2012 Itinerary In the Works

As we slowly crawl out of our winter caverns as spring nears, I am formulating my itinerary for the 2012 travel season. I’m very excited about this year, it may even surpass last year’s wonderful experiences. Here’s what I have tentatively planned for 2012:

March:
Alexander Hamilton National Historic Site, Manhattan
Metropolitan Museum of Art/The Cloisters, Manhattan

April:

May:
Fort Stanwix National Historic Site, Rome
DeadApple Tours, Manhattan
Other touristy things in Manhattan

June:
Philip Schulyer House, Albany, NY
New York State Library and Museum, Albany, NY

July:
Erie Canal Boat Museum, Chittenango, NY

August:
Lake Placid Olympic Center, Adirondacks
Whiteface Mountain, Adirondacks

September:

October:
Plymouth, Massachusetts

November:
Lake George, NY
Trip to Vermont?

As you can see, the itinerary needs some fleshing out. Two trips per month is enough for the spring and late autumn months, but I’d like to have a few more activities for July, August, September, and October. If you would like us to visit a certain place, feel free to use my contact form for suggestions. I’d love to hear from you!

Travel Insurance – Why? Where?

The first time I ever heard of travel insurance was when I was 14 years old. I was going to Florida for two weeks with a friend, and my grandmother made sure I was well-equipped: a nice suitcase, traveler’s checks, and travel insurance. It was a tiny policy, enough coverage for a 14-year old. It covered medical emergencies and theft or loss of my traveler’s checks. Thankfully, I never had to make a claim, but I’m sure my grandmother slept better the two weeks I was away.

Travel insurance is best on extended trips, cruises, and trips far away from home. I personally would never travel abroad without travel insurance. Most insurance policies basically cover any medical expenses, theft of your property, loss of baggage and etc. Some policies are more specialized, such as car rental collision coverage, overseas funeral costs, return of a minor child, kidnapping and ransom, and other risks. I highly recommend travel insurance for global travel, especially coverage for medical and dental. I have heard a few horror stories of folks traveling out of the country only to encounter foreign medical doctors and outrageous prices. Travel insurance is usually inexpensive unless you are traveling to a risky location or participating in a risky event (such as skydiving over the Alps!). Still, it does pay to shop around. Why pay more than you have to? Such is cheaptravelinsurance.com. This UK-based company offers travelers an incredible array of insurance policies, all geared toward your specific travel experience. Going on a cruise? Check out CheapTravelInsurance’s special cruise insurance policy. Are you a family traveling abroad? There are very affordable policies for families, too. There are other policies, too– the Backpacker, the Annual-Multi-Trip, The Over 65′s, the Ski and Snowboarding! Single trip insurance is an incredibly low £5.35! And online orders get 10% discount.

Check out the prices. I think you’ll be astonished at how inexpensive the travel insurance is. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain!

Home Away From Home

The kids and I have been watching some outstanding movie and documentaries lately. In particular, we have been impressed with Travel the Road, a television series that ran on TBN and is available as DVDs now. It follows two, and then three, young men who decide to sell everything they have in the States, and travel around the world to dozens of countries to spread the Christian gospel. The men travel mostly to Third World countries but I think they do travel through some swanky European areas and maybe some exotic place like st tropez. They know no other language but English, and their journey is full of deprivation, harrowing experiences, joy and hardship. And lots and lots of passion. It’s really wonderful to watch them on their travels. It’s a learning experience.

When I was a young person, I wanted to do just that– travel the road, be a missionary. I never did become a “real” missionary, but I am more an “armchair” missionary and “backyard” traveler. I decided to start up this blog to keep a journal of all our homegrown travels. I could never be much of a world traveler, but I could still travel, even if I did travel only in New York State. Who knows, I still may travel the world. The most difficult part, I imagine, is finding accommodations. In your own country, you can rely on familiar brands… but how on earth do you go about finding, for example, reputable villas in France? How can you tell by saint topez pictures online that what you see is what you get?

This, I believe, is the beauty behind rental property providers. I have discovered quite a few myself, so should we decide to leave our native boundaries, I have an arsenal of reputable and reliable companies that can offer us good information and deals on lodging, food, and sightseeing. See– I’m all ready to go. I simply lack opportunity (and finances!).

If you own a home and would like to rent it to considerate travelers such as me you can also list your home for rent. I think that’s a great idea– renting your own home, earning a little money from it to enable you to travel further. I’d love to do that!

Anyway, rental properties are the creme de la creme when it comes to holiday accommodation. Make sure you make your plans with a reliable company that has a history of providing outstanding service and listings.

Super Deals on Glasses

We’re gearing up for a new travel season! We are all pretty excited since last year was so sparse. But I have no plans to do any major renovations this year (Lord willing). So we have hopes of being out and about frequently this year.

I’m trying very hard to get all the necessaries done before summer, so that we can relax. One of them is eye exams. Three of the four kids wear glasses, and looks like they’ll all need new ones this year. *sigh* We don’t have insurance, so you can imagine how expensive eyeglasses can be for us. BUT I am going to try Zenni Optical prescription eye glasses for them this year. If you haven’t heard about Zenni Optical yet– where have you been?? LOL. Zenni has been hot news for a while. Clark Howard mentioned them, and they were featured on various news shows. Zenni Optical sells eyeglasses for a tiny fraction of the cost of retail glasses. Honestly, I don’t see how people can afford those super-expensive retail eyeglasses. Zenni Optical offers really nice frames and exceptional customer service. I saw these classy red frames and fell in love. I have this *thing* for red glasses.

Zenni Optical eliminates the expensive middle man. You go to their website, browse through the frames (many of them are discounted as low as $6!), and fill in the prescription for lenses. Zenni has an entire help page to assist you with the forms and how to get your prescription. Thank God I have an optician who is a nice guy and will give me the prescription information without a hassle.

If you need some nice eyeglasses, definitely give Zenni a try. The website is very user-friendly and the prices are too irresistible.

Time Travel

Remember that White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland? The darn rabbit– he was always running late. You know why he was late all the time? Because he always had to extract a cumbersome pocket watch from his tiny vest pocket! What that rabbit needed was a Bulova marine star watch, planted right on his wrist!

Seriously- I’m a “clock” person. I’ve always appreciated punctuality and have tried to be extremely punctual myself. When we travel, especially when it is a time-sensitive appointment, it leaves a very bad impression if we are late. I have unfortunately been late to a few events, and we’ve missed out on re-enactments and other things. I can’t tell you how disappointing that is! So I try my best, now, to be on time!

I like my children to be punctual, too. I used to buy them cheapo watches from the Big Box grocery stores, but I grew tired of replacing them every few months. :-p Now that my sons are older, they deserve really nice watches. The best brand is Bulova. My son especially likes this one. VERY classy, don’t you think? It’s heirloom-quality but not heirloom-priced. The Bulova watches are very reasonable. For a budding young person, these watches make spectacular graduation and birthday gifts. The ladies watches are exquisite, perfect as a holiday gift or just as a way to remind her of how special she is. And the nice thing is that such high-quality watches will last a lifetime. And the better thing is that they are not terribly expensive! WristZoneWatches.com always seems to have sales, and they offer free shipping, too. They offer warranties on their products and are dedicated to superior customer service.

So if you’re looking for a super special gift, or just need a new timepiece to get to the opera or museum on time, definitely check out the selection at WristZoneWatches.com. The selection is stunning!

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