Year: 2021

Marriott Hilton Head Review – Great Location But At a Price

As I am a Marriott hotel credit card holder, I sometimes prioritize staying with this hotel chain as a means to rack up points and qualified stays to leverage them into future, grand vacations. 

So when we saw that Marriott had a resort on the beach in Hilton Head Island (a truly prime location on the beach and perhaps the biggest property as well), we knew what we had to do. We snatched up a partial ocean view room and planned for a nice long weekend right on the water.

While we do think this one is a fair bit expensive for what you get (granted, everything is expensive in Hilton Head), if accessibility to the ocean is of utmost importance to you, the Mariott Hilton Head Resort & Spa will not let you down.

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Go for a Half Day Hike at Pinckney Island in Hilton Head

Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge is a 4,053-acre park managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. It is a collection of salt marshes, forest, and tidal creeks on protected land located between Hilton Head Island and Bluffton, South Carolina.

In fact, prior to visiting Hilton Head I had no idea that this park was there, and only thought of stopping for a visit when heading out to Bluffton to explore more Hilton Head breweries. Naturally, as soon as I saw the sign calling out the national wildlife refuge, I knew I'd have to return for a visit.

And what a visit it was!

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Sea Pines Forest Preserve is Worth the Admission Fee

Hilton Head is comprised of just one island located off the coast of South Carolina. But if you take the time to explore all corners, it really feels like there are two Hilton Head Islands.

One is the public side of the island home to the main beach, a plethora of shops and restaurants, and more. The other is Sea Pines Plantation Resort- a semi-private community on the southern end of the island that is only accessible to members and those who pay the day rate to enter ($9 per car in early 2021). 

These have a night-and-day difference between each other as the former is commercial and busy while the latter is quiet, nestled within the trees, and relatively devoid of commercial businesses outside of Harbor Town.

So while we could make the argument that the day rate to enter Sea Pines is worth it alone to simply take in the beauty of the island in a more peaceful environment, we would rather talk about a specific attraction you can see after entering- Sea Pines Forest Preserve.

The fee is worth it just to visit this one alone.

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How to Approach Travel After Receiving a COVID Vaccine

The last year has been rough.

Not just in a “quarantining-at-home-sucks” rough, but also as a travel writer I've had to effectively kill my business as a matter of public safety. I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say that our traffic is dead, our social media reach is dead, and it is going to be a hell of a time to turn things around over the coming months and years.

I'm thankful, in many ways, that I also have a local blog for my city because after the initial shutdown many people had to stick local by default. In fact, March 2021 was our third best traffic month ever and we expect that only to rise as more and more individuals get vaccinated.

But what about this travel blog? In the last 12 months, we went on precisely one trip- a socially distant road trip to the Finger Lakes to enjoy some wine outdoors for a long weekend (with quarantines before and after our trip, of course).

Now that we are fully vaccinated, well, it is time to change that. We are starting to travel again, and in this one we are sharing a bit more on how we are approaching things.

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