About Us

I LOVE to plan for travel, but have spent hours upon hours reading guidebooks and blogs to research our trips:

When we decide to plan a new trip, I go into ‘crazy planner mode’ where I can spend hours pouring over guidebooks and searching the web for ideas on what to do and where to go. Over the years, I’ve compiled a laundry list of favorite websites, checklists, spreadsheets, calendars, and maps that I use as my ‘go-to’ travel planning resources. We’ve whittled down our favorites for our Trip Planning Toolkit .

We try to find a balance between underplanning and overplanning.

When you have limited time to explore a new destination, it’s tempting I try to plan everysinglesecond to make the most of the trip. Despite my best intentions, those overplanned trips usually leave us exhausted and frustrated. I’ve also found that the best laid plans sometimes just don’t work out. If trips are too planned, they feel more like work than vacation. . At the same time, totally free-wheeling it causes me stress as well, so I’m learning to strike a balance between under and over planning by focusing on planning trips around a handful of experiences that we’re really interested in and leave some open time to just explore and ‘wander’.

We’ve tried to include tips and resources on this site to help you find that right balance between underplanning and overplanning!

Mike and I usually travel together.

So most of our suggestions are geared toward couples, but that doesn’t mean they can’t easily be adjusted for solo travel or with a family or larger group.

We’re not full-time travelers.

Both Mike and I have full-time ‘day’jobs, and only get about two-weeks of vacation time each year, so we try to maximize our weekends and vacation time to travel as much as we can. This site is a great resource for fellow travelers with limited vacation days who want to maximize their travel while still leaving time for relaxation.

We didn’t start traveling until our late-20’s

Travel was neither a priority nor in our budgets growing up, so both of our families rarely took vacations. When we did, it usually involved camping at the KOA an hour down the road. No one in my family or circle of friends traveled much, and when they did, it was usually to the same destination year after year. We didn’t really catch the travel bug until  after Mike and I started dating.  I had finished grad school and got a job that actually afforded me a tiny bit of disposable income. We took our first trip together to Portland, Oregon in 2012 and we got hooked. Ever since, we’ve tried to travel as much as possible, taking between 4-5 trips per year (and more often if we can), some close to home and some across the globe.

We’re not ‘budget’ travelers nor are we ‘luxury’ travelers, but somewhere in the middle. (Are ‘comfort travelers’ a thing?)

I travel a lot for work and often have to stick to a tight budget when I’m traveling on a client’s dime. I’ve stayed at enough budget hotels to last me a lifetime, so when it comes to personal travel, we usually opt more for mid-range lodging and experiences. We definitely have limitations to our budget, but we will usually pick comfort and convenience over saving a few dollars. You’ll find that we sprinkle in some luxury experiences here and there, along with some budget options too. So while this blog has a little something for everyone, people looking to travel ‘comfortably’ but at a reasonable cost, will find our destination guides the most relatable.

We’re intent on this site featuring realistic travel- the good, the bad, and the ugly.

This site features real trips that we’ve taken, and while I love a dreamy, inspiring, social media-worthy shot as much as anyone, showcasing picture perfect photos isn’t super high on my priority list. Most pics and content on this site will showcase ‘real travel’ , which includes the not-so-glamourous aspects of vacationing.  Let’s face it, travel isn’t always picture perfect. For every perfect capture of a mountain summit at sunrise, there is probably a whole backstory complete with bug bites, sunburn, and getting lost along the trail. In my opinion, those are part of the experience (and usually make for the best post-vacation stories) and are worth mentioning. 

You’ll also rarely find pictures of me…I really don’t like getting my picture taken, and more often than not, I’m the one behind the camera!

Our Destination Guides are based on my experiences and those experiences are admittedly limited.

We’re usually in a destination between 2 days to 5 days, so there is no way we can hit everything. Think of our guides as a ‘greatest hits’, not a comprehensive guide to a destination.  That said, all of tips and guides are based on our real-life experiences, and we’re intent on relaying our honest opinions, so we hope you can use our itineraries and advice as a jumping off point to plan your own adventure!