Transportation

When you're in a new place with a different language than your own, its important to know how to get around. Whether its by using the bus system, tube, metro or just by walking, always know where you are and how to get back to where you are staying. Walking is usually what I like to do that way you get to see all of where you are visiting but it can get exhausting, especially if you're in a big city like London. What's nice about the subway system is that it gets you where you need to go in nearly half the time, the only bad thing is they tend to get very crowded and HOT! You don't realize how bad it is until you have to sit on the subway for nine stops in tiny seats with people beside you and standing up in front of you. Too close for comfort sometimes but thats what major cities are all about. The subway and bus systems are usually pretty decent in pricing as well, it just depends on the conversion rate for what country you are in. Last year when I was in London the conversion rate was extremely high. If you had $5 it converted to 2.44 GBP so essentially you're spending double the money. On an average day over there you will spend 6.50 GBP so it comes out to around $13 a day in transportation alone, and thats including using the buses as well. Thats why I always advise fellow travelers to walk when they can. That way you are able to explore more and saving money at the time!  

Favorite Place to Visit

If you ask any traveler they all have that one place they love to go back to, or even make it their home. For me, it was Ireland. From the moment I looked out the airplane window and saw those emerald mountains stretching as far as the eye could see, I knew from that point there would be no place I'd love more. Don't get me wrong, I still love visiting new countries but every trip I go on from now on I will stop back in Ireland for a few days just to soak it all in again. People always ask me why its my favorite and I always tell them the same thing, the music is amazing, the people are super friendly, scenery is spectacular, and the pub food is to die for! Every time I go back (I've been 3 times now) I see and do something new. The first time I went my whole family was there because we took the trip for my grandmothers 70th birthday. On that trip we rented cars and stayed in Southern Ireland in a place called Durrus Bay. It was this lovely house on the bay that the most beautiful living room with a huge window that overlooked the farm and bay. We were there for ten days and drove all around southern Ireland and stopped in many different towns such as, Queenstown, Kinsale, Kilkenny, and Cork just to name a few. We saw so many sheep, drank countless pints in many different pubs and met some very interesting people along the way. The next two times that I was in Ireland I went by myself. I stayed in Dublin this year and Galway last year. When I wanted to get out of the city feel I just took bus tours out to see the countryside because that is clearly the best part of Ireland. Last year I took an amazing bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher and if you've never seen pictures you should really look it up! Or you could go see it for yourself :)! The view is breathtaking, something you will never forget. There are posts saying not to walk past certain points because they are not responsible for what happens to you beyond that, but of course I passed it because thats where you get the best pictures! It did get a little nerve racking at first but once you got past the cliffside and onto a walk path you were okay, just don't get too close to the ledges because the are known to break off randomly. There's so many more things I could tell you about Ireland but I will leave you here for now, hopefully one day you get the chance to go and visit for yourself!

Glendalough, County Wicklow

The next most important thing when traveling is trying to find where to stay. Most people don't want to spend the ridiculous amount that hotel cost, especially if you're going to be staying for a few days. Instead I encourage people to use hostel world.com or couchsurfing.com. I know that everyone thinks hostel are going to be just like the movie but nobody is going to pull your eyes out or sew you up to your best friend. There are many different rooms you can stay in, all girls rooms, all boys rooms, coed, and private rooms and bathrooms. Most hostels will have you share a bathroom with the other people that are in your room and its honestly not too bad. For the price of hostels, you cant really expect the five star accomodations that a hotel would have anyway. You will spend around 15 euros a night compared to 150 euros at a hotel. Couch surfing is a new website that allows you to stay on someones couch free of charge. I know I know it sounds a little iffy but there is a whole certification process people have to go through to be hosts and to be able to stay in someones house. Most of the time you get really nice people that are just interested in learning about where you're from and are excited to show you around their hometown! Other times you're get people that will barely talk to you and that makes it a bit awkward since you're staying at their house free of charge. All I ever tell people is to make sure they do their research, you can never go wrong if you do your research!   

How to Find The Cheapest Flights

Hello everyone! These days there seems to be more and more people traveling abroad, and the one question they get asked the most, along with myself is how do you afford it? Most people think that if you want to travel it will end up costing you and arm and a leg. I'm here to tell you that it won't, that is depending on which countries you want to go to along with the amount of time you chose to stay.

First up is airfare and let me tell you, there are so many different sites out there nowadays that will find you amazing prices, all you have to do is take the time to look through them. Some of the best sites that I've found are cheapoair.com, skiplagged.com, ryanair.com, as well as expedia.com and those are just to name a few! I've also found that the best days to fly on are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. Im not exactly sure why but those are the days I would advise you to plan your flights around. When you start to search for flights the best thing to do is find the cheapest roundtrip ticket from one of the countries you chose and make that your main flight. Then from there all you need to do is buy one way tickets to all the places you wish to go. For example on my summer trip for 2015 I bout a RT ticket from VPS airport in Niceville, Fl to DUB which is Dublin's international airport. The ticket cost was $404 using cheaper.com! Most of the other countries I looked up were around $800 but there are certain places where they can up to as high as $2000 for a RT ticket. Then from Ireland I planned to go to Belgium, Norway, The Netherlands, France and England. So after I bought my RT ticket to Ireland I looked up one way tickets to Belgium and found a flight for $49. I kept doing this for each country I was going to and the prices for each ticket were in between $35-$89. Compared to what you pay in the United States to go from state to state (around $400) those prices are dirt cheap! Just at the end of your trip make sure you get back to the place you bought your RT ticket from and give yourself plenty of time to check your bags back in and get through security. If you don't it can get very messy, TRUST ME. One other thing that I will warn you about is to make sure you know what the bag requirements are for each airline you fly with. You don't want to go check your bags in and come to find out you have to pay an extra $100 for each bag when thats more than you paid for the flight. 

Next week I'll share some helpful tips on how to find cheap places to stay, see ya then!