Walt Disney World’s New Fantasyland opened just last week, and there’s a lot to see! Two new fairytale castles to explore, an area of the park where you can fly like Dumbo! It’s all pretty incredible!

I was a bit skeptical of it at first. Definitely something I wouldn’t like, I thought when the idea was presented to me at lunch. But as I pondered over my pasta, I decided to take the plunge. After all, we aren’t talking about Trapeze School here, one of those Club Med activities that gives me agita at the mere thought of. No, we were talking paddleboarding on Sandpiper Bay. Read more...

Ever wonder where the cheapest places to extend your cruise vacation would be? We know that London or New York isn’t likely to make that list of cities, but the answers of which ones do might actually surprise you!  Trip Advisor recently put together its list of the least expensive and most expensive cities to visit, and we’ve decided to simplify the list for you… and let you know the least expensive and most expensive places to stretch out your cruise vacation. Read more...

The following is an excerpt from Roger’s travel journal. He went to Rio de Janeiro in 2006.

The thing about traveling in a great group of people is that it takes forever to get moving. Planning for an early morning start meant that we finally got rolling out of here at about 11:30. About two hours after the plan. One of the things about being in a hostel is that when you find people to gang around with, it can take a while to get us all ready to do the same thing. Once we finally got out and ready to go, we took a bus to Corcovado and instead of the tram, the five of us split with a private driver. He took us to a couple lookout spots on the way up. (Corcovado is in an urban forest – a remnant of the rainforest that was around Rio years ago and some of which is still there to the north and south of the city). The views were stunning, you could see everything and the planes which were landing in the local airport (jet planes, mind you) are just about at eye level. It’s a little nuts. After we got to the base of Corcovado, you have two options. Stairs (which give you more opportunity to pay ridiculously expensive prices for cheap looking souvenirs) or the elevator. I was all about the stairs, all about being the fit, healthy me that I’ve always wanted to be. About half way up the stairs, I changed my mind, but it was too late to stop. Before long, I was at the top, with the same view that Jesus has. Read more...

One of the questions that comes up most often with guests is whether or not a Passport is required on their vacation. The truth is that it’s needed more often than it is not. In the last few years, the US government decided that Passports would be required for all international travel… and then they backed away from that a little bit. The rules are a little confusing, but here’s a synopsis of the rules for US Citizens as we understand it. Keep in mind that the latest rules about what’s required for international travel are available on the US State Department website, http://travel.state.gov, and on the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative website, http://www.getyouhome.gov. Read more...