Travel Tips & Trips — Ellen Barone

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Travel That Makes A Difference

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SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL: Top 10 Emerging Eco Destinations

Family Eco-Vacation Trailblazer Greenloons Identifies Top 10 Emerging Destinations for Green and Sustainable Travel 

Planning a planet-friendly vacation isn’t always easy for those who love to travel to exotic and inspirational places, but wish to do so in an environmentally and culturally responsible manner.

Enter eco-conscious, Irene Lane, founder of Greenloons, a business dedicated to helping travelers source the green vacation of their dreams. 

“Traveling sustainably in new destinations, says Lane, “helps raise living standards and can create environmental reverence by emphasizing conservation education and advocating sustainable activities that lessen degradation.”

To help get you off the sometimes beaten green path, here are Lane’s suggestions for the Top 10 Emerging Destinations for Green and Sustainable Travel:

 

1.  Jordan’s eco-lodges combine local heritage and educational experiences while exploring a mix of modernity, ancient wonders and nature. Think horse or camel safaris, Bedouins, the endangered Arabia oryx, Petra, the Dead Sea and trekking through Dana Nature Reserve. Jordan Family Adventure

 

 

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Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".

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UNCONVENTIONAL TRAVEL: Volunteer Nomad Projects in Morocco and Mongolia with Projects Abroad

Take your nomadic yearnings to the next level with Projects Abroad’s volunteer Nomad Projects in Morocco and Mongolia.

Been There, Done That? Think again.

Whether you’re an adventurous student, career breaker, retiree, or traveler seeking more meaningful experiences, these two cultural projects take you well beyond the ordinary.

Sign up for Project Abroad’s Nomadic Life placement and you’ll join a group of Mongolian Steppe or Moroccan Sahara nomads and experience an ancient way of life virtually inaccessible to outsiders.  

 

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Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".

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Yellowstone's "Summer Camp for Grownups" Scheduled for September

Explore the best of Yellowstone National Park this September on a Lodging and Learning Program.

 

The non-profit Yellowstone Association Institute (YAI) and lodge operator Xanterra Parks & Resorts are once again offering the popular Roosevelt Rendezvous this fall featuring exclusive use of one of the most popular lodges in the national park system. 

One of the “Lodging & Learning” programs offering daytime field excursions followed by comfortable lodging at night, Roosevelt Rendezvous takes place in September after the historic lodge is closed to the general public for the season. Up to 52 participants will stay at the lodge for four nights. During the day they split up into groups led by YAI naturalists/guides as they enjoy wildlife watching as well as forays into areas with Yellowstone’s renowned thermal and geologic features. They will then reconvene at the end of the day for dinner and the opportunity to compare notes.

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Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".

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Summer Vacation - Six Good Reasons to Go

Are you planning to forfeit your hard earned vacation days this summer, even though you desperately need a break? Times are tough, you say, this is no time to be thinking about travel. WRONG.

Think back over the last five years of your life. What immediately stands out? Wasn’t it that trip to Yosemite, the cooking school in Italy, the wild flowers in early spring in Provence or the kind merchant whose hand drawn map helped you find your way when you got lost in Bangkok?

Now, more than ever, you deserve a vacation. Here’s why…

1. Doctor’s Orders: Studies confirm what any traveler already knows: vacations are good for your health. Among the documented health benefits of leisure activities are a diminished risk of disease, an enhanced immune system, reduced obesity, and increased life expectancy.

In addition, roughly one-third of employed U.S. adults (34%) reported feeling better about their job and feeling more productive upon returning from vacation, according to Expedia.com’s 2010 International Vacation Deprivation Survey. Take that, Mr. Scrooge.

2. The News Not Fit To Print: Thanks to a daily barrage of gloom-and-doom news headlines, one could easily conclude that life stinks, people are rotten and the world outside your door is unsafe. However, when I scan my database of travel memories, I see a world where kindness is the rule –not the exception.

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Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".

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A New Way to Learn Spanish in Peru with Llama Expeditions

Tired of conjugating verbs in the classroom? Now there’s a new way for adventurous travelers to improve their language skills. Llama Expeditions, a company dedicated to adventure/philanthropic/educational tours of Peru, has teamed up with Enjoy Spanish, the 5-star-rated Spanish school in San Francisco, to offer an exciting Spanish immersion adventure tour in Peru on August 28, 2011.

Enjoy Spanish founder Carlos Bazan, a Peruvian native, along with bilingual professional guides, will lead adventurer-learners on a cultural and linguistic experience. “Carlos is amazing at facilitating conversations. Speaking is often the most intimidating part of learning a second language. But, Carlos creates a safe environment that gets people talking,” says Diane Valenti, founder of Llama Expeditions. 

The tour varies from many other trips in that participants not only learn about the local culture, but will also be providing assistance to local communities with the donation of food and support to remote businesses.

“Bringing food and supporting these underdeveloped communities helps to support and grow businesses in Peru,” says Valenti. “Besides education and the adventure to visit these remote locales, the local business people are extremely grateful for what our groups bring and do for these struggling economies.”

The 9-day, $3500 tour is limited to 10 participants to ensure adequate speaking opportunities for everyone and will include stops at popular destinations such as Lima, Cusco, the Sacred Valley, and Machu Picchu. 


To learn more, visit:
http://www.llamaexpeditions.com/exploration/enjoy-spanish/overview.

 

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Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".

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Gift Ideas That Give Back Around the Globe

If you have decided to make philanthropy a part of your holiday traditions, Planeterra, a global nonprofit dedicated to sustainable community development projects worldwide, provides the opportunity to give back around the globe.

Through local organizations, international charities and travel industry partners, Planeterra has developed a network of over 50 community projects around the world that focus on education and employment skills training, micro-enterprise and community tourism development, environmental conservation, and healthcare initiatives, with new projects and partnerships coming online each year. 

Planeterra (http://www.planeterra.org/) provides the opportunity to make donations on behalf of friends and family. After making an online donation there is an option to download a card for the recipient.

Here is a sampling of four Planeterra projects ready for your support:

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Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. She co-founded and publishes the group travel blog YourLifeIsATrip.com and is currently at work on her first book "I Could Live Here".