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At last we have come to our final blog post of the semester. Having shared with you guys many different places to travel including but not limited to Spain, New York City, and Guatemala, as well as how to make your own Bucket list, I think it is only fitting to wrap up this blog with a post about how to be a good traveler in general!

 

Traveling the world means expanding your outlook and perspective about many different things like cultures, languages, clothing, and even food! Traveling can make you a better person, better at communicating with different types of people, and can inspire you to push your limits and step outside of your comfort zone.

 

Everyone will have both good and bad traveling experiences throughout their lifetime but that is in itself the beauty of traveling. Just like life you take risks and learn from your mistakes. So what is a good traveler then?

 

1. A good traveler is respectful of other travelers as well as the natives around them. Speaking in a conversational tone and in a way that doesn’t disturb other visitors is essential. Whether you are touring a historical church or hiking a famous volcano. Know your atmosphere and what is and is not appropriate in that context.

 

2. A good traveler is an educated traveler. Now, I’m not saying that you have to know every historical detail about your next destination but it would be smart to research where you’re so that you are aware of the cultures, expectations, and rules of where you are traveling to.

 

3. A good traveler is aware of their surroundings. No matter how beautiful your destination looks on the internet you can never be sure until your feet are on the ground and you can see the land with your own eyes. That being said, even the prettiest places have their dangers. Be aware of the people and activities going around you. Trust your gut and leave your location if you feel uncomfortable or unsafe in any way shape or form .

 

4. A good traveler is respectful of the native culture of their destination. Each country, island, etc. has their own way of life. Be sure not to be a bad tourist by disturbing that atmosphere if you can. Many destinations are accustomed to tourists but it is important not to overstep your boundaries nor overstay your welcome.

 

5. Most importantly, a good traveler is a conscious traveler. Simply put, leave your destination how it was when you arrived. Don’t litter, don’t destroy property, and don’t smoke in smoke-free zones. Other tourists and natives want to enjoy wherever you are as much as you do so don’t make it harder for them to do that. Plus if you love where you ended up you want future tourists to love it as much as you do!

 

I hope this blog has given you the itch to travel and expand your horizons like never before. Share below if you have any travel plans for the summer, tips for future travelers, or anything travel related in general!

I just booked a round trip vacation to Guatemala for $398. Yes, less than $400! I’m off on a jet plane with my two best friends in late May and I couldn’t be more excited! The best part is that my one friend (Nicole) is originally from Guatemala so we will be staying with her extended family during our trip! Today’s blog is going to tell you about the key places we have on our bucket list for our trip this summer! Being that this trip is still about two months 0ut it’ll be a rough outline of our proposed activities!

Week 1:

• Lake Atitlan- “The closest thing to Eden on Earth.” -Lonely Planet Guide

The unique thing about Lake Atitlan is that it is not a “tourist destination” like Cancun or Aruba. It has not been cleaned up or pasteurized for tourists. It is wholly real in its nature, body of water, and wildlife. The local Mayans have maintained their way of life, they farm, wear their colorful clothing representing their culture, and aren’t changed or motivated to act this way by the tourism influx. Probably the most genuine place you could ever travel in my opinion.

• Acatenango

One of Guatemala’s many active volcanos that draw tourists in each and every year. Acatenango is Guatemala’s 3rd highest volcano! Next door, Volcan de Fuego is the world’s most consistently erupting volcano, and with some luck, will provide a high altitude firework show for you to enjoy from the cozy campsites of many tourist hiking companies in which guides provide a campfire, hot drinks, and a tasty dinner. You can also be adventurous and enjoy an overnight hike that takes you up the summit the next morning for a breathtaking sunrise over Guatemala.  From the crater, you will have a new vantage point of Volcan de Fuego, a view of the chain of giant volcanoes stretching from Mexico to El Salvador, the Pacific Coast, and the Antigua Valley.

• Antigua

Antigua is a small city surrounded by volcanoes in southern Guatemala. It’s known for its Spanish colonial buildings, many of them restored following a 1773 earthquake that ended Antigua’s 200-year reign as Guatemala’s colonial capital. Guatemala was the cultural, economic, religious, political and educational center for the entire region until the capital was moved.

• Guatemala City

Depending on who you talk to, Guatemala City (or Guate as it’s known) is either big, dirty, dangerous and utterly forgettable or big, dirty, dangerous and fascinating. Either way, there’s no doubt there’s an energy here unlike anywhere else in Guatemala. (Source) While many travelers skip out on this city altogether and dub Antigua as their destination, you may want to consider spending awhile in this vibrant city. It is the “HUB” of the country, with the best museums, galleries, and restaurants in the country.

• Quetzaltenango

• Quetzaltenango may well be the perfect Guatemalan town – not too big, not too small, enough foreigners to support a good range of hotels and restaurants, but not so many that it loses its national flavor. The Guatemalan ‘layering’ effect is at work in the city center – once the Spanish moved out, the Germans moved in and their architecture gives the zone a somber, even Gothic, feel. (Source)

With a whole country to explore we are sure to have our hands full for the entire two weeks! Maybe you’ll consider traveling here too! What are your summer plans? Going somewhere special? Doing anything extravagant? Leave a comment below!

One of my favorite weekend getaways is a quick trip up to New York City. What better way to spend a full 48 hours than in the city that never sleeps? With round the clock access to so many fun things, New York is the perfect place to get the most out of a short trip. While 48 hours is clearly not enough time to see and experience all that New York City has to offer, you can still do a lot in that time frame. If you’re interested in visiting the main touristy locations of the city, before you arrive, do yourself a favor and buy the NYC City Pass. This will get you into New York City’s top 6 tourist attractions: The Empire State Building, American Museum of Natural History, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Top of the Rock Observation Deck or Guggenheim Museum, Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island or   Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises, and the 9/11 Memorial & Museum or Intrepid Sea Air & Space Museum. While not all of these locations are mentioned remember this itinerary is just an idea for you to create your own unique experience filled with adventures that are most important to you! Now, it is a city so grab your walking shoes because you will not want to deal with the NYC traffic…that could take up half of your stay there, literally! Without further ado, here is the perfect itinerary for your 48 hours in NYC.

Friday Evening:

You will most likely be traveling to the city during this time! Find great travel and hotel deals on websites like Expedia or HomeAway!

Friday Late Night:

Grab dinner at one of the many phenomenal restaurants in the city, my new favorite is Junior’s Restaurant and Bakery. A few other options include Bubba Gumps, the Times Square Diner, and Gotham Pizza. But of course, t wouldn’t be a real trip to NYC if you didn’t see a show on Broadway! Stay right in Time Square for a show you will never forget. Whether it’s Waitress, The Lion King, Wicked, Hairspray or a classic, you are guaranteed a fantastic performance and a good time.

Saturday Morning: 

Travel north to start your morning by visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art (“The Met”)! With frequently rotating art, this no brainer tourist attraction is a must see! The Met Fifth Avenue presents over 5,000 years of art spanning all cultures and time periods. Since the Museum opened its doors to the public in its current location in Central Park in 1880, its footprint has expanded to cover more than two million square feet. Today, art comes alive in the Museum’s galleries and through its exhibitions and events, revealing both new ideas and unexpected connections across time and cultures. (Source )

Saturday Midday:

It is only fitting if you visit The Met that you head straight for it’s backyard, Central Park. Grab a light lunch from any of the small sandwhich shops on the Upper East Side then head straight to the center of the park for a beautiful view of the Reservoire with a view of residential NYC. You’d be amazed that this castle looking building is simply made up of apartments. Definitely a snapchat story worthy view, I’d say.

Saturday Evening:

Assuming you’re visiting during nice weather you should head to the Top of the Rock Observation Deck or The Empire State Building and climb (or ride an elevator) to the very top for a one of a kind panoramic view of the city. Going during the evening will make this experience a million times better if you can catch the sunset while you’re up there too!

 (View from the Top of the Rock Observation Deck)

(View from the top of the Empire State Building)

Sunday Morning:

My favorite part of New York City by far is Ellen’s Stardust Diner! Before you head home make sure you stop by this famous diner for the best brunch ever! This diner is unique because all of the servers are actors/actresses waiting for their big break! While serving they break out in random songs and performances mimicking their auditions for major shows on Broadway! If you love music and food, this is the place to be! You could be waiting on your burger and your server delivers it while singing a hit song from Hairspray standing behind you on a platform! You’re in for a fun filled time with this place!

Sunday Midday:

Sadly, your 48 hour journey has come to an end. Time to travel home!

Whether you use this itinerary or your own unique plans, you are destined to have an abundance of fun things to do in New York City! If NYC isn’t your favorite or you haven’t been there before, what is your favorite city to visit? Do you have your own favorite things to do, see, and eat when you’re in New York City? Please share!

No matter what branch, a favorite conversation to pass time during active duty service is to compare bases, the old and the new, the good and the bad. Being that I’m in the Air Force ROTC program here at Penn State it is highly likely that I’ll be sent to different bases during my time serving in the future. With that being said there are a few bases I would like to visit or be stationed at while serving active duty.

Accumulating top rated bases from Military Times and Air Force Times, these are the bases I would ultimately love to be stationed at or travel to someday.

• Scott Air Force, Illinois

“Depending on what lifestyle you prefer, you have the full spectrum,” Kremer said. “You can live to the east of the base, in the middle of corn fields. A number of people who work on base live in downtown St. Louis, particularly young couples without kids, [and] can go see the Cardinals, the Rams, Fox Theater [a performing arts center], all St. Louis has to offer. And then there’s the typical outstanding suburban life in the Fairview Heights area.”(Source)

• Joint Base San Antonio, Texas

The cost of living in this area can’t be beaten. Given that there are two bases near each other in this part of Texas the military atmosphere is the biggest draw for airmen and their families!

• Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio

Ohio? Yes! This base is in the perfect location, with just one tank of gas you can make it to Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Louisville — the list goes on and on!

 

• Kadena Air Force Base, Japan

This base has a bit of a sentimental value to it. Before my mom had my brother and I she was stationed here and my dad even flew to see her from California. Cute, I know! She always raves about her years spent here, the culture, the people, and the beauty of this place! I would love to get to walk in my mother’s footsteps and experience first hand what she experienced 20 years ago!

• Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska

Not only could I cross of seeing the Northern Lights with this base but I would honestly love to live in Alaska! You couldn’t get a unique experience like this living anywhere else!

While the military lifestyle is not for everyone, many people have someone in their families history who has served in one branch or another. Moving home to home can be a hard life to live but with a positive outlook, it can be a rewarding one. Seeing the world, living amongst comrades who share the same ambitions and goals as you and who love this country as much or even more than you do couldn’t be more rewarding and heartening. Hopefully you too will get to visit one of these bases or one of the thousands of others and experience for yourself what everyday life is like for those that serve this great country!

 There’s nothing more fitting than to have The Bucket List movie make an appearance on this blog!

Now, many of you know what a bucket list is. For those of you who do not, a bucket list is a list of things you have not done that you want to do before you die (or, you know, “kick the bucket”). People’s bucket lists vary drastically. Some simply want to adopt a puppy or drive cross country while others can be as daring as skydiving or braving the jungle! For the sake of this blog, my bucket list will consist of adventures or activities I want to do while traveling someday! If you dont have a bucket list of your own, start off with a few of my ideas to get yours started! The best way to get things done is to make a list and it’s definitely satisfying to check items off of a list right?

My Bucket List:

• Go skydiving (Hopefully checking this off of my list this summer!)

• Travel to Europe
• Travel to Germany and visit the Auschwitz concentration camp
  • According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, The Auschwitz concentration camp complex was the largest of its kind established by the Nazi regime. It’s important to me to not forget the lives lost during that horrific time and I think it would be very eye opening to visit the location of this camp.

• Fly in a helicopter over the Amazon

• Island hop the Caribbean
  • While I’ve been to Nassau and Aruba, I would love to see the rest of the islands!
• Experience Carnival in Rio de Janeiro

• See the Northern Lights while in Alaska
• Walk the Great Wall of China
  • The fact that it’s one of the seven wonders of the modern world — aka the perfect bucket-list material — is just a bonus.

• Get to the top of the world’s tallest building: the Burj Khalifa
  • At 2,722 feet high, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa is the world’s tallest building (for now, at least). It towers over the vast Middle Eastern metropolis, with 360-degree views that include the Dubai Mall, the world’s largest shopping center, and the Persian Gulf.

• Drive on the Autobahn
  • This is a federal controlled-access highway in Germany with no federally mandated speed limit!
• See the Great Pyramids of Egypt

• See Elephants in Africa
• Travel to all seven continents
• Drive cross country
• Walk the streets of Cuba
  • Havana is where I would absolutely love to stay and take in the colorful streets full of vibrant history and culture.

Whether your goals in life consist of traveling, learning a new skill, or doing something completely daring or out of the ordinary, this list of things to do before you “kick the bucket” is chock full of ideas to get you started! Maybe you and your friends have always wanted to start a bucket list but just needed some ideas to get you started, well here they are! Tomorrow is never guaranteed so as soon as you have your own bucket list don’t waste any time, make those dreams become a reality!

Since you’ve got a few ideas now, comment below with a bucket list of your own or a few ideas to inspire one another! (They don’t have to be travel related!)

With spring break just a week away I’m feeling a little homesick, so this week I’m going to tell you about my hometown and maybe you’ll be interested in traveling there! I am from Culpeper, a small town in Northern Virginia.

During the Civil War (1861-1865), Culpeper was a crossroads for a number of armies marching through central Virginia, with both Union and Confederate forces occupying the town by turn. In the heart of downtown, the childhood home of Confederate General A.P. Hill stands at the corner of Main and Davis streets. One block north on Main Street (present location of Piedmont Realty) was the frame house where “The Gallant Major” John Pelham died after sustaining a wound at the Battle at Kelley’s Ford.

Kelley’s Ford 1863

Kelley’s Ford 2017

Culpeper began to grow dramatically in the 1980s, becoming a community of more densely populated Northern VA and Washington D.C. suburbs. A growing number of residents of the town and county of Culpeper commute to and from those areas every day.

The heart of Culpeper is East Davis Street in downtown Culpeper. In 2011, East Davis Street was named as a 2011 America’s Great Place by the American Planning Association. 

 Davis Street in the late 80’s

 Davis Street 2018

With a rich history dating back to the Civil War, Culpeper is a popularly visited town in Virginia. Just 30 miles North of the University of Virginia and 45 miles south of Washington D.C., it is a prime location to book a hotel and take trips to other popular cities in towns across Northern Virginia. Personally, my favorite places to go in Culpeper are right downtown on Davis Street.

Davis Street consists of multiple shops containing everything from gifts and jewelry to antiques and thrift stores! Here are a couple of my favorite shops to visit when I’m walking around downtown.

Pepperberries- Now I may be a bit biased considering I have worked here for the past 4 years but this shop is my all time favorite. At Pepperberries we sell gifts, jewelry, and souvenirs unique to Culpeper. We carry brands you may know of such as Brighton, Pandora, Kate Spade, Kendra Scott, Kate Luxton, and Scout, but we also carry items that are locally made like soaps, perfumes, and bath products alike!

The Green Roost- My next favorite shop is 100% eco-friendly! Everything they sell is made with the Earth in mind! They sell organic candles, recycled clothing, bags made out of repurposed leather, and more! Some of their most popular brands include TOMS, Alex and Ani, Love Your Melon, Swell, and Yala!

Harriets General- What I love most about this store is that there is no rhyme or reason for this store, the only thing each item has in common is that everything is made in the U.S.! They have the best collection of vintage clothing and the funniest little knick knacks! The store is literally filled with something different around every corner.

Poppy & Chalk- Poppy chalk sells all repurposed furniture! They even have a service where you can bring in something old and they will turn it into something new! Two years ago I wanted to change the look of my bedroom dresser and they helped me pick out the chalk paint and new dresser knobs from their store to do the DIY project myself! I took my brown glossy dresser to a matter white in just three days with the help of this unique store!

People also travel from across the state to go to our restaurants in downtown Culpeper! A few of my favorites are Fotis, Copperfish, Flavor on Main, and the Frost Cafe!

There are just too many things I love about Culpeper but I hope this gave you an idea of our quaint little town and whether you’d like to visit someday! Surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains, countless vineyards, lakes, and history, Culpeper makes for a perfect weekend getaway. Hopefully you’ll love it as much as I do!