Hi Everyone,

I am so excited to have our first post in the “Hello From…” series ready for you! A friend of mine, using an alias so he feels comfortable to write about his full experience, has submitted an article below about a trip he made to the Mississippi Delta. When I sat down with him to discuss the article, he just couldn’t get over how lovely the people he met down there were, how fantastic the hospitality was and how much they didn’t want to end up like another stereotypical meme on Buzzfeed. I think he did a really great job conveying the nuances of the region and I really think you’ll enjoy his piece. Check out his full piece below.

Happy Travels,
Savannah

Hello From the Mississippi Delta
Keith Seaver

“Everybody smokes weed, everybody has a gun, and everybody drinks in the daytime”

“How far is it to Greenwood?” I ask the affable bartender who has insisted I call her ‘Grits’. “About three beers” is the reply. “Come again?” I say, “Oh yeah, that’s how we measure distance around here. You know it’s legal to drink and drive as long as you stay under the .08 limit. Cops can’t do nothing about it.” Wonderful, I think. A chance to die doing a thing I love  – taking advantage of lax local alcohol laws. I’m at The Blue Biscuit in Indianola, Mississippi, the hometown of B.B. King. At the bar with me are Tommy, a large white catfish farmer in a fishing shirt and camo hat drinking Makers Mark. Phil, a twenty-something transplant from Pittsburgh, fresh out of college on a Teach for America Program, and Reggie, an older black man who grew up in Indianola, moved to Chicago in his teens; and just moved back to retire. We have to get to the next town over to make a dinner reservation; but these people are so damn friendly, and the conversations so wonderfully nonlinear – as they always are in the south – that it’s a hard scene to leave.

We have a big, diverse, beautiful country; and we are divided. After the 2016 election, it feels like half of the friendships in America are under some kind of strain. Travel is something that broadens the mind, so I decided to leave New York City for a long weekend  and hit “the most southern place on earth” – the Mississippi Delta. Mississippi is nothing like the other 49 American States. And the Mississippi Delta is nothing like the rest of Mississippi. Growing up in a middle-class home in “the north” I definitely grew up with a sense of superiority when it comes to the south. However, a love of blues music connected me to Mississippians who lived out of state, and I had wanted to visit for a while.

The Mississippi Delta exists on some 7,000 Square Miles of alluvial floodplain that stretches from just south of the Memphis suburbs to the city of Vicksburg. A boom in the cotton market lead to the rise of the Delta. As someone who works on Wall Street, there’s a bit of shared history – and much of it is ugly. The population contains people of many different ethnic groups – in addition to the Scots-Irish and African Americans that populate much of Mississippi, the Delta contains large populations of Eastern European Ashkenazic Jews, Italians and Lebanese. This is reflected in the local cuisine, which is generally excellent. On the business side of things, the soil here is some of the most fertile in the world. Even today, Delta farmland is a great investment if you can get any. But this is also among the poorest regions of the country; racial tensions are present; many problems have not been resolved, and there is still much work to be done.  That being said, a visit here can be enriching. I’m pretty sure I came back to NYC with 10 friend requests from Mississippi Deltans; and that was just over a weekend.

Clarksdale is the most prominent blues tourism destination in the Delta. Being the hometown of Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Son House and many other musicians, it’s easy to see why. There are beautiful murals of blues legends all over this town.  Tamales are a regional food specialty of the Delta. We pull up to Larry’s Tamales –inside a repurposed Quizno’s sub shop – and a 6 foot 3 gentleman greets us with “Have you ever had Tamales in this area before?”, then proceeds to educate all of us about their history. They were brought by Mexican farm labor in the 1920s, and even feature in a Robert Johnson song (“They’re Red Hot”) from the 30s. Unlike Mexican tamales, these are long, thin, filled with ground beef and cooked in a form of hot sauce. They are delicious, and unlike anything I’ve ever tried before. Larry grew up in Clarksdale, joined the navy to see the world; worked a desk job for the military in DC for a few years, then moved back down. The Delta is definitely a place to which people are eager to return.

Cat Head Folk Art in downtown Clarksdale is a great stop if you’re looking for rare blues recordings, or books about the Delta. Scott, the owner, moved from Ohio to the area and is a wealth of information about rare blues recordings and goings-on around town. There are two blues clubs in Clarksdale that merit attention. Very different places, they serve as good metaphors for the state of blues music today. Owned by Morgan Freeman, Ground Zero Blues Club on the main drag of town is polished; but intentionally looks faded. They do live blues nightly. It’s also a great place to stay – $130 per night gets you a tidy loft upstairs, so visitors don’t have to risk a drunk drive home. Cross the railway tracks on Sunflower Avenue and head to Red’s Lounge; you will be in for a much grittier experience. They sell beer for $3 from a cooler and that’s it. You can, however, bring wine or hard liquor; I recommend hard liquor. Red Paden is the owner here. Perpetually wearing his sunglasses, he’s quick with a comeback or a snappy remark; and will insult the whiskey you brought if it isn’t any good.  Examples of local artists who regularly play both clubs are Lucious Spiller, Leo Bud Welch, Deak Harp and Bill “Howl-n-Madd” Perry. Different as they may be, Red’s and Ground Zero both are fantastic establishments, and it would serve visitors well to catch a live show at each place.

It’s 11:30 at Red’s in Clarksdale. I’m halfway through the bottle of “Old Charter 8” that I brought in. I offered some to Red; but he said it’s not good enough for him to drink. Distilled in Kentucky, but strangely popular in the Delta, it used to be called “Old Charter 8 year”. Back then, it was actually aged 8 years; but recently they have changed the packaging to just read the number “8”. This amounted to a minor scandal in the Delta, and everybody asks me if I know anyone who can track down the “8 year” variety. Hey, I’m feeling pretty good. Pretty mellow. Some folks in the back are smoking weed (all indica in these parts, I’m told. The kind that makes you collapse into your couch), and everyone seems to be pretty happy. THIS is red state America?

I take another pull from my bottle of Old Charter…WHAM. Everything around me changes. The carhartt jackets and camo pants around me turn into blue blazers and khakis. It’s 1AM in 2011 and I’m at Dorrian’s Red Hand on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. A DJ is spinning some 80s new wave music, and “Money For Nothing” by the Dire Straits just came on. My friend Todd Alden, the 21 year old scion of one of New York’s formerly powerful old money families has just broken a glass on the dance floor. People scatter. The staff immediately rush toward him, clean up the glass…and hand him another drink. On the house. Todd approaches me and yells to the bartender “Three shots of Makers Mark!” One for each of us, one for the staff who cleaned up the floor. “Take a shot you filthy animal!” he yells at me. Then he looks me in the eyes for a toast. Smiling, he says to me “May this be our worst moment.” Everyone is happy. Whoa. What a memory. At the end of the day, we’re all just looking for a good drink in a dark bar with lively music.

B.B. King was born on a plantation just outside of Indianola, and the town has a wonderful museum commemorating his life. As a native of New York City, it was crazy imagining B.B.’s life. I mean, can you imagine growing up in in a place like Indianola? And going to Memphis for the first time, seeing all the lights of Beale Street? He must have thought it was like Paris! Imagine if he popped into the lobby of the Peabody Hotel, it would be like nothing he had ever seen. Going to that museum not only taught me about the incredible life of B.B. King; but helped me understand life in the Delta as a whole better. Down the street is Club Ebony, part of the “Chitlin Circuit” of nightclubs where black entertainers were allowed to perform during the Jim Crow days. In addition to BB, many other blues legends performed there. When I visited the Delta, Club Ebony was closed, opening only on special occasions, and Harlon from The Blue Biscuit had to call to get me a private tour. However, it is now open for live blues every Thursday night. It’s great to see the people of the Delta preserving this historic club and keeping history alive.

You’ve GOT to hand it to Senator Thad Cochran. 39 years representing Mississippi! And the man knows how to bring home the proverbial bacon – for every dollar Mississippi gives to the federal government, they get $12 back. Of course, that stat may not be accurate. It’s being told to me by a chainsmoking 30-something man at The Pickled Okra in Cleveland, MS. I may not agree with Cochran’s views, but I respect the hustle. In the northeast, we cast a jaundiced eye to most of our politicians. Sure, I liked Mayor Bloomberg, but i’d never openly praise him while drunk in a bar. Although that was just the views of one constituent; it was very interesting to hear.

A dinner at Luscos in Greenwood, Mississippi is an experience not to be missed. Like Red’s, it’s BYOB for wine or hard liquor. Make sure to call ahead and reserve a booth. This is not a booth in the traditional sense; but rather an entire private room where you will be left alone unless you summon your server with a buzzer. Locals tell me that all sorts of illicit activities have gone on in those booths – drugs, sex, gambling and more over the years. Why this setup? Well, prohibition existed in Mississippi until 1966! It’s the funniest place. The restaurant is very old, even run down in parts. However, just about all the patrons are impeccably dressed in a manner not unlike that of a 1960s New England boarding school. It’s a LOUD place, and our waiter told me that almost everyone is a regular. He’s an interesting character himself. A jovial man in his forties, who speaks glowingly of Donald Trump, he invited us to call into a local blues radio station that his buddy runs after our dinner. The house specialty is whole grilled pompano fish – a fish that goes under the radar in NYC, but is absolutely brilliant here. Seriously. I’ve dined at Michelin-starred restaurants in NYC and in Europe; and this is in the top ten meals of my life.  Owing to the Italian influence, they also do a nice bowl of pasta. Despite the clubby atmosphere and regulars who had been dining there for generations, the hospitality shown to us was impeccable.

Back at the Blue Biscuit in Indianola for a post-dinner whiskey, we are joined by two duck hunters from Alabama. I did a fair bit of hunting myself in my college days, so the conversation flows effortlessly. One of the hunters, Will, tells me his life story. He’s an executive at a multinational in Huntsville and has travelled to most corners of the world both for business and pleasure. He’s read over 50 books on the Mississippi Delta and its culture and is fascinated by it. “The culture here just gets weirder and weirder, more and more fascinating the more you explore it.” He regaled us with stories of private, members only country clubs where the whiskey-soaked plantation gentry drive cars up mountains. He told us about “Admirals’ Night”, a tradition at bars where strippers are brought down from Memphis to walk among patrons – not even do any dancing – for a $15 cover. Despite having visited Japan, Argentina, Australia and many other countries, the Mississippi Delta is Will’s favorite place on earth. All things said, it  is a fascinating, enchanting place that gave rise to one of our nation’s great art forms – the blues. It is definitely somewhere I will visit several more times over the next decade. I highly recommend a trip to the Delta for anyone.

Hey y’all,

So, I am super excited to introduce a new segment for the blog called “Hello From…” I’ve convinced some of my friends and colleagues to write about their experiences traveling both at home and abroad. I’m always looking to add to what we cover and bring new perspectives to the blog. I’ve assigned aliases so the folks submitting feel comfortable sharing the realities of their experiences while protecting their personal privacy, though those who submit frequently will have the same alias. If you’d like to contribute an article to Voyagons, shoot me a note at voyagons (at) gmail (dot) com to work out particulars. Looking forward to sharing new and better content with y’all!

Happy Travels,
Savannah

The holidays are stressful, this seems to be a given. But what if you could spend that precious time off from work doing something you really love? Family time can be stressful, but there is an alternative: travel. When I was starting to feel overwhelmed by family pressures, I decided to book a vacation abroad. I chose to spend that time off exploring the streets of Naples and Rome, spending my vacation time relaxing, recharging, indulging in some fantastic food and taking in all the culture and art I could stand. Granted, I took this trip with my partner, but I treated it as I have treated so many solo trips before.

Solo travel has so, so, so many benefits. It’s an opportunity to get away from what stresses you out most, to recharge and get some real rest, and to have some time for introspection and self discovery. If you have the means to do so, and it doesn’t have to be an extravagant or far away jaunt, then go! Go to that cute town two hours down the road and shack up for a few nights; finally make your escape to a gorgeous and calm oceanfront or the top of a lonely mountain; finally seek out that really interesting city you’ve been meaning to visit and dance the night away. Whatever vacation means to you, the holidays are actually the perfect time to do it.

Beyond it being good for your mental health and your own growth, people are also especially kind during the holidays. If you’re staying at a bed and breakfast or in a hostel, I can guarantee that there will either be other solo travelers who you can connect with or the hosts themselves might invite you to some kind of holiday tradition that may be completely different than your own. Even when my boyfriend and I traveled to Italy this past new year, our hosts for our AirBnBs went out of their way to make sure we knew the best places to go and that we had plans for our holiday. And sometimes you might be able to experience something you might not be able to at any other time of year. In Naples they have what’s called Via di Natale, or Christmas Street, where local woodworking vendors along one street all create figurines for nativity scenes and decorations for Natale; and it’s only on from the end of November through Epiphany.

Taking the time away can also be a form of self-care. If you’re really stressed out at work and you’re not getting much of a break from that stress at home, it’s easy to lose sight of the point of the holidays: to relax and celebrate with family. If your family has some toxic elements (and let’s be honest, what family doesn’t?) and you need to take some time away, travel is also the best excuse to use. Plus, taking the time to travel means you have a few extra days to get everyone gifts and you can bring back something much more meaningful than whatever you were going to order on Amazon Prime anyways.

So when you feel that urge to pack up and get away from it all, don’t fight it; heed it. Get out there and see the world and take care of yourself instead.

Hey y’all,

Traveling on your own for the first time can be a daunting and overwhelming experience. There’s a lot to take into consideration and a lot to plan before you go. There are some parts of travel which can be overlooked because they are parts of your everyday life and not something you might be consciously thinking about. Below are a few things that I wish I had known about before embarking on my first trip abroad.

First and foremost, make sure you have digital copies of your important documents. Make photos/copies of your passport, other ID, and credit/debit card(s) and send them to yourself as well as a trusted relative/friend to keep safe. There is nothing worse than trying to recall a credit card number or passport detail from memory when you’ve been pick pocketed or robbed and you’re trying to get it replaced. Also, leaving the details stateside can make it easier for your trusted person to help you deal with getting replacements while you’re overseas.

Also, keep your documents and credit cards organized. I bought a similar passport holder to this one for Jeff to use on our trip and he said it was really nice having everything he needed in one place. There’s nothing worse than having to dig through your bag just to find your passport or boarding pass. Plus, it fit in the zippered front chest pocket of his jacket, so he knew everything was secure when we were traveling through areas known for pickpocketing.

I would recommend that you avoid checking your luggage on your flights over, particularly if you’re switching airlines. When traveling to London to study abroad a few years ago, I had taken a flight on one carrier to JFK and transferred to another carrier to fly to London. I checked two bags with the first carrier, which they mislabeled and nearly lost in the process. So I’m standing down at baggage claim for over an hour (when I only had a two and a half hour layover) looking for my bags to come off the plane only to find out they’d been offloaded with another flight’s luggage under someone else’s name! By the time I’d found the lost luggage terminal, retrieved my luggage and got back to the check in desk, I’d nearly missed my flight. Thank goodness I had a super wonderful gate agent that day that called for TSA to reopen for me to go through security and gate checked my luggage. Otherwise, I would’ve been stranded overnight in New York and had to have paid an exorbitant amount to fly out the next day.

Before you head off, I really suggest you do some background research on the places you plan to visit. Beyond just opening hours and dos and don’ts photography-wise, also find out if you can make reservations for tickets online, if there are discounts available to you based on age, student status or family size. Keep an eye out once you’re at your location for the things you researched and be wary of folks outside and around your destination. Usually they’re either working for a company not affiliated with the site trying to drum up business, or worst case scenario, they’re scamming tourists by either charging a higher fee than the actual agencies or by not taking you there at all.

My last piece of advice is to go one of two ways to save money on Foreign Transaction Fees and currency exchange comission fees. Option one is for those of you relying on cash for most of your transactions (definitely check to make sure that’s best in the destination you’re traveling to, would not recommend in India right now). Set a daily budget and withdraw enough cash to get you through the day. By doing this, you’ll reduce the amount of foreign transaction fees (FTFs) your bank may charge as well as ATM fees both the issuing bank and your bank may charge. For those of you planning to charge the majority of your transactions to a credit card, you may want to look into FTF-free cards like the CapitalOne Venture Card or the chase Sapphire Preferred Card. 

Alright, lovelies, now get out there and get your travel on!

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to drop a quick note before this week’s content comes out. I won’t be traveling for Yule or Christmas this year (my boyfriend’s folks live within a short drive of our condo and my mom lives the next neighborhood over from us), but we are headed to Italy for New Years. There will be short hiatus after the new post goes live until we’re back stateside. I hope you all get to spend time with those in your life who bring you joy regardless of how you celebrate and that we can all ring in 2017 with a renewed sense of hope and goodwill toward each other. I also want to wish everyone who is traveling to their families and loved ones or to explore during some well earned time off very safe travels. There have been some very tumultuous activities across both the West and the East, so please remember to be safe and vigilant 

Happy Holidays,
Savannah

Budapest is definitely one of my favorite cities in Europe. I had the serendipitous fortune of having plans with someone fall out at the last minute a few years ago, and rather than visiting that friend in Stockholm, I was able to switch things up and check out this beautiful city. Before I go into my suggested itinerary, I would highly recommend anyone visiting Budapest for the first time to get a Budapest City Card (available here or at their tourism office in the city center). Not only do you get a free admittance to 12 of the best museums and the thermal baths, but having one also gives you free rides on their public transport for the duration of the card (you can buy increments of 24, 48 or 72 hours). So take a look at my suggested itinerary below for tackling the best of Budapest in just 3 days.

Hostel Recommendation: Maverick Hostel

Day One
7:30 Make sure to walk across the Chain Bridge (pictured on the social media graphic at the bottom of the post). It is one of the most beautifully decorated bridges in all of Europe. 
8:00 Climb to the top of Castle Hill for one of the best views of the City. You have the option of walking up (It is a hike, so I wouldn’t recommend this for folks who aren’t in great shape or who may have difficulty navigating steep slopes and many, many flights of steps) or taking the funicular
9:00 Check out the Buda Castle. There’s a ton to do here, not just in the castle proper (which has an awesome history of the city and Hungary as nation/empire) but in the entire area at the top of the hill. Walking through the castle and looking at the exhibits should take about an hour and a half to two hours. Also, near the castle make sure to find the Liberty Statue, a monument to those who lost their lives in WWII.
11:00 Besides the wonderful history museum housed in the castle, there is also a fantastic art collection on display at the Hungarian National Gallery. If you didn’t grab a bite beforehand, there’s a marvelous little cafe inside the gallery that has top notch pastries and other snacks. I believe you get free admittance with the Budapest City Card to the MNG, so definitely take advantage of this if you can.
13:00 Take a break from the overwhelming history of the Hungarian people by having a traditional Hungarian buffet lunch. There’s a cafe not too far away from the castle (still on the hill) called Vár Bistro that serves a delicious multitude of options for a filling, quick lunch stop.
14:00 Before heading down from the hill, make sure to go over to Fisherman’s Bastion. There is a small charge (I think it was like 2000 HUF) to go up on the battlements, but the views are worth every penny (see my terrible selfie below).

15:00 Take some time to amble along the river bank on the Buda side of the Danube. There are some lovely parks right along the river bank. If you’d like to take a dip in Budapest’s famous thermal baths, there’s one at the base of the hill called Gellert Baths. It can be wonderfully relaxing after all of that walking!
17:00 Grab some gelato (there are plenty of stands all over the base area of the hill) and get ready for another climb. Head toward the Elisabeth Bridge and rather than crossing it to Pest, turn the opposite way toward the green hill. At the top of this hill stands Citadella, a Hungarian fortress dating back to the revolution in 1848. The castle itself reflects classic Hungarian architecture with a large copper dome and it an impressive landmark. But what is even more beautiful is the view from the top of the hill. If you want to snap some photos of sunset over Budapest, this is the best spot to do so. Explore the green space to your heart’s content.
19:30 Before calling it a night, stop by the famous Cafe Gerbaud for dinner and a glass of Tokaji (Toh-kahj), the traditional (and delicious!) Hungarian white wine.

Day Two
10:00 We’re starting off a little later today because I end the day later, feel free to adjust this based on your preference for going out. After spending an entire day in Buda with castles, I thought I’d steer you toward a completely different part of the city. We’re going to check out the easterly part of Pest, starting at Hero’s Square. This area is a dedicated UNESCO Heritage site meant to honor the many Hungarian heroes who’ve fought the many invading forces and who’ve ruled over the vast Hungarian empire. It’s a visually stunning and overwhelming site and I recommend taking some time to take in the whole square.
11:00 Flanking either side of Heroes’ Square are two fantastic museums: The Museum of Fine Arts and the Budapest Hall of Art. When you’re a civilization that dates back to the late 9th Century, you have a lot of time to collect and develop a lot of art. Take your time in both of these fantastically curated museums before venturing on.
14:00  If you don’t stop for a bite in the museum’s cafe, I would recommend lunching at Robinson. It’s right along the lake in the park behind Heroes’ Square and lunch tends to be a little more affordable than their dinner options. 

15:00 Once you’ve had your fill for lunch, head to the green space behind Heroes’ Square. This is one of the largest dedicated green spaces in Budapest called Varosliget, or City Park. There is so much to explore in this park and there is always something to do regardless of season. If you’re visiting in the colder months, definitely check out the ice rink, they charge a small admission fee and even offer skate rentals so you don’t have to remember your own. If you’re visiting in the warmer months, there are a plethora of castles to meander through, the most prominent of which is the Vajdahunyad; this is a castle which was built in 1895 to celebrate a millennium of Hungarian history and culture. However, the crown jewel of City Park can be visited year round: The Budapest Zoo and Botanical Gardens. The zoo boasts a fantastic collection of both domestic and exotic animals and the gardens are absolutely stunning.
18:00 When you’re ready for dinner, head back toward the city center to Cafe Kor. They deliciously combine classic Hungarian flavors with a variety of gourmet cooking techniques. And best of all is that it’s all very reasonably priced.
20:00 One thing Budapest is most well known for are it’s ruin bars. These are bars and clubs that have been built into abandoned buildings; think dilapidated Hapsburg-era manses, out of use factories, etc. While I was in Budapest, I had a fantastic time drinking and dancing at Morrison’s 2. This is one of the largest ruin bars in Budapest, with six different dance rooms plus an open air garden in the middle of the excavated building it occupies. It’s a great place to catch a football match, dance the night away or just take the edge off of a long day of touristing.

Day Three
8:00 Hopefully you’re not too hungover this morning because we’re heading to one of the most iconic buildings in Budapest, the Hungarian Parliament Building. Situated right along the Danube and built in the instantly recognizable Gothic Revival style, the Hungarian Parliament Building is the centerpiece of Budapest’s skyline. Whether parliament is in session, there are guided tours of the building (lasting about 45 minutes and offered in Hungarian and English) as well as a small museum inside which talks about the history of the building and the legislative body which occupies it. There is a small admission fee which goes toward the upkeep of the building.
10:00 If you’ve had your fill of Hungarian politics, make your way slightly away from the river and back to the Inner City. Along the way, you’ll pass Saint Stephen’s Basilica. Though the interior of this basilica is drab and gloomy, it’s well worth the journey inside and the climb to the top of its dome for the incredible views of the city on the Pest side of the Danube. And the entrance fee to St. Stephen’s is much more reasonable than what they charge at Fisherman’s Bastion!
12:00 The Jewish community in Budapest is one of the largest in Europe, and Jewish people have occupied the city even longer than the Magyar conquerers of the 9th century. Having such a long and storied tradition in Budapest, there is a wealth of information and museums about Jewish history in the Jewish Quarter. The best, in my opinion, is the Great Synagogue. Besides being another architectural marvel of this city, they also boast one of the best Jewish history museums with information about both the history of Jews in Hungary as well as information about how both Orthodox and Reformed Jewish people live their day to day lives. Most stunning, however, is the Tree of Life Memorial, which is a tree that was planted over the mass graves used by the Nazis during WWII. It stands as a living and breathing monument to those who were massacred unjustly during the war.

I would recommend leaving the rest of the day for shopping along Váci Utca or having one last soak in a thermal bath before treating yourself to a nice dinner and getting ready to leave. Budapest is a lovely city which is steeped in history and is definitely the kind of place worth coming back to. Hopefully this itinerary gave you a good taste of what the city has to offer. Until next time!

I am so excited to welcome you to my blog, Voyagons! This blog started out as a project to help students with access to limited resources find a way to make studying abroad possible. After surviving 14 weeks in London on a $400 a month stipend, I fell in love with traveling and discovered that with a little ingenuity and some really good planning, I could make most of my travel dreams a reality. I have been so fortunate that since then I’ve been able to visit some amazing places and I am so happy to share how I made it happen with you.

I’d love to hear from all of you out there! If there’s a place or issue you’d like me to tackle, if you’d like to write a guest piece for the blog or if you’d just like to drop a line, please feel free to email me at voyagons@gmail.com. I check that box daily and I take all suggestions and ideas to heart. 

If you like my content, please feel free to share it on any platform you enjoy using. I have a dedicated Twitter account (@Voyagons) and a Facebook page (@Voyagons), as well as pinnable graphics at the bottom of every entry.

I hope I’m able to help those with the will to travel find their way out into the world. To quote one of my favorite authors, George R. R. Martin, “It is a big and beautiful world. Most of us live and die in the same corner where we were born and never get to see any of it. I don’t want to be most of us.” And I encourage you to heed that pull and not be “most of us,” either.

I’m excited to share some of the best travel tools I’ve discovered since I started traveling regularly a few years ago. These are my favorite sites and apps for everything from planning my trips to finding the best deals to making sure I’m not “getting what I paid for.” Please let me know in the comments below if there’s something I’ve missed or a lesser known tool you would recommend for frequent and/or budget travelers.

For Planning/Collaborating

Google Sheets – https://www.google.com/sheets/about/
Once I’ve decided on a destination, my first step in the travel process is developing a budget. Besides this being a FREE spreadsheet service, GS has a ton of features that make it super easy to plan financially for a new trip. I usually just drop in my usual expenses for a trip, estimate out cost based on currency conversion rates, and run a few formulas to add everything up to give me my big number. It’s also a great service if you’re planning a group trip because you can invite your other travel companions to come in and either work on their own budget or just check out a breakdown of your costs. It’s a really intuitive application and not hard to wrap your head around. You do need a google account in order to use the service, but honestly, who in this day and age doesn’t have one?

Travefy – https://travefy.com/
Travefy is a great service for even the most Type A traveler. With itinerary options ranging from autofilled flight details to lodging recording to activity planning, you really can’t go wrong. This service also allows you to collaborate with your fellow travelers and has cool features like cost-sharing and a polling feature. No more worrying about being paid back for shared expenses or one person hijacking your itinerary. This works best with either the iOS or desktop platforms, I’ve not had as much success with the android app on my tablet.

Pinterest – http://www.pinterest.com
Pinterest is an underrated travel planning resource. It’s much more targeted than your typical google search. Besides having thousands of travel bloggers’ experience at your fingertips, you can also find all kinds of resources that you might have had to sift through thousands of search engine pages to find. It’s a great starting point once you’ve figured out whereabouts you’re looking to travel next.

For Flights/Transport

Hitlist – Hitlist iOS App
This app is the both the spontaneous and rigorously planned travelers’ dream app. You start with your home airport(s) and add all of your dream destinations and Hitlist will notify you when the best deals to these destinations occur. Make sure you enable notifications and be prepared to make purchases on the fly.

Momondo – www.momondo.com
A Swedish friend of mine turned me onto Momondo and ever since it’s the only place I go to book my flights. They have a really neat feature that sorts flights into three ways before you even start filtering results. They sort by cheapest, shortest and “best.” Their algorithm for finding the “best” flight balances price and time differentials between flights. So for those of you who have a little wiggle room in your budgets (lucky you!), you can choose how much trade off you’re willing to do price-wise for a shorter/more direct flight.

Rome2Rio – www.rome2rio.com
So, in some parts of the world it can be super difficult to find out what different kinds of transport are available to get from point A to point B. Enter Rome2Rio, a great resource that scours the web for you to tell you how to get anywhere you want to go and offer estimates for the cost. This is an especially great tool when traveling within a country as you might not know about a local charter bus service or that renting a car will be considerably cheaper than any other option.

For Accommodations

HostelWorld – www.hostelworld.com
HostelWorld is great because it’s a one stop shop for finding hostels where you’re looking to travel and the integrated reviews. They offer great features like map views for your search so you can find a place close to where you want to be in town and you can filter by co-ed or single gender dorms and find a variety of locations including hostels, bed and breakfasts and hotels.

Airbnb – www.airbnb.com
For those of you looking for more of an authentic travel experience, I highly recommend using Airbnb. It’s great because you can either be hosted by a local or rent out a local flat in a more residential area. I’ve found that staying in these tends to land you closer to more moderately priced cafes, local grocers and gives you an oasis outside of the usual touristing districts. Oftentimes these’ll come with great amenities like a washer and/or dryer, fully stocked kitchens and the possibility of your own private local tour guide (depending on your host, of course). I had a great experience in Iceland and I’ll be giving you all the skinny on my stays in London, Edinburgh and Dublin next month.

Hotel Tonight – Hotel Tonight iOS App
For more spontaneous travelers, Hotel Tonight is a must. You will get the absolute best deals by using this app because hotels are trying to fill what will otherwise be empty rooms for the night. When my boyfriend and I went to Baltimore for MDW and ended up needing a place to crash on an unexpected extra night, it was nice to just pull up the app, pop in my location and have options without having to worry about where we were going to stay or trying to get back to DC when we were seriously plastered and in no condition to drive or navigate an Amtrak and metro back home.

TripAdvisor – www.tripadvisor.com
Last but certainly not least is this great travel standby. Honest reviews and great advice from people who have been where you’re going. I always check reviews of both hostels/hotels and my sight seeing locations to make sure I’m not going to be disappointed and know any tips or tricks for getting discounted tickets or free entry.

I’m sure there are plenty of other tools out there I’ve missed. Leave a few of your favorites in the comments or my ask box and they might end up on my next iteration of this list. More info on the LED trip coming soon!

It’s always been my contention that you should never spend more than three days in a single city or place on vacation at a time. This isn’t to say that you can’t come back (this was my return trip to rediscover the beauty of Paris), but you don’t want to get bored and you also don’t want to overbook your schedule. This is a suggested itinerary based on my two trips (Thanks Dr. Isaacson, Dr. Decker, Dr. DePaul and the rest of the FSU London Study Centre staff for the first trip!) and please keep in mind that I am more into art than shopping and that my budget was pretty much on the economy side.

Day 1
08:00 – Breakfast (Either grab a coffee and roll at your hostel or a nearby cafe)
09:00 – Start at Notre Dame, tour the inside and definitely check out the Rose Window
10:30 – Visit the Conciergerie and see the cell Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI occupied shortly before their beheadings. It’s a pretty small museum, so I wouldn’t anticipate needing more than a half hour to make it all the way about.
11:00 – Take Pont Neuf (one of the most beautiful bridges in Paris) to the left bank (Rive Gauche). Walk along the Seine to the Musée d’Orsay and explore the museum. 
13:00 – There’s a lovely cafe in the museum, but as is usually the case of food vendors in museums, it is pretty highly priced. While the food is delicious, I would recommend lunching a few blocks south of the museum at one of the local cafes.
14:00 – Make your way back to the Seine and stroll along to the west. If you or any of your travel companions are interested in military history, I highly recommend you stop by the Hotel des Invalides. And even if you aren’t, it’s a beautiful building that showcases the height of French Baroque architecture, perfect eye candy for your stroll toward the Eiffel Tower
15:00 – The walk from D’Orsay to the Eiffel Tower should only take you about 15 minutes, so assuming the line isn’t ridiculous, you should be able to start your ascent of the Tower by 3. When purchasing your ticket, make sure to say “Vers le haut (vayr-le-oht)” so you get a ticket to the top of the tower. My first time visiting the Tower, I made the mistake of assuming the ticket seller understood when I said “all the way up” in English and was quite dismayed when after standing in a queue for a good half hour my ticket wasn’t valid. Make sure to visit the observation deck on the lower level and snap some photos before ascending all the way. Sacré Cœur is especially visible to the northeast of the Tower.
16:30 Most museums in Paris close around 5 PM, so if you would rather duck into the Musée Rodin, do this before heading to the Eiffel Tower. However, if you happen to be doing this leg of the itinerary on a Wednesday, the museum is open until 8 PM, so take advantage! This museum is a delightful collection of Rodin’s sculptures, as well as his sketches and paintings. 
18:00 If you’re up for a bit of a stroll, head across the river on Pont Alexandre III, another one of Paris’ famed bridges, and stay on Avenue Winston Churchill until you reach the Champs Elysées. One of Paris’ most famous boulevards, the Champs Elysées is home to fantastic shopping including some of Paris’ most coveted brands (I’m looking at you Chanel). While I wouldn’t recommend actually shelling out for luxury goods, window shopping never hurt anyone 😉 If you head to the left (northwest), it’s about a mile walk to get to the Arc de Triomphe, and the walk is well worth it. Going to the top of the Arc gives you some of the best views of the city, and a very nice, relatively unobstructed view of the Eiffel Tower. An adult ticket for the lift is 9,50 euros, however, if you’re an under-26 you may be eligible for the reduced rate of 6 euros (and it’s free if you’re a citizen of an EU country!). The last lift goes up at 10 PM in the summer and 9:30 in the winter, so it’s quite easy to fit this into your schedule at any point.
19:00 Take a break for dinner and wine, but again, I recommend not eating directly on the Champs Elysées. There are some beautiful cafés in the 16éme. I love Comptoir de l’Arc on Avenue Marceau, it’s reasonably priced for the area and has traditional French fare. If you’re traveling solo, I recommend eating at the bar. It’s pretty casual and either the bar keep or fellow travelers around you will keep you company.

If you want to explore the Champs Elysées some more at night, by all means, knock yourself out. I usually end any planned touring around 7 so I can take a few hours to wind down and get a good night’s sleep.

Day 2
08:00 – Start at Place de la Concorde. Formerly Place de la Révolution, this beautiful square was the home of the infamous guillotine during the Jacobins’ Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. The beautiful fountains and obelisk now commemorate those who gave their lives for the République. The Place gives way to the Jardins des Tuileries, an example of the beautiful French Gardens that were popular from the 14th to the late 18th centuries. If you are a fan of impressionist artists, be sure to stop by the Musée Orangerie in the southwest corner of the Jardins. It’s the near-permanent home of eight of Monet’s water lily murals as well as several paintings by Cézanne, Matisse and Renoir.
09:00 – The Jardins des Tuileries lead up to the Musée du Louvre. I will warn you now, the museum is massive and even if you only spent thirty seconds looking at every piece of art and artifact in the museum, it would take you several lifetimes to see everything in the museum. I recommend following the highlights listed on the tourism brochure they have at the information desk and taking a guided tour. The docents are very knowledgeable and may introduce you to pieces you didn’t know were in the collection.
12:00 – Take a break. You can only look at so much art before it all blurs together and you cease being able to appreciate it. The café in the museum is actually quite good with a diverse array of food that anyone could appreciate.
13:00 – Head to the Musée D’Orsay RER station. Take the C5 toward Versailles – Rive Gauche. The train ride is about 45 minutes long, so I recommend you bring a book or magazine to peruse. You’ll get off where the train terminates, so you don’t really need to pay attention to the stations along the way. It’s a quick hike from the train station to the palace, you should be fine if you follow the crowds, or if by some miracle there aren’t many people about when you arrive, follow the signs that point toward Chateau Versailles.
17:00 – Make your way back to Paris. A good place to wrap up your day after looking at tons of art and grandeur will be Père Lachaise. The cemetery is home to several famous grave sites including Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde and
Georges Bizet.
19:00 – Being a bit out of the way from the center of Paris, the 20ème is home to a number of affordable restaurants for dinner. When I visited, I went to L’Entropot on Rue Sorbier, but there are tons of options, so just stroll about until you find something you fancy.

Day 3
08:00 – Start the day by heading to the Abbesses metro station. When you exit the train, please please please take the lift to the top of the station. Abbesses is the deepest metro station in the Paris system and has an ungodly number of stairs from the platform to the exit. The exit of the station drops you in the heart of picturesque Montmartre. Fans of Amélie will recognize the neighborhood from various scenes in the movie. From the metro station, head east until you reach the Funicilaire. You can either take it to the base of Sacré Cœur, or you can climb the stairs. I’ve done both and highly recommend taking the stairs if you’re fit enough to do so. It’s quite rewarding once you’re climbing that last flight and you see the basilica rising above you, it’s just a nice memory to have stored away. Also, beware the “bracelet people” hanging out by the funicular, they’ll try to lure you in with hand made bracelets or string and once they’ve gotten a bit tied about your wrist, they’ll demand payment in an absurd amount for the product. Just say “Non, merci” or ignore them and at whatever cost, do not let them get near you. Take the time to tour the basilica and definitely take advantage of the panoramic views of the city.
09:00 – If you haven’t already had breakfast, there’s a lovely little shop right by the basilica which has fantastic pétit café and pan au chocolat. It looks like a tourist shop because they do sell all manner of tchotchkes and souvenirs, but they do have an espresso bar and pastries as well.
09:30 – Make your way back down into Montmartre. If you take the street that winds behind the basilica, and follow it to the base of the hill, you will pass one of the apartments which Vincent Van Gogh stayed in while he was living in Paris. Although a private residence, there is a blue remembrance plaque by the door of 54 Rue Lepic.
10:00 – Instead of hopping on the metro at Abbesses, walk a little further south to Pigalle and hop on the #2 in the direction of Nation. Transfer to the #11 in the direction of Châtelet at the Belleville station and get off at Rambuteau. A short walk southwest from the station will put you at one of Paris’ most famous modern art museums, Centre Georges Pompidou, Take a few hours to enjoy the more whimsical and abstract art on display
12:00 – Head south on Rue de Renard and you’ll pass Paris’ beautiful City Hall (Hôtel de Ville), cross the Pont d’Arcole and the Petit Pont and continue along Rue de Petit Pont. If you’re traveling with a book lover, be sure to stop by the Shakespeare Book Company and purchase a book as a souvenir. They’ll stamp any book you buy! Once you hit Boulevard Saint-Germain, head east until Rue de Condé, then head south. This will bring you to the famed Luxembourg Gardens and Palace. The gardens are a great place for a picnic lunch, so grab a sandwich at one of the local cafés or grab a baguette and some cheese from one of the corner shops and enjoy the rest of your afternoon by strolling about.

Of course these are only suggestions on how to best maximize your time in Paris. Please feel free to add or subtract items from this list at your pleasure. I thoroughly hope you’ll enjoy your time in one of my favorite cities and that you’ll love it enough to visit more than once!

When it comes to making travel affordable, making a budget and sticking to it (relatively, anyways) is going to be your best offense for making all your travel dreams a reality. You may not be able to stay in a posh hotel on Hyde Park with a down duvet, but that really shouldn’t matter if your main objective is to see the most of the cities you’re travelling in. Save the posh rooms for the business trips where they’ll be all you see of your destination.

Figuring Out Your Limit
The limit is how much you can reasonably save in the amount of time between when you decide you want to go on vacation and when you actually leave. The formula for this is pretty simple, add your necessary expenses (rent, utilities, cable/internet, transportation, groceries, student loan repayments) and your not really necessary but let’s be real here expenses (your daily coffee, biweekly Seamless orders, and weekly happy hour expenses) and subtract them from your take home pay (Paycheck-(necessary expenses+inevitable expenses)). The number you’re left with is your monthly saving limit. If you multiply this number by the number of months between now and your anticipated departure date, you will have your budgeting limit. Use this as your starting point, the “I can spend absolutely no more than this” amount.

Dividing Up Your Budget
This is often the hardest part of budgeting. At this point in the process, I tend to look up the exchange rate for the local currency and the standard of living. This helps me develop a realistic budget for my incidentals (for example on my last trip knowing that my Euro was going to stretch further in Brussels than it was in Paris), which are almost always the most flexible part of a travel budget. I usually allot about 30% of my budget to overseas flights, 15% to lodging (I stay in hostels or use my credit card points to keep this cost down), 15% to transportation between cities and the other 40% to incidentals (meals, entertainment, souvenirs, and most importantly, coffee). Obviously you can adjust this based on your wants and needs, but I find that this gives me a good balance and leads to more spending on experiences during the trip rather than little used luxuries around the trip.

How to Save on Expenses
Besides the flexibility in your incidentals, also try to find deals on your two biggest ticket items: Transportation and Lodging. If you can save more by flying into or via another country/region and travelling to your desired destination, most of the time it’s worth the extra time associated with it. I use the following formula for my determination: (Where savings equal original cost minus budget cost) Savings>(additional travel time x hourly wage) + added expense. I measure the worth of my time by my current hourly wage simply because it is the most consistent way to measure it. So for my Paris trip, I flew JFK to Brussels. The added train time to JFK and to Paris was only 5 hours and my hourly wage now is approximately $21/hr. So my savings flying via JFK and Brussels had to be more than $105 plus extra expenses (train tickets and transfer costs from the train to the airport). Lodging is also an easy way to save if you don’t need many amenities. Stay in hostels and in dorm rooms. Yes, you have to share with other people, but it’s a great way to meet fellow travellers and how much time are you actually going to spend in your room? If the answer is the hour before I go to bed and the hour when I wake up, is it really necessary to have your own space?

I hope you find this helpful in achieving your travel dreams! For the record, I’m usually able to save ~$400-500 a month for 3-4 months before setting out on my journey, but I factor in the paycheck I get while I’m abroad into my savings. If it’s going to other things (bills, ugh), I have to save more in advance. While it may seem like a lot at first, putting that money away is going to make you so much happier in the long run. Trust me, the experiences you have travelling will far outweigh any instant gratification of an extra meal out or a designer handbag.

Happy Travelling!