Unique digital nomad travel adventures from around the U.S.
My coworker’s husband has just left on his first international trip to London. And other than a couple of trips to Mexico, this is his first international voyage. His wife has not done a lot of traveling herself so she has been asking me a …
One year ago today, I rolled through North Dakota. It was very exciting. Now normally, a trip to North Dakota is not necessarily worthy of any sort of celebration (no offense to the 750,000 people who live there). But this was no ordinary trip for …
One of the first things I do after we’ve booked tickets for a trip is make a beeline to the library so I can see what they have for me in the travel guidebook section. I LOVE guidebooks. Nothing gets me more excited about visiting a place than to see all the cool things that are available for me to do. This post will discuss the merits of the humble travel guidebook and recommend some things to look for as you use a guidebook to plan your next trip.
The single most important feature in a good travel guidebook is its publishing date. Think about it–you’ve just read a review of a 5-star restaurant that only cost $2 per plate, but when you get there you realize the place closed in 1965. Not very helpful. When I am contemplating which guidebook to buy for a trip, I will compare the dates of a few books to see which was published or edited most recently.
A lot of guidebooks are written a while ago but are updated with current information. (This would be the best job ever. You wouldn’t even have to do that much–just go to the places that have been previously recommended and make sure they are still good. Sigh…if only.) I try to get guidebooks that have been published in the last few years.
Most guidebooks can be grouped by the type of travel they are appealing to. Lonely Planet and Rough Guide cater to a traveler with a smaller budget and Fodors and Frommers are written for folks with a few more dollars in their bank accounts. I personally, am probably not going to be buying a Fodors or Frommers book anytime soon. I’m just not that big of a baller.
Travel guidebooks can come in hard copy or electronic format. I prefer a hard copy book, but that’s probably because I like having something tangible in my hands. I like to tag pages that have things I am interested in and I think it is easier to find what I am looking for later. However, e-books don’t take up any space in your bag and are always at your fingertips if you keep them on your phone. I recently found deal on Travelzoo where I was able to buy three Lonely Planet e-books for $25. I will be able to give a more thorough review of that after we visit Australia next year.
Once you have selected a guidebook, you want to make the most of it. Below are the features that I find most useful.
This section is typically at the beginning of the guidebook and most people probably skip right over. This is a big mistake though (and I’m not saying that just because I have a history degree). It is always, repeat, always, a good idea to have a background of the country you are going to. Americans have a bad reputation around the world for being arrogant. Sure, English is the universal language. And sure, U.S. dollars are accepted in a lot of countries. But that doesn’t mean the rest of the world is an extension of America. A little background on a country will help you understand the country’s culture and might prepare you for how it is different than what you are used to.
There is a section in pretty much every travel guidebook that has colorful pictures of the places, things, experiences that the author deems most worthy of your time. These will most likely be the things that the country is most known for, but there are sure to be some gems that you haven’t heard of and might not want to miss. It would be challenging to be able to check off all of this list in your visit, but it is a great place to start to build your itinerary.
Speaking of itineraries, your travel guidebook should have a section that builds an itinerary for you based on a few criteria. Some do this by time (like Rick Steves) and some do it by interests (like Lonely Planet). When we travel, B and I do a little research independently and come back with the things we most want to do. Sometimes these are the same, but more often than not, they are different.
Since it is impossible to fit everything in, we pick our highest priorities and use the itinerary section of a guidebook to help us determine our own itinerary. I haven’t ever taken a trip where I follow an itinerary exactly as it listed in a guidebook. But it can be really useful to help you figure out the length of time you need for certain places, or mapping out how long it will take to get to other locations.
Peppered throughout the main part of the travel guidebooks, authors will insert boxes with interesting tidbits of history, culture, etc. These are fascinating little reads and shouldn’t be skipped. For example, in Rick Steve’s Guide to Portugal, you can learn about a unique style of building that lasted for about a hundred years in the 15th century called Manueline Architecture. Portugal was wealthy at that time and decorated their buildings to the 9s. Go figure.
Several books offer walking tours of towns/museums/etc. These are great (and free!) ways to learn all about whatever you are visiting. There are times when taking an organized tour is a great way to spend some money. Other times, you might not be feeling up to a tour group. A travel guidebook’s self-guided tour will give you all the important information you need to know as you walk along.
Travel guidebooks are an excellent tool to help you prepare and enjoy your trip. If you are heading to Europe, Rick Steves is my go-to with solid information albeit a little kitschy. In other countries, I recommend Lonely Planet, Rough Guide, or Moons. Make sure to get one with the most recent published date. Also, do not forgot that your local library is an excellent resource for finding these and others.
When I was in my 20s, I visited a back specialist and was told that I have the back of an 80-year-old. (Lovely, right?) What this means is that once or twice a year, I tweak it just right and go down for the count …
At my day job, we talk a lot about travel and the comparison of different locations. It comes up naturally due to the nature of our business. I work for an engineering consulting firm and we design projects all over the world (not me personally, …
Are you new to Airbnb? Maybe wondering what all of the fuss is about? That was me about a year ago. I was as green as they get and had never tried any home rental service before. Oh boy, was I missing out.
Airbnb was founded in 2008 and claims to have 2,000,000+ listing in over 191 countries. It has excellent filters and unlike a lot of other home rental sites, Airbnb lets you just rent a room if that is your preference.
I decided to try Airbnb out after having a conversation with a friend of mine who had recently returned home from a trip to Europe. She and her husband stayed exclusively in Airbnb rentals and she was raving about both the experience and some of the places they stayed. I am embarrassed to admit that at that time, I had never heard of Airbnb (I know, I must have been living under a rock). Anyway, her enthusiasm was contagious and I decided right then and there that that was how I was going to do my next trip (good thing R didn’t mind and had heard good things as well). At the time, we were planning a trip to Europe with another friend of ours (shout out to C) and things like lodging had not been nailed down yet. So we decided to give it a go.
Below are my top 10 reasons why you should give Airbnb a try (in no particular order):
This may be my favorite aspect of Airbnb. No offense to places like the Double Tree (or to you if that is your sort of thing), but once you step through the front door, it is darn-near impossible to tell if you are in Boise, Idaho, or San Jose, Costa Rica (the cookies taste the exact same in both locations, by the way). Cookie-cutter, two-queen-beds-with-terrible-art-above-them rooms are real tough to find on Airbnb. It is fascinating to see how others live and with Airbnb, you won’t just be seeing it; you’ll be living it for a brief time. Which is very cool.
In Tallinn, Estonia, our place was a bishop’s chapel that had been built in the 1400s. A Finnish man purchased it and converted it into an apartment. There was even a sauna in the basement. It was hands down the coolest place we stayed in on that trip.
With Airbnb, you can stay in some really cool locations. Often, hotels in the old part of town or downtown can get quite expensive. But Airbnb offers more budget-friendly options in the locations you actually want to be.
Plenty of businesses offer incentives for “inviting” your “friends.” Airbnb is no different. For our trip to Europe, R, C and I all set up new Airbnb profiles. I set mine up first and then “invited” R and C to join. They received a credit to use on their first booking. Then I received a credit for inviting them. Taking advantage of that little incentive, we were able to save a little cash. If you are planning a trip with other Airbnb newbies, I highly suggest you do this.
We rented from a host in Hawaii who brought us fresh-cut pineapple the morning after we arrived and even offered us a ride back to the airport to pick up our rental car. Airbnb hosts often offer a personal and local touch that is missing from most hotels. Plus, they can give you really good advice on what to see and where to eat.
When R and I are searching for places to stay, we like to filter our searches so that we each have our own bed. (Note: on Airbnb there is a difference between the number of people a place sleeps and the number of beds.) This might limit our choices, but it also gives us a better sleeping experience. We also usually search on price, location and “entire place.” But feel free to get as specialized as you would like. For example, while searching for places to stay in Finland, we were able to filter and view places that had saunas (which is quite a lot in Finland).
Airbnb is growing like crazy. That means options. I am continually amazed at the locations that have Airbnbs available. Combine that with hotels, motels, camping, etc., and you’ve got more choices than you will know what to do with. Depending on the length of stay and the options available, I still choose a hotel a lot of the time. But Airbnb has opened up a whole new world when it comes to lodging.
One of the main perks to staying in an Airbnb as opposed to a typical hotel, is the near certainty that you will have a kitchen. This makes breakfast particularly easy and you can prepare a meal once in a while if you are tired of eating out or if want to save a few bucks. I also really enjoy grocery shopping in a foreign country and a kitchen makes it easy to pick up snacks and food to have on hand.
The first thing I noticed about Airbnb is that it is not as straight forward to book as a hotel and it can be a bit intimidating in the beginning. You will need to set up a profile and to do that properly it is going to take more than a couple of minutes. But make sure you do it properly. Airbnb is a two-way street and renters have the option to deny you. They can also give you a bad review if you mess up their place. (Note: if you enjoy living like a slob while staying in a hotel, you might want to rethink Airbnb.) I was a bit worried that my first Airbnb request might get denied because I did not have any reviews. Luckily, that was not the case. And I have not heard of anyone else getting denied either. After your first reservation or two, you will feel just as comfortable booking on Airbnb as you do on any other booking site.
Because Airbnb has that two-way street review thing going on, there is incentive to actually leave a review. When you stay somewhere and the host leaves a review for you, you cannot actually read it until you have also left a review (or until two weeks have passed). Once you leave your review, then you both can read what the other has written. I do not know this for certain, but I imagine this method prompts a person to go ahead and write a review when they might not ordinarily feel bothered to do so. And more reviews mean more information and first-hand accounts for us who are looking at a place to stay.
Now for arguments sake, I feel I should mention that not everything with Airbnb is all sunshine and roses. There can be challenges. Sometimes the pictures and descriptions for a listing are not entirely accurate.
There was a place in Warsaw that claimed to have three beds but in reality it just slept three. It was not a big deal, but it was not what we thought we had ordered and unlike a hotel, we could not just request a new room. So R and C got to share a bed on that one.
Be aware of any listings that do not have a review. They might be new on the market and looking for their first customer. They might also be illegally trying to sublease their place. If the owner catches wind of this and puts a stop to it, you might find yourself without a place to stay at the last minute. This has never happened to me. But it did happen to a friend of mine.
Communication can be difficult and you will definitely need to communicate with your host in a way you never need to communicate with a hotel. You will need to arrange a time and place to pick up and drop off keys, or get into the house, or receive special instructions, or report a problem, etc. You might not speak the same language and you might not have cell phone service.
We arrived to Krakow, Poland, a bit later than planned and then had a hard time finding transportation into the city. We thought we would have cell phone service but we did not. So we had to find a place with Wi-Fi so that we could email our host and let him know that we would be late. It was a bit of a disaster and there was some waiting on both of our parts (and a sprained ankle for C, unfortunately). In the end, it all worked out. But it was not nearly as smooth as simply showing up at a hotel and checking in.
Please, please, please do not let the challenges above stop you from trying Airbnb out. Just keep them in mind when you are planning your first (or tenth) experience.
Airbnb has grown considerably and in certain cities, unfortunately, is causing more harm than good. Do your research and try to avoid using Airbnb in cities where it is causing local problems (e.g. Amsterdam and Barcelona). In that situation, I recommend you either stay at a hotel or stay outside of the city. Be a respectful traveler and do not contribute to the problem.
Challenges aside, Airbnb is a worthy option for any Jane and one I definitely recommend trying. It may just change the way you travel.
Final note: My experience with VRBO is a bit more limited, but it is definitely a viable option. It combines the “home” experience with hotel-like booking. I have found the fees tend to be higher and the dual review method does not exist. For these reason, I definitely prefer Airbnb. But I also recommend VRBO as a good alternative.
Cruise ship travel is not for everyone. So “to cruise or not to cruise?” is the question I will try to answer today. Cruise ship travel may be perfect for you. Or it may be the worst idea ever for your travel style. Or maybe, …
Back in February, B and I headed off to Hawaii so I could join her in the Fifty States Club. (Meaning we had visited all 50 states.) We caught a quick hop to Seattle and then flew to Kona on the Big Island. I knew …
Having trouble choosing where to travel to next? Are you feeling overwhelmed and maybe a little paralyzed by all of the possibilities? If you are like me, then deciding where to travel to next is one of the hardest parts of travel planning. Because there are so many great places to explore in this big old world, it can be a little difficult to narrow down your options. Plus, for every destination I check off my list, I usually add three more before I even get home (big sigh). Wanderlust is real, people.
Anyway, back to the point at hand. If you are in the difficult position of trying to decide where to go on your next adventure, I suggest you ask yourself the following questions:
Now let’s explore these questions in greater detail. Also, I wrote a part 2 to this post that compares the following questions side-by-side and could help when choosing your next destination.
A long weekend? One week? A whole month? Let’s be real, you do not want the time it takes to get to a destination to be longer than the time you have to enjoy being there. The more time you have, the more options you have. So if you’ve only got five days, then you might want to cross South Africa off the list. We tend to leave the really long flights (think Asia) for those vacations in which we have two weeks or longer. But Mexico or the Caribbean, they can easily be enjoyed on a much smaller time frame. And science says eight days is the ideal length for a vacation.
We like to do things on the cheap. That way we get to do more. But that philosophy is easier to do in some places than it is in others. New York, Switzerland, Iceland: these places are not cheap and your money will not go as far. On the other hand, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Idaho (shout out!): these places are more affordable. You just have to decide what is a good value for the money you have available to spend.
This needs to be looked at for two reasons: weather and cost.
If you do not enjoy colder weather, then you are probably going to be a bit picky about where you go in say, February. And if humidity is not your thing, you may want to rethink Florida in August. (It will still be humid in January, just not stifling so.) Another thought to keep in mind: travel options can be very limited in certain places during a particular time (e.g. Morocco during Ramadan, Maine in the winter, Peru during the rainy season, etc.). It is critical that you do your research.
Also, certain times of the year cost more. Christmas is an obvious one. So is summer. But did you know that there is usually a significant increase in travel prices from February to March? We blame spring break (whether it deserves it or not). This comes back to the question about how much you have to spend. You’ll need to keep in mind that if you are planning to travel in July, you will have a harder time finding the good deals.
Side note: busy season means more people. If you want to minimize your interaction with crowds, you’ll really want to think about this question.
It is sad to say, but some places are just safer than others. Especially for women. That being said, each Jane is unique and a country/city’s safety is a bit subjective. There are places R and I are more than comfortable traveling to that our friend C will not even consider. And there are definitely places I am not planning on traveling to any time soon no matter how beautiful or exotic you tell me they are…most countries that end in ‘stan’ are a no-go for the immediate future. Deciding where you are and are not comfortable traveling to definitely needs to be considered when deciding where to go next.
This is always changing for us. One time on a particularly hot and humid trip (that had been proceeded by several hot and humid trips), R looked at me and said, “The next place we travel to has to be cold.” Pause. “And I want to be able to drink the water.” Guess where our next trip was to? Iceland.
Whatever your particular requirements are at the time, take them into account. They may really be able to help you narrow down your next vacation.
What if you have your destination in mind but for whatever reason, you cannot make it work? Maybe the cost is just too much or the flight times are not right. Get creative and see if there is a similar destination to what you are planning. R really wanted to visit Egypt a few years ago. But things have not been real smooth there for a while and it fell just below my risk threshold (as discussed above). So instead, we went to Morocco. We still want to travel to Egypt one day, but Morocco was a perfect alternative at that time.
A few simple questions can help narrow down your options and assist in choosing your next travel destination. I hope the questions above help and we cannot wait to hear where you decide to go next. Happy choosing!
Global Entry and TSA PreCheck have changed the way we travel. As Michael would say, “Do you remember a time”……when you didn’t have to bring a ziplock bag with you to the airport? Or when you didn’t have to unlace your boots to walk through …