So why do it? “Staycations”, as they’re called, have become increasingly popular in the recent economically challenged times and are likely to stay that way if fuel prices continue to rise. The concept is self-explanatory: you stick around your hometown on vacation. But it can easily sound boring. Haven’t you already done everything you can at home? You’ve been to the best malls, eaten at the best restaurants, are over the landmarks, so where’s the excitement?

Maybe finding the unvisited hot spots in your area is the excitement? We tend to overlook a lot of the fringe fun in our respective regions. An hour or so driving outside the city limits wouldn’t hurt your gas tank as much as a trip across the country, yet you might find terrific campsites or beautiful trails you’d never even heard of otherwise because you’ve only been interested in the campsites and trails in other parts of the country. Staying overnight in a sleepy town you’ve researched beforehand that has a surprising amount to offer could be a great cheap way to experience a little shift in culture without shifting money around your bank accounts. You might find a town that has horse riding, wine country, a festival, trails, and more traditional entertainment for the family like bowling alleys and a movie theater.

But don’t count out the offerings of your very own hometown that you’ve maybe neglected to check up on in recent years. The local museums, especially if they have rotating gallery space, are always worth the revisit, especially if you and your family haven’t been in a while and updated installations are a certainty. You could plan your vacation around a local event like a Fourth of July fair or a popular match-up series between a local sports team and a rival. The options are endless if you get creative enough or plan early enough.

Ideally we always want to explore new worlds and take in new culture. Traveling is the best way to do this, but sometimes new worlds and new culture are right around the corner. You just got to walk around the block and see for yourself. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed in what your city has to offer if you’re open to a little legwork and a little adventure.

Case in point – the cruise has four days at sea.

I really love cruises because they take care of everything for you. You are basically living on a floating hotel with tons to do and the freedom to plan your own schedule the way you want to. You can hop off the ship on the non-Sea days and see the local flora and fauna, shop the shops, see the sights, and then hop back on the boat to eat, drink and be merry.

The downside of cruises is that I often get bored of the ship after a day. While I’ve never been on any of the megaships, like the Oasis of the Seas or the Queen Mary, I’ve been on my fair share of fairly large cruise ships and I’m usually bored after a day or two. There’s only so much time I can sit by the pool or roll the dice at a craps table.

So while cruises with many sea days are often very affordable, probably because they can sell you more drink and entice you to gamble more, I usually pass on them.

Passport Entry Requirements

• If you travel by air from any international location, you are required to have a U.S. Passport Book in order to regain entry.
• If you travel by land or sea from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda or the Caribbean Region, you will need to supply a U.S. Passport Book or Card.
• If you travel from any U.S. territory, you only need a valid photo ID.

Visa Requirements

If you travel to Canada and are a citizen of the United States, you do not need a visa to visit Canada. Specifically the following do not need a visa to visit Canada – citizens of the United States as well as:

persons lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence who are in possession of their alien registration card (Green card) or can provide other evidence of permanent residence;

If you travel to Mexico and are a citizen of the United States, you will not need a visa but you will need a U.S. Passport (to show that you can return to the United States) or other form of citizenship identification.

Part of the reason why no one has gone on another cruise has to do with the destination, most of the shorter cruises out of Baltimore go to Bermuda. While Bermuda is a perfectly fine place, it’s difficult to justify repeat trips within such a short period of time. If you’re willing to go a little longer, the Bahamas and the Eastern Caribbean start to become options as they are farther away. There’s nothing anyone can do about that, ships can only sail so quickly so your options are always limited.

If you do want to sail out of Baltimore, I recommend that you take a cruise to Bermuda. You can reach Bermuda with a day’s worth of sailing, meaning you only lose two days at sea getting to and from the island. I personally like the shore more than the ship but if you are the reverse, then more days at sea won’t hurt.

Royal Caribbean has a 5 day cruise from Baltimore to Bermuda on the Enchantment of the Seas. Across the five days, you spend only 28 hours at Kings Wharf (10AM on Day 3 to 2PM on Day 4). The rest of the time is spend sailing.

If you are taking a cruise that’s 7 days or longer, and you don’t mind days at sea, then the eastern Caribbean and other destinations (New England & Canada!) become options for you. If you have two sailing days and a five day cruise, you spend half the time on the ship. If you are unlucky and go during high winds/high seas, you may have a five day cruise entirely spent at the sea!

If you don’t like so many days at sea, I recommend flying to Florida to get your cruise fix. You trade in a day or two (or three!) of sailing for a quick flight and more time at fun destinations.

(Photo: ktylerconk)

One of our favorite in the region is Boordy Vineyards, which we visited just a short time ago for their Spring Case club event. While that event had a fee, to cover the food, music, complimentary wine glasses, and very generous samplings of every one of their wines, many wineries will charge you nothing to visit.Some will charge a nominal fee, a few dollars, to sample all of their wines.

Wineries can be a lot of fun but it’s important to remember that you still need a designated driver. It may not have the feel of a night out but you are still drinking alcohol so be careful.

(Photo: armykat1014)

How to Get There

Metro It!
The closest stations to the Tidal Basin are: Smithsonian (Orange/Blue Lines), Federal Triangle (Orange/Blue), L’Enfant Station (Orange/Blue/Green/Yellow), and SEU Waterfront (Green) is the closest to the events at the Waterfront. Here is a map of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (the Metro) to help you plan your trip.

Its a popular event, so DC is packed with tons of people I suggest that you take public transportation into the Mall. (The Mall is what DCer’s call the area of grass that is in between the Smithsonian Museums, that has the Capitol Building on one end and the Washington Monument on the other end.)

If you want to drive, you can park and take a shuttle provided by the Festival, here are some additional directions for parking. Just keep in mind that DC has some of the worst traffic in the states so it may be easier to drive to a metro station and take the metro from there!

Review

The main reason to go down to the National Cherry Blossom Festival is to see the cherry blossoms. They did not disappoint! Everywhere you look around the tidal basin is a sea of light pink that frames our world famous monuments. It was beautiful and well worth fighting the crowds to get some good pictures in.

However, the food offerings and the music selection left us wanting more! The line for food on Saturday at 5pm was easily 100 people long. There was only one tent serving food beside the tidal basin and nothing else in sight. (You could walk back up to the Washington Monument for some ice cream though… ).

Since we weren’t going to stand in the long line we decided walked down to the waterfront to listen to the live music and check out the other food offerings. Its a decent walk, maybe 20 minutes but it was neat to see all the fresh fish stalls and the boats. When we got down to the waterfront the food offerings were pretty slim. They had corn dogs and Safeway was giving out reusable grocery bags with raisins, a granola bar and some fruit snacks in it. That was it!

My friends stood in line at the restaurants along the waterfront for over 2.5 hrs waiting to be seated! But they said the food was good when they finally got it Also, they were able to see the fireworks from their spot in line, another bonus.

Summary

If you end up going to see the cherry blossoms, I recommend that you pack a picnic dinner and enjoy the sights of the tidal basin and the monuments from up near the Washington Monument. I think if you move down to the tidal basin after it gets dark you should be able to see the fireworks from there (make sure you’re going on firework night). This way you can miss most of the crowds, see the fireworks and, of course, enjoy the cherry blossoms!

For more information check out the official website for the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

Have fun!

Eurail Passes

A Eurail pass is primarily a train ticket that allows great freedom when travelling in Europe that is only available to non-European residents. There are many options, and because of which, a wide range of costs. A great resource that goes into depth on Eurail passes is Rick Steves’ Europe website. It goes over the different type of Eurail passes and their individual pros and cons. The general idea is that you purchase a ticket that has a set number of days that you can use it for as many train trips that you want to go on. It has to be validated before its used, and if used properly can save you a lot of money and time!

The Good:

Flexibility!
When using a Eurail pass you can board a train without stopping at the ticket office. Its quick and allows you great flexibility. Once on the train and in a seat you just write down that day’s date on your pass and it acts as your ticket. This allows you to have the most flexible travel schedule so you can board any trains. There are a few exceptions, including overnight trains and some trains that require reservations, but for the most part you are able to travel with great freedom.

Add-Ons
With a Eurail pass you get additional discounts and it can be used for more than train trips! Some of the best freebies are the free transport on International Ferries, the scenic river cruises in Germany, and Swiss Lake Cruises!.

The Bad

Expensive
The tickets range for youth travelers (26 or younger) from $297 (5 days, 2 months, 3 neighboring countries) to $1316 (21 countries, 3 months unlimited travel). The best prices are for those 26 years old and under, but don’t despair if you are over 26, you still can find some good deals if you are travelling with a companion (15% discount). The Eurail is expensive but if you are doing lots of long trips, it may be a worthwhile deal.

Overall?

How do you know if the Eurail pass is for you? The way we determined this was to look at the trips we were going to take, find out the prices and then directly compare it to the price of the similar pass. Our five day pass valid for travel in Germany and Switzerland ended up costing about the same as our per day travels for that 5 days but made it comparable and with the added flexibility made it a good choice. I used Rick Steves’ map of prices/times and his worksheet to determine what would be a good deal. (He also has country specific maps if you’ll be mostly travelling in one country.)

Side Note:

The last time I was in Europe I lived Germany in a dormitory-style apartment building while attending school at Universitat Dortmund.

(That’s me in the front row, third from the right.)

This allowed me to purchase a DB Card, which gave me 25% off all my train tickets. I compared it to the Eurail pass and it was much cheaper since the majority of my traveling was going to be within Germany. If you’re going to be living in one country and doing most of your traveling in that country check out its’ discount passes for a cheaper way to travel!

Why? Taxis are expensive!

Taxis are Expensive

During our time in Miami we took taxis from our hotel in downtown Miami to South Beach and to Little Havana. We also used a shuttle service to drop us off at the Ft. Lauderdale Airport (FLL). The combined costs of these taxi rides were ~$200! So how does that compare with the costs of renting a car?

How Much Would A Car Rental Cost?

To rent a car for two days at $33/day + a $50 one-way fee to return the car to FLL with taxes costs ~$120 from the Enterprise Rent a Car office in our hotel. But you also have to take into account overnight parking at our hotel +$30 and the parking fees $1/hr in South Beach and free in Little Havana! Parking fees + rental costs + a tank of gas adds up to ~$190.

Bottom Line: Taxi or Rental Car?

I think it’s up to you. The difference in cost is less than $10, so if you will be traveling around Miami especially to places in Coral Gables, the Everglades or Little Havana having a rental car is the way to go. But if you’re just going to hang out in South Beach I think that using only taxis is the way to go! Also, keep in mind, if you don’t have a designated driver, taking a taxi is the only way to go.

Additional Tips

Try booking your rental car through Priceline, or Hotwire. I read on biddingfortravel.com that you could get a weekly rental for as little as $15/day! I tried it but couldn’t get anyone to take my bids.

Here is some more information about parking in Miami.

After we arrived home I decided that I wanted to make a photo album (or photobook) in place of the souvenirs that we could have purchased. After getting married, I researched websites that you could use to make a “professional” looking photo album but never tried it out. I thought that our trip would be a perfect chance to try it out!

Inkubook

Pluses
I chose Inkubook to make the book and had a great experience! Inkubook makes it easy to upload pictures and place them into layouts that give you options for 1 – 6+ photos on a page. You can also upload text if you want more of a story-type book! I originally was using the “Travel Journal” theme with an “11 x 8.5 – The Classic Landscape Hardcover Book.” Along the way I realized that my pictures had better impact with just plain black backgrounds so changing it was really easy!

Minuses
It took me a while to get the hang of Silverlight, the software that Inkubook uses to design the photobooks. Once I got used to it, I was able to finish my book quickly. The only downside is that you have to use the predesigned layouts that are offered for each of the pages, and so if they do not have a layout that you like then you’ll have to try something similar. Also, printing can take 2 -6 business days. When you are so excited to see your book printed 2 -6 days is a long time to wait!

Overall, it was a good experience. I ended up paying $45.95 for my 11.5 x 8.5 hardbound book with 43 pages! I think a pretty good deal. Plus, I would spent much more than $46 on knickknacks during our trip and this book can decorate our coffee table tastefully for far longer than a “Toadal Choas, Bermuda” shot glass.

Happy travels!

Unfortunately for us, the list of Things to Do in Columbia is pretty bare, only one listing, but that’s because we’re not picking a large enough geographic area. Instead, we broadened it to the whole of Maryland. We figured we’d get the whole list and figure out where everything was! Maryland as 537 Things to Do.

Even better, there are thousands of places to eat.