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Friday Favorites

January 15, 2016

Friday Favorites

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Hello, friends! Is it just me or is January flying by?! Work has been busy with the school year starting and getting back into full swing. I might be crazy, but I have agreed this week to be a chaperone on an overnight student camping trip at the end of the month. Luckily, the students are tasked with all the planning. We are also going to get some survival training from an ex-military man! If I learn anything, I will try to pass it along here.

Destination News

A Surprise Texas City Is Named the Second Best Travel Destination in the World: Who’s Boring Now?  – I was born here and we used to visit all the time. I don’t think many Texans, would say this city is boring!

10 most beautiful alpine ski resorts – I don’t ski, but I would love to go see these anyway! Have you been to any of these? Tell us in the comments.

8 of the best new cruise ships hitting the seas in 2016 – I haven’t wanted to go on a cruise for a while, but the Viking River Cruises look so nice. I spoke with some of their passengers in June while I was in France and they loved it. Have you been on one?

Airline News

10 Ways Air Travel Will Change in 2016 – I will be honest, I am a little worried about how airlines may get creative with seating. They are already squeezing in extra seats as much as they can!

What are the world’s safest airlines for 2016? – Did your regular airlines make the list?

Weekly Post Wrap-up

2016 Travel Plans or No Plans – Did you catch Monday’s post? Tell me where you are going in 2016!

Don’t forget you can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Bloglovin’. You can also subscribe to receive posts via email in the top part of the sidebar. Also, if you like my posts, please feel free to share. You can share by using the buttons below! I would appreciate it. Stay tuned for next week’s Friday Favorites.

Blog, Prep, Travel

2016 Travel Plans or No Plans

January 11, 2016

2016 Travel Plans

This post may contain affiliate links. If you click on the link and make a purchase, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

If you have been reading my blog for any length of time now, you may realize that I am not much of an advance travel planner and usually decide where to go about six weeks before I actually go. I am lucky that I can do that. I live close to a lot of travel places on my long list of places to visit. 2016 is going to be no different. I do have a few places that will be going and one still in the works. First, the planned trips and the ones very loose in the making. So later on this year, I will give you an update. Here are my 2016 travel plans!

EGYPT

The picture above was a dead giveaway, but I am going to Egpyt for my first trip of 2016! I made this decision a few days ago when I realize due to work; I can’t go anywhere in March or April that is a vacation. This is when I looked at my work calendar and found a week with no appointments and decided that was a week to go somewhere. Initially, I was going to try to go away this coming weekend, but it didn’t work out. When I was discussing where to go with my Mom, she suggested Egypt, and I couldn’t get it out of my mind. Egypt has always been a place I have wanted to go; I just needed to be reminded. So in February, I will fly to Cairo and then go south to see more. This trip is unlike anything I have done before, so get ready! I can’t wait to share the trip with you when I get back. I will be shooting video on this trip, so hopefully you can see more of my trip that way.

SLOVENIA

I am fortunate that I get to travel for work-related events occasionally, and this work trip is to Slovenia. I am speaking at a conference in the eastern part of Slovenia. Unfortunately, I won’t be there for too many days, but I am hoping to get to Lake Bled at least. I still haven’t decided if I am taking a train across the country or driving.

ATLANA, USA

This is another work trip, but I am very excited to go. I have never been to Atlanta or much of the rest of the south. There is so many history related things to see and also Margaret Mitchell’s house. Most of the time I will be at the conference, but they usually arrange for us to have a few tours and I will have at least one afternoon where there is downtime. I will fit in as much as I can. The only thing is this trip is at the end of July/beginning of August and am not looking forward to the heat.

Now on to the trips that are still pending. I am trying to work out dates for these and some have to be approved by work. And of course, everything is subject to change.

OMAN

Oman was on my list last year, but I just didn’t make it. But after reading this article, that I featured in a Friday Favorites post, I now really want to go. Now I have to figure out how to get there between June and September. Hopefully, this will be easy as I have two Eid holidays that I currently have no plans for and Oman is a very short flight away.

SCOTLAND

My friend Kate and I have decided to go to Scotland this year. My schedule has gotten very full already, and I am trying to work out when. Hopefully, sometime this summer. The beautiful pictures of green hills and castles are the things that are drawing me in. I should know soon when this trip can happen and we can start planning. Luckily, Kate loves Scotland and know all the places to go!

That is it so far. I know I have at least  one more trip to plan for the second Eid holiday and of course, I will be going home for Christmas in December. What about you? Are you planning any trips in 2016? Share with us in the comments!

 

Blog, Travel

Friday Favorites

January 8, 2016

Friday Favorites

This post may contain affiliate links. If you click on the link and make a purchase, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Happy Friday! For most of you, it’s the first Friday after you went back to work. You made it! I barely made it. Despite doing all my jet lag prep and following all my own advice, my jet lag was not easy. It was better than usual, but I am one of those people that needs 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night and that did not happen this week. To make up for that, I fell asleep on the couch last night at 9:30 and woke up around 9:00 this morning. At least, it is over!

Destination News

24 Awesome Food Events Worth Traveling to This Year – This is has a food event for every month of 2016. Wear your stretchy pants and get eating, ya’ll!

Coming soon: 9 of the best attractions opening in 2016 – One of these attractions is in Doha! Come visit me and we will go. Apparently we are getting an indoor ski park. I am most excited about the Louvre opening in Abu Dhabi.

Japan’s 31 Most Beautiful Places – A stunning photo essay of Japan. Every time I see a photo of Japan, I want to hop on a plane and go!

Airline News

Can This New Plane Beat Jet Lag? – This new Airbus plane has lighting that assists with adjusting your internal clock, the plane is lighter allowing for air pressure at a lower level meaning higher humidity in the plane and it has a new wing design that lessens noise. All of that sounds great!

New Startup Airfordable Lets You Pay for Airline Tickets in Installments –  This is great for someone who doesn’t have a credit card or doesn’t want to use one. You just have to plan ahead for you travel.

Weekly Post Wrap-up

Tips for Overcoming Jet Lag – My strategies for helping beat and overcome jet lag!

Don’t forget you can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Bloglovin’. You can also subscribe to receive posts via email in the top part of the sidebar. Also, if you like my posts, please feel free to share. You can share by using the buttons below! I would appreciate it. Stay tuned for next week’s Friday Favorites.

Blog, Travel

Happy New Year and Friday Favorites!

January 1, 2016

Friday Favorites

This post may contain affiliate links. If you click on the link and make a purchase, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful 2016 full of adventure and fun. I arrived back in Qatar yesterday and fighting jet lag today. I enjoyed having my Christmas vacation at home with my family, and I took off from the blog and much of social media. Today’s Friday Favorite’s marks the return of regular posting here at A Girl and Her Passport for 2016! Christmas brought strange weather to my parent’s area in Texas and we had to take shelter from a tornado the day after Christmas! We were some of the lucky ones as we were not close enough to sustain any damage unlike thousands of people in my hometown. Back here in Qatar it rained on Christmas day, which I am sure was a nice change and strangely enough probably felt more like Christmas that way. I spend New Year’s Eve at home, as usual, trying to fight to stay awake til midnight. What did you get up to at Christmas and New Year’s Eve?

Airport News

TSa to Stop Accepting Driver’s Licenses from 9 U.S. States – New guidelines for U.S. driver’s licenses will go into effect on January 10 for airport travel in the U.S. Several states have failed to update their driver’s licenses to the Real ID Act. Right now, the TSA is still accepting driver’s licenses from all states, but things may change soon, so if you have a license from one of theses U.S. states’ be aware you may need more than a license to get on a plane.

Travel App News

12 Travel Apps Worth Keeping in 2016 – I am always on the lookout for good travel apps. The New York Times tells us what apps they are going to continue to us in 2016. Many of these I already know about and a few I use, but the one that looks interesting is Vurb. Vurb accesses all your travel apps and puts them into one, so you don’t have to open lots of apps on your phone at once. This saves you battery and data, which can be very important for traveling abroad.

Travel Gear

You Can Pre-Order the Suitcase That Won Kickstarter – This carry-on suitcase looks very different and has some cool features for helping you travel and pack better. The best thing about it is the charging station that you can add to the bag and the location tracker in case you ever lose your bag.

Destination News

Maps of the Earth’s Most Cursed Destinations – Okay, so you may not want to go to these places, but I couldn’t resist sharing this with you guys. This is a book of cursed destinations and includes antique maps and the history behind the curse. Not sure about you, but I think I am going to order this and start some travel planning!

Sleep in a Vintage Boeing Aircraft in Costa Rica – This might be the only time you get good sleep on a plane. This unique hotel in Costa Rica allows you to sleep in the airplane. It features a ten-minute walk to the beach and stunning views from the balcony. As a plane obsessed adult, I think it is amazing, and I can only imagine how kids would feel sleeping in a plane!

Weekly Post Wrap-up

My Top 10 Travel Experiences of 2015 – Come read about what my favorites travel experiences of 2015 were in this recap post.

Don’t forget you can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Bloglovin’. You can also subscribe to receive posts via email in the top part of the sidebar. Also, if you like my posts, please feel free to share. You can share by using the buttons below! I would appreciate it. Stay tuned for next week’s Friday Favorites.