This summer’s family vacation to southeast Asia was harder travel than prior trips. The heat, the humidity, and the monsoon rains that ranged from refreshing to torrential street floods were substantial. (A sample weather app reading during the trip: 97 degrees F, feels like 107). The 26 hour travel time to arrive, combined with the bureaucratic hassles of obtaining permission …
Loosening The Purse Strings
Planning international travel with my wife and kids is one of my greatest pleasures out of proportion. When you plan something far out in the future (whether a trip or a purchase) and spend time anticipating the joy it will bring you over a long delay period, you enjoy it all the more when it comes to fruition. I can …
Valuing Seclusion
Our recent summer travel highlighted a new and reasonable expectation from my kids: a daily dose of seclusion. The kids are 14 and 16, respectively, and it’s not surprising that they want time to themselves. These are age-appropriate needs. What caught me off guard is how blind I was to those needs in spite of sharing them. Since 2017, we …
Same Vacation, Different Trips
As a DIY independent traveler, I assume full responsibility for our vacations: optimizing credit card points to purchase airfare, reserving Airbnb accommodations, verifying that sites of interest are open on the dates we schedule visits, managing domestic travel via plane, Metro, bus and Ferry. I also create the itinerary. Over the years I’ve come to understand the characteristics that make …
The Most I’ve Ever Paid To Feel Discomfort
The most telling sign of aging has become the degree of discomfort I am willing to put up with during travel. A dear friend makes his home in the Andes in Peru, and recently returned from a week-long trek at 17,000 feet of altitude. During his trip, he exceeded the height of Everest base camp at times. We spoke on …
A Summer In Europe Was Cheaper Than A Summer In The US
I am putting the finishing touches on this summer’s three week domestic travel itinerary, which will be a family road trip through northern California. I just totaled up the prices for our airbnb stays. Blame it on pent-up demand for travel, the relative safety of the outdoors, or simply the compelling nature of visiting our national parks, but it’s going …
Inflection Point
A couple of days ago the outlook for the summer took a turn for the better. After a little bit of online brainstorming, I confirmed that several California state parks within 1-2 hours’ drive were reopening on a limited basis beginning next week. That discovery led to the purchase of a gently used, lightweight, two-person camping tent via craigslist for …
Flattening The (Learning) Curve
One of the goals I’ve had since before our kids were born was to travel together as a family when they hit a certain sweet spot (able to handle intercontinental air travel; not yet adolescents). Now that we are in the window period, I’ve had to reconsider how to accomplish the same goals without leaving home. On the up side, …
Pivoting
I have been traveling independently since the summer after I graduated university, when I took a two-month budget solo trip across Europe. I had not originally planned to travel alone. When the friend from high school who was planning to join me backed out of the trip, I decided to read up, double down and commit to solo travel. That …
Barcelona Highlights
Barcelona represents the best of Spain.This is no accident – the city manages to check every conceivable box on a traveler’s wish list. You like food? Street food? Foodie food? International cuisine? Fusion? How about easily accessible beach towns (Sitges)? Shopping your thing? How about a mall on the ocean? Fashion? Art? Parks? Sidewalk cafe culture? People watching? Architecture? Culture …