United States Travel
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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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Two days in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee, is known for its country music roots, hot chicken, and its Broadway street, a street made famous its variety of live entertainment in bars and its general nightlife activity. Nashville provides visitors with a unique variety of experiences to choose from during their time exploring this city. As we were driving through Nashville, I referred to my list of interesting places in the Nashville area in order to see what we could easily visit during our time in the city. I then grouped together the attractions that were of interest by area so that we could visit them accordingly without driving back and forth too much. I had…
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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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A Quick Visit to Zion National Park in the Summertime
Zion National Park is a popular park that requires some planning ahead, at least a day in advance, of your visit. You can arrive at the park mid-day, but you need to be prepared for it to be very busy with potential long lines for the shuttle buses, crowded shuttle buses, busy trails, and full parking lots. When driving into Zion National Park from the South, you will be entering on Highway 9, which takes you through Springdale, Utah and into the South Entrance of Zion National Park. The main scenic road that travels to the main sites of Zion National Park is called Zion Canyon Scenic Drive. This scenic…
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How is planning a visit to Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure in California different from planning a visit to Disney World in Florida?
Earlier this year I wrote about a simplified way to plan your ideal experience at Disney World in Florida. Now, I would like to focus on how planning a visit to the Disney theme parks in California, Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure, is different from planning a trip to the Disney World theme parks in Florida. Some people will say Disneyland is the best Disney park because it is the original, the first Disney park, while others will say Magic Kingdom at Disney World is the best because it is a part a larger designated vacation area focused entirely on Disney. Wherever you stand in the “which is better” opinions…
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Simplified Guide to Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure Theme Parks
Here is a collection of information you need to know for planning a visit to California’s Disney theme parks. Disney manages parking garages and tram transportation to the two Disney Theme Parks in California and it is $40 per vehicle, per day. Once you have paid for and parked your vehicle, you will walk over to the security area where they will check your bag, have you place your metal items and phones in bins, and have you walk through a metal detector. Once through security, you will board a tram vehicle, and the tram will drive you to the Downtown Disney shopping district where you will then walk over…
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How to Start Traveling by Car: Create your Ideal Road Trip
Maybe you have heard this before, but for some people, traveling by car sounds long, tiring, boring, and stressful. Comedic road trip movies tend to emphasize the negatives of road travel, but it doesn’t have to be that way. I can agree that spending the whole day inside of a car is not the most fun part of the trip, but, its the other activities along the way that make being in the car totally worth it. In order to answer the big questions, How do I become a road trip traveler?, we start with answering a few simpler questions: Have you been in a car for longer than two…
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Common Disney World Travel Questions and Answers
There are a lot of decisions to make for a Disney World vacation. Therefore, I have reassembled my Disney Guide post into a list of questions that I also searched online leading up to my own Disney vacation. Some of these were easily answered and found online, and some of them I just needed to experience first hand to find my answers. There may be some repetition from my Disney World guide, but having a question and answer format will help your research. How many days do I need in order to see everything at Disney World? How many theme park days should I buy?It is tough to see everything…
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Simplified Guide to Visiting Walt Disney World
If you haven’t been to Disney World in quite a few years or if this is your first visit, here is a quick reference guide to help you know how to plan. As with all destinations, there are thorough guides available online and detailed in books explaining how to plan a Disney vacation. In my opinion, there’s a little too much of the same details repeated out there and not enough information on how to easily navigate this huge theme park destination. It had been about eight years since I had last visited Disney World, and a lot had changed across all four parks. There were new areas to explore,…
