Before you leave home, a good travel tip is to get some currency local to the country you’re going to visit.  In most cases for Europe, change some dollars into euros at your local national bank or at AAA.  For longer trips, I also like to carry some euro travelers checks – available at AAA, or from American Express outlets which usually include your local banks.

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Avoid using either airport, railway station or store front ”currency exchanges” Read the rest of this entry

Here are some insiders travel tips for you:

One of the fun things about taking a trip is that you

can go buy some new stuff – probably most women enjoy

picking out some new duds, whereas guys think about

cameras, binocs and similar new toys.

In fact, in defense of my gender, picking out toys for

travel can indeed make the trip even more enjoyable.

Maybe for a travel camera, small size, improved

telephoto capabilities, extended battery life can mean

the difference in getting that great shot of a Greek

mountain goat, for instance. 

photo credit: John Kratz

Or perhaps some lightweight noise-cancelling headphones

can spell a really restful sleep on a long flight. And Read the rest of this entry

Planning another trip to Greece and Italy got me thinking about the insider travel concept.  because of numerous other trips to these same areas, such issues as where to go, where to stay, and what to do are not problems, but just choices.

This knowledge was earned by both reading and doing. One time, we marched out of a really nasty (but highly guide-book recommended) hotel in Rome and walked literally across the street to a much better choice. We knew of the second one from walking into the lobby earlier and scouting it out.  Since then, we always are ready to look into interesting restaurants, hotels, local attractions for our future reference.

photo credit: pfala

Don’t miss talking to local people – knowing even a few words of the local language will help a lot – ask where they eat, or where they would stay. We found two of our favorite eateries in all of Italy just Read the rest of this entry