Year: 2013

The Pros and Cons of Vatican Tours at Night

During our travels, it is hard for us to find something that we are overly eager for.

By its nature, our long-term trip is full of so many amazing moments every day that it is hard to rank one experience over another. They’re all incredible and make us excited to wake up each morning.

But on our recent visit to Rome we had one that stood out above all others- after hours Vatican tours of the Museums and Sistine Chapel with Walks of Italy.

We’ve never been on a closed-door museum tour before, and this particular tour only is authorized on select nights of the summer, adding more to its exclusivity.

When you market it like that, you know I’ll be excited.

We don’t want to give away the secrets of the Vatican museum in this post, those are for you to get on your visit.  Instead, we want to take a look into why an exclusive after-hours tour may be right for you on your next trip.

There are many pros and cons, much like any itinerary, but you’ll soon see why a guided tour at this particular museum should be on your wish list the next time you’re in Rome.

Read more

If You Are Considering Crowdfunding Travel – Stop!

Hi There Crowdfunding Traveler!You probably got this post emailed to you by either myself or another traveler in response to your request for us to crowdfund your next trip.   For everyone else, this one is not for you.

I can understand that you don’t have enough money to travel on and need a bit of help; most of us don’t reach our ultimate goal either (I know we didn’t).  We make our plans, save up what we can, and hope that our over-spending is minimal such that we can do it all on the funds we managed to save.

After all, financing a RTW trip can be a tricky thing. You wouldn’t have considered crowdfunding travel if you weren’t in the same boat either.  It is a popular thing to do these days and we get several emails a month from people asking us to donate, share, and write about their campaigns on our sites.

Read more

Saving Money Traveling in Switzerland with the Swiss Pass

When we announced that two-weeks of our year and a half long trip around the world were going to be spent in the country of Switzerland, we got a lot of interesting feedback. 

Of course, most of it was about the price tag. We knew Switzerland was going to be one of the largest budget items of the itinerary and was something we planned for in advance to accommodate. 

But after researching many of the options for saving money in the country, from cooking our own meals to staying in private rooms in apartments, one stood out as an even better cost saver: the Swiss Pass.

Much like other rail passes, we abused our rail pass extensively while in Switzerland.  In doing so we saved quite an impressive amount of money while also having the opportunity to try out more big-ticket items that we would have otherwise missed. But is the rail pass right for you on your next trip to the country? 

Let’s find out.

Disclaimer: We received the Swiss Rail Pass complimentary from the tourist board during our stay; however, we have a full analysis of costs included in this post from our trip in 2013.

Read more

Zurich Events – The City’s Biggest Festival, Zuri Fascht

In many cases the highlight of a city is often the unknown experience that you happen to stumble upon after arriving.  Something that, while isn’t the main draw to the city, is one you thoroughly enjoyed experiencing after having planned your visit for other reasons. Our stay in Zurich had one of these appear, and it was only later that we found out how lucky we were for it to happen.

The Zurich Festival (Zuri Fascht) is one of the largest celebrations the city of Zurich hosts and is a 3-day event that happens once every three years.  We arrived in Zurich on the first day of the festival and also happened to only be staying for three days.  Coincidence?  I’m starting to believe in those less and less as this year-and-a-half long trip goes on.

Read more