Scares & Scars of Shark Week

While many of us are enjoying the exhilarating shows of Discovery Channel's 'Shark Week' --there are many things to be learned.  As for my working brain I always go beyond what the actual show is talking about.  One thing that keeps popping into my mind is how to stay safe on your vacation if you encounter a shark infested area.  This is a simple tip, and taking the extra time to follow through could really make a difference.  Check out the latest episode of "Caitlin Takes on the World"!

Caitlin Takes on the World -Episode 1: "Avoid 'Shark Week' Nightmares"

Stay Tuned!

Lately I have disappeared from the blog world, abusing my blog and my love of writing about travel.  My busy schedule has worn be down a bit making me lack the motivation to blog.  While I think this is a horrid excuse myself, I have also been thinking of a new idea and here it is--hosting my own mini-series about travel.

I have career dreams, and this one is a crazy one that I will always strive for even if I don't reach it.  I would love to host my own travel show on the Travel Channel opening the eyes of viewers to see beauty in very popular places, but also the "hidden gems" you wouldn't expect.

So here it is, my first episode.  It's short and give you a brief synopsis of what this series will entail.  More episodes will be coming regularly a few times a week.  Please watch, stay tuned, and feel free to comment or suggest things!  Enjoy!

Caitlin Takes on the World -Introduction: "Just a Small Town Girl"



Travel Tip #5: Train Your Body

Whether you're going near or far, it is always best to prepare your body for the trip you have in store.  It's about two weeks before your trip and by now you have a pretty good idea in mind of what you'll be seeing, what you'll be physically doing, and what you will be eating.  Diet, exercise, and rest are going to be your three favorite things to do before leaving on your trip.  Trips that are within the country or only a few time zones away will not be as detrimental to your body as opposed to a trip on the other side of the world.

If you know you're going to be doing a lot of walking, hiking, or any other physical activity, be sure to take some time to walk a few extra feet or maybe even do a little cardio.  By doing this you will be able to boost your stamina and endurance, all so you feel lest winded and less exhausted will you're on your trip.  Any time you travel somewhere there is usually always a vast amount of walking involved, especially if you are doing a lot of site seeing.

Make sure you get plenty of rest within the week or two prior to your departing date.  If you're driving, you'll need to rest to stay focused on the road.  If you're flying, you want to make sure jet lag doesn't take it's toll on you making you exhausted and sick.  If you happen to be in a time zone that has a great different from your home town, take the few days before leaving to start adjusting your body to that time zone.  Stay up later or go to bed earlier--depending on if you're traveling East or West or even beyond the International Dateline.

Lastly, keep your diet in tip top condition.  If you know you're going somewhere where the food is extremely different from your everyday diet, invest in supplementary vitamins and other supplements that control gas and bowel movements (sounds gross, but you'll thank me later).  Make sure you're eating well balanced meals before you leave that are full of protein, vitamins, and all the good stuff you need!  Stay well hydrated as well, traveling by car as well as by plane can easily dehydrate you.  One common side effect from jet lag is dehydration, which I happened to experience when I returned from Australia.

Take all these pointers into consideration.  You'll feel great and not miss a beat while on your trip you have been looking forward to for weeks or months!

Travel Tip #3: Don't wait before it's too late!

Planning to travel outside of America?  Or even just to Canada?  Well, do you have your passport?  Yes this seems like something that should be common sense, but many people still do not realize how long it takes to get a passport or just procrastinate until it's too late.  In previous years you could travel to Canada without a passport, but now you will need one.

Obtaining a passport can take about a month give or take a few weeks depending on the time of year and the peak travel seasons.  Getting your passport is super easy, you fill out a form, pay a fee, then send it away.  It will usually cost around $100 dollars to get your passport, especially if you are not re-newing an older one.  If you receive a passport before the age of 16, your passport will need to apply for a new passport once you have turned 16 or older since you will now be considered an adult.  You must apply for your passport in person if you are a minor or a first time applicant as an adult (16 or over).  Yes this does mean if you got a passport before 16 you must apply in person when you apply for your passport as an adult.  Once you have your passport as an adult, you have about 15 years before you need to worry about renewing it!

Most places you can get your passport photo taken on spot, I have gone to a US Postal Service branch not far from my house where you can fill out a passport and get your photo done.  Photos should be from your shoulders up, in color, and a very clear focus.  Make sure you present yourself how you would normally to avoid confusion when entering or exiting customs.

This may not be an interesting topic to talk about, but it is important.  And what is even more saddening is that only about 30% of Americans today have a valid US Passport.  So 70% of the country is missing out on the world?  This fact makes any travel enthusiast cringe at the thought of it--there is so much to see!  Getting your passport is simple and easy, but it is understandable that these economic times are hard to see all the world has to offer.  If you're not ready to apply for a passport, or can't afford to travel too far out of the country--you can still get a taste of paradise by visiting the U.S. Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico!  These places are more affordable if you're on a tighter budget, and even better news--NO passport required!

I highly recommend for everyone to go out and get a passport, you never know when an opportunity may arise when you can go see the world!  And get it soon, don't wait before it's too late and your opportunity is here and gone.  I love my passport, it's something I can show off with all the different stamps from different countries at their customs gate.

Travel Tip #2: Cash or credit card?

Happy Tuesday all!  For today's Tuesday tip, is it smarter to take cash or a credit card with on your vacation?

There are pros and cons to taking either of these on a vacation, which can be handled by using common sense.  Cash is great, it gives you a spending limit, but it can easily be stolen if not properly hidden or kept safe in a wallet.  Credit cards are small and easy to carry around, but if that is stolen, unlimited charges can be made by anyone.  The best answer?  Take both!

You don't want to go overboard on vacation with charging things on that little rectangle piece of plastic, and as stated previously cash gives you a nice set spending limit.  The most important reason: banks could shut down your credit card while on vacation thinking it's actually fraud or identity theft.  If that was your only form of payment, you would be screwed (for lack of a better term).  So take both cash and credit card, that way you can charge some items, but you also have cash as a back up and to help you keep in mind a spending limit.

To prevent your card from getting a freeze on it, contact your bank or credit card company about two weeks prior to leaving for a vacation to let them know you will be out of town.  It may seem silly if you're not going too far, but it is better to be safe than sorry.  For those of you doing international travel, this is a highly important step you MUST take.  Seeing that you would be more than a couple time zones away, your bank could easily mistake this a identity theft.  Keep this tip in mind for your next vacation--it will save you from stress and save you some money.

Travel Tip #1: Do your homework.

Kicking of Tip Tuesdays with my first travel tip.  This one seems obvious and also stupid, but very important--but do you travel homework!  Get familiar with travel sites and other travel resources to see where you can get the best bang for your buck.  Don't just stick to one website for all your hotel and flight bookings, shop around.  Compare and contrast differences or if you have a price assurance booking with them.  With our tight economy, every cent counts that you will save.

Last minute trip?  Well this still applies!  Chances are you've gone to a particular place before, but you and your friends or family decide in rather short notice you want to go for a quick weekend trip.  Jog your memory, think back to where you have stayed before--was it affordable?  fitting?  If yes, you should have no problem staying there again.  You should have a few days to still book a room or a flight if not driving, give yourself at least 2 days to look over different hotels, offers, and combination flight and hotel packages.

Check travel sites more than once a day, and not always on weekends.  Travel sites work exactly how the cost of flights and hotels work, they go up and down in price depending on time of day and what day of the week.  If you check earlier in the morning, flights may actually be a little cheaper as to trying to book a flight later in the day.  It makes sense though--most people sleep in, work, or have class to tend to which means less traffic on the site for booking flights.  Less traffic equals lower prices.  Later in the day when people have more time to check out prices for flights and lodging, prices may go up since there will be a lot more traffic than before having a potential for a higher profit.  Now with hotels that may differ a bit, since they are usually at a flat rate--but travel sites and other travel resources offer discounts now and then, so keep your eyes pealed and remember where you saw the savings!

There really isn't must more to the tip than I have already stated.  Take some time to research all the possibilities out there to get your vacations affordable as possible.  Wake up 30 minutes earlier to check out travel sites, you may find a hot deal early in the morning.  And it never hurts to just check out sites for fun to get pricing ideas, even if you aren't planning a vacation in the near future.  Remember this tip, and plan yourself a great, affordable getaway!

Cabin Fever & Future Friday

With the feeling winter is never going to end and spring break popping up on college campuses nationwide, it's not surprise cabin fever is here!  Living in the glorious state of Ohio, or should I say SNOWhio, the cold and snow really never seem to end.  I'm getting the extreme itch to travel, but unfortunately that college kid budget interferes with brilliant travel plans I've thought of.  So instead of gearing up to go out and explore, I figured I'd just talk about travel some more! (Yes I just made a cheesy rhyme.) 

What I really want to talk about is the blog.  I've finally come down to some ideas to keep the blog evolving.  My habit with any social site, or journals for that matter, is that I am terrible at keeping perfectly up to date on it.  I really would love to write everyday, but I get distracted easily or usually have about 5,000 other things to do.  With this in mind, I am going to attempt to abide by some fun plans I have to keep consistency, new entertainment, and hopefully staying current with everything.  I've thought of corny subjects for each day of the week, travel related of course, that will bring new topics within in the travel world each day (if I can keep up!):

Snoozy Sunday--Sunday is a lazy day, this day is open to whatever really!  I'll probably just cover things going on, or maybe a trip that I can't stop thinking about.  Sunday is really a wild card day.

Manic Monday--Since Monday is always a crazy day to swing back into things of a work or school week, why not write about some crazy and "manic," experiences that have happened during a trip?

Tip Tuesday--Every Tuesday receive a travel tip!  Plan exciting, affordable, and sensible trips.

Website Wednesday--Oh the world wide web, so many hidden treasures and flops.  There are good travel websites, mediocre travel websites, and sadly some horrible travel websites.  Which ones should you stay true to?
Throw-back Thursday--THROW-BACK!  Reminisce on previous trips!  Now this may seem redundant since I obviously talk about trips I've been on, but I'm talking years and years ago.  I'll talk about silly trips I went on when I was younger, fun memories and scary memories.
Future Friday--Where in the world will I travel next?
Silly Saturday--Funny and silly moments from trips, or even planning trips.

Of course I may not be on everyday, but at least topics will change and make what you're reading a little more exciting (at least I hope so!)  So in honor of Friday, I'll take a brief moment to talk about one future trip.  I'm excited to announce that I will be heading to Washington D.C. for time number 5 or 6 this April!  Actually, I'm going for scholarly, nerdy purposes which makes the trip more exciting.  I'll be presenting research with my research group at a communication conference which I think is pretty exciting.  It's also a really great excuse to get out of school and work for a few days.  Plus we get to explore our nation's capital, which is no doubt one of my favorite things to do!  I started visiting Washington D.C. when I was in 5th grade, and actually have two trips coming up this year.  There's just something I love about visiting D.C., I find something new every time.  Here are some pictures from some of the more recent trips (if only I had the embarrassing pictures of me in D.C. back in 5th and 7th grade near by!):

Memorial Day Weekend 2008



Memorial Day Weekend 2010

 

And my favorite view...

Photo taken Memorial Day Weekend 2008--Arlington National Cemetery --over looking the capital.

(not the best picture, and definitely doesn't give this view justice)

And on a sad closing note--please keep Japan in your thoughts and prayers after dealing with a tsunami and an earthquake.  Also keep Hawaii & California in your thoughts and prayers as well, the tsunami waves may be heading their way.  That's all I have today--have a fantastic Friday :)