London is a fabulous, cosmopolitan city with a plethora of things to do. Luckily for the budget-savvy traveler, quite a few of those awesome things are also free! Here are a list of some of my favorite free London attractions.
Puerto Rican cuisine is all about the two P's: pork and plantains. There's also a lot of rice and fried food, all of it delicious and most of it pretty un-spicy. This surprises a lot of people who are expecting something along the lines of Mexican food, with lots of peppers and hot sauce. Instead, comida criolla in Puerto Rico is all about satisfying, flavorful dishes. Here's a list of some of the common foods and drinks in Puerto Rico, and where we ate some of our favorites!
As a popular tourist destination, Puerto Rico can be a little pricey, especially if you're staying in Old San Juan (one of the most beautiful areas!) near where the cruise ships dock. But never fear! There are plenty of free and cheap things to do once you get there! Here are some of our favorites.
Choosing a destination for your trip
The world is a big place, so choosing what exotic locale to visit can be the hardest part of planning any getaway. At least as I see it, the point of traveling is to go somewhere else to see and experience things you couldn't at home, whether that's foreign cultures, unique cuisine, mountainous landscapes, ancient ruins, a tropical climate, or famous artwork. Think about what you most want to experience, and plan from there. Sometimes it can be helpful to pick a theme. If archaeology is your thing, you could plan a trip to Mexico that's focused on Pre-Columbian ruins (Chichen Itza, Palenque, Teotihuacan, and more!), then throw in a trip to the beach, a visit to a tequila factory, and a stop by the Museo Nacional de Antropologia--one of the world's best--in Mexico City. Are castles more your style? You could plan a trip to Germany, to see one of the fairy tale-est castles ever, Neuschwanstein Castle, and add in a few of the other plethora of castles there, plus visit the Berlin Wall, Cologne Cathedral, the Black Forest, the Berlin Island Museum, or drive along the Romantic Road--whatever piques your fancy. The purpose is to have a diverse experience, so, after you've chosen a theme, go ahead and sprinkle in some other activities that interest you so you can experience as many facets of the local culture as you can. If you're traveling to Paris, the Louvre should be in your Top 3 (right up there with Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower). It's a world-renowned museum with a vast collection of art, so it can be a little intimidating to visit. I'd like to share my experience at the Louvre and hopefully give you some advice for your visit.
Planning activities for your adventure
Once you've chosen your destination and narrowed down where you'd like to focus your trip, the fun can really begin. I love planning trips, and researching all of the options and places that you can go is one of my favorite parts. A great place to start is UNESCO World Heritage Sites. These are sites that have been chosen by 21 UNESCO member states because of their great educational, cultural or natural importance to humanity, so you know they're going to be worth seeing! It's recommended to read a bit about each one to see if you'd be interested in visiting, and then see where it is in reference to the scope you've chosen for your trip. If it's out of the area where you'd like to stay, you'll have to decide whether it's worth the journey. For example, is Venice worth the five-and-a-half hour journey (one way) from Rome? You'll have to decide, and possibly adjust the scope of your trip accordingly. Other great places to look are at national parks, top attractions on TripAdvisor, places listed on the wikitravel page for your destination, in guidebooks, or even from a quick Google search for "best ____ in ____" (examples: "best temples in Japan", "best nature reserves in Kenya", etc) to find advice from bloggers or other travelers. Below are some tips for different "categories" of attractions. The more categories of attractions you have, the more diverse and well-rounded your trip will be. Sitting on the beach all day for two weeks sipping mixed drinks may be fun, but there isn't a whole lot of adventure in it. Travel and a vacation are not necessarily the same thing. |