General Travel Tips

I wanted my first post to be generic, to tell a little about how I plan my trips and in which spirit I like to travel.

First of all, I’m always really happy and excited about every thing that concerns travelling. All my vacations start at home, in front of my computer and sometimes of a book or two. I like to study the place I’m visiting so I’m prepared to make the very best out of it.

If I’ll be visiting a new place I start with basic research: main attractions, hotels, where to eat, drink, shop… When I’m a little familiar with my destiny I refine my research, taking a look at its map, getting aware of the best parts of the city to stay in and the hot spots in town. That can be a really special part of your vacation if you have fun with it, besides the fact that just makes your trip “last” so much longer. You don’t need to plan a rigid schedule but I believe that having an idea of what’s waiting for you is always safe and might maximize your time and enjoyment. If you do not have the patience for it, just check the basics like weather, hotels, attractions’ opening days and hours so you don’t risk loosing a ride, or even a trip, in vain.

In case I’m heading to a familiar place I look for new and hot venues and what’s going on at the time I’ll be visiting, as exhibitions, concerts, sports events… With the fear of sounding to cliché I have to say my favorites and most frequent destinies are Paris and New York, so they will certainly be regular on my posts.

Keep in mind that when you’re in a good mood things tend to work better. Enjoy each small moment and situation of your vacation, such as walking around holding hands with your loved one, laughing with friend, or simply stopping at a café for coffee or wine in the middle of the day. These small pleasures together may sum up to be further more then the bigger ones.
Now a hard one, try being and efficient packer. Not too little, not too much. I try to separate clothes per day so I won’t take too much. Beside, especially us girls, we always buy a few things.
What Luv and I always do, that is more a tradition then a tip, but that is easy enough to be done by anyone, is every time the plane takes off, the car hits the highway or the boat launches somewhere I take his hand and we wish each other Boa Viagem or “Have a nice trip”. It seems really simple but it feels amazing and, somehow, does make our vacations even better.

Well, Boa Viageml!