Travel Photo Wednesday - Temple Door at the Summer Palace, Beijing

Extra-Long Memorial Day Weekend in Florida - Wrap Up

Sorry about our mini-hiatus! This past weekend, Ryan and I drove down to Key Largo with stops in Orlando and Jupiter. Here are are a few pictures from our Memorial Day Weekend (hope ya'll had a wonderful holiday & long weekend!)


We had a day left on our 3 day Disney Pass so we opted to spend a night in Orlando and hit up Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM Studios). We stayed in Lake Buena Vista at the Clarion (only $60/night on Hotels.com). The room was clean, had multiple shuttles to all the Disney Parks, and was only a few miles from Downtown Disney (where there is free parking!). It was nothing fancy but if you want to save some $$ and stay close to Disney we would definitely suggest this hotel. (Also, look into using Priceline! You can usually get a good deal by bidding - you can find our tutorial is here)

Tower of Terror @ Hollywood Studios

Eating a ridiculous (ridiculously good!) pulled pork hot dog at Fairfax Fare right before the entrance of the Tower of Terror. A little pricy at a little over $8 but very filling and delicious! I'm a little ashamed I ate it...pfft, NOT!

Ryan opted for the turkey leg. Every man in the park took a double/triple take & one even came up to Ryan telling him how bad he wanted it but that his girlfriend forbid him to eat it...absolutely ridiculous!

Travel Photo Wednesday - Balinese Spices

At a spice plantation in Bali!

Photo Journal of Salzburg, Austria

Although Salzburg is known for being the birthplace of Mozart and an attraction for all classical music lovers, there's so much more to the city!

First and foremost, Salzburg is one of those cities that's beautiful regardless of the season - even though it transforms into entirely different experiences. In the winter, Salzburg is a gorgeous snow-dusted wonderland and in the summer, the city is bright and in full bloom. 

The last time we were there was during the dead of winter - and I must say, Salzburg MUST be seen during this time. Snow covered roofs make the whole city look like a scene from a Christmas book and the streets are bustling with shoppers and winter markets.

A few suggestions: 

Review: Berlin Zoo

Berlin Zoo


Check out the admission prices here.

Hours: 9:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. (until October 3rd). Remember that the ticket office closes one hour before the park.

Birthday Celebrations!

Destination Savvy celebrated two very important birthdays today. Happy birthday to our cat-sons, Moses & Melky, who both turned 4!

We celebrated accordingly:

Moses

Our family

Melky

Travel Photo Wednesday - Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park in Gainesville, FL

Beautiful colors seen on a winter hike through Paynes Prairie in Gainesville, Florida

America's National Parks: Glacier National Park - Part II

Glacier National Park - Part II
Glacier NP Website

Check out the first installment of America's National Parks: Glacier National Park here.

First and foremost, all travelers going (or thinking about going) to Glacier NP should know that the park is open the whole year. You may have heard that it's only open during the summer, but that's simply not true. What is true is that parts of the Going-to-the-Sun Road do close because of treacherous alpine conditions - you can find the status of the road here.

Now that is cleared up, you may be wondering if Glacier NP is worth going to when part of the Going-to-the-Sun Road is closed (most commonly and likely being Logan Pass). Although I think it would be terribly sad to miss the incredible views on the road, Glacier still has so much to do! So, don't go canceling your trip just yet. And, if you're going during the early or late summer and find that Logan Pass is closed, try not to be too disappointed...these things are unpredictable and like I mentioned before, you'll find plenty of other things to do in Glacier. (Just as a little reference point, I'm writing this on May 15, 2012 and Logan Pass is still closed)

Review: Highland Brewing Company in Asheville, NC

Highland Brewing Company

Asheville should be on every beer lovers' list of places to visit. With several working breweries, many of which offer tours, Asheville makes an ideal setting for a weekend getaway with lots of beer tastings mixed in.

A must-see and highlight is Highland Brewing Company. Every Monday-Saturday at 4PM, an hour-long tour is conducted where you get to talk about the beer, see the bottling facility, and taste about 5 different beers (including regular and seasonal)...all for free. If you do go, though, please consider bringing along some cash to donate to their cause: Manna Food Bank.

48 Hours in...Washington, DC

48 Hours in Washington, DC

For the past couple of days, Ryan and I have been in Washington, DC. He had a job interview so this wasn't just a vacation - but we did make the most out of it.



Here are a few things we did while we were there - most of which you should try to incorporate into a 48 hour trip to the city! Hope you find these 8 tips helpful!:

Travel Photo Wednesday - Petronas Towers in KL

This was the amazing view we had of the Petronas Towers from our room at Hotel Maya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

We're Opening DESTINATION SAVVY Up To Guest Posts!

Unfortunately, Ryan and I haven't been everywhere...even though we hope one day we can say that. So, because we want Destination Savvy to be a resource for everyone looking to travel anywhere, we're opening our blog up to guest posts.

We'd want to keep a certain standard of writing on our site, so please follow our guidelines.

Guidelines:
1. First and foremost, you must be an independent blogger or writer (send us your blog URL). 

Please don't be sneaky. If you're planning to write on behalf of a company or for commercial reasons through this avenue, don't even bother emailing us.

If you're not sneaky and send us a legitimate email with "commercial" or "sponsor opportunity" in the subject line, we'd love to talk about doing a sponsored post and will address details from there.

2. Write something that will interest a reader who's on our site to read about travel reviews/experiences/tips.  (500-1500 words)

Maybe you have a funny story or you had a crazy misadventure? Write about it and send it to us! Sometimes another person's mistake or travel mishaps can make for a good post - see our The Great Wall Tour From Hell and you'll get it...

Do you have tips you think a traveler should know? Send them to us!

Do you think you had the best (or worst) dining experience ever & want to review the place? Do it!

Are you a park enthusiast OR do you love hiking and know of some great trails? Let our readers know!

Are you an expert on an area (area as in town, city, neighborhood, district, etc ... but not as broad as a country) and want to share your insider's-guide to visiting that area? Then, write a guest blog for us!

We just ask you to make sure you're writing about YOUR personal experience. That means, no writing about something you once read, or about an area you've never visited. There's no fun in that!

3. Your post cannot appear anywhere else on the internet, either now or in the future. Sorry.

If we find that your post is not an original work, we'll delete it and cease working with you.

If we see your post somewhere else, we'll delete the post on our site.

Was your post added to our site by a guest blogger without permission? Let us know and we'll make sure we take appropriate steps to protect your work. We're lawyers, we don't like that crap.

4. Please paste your post in the body of your email & include quality, high resolution photos. 

As you may have noticed by reading our blog, photos are a huge part of our posts. Make sure the ones your attach are relevant to your post and without watermarks.

5. Send us a short bio (3 lines max) and social media links (2 max) that you'd like us to add.


What do you get from guest posting?
Exposure! We'll promote the hell out of your post on Twitter and Facebook and we'll pin your amazing photos on Pinterest. We also hope that you'd promote the post as well...actually, we expect that.

So, to recap, your email should include:
1. Your blog URL
2. Your story (500-1500 words- give or take) pasted into the body of the email
3. A few high resolution photos
4. Your 3 line max bio with 2 social media links

Our email is: destinationsavvy@gmail.com

A few "just so you knows":
We're not snobs. Your post doesn't have to be about some exotic destination that only a handful of travelers have been to. If you've been to a well traveled, or even touristy place and want to write about your experience, do it. Just make sure it's original and that our readers can benefit from reading about it.

Destination Savvy reserves the right to suggest revisions or edit posts without a guest poster's knowledge. 
We're not going to hack it all up - this is just for the little stuff like grammar and spelling OR if we see a factual mistake we'd like to fix.

Destination Savvy also reserves the right to refuse a guest post. 
It's not you. We may just feel like a certain guest post doesn't match our needs. Either way, we'll let you know if we can use your post when we review it.

That being said, please be patient. We're crazy about checking our email but sometimes life just gets in the way. Give us a few days to respond...and please don't expect your post to be on the next day...these things take a while...



Finally, if you're not sure what to write and want to run ideas by us first, feel free to email us! We'd love to help you get started.

Review: Stockhorn Bungy Jump

Stockhorn Bungy Jump – Bernese Oberland, Switzerland While conversing with some Canadian friends in the basement bar below Balmer’s, a popular backpacker hostel in Interlaken, we broached the topic of bungee jumping.  In fact, it had been an ever-present specter looming over my stay in Switzerland, and by the time I reached Interlaken, I knew it was only a matter of time before this would come up. I’d never gone, and neither had they, so we stumbled back to the front desk of our hostel later in the evening and told them we wanted to go the next day. And the next day, we went. That was really all the planning that went into it. They asked us which jump we’d like to do, and we said “the higher of the two.” Except for one guy in our group, who ended up skydiving out of a helicopter, instead. The company we used, Alpin Raft, has been a fixture in the central Swiss adventuring community for more than 2 decades. The next day, the bus picked us up right in front of our hostel, the Funny Farm, and took us to the meeting point. Upon our arrival, we cracked open some Bavarian beers and ate bratwurst while we waited to head up the mountain. At this point, we boarded another bus and snaked through the beautiful mountains and lakes to the lift. About 20 people climbed into the lift and up the mountain we went. When we reached the top of the mountain, one of the highest in the Swiss Alps, we could see a base station, a beautiful lake, and a cable car suspended above the lake. At the base station, each of us was weighed in and marked for the rope tension necessary to prevent us from either plummeting into the lake below or bouncing back up and colliding with the cable car. I borrowed someone’s duct tape and fixed my digital camera to my hand to record a video of my jump.

Review: Saqqara in Egypt

Saqqara (Sakkara) Pyramids

We were in Egypt the Christmas before the 2011 Egyptian revolution - and spent Christmas day touring the Pyramids of Giza and Saqqara Pyramids. 

One thing that I should have expected but didn't quite grasp before we went was that the Pyramids of Giza are an absolute ZOO. Amazing ... but a zoo. You get there and are immediately bombarded by very very pushy vendors that will follow you - and you spend your entire time there dodging buses and waiting to get some photo ops. Don't get me wrong, they are a must see, but, I guess what I'm trying to say is ... don't forget Saqqara. 

30km south of Cairo, you'll find the Saqqara Pyramid complex - home of the iconic Step Pyramid of Djoser (the oldest known large-scale finished stone structure in the world). 

Russian Architecture Through Photos

Architecture of Moscow, St Petersburg, Tula, Vladimir & Suzdal

Get ready for a picture heavy post on architecture in Russia! Onion domes, tented roofs, bell towers - no one can deny the beauty. Even after a couple of trips to the vast country, the gold, bright colors and intricate details never cease to amaze me.

A few facts about the iconic onion domes that are pretty much synonymous with Russia (as well as Eastern Europe, India, the Middle East and Central Asia): There's some debate on why onion domes were actually built. There are those that say the design is to prevent snow from piling on roofs while others say they symbolize burning candles -- Whatever the answer, their aesthetic is very striking especially when the domes are gold, bright blues, or ornate like those on St Basil's Cathedral (see below):

St. Basil's Cathedrial

Onion domes are also typically built as a single dome, or in groups of three or five - which many people believe symbolize Jesus Christ, the Holy Trinity, or Jesus Christ and the Four Evangelists.

Enjoy some more examples of beautiful Russian architecture:

Moscow:

Travel Photo Wednesday - Silhouettes Against a Beautiful Parisian Sky

A couple of days after Christmas in Paris, the sky became beautiful shades of pink, purple and orange as the sun was setting

A Day in Mittenwald, Germany

If you're looking for a nice day trip from Munich or Innsbruck, hop on a train to Mittenwald. It's a classic storybook town 18km east of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Known for its violin, viola and cello makers, Mittenwald was once a center of trade as it lies on a lower altitude transalpine route between Germany and Italy. 

The one thing that immediately sticks out are the houses that have murals (many of religious iconography) painted on the side. You'll see that most of the door frames are wide (about double the normal size) as they were made specifically for traders (traders could back their wagons and carriages up directly to the door without door frames being in the way).