How DINKs (dual income, no kids) do Dublin, Prague and Pilsen
Despite our mutual love of travel, and a lifestyle that makes it easier to just get up and go (as a teacher, I have my summers off, and we don’t have any children) my husband and I had never traveled internationally together. So we decided to change that this summer, with a trip to Dublin, Ireland and the Czech Republic.
Here’s what we did and what we learned…
Guilt, comfort zones, and buffer days: Dealing with vacation anxiety (yes, it’s a thing!)
I’m going on vacation! I booked a real, non-weekend-only trip where I’ll fly outside of the United States for the first time in 16 years. I’m so excited and grateful. But on top of that gratefulness and excitement is a bit of anxiety. I know, I know, get over myself and embrace the vacay. I plan to, but I still need to deal with a few latent fears and anxieties that I know some of y’all are also feeling about vacation.
Here’s how I’ll be handling vacation anxiety…
7 travel tips to save money that will finally get you adventuring
Like many of us, I love to travel and don’t do it nearly as often as I’d like. For most of us with a regular job, a family, a busy life, and not enough money, travel can seem pretty out of reach. But if you’ve decided to make traveling a priority in your life (which is the trick!), these are the travel tips to save money that can help you get there.
Take a break and check out this magical, photogenic AF, Arizona vacation
We landed in Phoenix and stayed there for a day, then we road tripped up through Sedona, Flagstaff, and finally ended in Page (our main destination). We even crossed the border into Utah for a day. We are both from the East coast, so neither of us have ever seen desert, let alone cacti that big!
I’m bad at vacations: Or, how I know what burning pee smells like
I’ve never been spectacular at relaxing. Most of the time when we go on vacation I spend the whole time trying to make sure we have enough fun to justify the expense and the upheaval of our daily routines. I come by this honestly, because of my early family vacations. So starting to vacation as an adult I was wired to mimic the bad vacations, because that was the only definition of a vacation I had ever known.
Perhaps this is why I have so many bad vacation stories…
A nerd-cation pilgrimage to the homeland of Harry Potter and Doctor Who
We made a nerd-cation pilgrimage to the United Kingdom to visit the homeland of two of our favorite stories: Harry Potter and Doctor Who.
We cast a wide net at first, noting every possible location we could visit within a reasonable budget. Eventually we narrowed our travels to three cities: London, Edinburgh, and Cardiff, as those cities had the biggest draws for our nerdy hearts while still being accessible by public transit.
Watch this 160 kilometers bike ride across six islands in Japan
The route that I took is called Shimanami Kaido. It connects the Honshu and Shikoku islands through six smaller islands. I decided to take this route because I heard it was one of the most interesting things to do in Japan, so I simply could not resist not doing it…
I had a post-divorce “freedom session” on my would-be wedding anniversary
How does a wedding planner/photographer celebrate her divorce? She drinks her way through Champagne, France, and has a Freedom Session photo shoot.