An Olympic-sized excuse to see the world
I’m a huge huge huge Olympics fan and have long wanted to see the Olympics live. When a college friend living in London said she’d be interested in visitors, well, I decided to make things happen! Other than getting tickets for shooting and canoeing (because they were cheap), I arrived with an open schedule and just kinda winged it.
How to create the perfect emergency overnight bag!
When my boyfriend has to travel unexpectedly, he doesn’t always have the luxury of stopping to buy a toothbrush and a change of clothes — and who wants to own six toothbrushes anyway? I hated the thought of him sitting in a hotel room with none of the comforts of home, so I created his emergency away-from-home kit! Here are some tips to prepare yourself or your other half for unexpected trips.
How to use your camera to find a bathroom in a foreign country
When in a country where you can’t speak the language, take pictures of signs for an easy-find reference!
Let’s geek out about going on a self-guided Pretty In Pink tour
I recently shot a wedding in LA and had the happy fortune of being able to stay with Megan (as in the Associate Publisher of the Empire) while in town. One night in the trip one of my all-time favorite movies Pretty in Pink came on today, and I mentioned that it would be OMG AMAZING if we could go on a tour of all the places in the movie. It turns out that’s pretty easy to do… so we did it.
Send postcards to yourself: Keep track of your travels with this hack
This is my mom’s fantastic idea for tracking experiences while traveling. How many times have you promised to keep a travel journal only to return home with most of the pages left blank? If you’re like me, that’s happened a few times. On top of that, how do you go about displaying your travel souvenirs when you get home? Developing photos is nice, but are you going to label them to remember everything? My mom’s solution: Postcards to yourself.
Jenna & Brendan’s five-country, Central American, backpacking adventure
It’s summer time and as my mind starts to turn to vacation schemes, we also have new Home & Life schemes. We’re thinking of moving Offbeat Bride’s honeymoon profiles over here to continue our celebration of life after weddings. And, you know, to hook you up with awesome travel ideas!
For example, longtime Empire reader “Chanamasala’s” month-long trip through Central America will teach you things such as where you should be sure to drink coffee (in the only country that doesn’t export its best coffee!). Or the non-touristy places you should make sure to visit.
How do you stay awake on a long drive?
I’m about to embark on a weekend-long road trip. I’ll be driving, by myself, for 12 hours both there and back. I’ve made the trip before and it sucked, but at least my radio/CD player worked. Now it’s busted, and I’m worried about getting tired on the road.
How do you find an old but non-crappy travel trailer?
My fiance and I are getting married in August, and we are really excited about our idea of living in a travel trailer. I lived with my large family in an RV for several years, so I am familiar with how to make a home out of a small space, BUT we are unsure where to begin. I don’t really know much about how to find a good trailer that won’t crap out on us in a year! How do you know if a trailer is junk or not?