Don’t let excuses hold back your travel dreams. Though many Kaleidoscopic Wandering readers are familiar with the travel industry, many others are not. As part of the Why People Don’t Travel series, I’m taking a hard look at five different things that keep people from traveling. In this series, I hope to provide solutions and additional resources for people who would like to travel more.
Today’s travel concern: “I have kids.”
Some people pack a bag and pick up for a weekend getaway. Others plan grandiose around-the-world travels that keep them on the road for weeks or months at a time. Still others take extended boating, biking, hiking or road trips that require dedication, skill, patience and flexibility.
This all sounds great for those who can pick up and go, devote hours on the road or are able to embark on a more adventurous trip. For some reason, though, people with children often find the idea of taking even a “normal” week-long summer vacation quite daunting.
Traveling with kids doesn’t have to be a major ordeal, and, in fact, those who travel frequently with children often say that it is among the most rewarding things they do as a family. The bottom line? Having children doesn’t have to stop you from traveling. In fact, I’ve encountered several families who do so and can’t imagine not traveling with their children.
Continue Reading
Posted in: Family Travel, Reasons to Travel, Resources
Holland America is known for its top-tier culinary demonstrations and classes. I’m not much of a cook myself, but when my sister and I noticed in the daily schedule that there was going to be a cooking demonstration for the ship’s cinnamon rolls, we decided to go. Something deep inside said we’d be getting free samples … and we did!
When I got home, my husband whipped up the rolls from the recipe, which is posted below. They were heavenly, but two words to the wise: First, I would add a bit more cinnamon than the recipe calls for. Second, the recipe says it serves 10. I don’t know if that means 10 people who are going to eat six rolls each or what, but we had so many cinnamon rolls and they were so big, we immediately took half over to our neighbor. Next time we’ll probably half the recipe.
And now for your tasting pleasure:
Continue Reading
Posted in: Eat
Though Huatulco, Mexico, was a lovely, uncrowded resort town anyway, it was the brilliantly colored flowers blooming absolutely everywhere that really grabbed my attention. Reds, pinks, purples, yellows, oranges—every single color of the rainbow was represented. Here is a sampling of the fantastic foliage I photographed.
Continue Reading
Posted in: Photos
It seems like just yesterday when we packed away the Christmas stockings and rang in the new year, but it honestly isn’t too early to start thinking about where you’re going to travel for your summer vacation. I am, of course, a strong believer in the good ol’ fashioned cross-country American road trip. If that’s your style of travel as well, check out these five undervisited national parks that deserve your attention as you trip from East Coast to West Coast and back.
Death Valley National Park, California / Nevada
Though breath-catching hot in the summer, Death Valley is an expansive and impressive national park worth visiting. The lowest, driest and hottest place in North America is home to an amazing array of terrain, ranging from dry salt beds and sand dunes to peaks that top out at 11,049 feet. Visitors can check out many of the park’s sites within easy driving distance, but to get a feel for all the park has to offer venture off grid with a hike into some of the country’s most unusual landscapes.
Continue Reading
Posted in: Go
Before our cruise ship docked at St. Thomas, we knew we wanted to escape the island. Of the U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Thomas is known as the touristy one, cluttered with duty-free jewelry shops, kitschy markets selling t-shirts and lots of traffic.
No thank you.
So we hopped the first ferry over to St. John, where most of the land is protected as Virgin Islands National Park and a lot of the surrounding water is considered Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument. The difference between St. Thomas and St. John was immediately obvious.
St. John is green and covered with trees, and the visitor’s center is just a couple minutes walk from the ferry station. There is a great round-trip, approximately 4-mile trail that leaves from the ranger station. We opted to go counter clockwise up the Caneel Hill Trail then down the Water Catchment Trail, along Honeymoon Beach and back to the ranger station via Lind Point Trail.
Continue Reading
Posted in: Do, Go
I held a hovering stack of guidebooks about New Orleans. It was the usual selection of suspects: Lonely Planet, Frommer’s, Fodor’s, Dummies Guide. I’d just about cleared the shelf of New Orleans-related travel guides when one more book caught my eye.
Very New Orleans: A Celebration of History, Culture, and Cajun Country Charm by Diana Hollingsworth Gessler is thin, small and unassuming, but I grabbed it anyway and placed it with my other books. When I got home and opened the cover, I knew I’d found a goldmine encased in words and pictures.
Continue Reading
Posted in: Reading
In my opinion, Ian Page has an enviable job for a travel buff.
To sum up just a few of his duties: Travel. Learn about travel, culture and history. Teach about travel, culture and history. Repeat.
While aboard Holland America’s ms Eurodam, Ian agreed to spend a few minutes answering my questions about what could possibly be the best job in the world … or at least on the seven seas.
Continue Reading
Posted in: Personalities
You know those restaurants where you wait forever to get a menu, your waiter is rude, you feel intimidated by the staff and the restaurant feels just a little untidy? Well, at Dick’s Last Resort, you get what you pay for, and what you pay for is rude and obnoxious staff and an environment where throwing paper wads at strangers is perfectly acceptable.
There are a smattering of Dick’s across the United States, but the only one in Las Vegas is located in Excalibur Hotel. Every time I’ve walked past the restaurant, there’s been a line out the door. After hearing rave reviews about the Dick’s experience, I braved the line (only a 15-minute wait on a holiday weekend) so that I could see for myself whether it lived up to its hype.
Continue Reading
Posted in: Eat, I Love Las Vegas
Perhaps you are like me and have a bucket list a few feet long that taunts you about all the places you haven’t been. Or maybe you would like to travel more but just aren’t sure about where to go. Regardless of which of these two categories fits your current state of travel curiosity, you’ll eventually need to narrow down your choices and make a solid decision about where to go.
I love the idea of spinning a globe and hopping on the next flight headed to that city, region or country. Admittedly, I’ve never chosen to travel that way, though it would make for an interesting adventure. In any case, you’ve got to start somewhere when deciding where to travel next. Here are 8 suggestions on how to choose your next vacation destination:
Continue Reading
Posted in: Inspiration
