February Virtual Vacation
Finland
Where to Stay
Out and About in Finland
Showing posts with label Musings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Musings. Show all posts
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Thursday, January 31, 2013
January Favorites
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Planning a Vacation
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| San Juan |
Where do I go?
What is my budget?
Where should we stay?
What should we do?
What should we eat?
The longer, the more comfortable the trip is, the more these questions may overwhelm you. At the start of our relationship, Rob and I were lucky to fall into a bit of a travel routine; a routine that takes some of the stress out of planning, but a routine that still allows us plenty of spontaneity in our travel.
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| Rome |
Where Do I Go?
For us, we sat down to decide what our travel priorities were. Rob and I both had extensive travel bucket lists, so focusing these lists allowed us to set shorter term goals for our travel experiences. Our final travel schedule filled in something like this:
Spring: Off on a tropical jaunt to relax, catch up on some sun, sit on a beach, and rejuvenate ourselves.
Summer Big Trip: An exploration of the U.S. With 50 states, there is SO much to explore in our own country, that we want to take advantage of it.
Summer Weekend Road Trip: Living in the North East, there are an almost never ending list of places for us to explore within a short drive, so we try to take 1-2 short road trips a year.
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| Barcelona |
What is my Budget?
Setting a budget for a trip can be a very difficult thing to do; a weekend road trip is not going to need the budget a two-week long trip to Hawaii or Europe will. However, I suggest you break your budget down when you're researching your trip into the following components:
Transportation to Destination
Transportation at Destination
Accommodations
Food & Beverages
Activities & Tours
Regardless of what you establish for your budget, be sure to shop around! Check different websites, call different tour providers, and utilize forums such as Trip Advisor. The more knowledgeable you are, the more likely you are to get the most experience for your dollar.
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| Washington DC |
Where Should We Stay?
When trying to determine where to stay, we tend to look at a few options. For our tropical vacations, we tend to choose All-Inclusive Resorts; they provide us with everything we need for a relaxing vacation (you can see our review of Cancun here and here). For big cities (Chicago, DC, Boston), we tend to use sites like Priceline.com or Hotels.com. You're able to plug in your price limit, your wishes for the hotel, and your ideal location. Once you book, you're sent which hotel you'll be staying at; and after using it multiple times we've always been pleased with the results (doing this has resulted in BIG savings).
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| Yosemite |
What Should We Do?
What we decide to do in any given location is highly dependent upon what type of trip we're taking. That being said, we do have a general idea of what we like to do in different locations.
For tropical vacations, we usually like to do one unique activity that neither of us have done. In Cancun, it was seeing Chitchen Itza, in Costa Rica it was watching a turtle hatching. Other than that, our tropical vacations are meant for relaxing. We often make a visit to the spa, and enjoy sitting on the beach for hours at a time.
When it comes to large city trips, there are two activities we always try to take part in; watching a baseball game (at somewhere like Fenway), and visiting a brewery (like Sam Adams). Once these two activities are established, we fill in the rest of our vacation with things like museums, parks, historical locations, and exhibits.
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| Chicago |
When deciding where to eat, scouring chat boards for suggestions is a favorite hobby of mine. I love looking at food magazines for ideas, and talking to people who live in the area. Rob and I tend to eat a late lunch/early dinner as our big meal out, and supplement with snacks and light food throughout the remainder of the day.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
A Roundup of the Best Travel Guidebooks for your Trip
Considering not only my profession (as an English teacher), and my absolute love of reading (my personal goal each year is to read 100 books!), it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to discover that I have a small crush on travel guidebooks. While it may be true that the majority of information in travel guidebooks can be found on the Internet, I’m of the opinion that there’s not much comparison between the two options; and when it comes down to it, I vote for the guidebook as the final source of information. For the most part, they’re reasonably priced, easy to find, and you have a multitude of options for whatever destination you’re planning on visiting. On top of this, there is something about the feel of a new book that is unbeatable (at least to literary nerds such as myself).
The only small problem that arises is when you step foot in your local bookstore, face the travel section, and find 6 books on your next location. Oops. Which one do you choose? I’m pretty sure buying 6 guides for your trip isn’t the most logical decision, which is why I’ve put together a bit of a “review” of some of the major travel guides available.
Rick Steves
Rick Steves’ guidebooks focus on Europe, so they don’t have the largest market. What they lack in worldwide reviews they make up for in accurate, easy to understand information. When spending a few days in Rome last year his guidebook was invaluable to me (along with almost every other tourist I saw there). The books contain a ton of maps (both regular maps and “hand drawn” ones), and the format is easy to follow. Steves also focuses on helping you see things on your own by giving detailed self-tours. There is no large push to use certain tour companies, which is fantastic.
Let’s Go
Is there anywhere in the world that Let’s Go doesn’t review? Unlike Rick Steves, who has such a small market, Let’s Go travel guides cover everywhere from North, South and Central America to Europe to Asia to the Middle East. The guides focus on budget travel that is still safe and enjoyable. Each book is geared towards a large geographical location, and then broken up into smaller areas (think of a US state as the main focus, and then counties as a smaller division). This really allows you to get an overview for the area and what to expect; they even include recent updates and what’s changed recently just in case this isn’t your first visit to that location.
Moon
Although they only cover the Americas and the Caribbean, Moon guides are another of my favorite (most recently used for our trip to Yosemite). Like the Let’s Go books, they organize their book by looking at small sections of the overall location. They’re honest though (because I don’t find that all travel guides are created equal), and integrate all of their information into an easy to read, concise format. There’s maps and pictures, and details on some historical and pop-culture information aspects thrown in; which in the end makes you very, very excited for your upcoming trip.
Fodor’s
Fodor’s is probably the brand of travel guidebook that I use the most often, and for good reason. They are one of the most popular companies out there, and they produce guidebooks for practically any destination you could dream up. They’re insights are detailed and useful, they just tend to be a bit dry for me. It often feels like reading a textbook, while other travel guides paint more of a story to me. Depending on what you’re looking for, this may be the right choice for you-they’re both factual and well researched.
Frommer’s
To me, one of the best part of Frommer’s is the way they include sample itineraries, along with a section titled “Best Of”. When you only have a limited amount of time in a location, these can both be fantastic resources to help with planning. The guidebooks themselves remind me quite a bit of Fodor’s, and are geared toward a wide range of travel interests; anywhere from sitting on a beach to hiking to exploring a city.
This post originally appeared on the amazing blog, 25 Travels.
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