Adios, Ciao & Sayonara 2012!

2012 was a wonderful year over here at Journey Paradise.  For starters, this is the year we got the guts to establish the blog and related Facebook page.  Of course, we haven't been stellar in keeping it well up-to-date...but we will work on that in 2013 (ahh, gotta love new year resolutions!!).

As for 2012, we survived the "end of the world" countless times and lived to tell about it...and we got to travel to some amazing places.  Actually, 2012 was probably the most active year to-date for our travel adventures.  

10 trips - 18 cities - 6 countries

Not bad!  Only 3 months of the year were exclusively without travel.  We saw amazing places, ate delicious food, met interesting people and really enjoyed our journey.

One of the resolutions for 2013 is to blog more often to document our previous trips.  As of now, we only have one trip planned for 2013 (of course more are being discussed!), so it is about time for us to take pen to paper  start typing on the keyboard and posting blogs of our adventures, travel tips, budget tips, and answer any questions our readers may have.

We wish you a SAFE, PEACEFUL, HEALTHY, LOVING, HAPPY and PROSPEROUS New Year!

Please check-in throughout 2013 and leave your comments.  While it is a goal to blog more, we also want this to serve as a useful blog that people enjoy reading, so your comments are appreciated.

Enjoy,

-JP

Movies Amongst The Stars

Most people have heard of "movies under the stars," where local parks host movie night during the summer months.  But, this post is about movies amongst the stars AKA in-flight movies!

So, let's talk about in-flight entertainment.  Personally, the most entertaining flight I took was a Virgin Atlantic flight from Newark, NJ to Heathrow (London, UK) circa 2006.  Each seat had its own tv, which of course had music, television shows and movies on demand (the usual), but it also had text messaging between seats and video games!  I barely got any sleep on that transatlantic flight!

I am a fan of in-flight entertainment, and more often than not I will check out the airlines website a few days before the trip to see what will be playing.  

Do you look forward to the in-flight entertainment?  Do you prepare in advance (packing headphones, looking online for the offerings)?

What is your favorite airline for in-flight entertainment and why?  

Documenting travel memories

Recently a friend contacted me to get the inside scoop for her upcoming trip to Sicily.  She is headed to the beautiful Italian island in a few months, and she was hoping to get travel tips and "must do's" from us since we traveled there a few years ago (2008).  Thankfully, Sicily was the sole trip that we made a DVD after the fact.  The DVD was set in chronological orders, where each day/destination had its own chapter.  The DVD included pictures and some video clips we were able to capture.  Watching the DVD really helps us to remember where we went, what we saw, and the basic order of the itinerary.  The plan is for her to come and watch the DVD and we can discuss her planned itinerary.

I know for sure that if we did not make this DVD, I would be scrambling to put together pieces of our journey by going through email accounts, looking at photos, and probably some internet research (again!).  

One of the main reasons that we never made a DVD again was because it actually takes time and thought to go through it and make the video/slide show look "perfect."  This includes finding the perfect music to go with the slideshow.  We actually started to make a DVD from a vacation in 2010....but it is still not done...

It's quite sad that with the advent of digital photography, I have been more and more lackadaisical about documenting my journeys (before this blog, of course!).  Previously, I developed photos (back in the 35mm days) and made scrapbooks and even jotted down notes in the margins so I could remember certain key points.  But with digital photography, there is no place to really jot these extra notes down that make some of the pictures so special.

(image from: http://www.richardsartsandcrafts.com/SCRAPBOOK.html)

It is my goal with this blog to better document our journeys.  Maybe I will even be so bold as to pledge to write some key items from previous journeys (Sicily anyone?)

What do you save from your trip? How do you compile your memories?

The Travel Health (and emergency) Kit

I recently came across this posting on the CDC website, and it made me think "do most people carry a health kit?" and "what do you pack?"

I think the CDC did a great job outlining some of the necessities that one should pack when traveling from daily needs (like necessary medicines, duh!) to more mundane things we may take for granted (like Tylenol). If your medicine cabinet is filled for at-home needs, it does make sense to pack a few staples for any destination away from home too.  After all, why buy it (or look for it in a foreign land) when you have plenty at home.  Plus, most of these items have an expiration date, so if you don't use it when you need it (even if that time is when you are on vacation) you will likely have to toss it at some point in the future.

Adapting the CDC list, I have created a Journey Paradise Travel Health Kit that I plan on taking on all of our future journeys (the items marked with an asterisk (*) are for journeys longer than 1 week in length and/or outside of the USA)

1. Advil
2. Sinus/Allergy + Decongestant 
3. Allergy (antihistamine) medicine*
4. Pepto-Bismol*
5. Antibiotics*
6. Epi-pen* (yes, I got a prescription for one, because you never know...but this is reserved for longer journeys to foreign lands)
7. Cough drops
8. Vitamins
9. Band-Aids
10. Ace bandage/splint*
11. Saline drops
12. Tissues
13. Sunscreen
14. Aloe gel/moisturizer
15. Bug spray
16. Tweezers
17. Nail clipper
18. Q-tips
19. Antibacterial cream
20. Icy Hot (I love this product!)
21. 1% hydrocortisone cream*
22. Antibacterial hand cleaner

What else am I missing?  What should be added to this list?

Looking forward to seeing your comments!
-JP

Time travel - destination 1970s!

Do you ever visit a place or experience something and it instantly transports your mind to a far away time?  Perhaps visiting your grandparents house is a good example, with furniture, rugs, and tchotchkes reminiscent of the early 1900s? ;-)

Well, for those of us on the east coast of USA that were affected by Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy last month, our trips to fill up the gas tank have certainly resembled the 1970.  The difference (aside from the price per gallon!!) is the reason why...the oil embargo in the '70s causes a gas crisis and a limited supply, but in 2012 the reason has to do with limited electricity (the storm caused major power outages across the coast) and an old distribution network (so when the main refinery was affected by Sandy, many areas far away suffered).  However, the pictures look very similar.

In fact, areas of NJ and NY (including all of NYC and Long Island) enacted odd/even days for rationing gas to, hopefully, decrease the lines to the pump. I have witnessed lines to the pump at least two miles long!  And, I've heard stories about people waiting close to 9 hours for gas. Crazy!  If you don't believe me, you can check YouTube - or read this article which has compiled a few YouTube videos.  

I certainly do hope this problem is fixed soon (and we eventually become less reliant on fossil fuels!!), so we can return to the current decade :-)

Stay well,

JP

What are the best US destinations?...Look no further!

Have a few days off from work and looking for a vacation in the good ol' US of A, but don't know where to go....well look no further!

Travel + Leisure recently posted their take on "America's Best Cities."  And while these may be great cities to live in, they are certainly great cities to visit as well.

I must admit that I am sometimes hesitant when I see a list compiled, and I wonder "what was their criteria?", "who were the reviewers?", and most importantly "do they share my point of view?"  Well, I was pleasantly surprised to see the list that the folks at T+L came up with.  As I flipped through their pages of the top cities, I was happy to see that some of my favorite US destinations were on their as well.

In fact, so far I have visited 11 of the 21 offered on the list.  Some of the destinations that I've recommended on countless vacations to friends looking for a nice 3-5 day vacation sans passport include: San Antonio (I even took my mother here!), Chicago, Nashville, Miami, and Seattle (and if, by chance, you did remember to pack your passport, do make an effort to head to Vancouver, Canada!).  [As a side note, the cover photo on Journey Paradise's Facebook page was taken on the Amtrak headed south from Vancouver to Seattle during sunset!]

Reading through their reviews really made me think that they "get it" (although I might re-arrange the order a bit...and add a few of my own).  But overall, I think it is a great list to start with....I actually think I will be referencing this list in the future when I am looking for a quick vacation to satisfy the inner travel bug.

Do you agree/disagree with the cities listed? Which one is your favorite? Which ones do you think should be added?

-JP

The value of a dollar

Nope, I am not talking about McDonald's Dollar Menu.  Although, I do realize the chain-food guarantee of consistent food is attractive to some, I would rather explore and indulge in local food.

But, wait, this post wasn't supposed to be about food at all!  How quickly my mind wanders (mmm, foood, mmm)....

The post was intended to be about the value of home currency when abroad.  Don't you love it when your home currency (in my case, the US Dollar) gets you more "bang for your buck" when traveling to countries that have a lower currency.  And, unfortunately, the opposite is true.

Last time we traveled to Europe, the exchange rate was NOT in our favor.  Resulting in paying closer attention to what we were buying and how much it was actually costing us (ouch!).

However, our next trip is to a destination where the USD counts!  In fact, from the time we booked the trip a few months ago, the currency rate has changed in our favor.  I just recalculated our trip expenses, and so far we are coming in under budget! Whoohoo!  I hope this trend continues, at least until we get back!

Having your dollar worth more is like winning the lotto. Score!