Jeremy

Jeremy founded Living the Dream in 2008 to chronicle his long-term trip around Asia. Since then he has been on two long-term trips, visited 69 countries, and is just getting started. He is now on a Lifestyle Design quest to build businesses to pursue a life of travel.

How to Build a Beautiful Push Pin Travel Map for Under $50

One of my favorite travel blogging images is the digital push pin travel map that highlights cities and destinations that its creator has visited.

In one quick glimpse you can see every place in the entire world they have been and with just a little thought, imagine where they may be going next.

As we are building a home full of travel decorations, I knew that one day I would be taking this popular digital map and converting it into a real-life decoration to be used as the centerpiece for one of our rooms (with a fantasy of it being in a travel-inspired bar room).

I always expected these maps to cost upwards of $150 or more when finished, as is the case with some of the nice ones available on Amazon or Conquest Maps, but I couldn’t bring myself to spend that kind of money right away.

Instead, I put on my crafting hat and ended up being able to make my own professional style travel map with pins at home for just about $50 US and an hour of my time.

If you’ve ever fantasized about making a push pin travel map of your own, here’s what you do.

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How Many Days on a Scotland Road Trip – Plan for More

When we were planning our Scotland road trip, we found ourselves asking the same question again and again, namely- how much time do we really need at each stop?

This is an important question for any road trip, because if you don’t need a ton of time in any one destination, you may be able to squeeze another stop (or two) along your route.

But in Scotland, we felt like we were thinking about this in reverse. We weren’t cutting out time to expand our road trip, we were adding time and condensing it! 

So in this one, we wanted to share why you may want to plan for more days at any given stop, especially if you are heading to the nature areas for hiking. 

More time is always better here.

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How We Pack Our Luggage for Shopping While Traveling

I never really fancied myself much of a shopper. I like to think that I do not value things- I like experiences, and generally feel very minimalist at home. But when it comes to traveling, some of that logic goes out the window.

This started on my very first overseas trip when I accidentally started buying a shot glass and a display piece from every country I visited. That trend has continued, and now I have roughly 82 shot glasses and some form of art from almost every country I’ve visited (even if, as of right now, I still don’t actually have my shot glasses out on display).

But over time, we have become quite the shoppers when we travel, and we have expanded our shopping purchases to include food items (ones that can travel, at least), wine and spirits, rugs and blankets, and more. If we can have our house decorated with travel memories and our pantry stocked with international food? Well, that’s almost an experience on its own.

So, we shop- a lot. We didn’t realize just how much we shop when traveling until a friend commented that our shopping was effectively “goals”, and since then, we’ve had many inquiries about how we can pack just so much in our suitcases without having to mail boxes.

In this one, we wanted to share our secrets.

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Tips and Advice for Driving in Scotland – An Easy Experience

Are you planning a trip to Scotland and wonder if you should rent a car for a road trip, despite driving on the left-hand side of the road?

Yes, you absolutely should.

Driving in Scotland was one of the easier places we’ve visited, and we were pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to get around with a rental car. But, as with all things, there are some important details you may want to think about before visiting, and we wanted to share those thoughts in this one!

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