National Plan for Vacation Day is on January 25th so here are some savings tips we put together for you to begin planning your next holiday. For ideas on where to go, simply check out new and old editions of Traveler and Tourist! You are bound to find a destination or venue you'd like to visit with friends, family or on a solo adventure. Read on to see how you can make those vacation dreams a reality this year...

The flowers are beginning to bloom and everything outside is starting to feel fresh and new making this the perfect time to bring that feeling indoors. A little spring cleaning can go a long way, especially in one of the most used spaces in the home. When your bedroom is clean and organized, you are able to feel more relaxed and can welcome a restful night of sweet dreams. Marty Basher, Home Design and Organization Expert for Modular Closets, provides insight on spring cleaning your bedroom for better sleep, with a focus on organization, function and efficiency to help maximize even the smallest spaces.

According to a Texas A&M study, ornamental plants can increase memory retention and concentration in both the home and the workplace. So when the home becomes the workplace, decorative plants can be the extra surge of help we’re all looking for. The study even stated that work done around decorative plants is of higher quality and accuracy.It’s March 2021, and what was supposed to be a few weeks out of office has turned into over a year of long days trying to separate work life and home life in the same exact space. To boost your productivity even when surrounded by distractions or solitude, work overload or lack of personal space and me-time, here's a green solution - plants! 

Food blogger and celebrity cook Sara Kiyo Popowa, in collaboration with Wren Kitchens, the biggest kitchen retailer in the UK and soon launching in the USA, shares her top tips on how to cook and eat sustainably. It may be more difficult to think of the environment when buying and cooking food, but if it's good for the planet, it's almost definitely good for your health too. The food we eat can have a huge impact on the world we live in. Being environmentally conscious when it comes to the food we eat can often seem a daunting and restrictive task, with many fearing that their entire diets will need to change. However, cooking and eating green can be as exciting as it can be easy.

Low cost airlines can offer great prices on tickets thanks to what they do not offer - free food or drinks, ample cabin crew, and convenient seating. But this does not mean that it has to be unpleasant. Here are 10 tips on how to survive a low-cost flight in comfort.

Put down the Pinterest boards. Quit crowdsourcing your vacation on Facebook from your know-it-all friends of friends or relatives. Trust in the professional travel experts and take a vacation from doing it yourself! Recent data from American Society of Travel Advisors’ study shows that you will increase your happiness delegating the grunt work to the experts and save money to boot. I certainly don’t mind having my trip and the logistics planned by someone else every so often so I can truly take a vacation from it all!

With the first quarter of the year well past us, the initial pressure of beginning the New Year on the right foot is long gone and many are well settled into life’s routines, personally and professionally. But even everyday processes can be stressful and give cause for concern when it comes to our wellbeing. Certified International Health Coach Melissa Rosenstock shares more on how personal and professional wellbeing can be made a focus moving forward. With April being Stress Awareness Month, her comments on the topic are especially insightful...hope it gets you working on your overall health and wellness journey.

While I don’t have pets and probably won’t ever given the fact that I travel often and live in a small space, I do see folks travel with their pets all the time and always wondered what that process was like for them and their little babies. Figuring out how to travel with pets internationally can be easy though with some homework done ahead of time. Read on for some tips and steps to have your pet with you every step of the way. If you're hoping that you can travel internationally with your pets, the good news is that it is possible to do. While there may be a few hoops to jump through and different regulations that you'll have to follow, it's a safe bet that you can rest easy knowing that your pets can join you on your travel journeys. Before you start booking a trip right away, you'll need to become familiar with these tips on how to travel with pets internationally. 

In today’s often overly connected world, it’s no wonder the National Day of Unplugging – a relative newcomer to the list of recognized holidays – is growing in popularity. National Day of Unplugging is a 24-hour global respite from technology between sundown on Friday, March 1 through sundown on Saturday, March 2. (They even provide the signs above to tag them on social!) Easy for me to participate – I will be heading off to a conference for writers of color in San Diego later in the day and lasting all weekend long so probably won’t be attached to too much technology and doing my part for those hours.

Forget credit card rewards points, teaching English, entering contests or being a tour guide to travel for free. Here are seven options to travel on someone else’s dime from MyBankTracker.com, a financial comparison site helping consumers make smarter banking decisions.

The New Year is here and we are all feeling pretty optimistic about a whole new set of months ahead to get business up and moving. Updating the latest information on all your professional presences is a given but do you also update all your imagery? The visual is as important as the verbal. Photographer Lin Marty knows that firsthand, working with entrepreneurs on their personal brand and the pictures they use to convey that. Headshots are a part of the effort but there is more so here she is sharing some of her tips on the topic!

Allow some of the hospitality industry’s best offer their twists on St Patrick’s Day libations you can create at home! On the heels of winning Food Network’s 2016 Christmas Cookie Challenge, pastry chef Brittani Szczecina at Palm Beach Marriott Singer Island Resort & Spa has turned her attention to yet another holiday with this smooth, sophisticated St. Patrick’s Day treat.
Bailey’s Irish Cream Panna Cotta
  
·        4 cups heavy cream
·        ½ cup sugar
·        6 gelatin sheets
·        4 oz. Baileys Original Irish Cream
·        Pinch of salt
Bloom gelatin in ice water for five minutes or until soft. Remove from ice water and squeeze; set aside on a dry towel. Bring the remaining ingredients to a simmer and stir in the gelatin. Pour into desired glasses and let set in the fridge for at least two hours. Garnish with your favorite toppings: crushed chocolate cookies, chocolate sauce, St. Patrick’s Day sprinkles, or even a mini cupcake. Get creative!

Everyday you learn something new and this is one of those news alerts that I was surprised to read. I would have never known that the simple, almost mundane, activity of taking pictures of a hotel room to share with friends or to blog about could actually help save a life!

The social action organization Exchange Initiative is encouraging travelers to help fight sex trafficking during January, National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, by uploading hotel room photos to the free TraffickCam mobile app. Today, January 11 is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. Photos uploaded with the TraffickCam app are anonymously added to a national database used by law enforcement and investigators to locate victims and their pimps. 

​With the holidays fast approaching and the home cocktail scene hotter than ever, consider yourself a mixologist and shake up your repertoire with a few new seasonal concoctions from recipes shared by some well-known hotels nonetheless…Cheers!
 
The ideal end to an autumn evening - Apple Pie a la Mode
Seaway Grill at 1000 Islands Harbor Hotel (Clayton, N.Y.)
 
Build in a hurricane glass:
·        ¾ oz. apple pie moonshine
·        ¾ oz. vanilla vodka
·        1 oz. cranberry juice
·        1 ½ oz. ginger ale
 Garnish with a slice of apple.

Quite frankly, can’t image why anyone would be stressed while traveling but I hear it is pretty common. There are obviously some factors beyond your control but for what its worth, you can reduce some of the stressors during your travels.

​Working full-time freelance from home most of the time and traveling as part of my work the rest of the time means sleep patterns aren’t always guaranteed but over the years, there are some known tactics I’ve observed work for me so sharing it here if it helps you as well! Of course, not all beds are as comfy and neither are all bedrooms as cozy as this pic above clicked at the Akakura Onsen in Japan during my trip there last year. Slept like a tired baby after a day full of activity but I know falling asleep that easy is not always possible. Here's what works for me, like a  charm, every single time:

When I mention to folks how much I love travel, most of them look at me like I came from another planet – this is beyond anything they can fathom! Many find travel, especially air travel, extremely stressful and taxing, and in fact, avoid travel entirely just so they don’t have to tolerate flying to their destination. That, to me, would be a death sentence! I haven’t traveled anywhere in a while and I am itching to head out on the get go so here are my 7 secrets to stress-free flying that I hope will help you!