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4 Bachelor Party ideas for Las Vegas and Beyond

August 7, 2013 By Danny

Typically, most bachelor parties here in the USA involve a lot of booze and often a trip to Las Vegas or Atlantic City. In a few weeks, I’ll be heading out on a bachelor party myself and although some of the other guys wanted to take a traditional Vegas trip and stay at a place like the www.arialasvegas.com, the bride to be was dead set against that option. Several still took the time to research Vegas flights and things to do in Sin City but it was to no avail. Las Vegas can be a great place, but it is only one of the options we have here today.

A Backwoods Adventure.

Nothing quite says manliness and male bonding like a camping trip. Somehow the challenge us urban and suburbanites face when lighting a campfire always makes stories for the ages. Add to that a few rounds of brew and no real stressors and you can have yourself a nice relaxing trip…but that’s not what bachelor parties are all about. Instead, try to take a mountain biking or a white water rafting trip. The nice thing about rafting is that by choosing a rafting company, such as the one we used on my bachelor party, no one needs to have any real skills or gear.

Be A Kid.

With this upcoming bachelor party we chose instead to do something that would be simple and fun. We’re visiting Cedar Point in Ohio where we will ride roller coasters until we’re blue in the face. To add a little bit of manliness to the weekend we’ll also be hitting a baseball game and grilling out for dinner. The really exciting thing is that none of the crew has been to this park before; most have never been to Ohio for that matter.

Travel Abroad

In sticking with the theme of doing something new, why not take that same airplane and turn it in another direction. Recently I went to a Bachelor Party that took place in Puerto Rico, no passport needed and relatively inexpensive airfare still left us in a new country with plenty of options for things to do. Although if you have more money at your disposal, you could follow the British Stag Party tradition and visit Prague instead!

Living History While Traveling in Trabzon Turkey

August 1, 2013 By Danny

It about three years ago when we found ourselves traveling through Turkey during Ramadan. Turkey itself is a wonderful place to travel but what we found difficult was that as we headed further east, to the more religious parts of the country, we encountered the Muslim holiday of Ramadan. During the holiday, Muslims traditionally don’t eat during the day and instead pig out at night. Trying to be sensitive, and challenged by what food options were available to us, we tried to do the same which left us hungry during the day and awake at night as our busses made frequent food stops.

This past week we read an article in The Economist detailing how a Byzantine Monastary was being used as a Mosque to celebrate Ramadan. The article took me back to that time on the trip, travlling through that very city during this same very holiday. Although we didn’t visit this specific site, The Hagia Sophia of Trabzon, we were passing through during Ramadan and did visit another Byzantine Monastery, the Sumela Monastery. The site was itself quite beautiful and, as a tourist site, made a nice reprieve for us from the restrictions of traveling during Ramadan. Reading the Economist article I am left to wonder if it may to find a day when its own purpose is changed to another religion. This is something that happens all the time, especially in the Middle East, but I just can’t help to wonder what the future holds for sites such as this.

I intend to offer no opinion regarding the cultural and religious politics of that region of Turkey, but instead just want to offer a few photos from the Sumela Monastary

When a Massage Just Isn’t Enough

July 29, 2013 By Jillian

Is it possible to call yourself a weary traveler even if you haven’t been anywhere new or on a typical “adventure” in a while? I think yes. We are all in one way or another a weary traveler on the road of life. A bit poetic perhaps, but it’s true. The stress, anxiety and frustration we feel at home doesn’t automatically leave us when we hit the road, instead it is somehow transformed into positive stress (what time is the train? wait, what time is it now? oh no…), anxiety and yes, even frustration. We’ve all lived through it on the road, and when we get home we swear to our friends that those were the best moments of the trip. And yet at home, those are the moments that cause us to scream “I can’t take it anymore!”

As a weary traditional traveler, exploring the world, I took to the spas of Tbilisi in the hopes of some relaxation. What I got can only be called the most unorthodox way to relax…the massage and scrub. Now, repeat that with a heavy soviet accent.

Massage and scrub.

Read about the spas of Tbilisi before you continue. Yes, the scrub was painful, humiliating and yet afterwards I was willing to do it again, because… it was relaxing in that painful stress relieving sort of way.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when we were waiting for our twins to make their appearance in this world. We headed across the State of Florida to check out one of our favorite staycation options- Marco Island. Let’s just say the differences were abundantly clear from the moment we arrived:

Photo Credit: Hilton Marco Island Spa Website

No scary woman with a scrub brush and a hose here. Instead, the locker room looked like the inside of a softly lit palace, complete with uniformed attendants and fluffy white towels. Unlike the sulfurous water and back slapping, the spa massage included soothing instrumental music, soft mood lighting, aromatherapy and moisturizing massage oils. No one approached me with a look of determination to scrub me clean or beat into submission my aching back. The atmosphere was soothing, quiet and relaxing.

Too relaxing.

90 minutes after crawling onto the massage table I woke up.

Does a massage count if you fall asleep?

Maybe I’m just better off handling my stress and anxiety with a trip!

Where I Want To Take a Cruise

July 18, 2013 By Danny

Living in South Florida I’m greeted almost every day with the sights of cruise ships docked and taking on passengers. Some of these boats have space for over 5,000 passengers with thousands more spots reserved for crew. While these huge cruise ships have their place among those that like a little relaxation and pampering on the high seas, I’m more intrigued by the smaller vessels that can take you smaller ports of call. Here are a few (one from each continent!) that are high on my list:

North America – The Alaskan Marine Highway

We have been trying to arrange a trip up to Alaska for a few years now, but it remains elusive for one reason or another. This year we almost made it but as luck would have it, we found something better to do instead (we had twins!). Our plan was to cruise along the marine highway, using public transportation, to Whittier, Alaska. From there we would visit the rest of the Kenai Peninsula before heading north to Anchorage, Fairbanks and Denali itself. The best part of the cruise trip, from Juneau to Whittier was that with State of Alaska’s hop on hop off ferry system, allowing us to create our trip itinerary as we went along.

South America – The Amazon River…from Peru!

Most Amazon cruises move along the ‘busy’ part of the river between Manaus and the Atlantic Ocean. The Amazon river itself though, has its headwaters in the Andes mountains. That being the case I don’t see why you wouldn’t want to head to Iquitos, Peru, to start the trip. You’ll have to fly into Iquitos as it holds the ubiquitous distinction of being the largest city in the world that cannot be reached by road. From there it is 3600 km to the Atlantic Ocean. Just don’t forget the mosquito repellant and a hammock.

Africa – A Nile River Cruise

Although I’m not so sure many people are planning on taking a Nile Cruise in 2013 with all the mixed news coming out of Egypt, I’m sure that those who do go find exceptional value everywhere they go along the river. One of Egypt’s chief exports is tourism and much of the industry is hurting. The city of Luxor alone could keep the budding Egyptologist busy for weeks and given how inexpensive Egypt was when it was crowded, it is a downright bargain right now.

Europe – The History of the Danube

I’m not entirely sure what it is that makes me want to take a cruise along the Danube but I think it has something to do with the amount of history those waters have seen. Vienna, Budapest and Bratislava are all cities I’ve seen and really enjoyed but it’s downriver—Croatia, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria—that attracts my attention. Of all the ideas listed here this is certainly the most expensive but it also represents the crossroads of Western Civilization.

Asia – A Thai SCUBA Live-aboard

The problem with Asian rivers is that many are simply too dirty to enjoy. Instead, I’d suggest doing a bit of Island hopping off the coasts of Thailand and Malaysia. This is some of the best SCUBA diving in the world and the mainland has plenty of low priced creature comforts anytime you want to come ashore.

Thanks to BTerryCompton for use of the Alaska image via a Creative Commons License

Traveling A Country Via National Parks

June 3, 2013 By Jillian

If you’ve been following along with us for a while you probably already recognize that we love, love, love to spend time outdoors. Hiking and camping, anywhere in the world really, take top priority when we’re putting together our travel plans. We’re not going to be venturing too far from home in the next few weeks so that has us looking around our backyard for fun places to explore that won’t break the budget and will keep us happy. That led me to one place- National Parks.

You see, we LOVE public land preserves. While traveling the world, we spent three days hiking Torres Del Paine National Park in Chile, climbed through high altitude mountain passes near Huaraz, Peru, summited Kilimanjaro drove our own safari through South Africa National Parks so we could get up close and personal, perhaps a bit too up close and personal, with some of South Africa’s wildlife. Add in several days at national monuments and cultural sites and well without looking I would bet we visited a national cultural or nature site every other week on our RTW voyage.

While National Parks aren’t the only places you can go while you are traveling, they are a bit like an instant cultural all access voucher into a country’s best kept codes. For not a lot of money you are given the opportunity to explore that which a county has deemed sacred. From temples to landscapes, national parks are one of my favorite ways to get to know a country. Here are some places that aren’t all in my back yard, but are high on my list of places to go. Maybe next summer?

India’s Nanda Devi National Park

Maybe I have a thing for mountains, but the peaks of this park look incredible. It’s well known for wild flowers, but the park has over a dozen peaks above 6000m. Not that I do so well with altitude, but hey, I’m always up for a challenge!

Photo Credit: Flickr user Michael Scarlet via a creative commons license.

Swiss National Parc

Leave it to the Swiss to have a National Park that looks like it came out of a storybook. With high mountain meadows, snow-capped peaks and strict rules about venturing off the paths, one of Europe’s first national parks looks downright idyllic.

Photo Credit: Swiss National Parc Website

Dry Tortugas National Park

So this one IS actually in our backyard and yet we still haven’t made it there. Perhaps that is because you have to charter a flight or take a ferry to the 19^th century island fortress. Yes, 19^th century fort in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. Need I say more?

Photo Credit: United States Park Service

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