If you're a family like us, or you just want to travel with a little more luxury, is it still possible to afford to travel for months at a time? We show you that it is.
If you've got a burning desire to outdo everyone at your next family reunion, TripAdvisor's TripWow may just be the slideshow for you.
TripWow's free, and much more than your boring PowerPoint style slideshow. Admittedly, it's pretty over the top, but you can create a flashy mashup of your travel photos online in just a few minutes, complete with maps and music.
The process is pretty simple. Go to TripWow, and choose your slideshow theme, photos and music. You can use your own music, if you prefer, and grab your photos from your computer, Picasa or Flickr.
Once your slideshow is done, you have the option to share on Facebook, by email, Twitter or MySpace (really? MySpace?).
When Charles and I first started our travels, we lived the typical backpacker's lifestyle, staying in hostels and eating out every night. Now that we're a family of four on the road for months at a time, we find we need more space and privacy. As a family, we use vacation home rentals whenever we stay somewhere for more than a night or two. They're cheaper than hotels, and have a ton of space and amenities (and personality!) that hotels don't offer. We've rented vacation homes with gourmet kitchens, amazing swimming pools, and top quality linens at far less than half the cost of a hotel. During our side trip to Disney World, we decided to stay in Kissimmee, Florida. Kissimmee's a short 20 minute drive to the Disney World resort, and offers a big variety of homes for rent. We thought a Kissimmee vacation rental would give us some peace and quiet, but be close enough to Disney World to make it an easy drive. We splurged a bit for an awesome four bed, three bath townhouse in Kissimmee's Club Cortile with all the bells and whistles (pool, tennis courts, movie theatre, high speed internet) for $590 for six nights, including all taxes and cleaning fees.
I'm in love with shoulder season travel. I'm talking heart going pitter-patter, light-headed, happy just at the thought of it, in love.
Before I get ahead of myself, you're saying just answer the question, woman, why don't you: What is shoulder season?
Shoulder season is not off season or low season. Shoulder season falls between high season (Christmas and New Year in most of the world) and low or off season.
What are the best parts of traveling shoulder season?
- it's cheaper than high season, and you have better luck negotiating prices
- crowds are thinner
- prices are lower than high season
- attractions and restaurants are still open
- weather is usually good (though you usually run a higher risk of bad weather than high season)
- lots of daylight hours
- locals can be more relaxed and friendly, as the influx of tourists has eased
What's the best way to keep your credit cards, cash and passport safe when you travel? The default is usually a money belt or fanny pack that you wear around your waist, and can tuck away under your clothes. But there are much better options out there for keeping your stuff safe, like neck wallets. This review looks at money belts, neck wallets, leg and wrist wallets, belt wallets, bras and clothes with hidden pockets.