Hello I’m Heidi and I am a travel addict. It has been 64 days since my last trip…All kidding aside, I am obsessed with traveling- I think about it all of the time, I read travel guides for fun, my computer is full of itineraries for proposed trips, and I am always ready to take my next trip. The main reason I don’t travel more is the love of my life, my 5 lb. toothless senior Chihuahua and, you know, my job. So I try to balance my responsibilities at home and my love of travel by taking a couple of trips a year. Usually one domestic and one to Europe but I always seem to have a hard time finding information for the way I like to travel.
I am not the budget backpacking type but also not into high end luxury resorts. Budget backpackers have a seemingly endless supply of travel sites offering information and tips on how to travel cheap. For the jet set, one scroll through social media shows five star dining, super luxe resorts and expensive tours posted by travel influencers for the trip of a lifetime. There is nothing wrong with these travel styles, they just don’t work for me.
Budget travel means hostels, cooking or picnicking and enjoying the vibe of a place more than visiting actual sights (For instance my 21 year old niece said all she wanted to do in Paris was wander along the Seine). I am a light sleeper and I need my personal space so hostels are not my thing. Cooking? C’mon I am still on vacation and I don’t want to cook all my meals. Lastly, if I am traveling I want to see the sights and go to the museums. For me, that is kind of the point of traveling.
I have a friend who says she likes to pretend like she is rich when she is on vacation- opulent hotels, fine dining, extravagant excursions. Sounds amazing but unless you have a high income these exorbitant trips are a splurge that you save for years and years to afford. Personally, I would rather take three trips than one fancy trip. My other concern is that lavish resorts and hotels seem to remove you from the real life going on in the place you are visiting.
I am more in the middle. Middle child, middle class, middle age (shudders) and when it comes to travel I want a clean midrange hotel with a comfortable bed and private bathroom, close to the center of town, most meals in restaurants and to see the sights, all of them. I want to spend a couple thousand dollars for about two weeks, visit museums, meet people and enjoy life, again and again. I don’t think I am alone in this. It seems like an easy request, nothing special, but seemingly unheard of because we are so used to the two travel extremes.
I share my itineraries and experiences so you can see what to do and sometimes what not to do. This will not be a glossed over luxury tour or a rugged backpacking trip but a middle of the road quest to discover all of the interesting things the world has to offer.
As with all advice, take what works for you, use it and disregard the rest! Safe travels
