Travel Planning
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Visit Glacier National Park during the Summer with little planning.
Glacier National Park is definitely a national park that I recommend visiting. It is beautiful and unlike any other National Park. The pure nature that surrounds you is difficult to put to words and it is a place you just have to see in person to experience. It contains plenty of hiking options, wildlife sighting opportunities, old growth forests, beautiful mountains, and crystal clear lakes. Initially you will find mixed opinions and sometimes confusing perspectives on when to visit and how hard it is to park and to get onto the main drive that runs through the park. Glacier initially seemed to be one of the more difficult parks to find…
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Finding good food when traveling
Normally I am hesitant in recommending specific places to eat. Our preferences are different and it can be difficult to find a perfect place that pleases everyone. For example, some like to take their time to sit down and enjoy a restaurant, some only want to spend a certain amount of money, and some are satisfied with a quick and simple fast food meal. While none of these preferences are wrong, I do still feel that it is important to share some recommendations for how to find food on the road. The easiest guidance I can give is to think about how you eat regularly at home, what types of…
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Navigating cities within the United States
Cities are an important part of travel within the United States. They provide transportation hubs that allow us to get from one place to another and they connect us to resources and other people from different parts of the country and from other countries around the world. Even as we are driving through the United States, cities provide us with more options to choose from for overnight accommodations, entertainment, groceries, food, and shopping in general. With all of that in mind, how should we navigate through them? Don’t they just add more stress than is necessary to a vacation? Are they really worth our time and effort? It could be…
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Finding the perfect RV
There are many different varieties of camper vans, travel trailers, and RVs available from a small unit with only a bed inside to a full house on wheels. Selecting the perfect camping unit, trailer, or RV comes down to personal preference, but an important piece of advice that isn’t always mentioned is to buy what you are prepared to handle. You ultimately want to purchase something you will continue to use and that you are happy spending time inside of. You do not want to purchase something that ends up being more of an inconvenience than a convenience while on the road. Common issues with camping that I have often…
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Helsinki, Finland – a 24 hour visit
We had to have a longer layover in Helsinki, Finland, so when scheduling our flights, we prolonged our connecting flight to be over 24 hours apart so that we could explore some of the city. We were hoping to spend the day getting a taste of the Finnish culture both literally and figuratively and here is how it all came together. To quickly explain how we used our cell phone data while abroad, we each accumulate twelve international day use passes throughout the year (one free per month). So, while traveling in Europe, one of us would use one of these international day passes when we didn’t have access to…
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Easy travel
What really makes for a worthwhile trip today? Not feeling rushed. Day to day I can get caught up with the rush of everything moving too fast, feeling like there’s not enough time for everything. Worst of all is feeling like I may missed an opportunity. Trips and vacations need to feel relaxed and balanced, but how? By giving yourself the time to explore. Intuition is my guide. I read some information about a place and then I consider how long it would take for us to casually explore it based on how fast we usually go doing a certain activity. If I find that there isn’t enough time allowed…
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What is there to do in St. Louis, Missouri?
Aren’t all Midwestern cities the same? This question was presented to me in conversation recently by someone that was not from the Midwest, and it got me thinking just how easy it is to assume things based on opinions or simply a lack of time to really explore when traveling through a place. Not that this was a bad question to ask, I get it, the Midwest doesn’t necessarily have the beautiful coastlines and climates of other places, but tucked inside the Midwest region there are many gems within that are calling out to be discovered and appreciated by travelers passing through just as there are in many places around…
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Let’s get started planning!
Planning a good experience and sorting through the opinionated reviews My own perspective on travel has changed and broadened this year in particular. No more am I going to assume a place is a certain way before actually giving it a chance. I recommend freeing your thought from the opinions and just start fresh. There is a big picture way to look at planning a trip. We are all different and I am not attempting to set any opinions on how people should look at travel. I am simply going to share what I do to plan a trip when I am in or going to a destination and give…
