10 Tips For Taking Kids To Tikal

August 5, 2018 Amanda Luhn

Sunset from the top of Temple IV. Star Wars people will recognize this as the rebel base Yavin 4 at the end of A New Hope. — Sunset from the top of Temple IV. Star Wars people will recognize this as the rebel base Yavin 4 at the end of *A New Hope*.

Tikal is bucket list kind of destination and deservedly so. The Mayans built something truly impressive here. Just walking through the paths between the structures is an experience as well because of the diverse wildlife you can see and the dense foliage of the jungle. This summer marked my 3rd trip to Tikal and on each trip I have figured out how to do things a bit better. Many times that has been the hard way. Don't repeat my mistakes.

10 Reasons To Visit Iceland

June 4, 2018 Amy Ragsdale

Iceland may not be the obvious family vacation choice, but it should be. Known as the "land of fire and ice,” Iceland's breathtaking scenery is largely due to the fact that it is one of the most volcanically active areas on earth. You will see this activity first-hand as you drive along its southern coastline which showcases a constantly changing geography of flat farmlands, mountains, fields of moss-covered lava rocks, black sand beaches, and steaming geothermal pools.

Thinking About Visiting the Great Barrier Reef? Look at Staying on Hamilton Island.

November 16, 2017 Amanda Luhn

By Toby Hudson - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11137678

If you are traveling to Australia, there is a good chance the Great Barrier Reef is on your list of things to see. If it is not on your list, then maybe you need to reconsider. If one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World doesn't do it for you, then consider that it may not be around much longer as it is under tremendous stress from warming ocean temperatures. That fact moved it from the "I would like to someday..." to the "Need to do this now..." list for me. (And yes, I get the irony of using huge amounts of fossil fuels to get somewhere to see something that is disappearing because of huge amounts of fossil fuel use.)

Once you decide that the Great Barrier Reef is on your to do list, there a few ways to see it. Most fly to the city of Cairns in northern Queensland as it is very close to the reef, has hundreds of hotels, and a huge tourist industry devoted to Great Barrier Reef excursions. We decided to try something different though and flew to Hamilton Island in the Whitsunday Islands.

My new favorite island of Hydra- Why I dragged 9 of my family members onto a ferry to visit this car-free oasis.

October 18, 2017 Amanda Luhn

View of Hydra, Greece from the ferry — The largest town on Hydra, also called Hydra. Or Hydra port or Hydra town. It is not as confusing as it sounds, I promise.

I was excited about visiting Hydra as soon as I came across a description of it in a guidebook- small, no cars, beautiful, no cars, easily accessible from the mainland, historic architecture, no cars..... I was desperate to go to this non- motorized paradise and made the rest of the family go with me. It did not disappoint. We loved this island.