both decided, ‘when in Lima’ so I put on the straps (like a backpack) and a helmet and the next thing I knew, Juan Carlos was telling me to walk straight towards the edge of the cliff and just step off. I didn’t even have to sign a form or get a safety briefing, which was hilarious because I had spent the last four months having people do just that before they flew in a helicopter. One of the many differences between other countries and the U.S.A…..much less red tape.
Luckily for me, Juan Carlos knew what he was doing and instead of crashing to the water we flew up, up, up into the air. I asked Juan Carlos to show me his best tricks and we had a great time spiraling and soaring. All too soon it was time to go back to the terra firma. He guided us down and we hit the ground running, coming to a nice stop without so much as sitting on the ground. I did land a little hard, but I think if I was wearing actual shoes instead of Chacos it would have absorbed it better. Looking back, this was probably not the smartest adventure to have. But B’s theory is that if you die traveling, you are going to die doing what you love. So I don’t regret strapping myself to a handsome Peruvian and running off a cliff one bit.
I had always heard about hiking the Inca trail and thought it would be awesome. But once we booked our flights for the following month, I realized something. There isn’t just one Inca trail. Makes sense, right? Incas were all over, so they had to have had more than one road going places. The official ‘Inca Trail’ actually requires permits and you have to sign up for it months in advance. Because we weren’t really big on the planning ahead thing this trip, we instead did the Lares Trek. (Side note: B hiked the Salkantay Trek while she was in Peru.)
On the Lares trek, we spent three days and two nights hiking through the Andes with a group of other weirdos who thought this sounded like fun. Our group and guide were really great and we had a fantastic time getting to know them as we trudged along. Here’s a little secret on hiking Inca trails: it sounds all hard core but it really isn’t that bad. Granted, there are different hikes and if you wanted to do it all yourself it would be rough. But if you go with a group, things are provided which make it easier. For example, we had a team of staff with us.
We all headed out at the same time, but these incredible Peruvians packed up horses and cruised down the path, leaving us in the dust. By the time we met up with them again for lunch, they had set up a nice resting place, cooked lunch and were waiting to share it with us when we arrived. After we ate we headed out again and the magic staff cleaned everything up, passed us like we were standing still, and set up dinner and camp so when we finally caught up again they had everything ready. This was the routine for the next few days. On our tour, we carried day packs but let the horses carry our main bags. Some tours allow you to carry your own gear the whole time (like the one B took), but I still can’t quite figure out why I would want to do that. Sounds hard.
We completed our trek in a town called Ollantaytambo and caught a train to another town, Aguas Calientes, at the base of Machu Picchu. Early the next morning, we took a bus up the hill to the ruins, passing people along the way who wanted to hike to the top (again….why? So hard). The ruins of Machu Picchu are incredible. There frankly is no way to adequately describe what it is like being so high in the mountains and looking at this incredible city. Go. Just go see it for yourself. The experience of hiking through the Andes was really fun and it made it all the more impressive to think about the Incas doing it all the time. And then hauling massive rocks up cliffs to build a town.
After spending some time in Cusco (which also comes highly recommended), we decided to head south to the border of Peru and Bolivia to Lake Titicaca. This lake is huge, one of South America’s biggest, and high, the world’s highest navigable body of water. We stayed in a town called Puno and booked a tour of the lake for the next day. Imagine our surprise when early the next morning we were picked up for our tour and there were three of our buddies who did the trek with us. Small world.
Lake Titicaca is famous for a lot of things, but is probably most well known for the floating villages. The indigenous people tie reeds of the totora plant together and create islands that they live on. We took a boat to the Uros Islands and were treated to a demonstration of how they use the reeds in many different ways. The tour was a little kitschy, I’ll be totally honest, but just when you think ‘this is a big tourist trap’ you realize you are standing on an island made of plants tied together in the middle of a huge lake. As we were leaving, our guide told us a joke that they must tell all tourists who come visit: the lake forms the border between Peru and Bolivia; Peru claims the ‘titi’ and leaves Bolivia with the ‘caca.’ Ha!
Our next stop took a little work to get to. We took a bus to a small town called Chivay where we would stay overnight. Early the next morning, we visited the Colca Canyon. The Colca Canyon is one of the deepest canyons in the world–twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. We weren’t there to hike (although we did that too); our purpose was to see Andean condors soar in their natural habitat.
Early in the morning we joined a throng of other tourists lined up on the edge of the canyon. After about half an hour I was questioning whether all this was going to be worth it. All of a sudden, several huge birds came out of nowhere. They flew up and around us, diving and soaring through the air. These birds are huge, so they would be easy to spot at a distance, but we were lucky enough to be in the perfect spot and they flew so close to us that I was able to see their curvy beaks, weird necks and scaly feet. They really are incredible creatures and I was so glad we took the time to visit this remote canyon.
Our last great adventure of the trip was to visit the town of Nasca. Now, as I might have mentioned once or twice, Indian Jones made a big impression on me growing up. One scene has them flying and down on the ground you see a bunch of weird straight lines and strange figures. These, my friends, are the Nasca Lines.
The lines themselves are shallow trenches dug into the desert and no one really knows for sure why and when they were made. Archeologists have narrowed down the when to about a 1,000-year stretch between 500 B.C. and 500 A.D. There are loads of theories about why there were made, most wackier than the next. What is certain is that when you are walking around, you have no idea that geometric shapes and animals are right next to you. You have to get up a little higher to really appreciate what is going on.
We took a flight on a small Cessna and experienced the shapes and figures from the air. I was only able to pick out lines at the beginning of our flight, but I soon got the hang of it and could identify different shapes as we went along. My favorite figure was that of a monkey, because of its really curly tail. The flight was probably the most expensive one I’ve taken when you figure cost/time, but it was definitely one of my most memorable.
Peru is an awesome country, chock full of interesting things to see and do. Your trip might be a spur of the moment. Or you might be in the fifth year of planning. Either way, I would highly recommend the experiences above.
Let’s talk about road trips. I know they are not for everyone and some people go stir crazy if they are stuck in a car too long. But I love them. If done right, a road trip is one of the best ways to see …
Holidays are a funny thing. Every culture has them and sometimes they cross country boundaries (e.g. Easter, Christmas) and are celebrated in many countries. But sometimes they are unique to that particular country. It’s easy to think other countries’ holidays sound crazy when you did …
Are you looking for the perfect gift for that traveler in your life? Gift giving in general can be a little overwhelming. It can be especially overwhelming if you are trying to delve into a world that is a bit foreign to you. I have certainly gotten some strange travel gifts over the years from friends and family who meant well. I have also gotten some awesome stuff—but those gifts were usually from fellow travelers. If you are looking for Christmas gift ideas for female travelers, we have a few suggestions below. I even included some DIY projects. Happy shopping!
Note: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you buy something through one of these links, we may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.
If you are looking for something practical that the traveler in your life will find useful, well, there is really no end to your options. So many travel accessories out there make travel easier, lighter, etc. You could go with something as simple as a water bottle (make it cute of course). R wrote a post about different water bottle options that work well for traveling and a good one makes a fine Christmas present. Other practical Christmas gift ideas for travelers include:
) or you could go with something a little different like a Pod
set.Maybe the traveler in your life has every practical gadget and gizmo on the market. Or maybe a practical gift just is not your thing. Instead, you could go with something a little more fun. Really, anything with a map, travel quote or the word “wanderlust” on it gets me excited. Etsy has thousands of options for travel-related signs, jewelry, clothing, home décor, etc. If you are looking for something more specific (because yes, Etsy can get a little overwhelming), try a few of these Christmas gift ideas:
Reminiscing about a trip is almost as good as the trip itself. Something that encourages a traveler to remember their trip or experiences is a gift that keeps on giving! This could be something as simple as a photo album (although you may want to make sure your traveler is the kind of person who will actually print off some photos). Or try one of these suggestions for Christmas gift ideas for travelers:
I have a friend whose family gives each other the most weird and random gifts. There is really no explanation for most of them. If this is your cup of tea, then there are certainly options that fit the bill. Weird Christmas gift ideas for travelers include:
I am kind of a DIY junkie. Unfortunately, not everything I make turns out quite like I planned. Oh well. However, the following DIY travel gifts are pretty easy to manage and may even spark your creativity to make something else. Plus, something handmade makes a gift extra special in my opinion:
I hope this post helped you come up with a few Christmas gift ideas for travelers. There are practical gifts as well as fun gifts. Or you can make something if you prefer. The important thing is to keep your traveler in mind. Trust me, we appreciate any effort made to choose something related to this crazy world of travel that we love.
A mid vacation respite is a time on your trip when you can take a vacation from your vacation. One of the most challenging things about planning a trip is trying to cram in as much as possible. No matter where you go, you will …