Where Are You Going In 2013?

Where are you planning on traveling to in 2013?  Are you off to some exotic local where all you do for a week is lie on the beach with a fruity drink in your hand?  Or maybe you are going on your dream European vacation where you try to see everything you can in the span of 10 days and come back exhausted but oh so happy?  Maybe traveling is just something you do for work and never really get to enjoy any destination you are at. Some I'm sure are just planning their annual weekly vacation, same destination every year, where nothing really changes except the cost of getting there.

  Of course travel is also a state of mind.  You don't necessarily have to physically go anywhere to go somewhere if that makes any sense!  I go places, through reading books and blogs, places I would otherwise never be able to travel to.  To me this is a great way to travel if you are on a budget since you don't even have to leave the house.  Heck, books don't cost anything either, with all the free downloads you can get. Plus let us not forget one of my favorite places to go, your local library.  Just spending a few minutes day dreaming can transport you  anywhere.

You can sit down and plan a dream trip.  Get some destination books, map out things you want to see, research, follow favorite travel blogs,  and search videos on You-tube.  Who knows it may inspire you to find a way to make that dream come true someday.

So now I will ask again-where are you planning on traveling to in 2013?  Either physically or mentally my advise is to go somewhere.  It makes life a little easier to cope with day after day if you have somewhere to escape to if even by just turning pages of a book.

Please leave a commment and tell me where you are planning on going  this year.  Doesn't have to be any far away destination.  I love to hear travel stories.  If you travel solo, let me know the best places to go solo!  I'm always looking for ideas!

Take A Non-Traditional Approach To Lodging For Your Next Vacation

Trying to find a place to stay when you travel can be stressful. We found this out recently on our vacation to Washington DC. Not only did we have just a week to find lodging, but we also had a strict budget to follow.

So while I was taking the traditional route searching for hotel rooms, Rick was searching for rooms through Airbnb a website that brings travelers and private parties that have rooms, apartments, condos, or houses for rent. I had never heard of Airbnb before, but had heard of Homeaway and Couchsurfing.

While my hotel search was bringing up expensive rooms with an added parking fee of anywhere between $20 and $40 a day! Yikes! Rick came up with a few choices, an apartment right downtown, a room with private bath in the Georgetown area, and a room in a huge house in the suburb of New Carrollton. After contacting the apartment owner through email to no response, and the Georgetown listing disappearing. We took a close look at the bio of the New Carrollton house. Turned out they are a married couple whose children were all out of the house. So they had this huge house and all these bedrooms. She lived in London in the past and he is from Jamaica. They seemed well traveled so they could relate to the needs of the weary traveler.

We were able to read reviews from previous renters and see pictures. Our house had plenty of pictures, but no reviews. This was a little scary but we took a leap of faith and booked 2 rooms at $65 a piece. Plus the fee Airbnb tacked on. One room for Rick and I and one for Megan. We did not have a private bath, which ended up being absolutely no problem. Soon after booking our rooms online our host Ann Marie called to ask us questions. I found her incredibly friendly so I was put at ease. She had said this was a new thing for them and they had just listed their rooms.

When we arrived at their house the next weekend we found their house to be warm and comfortable. Our hosts were wonderful and very helpful. We work up every morning to a big breakfast to start out our day.

In the end it was a great experience! We drove to the metro stop, which was only a couple of miles away from the house, every morning. Parked and took the train into DC to see all the sights. We pretty much were gone all day and would come back later at night. The neighborhood was very quiet and safe.

Would we do it again? Absolutely! I would highly recommend this alternative to staying at the huge hotels which can be impersonal, very noisy, and uncomfortable. Just be sure to read the reviews and have a few places in mind in case one doesn't reply to your inquiry. So next time you are planning a vacation check out this alternative to the big box hotel chains! As I write this I am on Airbnb checking out places to stay in Paris!! Just to put on my wish list.......for now anyway






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Road Trip....Fourth Of July In Washington DC

Some people wouldn't dream of getting in their car to drive 15 hours to go on vacation.  Myself, well quite frankly I would get on a skateboard to travel to a new destination.  Well.... maybe not a skateboard, but although I do not mind flying, the rest of my household refuses to get on a plane.  In this case when we decided to head to DC for the week of our nations birthday I was excited for the road trip.

Seems to me more and more families are deciding to take the time to drive to their destinations either going by RV or just hoteling it.  The reasons are numorous. Avoiding airtravel hassels may be a big one.  At the time of our trip gas prices were pretty good (the least we paid for gas was $3.09 in Indiana).  I just love nothing better than watching the countryside roll by.  There is no better way to see things!  Lets face it, you can't round a corner in the mountains only to behold a beautiful valley with a cute town complete with a white steeple church on a plane when you are 2000 feet in the air. You can't be suprised by a bridge that crosses a river that is breathtakeinly 200 feet up in the air and you certainly cannot witness the beauty our vast country has to offer.

So we happily set off for our trip on the Saturday before the fourth at 8:00 in the morning and began our family vacation.  We made it to Somerset, Pennsylvania that first day before we stopped for the night.  We were road weary by that time. Over 12 hours on the road.  In the end Pennsylvania was our favorite state to drive through.  I had never been that way before so this was a new experience for me.  What a beautiful country we live in!

More on our trip coming up......

Megabus Continues to Grow, Benefiting Travelers

Megabus Continues to Grow, Benefiting Travelers This link will take you to a great post from Budget Travel on this inexpensive way to travel. Last week on our way to Washington DC we met several of these bright colored busses on the road. I did use the Milwaukee-Chicago service once and although I was not happy with my return trip because of the driver making a mistake and not letting me off at the stop I needed to go to, it still was a economical way to travel.