I made it into Los Angeles last night, and the difference in weather was quite welcome. It’s amazing what feels warm to you when you are coming from -26 temperatures.
Nick lives in Santa Barbara, which is roughly two hours North of Los Angeles. If you are able to time your drive to miss the Los Angeles traffic it is actually a fairly easy drive.
Seeing as though the temperatures in Milwaukee this week could not be more frigid (with the estimated low temperature tonight to be -56 degrees below zero with wind chill), my trip to see my brother Nick in Santa Barbara could not have come at a better time.
It is human nature to want to find the best deal possible. When making significant purchases, as is typical when doing a significant amount of traveling, it is wired within most of us to want to search out the best deal possible. After all, the more that we can save the more we are able to travel. Most of us are also extremely trusting when we travel. You have to put yourself out there and put your trust in other people to a certain extent when you travel someplace you are unfamiliar with. For this reason, most of us like to think the best of the people we meet and interact with when we travel.
If you have done any international traveling, you are probably familiar enough with the customs and immigration process and you are no stranger to the long lines that often accompany that process. I don’t think anyone in this world enjoys having to go thru the tedious customs and immigration process after having just gotten off of a long haul flight, but most travelers also understand the importance of such security measures.
If you were secretly hoping that the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Transportation and Security Administration (TSA) would come up with a more convenient and streamlined process to move people thru the customs and immigration process, then I have some really great news for you. They have been working very hard to do just that, and some very big changes are just around the corner.
Other than actually taking the trips, there are few things I enjoy more than planning travel adventures. In case you haven’t read my article on our travel plans for this year, we have decided to visit Australia and New Zealand. Both of these countries have long been on our bucket list and I am very excited to finally have the chance to visit them.
As I did when I planned our trip to Machu Picchu and the Galápagos Islands last year, I am going to share with you my trip planning process. By sharing the process by which I go about planning trips, I hope to give you some ideas on how you can save more money traveling and make your trip planning process a bit easier.
In this fourth part of my Epic National Parks Road Trips series, I am going to walk you thru a road trip itinerary that takes you thru some of America’s most stunning national parklands. The Pacific Northwest is renown for its wildness and its beauty and the national parks that are found in the Pacific Northwest of the United States are no different. They are wild and they are beautiful.
In this third installment of my Epic National Parks Road Trips series, I will be talking to you about an itinerary that takes you thru some of the most remarkable desert mountains and caves in the Southern United States. As you make your way thru the states of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, you will see one of the largest cave systems in the world, one of the biggest cactus species in the world, and beautiful mountains and rivers that have shaped the American Southwest.
The next epic road trip in my five-part series is an amazing trip thru the American Southwest. The Southwest is one of the most unique and beautiful areas of the United States, and undoubtedly my favorite part of the country. With breathtaking canyons, beautiful forests, and stunning desert landscapes, the canyon region of Southern Utah and Northern Arizona is an absolute must-see for any outdoor enthusiast. In this epic road trip, you will get to see the best that this region of the United States has to offer.
The first epic national parks road trip in my series covers some of the most well-known and popular national parks and monuments in the United States. After flying into Rapid City, South Dakota and renting a car, you will start exploring almost immediately. With the Badlands National Park and Mount Rushmore in the Rapid City area, you will get your first taste of America’s national parks and monuments right at the start.
There are few things in this world that are as inspiring and motivating as travel. Getting outside of your comfort zone and exploring different landscapes and cultures can be a truly amazing growth experience. Having gotten to personally experience different parts of this world, I feel like I have a far deeper appreciation for this planet and the different cultures and customs of the people who inhabit it. I have been bitten by the travel bug, and now all I want to do is explore the rest of the world. Here are some of the places I am most anxious to see.