I have a bit of a guilty conscience about the traveling I do. I think about my carbon footprint growing each time I get on an airplane. Trips to protected national and state parks also weigh on my conscience, reminding me of how fragile these ecosystems are, as their protection comes for a reason. In the same way, time spent on incredible beaches not yet visibly polluted by mankind feels like a luxury, yet at the same time, a responsibility. On the other hand, I am grateful for improvements in transportation that not only help us but also help the environment, like the wonderful train system in Europe, where each train service has a way of reminding me how much more environmentally conscious train travel is in respect to other options.
Overwhelmingly, though, my travels give me a simple love for the world, which I am celebrating today on Earth Day along with many of my fellow bloggers. The diversity and scope of this earth is hard to even compute in a logical way, and I am grateful to have my camera lens to use as a way of sorting through and putting together all of the pieces of our wonderful world.
The first pieces of my discoveries are those moments in my travel adventures that have been so big that they’ve taken my breath away, such as the enormous mountain landscape in the Rocky Mountain National Park,
and these giant trees that seem to almost dwarf the Washington Memorial,
or me emerging from Piazza San Marco and taking in the Adriatic Sea in Venice,
the valley that I love that falls below Assisi, which must have been such an inspiration for St. Francis,
or just a simple bend of the road on Highway 101 south of Santa Barbara that opens a whole other world.
Along with the “wow” moments are the moments of serenity that have given me the time to reflect on just how amazing the world can be, like Ojai’s incredible “Pink Moment” that I’m lucky to witness every year at the Ojai Playwrights Conference,
or the island of Ponza’s incredible sea,
and the beautiful countryside in the center of Salzburg,
and the equally enjoyable countryside just outside of Ben Wheeler, Texas,
as well as at the Chiemsee lake in Germany,
and Lake Como, Italy,
and at home in El Centro, California.
Perhaps my favorite moments on Earth are the ones that just grab me and make me happy to be alive, almost as if I’ve stepped into a bit of heaven, like here on the Lincoln Highway in Pennsylvania,
and at these enchanting gardens outside of Castelfranco Veneto,
enjoying lunch with some of my favorite people in the hills of Bologna,
at the Mirabell Gardens in Salzburg,
taking in mountains and public art in Trento, Italy,
and the cherry blossoms blooming at Lake Como, Italy.
In addition to all of the glee and appreciation that I get from discovering all there is to appreciate about the world, there are also a lot of times when I am saddened by what I’m seeing happening to the earth. Luckily, I know I’m not alone in my frustration. These moments really overtake me when I’m visiting the big cities on the sea like Naples, where so much of the beauty is obscured by smog and buildings,
or when I’m reminded what’s happening under the sea,
or finding trash covered beaches in Puglia that makes me wonder what our American beaches would look like without the great volunteers and public money that keep them in better shape,
or finding big pieces of waste where you least expect them.
But my travels also show me what we are doing right. I am very respectful of the diligence that many Italians have with recycling all of their trash meticulously. Or the absolute attention that the Austrians give their environments, inside and out. And the hard work of architects to incorporate our necessary buildings into our beautiful environments. When it comes to architecture, I can think of no better example than Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater in Pennsylvania,
and in Siena, Italy, I experienced a similar harmony which was gorgeous, whether purposeful or not,
and not forgetting about the work of artists like this one on exhibit at Art Basel in Basel, Switzerland, who did such a great job of projecting our love and fascination with the creatures under the sea,
or these locals in Cesenatico, Italy, who created their own respect for the sea – the city’s economic livelihood – as a public art display for all to enjoy.
I hope that what has come through the lens of my camera has brought you a little bit of the emotion that these discoveries have brought to me…as well as a little reminder of what Earth Day means and the challenge in and importance of preserving these incredible places. Thanks for reading. 🙂
I love to travel solo or semi-solo and Google Maps is the best companion, as not only does he help me find my way, he always let’s me get my way. We’ve had a lot of adventures together, but we’ve had to work at our healthy relationship. I’ve had to share a lot with Google Maps and keep him updated – good relationships are a two-way street, after all. So in order to take advantage of all my Google Maps has to offer and execute my tips below, I’ve had to be logged-in to my Google Maps application on my smart phone so it remembers who I am. Once you’re signed-in, you can really discover the miracles of Google Maps. Here’s how it has made me a better traveler:
1. I can always find my way, with or without data, with Google Maps Offline Maps feature.
There is nothing more frustrating (and scary) than being exhausted after a long day as a tourist, trying to get back to your hotel, realizing you don’t know how to get back, and not having a data plan on your phone to feed your maps application to help guide you home. Usually I load my directions via WiFi at the restaurant where I eat dinner before I retire for the evening, but sometimes I forget and other times WiFi isn’t available. This is where Offline Maps is a lifesaver – it doesn’t need WiFi or a data plan to function (although it is slightly more limited than using Google Maps online as it doesn’t offer transit, bike, or walking directions). I make a point to add downloading Offline Maps to my to-do list for all the cities I plan to travel to before I leave on vacation.
Even if you think you don’t need Offline Maps because you have a rock star international data plan on your phone, you can never be too prepared. One night at a Paris metro stop I had unknowingly arrived just after the last metro I needed left for the night (Paris metros notoriously finish running relatively early in the evening on weekdays, like between 11pm and 12am). While I had data on my phone during my Paris trip, at the time I was in the metro tunnel with no usable data signal, unsure of what I should do next. Luckily I had previously downloaded Paris as an Offline Map on my phone and didn’t need a data connection to use it. While it couldn’t load transit directions, it was enough to let me cross-reference with the metro map to see how far it was to get to my hotel from a different metro stop with an alternative metro line that was still running from the stop where I was waiting.
2. I have the memory of a goldfish, so I always update my saved Google Maps “Home” location with the address of where I’m currently staying, no matter how briefly I’m there.
Sometimes the most obvious pieces of information can be the most elusive, such as the address of where you are staying in a foreign country. Take this familiar scenario, for example:
You get to your hotel or Airbnb via all the reservation information you printed out at the office before you left on your vacation. You check in to where you are staying, have a rest and a shower, and set out exploring for the rest of the day. You have a fruitful few hours of exploring and are ready to call it a day. You reach for your reservation information to reference the address of where you’re staying to tell the taxi you’re planning to take, and much to your chagrin, you realize you’ve left the print-outs with the address in your room. You panic. You remember what neighborhood you’re staying in, but not the street. What are you going to do? You could (A) Google your hotel address on your smart phone if you have data or via a found WiFi signal. (B) Run around searching for a knowledgeable local who’s willing to help you and speaks English. (C) Try to find your way on your own by meandering back in the direction you came from in the dark. (D) Sleep on a park bench and deal with it in the morning. (E) Ask Google Maps (in offline mode if necessary) to navigate you to your hotel because you remembered to store the address as Home when you left on your travels. I think by now you know which I’m choosing.
Believe it or not, this scenario happens more than you think. I’ll never forget the lovely lunch I shared in Lecce with one of my great friends, Janet from New York. An American woman sat alone at the table next to us, and spent much of our lunch talking to us and asking questions. She left a bit before us, and as we were walking back to our Airbnb, we ran into her. She was lost. She asked us if we could help her get back to her hotel. I reached for my iPhone, and at the same time realized I had remembered her checking her email on her iPhone during lunch. I asked her, “You have an iPhone with data, don’t you?” She looked at me, confused, and answered, “Yes.” I responded, “Have you tried inputting the address of your hotel in your phone’s map for directions?” And she said, “You can do that?” Well, now you know, ha!
3. Google Maps tells me where the basics like ATMs and grocery stores are, wherever I am, which saves me a lot of time and hassle.
I hate paying fees to exchange money in advance of entering a country with a different currency. Instead, I arrive and plan to withdraw money in the local currency from an ATM (cash machine) asap. This plan has always worked out for me, especially since it is so easy to find ATMs in Google Maps.
While the ATMS are easy to find at airports and train stations, often these ATMs have the highest fees. Instead, I wait until I get into the city, open Google Maps, make sure it knows my current location, and just type “ATM” into the search function. It then displays a map with red dots all around me, each red dot representing an ATM location. I select one, ask Google Maps to give me walking directions, and head over and withdraw a small amount, knowing I can easily withdraw more when I need to.
Sure beats going to the bank in your hometown in advance of your trip and asking them to exchange $1,000 from your account into Euro, and then spending your travels worrying about getting robbed.
4. I navigate public transport like a local, wherever I am, with Google Maps Transit Directions.
While Google Maps Transit Directions are not available in every city, they are widely available, especially in cities that are major tourist destinations. If transit directions are available where you are (and you can always check in advance of your trip by doing a quick test search), Google can tell you how to get where you want to be via public transportation.
It will give you several different options of different lines and types of public transportation (bus, metro, train), and you can even edit the time you want to leave. For example, if I’ve made a breakfast date with a friend, I’ll check the transit directions on Google Maps the night before to see how long it will take me by changing the departure time to the following morning.
The transit directions even include walking directions to where you need to catch the bus, train, or metro. So there’s no excuse for spending the money on a taxi, Lyft, or Uber, especially since I’ve found that Google Maps has sometimes been more accurate with transit times than transit information posted locally. If only it went so far as to tell you how to open the door on the Paris metros. Then it would truly be a perfect travel companion.
Please note that Transit Directions are not available in Offline Maps, and are not accurate in the event of a transit strike or sometimes due to local holiday transit schedules.
5. Google Maps “Saved Places” feature helped me bar-crawl my way through the best-rated historic pubs of London.
Even though I could ride the London Tube like a pro if I had wanted to, thanks to Google Transit Directions, I had a lot of time on my hands during my trip to London, and I was determined to save every penny and not waste a single cent on Tube rides (although I found out at the end of my trip that the Tube graciously caps your daily ride cost to £6.50, no matter how much you ride in the city between certain hours, as long as you use your Oyster card). Since I didn’t want to spend my money on the Tube, that meant a lot of walking. And London gets pretty chilly, even during the summer. If I was walking from, let’s say, The Photographer’s Gallery to, let’s say, East London to check out the amazing street art, I would want to stop to warm up every mile or so. Luckily, beer is quite economical in London, and half-pints even more so, running from £1.50 to £2.50. And, I happen to be a fan of beer, so what a great way to spend my money that I save from not using the Tube!
How did I manage to bar-crawl my way through London’s best pubs when I knew nothing about the city and even less about the pubs? I referenced my “Saved Places” on my Google Maps app, which, after I’ve saved a place, appears as a star on my map. Whenever I wanted a break from my walking, I just looked for the nearest star on the map and navigated myself there, or had Google maps give me walking directions. I would research the places I wanted to go with WiFi at my Airbnb at night, like articles about the best pubs in London, and when I found a pub that sounded promising, I punched it into my Google Maps app. When the app located the pub I was looking for, I pulled up on the screen for more options and clicked the star to save the location. And voila! Look what my map looked like after all that research (see below).
6. There’s no need to wait until I’m on vacation to do my research: I put Saved Places on my Google Maps whenever I get a tip about a good place to go, anywhere in the world, all year round.
I often find myself shuffling through my Instagram feed and drooling over friends’ delicious meals at fantastic places in Asia or Europe and deciding I’m going to go there one day. But I have the memory of a goldfish, so you and I both know I will never make it there. Unless, of course, I take advantage of the services of Google Maps. Now when I see an amazing meal a friend is eating on Instagram, or read a fantastic article about a city in the New York Times travel section, I immediately find and add the recommendations as Saved Places on my Google Map. Not only will that information be there whenever I make it to these cities, it gives me all the more inspiration for actually going in the first place because my research is already half-done!
7. Google Maps lets me save ANY location anywhere on my map, leaving me with no excuse for not finding my way to “unofficial places,” like the meeting point for a walking tour or the start of a hike a friend recommends to me.
I was on Facebook a few weeks ago, and saw a New York-based friend’s plea for Los Angeles-based friends to take a photo of a billboard her friend had designed that had just gone up in Hollywood. No one had replied to her plea, and I knew I would be in LA eventually, so I opened Google Maps and added a pin at the intersection the billboard was located. I labeled it “Billboard I need to photograph” so I can reference it the next time I’m in Los Angeles and it saved as another star on my map. Pretty easy.
I also used this feature when I was in London to save the meeting points for the many London Walks tours I went on. The walks were very educational (sometimes too educational, ha!) and economical, and we often met in front of metro stops or at well-known intersections. I would just drop a pin at the tour’s meeting point on my Google Map and label it with the name of the walking tour and the time we were supposed to meet.
Obviously, I am quite passionate about my love of Google Maps. I could go on and on and on…but I won’t. Keep in mind that technology changes quickly, and Google Maps is always changing/improving – the latest update makes it possible for Google Maps to pay attention to the travel and restaurant reservation info you make through your Gmail account. I will try to keep you up to date, but if all else fails, just play around with it and see what you come up with, or leave a comment here on my blog!
For a lover of travel, the best thing Europe has to offer is having a completely different culture nearly at your fingertips…traveling from country to country in Europe requires less financial investment and often less time than traveling from state to state in the United States.
More affordable European travel is mostly due to a fairly robust train system, and incredibly low-cost airlines (low-cost as in, flying to Paris from Milan for $20). Airfares from low-cost airlines such as EasyJet, RyanAir, and WizzAir are, at face value, a traveler’s dream, made possible by the groundbreaking “Open-Skies Treaty” in 1992, removing government restrictions on airspace.
The chance to fly throughout Europe at discount prices offers a lot of opportunity for the seasoned traveler with energy, patience, and time to spare. But the reality for the rest of us is that there’s a lot of expense, time, and effort that is in excess to the advertised discount airfares, which can be especially aggravating to the inexperienced traveler.
RyanAir, the king of low-cost airlines, topped Zagat’s list as the #1 worst airline in the world, receiving a measly score of 4.16 out of 30 possible points in customer feedback surveys. On the bright side, at least you’ve been forewarned. As a British expat said to me recently, “Well, at least RyanAir is number one in something.”
All that being said, on a recent opportunity to meet a friend in Prague and faced with the choice of a 125 euro round-trip RyanAir flight to Prague from a small airport 3 hours by train or car from where I live in Bologna, or a 15 hour bus ride, I chose the bus.
Here’s why:
1. Hidden airline fees While baggage, beverage, and snack fees have become an industry wide standard, discount airlines take these fees to another level.
BAGGAGE FEES
Easyjet, for example, allows one carry-on and only one, so ladies, that means you either save room in your carry-on for your purse, or you’re going to be charged a baggage fee. While RyanAir seems to be “generous” with their carry-on policy permitting a small bag as well as a regular carry-on, they instead search for other, more unexpected ways to extract money out of you. For instance, if you don’t pay for your baggage online in advance of getting to the airport, they charge you a much higher baggage fee (I paid 100 euro for my bag when flying on RyanAir from Milan to Stockholm).
“PRINT YOUR TICKET AT HOME” POLICY
RyanAir’s infamous “print your ticket at home” requirement has bitten me in the butt twice. Once on my way back home to Bologna from a trip to Paris, I lost my return ticket I had printed before leaving on the trip and had to pay the 10 euro fee to print my ticket at the printing kiosk at Beauvais. I was lucky they had a printing kiosk, as many airports don’t and the fee is even higher if you have to print it at the check-in desk.
SMART PHONES DON’T HELP
With the advent of airline smart phone applications, I thought I had finally overcome this most annoying aspect of flying via RyanAir by being able to use my smartphone e-boarding pass, only to find out at the airport that RyanAir doesn’t permit non-EU citizens to use e-boarding passes, another predatory procedure aimed at tricking you out of your money, as the procedure is not clear via the app, and is not related to government policy (EasyJet, for instance, permits the use of e-boarding passes by non-EU citizens) and is instead taking advantage of travelers who are never originating from their home city and therefore with fewer resources for printing their tickets.
2. Extra ground transport time and fees When you are visiting larger European cities, the low-cost carrier airports are often located further away from the cities, and require more time, creativity, and money to get to and from the airports, which ultimately cuts into your vacation time.
DISTANT AIRPORTS, SPARSE TRANSPORTATION OPTIONS
Luckily in smaller cities like Bologna, the low-cost airlines share the same airport with the major carriers. But in most major cities this isn’t the case.
For example, Beauvais is the low-cost carrier airport serving Paris. It takes about an hour to travel by bus to Paris from the airport. But the real challenge is getting back – the buses don’t run often and the bus company knows the airport schedule. If you arrive at the bus station – which is outside the center of Paris and requires a bit of time on the metro to reach – less than three and a half hours before your flight, the bus will have already departed for the airport and you’ll get stuck sharing the 125 euro cab fare with a few strangers in order to make it to the airport in time. Don’t worry though, the cabs wait by the bus station for unfortunate souls like us, so you’ll have no problem finding a cab (yes, unfortunately, I’m speaking from experience).
GROUND TRANSPORT CAN RUN INFREQUENTLY WITH DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND SCHEDULES
Take it from me – make a mental note to learn the bus schedule of (often) the only method of transport to and from the airport serving your low-cost flight as in advance as possible, as sometimes this is no easy task when traveling in a non-English speaking country. Yes, along with my eventful experience in Paris, I’m also referencing my nail-biting wait in line with my nearly indecipherable general admittance bus ticket behind several hundred other anxious budget travelers at Stockholm’s bus station in the wee hours of New Year’s Day, as (luckily) the bus company called a sleepy bus driver to come in on short notice to accommodate the especially numerous tourists that morning. If I had been able to read the schedule better and had done my research in advance, I would have arrived at the bus station earlier. Which brings me to the next important point:
BUY YOUR TICKET IN ADVANCE / WIKITRAVEL IS (always) YOUR BEST FRIEND
Always check (the life-saving) Wikitravel before you leave on your trip and see if you can buy your bus ticket online. This will save you the inevitable wait in line behind everyone else on your plane to buy your bus ticket.
In airports like Brussels South Charleroi Airport, your ticket bought in advance online could save you hours, as the electronic kiosks to buy your bus ticket at this airport are iffy at best,* and the majority of travelers whose ATM/credit cards are not accepted by the kiosk must wait in line to buy their ticket from the one in-person attendant available, who tends to take lunch during peak arrival times. I eventually wizened up and payed a local returning home in cash to put my ticket on his card at the kiosk and was able to get on a bus to Brussels without an really significant delay.
I’ll never forget pulling away from the curb and seeing the hundred people (including many from my plane) camped out in line for their bus ticket in front of the “gone for lunch” sign at the attendant’s empty window. Take it from me (and all the people waiting in that line), read Wikitravel for the city you’re visiting before you get there! The Brussels entry had explicitly warned travelers about this problem, but unfortunately I didn’t read the entry until I was on my to the airport, so it was too late to buy my bus ticket in advance online.
My happy friend Chris who met me at the Brussels bus station after I narrowly escaped the drama of the airport.
3. Additional accommodation fees, taxi fees, and/or major loss of sleep Budget flights do not run as regularly between the destinations they serve as regular carriers do, and the flights often take place at less desirable times of day, like very early or very late.
This could mean that you’ll arrive at your destination late at night, or that you’ll take off very early in the morning. And remember, most major cities do not run their public transportation 24 hours per day.
TOO LATE/TOO EARLY FLIGHTS
It is easy not to consider enough just how much your flight time affects the way your organize your trip. For instance, if you wanted to head out on your vacation on a Saturday morning, but there are no morning flights offered and you are left with the choice of leaving a day earlier and paying an extra night of hotel stay, or leaving twelve hours later and losing most of a day of vacation, what do you do? An extra night of hotel is not a budget option. If you added the hotel stay to what you paid for the flight, you could probably afford a non-budget flight leaving at a more comfortable time of day.
MISSING YOUR FLIGHT BECAUSE THE METRO WASN’T OPEN YET
Early morning flights can infamously depart sooner than it is possible to arrive at the airport via ground transport, or sooner than the metro that brings you to the ground transport starts to run.
My friend Lauren missed her EasyJet flight out of London for just this reason – she had afforded enough to time to get to the airport, not considering that she might have to wait for the metro to start running in the morning. Wikitravel’s London page actually has a section describing how to sleep at London Stansted airport, as so many people riding EasyJet and RyanAir have encountered this problem over the years.
With no public transport options early in the morning, your choice is to sleep for free on a bench at the airport, pay to sleep at an airport hotel, or pay for expensive door-to-door ground transport. Honestly, I don’t know about you but none of these options sound so great to me.
4. Lots of time and attention needed to meet stricter baggage and liquid requirements If you’re flying low-cost, that probably means you don’t want to spend the money to check your bags. But take it from me – check them, and do it as in advance as possible.
Check your bags when you originally book your ticket, as that’s when you’ll be offered the biggest discount for the checked bags. You can also check them when you check-in online for less of a discount. Do not check your bags spontaneously at the airport, as they will charge you a crazy fee.
Checking your bags saves you the stress of packing. And stressing/wasting time on packing is never worth it – that and the lack of stuff you’ll have access to for your trip (because checked baggage allotments are so minimal) can quickly negate any of the positive benefits you’re deriving from your trip.
Arriving in Bologna on my first RyanAir flight.
STRICTER LIQUID POLICIES
Discount airlines are often stricter about their baggage and liquid policies in airports only serving low-cost carriers. There is no customer service mandate that prevents them from caring about making you feel like a criminal because you forgot you had Chapstick buried in the bottom of your purse, so security lines at low-cost airports are often longer and more stressful than security lines at other airports. Save yourself this stress and worry by tossing all your liquids in your checked baggage. Then you can stand in the security line worry-free (as long as you arrive early enough for your flight!).
DON’T FORGET ABOUT WINTER AND SOUVENIRS
Getting to your destination is one thing, but weathering long days being a tourist outside in winter without enough warm, heavy clothes to keep you warm because you weren’t able to fit enough in your carry-on is absolutely no fun. Also, layering is only fashionable to a point. I spent a freezing May in London pretty much wearing everything I had fit in my carry-on every day. I think the last time I was so perpetually unfashionable was in 1993. Fortunately I’m not a souvenir gal, but I know many of you are. I can assure you there won’t be space in your bag for it, and forget bringing back a bottle of wine or heaven forbid some olive oil. But if you are flying low-cost there is still a way around it. If you go crazy souvenir shopping, add a souvenir tote bag to your shopping list which will afford you more space to dump all your (non-liquid) souvenirs in the tote to carry-on, and then check your luggage in when you check-in online.
5. When you count out all the hours that go into all of the effort to take a budget airline, sometimes a bus or a train is actually a faster way to go.
If I had flown to Prague instead of taking the 14 hour bus, I would have had to take a bus to the train, to another bus, to a plane, and then to another bus.
Including all connections, airport time, and flight, it would have cost 200 euro (train and bus tickets add up quickly) and would have taken about 11 hours. Instead, for 100 euro round-trip, I got to relax on a comfortable – albeit non-luxurious – bus with phone service the whole way, frequent pit stops, super friendly drivers who gave us free water and cookies, and as much luggage and liquid as I wanted to bring. All this without a stress or worry. No delayed flights, no standing in line, great view. Loved it.
I’m making a habit out of this actually. In January I took a train from Milan to Paris, and tomorrow I’m taking the train to Munich. Another great alternative to discount airlines. You can find timetables for train travel across Europe on the German website, Bahn.
But if you really still want to fly, I understand. Just please, all I ask is remember these tips so you don’t have to suffer quite as much as me and my friends have…;)
* Kiosks may now be working better, as this occurred in 2012.
1. I can always find my way, with or without data, with Google Maps Offline Maps feature.
3. Google Maps tells me where the basics like ATMs and grocery stores are, wherever I am, which saves me a lot of time and hassle.
4. I navigate public transport like a local, wherever I am, with Google Maps Transit Directions.
5. Google Maps “Saved Places” feature helped me bar-crawl my way through the best-rated historic pubs of London.
7. Google Maps lets me save ANY location anywhere on my map, leaving me with no excuse for not finding my way to “unofficial places,” like the meeting point for a walking tour or the start of a hike a friend recommends to me.
