Are These Tourist Sites On Your List For 2020? Heads Up: They Might Not Want You There

Tourism has exploded in the past two decades. Places that used to be relatively comfortable to visit are now chock full of people just like you, traveling thousands of miles to see whatever famous site it is.

Unfortunately, all those extra people visiting is wreaking havoc on some of these special places. Besides the overcrowding, there’s the garbage that careless travelers leave behind (which is always a problem, but now it’s “X” times as much because they have “X” times more tourists), plus the carbon footprint from the trains, planes and automobiles to get them there.

That’s on top of the other problems touristy areas encounter.

To try to combat this, Fodor’s releases an annual “No Go” list that has popular places that need a break from tourists. This year’s list includes 13 locations that fall into 8 categories:

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If You Could Only Bring One Card With You For International Travel, Which One Would It Be?

When we travel outside of the U.S., I always make sure that we’re bringing the right credit cards with us. I have several boxes to check off to ensure we’re covered just in case something goes sideways during our travels.

I want to make sure that the cards I’m bringing don’t charge any foreign currency fees. I also have to make sure that I have a card with Chip + PIN functionality, for when we’d need to use an automated kiosk. I’m going to bring my ATM card so I’ll be able to get some cash, which always comes in handy.

I’m also going to bring along any cards that we used to make reservations for the trip. If you made a train reservation, bought show tickets, arranged for a tour or paid for your hotel, they might ask to see the credit card you used to make the booking. That’s a good reason to try to stick to one or two cards when making advance reservations if you can.

What if I had to stick to only ONE card for the whole trip? Which one would it be?

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International Travel Over Thanksgiving? Here Are Some Non-Americans’ Funny & Fascinating Thoughts About Thanksgiving Dinner

There’s nothing odder than trying to celebrate what you consider to be a national holiday in a place where they don’t celebrate it. Well, that is unless you’re a visitor to a place that’s celebrating a holiday you have little to no idea about and suddenly you have all kinds of new and different traditions and foods to contend with.

And then you have the holidays where a visitor may be experiencing a national holiday for the first time – your friend from Italy visits during Hanukkah or a distant relative from Qatar is in town during Halloween – and they get to experience the foods and traditions they’ve never known before…or thought they knew 😉

That’s what I was thinking about when I was perusing through YouTube the other day, and in the process, I found a handful of adults’ first experiences with Thanksgiving. They’re pretty fun…take a look!

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The Real Truth About Flying First Class

Joe and I have flown first class a few times, usually because he’s saved up enough points and it’s a long enough trip where we’d rather be in first than economy class seats. We usually save those trips for when we go overseas, although we’ve occasionally used them for when we’re just going cross country.

Anyway, about a year ago, Insider Magazine posted an article titled:

DISAPPOINTING PHOTOS SHOW WHAT FLYING FIRST CLASS IS REALLY LIKE

The post was mainly several photos and comments about each photo. Its synopsis is:

Despite its reputation, flying first class isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.
Advertisements for first-class accommodations — and even our own imaginations — can look vastly different from the true experience.
Take a look at what the full experience of flying first-class — from check-in to the exclusive lounges to the seats and meals on the flights themselves — can really look like.

Well, I read the whole article and looked at all the pictures, and all I have to say is, what a load of crap! Here’s why…

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How To Get A Passport From Another Country

Many Americans would like to think that because they live in the greatest country in the world, theirs are the most powerful passports out there. However, unfortunately for us, that’s not the least bit true. According to the Henley Passport Index, which periodically measures the access each country’s travel document affords, the U.S. currently ties for the 6th best passport to have. So also having a passport from another country may be able to gain you easier access to places that U.S. passports can’t.

That situation is usually reserved for people who were born in one county and then moved to the United States; it’s called dual citizenship. However, if you weren’t born in another country, and still want to access to a passport from a different country, it’s still technically possible…

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