Our drive through the Great Plains became a blur of field and sky. This was the Great American frontier, vast and wild and free. I watched it fly by in waves as we made our way to the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Walking into the Wisconsin Welcome Center, we knew it was going to be a great day. A man greeted us cheerfully and pulled out a map where little wheels of cheese marked the hot spots of the area. And who doesn’t love cheese?
Canada held a beautiful countryside. The air was crisp and refreshing, and we stopped along our drive to admire odds and ends that we passed along the way—a stone railroad bridge, a sparkling creek, a quaint farm. It was simple and charming, like out of a fairytale. Though Canada shares a border with the United States, there was a definite change in the aura of the landscape. I could feel a difference as we passed through. And when we crossed back into the United States, camping along Lakes Michigan and Superior, I felt a different sense of nature here too—still beautiful, but different.
On a Sunday in late July, I set off for the trip of a lifetime with my boyfriend, Shane, and his friend, Patrick, from Germany. We were going to be on the road for about a month, making our way through destinations in the U.S. and Canada. The route was roughly planned, and we were going to be joined by Patrick’s friend, Helena, partway through, but the rest of it was a serendipitous adventure. We had no idea who we might meet or what oddities we would come across, but we were prepped and ready for life on the road.
One reason visitors flock to Australia is to see the unique range of native wildlife that roams this beautiful country. From koalas sleeping in gum trees, kangaroos hopping across open plains, sea lions basking in the sunshine, and a sea filled with whales, penguins, marine life and more, there really are wildlife experiences available throughout the land.
Summer vacation, at least for our family, is synonymous with road trips. We, Bryan and Laurie, the founders of Budget Your Trip, decided it was time to step away for a couple of weeks and take the newest member of the family (our four month old daughter) on a driving adventure from Boston to Nova Scotia. Yes, it's quite a long drive. And yes, everyone says it's a challenge to travel with a baby. But we went anyway, because traveling is in our blood, and also because we're a little crazy. To add to the reasons, believe it or not, this was our first time in Canada. We've trekked through the Sahara and the Gobi, swam in the Mekong and the Nile, but we have never visited our friendly neighbors to the North. Well, it was time to fix that!
When I first heard about this new service I was very skeptical. How could you actually get a free rental car? Or, even more suspicious, how could you get a rental car for only a few dollars? Free might be easy to explain due to some sort of promotion, but how could a business operate by only charging a few dollars? Well, it's true, but there's a catch. Transfercar, a New Zealand-based company, is moving into the U.S. market. The idea is simple, you visit their website, book a one-way car rental for a specified date, and only pay a few dollars or nothing at all. And they are starting on the west coast with big expansion plans for the rest of the country.
Did you know that Australia’s food and wine scene is bursting with creative chefs, skilled purveyors and exciting winemakers producing fresh and innovative flavors that are the envy of the world? With a rich and varied landscape capable of supporting a variety of fresh and tantalizing produce coupled with a long immigrant history, Australia’s fusion food really sets itself apart. Multicultural diversity influences each producer’s enthusiasm, passion and experimentation in a different fashion allowing for a uniquely Australian style to unfold.
I can't fully explain why we wanted to go to Mongolia. Of all the places in the world, most people would rather visit another country. Many of our family members were amongst those that politely asked why, and our answer was something vague, such as "It just looks interesting." Our trip would take us on a two month journey through China and Mongolia, of which we spent almost three weeks in Mongolia. Most of that time was spent on a 15-day tour of the Mongolian countryside in an old beat-up Russian army van, now re-purposed to carry tourists across the rugged terrain. We would spend most of our journey in this old nearly broken-down van while camping in the countryside, eating very fresh meat, and meeting the locals.
In 2009, we spent 11 months traveling through Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. We want you to learn from our experience, so we put together a trip planning guide: How To Plan A Trip Around The World. We cover everything from budgeting to packing, route planning to insurance, safety to vaccinations, and visas to round-the-world plane tickets. Combining our first hand experience with tips and resources from other travelers, we leave no stone unturned.