This week's "Wish You Were Here" photo comes from Andi of My Beautiful Adventures. She visits the Taj Mahal and encounters a colorful line you just might want to get behind. Be sure to check out Andi's travel site and follow her on twitter. She always seems to be jet-setting off to a new place. Traveling to the Taj Mahal had been a dream of mine since I was a young girl. So, when I was finally there several months ago I was completely overwhelmed by the fact that I was actually there, as well as the intense beauty all around me. I had just walked out of the inside of the Taj Mahal and was Continue Reading
Packing A Guide From Your Travel Role Model
A man walks up to a museum ticket window with his family waiting behind him. This scene plays out daily throughout the world. The leader of the pack is purchasing the tickets, braving the cultural confusion and language barriers for his family. However, this man is not your ordinary traveler. As he leans back on his heels to see the prices, he smiles at the man behind the glass window saying, “Let’s see, we have one student and three adults, and I’m 16, so student for me as well”. He says this with salt and pepper hair and clear hints of age older than 16 years. The twenty-something behind Continue Reading
Conquering The Travel Aspect To Solo Travel
Solo travel is often looked at as though you are traveling to the moon. You are going there by yourself? Aren’t you going to be lonely? Will you be able to figure out the trains on your own? Should you really be traveling as a woman all alone? These are questions of those that I see whiz on past me in groups, with their families, or hand in hand with that significant other. They normally see travel as something you can only do with someone and never alone. A great deal of travel involves figuring out where you are going. You must rely on taxis, boats, trains, planes, buses, bikes and cars Continue Reading
Always More To See
Florence begins to grumble as my stomach does the same. Rain sprinkles down, but not in a pouring fashion. Perhaps this is not the best time for exploration, but my feet have a mind of their own. Usually, if you have lived in a place or have visited before, you can remember your way around. You delight in being able to show your travel companions that you have roamed these streets before and don’t need a map. Even at home, we often take the same streets because we know where they will lead. Erring on being overly cautious, I choose the known, beaten path. Not in the sense that I don’t take Continue Reading
Embracing Tourist Season
A woman unknowingly backs up onto my foot to get the perfect shot of Palazzo Vecchio. In the middle of the road, a couple adorned with two big backpacks clutches a map and stares into the blue sky, looking for answers to the question, “where am I?”. Lines of people snake around streets more so than cars do. Prices rise on restaurant menus in the city center. It is tourist season in Florence. All around the world, locations invade with tourists, willing and ready to explore somewhere for two weeks of vacation. The tourist versus traveler debate is a ridiculous one. As much as I complain Continue Reading
Travel Book Giveaway Winner
The moment you all have been waiting for is here. On June 2nd, I invited readers to answer one simple question to be entered to win an Ultimate Adventures Rough Guide supplied by Hostelbookers. Fifteen readers answered the following question: Where would you go on your next great travel adventure and why? I was really impressed with the responses I received and started kicking myself that I didn’t make the decision one at random. Please don’t be offended if I didn’t select you as the winner. All of the answers were winners to me. And the winner is…. Laura W. If you put Continue Reading
Suzy Stumbles Over Travel: Week of June 14, 2010
It is that time of the week again. In case you are new here, each week I ask readers and writers to submit their favorite travel posts of the week. I read, comment, stumble, and tweet each submission. The following Monday, I select my five favorites from last week to be featured. The cycle continues. After you read my five favorite submissions from last week, leave a comment here with a link to your submission for this week. You have until the end of the day on Saturday (US Mountain Time) to leave your link in the comment box below. Throughout the week I will read the post, comment, stumble Continue Reading