Going to Rome after living in Florence for a few months, I was blow away by the size and “speed” of Rome. In Florence during the low season for tourists, I became used to having the famous sites virtually to myself with the locals, to slowly explore the coves and niches of the cathedral and sip coffee all afternoon at a street side café.

Rome was more of a bustling city than Florence. Without a ban on motos in the city center, Rome was noisier, busier and more exciting than Florence. It had an energy about it that ran through my blood and I felt exhilarated by the action of Rome.

At night, after a long day of visiting the sites, brushing off Roman men who offered us rides on their moto or a night on the town, we revisited the Trevi fountain at night. Famous as a wishing well, we turned out backs to the fountain and tossed in a Euro. Legend has it that any visitor who does so will return to Rome… one day perhaps.

IF YOU GO: Rome is delightfully busy. Enjoy the action, but don’t forget to pause in the moment for a quick café or cappuccino. If you go for more than a few nights to Rome, apartments for rent may be an economical enjoyable option!

Photo Credit: Photo from flickr user ScubaBeer via creative commons licensing.

Travel can be frustrating. It leaves you wanting more no matter how much you’ve already had.  It gets in your head and under your skin to an almost obsessive point. When the travel bug starts a-biting it’s easy to feel like time not spent traveling is wasted time.

But with a slight change of attitude your downtime between trips can become almost exciting as traveling itself.   All you need to do is tap into the delicious anticipation of your next trip.  Where do you want to go?  When do you want to go?  How will you make it happen? Like any great event, the preparation can be half the fun.  Remember how much you enjoyed getting ready for Prom with your girlfriends or tailgating with your buddies before the big game?  This is your travel tailgate.

So how do you transform your lack-of-travel frustration into giddy anticipation?  Here are a few tips.

Throw a Pre-Travel Party

Who cares if your tickets aren’t quite booked yet?  Travel planning is the perfect excuse to get friends together and have some fun.  Make it a beach themed party if you’re hoping to soon jet off to the white sands of the Maldives, or a snow bunny party if you’re dreaming of visiting the Alps.  Serve up Margaritas at your Mexican themed party or vodka as you dream of faraway Russia.  Get yourself – and your friends – in the mood for travel with music, decorations and optional costumes that represent your next travel destination.

Set Reasonable and Measurable Travel Goals

Keep the travel planning process fun, not frustrating.  Set goals to save X amount of money in X amount of time, or to research the best places to stay by the end of the month – but make sure your goals are attainable.  Then treat yourself each time you reach one.  Managed to save $10?  Sounds like it’s time to reward yourself with by surfing a few travel sites and printing out some inspirational pictures of your destination of choice.

Push Yourself

Use your next trip to motivate yourself to do and learn new things.  Imagine yourself on the beaches of Costa Rica as you force yourself out of bed for that early morning run.  Envision yourself swirling through the streets of Buenos Aires as you finally get the guts to sign up for tango lessons.  Learn to kite surf, do origami or speak a little German before you leave to help make your trip all the more memorable.  You’ll be glad you did – and you’ll have a whole new reason to feel proud of yourself.

Enjoy the Cliché

Hoping to visit Beijing before the year is up?  Take yourself out for some Chinese food to daydream in style.  Looking to head to Cuba soon?  Spend next Friday salsa dancing the night away at the club in town.  Do the corny, cliché and fun things that get you excited to see a new part of the world.  Test out Ethiopian food at the local restaurant before jaunting off to Africa.  Watch cheesy romantic movies set in Paris before packing your beret and heading to France.

Your time between trips is an opportunity to dream, plan and enjoy the anticipation.  So go on, get excited and start that travel planning for your next adventure!

We’re nature lovers at heart, and so despite also loving the action of a city, after a few days in Hanoi, we needed to get out.  We headed straight to Ninh Bihn, a couple hours south, we where we went to visit the Tam-Coc caves.  The caves aren’t really anything spectacular – rather the spectacle is the rowing itself.  The locals row the boats with their feet, which if you think about it, makes a whole lot more sense than rowing with your hands- your legs are a much larger and stronger muscle group.

The ride was tranquil, but as we turned the bend we saw this man fishing.  The perfect portrait of rural life along the river, we couldn’t help but snap his photo as he threw out his long wooden fishing rod.   Every few minutes he lifted the rod out of the water only to toss it back.  Catfish our row boat captain told us.

The man didn’t catch anything while we were insight of him, but then again fishing is rarely about the actual fish- it’s more about the act of fishing.

IF YOU GO: From Hanoi, it’s easy to take a 2-3 hour bus ride to Ninh-Bihn from the southern bus station. They leave regularly, but check the price from your hotel before you go as overcharging is common.  You can also rent a car and driver for the day if you’re looking to do a round trip, which may make it easier to fit everything in.  We spent in the night in Ninh-Bihn and rented bikes to go to the boats and caves for the day.  Get there early – and bring a hat, there’s no shade on the boat. Check out our other posts about traveling in Vietnam.

Photo Credit:  Photo from flickr user dtobias via creative commons licensing.

It was sitting in the park below Sacre Coeur Basilica late in the afternoon that I realized I could actually speak French.  After six years of language study, I went to France in high school as part of a school trip.  There in the park, I watched a little girl trying to play with the other children.  In tears when they wouldn’t let her into their game, she ran to her father crying out in French that they would not play with her.  My heart went out to her and I gasped.  Without a laborious translation in my head, I had understood what she had said- I could speak French!

From that moment on, the neighborhood of Monmartre and the Basilica of Sacre Coeur would always have a soft place in my heart.  I loved wandering the neighborhood, although built along a steep hill, and stopping in to see the various 19th century cabarets, artist’s homes and experience its bohemian past.

IF YOU GO: Monmartre and the neighborhood at the bottom of the hill, Pigalle are popular with tourists. The city views from the plaza outside Sacre Coeur are incredible, but be careful walking down the stairs!  If you’re looking for a longer-term stay in Paris, check out apartments in Paris available to rent here.

Photo Credit: Thanks to flickr user alexbaranov for this photo, licensed through creative commons.

I came across this photo the other day and instantly thought it was something worth sharing here.  The photographer came across a stable of camels while walking and his wife put out her hand for the camel to say hello.  They had just come from Marrakech where her hand had been painted.

The amazing thing about this photo to me is that the photographer had the presence of mind to snap the photo of the hand like that.  Had it been me, I think I would have tried to capture the entire person and camel….or at least the face of the camel.  This photo captures the magic of the Berber village and is the sort of photo that instantly carries you to a place you’ve never been and makes me want to book a flight to Morocco right now!

IF YOU GO:  Morocco is a wonderful and magical place.  It is ethnically unique and yet still very accessible from the US and Europe.  I had the good fortune to travel their via ferry from Spain but to get to the Berbers it’s probably best to fly straight to Marrakesh or even Casablanca.  Once there you may find French to be your best tool to communicate, the dialect of Arabic spoke there is different so if it’s not your first language you’ll likely find things difficult.

Photo Credit: Flickr user DavidDennisPhotos.com via creative commons licensing.

If you’re anything like us, you dream about whitewater in the Grand Canyon, hiking through the Olympic rainforest and exploring Yellowstone.   We have a soft spot for U.S. National Parks- our first trips together were out to the Grand Canyon and Olympic National Park for some epic backcountry adventures and we regularly ran at Valley Forge National Park and the National Mall when we lived in the Northeast.  National Parks have featured so prominently in our lives- we were even engaged in the forest surrounding Shenandoah National Park!

The National Park service estimates that over 280 million people visit their parks every year.  Needless to say, most of those people visit between May and September, making it the busiest time of year. It is sufficient to say the most popular national parks are packed during the summer, in fact some parks have waiting lists to get campsites.  Seriously – a waiting list to camp!

Fortunately the same travel tips that apply to world travel apply to National Park travel – go off season (like right now) and avoid the busiest sites.  For example, instead of going to the popular South Rim of the Grand Canyon, go to the North Rim, enjoy the same view just with less people.  This week is National Park Week (April 21-29th), meaning every park, all 397 of them,  are FREE this week.  I hope we have the opportunity to check some of these parks out this weekend.  This may just be the time to visit Dry Tortugas!

Lonely Planet authors put together their top parks for April.  I can’t say I’ve been to most of these, how about you?

• Arches
• Big Bend
• Bryce Canyon
• Capitol Reef
• Death Valley
• Everglades
• Grand Canyon
• Great Smoky Mountains
• Joshua Tree
• Sequoia & Kings Canyon
• Shenandoah
• Yosemite
• Zion

Las Ramblas might be Barcelona’s most touristy street, packed with restaurants, shops, vendors, kiosks and street performers. The tree lined avenue runs from Plaza Catalyuna to the Christopher Columbus statue along the water.

When I arrived in Barcelona on a late night flight from Italy, I was surprised to see so many people in the streets at such a late (or early depending on your thinking) hour. The street cafe’s along Las Ramblas were packed with groups of friends enjoying the cool breeze and good company. We dove right in to a large order of tapas and spent a good few hours enjoying life along the pedestrian walk.

Of course the best part of a pedestrian only walk is the people watching. Although late night Barcelona is famous, you don’t have to stay out until 5am for good people watching. With such a large crowd and so many varied stores, it doesn’t take long to find someone or something of interest. Street performers juggle, act as statues and do stand up comedy along the walk as others busy themselves by doing their weekly market shopping. Throughout the world we loved going to these centers of commerce – outdoor market streets, indoor markets, tourist markets, anywhere that locals would congregate to meet, shop, and visit old friends we found ourselves at our happiest.

IF YOU GO: Barcelona is easily accessed from all over Europe and has become a favorite long weekend destination for those in Northern Europe looking for a bit of sun and fun. If you’re interested in enjoying the late night tapas bars and watering holes of Barcelona, which famously don’t get busy until an hour that most Northern European bars and restaurants are closing, look into Barcelona vacation rentals, so you don’t have to explain to the front door man of your hotel where you’re going at midnight!

Photo Credit: Flickr user Travelling_Artist via creative commons licensing.

The crumbling ruins of Scotland's former stronghold, Urquhart Castle

Driving around Scotland makes you feel like a house-hunting royal – there are castles everywhere. Some, like Urquhart Castle on the banks of Loch Ness, are in a state of disrepair. Others, like the Eilean Donan Castle, have been meticulously looked after and maintained to their former glory. I think I saw more castles in my first visit to Scotland than I did in all the Disney movies I’ve ever watched.

And I watched a lot of Disney movies.

Eilean Donan, Scotland's most-photographed castle.

The castles and scenery of Scotland make it an obvious choice for movie backdrops. Eilean Donan, in the western highlands, has been seen in Highlander, The World is Not Enough, and Made of Honor. (What? You didn’t see Made of Honor?) It’s also a popular spot for weddings, though I imagine you’d need to book well in advance.

Doune Castle has hosted celebrities such as Mary, Queen of Scots, and Monty Python.

Near the town of Stirling (which has a pretty impressive castle of its own) is Doune Castle. Despite playing host to a number of historical figures, this fortress is now perhaps best known for its role in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. More recently, it appeared in the TV show Game of Thrones.

IF YOU GO: The weather in Scotland isn’t too reliable, except for the possibility of cold and rain year-round. Don’t despair, as it only enhances the castle-viewing experience.  You’ll want somewhere warm to return to at the end of the night, so look into one of the lovely luxury hotels in Scotland. If sleeping in castles isn’t your thing, there are plenty of cozy hostels to choose from, too.

That infamous bucket list keeps growing as I cross things off. When I first heard about the Rocketman experience, through an online coupon site that shall not be named, my gut reaction was – awesome. Quickly the jet pack experience was added to our bucket list and just as quickly, the deal was purchased.

I have no doubt that I won’t look as cool or do as many tricks as they do in the video, but I’m still giddy with excitement! This Saturday we’re crossing the newest item off our bucket list, and we promise to share pictures and video with you next week.

So in honor of a bucket list cross-off, how do you add things to your bucket list? I’m thinking about starting a Pinterest board for bucket list items- share yours below if you have one!

Sunset on the Mediterranean.  A glass of wine in your hand and your sweetheart by your side.  It sounds like the start of a romantic movie.  Pan out and it’s obviously the start of a romantic comedy as the rest of the cast comes into view.  There’s the Italian group in teeny bathing suits, the Australians checking out girls on the other boat, and the Turkish captain trying to earn his keep.

Sure the cruise was crazy and comedic, but it was also peaceful, relaxing and with sunsets like these who could have a bad time?  I can count on one hand the number of ocean cruises I’ve been on in my lifetime.  Chalk that up to coming from a landlocked part of the country, so for me, spending a few hours let alone days on a boat is a blissful reminder of how truly magical the ocean can be.  I’ve seen many sunsets from around the world, but this one, with sailboats bobbing on the horizon and the spectacular display of orange and red has to count in my top five.

IF YOU GO: Turkish Blue Coast cruises leave from Fethiye or Olympos and go in both directions.  It’s worthwhile to ask around for company recommendations to make sure you’re getting the cruise experience that best suits your type of travel.