Travel & Accommodation Site

So many of us often feel in a rut. We get buried in the day to day monotony of daily struggles and routine. Sometimes you just need to get in your car and take a little mini vacation. It doesn’t need to be expensive, just a 1-3 day trip to soothe the soul.

I am always amazing at how inspired I am in different scenery and getting out of my regular routine. Personally, I feel most relaxed and the most brilliant ideas come to me about my business, personal relationships, etc. As a photographer, I am able to capture the simplest of moments, but it gets me out of myself and whatever issues may be at hand in that moment.

Basically, it changes your perception of things and shifts your attitude. For me, it almost always gets me out of a “funk”, for lack of a better word and flourishes me with so much creativity!

Some of my favorite little getaways are Santa Barbara, Los Gatos, Portland, Paris, Rome, and Santorini. Photo opportunities are around every corner! California has several different areas for hiking and having peace and quiet. Yosemite has endless options! I remember when I was younger and had just a few traveling experiences. The more places you see, the more you want to!

Life is short. We need to get out there and live! We only go around once, so make yours something your passionate about!

Next time you’re frustrated with work, feel like you’re not quite connected with your special someone the way you used to…Plan a little getaway and see how much it nourishes your soul!

Backpacking for a holiday can be very rewarding, but there are some safety tips you can do and it will allow for your trip to go that much more smoothly.

Leave copies of important paperwork at home. Before you leave, make sure you leave copies of things like your passport, credit cards and anything else important with someone you trust. Just in case something happens and these documents go missing, having copies back home can make the replacement process that much easier.

Make sure you check back in at home. With technology becoming much more common around the world, and cheaper to use, there is no reason not to keep in touch with someone back home. Even a quick phone call or an email to someone to say all is well, and you are fine, is a great thing. People will always worry while you are gone, and this will alleviate any worries they may have.

Locking up your luggage while you travel is a good idea. When you are out and about, you likely will have a small bag with you. Having either a combination lock or a key lock on this bag will help give you a peace of mind. It can be a pain to open when you need something, but it will prevent someone from stealing out of it when it is on your back.

When you are travelling, by plane, train or a bus, you may want to lock up any luggage that will be out of your site. A second lock is a great idea for this, or a plastic zip tie. The zip tie is easy for security to cut off if they need to check your luggage, and you are not out the cost of the lock. If you are sharing a room with other travellers, you may want to keep your baggage locked up as well, a locker is ideal, but a lock on your bag works well otherwise.

Some of this may seem a bit extreme, but keeping yourself and your belongings safe and secure while you are gone will help with peace of mind and to have a good trip.

It seems that every time you turn on the news these days, you hear of someone else being attacked by a cougar, or a mountain lion, or whatever you want to call it. Like bears, cougars get more dangerous the more humans come into contact with them. They are just like any wild animal in that they would rather avoid you, but when people start building closer and closer to cougar populations, attacks are bound to occur more. There is no such thing as a cougar that has it in for humans. That is just media hyping up the situation to make people scared so they watch the news more (which is pretty much what they do in every situation.) That being said, however, there are ways to avoid a cougar attack if you take the proper precautions, and in this article, I will be telling you how to best avoid a confrontation with these wild cats.

If you are hiking on some forest or mountain trail and there are signs a cougar is near, (broken branches, strong scents, maybe even hearing it stalk around in the bush) the first thing to do is not panic. Unfortunately, cougars are cats so they don’t usually like to show themselves and would rather ambush you or pounce at you from out of sight. If you panic, you may trigger this response because the cougar will think you are prey and will act on its predatory instincts. So, whatever you do, do not run. Fighting is better than running in most wild animal encounters. If you happen to spot the cougar, you need to make yourself look as big and threatening as possible. Raise your hands above your head, start yelling, and maintain strong eye contact. This is usually enough to make the cougar run away. However, if he (or, more likely, she) decides to attack you, your only choice is to fight back. Grab a rock or whatever you have on you and use it as a weapon (whenever I go camping or hiking, I always have a nice fixed-blade hunting knife on me, just in case.) The cougar is not used to prey putting up a strong fight, so you may be able to escape with your life if you fight back. Also, if the cougar attacks, your neck will be its target so you need to do whatever you can to prevent her from getting at your neck.

I hope that no one reading this actually encounters a cougar in the wild, but if you do, at least you are somewhat prepared.