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There is so much to see and do, mostly for free or low cost, in any big European city. London is no different.
I spent about 4 weekends exploring London during my visit to England in 2012. On those visits, I wandered the streets of London and found incredible history, architecture, art, shopping, food, parks, and more.
I share in this post all of the highlights from my mostly self-guided experience around London.
I was hoping to be in another country this month traveling for my birthday. Alas, COVID-19 hit and threw us all for a loop.
No, like, a literal loop. When will this groundhog day end?
Well, it can end tomorrow if you want it to. I am here to report that all is not lost in the way of mixing up your life with travel. I discovered first hand last week, after a stay in a tiny house north of my home in Miami, that domestic and mostly local travel is still an amazing option.
Travel during covid-19 just takes a little, extra creative thinking, planning, and—dare I say it?—deviating! This post includes a brief yet highly necessary overview of what your options are and the precautions you need to take to travel and stay safe.
So many beaches, so little time. That may be what you're thinking as you consider the 15 beach access points I will describe in this post. But, honestly, all the beaches are easily accessed across 2 days in Grand Cayman.
The 7-Mile beaches are the most accessible and typically frequented by tourists visiting Grand Cayman. You can hit these up in a day with ease. But I encourage you to branch out. There are 4 additional parts of Grand Cayman to explore (West Bay, South Shore, Gun Bay, and North Side), all possible to see in a day's drive.
Every beach is unique from the other. Spoiler alert—all of them cost nothing to enjoy!
We are all still stuck in quarantine, probably getting tired of our own cooking. But that doesn't mean you can't daydream about delicious Caribbean cuisine, am I right?!
I ate my way through Grand Cayman when I visited the island for New Years. You may remember how much I love Island-style food from my post about the food in Niue, Curaçao, and other island countries. This post is a similar take on those foodie experiences. But it's Grand Cayman-style!
From coconut water to rum cake, Grand Cayman cuisine is similar to other island countries I've visited but it also has its own unique treats. So as you make your way through your non-perishables at home, make your way through this in-depth look at what I consumed over 5 days in Grand Cayman.
I planned my trip to Grand Cayman with Ivana for Peak travel season in late December. If you go during off-peak times, you will likely do much better than I did on prices.
After splitting costs with Ivana, my total cost for 4 nights and 5 days in Grand Cayman was just over $1200. This includes flights, accommodation, car rental, gas, public transportation, food, drinks, SCUBA diving, and other fun activities.
In this post, I break down all the prices and share everything we did to stay on a budget while ensuring we had a fun and comfortable time together.
I've been living in Miami for over 8 months now. While I definitely do not know Miami like I know my home city of New York, I am starting to get the hang of this place.
Beaches and nightlife are what Miami is most known for. But I present in this post some of the other parts of Miami that you should explore.
I know quite a lot about Miami culture at this point—from its predominantly Cuban culture to its unexpectedly large Jewish community. In this post, I explore some of my favorite places to go from restaurants and bars to street art and nature.
I finally made it to Key West, Florida! I visited the Florida Keys back in summer 2016 and again in summer 2019. Both times, I didn’t make it as far as Key West, the last key in the coral cay archipelago off Southern Florida.
But on a long weekend in late September, Ivana and I made the drive there at the perfect time of day. We avoided all the traffic and spent 3 nights and 3 days exploring the area mainly by bicycle!
From planning the right snorkel trip to booking our accommodation near happening Duval Street, these are my recommendations for having the best time in Key West!
Curaçao has plenty of calm, clear water and beautiful, sandy beaches flanked by sheer cliff walls and sea caves.
But that's the southern side of the island. Travel to the north side and craggy, rocky shores, rough waters, and natural blowholes make up the scenery.
With all the snorkeling I did, I really appreciated mixing things up to see natural attractions at Watamula Hole and Shete Boka National park.
With my own snorkel gear in tow, I did so much snorkeling while in Curaçao. I have no regrets! The snorkeling, in some cases, was even better than my SCUBA diving trip.
This post is a guide to all of the locations I snorkeled while visiting the island. The best snorkeling is away from the major tourist/resort destinations down near Willemstad. Instead, I focused my attention on the upper, Westpunt region for all my snorkel needs.
There are tons of beaches to choose from, but this guide explains the details of each, my personal experiences with them, and what you can expect in terms of fees, crowds, and more!
The Blue Room is a major snorkel destination that was high on my list of must-do activities in Curacao. This cave is known for it’s beautiful, deep blue hue and school of fish that hover inside it.
Inside the cave, photographs can be epic beyond words! I had an amazing time on this tour, but not just for the photo opportunity. I heard getting there would be an adventure in itself—an adventure with Curacao legend, Captain Goodlife.
The unexpected parts of this experience are what made this tour absolutely priceless. It was such an awesome experience, I outline in this post all of the ways to get there and the details on why the Goodlife way is the best way!
A major reason why I chose to visit Curaçao is Mt. Christoffel. Curaçao is the only island in this part of the Caribbean that has a true mountain hiking experience.
Mt. Christoffel, also known as Christoffelberg, is a short but challenging hike with satisfying, 360-degree views from the top. I loved this hike and the views so much I spent a ton of time at the top taking it all in.
In this post, I give the complete breakdown of how to make this hike happen in the best way. From the best time to go to how long it'll take you, this is my hiking story and your guide to climbing the highest peak in Curaçao.
When I visit new places, I rarely spend a lot of time in the main tourist areas. But the Otrobanda, Punda, and Pietermaai districts of Curaçao's capitol were unique and rich with history, art, culture, food, and fun. I am glad I spent time in this area both during the day and at night to discover the atmosphere in both settings.
I got stuck on a floating bridge, found a secret beach, uncovered unique historic landmarks, and posed with lots of street art. Everything I did I could easily experience in one full day of exploring Willemstad!
My favorite way to explore a country and its culture is through its food.
I enjoyed experiencing Curaçao's unique mix of Caribbean and Dutch food through some of its restaurants, grocery stores, and other little gems I found!
Below I write all about what to eat in Curaçao, including the foods I tried (like iguana!!) and some that I (sadly) missed.
Cape Town is the oldest city in South Africa. There is a ton of history and culture to explore and lots of adventures that will give you some epic coastal city views.
In this post, I share 11 highlights or things I experienced in Cape Town and the nearby areas. Perhaps this will inspire you to visit or revisit to see and do some of the things I did!
On day 4 of my African safari tour, I found myself bursting into tears and walking out of the Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. What upset me? It was a culmination of unethical animal practices that I saw, ending with the enslavement of cheetahs.
Yes, I said enslavement, and I'll tell you why I use that word in this post.
I have been very vocal on this blog about animal tourism around the world. There’s a lot that goes on that we don’t know about until we actually go there and see it. My hope is that this post sheds a bit of light on what is going on in South Africa, even at the best of the options among the various tourist attractions that exist.
Moholoholo does a lot of good for endangered African species. But, in my opinion, it has improvements to make. Either way, you can take in the information I provide and decide for yourself what’s right for you when you visit South Africa.
An African safari tour was a dream experience of mine since I saw the Lion King as a kid. But I always assumed the cost of such an experience would be astronomical. Most safari tours I looked into casually required thousands of dollars. As much as I wanted to have this experience, I really didn't want to go bankrupt because of it! And so the research began!
I'm all about balancing the cost of things when I travel. I'll lay out money for a really extraordinary experience—but it better hit all the marks in all the right places. That's why I spent lots of time researching tour options for my trip to South Africa. Through my research, I found the perfect tour. For a minimum price, I maximized the experience for my first African Safari tour in Kruger National Park. It offered the kind of accommodation I wanted, the right number of days, and, most importantly, the best chance at seeing tons of wildlife!
This post is all about the decisions I made: Why I chose Kruger, why I chose a guided tour instead of self-guided, how I searched for tour options, which tour fit all my needs, and what the actual benefits were. Perhaps the approach I took will help you find and plan your perfect African Safari Tour, too!
I've always wanted to dive the Caribbean Sea! I finally had the opportunity to while in the Dominican Republic.
Diving near the resort on the Eastern, Atlantic side was not ideal conditions. So Ang and I took a road trip down to Bayahibe on the Southern, Caribbean side of the island country. There, I had a most spectacular, personalized tour of 2 reefs with Go Dive Bayahibe.
In this post, I review my experience diving and visiting this new area of the DR. From pristine beaches with crystal clear blue waters to diverse marine life including a squid encounter (!), now I know where to book my next trip to the Dominican Republic!
I am so not an all-inclusive resort type of traveler. I'm the type of traveler who goes camping across New Zealand. I pour buckets of water over me at hostels for a shower in Iceland. I party and couchsurf with locals in South Africa. In general, I adventure travel on a budget with minimal environmental impact and maximum exploration of culture and countryside.
But I got that style of travel out of my system in Africa. This week, I am taking a break from my posts about Africa to fast forward to my trip to the Dominican Republic. I broke all my travel norms to have this romantic, Caribbean getaway with Ang! It was her birthday, so I was down for whatever she wanted to do. And an all-inclusive, adults-only resort was it!
Breaking my own travel norms meant I had the chance to pop many travel cherries on this trip. I had my first resort experience, my first swim-up bar experience, my first Caribbean vacation, and my first visit to an international country South of the United States! Woo! Who knew I had so many cherries to pop after all the travel I've done? Well, this post is my take on all these new experiences, from the good to the not so good.
As a lover of cheetahs, I was very excited to learn that the "Cheetah Capital of the World" is Namibia. But, with less than 8,000 left in the world, the chances of seeing the endangered cheetah in the wild is very low! Still, I wanted to see these beautiful creatures in person and in the most ethical way possible.
Before I traveled to Namibia, I researched and identified the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF). After carefully assessing their ethical practices, I booked 2 tours with CCF.
In this post, I share a full review of CCF. I include how I got there, what I learned about cheetahs, my experience seeing the cheetahs, and learning about CCF's efforts to save them.
I have spent a lot of time in Brooklyn over the years.
Recently, I've been visiting friends there and getting to know the place from a local perspective. And my favorite time to be in Brooklyn? It's got to be the Spring! Between the warmer weather, the flowers popping up, and the cheerier vibe, I love Brooklyn in the Springtime.
The following are some of my favorite activities for when all the flowers start blooming. But don't worry, I share some activities for other seasons, too.
