Is traveling with your sister on vacation a recipe for disaster? It doesn’t have to be as long as you lay down some ground rules first. Here are a few travel-tested truths for keeping peace in the sister hood.
- Leave the baggage at home. Traveling with sisters should be easy. You carry the same DNA. You’re alike. Right? Wrong. Sibling relationships can be fraught with the peril of childhood roles, divergent interests and unspoken resentments. So, no matter if you’re the big sis used to being in charge or the baby accustomed to being indulged, leave the birth-order baggage at home. Commit to appreciating each other as you are NOW and let the magic begin. The bonds born out of the shared experience of upbringing is like nothing you can ever have with a friend, partner or coworker. Let it blossom.
- Privatize: Allow for private time in your itinerary. Even if you and your sister(s) are BFF, heading off on separate adventures gives you something to chat about when you regroup. Compare wish lists and decide which activities are best suited to individual exploration. If you love tromping through museums and castles and she thinks the perfect vacation is watching life from the seat of a café table, then one of you is going to be disappointed or resentful. Make time to break away and do your own thing. It will enhance your experience and the quality of time spent together.
- Get thee to chocolate. Not much sweetens a disagreement or hurt feelings better than chocolate. If you start to get snarky, or she does,
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".
a guest blog by Peggy Coonley of Serendipity Traveler
Stressed out on vacation? Help! THAT wasn’t in the brochure!
Here are 10 wise tips to help you better enjoy your next vacation…
- Let go of all expectations
- Be open to surprises
- Take walks wherever you are
- Pack exceptionally light
- Find blessings in all disguises
- Arrive early at Airport, Train, or Bus
- Remember what really matters
- Mindfully create positive memories
- Keep well rested
- Let go of all perfection
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".
My husband and I are thinking of cycling through Europe next March. Where would you recommend we start? - Stacey M. 
Hi Stacey, Thanks for touching base. It’s good to hear from you after our meet up in Baja.
A European biking vacation sounds fabulous. I just spent an invigorating week at the Adventure Travel World Summit with some of the world’s best outfitters ,a few who specialize in just that sort of trip. A personal favorite, Ciclismo Classico, based in Massachusetts and owned by female dynamo, Lauren Hefferon, comes immediately to mind. I cycled with them in Sicily and am thrilled to be traveling again with them in Norway in 2010. Check out their innovative menu of trip offerings at www.ciclismoclassico.com
Another longtime adventure travel favorite, and recently voted World’s Best Tour Company by readers at Travel + Leisure, is Austin-Lehman Adventures.
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".
article via partner site Divine Caroline by Emily Goligoski
When the Australian university I was studying abroad at announced a two-week fall break, three expat friends and I rushed to plan a road trip up the east coast of Oz. Before we departed, we fantasized about Sydney nightlife and tested how many bathing suits we could fit in our backpacks. While the trip did include great nights out and beautiful scuba diving, the day-to-day enjoyment was disrupted by disagreements about who paid for what, who had to drive on the “other side” of the road, and trips to hospitals with one of our companions, the extent of whose alcoholism was unknown to the rest of us. Had we had more discussions about splitting responsibilities and what we each wanted to get out of the trip, more of us might still be in touch now.
Clearly, there are more than a few headaches that can arise from going to new places with good friends, but they can usually be nipped in the bud or downplayed with a few honest discussions and planning.
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".
Need to find the perfect hotel in Los Angeles? One click. Want to read up on the Best Trendy Tables in New York? One click. Looking for a destination spa in Paris? One click. A new website, Night + Day Guides has just made its destination website even more user-friendly.
Night + Day Guides covers the world’s coolest cities: Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Chicago, D.C., Las Vegas, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Mexico City, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Shanghai, Sydney, and Toronto.
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".
a guest blog by Vera Marie Badertscher
Trying to order food in a foreign language when you are traveling can give you a belly ache. But that belly ache can become all too real if you have to avoid particular foods that your body cannot tolerate. To the rescue—laminated cards, about the size of your driver’s license, that spell out your problem and graphically illustrate the foods that are a no-no.
Seems like such an intelligent idea. Why didn’t I think of it? All these years of travel when I tried to find a native language speaker who could explain to me how to say “I cannot eat raw or lightly cooked onions, scallions, shallots or leeks.” You would think I would have come up with the idea to manufacture cards for everyone with a similar travel problem.
But I left it to an Internet company called Select Wisely. Their line of cards goes beyond just serious food allergies (gluten free diets, peanut allergies) to include intolerances (like mine to onions) and other medical problems (diabetes, asthma, and the generalized, “Where can I find a doctor who speaks English?”).
The Select Wisely cards, come in sets of two, so if you lose one, you’re still covered.A pair of cards costs about ten dollars. The information is printed in English and the language of the country you are visiting, and they squeeze in as much information as possible. Just so there will be no misunderstanding the gluten allergy card says “I am allergic to wheat, rye, barley, oats, soy sauce, malt, flour and gluten including sauces, gravies, breads, cereals and foods processed with these ingredients.” Illustrations with the universal circle-slash meaning ‘NO!” over the food in question, make the printed message even clearer.
Having these cards available means I can eat in any language—without a belly ache.
Vera Marie Badertscher travels whenever she can, reads constantly, writes about it all from her home in Tucson, Arizona, and blogs at A Traveler’s Library (atravelerslibrary.com ). Learn more about Vera at pen4hire.com.
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".