Traveling with Nina

Deciding on your main travel bag can be an arduous task. You want to be versatile and comfortable, while also being able to carry all your essentials. Regardless if you chose a rolling bag or backpack, it needs to fit in an overhead bin.

In order to determine which bag would be best for you, you will need to consider the type of traveling you will be doing. Consider the pros and cons in light of the trip you will be taking.

For example, if you’re planning to hike from one town in the Alps to the next, you want to imagine yourself pulling a rolling back on top of steep hills.

by Nina Thomas Leave a Comment

Accommodations, Booking, Budgeting, Planning, Sightseeing, Travel Guides, TripAdvisor

A little bit goes a long way

April 04, 2015

I’ve talked a few times about the ways I save a little bit of money here and there. Just for the heck of it, I thought I would see how much I’ve saved from just a few of my tricks and see how far it goes.

So, I mentioned that we got rid of our internet at home, which saves us $60 a month. We started that in November, and it’s now March. So that has saved us $300 total in the last five months.

Additionally, I’ve stopping going to Starbucks so much (my guilty pleasure) and started making coffee and lattes at home. I looked into it, and in January I spent $80 at Starbucks (I know… yikes) and in March, only $40. So that means between just cutting out internet and not going to Starbucks so much, I have saved $340.

by Nina Thomas Leave a Comment

Accommodations, Booking, Budgeting, North America, Planning, Travel Guides

Travel Guide to Miami

April 04, 2015

In February, we visited a friend in Miami and she gave us a great all-around tour of the city. The city is quite large, and there are so many things that you could go do and see, so I was glad to have a tour guide. It such a good sampling of the city, that I felt like it was worth writing down for all you Central-Ohioans who need a good 4-5 day trip down south in the dead of winter.

For starters, we rented a house through Airbnb called Quiet Canoe Outpost, which was in, what we didn’t realize at the time, one of the most sketchy areas in Miami: Little Haiti. We met up with some of her friends and when we told them where we were staying, their eyes got big and they said, “are you serious? It’s not safe there.” Well, where we stayed was on a quiet street in the middle of the sketchy areas on a property that had just been rehabbed.

by Nina Thomas 1 Comment

International Travel, Transportation

When the worst happens

March 03, 2015

When we went to London in September, we decided to rent a car to drive it out to the countryside. Little did we know that the automatic we signed up for would not be there. Unfortunately, only one of us knew how to drive a manual. After we picked up the car, Jared was struggling to figure out how to use the stick shift with his opposite arm, and drive on the other side of the road. (Notice I said “other” and not “wrong.” Because there is nothing inherently wrong about driving on the opposite side of the road.) Not four minutes in, he sped up, and hit the back of a box truck: scraping the side of the car and knocking off the side-view mirror completely.

Since we were in the middle of traffic, there was no where to pull over and we panicked and kept going. Seeing that the truck didn’t even notice we had hit them, we thought it was OK.

by Nina Thomas Leave a Comment

International Travel, TripAdvisor

Things I’ve learned about Americans from my travels overseas

March 03, 2015

Today I was considering some of the things that I learned about myself, and my fellow Americans, while abroad. It’s fascinating to see the differences in cultures and people, and see how many different ways there are of doing things. Obviously “the norm” will be different in every country you visit, but here were some surprising things I learned about myself as an American.

1. We eat really early. It seemed like every time I was hungry, so was every other American. Every time we went to a restaurant in Europe around 5:30 or 6 when we were starving, no one would be in there. Oh, except other American tourists. At least you know where to find us.

by Nina Thomas Leave a Comment

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Backpack or rolling bag: Which is right for me?

A little bit goes a long way

Travel Guide to Miami

When the worst happens

Things I’ve learned about Americans from my travels overseas

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