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.

Observing World Heritage Day on April 18 is one celebration that happens in the US and internationally. Also known as the International Day of Monuments and Sites, it is on this one day of the year that the world comes together to shine the light on our cultural heritage and its importance to the human experience as well as the need to protect and preserve the sites that are a part of our heritage. Every year has a theme and this year’s is rural landscapes.

This day is all about celebrating cultures, communities, heritage and the beauty of the human population globally. It's a brief reminder of the importance of respecting and remembering cultures and finding ways to celebrate them and preserve them for the future. Especially with the recent burning of the Notre Dame in Paris, this day holds true significance. Here are a few things you can do to participate in and promote this day as well as partake of activities where you live.

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. 

Easter is a time for creative cooks to show off their most impressive mini egg-hatching cakes and decadent chocolate desserts. I can usually see my feed on social filled with ideas of hosting brunches and dinners. But why not spend the weekend cooking up an Easter feast for your friends and family? While the famous Lindt chocolate bunny rules the holiday season, savory Easter dishes often get sidelined. I agree! 

It is International Women's Day today, and while it is a fantastic occasion to support and encourage around the world, recognizing the achievements of women at all times is important. Honoring and assisting organizations that support the welfare of workingwomen is one way. Women all over the world have earned the right to hold their head high with pride, but there's still a lot more work to be done. The theme this year for International Women's Day is #BalanceforBetter to bring light to the efforts of gender balance and equality all over the world. No matter how much progress the women's movement has made, a lot more can be done, change is still warranted in many sectors and societies, and we have strides to be made toward the day when we do not have to engage in a discussion about why men are paid more than women for the same role.

Finding ways to celebrate the upcoming St. Patrick's Day holiday doesn't have to be difficult. Millions of locations and venues around the world are planning festivities for the day. Growing up in India, this wasn’t an occasion I was very aware of or even knew what it was about. Moving to America, this was one of the first “holidays” I went out for with friends and found out it was just another reason to meet with friends and have a fun time here.

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.

It's always the perfect time of year to donate to your favorite nonprofit or charity. With Valentine's Day coming up, it has never been easier to spread and share the love. Did you know that nonprofits tend to get busy with donations during the times of major holidays throughout the year but who says it has to be cyclical like that? Donating for amazing causes is always a good idea, no matter what day, week or month. Everyone can give the gift of love on Valentine’s so if you are looking for a nonprofit to donate to or get involved with during the month of February, here's a list of some amazing causes to consider supporting. This is by no means a comprehensive list but a handful of folks we thought could use some TLC sparking joy in their heart and yours. 

As the years come and go, so do the many travel trends that grip the planet. I might travel a lot, but there are so many exciting travel trends it can be hard to know which one to pick! Here are just five of the new trends for 2019!

As a frequent traveler, I know by now better than to travel with no snacks in my bags, both carry on and check in. Given how many variables there are that I cannot control when traveling, I prefer to always have some goodies on my just in case there are delays in flight times or airports closed for the day, or no shops open at final destination when I land. Here are a few goodies I learned of recently and I enjoyed them enough to want to share them with you!

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!

Talk about a subscription service with a difference! In today’s world of subscription boxes for everything you can think of, and then some, I was happy to hear about Bokksu and the premium snacks curated with a monthly theme coming all the way from Japan. I got to review the November 2018 Classic Bokksu Tea Story subscription box and enjoyed the treats from another country delivered straight to my home. 

It is officially International Chocolate Day today so here are a few tasty cacao confections to treat yourself with and honor the day. I think I will head out for a hot chocolate and a chocolate pancake and maybe some chocolate dessert too! You can meanwhile check out this great list of chocolate picks I’ve got together for you. All products are linked so you can directly go shop if any of these choco suggestions here strike your fancy (and no, I don’t get compensated in any way and these are not affiliate links)!

Dirty Vegan is the all-in-one vegan-style cookbook that makes eating vegan fun by letting you prepare delicious vegan cuisine that anyone and everyone can enjoy. Showcasing the sheer variety of amazing recipes you can create, all while remaining vegan, the book provides healthy, vegan alternatives to the sorts of delicious comfort foods that everyone craves.

For too long, the vegan lifestyle has been seen as limiting--a laundry list of all the things vegans can't or shouldn't have so Dirty Vegan makes it easier than ever to live the vegan lifestyle, featuring delicious recipes that use common ingredients available in any grocery store. 

We’re talkingover 100 rich, indulgent recipes including Vegan Ravioli Dippers, Cheddar Bread Ring, S’mores Pancake, “Steak” Tips and Sweet Potatoes, Italian Wedding Soup, Vegan Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Blossoms and many more!

After hearing so much about Bouchon Bakery in Beverly Hills, was delighted to receive this goodie bonanza at a recent event and can now attest to the fact that they do, indeed, have some amazing macarons here. The sugar cookies and the flavored popcorn were great but those macarons hit just the right spot!

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. 

​These are a few travel and lifestyle-related questions I almost always get from folks I meet so figured I’d make a blog post out of it, and maybe you’ll get to know me a tad bit better in the process as well! Here we go…

Celebrated purely out of my love for good old white bread. Yes, I hear it is unhealthy and I almost never eat it though I could survive on just white bread for the rest of my life if I had to. If I do eat a sandwich then white bread is my choice. You can never go wrong ordering a sandwich for me ever. But I digress. Today is not about me, its about the bread, so lets talk best sandwiches ever eaten in my travel life thus far! Maybe some of these are on your list too?

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:

Some fantastic reads in this month’s issue of Website Magazine, especially if you are in the midst of revamping your website, social media, and online presence in general.

Two travel related stories caught my eye this month, and one other that I thought was a great read too!

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!