A Clever Mother’s Day gift for the Moms in your life!
Are you searching for the perfect Mother’s Day gift? Something that is not the “same old thing”? A lovely present that is unique and clever? Lucky you, I have a suggestion!
Travel Tips
15 Books About Food & Travel That Saved Me During the Pandemic
Books about Food and Travel!
How did books about food and travel save me during the COVID pandemic? They provided me a way to escape during a challenging time and envelope myself in a world that means so much to me. Exploring interesting destinations, reading about exciting adventures, and real-life memoirs about chefs and food entrepreneurs is my passion. In addition to a personal escape, reading as much as I do helps to make me a better writer! As a brand ambassador and travel writer, the lockdown was particularly agonizing because I wasn’t planning and experiencing travel, nor was I working.
Some days were slow and relaxed, while others were depressing and sad. Most of us felt this way during the Quarantine, right? Confusion, sadness, and a longing for normality were the catalyst for my positive, uplifting reading choices.
Let’s Escape to Lake Tahoe For Our Next Getaway
An Escape to Lake Tahoe
Let’s go to the mountains where there are fewer people, fresh air, blue skies, exceptional deep blue water, and views to make you weep. Let’s escape to Lake Tahoe! I am once again working with my friends at Hotels.com to bring you more travel inspiration.
We started visiting Lake Tahoe when our children were little, we traveled there in the winter to ski and in the summer to hike, but with Fall around the corner, it’s time to plan for the leaf-peeping season! It is best to reach out to local hotels to learn about their new COVID protocols and safety guidelines. However, it is getting easier to travel every week that passes by. Fall in Lake Tahoe could be a wonderful first step back toward our love of travel.
Taste Your Virtual Vacation – A Delicious Maui Style Menu
CHECK OUT OUR NEW EPISODE OF COCKTAIL ADVENTURES!
THE PIÑA COLADA – HERE!
A Maui Style Menu
Are we dreaming of a tasty trip or virtual vacation Maui Style? We cannot travel across the vast Pacific Ocean to the island of Maui, but we can pretend like we are! Virtual Vacations can transport us to a place we can’t get to for one reason or another. This Maui Style Menu will help you bring all of the essential elements together!
Get Everything You Need For Your Maui Staycation!
A Maui Staycation – Yes, Please!
Last week, in my first post for How to Create a Virtual Vacation Maui Style, I introduced you to the general concept of creating a vacation at home. The Coronavirus has hijacked travel, and we need to have a way to at least pretend to be in a tropical destination. Don’t we?
Creating a path to explore a Maui Staycation was my way of getting past the indisputable travel obstacles we are facing.
Check out the new Guide!
How to Create Your Own Virtual Vacation – Maui Style!
A Virtual Vacation? What is that?
Imagine the cold-sweet sip of a tropical Mai Tai, Seared Ahi Tuna with Vegetable Fried Rice, and a mound of ice cream covered in chocolate fudge in a decadent slice of Hula Pie. Yes, please! Tell me more. This delicious list is just the beginning of an authentic and tasty Maui Style vacation you can create at home.
The COVID 19 pandemic has all but ruined our travel calendar and certainly curtailed any type of air travel over the blue Pacific. Many people have underlying health conditions that prevent any possibility of travel no matter what is happening in the world. Maybe a Maui vacation is not in the budget at all?
Well, my non-traveling friends, I have a solution. Disappointed by my lack of travel options during the Stay at Home mandate, I needed to change my thinking. I had to look at my current situation and determine just how to move forward when I could not write about future travel or plan any of our own adventures. Just like you, I couldn’t enjoy a Maui vacation if I wanted to!
Flying During The Coronavirus – What’s It Really Like?
Curious what it is like flying during the Coronavirus?
Have you given any thought to taking a trip? Are you itching to get away? Fearful? Undecided? I have some first-hand experience that I look forward to sharing with you. I hope it will help and give you a little perspective.
Let’s go back a few months to my first flight during the Coronavirus.
As a travel writer and empty nester with no immediate family commitments, my travel calendar is always full. In between my scheduled business travel, my husband and I travel together a great deal as well. We are always on the go, just ask our friends and family! Non-stop unpacking and packing, watering the yard in between, living a semi-chaotic existence. Maybe it was too much? We had the chance to discover just how insane our lifestyle really is/was—more on that in an upcoming post.
The virus has caused all of us to pause and appreciate our health and our blessings. My husband traveled for business every week, at times we were like ships passing in the night. However, the hotel points and accumulated air mileage allow us to book amazing empty nester adventures around the world. Life has its trade-offs.
Just about mid-March, we were all grounded, abruptly stopped in our tracks from leaving our homes, let alone travel anywhere. We were receiving conflicting news from all sides and just trying to feel our way through this world-wide catastrophe.
How Can We Emerge From Stay at Home, Better Than Ever?
How can we emerge from Stay At Home in the best possible way?
We don’t have the green light yet, but we should start thinking ahead. How can we emerge from the Stay at Home order? That is up to us. The financial hardships are devasting for everyone, but we need to persevere; there is no choice! Will we be stronger? More thoughtful? Introspective. Yes, I think all of these will be good descriptions.
I plan to focus intently on the process and route that I take from this recent lifestyle roadblock, ready for new adventures, and a lot more focused on the right things.
This past six weeks (Which feels much longer, right?) has been full of highs and lows. Everyone is trying to see where they fit and what feels right. Some people have turned to art, others to writing, reading, and cooking. Meanwhile, we are walking our poor dogs to death!
5 Clever Ideas That Will Enhance Your Future Travel Life
What do you need for your future travel life?
Are you missing the exhilaration of an upcoming adventure? Do you dream about your future travel life? You do know that we will travel again! No question. Will it feel different? Absolutely. Will there be new rules in place? Most assuredly. However, an adventure to a new or favorite destination will fill you up again in ways you may have forgotten.
Like you, I have been house-bound, safe at home for a while, although it feels like an eternity. Do you feel that as well? But my dream of strolling through a new city or tasting a delicious local dish has never left me. I know we will be out there again, discovering and living our lives as we have in the past.
While we are patiently doing our part to keep the virus from spreading, it is essential to keep our thoughts lively and hearts full.
Plan ahead, get organized, dream BIG, research, create, prepare, and make lists! How about a recipe for a successful future travel life! Here are a couple of suggestions for you.
Can’t Travel Today? 8 Ways to Help You Dream Now & Play Later
Got travel challenges?
Are you wondering what to do now that we can’t travel freely? I know we all have to do our part and therefore, armchair travel is best for now.
Traveling is my passion, my career, and what lights me up. I am always thrilled to hear about your latest trip and the vacations of others. I can live vicariously or better yet; I can find adventure too. Since we are not currently traveling, and many of us have chosen to cancel or postpone travel arrangements, maybe now is the time to dream about your next trip?
Life is busy and we don’t always take time to enjoy the process of the hunt! To create the perfect trip or vacation, a carefully researched itinerary is the best way to go! Now is the time to get down into the teeny tiny details!