Kauai Not?

Tired of winter? Wondering when the myth of the start of spring will finally become a reality? Willing to skip spring altogether so that you can jump right to the summer vacation? Still pondering where to take that vacation? Why not Kauai, Hawaii? Now, I realize everyone has probably at one time or another thought about going to Hawaii. So this post isn't really going to tell you something not already lurking in your sub-conscious. I'm just telling you to finally listen to your sub-conscious. Stop making excuses and settling for the same convenient yearly vacation destination, because I promise you, there will come a day when you look back on your life and regret not being a more adventurous traveler.

Aussie Aussie Aussie, Go Go Go

I've now been to Australia twice and I'd have no problem going back again. It's an easy vacation. Seriously. It would certainly be a long flight to get there, and potentially cause a bit of jet lag, but that would be the only inconvenience once on the ground. When you consider that you could fly just as long to get to Africa or Asia, not speak the same language and have loads of other logistical nightmares, Australia is easy, and just as beautiful as any place in the world. Even though they don't finish their words (ending quite a few of them with -ie), they do speak the same language, the food is familiar, driving is easy (though on the left side of the road), and the scenery is amazing.

Same Same But Different

Referring to things which are almost the same, but with slight differences, 'Same Same but Different' is one of the most common phrases in Southeast Asia. In reality, they are usually just flat out differences, but it's much more fun to say, "Same Same but Different." I'm writing this post to address a question I feel I will encounter when returning home. How does  traveling by yourself compare to traveling with someone else? The simple answer is, "Same Same but Different." But that's a very unsatisfying answer. So, since I ain't scurred of my wife, here are the more thoughtful answers.

72 Travel Tips for Efficient and Worry-free Adventures

When I started planning for my trip in 2012, I knew very little about worldwide travel. Sure, I spent 2 months backpacking through Europe in 2007, but I pretty much followed Rick Steves' itinerary suggestions to a tee. In 2012, I constructed a more personalized journey. I spent countless hours reading books and searching for websites on: country info, itineraries, transportation, lodging, weather, gear, food, health, and safety. I was single at the time, without kids, and it still consumed my life for months. It was quite daunting, and in all honesty, a bit scary venturing out into so many unknowns. Fast forward 3 years to present day, and now it all seems commonplace.

This post is designed to be a reference to which you can refer the next time you, or someone you know, is planning a holiday as I've constructed it to include just about everything I've ever learned during my travels to 7 continents and 72 countries. My hope is that this advice will help ease your planning, save you money, increase your travel safety, and most importantly, make you a smarter traveler. So whether it's solo or family travel, a long or short holiday, local or international travel, these tips will help you avoid many of the headaches I've encountered during my travels to date.

Note: Since this post was written in Australia, some of the embedded links may default to .com.au. If so, it might take a bit more effort to locate those links using your country's browser.

So without further ado....

We Had a Wale(s) of a Time in England

It's been about a month since I last blogged. We've spent much of that time working on an organic farm in Melbourne, Australia, traveling around Tasmania with friends made during our July trip to Morocco, and I've been writing a post chock full of travel tips learned over the past few years so that you, my readers, can save money, travel smarter, and more thoroughly enjoy your next vacation. I'll be publishing that post in the coming days, so keep your eyes peeled. This post will mainly be pictures from the last month of our time spent in the UK.

Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer

Spoiler alert: The weather in the UK this time of year is cold, windy, rainy, snowy, and occasionally sunny. Who'da thunk, right? In spite of knowing the weather fate we were going to be encountering on this leg of our journey, it was one of the legs I had been anxiously anticipating all year. I was finally going to see my family. Not the family who I hadn't seen in 5 months, but the family I haven't seen in over 2 years. My travel family.

The Sights of Sri Lanka

One of the great things about traveling, and only having a fairly loose agenda, is that it allows for expectation free, spontaneous decision making which can end up taking you to random and amazing places. With the lengthy planning which usually precedes most vacations, we frequently go into each vacation with elevated expectations. With those expectations comes the risk of a vacation that could actually turn into a crushing disappointment. Conversely, going to a destination with only very limited planning, as we did during our trip to Sri Lanka, a scenario exists where every day is an expectation free adventure. The potential for disappointment is far less with this more ignorant version of travel, but it's quite freeing. You do run the risk of missing something uniquely beautiful to a specific region, but if you didn't even know it existed prior to arrival, can you really miss it in the first place?