Category: Travel Page 30 of 54
When planning our Austin trip, we decided to save money and not rent a car. Austin is a very walkable city and I never felt the least bit unsafe walking around. Uber and Lyft are prevalent in Austin as well. If you’re looking for something a little cheaper and more exciting, Revel mopeds are all over the place as well as the slightly more dangerous Lime Scooters. If you’re looking to go a little further without going through the traditional rental car companies, I highly recommend Turo.
We now have crowd sourced taxi services through uber and Lyft, grocery delivery from Shipt and Instacart, and food delivery from Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub. Now, rental cars have become crowd sourced through Turo, which allows you to rent cars directly from people. If you’re interested in unusual cars, Turo has more options than the rental car agencies. You can find a showy sports car, a camper van, or a rugged truck.
Barton Springs Pool
Where traditional rental companies encourage longer rentals, Turo allows you to even rent for a single day, which is what we did to get out of downtown Austin and head to Mount Bonnell. We rented a tiny, electric, Fiat 500, which is the exact opposite of the massive Nissan Armada we got tricked into renting to drive to the Grand Canyon last year (there are only two of us. Why would we need a third row of seats? We didn’t really even need the second row). It was the first time we had ever driven an electric car and that was an experience, but it wasn’t difficult to find free electric charging stations in Austin which made it much cheaper than renting a typical gas powered vehicle. And with a ridiculously low $20/day rate, it was hard to go wrong with that tiny car.
With Turo being so new, they’re not as common outside of the big cities. There were plenty of cars to choose from in Austin but there’s only a few available where I live. Of course, since you are renting someone’s personal vehicle there are mileage limits that the traditional rental car agencies have done away with. So, Turo may not be the best option for your next road trip, but its a great choice if you are traveling to a city and would like to be able to explore it with your own wheels.
Thanks for stopping by! To read about some of our previous trips, click here. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram! You can purchase prints on Etsy and Fine Art America. To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. For information about our new Guided Photography Tours, visit GuidedPhoto.com.
Turo did not pay me to write this, but if they offer, I wouldn’t decline. đŸ˜‰
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The Savanna Meadow
New York Skyline from the Norwegian Gem
I don’t know about you, but being stuck at home day in and day out is really starting to get to me. We had a trip planned a few weeks ago that we had to cancel and that really stung. When the highlight of your week is going to the grocery store or catching some sun on your deck, you know you’re going stir crazy!
- Reminisce over past trips: Edit photos, get out your travel souvenirs, make a photo book, write about your adventures, create a photo gallery wall with your travel photos. I just got a photo travel map to add pictures to.
- Read travel books: Libraries are closed but many have resources available to check out electronically. Visit your library’s website for more information. While it takes longer and does cost some money, pick a dream destination and order a book from Amazon. I got a National Parks book and Northern California book to read while stuck at home. Not into reading travel guides? There are great memoirs and novels out there to feed your travel bug too.
- Binge travel shows: With so many streaming services out there these days, you can always find something to watch! To fuel your wanderlust, I recommend checking out National Parks: America’s Best Idea (Amazon Prime), Travel Man (Hulu), Expedition: Unknown (Hulu), Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (Hulu), Somebody Feed Phil (Netflix), and Samantha Brown’s Places to Love (free on PBS.com and the PBS app).
The view from the top of South Bubble Mountain
- Create your travel bucket list: Where do you dream to visit? Make a list. Chris and I did this a few years ago and without even realizing it, when I found the list again last summer, we had already crossed a few places off of it. Organizing our thoughts helped us to make decisions about future trips.
- Plan your dream trip: While you have extra time, research a bucket list trip. Figure out where you would stay, eat, what you would like to see. Start at trip on TripAdvisor or make a vacation Pinterest board. A Cornell study shows that planning a trip can make you as happy, if not happier, than actually taking it. If you, like me have a flight credit from a cancelled trip, pick a place and book it. We booked flights to California for this summer. I know there is a possibility that it won’t be safe to travel when that date comes, but right now it feels good to have something to look forward to and plan for. And if we have to cancel it, I have already saved a lot of places on TripAdvisor for when we can actually get out there.
- Research places to go near your home:Â Eventually this virus will go away and you will probably not be able to hop on a plane right then. Find places nearby that you can escape to for a little bit. There may be some places close to your house that you never even knew about before. Check out Google Maps, TripAdvisor, Yelp, ask your friends on Facebook for inspiration. Check out onlyinyourstate.com for unique ideas!
Grand Canyon South Rim
Travel show host Samantha Brown posted something a few weeks ago that really stuck me and I wanted to share it with you. She writes on her blog: “I had to go back to work [hosting travel shows] a week after 9-11. There was the financial crisis of 2007, H1N1, floods, fires and volcanic eruptions. All of these events abruptly changed my immediate course of travel..But one thing I’ve learned in two decades? Travel comes back.” Travel always comes back.
Thanks for stopping by! To read about some of our previous trips, click here. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram! You can purchase prints on Etsy and Fine Art America. To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. For information about our new Guided Photography Tours, visit GuidedPhoto.com.
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Waterfall in the Family Garden
After climbing Mount Bonnell, we were looking for somewhere else to explore outside of downtown Austin to enjoy the beautiful Texas sunshine. Even though it was February and I knew there wouldn’t be much blooming, we headed to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Located 10 miles southwest of Downtown Austin, the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center is the state botanical garden and arboretum of Texas.
First Lady Lady Bird Johnson opened the gardens in 1982 as a way to showcase and protect native Texas flora. The wildflower center has five distinct zones: the central gardens, the family garden (top), the Texas Arboretum, the Savanna Meadow (below), and the hill country trails. Even though we visited in February and there weren’t a ton of flowers in bloom, there was green to be seen.
The Savanna Meadow
The hill country trails are a unique area of the wildflower center with 70 acres set aside to study prescribed fires and how they affect the growth of native plants. There are about a mile of trails in this section that give visitors an up close look at fire and land management.
The Texas Arboretum features 16 acres of native Texas trees. A mile long path takes visitors through the arboretum to see the variety of maples, oaks, and more. One of the most unique features of the arboretum is the Hall of Texas Heroes which features offspring of some of Texas’ most historically significant trees. Trees on display include the Battle Oaks, Heart O’ Texas Oak, and the Matrimonial Oak. These trees grew from acorns harvested by Arboretum staff from the famous trees and planted on the grounds of the Wildflower Center.
If you are planning a visit to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, visit their website (wildflower.org) ahead of time to discover what is in bloom and get a lay of the land.
Thanks for stopping by! To read about some of our previous trips, click here. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram! You can purchase prints on Etsy and Fine Art America. To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. For information about our new Guided Photography Tours, visit GuidedPhoto.com.
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