One of the most frequent questions we get about travel is how we pack with one carry-on bag and one backpack each, whether for a trip that spans 10 weeks and 15 countries like last summer’s, or for shorter trips. People often say “I could never do that because I work out” or “I need dress clothes” or “I carry a camera with me.” I usually just nod and smile…
Read MoreFive hundred year old Panama City, Panama was never on my travel radar until last January when a friend emailed that he was planning a gathering there to celebrate his birthday. Within less than an hour, we had checked flight availability and booked miles tickets on Copa via United. Fast forward to Thanksgiving Day, when we were among the few intrepid travelers at O’Hare awaiting a very early morning direct flight to Panama City.
Read MoreIf your Panama trip is limited to Panama City, you may want to fit in a visit to a nearby beach. There are a few within a two hour drive, but we didn’t want to rent a car for a day or do a full day tour. Instead, while we were having breakfast one day during our stay, another person at the same event told us about Taboga Island. We decided to check it out later that day.
Read MoreI tried to cancel our honeymoon. We were in Chicago for 12 hours between our wedding and our very early morning flight to Kauai, and in that time, I told my new husband that I wanted to cancel our honeymoon. He vetoed that plan, and instead packed for me (which is why I still own a week’s worth of clothes from the Lihue, Kauai Walmart and Hilo Hattie’s) and we went anyway.
Read MoreIn 2018 we visited 19 countries — 16 of them for the first time. One or both of us visited US cities from San Francisco to Washington, DC, Carmel, Indiana to Miami, Florida.
All in all, Amy spent just shy of 5 months traveling and Keith wasn’t far behind. From stepping briefly into North Korea at the DMZ to nearly a month in different trips to Cuba we were fortunate to see more of the world in 2018 than any other year of our lives, and were even inducted into the Circumnavigators Club. We decided to look back on our 2018 travels as we look forward to 2019. As usual, we didn’t always agree. Check out our 2018 Year in Review He Said, She Said below.
Read MoreWhen you think of small towns in Germany, Bacharach is what you’re imagining, even if you don’t know it. The town of less than 2,000 year-round residents includes timber-frame houses surrounded by an old city wall originally constructed in the 1300 and 1400s with vineyards and a castle-turned-hostel peering down from the hills above the town.
Read MoreI think about that line every time I travel with friends. There’s nothing like being out of your comfort zone and in an unfamiliar environment, whether for a weekend or a week, to help you get to know the “real” person.
Read MoreWhile we were in Abu Dhabi, one of our favorite experiences was visiting the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center. Because it’s a little complicated to visit, and because we saw several people learn the hard way about photo restrictions there, we wanted to share some tips and offer some suggestions for future visitors.
Read MoreOnce we knew we wanted to go to Tokyo, Japan, we needed to book a plane ticket to our next destination. There was one tiny problem: we weren’t sure what our next destination would be. We were both interested in more off-the-beaten-path places, but had varying comfort levels with some of the options we were considering.
Read MoreOur flight to Baku, Azerbaijan would leave from Dubai, so rather than go straight from Abu Dhabi to the Dubai airport, we decided to spend a few nights in Dubai. We still had some work to do in Dubai, but spent an entire day on a dhow in Oman and were able to spend more time exploring than we were able to do in Abu Dhabi.
Read MoreI’ve read many books by people who’ve left North Korea, so I was really excited by the prospect of being able to visit the DMZ while we were in Seoul. It was one of the highlights of our time in Seoul, so we wanted to share a few tips for others who might be considering visiting. First, a little background.
Read MoreThat second title might seem melodramatic, but it’s not far from reality. Let me back up a second.
We knew our time in the United Arab Emirates would mostly be spent coaching clients and working on consulting projects, so we wanted to plan a true day off before we moved on to Azerbaijan.
Read MoreThe tiny country of Andorra sits about a three hour drive from Barcelona, landlocked between France in the north and Spain in the south. The “microstate” is one of the smallest countries in the world by both population (fewer than 80,000 people) and landmass (180 square miles). It is mainly known for its low tax shopping, skiing, and hiking that attract 10 million visitors each year. (Yes, you read that right – 10 million visitors each year in a tiny country with only 80,000 citizens.)
Frankly, not the kind of place where we’d normally want to hang out long-term, but as a day trip, why not? We had already booked several commitments in Barcelona (Sagrada Familia, the Picasso Museum, etc.) that required us to be in Barcelona all but one day of our time there, which happened to be the last full day of our trip.
Read MoreThis is the anniversary of our second month of full time travel. We have some work that requires us to be in the United States for our coaching and consulting business, Apochromatik, for the next couple of weeks. But don’t worry — RedDotBlueDot continues as we have several more international and domestic (USA) destinations on the docket before the end of the year. (And many, many posts to write for the Blue Blog and photos to share on the Red Blog!)
With that said, how was month two? Aren’t you just dying to know?
Read MoreIn his book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, Anthony Bourdain confessed that for his very first meal on his first trip to Tokyo, in his jet-lagged and exhausted state, he was so intimidated by the soba restaurants and overwhelming nature of Tokyo that he went to Starbucks. After considering his options, though, he bought a latte, rallied, and dove in to Tokyo.
Read MoreOn our most recent Facebook Live (you can see them all on our Facebook page if you missed one), one of the questions was about using guides. It is important to us that RedDotBlueDot be a place where readers can learn from our mistakes and benefit from our experiences. So a more detailed answer to this question is in order . . . .
Read MoreWe ‘ve taken many food tours over the years, usually through Culinary Backstreets, which works with local guides to offer tours in cities all over the world. They don’t offer one in Seoul, so I decided to see if I could find one that might be comparable, since it’s fair to say that none of us were experts in Korean food beforehand.
Read MoreWhen we were deciding where to go in Asia, Japan was our number one choice. As we booked our tickets on Korean Airlines (using Ultimate Rewards points!) , we discovered that we could add a free stopover in Seoul, South Korea. While we didn’t want to cut short our time in Japan, ultimately the prospect of being able to visit the DMZ and see another city weighed out, and we found ourselves (the two of us and Keith’s mom, Betty) arriving in Seoul at 4:00 a.m. one humid morning in July.
Read MoreRed Dot Blue Dot readers who signed up for our email list had the opportunity to choose our next destination around the world. The readers chose Odessa, Ukraine, so that is where we are headed. Gotta get there, so here is the story.
Read MoreOdessa, here we come!
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