If you ever find yourself digging in your luggage or purse for your passport, credit cards, cell phone, or airline tickets, you may be in need of a few PortaPocket travel accessories. If you find yourself hiding money, credit cards, or tampons in your socks, bras, or shoes, you definitely need to check out PortaPocket! These nifty accessories are designed to store all your small personal belongings and keep them safe while you travel, exercise, dance, or just wander around a shopping mall. PortaPocket accessories are unique from other travel safety products in that they consist of several interchangeable pockets and straps so that you can place almost anything on any part of your body. So if you are looking to strap your passport to your waist, smartphone to your bicep, or your lipstick to your thigh, yeah you can make that happen! We were so excited to have the… Read the rest
Archives for February 2014
Segway Tour in San Francisco: Our First Segway Tour Experience
Ethan and I took advantage of the recent holiday and spent the day off work doing a Segway tour in San Francisco. Segways are those 2-wheeled battery-powered contraptions where riders stand up and navigate through body positioning and a handlebar and you’ve likely seen them being used by mall cops, police officers, park officials, theme park visitors, or other people who need to cover long distances. This was our first time taking a Segway tour and we thought that Golden Gate Park might be the perfect place given its vast size. Golden Gate Park is actually 20% larger than New York City’s Central Park, consisting of over 1,017 acres of land. We had recently walked across the park in search of the American bison on the west end and it was a long trek from the east to west side on foot, so we figured we could cover a lot… Read the rest
Canal Cruises in Paris: A Boat Ride on the Canal Saint Martin
On our last visit to Paris we took a boat cruise on the Canal Saint Martin. While a good percentage of Paris visitors take a boat cruise on the famous Seine River, very few venture onto Paris’ canals. In fact, I think most people don’t happen to know that Paris has canals, let alone that there is over 80 miles of canals that form the Paris canal network, which also includes the interconnected Canal de L ‘Ourcq and Canal Saint-Denis. This canal network was commissioned by Napoleon I in the early 1800’s to provide Parisians with clean drinking water and provide an alternative waterway for industrial boat traffic other than the Seine. Today there is little industrial boat traffic on the Canal Saint Martin, but the city has recently invested millions of euros in developing the areas around the canal to allow for boat cruises, biking, and scenic walkways. If… Read the rest
The Ruth Bancroft Garden: An Amazing Garden of Water-Conserving Plants
The Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, California is a nationally recognized public dry garden that contains a variety of rare and extraordinary cacti, succulents, trees, and shrubs from around the world. The 2.5 acre garden is unusual in that it focuses almost entirely on water-conserving and drought-resistant plants and was the first garden in the United States to be preserved by The Garden Conservancy. As water conservation becomes increasingly more important (e.g., California is facing the worse drought in recorded history), this non-profit garden hopes to not only preserve its current collection but to serve as a model for similar gardens. Ethan and I were invited as local travel writers to do the Valentine’s Day themed “Lover’s Day Aloe Tour” at the garden. We were not really sure what to expect as a collection of “drought-resistant” plants doesn’t really fit with our stereotypical image of a pretty flower garden…. Read the rest
Travel Blogging: Six Steps to Branding a Travel Blog
Today I want to talk about the issue of branding a travel blog as I think it is an important concept that can help bloggers focus their content and increase their readership. First things first, what does branding a blog mean? Many people think of branding as applying only to cattle and commercial products; however, the concept of branding can be very important to bloggers. Here are a couple of definitions of brand from dictionary.com: “a particular product or a characteristic that serves to identify a particular product” and “kind, grade, or make, as indicated by a stamp, trademark, or the like”. Essentially, I think branding, as it applies to blogs, comes down to two main things: 1) The core message, values, and goals conveyed by your blog 2) The visual “stamp”, design, and logo of your blog While you may not be trying to make money from your blog… Read the rest
Paris Museum Pass Guide: Tips for Buying & Using the Pass
If you are planning a trip to Paris and want to spend some time admiring great artwork and visiting grand monuments, you’ll likely save money and time by purchasing a Paris Museum Pass. The Paris Museum Pass not only allows for free admission to a number of the top-visited attractions in Paris (i.e., Louvre, Orsay Museum, Arc de Triomphe, Versailles), but it also allows you to skip the long entrance lines at many of these attractions. However, in some cases, the Paris Museum Pass may not be a good deal for you, especially if this is not your first visit to Paris or you have only a day or two in the city. We’ll help provide all the information you need to know to decide if the Paris Museum Pass is a good deal for you, decide on which pass to buy, and how to get the most value out… Read the rest