March 22, 2012

Photo of the Week: The Eiffel Tower at Night

The Eiffel tower illuminated and seen from below

The Photo of the Week is complements of Guillaume Le Roux of Le Vrai Paris Tours. Paris is one of those cities that holds the hearts of almost all who get the opportunity to visit it. After spending my last week in the capital of Panama (Panama City), where you could see everything in more or less a day, Paris seems almost unfathomably more attractive to the sightseer. You could literally spend weeks in Paris just taking in the touristic sights, not to mention the amazing food, nightlife, shopping and hopefully, a little Parisian ooh la la (probably have to…

March 21, 2012

Ditch the Paper Map – Google has Got Your Back!

By chance, I’m lying, via my weird obsession with Google Maps on my phone, I discovered a Lab called “Pre-Cache Map Area”which is pretty awesome if you travel to off-the-beaten-path places where you don’t have phone service or Wi-Fi ever-presently, don’t want to be that goon holding a big paper map up or, you just love technology. Firstly, a “Lab” is actually a feature designed by a private developer that is designed to work on Google Maps. They are always being added and taken down after people provide feedback. If the people say they are are worth having, they become…

March 17, 2012

Exploring Amazing Panama City!

The view from Cerro Ancon in Panama City

So today I was lucky enough to have a full day tour of Panama City compliments of the Tourism Board of Panama. They coordinated everything for me including a personal guide and a fantastic buffet lunch at the Panama Canal. Check out some of the places they took me and what you should check out if you ever find yourself in Panama City. Panama Viejo Panama Viejo was the original Spanish settlement of Panama City, first settled way back in 1519! It was also the first permanent settlement on the Pacific. By looking at the scattered ruins, it must have been…

March 13, 2012

First Impressions of Panama City

So I arrived in Panama City yesterday from Miami. I had done virtually no research before my trip becasue I was busy trying to get things wrapped up with clients/decided it would be more of an adventure that way. I arrived at Tucuman International Airport and took a taxi to La Jungla Hostel who offered me accomodation free of charge (yea budddyy). The taxi ride from the airport cost me $28 (pretty expensive for Latin America) but was a pleasant drive. About 1o minutes from the airport, I noticed the tops of some massive skyscrapers rising over the nearby hills. As…

March 11, 2012

Photo of the Week: Cruise Ships in Miami

One thing that Miami definitely does big are popular cruises. At any given time there can be up to 5 or 6 massive cruise ships docked at once. One of my favorite things to do is go swimming on South Beach around 3 PM on a Saturday and watch all the cruise ships pull out of the Port of Miami on their way to the Caribbean, it’s a pretty impressive sight. If you drive by on Macarthur Causeway in between South Beach and the Port of Miami, you can see the people on the ships waving to the people driving by.…

March 9, 2012

Photo of the Week: Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca

With Spain on my mind this week, I got lost on Google Maps and ended up in Morocco. While giving an ex girlfriend a lot of flak about going there with her friends a couple years back, it seems like if you are not dumb and wild, Morocco can make for a truly unforgettable adventure. I was intrigued about reading more about Casablanca because of its Spanish name. After a little Wikipedia action, I learned it had quite the storied history with many different groups running the show over the past few thousand years from Berbers to the British. The Spanish were…

March 8, 2012

My Favorite Small City in Spain – Tarragona!

When I travel, I’m allured to creating personal connections with people and places. While seeing the heroic metropolises of Paris, London and New York London and New York are on every human’s bucket list, I prefer to visit places where I can get to know the locals, manage the urban layout, and relax if I so please. Not to mention, second and third tier cities are much more affordable, still have all the luxuries of larger cities (I’m really just talking about ubiquitous Wi-Fi here) and public transportation usually isn’t even an issue, because exploring on foot is the norm. One…

March 5, 2012

It’s Not 1993 Anymore – Ditch the Timeshare!

Living in Florida is something I don’t take for granted, and especially every time I head back north to visit family and friends during the winter time. People migrate here like birds when temperatures plummet in their homelands and a little sun and relaxation is more alluring than scarves and 4 PM sunsets. Back in the day when I still lived in the City of Brotherly Love, you’d always hear about somebody heading to Orlando to stay at their family’s “timeshare” for the week. You don’t hear much about timeshares anymore, maybe because our grandparents who paid for them are…

March 2, 2012

An Interview with Fellow Travel Blogger – Brendan Van Son

The following is an interview with Brendan Van Son of Brendan’s Adventures, one of the most popular Travel blogs/resources out there (yea, even more so than mine). I asked him a few a questions about traveling and how he supports his never ending sojourns, read on my friends and learn how to change your life according to your own terms. 1. Where did you grow up? I actually grew up in a small town called Rocky Mountain House in Alberta, Canada. Rocky, as we call it, only has about 6,000 people living there but it is an oil town and…

March 1, 2012

Picture of the Week: The Beach in Thailand!

Growing up, I went to the Jersey Shore for summer vacations. No no no, not Seaside Heights with Snookie and The Situation, South Jersey, where good homely people from Philly escape for a little fun in the sun. While the sand was pretty nice, the water looked pretty much like diarrhea, and I’m sure there was actually plenty of it in there too. The picture of the week for this semana is compliments of a childhood friend of mine, Andrew Goodwin, who I actually spent plenty of time with at the Jersey Shore kissing girls on the boardwalk and stealing our…

March 1, 2012

Dropping pounds is for dieting, not vacation! – 5 things to do on the cheap in Londontown

Londoners know their city is an expensive place to live – but they’re used to it. Visitors to the British capital, however, are often astonished by the prices of everything. Hotel rooms, theatre tickets and public transport can all combine to clean out a tourist’s pockets faster than an alumnus of the School of Seven Bells in Bogota (An actual school for pickpocketers!). What you may not know, though, is that there is a side to London that is free. Here’s a guide to seeing London on the cheap that won’t send you off to the Old Bailey to watch…

February 29, 2012

The coolest Island you’ve never heard of: Lanzarote!

Headed to the Canary Islands? You’ve got to check out the island of Lanzarote. This little isla is a gem and not so well known the world over. It’s located in the Atlantic Ocean off of the coast of Morocco but is actually a part of Spain. We’ll tell you what you gotta see, but first, let’s have a little history lesson. Lanzarote was named for Lanzarote de Framqua, who captained a ship from Lisbon, Portugal in 1336. You are going to sound so smart when you tell your friends that! Lanzarote is actually a volcanic island. That means it…

February 27, 2012

The Best Event in Miami – South Beach Wine and Food Festival!

The Food Network’s South Beach Wine and Food Festival is the best event in Miami hands down – drinks, grub and the beach, all you could ever ask for!

February 26, 2012

The Best Event in Miami – South Beach Wine and Food Festival!

So I once again had the pleasure of working at the Food Network’s South Beach Wine and Food Festival. They put on the event annually and it attracts foodies, winos and everyone in between who loves to feast and drink. There is a remarkably high number of beautiful women in attendance as the event checks off everything in most girls’ “best day ever” list- gourmet food, premium wine, the beach and a venue to show off their clothes, fake tits and bonnets. For me, the event offers a well paying job, a VIP pass to the event (tickets cost $250/day!),…

February 24, 2012

To Hire a Guide or not to Hire a Guide, That is the Question

The Following is a guest post by Tatiana Christian When people travel abroad, they usually like to know what “must” be seen and done before even setting foot in their destination of choice – what they HAVE to see before they leave, the best places to do x, y, and z, etc. My idea of traveling is more, “let’s walk around and see what we discover!” because it feels more authentic and the touristy sites are always packed to the brim. So when I went to Cairo, Egypt with a family friend, I was fascinated to hear that she had…

February 23, 2012

3 Books that Changed The World for Travelers

In my opinion, books are dying. Yea we’ve got the Kindle, but still, I don’t read “real” books much anymore, and I don’t know many others my age who still do either (wrong group of friends?). It’s because were flooded with info and quick reads on the web, ahemm, just like this blog. If I can’t breeze through something in less than 5 minutes, then chances are, it ain’t being read. It’s just how things are these days. But, I have been thinking recently about a few books that have completely inspired and actually made myself and others travel, and…

February 19, 2012

Photo of the Week – Mauna Kea Observatories

This picture is from the summit of Mauna Kea on the big island of Hawaii. Mauna Kea is a volcano, and if measured from its oceanic base, is significantly taller than Mt. Everest! The summit rises to 13,796 ft but from the sea floor, measures 33,500 ft. The observatories were created in the 1960’s on Mauna Kea because of its idyllic situation for star gazing. If you visit the observatories at night, you will be amazed at how many stars you can see (ya, not to many visible from downtown Miami), so look for cheap flights to Hawaii and and check…

February 9, 2012

Best European City Break Destinations in the Spring!

Why choose London?
London city breaks offer an extraordinary wealth of famous sights among a vibrant, multi-cultural atmosphere. Few destinations are able to compete with London in terms of the wealth of sightseeing available.
London’s best attractions
From Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London to Westminster Abbey and Trafalgar Square, London offers attractions for […]

February 9, 2012

Travel Package Deals: Are You Really Saving?

From http://www.expedia.ca/Punta-Cana-Hotels-Paradisus-Palma-Real-Golf-Spa-Resort.h1348106.Hotel-Information#

You can book each part of a trip separately or you can purchase a travel package deal. The idea of all inclusive vacation packages is to save both time and money. Everything you need is in a single package, meaning that you book one thing and then you are done. Travel agencies find the best […]

February 7, 2012

5 Ways Your Life is Telling You it’s Time to Travel!

Guest Post From Jenna Hall If you’re a travel enthusiast, it’s hard to avoid scratching the the ‘travel itch’-and I am not talking about the rash you got on your last overseas adventure. It’s the subtle and blatant clues that life gives you when it’s time to hit the road again and explore. Monotony and giant leather planners are great for some, but not for those with nomadic feet. I have found that people who have an eager passion for travel need to get their regular ‘fix’ in order to maintain their sanity levels- believe me I know. Therefore, I…