When I told my friends that I was going to South Dakota, most of them just gave me a “why would anyone go to South Dakota?” look. I have traveled the globe and been to many fantastic places, so what is my fascination with the Black Hills? A few places in America have been on my list for a long time and it seemed to be a good way to knock a few of...
I guess before you start thinking how amazingly multilingual I am, I should point out that I don’t read Russian. Let me take that back; what I mean to say is that I don’t understand or speak Russian. I do however have the ability to sound out words. Remember when you first learned to read in first grade and you were so proud that you could finally read...
I recently traveled to South America with 2 20-something male friends of mine and realized the first day that this trip would be a lot different than any previous adventures. Traveling with men there’s a lot less picture taking, a lot more dangerous “hey! look at me hanging off this cliff” stuff, and much less emphasis on comfort. There is also a...
A lot of my friends have made comments that they have to have the very best when they travel.They insist that they must fly first class and stay at only 5 star hotels. The ironic thing is that these usually are the same friends who don’t go anywhere. If you have a rock star budget and money is no object, get the best. If you’re in a once-in-a-lifetime...
My parents took our family camping from the time I can remember. The only international travel experience I had as a child was crossing the Mexican border from Big Bend National Park and a trip to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls when I was 16. One of my adventurous youth leaders from church was adamant that the young men should become certified in SCUBA and that...
For most newbie travelers, ending up in a country that you know nothing about is seldom a problem. Let’s suppose however, that you end up in a place that really isn’t as exciting as you thought it would be and you really don’t want to spend the time that you had originally planned. Or, perhaps you’ve always wanted to go someplace and just...
I won’t lie. Many of my trips are planned around some crazy internet deal that I find on a flight or package to a place I haven’t been or a city that I can use as a hub to explore someplace exciting. Some of my trips have even been planned because I knew that travel would be cheaper and less crowded after a publicized national crisis in the country I was...