Unique digital nomad travel adventures from around the U.S.
Last year, R, C and I did a little traveling through Poland. Below are a few do’s and don’ts from our experience there. The first “do” is, of course, go to Poland! After that, you can worry about the specifics below. Do’s and don’ts of …
Estonia is a lovely little country located on the Baltic Sea. I cannot think of a single negative thing to say about this country. It is beautiful and easy to travel. Things are really, really, really old. There is a history here that is hard …
We’ve written posts about big trips, weekend trips and day trips. This post discusses how to take a trip for about two hours–all within the convenience of your own home…aka movie travel. I don’t know about you, but certain movies have the ability to suck me in and for the length of that movie, I feel like I have been transported to a different time and place. I re-watch certain movies when I want to be happy, laugh or feel better about the world. There is also a select set of movies that I watch when I want to feel like I am in a different country. Below are my nine favorites, in no particular order.
Note: these are not all particularly great movies. But they all have great scenery and take place in a foreign location.
This movie is all about a woman who visits Tuscany and spontaneously decides to move there. Lucky for her, but also lucky for us because we, as viewers, get to take part in all four seasons of this beautiful part of Italy. Besides the lushness of the Tuscan countryside, the movie also treats us to Florence, Siena and Positano on the Amalfi coast. Diane Lane must have had a real hard time filming this one. This movie, maybe more than any other, can soothe my soul when I am feeling anxious, simply because of the beautiful scenery.
This movie might just have it all: history, travel, Harrison Ford and Sean Connery. Seriously, what more can you ask for? As he fights the Nazis and searches for the Holy Grail, Indy takes us along to Venice, the Rhine region of Germany and Petra, Jordan. That last one is the reason this movie makes the list. I still remember the first time I saw this movie as a kid; they round the corner and Petra is there, incredibly carved right into the side of the cliff. I thought there was no way a place like that could really exist. But exist it does and someday, I’m going to see it.
In The Way, Martin Sheen walks the pilgrimage of the Camino de Santiago across northern Spain. Along his journey, we are treated to the green hills and mountains without any of the hard work of hiking.
You might be wondering why these two movies share the same line. They are, after all, very different. If you watch either of them, though, you can get the same fix if you are craving some Czech Republic. James Bond and Queen Latifah both enjoy the scenery of a magical little town called Karlovy Vary. In Karlovy Vary, the buildings’ facades are colorful and stately. There aren’t many of them, though, so the town remains quaint and charming, and has remained that way since the 1300s.
This movie is very evocative. A beautiful woman arrives in a beautiful French town and meets the beautiful Johnny Depp and, oh yeah, there is a lot of chocolate made and eaten. The town of Flavigny-sur-Ozerain is one of 155 villages the French (they’ve got to be very tough critics, right?) named Les Plus Beaux Villages de France. This translates to real pretty. Watch this movie if you want to be transported to the French countryside.
This is not a happy movie. Let’s just get that right out in the open. It is set in China during a horrific cholera outbreak. People are hungry, angry and dying. Not pretty. How on earth did it make this list? Well, it happens to be filmed in Yizhou, a town in Southeastern China. In this part of China, the dominant feature of the landscape is the dramatic hills that arise out of nowhere. Karst topography is created when water eats away some of the limestone, leaving behind incredible hills. There’s a scene in the movie where the characters are floating down a river on a bamboo raft with the karst hills in the background. It is so incredible, it makes you forget how sad the movie is.
This movie makes this list because it is B’s favorite and because it is filmed in Victoria, Australia. Victoria is a region in Southeastern Australia that has quite a diverse type of geography. But the part that puts this movie on the list is the high mountain area where the Snowy River flows, perfect for riding around on a horse.
In this movie, we are all invited to join a tour bus as it makes it way through the ruins of ancient Greece. We get to see many of the ruins, most famously the Acropolis in Athens. Another perk of this movie is the very accurate portrayal of the members of the tour group. (See our posts on groups. We had several versions of the characters on our travels.) At one point in the film, the tour director talks about why she loves the ruins. She says you can actually feel the energy coming from the ground at one temple and frankly, she sells me on it. I want to feel the energy of these ancient structures.
Before I start describing this one, I feel it is important to remind you of the purpose of this list. It is not a list of my fave films–just films that let you travel without leaving home. Warning: this movie kinda blows. However, it might be worth the pain to see some of the amazing locations little Lara gets to visit. What is supposed to be somewhere else is actually Iceland. As we might have mentioned in other posts, most things about Iceland are wonderful and lovely and magical. The glaciers in Lara Croft Tomb Raider alone should inspire you to visit the Land of Ice and Fire.
What really puts this movie on the list, though, are the scenes in Cambodia. The movie takes us to the incredible ruins of Angkor Wat in Siem Riep. The Angkor Wat temple complex is the largest religious monument in the world and is full of intricate stone carvings, jungle and monkeys. Every time I see this movie I vow to visit this incredible place in real life one day.
Well there you have it. You can visit all sorts of amazing places without having to have a valid passport. (Although you should always have a valid passport. Always.) Let us know if you have any other favorite travel movies that should be on this list!
How often do you go out exploring your own backyard? This past weekend, we headed to the mountains. Our goal: huckleberries. I am happy to report that we were successful and came home with a nice little haul. R had family visiting from another state. …
When S, B, and I visited Bali, we knew we wanted to see as much of the island as possible. One way to do this was through a sunrise hike, where we would experience a sunrise after making our way up the side of 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 me. You see, North Dakota was my last state. Once I crossed that state line, I could officially say I visited all 50 states.
Before heading out, I did a little research on the not-be-missed, hot spots of North Dakota. I think the locals must be very good at keeping their haunts under wraps because the internet yielded very few results. One clever commenter said that the best thing to see in North Dakota is the sign that says, “You are now leaving North Dakota.” With results like that, I struggled to make plans. Then it hit me: I could take the train.
A few years ago, I saw a good chunk of Canada via the rail line. I fell in love with train travel. Now the rail service here in the U.S. leaves little to be desired. But it is still a worthy way to see this country. For this particular voyage, I booked passage from Chicago to Seattle on Amtrak’s Empire Builder. I would have really liked to have booked a sleeper car, but it was just too damn expensive. So I booked a coach seat and hoped for the best.
The train leaves Chicago once a day in the afternoon and arrives in Seattle 46 hours later. Since I arrived in the city with a couple of hours to spare, I tried to explore a bit. But my pack got a little heavy and I headed to the station to settle in and wait.
They were offering some sort of special for those who wanted to try out the new lounge. Since it was only $10, I decided to give it a whirl. It probably does not cost $10 anymore, but I can almost guarantee that it is still worth whatever the new price is. The lounge has comfy chairs, drinks, snacks and free Wi-Fi. But best of all, you get priority boarding on the train. Me and about 15 other folks got to bypass the line and have our pick of seats. I sat across from a nice guy named Matt who clued me into the extra leg room in the first row of each train car.
The seats are not plush. But they are way better than your standard coach seat on an airplane and recline quite a bit. If you are lucky, you’ll have two seats. The train left Chicago full. But probably half of those people got off somewhere before midnight, including my seat mate. So I was one of the lucky ones (Matt, not so much). With a bit of help from some earplugs and a little Tylenol PM, I got decent sleep on both nights of the trip.
I woke up on July 4, 2015, just as the sun was rising over North Dakota. There was a fine mist covering the land and the light was muted. The view did not justify my level of excitement, but I could not stop smiling. When I planned this trip initially, it did not dawn on me until after it was booked that I would be celebrating Independence Day by visiting my final state. What a perfect way to celebrate!
I spent a good chunk of the day in the observation car watching the landscape pass by. It was more varied than I expected. It was also very, very rural (although I expected that). Some of the towns were quaint and I saw more than one 4th of July parade in the works. Others looked like ghost towns. We stopped at a couple of little towns so I was able to walk around and breathe in the air. But for the most part, I was just an observer. I never got bored and I never tired of looking out the window.
I did not see any fireworks that night. But what I did see was so much better: a colorful sunset somewhere near Glacier National Park.
Now here a couple of tips if you are thinking about taking a similar journey:
The US of A is big and vast and there is so much to explore. Taking the train is enjoyable way to see not only North Dakota, but many different pieces and parts of it. It helps to be prepared. If you are, you are in for a spectacular experience. Also, happy 4th of July!
This post about Iceland is written by our friend and fellow traveler, C. Enjoy! A year and a half ago, B, R and I went to Iceland for a long weekend. We spent a couple of days in Reykjavik and one day touring the Golden …
Janes often get asked, “How can you afford to go on so many trips?” Well, the answer is simple: you don’t spend a boatload of money on every trip. If you can’t afford to go big every time (man, wouldn’t be great?), go little a …
Hawaii is easy. I mean that in the nicest way possible. If you are looking for a tropical destination with minimal worries, then Hawaii is a worthy place to consider. You can plan adventures and island hop to your heart’s content, or you can simply stay at a nice resort and sit on the beach. To each her own. We recently traveled to both the Big Island and Oahu for about ten days. We visited in February and although Hawaii is nice anytime of the year, it is especially nice when your home state is covered in white. Most of our time was spent on the Big Island and let me tell you, it was time well spent. Below are some reasons why you should consider visiting the Big Island.
Side note: Even if you are traveling on a budget, it is nice to splurge once in a while. Maybe you order that decadent dessert at that fancy restaurant or purchase a necklace that caught your eye—the one you never would pay that much for at home. On the Big Island, we opted to splurge on our rental car and got a convertible. Yes, it was the “tourist” thing to do. But hey, we were tourists! And driving around with the top down was amazing (except for the crazy hair). I highly recommend it.
Now for the downside: Hawaii is not cheap. You are not necessarily going to break the bank vacationing here (unless you want to), but if you are used to paying pennies for fresh pineapple somewhere in Central America like R is, then you need to know right now that that is not the case in Hawaii. So prepare yourself.
This was my second time visiting Hawaii and R’s first so I am not even going to pretend to be an expert on visiting the islands. Besides, there is plenty of information available on the internet and you can research to your heart’s content. What I will do is tell you a little about what we experienced on the Big Island and give a couple of recommendations. Of course, you are always welcome to contact us if you have specific questions.
On the Hilo side, we snorkeled at the Kapoho Tide Pools (officially named the Wai’opae Tidepools Marine Life Conservation District). The tide pools are easy enough to find. But then it was a little difficult to figure out just where to go in the tide pools—especially if you do not want to swim right beside someone else. We finally just decided to drop down into one of the pools (careful so as not to hurt any of the coral) and found ourselves immersed in an amazing underwater world. The snorkeling was equally good at both locations, but the tide pools are much easier to get to.
We did plenty of other stuff during our time on the Big Island (including a little horseback riding—if you dig this sort of thing, then I highly recommend you give it a try), but the list above highlights some of our favorite activities. There really is no end to the number of activities available to you. Or once again, you can choose to do nothing. That is the beauty of Hawaii.
Hawaii is an easy place to vacation. It may not be the cheapest destination, but you’ll get tropical without a lot of effort or stress. Just don’t forget your sunblock. Very few things ruin a trip faster than a nasty sunburn.