Tag Archives: Travel

Why Don’t Worry About Money and Just Travel is the Worst Article of All Time

Caye Caulker Belize

Nothing to see here. These chairs are not for you.

There’s one travel article that really needs to be written. It’s a column we’ve had on the back burner for quite some time and it’s titled “Why ‘Don’t Worry About Money and Just Travel’ is the Worst Advice of All Time.” Unfortunately, the piece recently published by Time.com under that same headline is not at all what we had in mind.

If only its author, Chelsea Fagan, had attempted to address the title question her story may have stood as a useful tonic against some of the more irresponsible financial advice that sometimes passes for lifestyle wisdom these days. Instead, she chose to use most of her 1,100 words to rail against a single rich blogger’s privilege. Entertaining, perhaps, in the way that watching a temper tantrum can sometimes be but about as illuminating.

Worse is that rather than tearing down the travel finance myth her title promises, the article instead enthusiastically perpetuates another, more common, myth: that only the very rich can travel. Reading Ms. Fagan you’re left with the impression that there are only two economic classes in America. On one end of the financial divide are wildly wealthy trust fund kids represented by travel bloggers who want for nothing but self-awareness. On the other end are huddled masses living lives of complete immiseration. That’s it. 

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Yes, you should still travel to Greece

Acropolis of Athens, Greece

With negotiations between the Greek government and its European creditors apparently breaking down the prospects for a financial collapse within Greece rose significantly yesterday. Stories of long lines and empty cash machines filled the news, suggesting that a full-scale run on Greek banks may already be underway. It’s uncertain at this point whether leaders can step back from this brink even if they want to.

With so much confusion and negative press it’s completely normal for naturally skittish travelers to shy away from such situations. Before leaving on our month long trip to the country in May several people expressed various levels of non-specific concern. People told us they were afraid to go to Greece but, when pressed, didn’t know exactly why. With the country’s financial crises potentially accelerating and news-streams filling up with even more bad headlines such generalized fears are likely to grow. But should that keep you away?

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Our Introduction to Greece: Stunning Santorini

Oia, Santorini, Greece

With hundreds of inhabited islands scattered in the seas off the coast of Greece, how do you choose which ones to visit?

For us, Santorini was a given.

Not only is the island’s beauty legendary, everyone we know who has been to Santorini has high praise for it. Good friends of ours honeymooned there, while one half of another, well-traveled couple we met recently told us it’s her all-time favorite place.

Santorini is popular for a reason. During our six-day stay on the island, we found that it lived up to the hype…and then some.

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One Night in Vienna

On route from the U.S. to Greece, we made the most of a 23-hour layover in Vienna. This brief but memorable visit not only introduced us to a beautiful city but also reminded us why we love Europe so much—breathtaking architecture, history at every turn, and delicious food and wine.

During our whirlwind visit to Vienna we had just enough time to…

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Why You Can’t Listen to Anyone Else About Travel, South East Asia Edition

Temple in Chiang Mai, Thailand

“There are certain things that cannot be adequately explained to a virgin by either words or pictures. Nor can any description that I might offer here even approximate what it feels like to”1 . . .  lose yourself in a place that is completely foreign.

Try as we might, no one can really tell you about travel. Some things you just have to experience for yourself. That’s true even under the best of circumstances but especially so when talking about areas that are rapidly changing, like South East Asia.

Rarely have we experienced such disconnects between the things we read and our experiences on the ground as we did in this part of the world. So much is changing so fast that the travel article written even a couple of years ago is now badly out of date. The same is true of the stories you hear on the road. Time and again we met people who told us things about places that turned out not to be true.

Here are just some of the things that surprised us on our eighteen-week tour of the region.

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