Give the Gift of Travel this Holiday Season
For my birthday last September (2016), I asked Peter not to buy me anything; rather, I asked him to give me something travel related as a present. Modern norms tell us that anything that marks an occasion in our lives be it a birthday, an anniversary, or holidays, a present is expected. The thing is, in this world of consumerism, we end up buying more and more stuff as presents, and do not put enough thought into the meaning of it. Which is why for my birthday, instead of getting something wrapped in a piece of paper and trying to guess what it is, I asked him to just cover…
Journey To Chicago: What to Do in the Windy City
Chicago What do you picture when you hear that word? I hear Polish truck drivers in a Mamet play delivering groceries, spectacular wind chills blowing off Lake Michigan, Cubs and White Sox, Bauhaus and Contemporary structures sitting side by side, Al Capone and speakeasies, Second City, Windy City, White City, Home Alone, Chicago the Musical, deep dish pizza, Sears Tower, loudness, and the eternal rumble of the “L” trains. We visited Chicago for only two full days and a morning, so we only saw downtown Chicago, for the most part. Still, we saw Chicago as it woke up in the morning and how it went to sleep (or didn’t go to sleep), how…
12 Hour Lisbon Layover? Head to Sintra Portugal: An Itinerary
For our Spain trip, we booked a flight with a 12 hour layover in Lisbon, Portugal. Most people cringe at the thought of a layover because that may mean sitting in the airport twiddling your thumbs as you wait for your next flight. We love long layovers if they are tactical enough that you can visit two (or more) destinations in one trip. Trip map courtesy of Wanderlog, a trip planner app Planning a 12 Hour Lisbon Layover: An Itinerary to Sintra Portugal For this trip, we flew TAP Portugal. Booked using 50,000 Merrill Points & $200-ish in cash. We picked the option that allowed us to land at around…
The Difference between Vacation and Travel
I recently read an excellent online article from The Atlantic about the dire financial straits that over 50% of all Americans find themselves in and something in the article struck me. The writer mentioned that because of the various financial choices he had made regarding his and his family’s finances, he and his family hadn’t been able to take a vacation in over 10 years. They instead sacrificed their retirement money to send their two daughters to excellent universities (Standford and Emery). I’m not at all criticizing that particular decision, because wanting your kids to attend the best schools is a noble thought, but I was instead curious with how…
Dallas Texas on a budget
Our first successful random airline roulette was in Dallas, Texas! What started out as just something to do during a long holiday ended up being a really fun adventure ahead! Here’s how we managed to do this trip on a budget: Flights Spirit, an ultra low cost carrier flying from MCO, Orlando International, had a sale going on and we got a round-trip ticket with checked bags for $117 per person! Read more about our experience here. Tip: It’s an okay airline, but you do get what you pay for (Read: don’t expect too much!) Hotels We used AwardMapper to find hotels in the area where we can use points to…
