Travel Tips Archives - Go Here, There, and Everywhere Category

The best advice, information and inspiration from us, and the best guest bloggers of the world. What you need to know to enjoy your travels to the fullest.

Food, Wine & Zoom!

“Life is a combination of magic and pasta.” -Federico Fellini. And a perfectly paired wine completes the experience.


We compliment those creative entrepreneurs who have re-invented themselves during these days of social distancing. They have found ways to provide virtual escapes, and bring us together to enjoy life’s simple pleasures.
Lindsay and Gabriel’s Food and Wine Events turned our Saturday at-home date night into a truly memorable evening. It was wonderful to invite them into our home as we spent two hours together, enjoying preparing our meal just as much as eating and drinking.

Gabriel started us with a crisp, sparkling wine that set a festive mood.

A walker’s guide to the great outdoors

If you’ve been missing travel, think about Henry David Thoreau.

Thoreau was born in Concord, Massachusetts on July 12, 1817, and died there on May 6, 1862. And except for just a couple of brief excursions to nearby states, he pretty much spent his whole life in his native town…and he found great inner peace and happiness there. He was quoted to say: ‘…I have been nailed down to this my native region so long and steadily, and made to study and love this spot of earth more and more’.

So, during this pandemic we’ve been essentially ‘nailed down’ as well. To keep sane, happy and healthy, we’ve rediscovered our local natural wonders and have logged in miles of trails over the past year. This Winter we braved the cold, and got outside to marvel and appreciate the beauty around us as we wait for better times ahead to explore further. Here are just a few thoughts on why we love walking in nature.


A river runs through it. How beautiful is the sound of rushing water as it travels along its bed, bubbling over rocks and branches? Creating pools and eddies, one can sit, stroll and hike along the riverbank and watch it for hours.

Virtual Sonoma

We haven’t felt like writing in a while. What’s left to say about the crisis that put our travel dreams on hold? So let’s look forward and summon our creativity to make the most of the present.

In that spirit, we virtually gathered some of our closest friends for the closest thing we could do to experience a wine tasting tour of beautiful Sonoma, California. It was a wonderful escape, letting the wines take us away, sparking our imaginations.


Thanks to the expert guidance of winecubetours.com founder and Sonoma Wine Tour Guide, Raymond Rolander, we were virtually whisked away to rolling hillsides, foggy coastlines and windy plains. In my mind’s eye I could recall several amazing trips to the California wine country and falling in love with Sonoma, the quieter, more laid back neighbor to world-renowned Napa, populated with many smaller and lesser known vineyards. Our highly anticipated ‘trip’ began with a lot of preparation. After an initial consultation of our particular likes and dislikes, each couple who participated was shipped four full carefully wrapped and numbered bottles, concealing the labels to enable the ‘blind’ tasting experience. The wines were stored as instructed and opened at precisely specified times before the tasting.


Our virtual event started with an invitation from Raymond to let the wines take us on a sensory, imaginary journey. Just as music always does for me, wine and food conjure memories of magical moments, and we associate those sounds, tastes and smells with times and places stored away in our mind’s treasure chest. And sure enough, with each new glass poured, the wines did just that. We were soon chatting away about remembered trips to the California, Oregon and Washington wine countries, as well as more distant travels as far away as Tuscany, Germany and France to relive those experiences.

Now, our goal here is to not be the spoiler who tells you the end of the movie! So, we will not reveal any specific wines here on the blog (sorry friends). But imagine this…the fun of a blind tasting was in the total focus and discussion of each varietal. We guessed as best we could, and were most often wrong at identifying what we were tasting. So Raymond would expertly guide us through, and lead us to the ‘reveal’, where we were told the wine and producer. From there, the screen share that followed pinpointed each vineyard on the map of Sonoma where he described the area and its climate, giving us a behind the scenes story into each family-owned vineyard.

As the night progressed, so did the wines, moving from from crisp whites to lighter reds, to the full-bodied varietals that typically complete a tasting. We discussed our favorites and went back for seconds (and thirds, etc…) and continued our virtual party far into the evening.

One day soon, our blog will once again be filled with adventures near and far, and Carla will be to back booking dream vacations for all of you (shameless plug…feel free to start as soon as you’re comfortable). But for now, we tip our hat to entrepreneurs such as Raymond who are keeping our wanderlust alive in creative ways.

Until next time, open a bottle of your favorite vintage and allow yourself to be whisked away to the warm sun, cool breeze, and the manicured hills of a distant vineyard, gazing at the rows of vines that fade into the horizon.

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NCL Escape: Ship Review and Planning Guide

When planning a cruise, the options for ships and itineraries can be daunting. There’s a lot to consider when planning a cruise… are the dining options structured or ‘freestyle’…is the attire casual or dressy…will there be enough to do for everyone in my group? Well, here we offer you a look inside an amazing yet affordable ship on one of the world’s premier cruise lines: The NCL Escape: Ship Review and Planning Guide.

Why Cruise?

Why Cruise?

Only 33 years ago we celebrated our Honeymoon aboard a cruise ship. Our bags packed with our best dressy attire, we picked the late dinner seating and our floating hotel whisked is away for a taste of tropical paradise and onboard elegance.
Just 10 years ago, we departed out of our home port in Bayonne, NJ for a 5 day family cruise to celebrate our parents 50th anniversary. 22 if us had an absolute blast running up the biggest bar bill I’ve ever seen in my life.
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Three weeks ago, to celebrate our best friend’s 60th birthday (where does the time go), we left freezing NYC for 7 fun-filled, carefree days aboard Norwegian Cruise Line’s Breakaway. It was the perfect way to leave the world behind for a bit and focus on what’s really important in life.

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Dive Deep…

Dive Deep…

We are thrilled to feature this guest post from Organic Passengers…to follow their adventures and amazing photography follow them on Instagram: @organicpassengers

Here’s a brief introduction to our newest friends and world travelers:

Long time childhood best friends, Sonia and Hemanshu are a long distance relationship couple that live in Australia and India. Initially, travel was just a way for them to meet up with each other but now it has become a ritual where they meet every few months in a new country. Apart from loving travel, they’re very passionate about leading a very wholesome & organic lifestyle that they incorporate not just in their daily lives, but also during their adventures around the world.

All grown up?

All grown up?

Top 7 Survival Tips: Travel with Your Grown Children

Honestly, it doesn’t get much better than time spent away, as a family, whatever age your children are. We all can relive some of our most cherished memories of family bonding and togetherness on vacations, weekends away, hikes, or just day trips. When you have your children all to yourselves, away from friends, electronic devices, and all the other distractions of daily life there are moments to tuck away forever.

Once they’re grown (ours are currently 27, 24 and 18), the moments become few and far between, whether they live at home (two of ours do) or around the world (our middle daughter currently lives in Thailand). So, a long awaited family reunion/vacation for us in Thailand was a simply unforgettable experience. The things we experienced together…from kayaking through sea caves in Phang Nga to private cooking classes in Chiang Mai…were made that much more special because we were together.

Traveler Pics

Traveler Pics

There is no debate: Instagram is having a profound affect on the travel industry. Now six years old, Instagram has more than 500 million active users sharing an average of 80 million photos a day. Influencers with large followings are being tapped by destinations worldwide to inspire those followers to visit. Some say it’s causing overcrowding of once undiscovered places, while other feel that tourism brings the awareness needed to protect those places.

In my humble opinion, the beautiful places of the world are meant to be shared and experienced. The special places we all dream about are not ours to own, though we need to find a way to responsibly share them with each other. Travel mindfully, respect the environment, and respect one another’s space, and keep seeking out those unexpected adventures that happen when we wander off the beaten path.

Now that that is said…here are a few of my favorite Instagramers that are inspiring me to grab my camera (or my phone) and get out there.

Give it a go!

Give it a go!

10 Reasons for Women to Travel Solo in their 50’s

We are honored to feature this post by Julie Beckers
(A Not So Young Woman Abroad)
 www.anotsoyoungwomanabroad.com

Julie Beckers is a travel blogger and writer from Melbourne, Australia. She loves sharing tips, interesting and juicy stories about her adventures, from witnessing a shooting in New York to stories about cheeky Frenchmen. Aimed at the not so young woman, Julie’s blog, “A Not So Young Woman Abroad” was born from her experiences as a solo traveller who has no desire to “do” any country much less be confined on a “guided” tour. Her blog has been awarded Top 100 Travel Blogs for 2016 and 2017.

For some women, the very thought of traveling solo can be daunting. For women in their 50’s who have never travelled on their own, the thought of solo travel can be down right terrifying. For me it’s the only way to go.

Sea Change – making a difference for a cleaner and safer world

Sea Change – making a difference for a cleaner and safer world

“Sea Change” – a change wrought by the sea
— from William Shakespeare’s “The Temptest”

I am so proud to introduce our goherethereandeverywhere community to Sea Change. Our daughter Juliane started this support group five months ago, and has already organized beach cleanup events in Thailand that are truly making a difference. She was moved (and pretty pissed off – not a good thing to do, if you know her) by a tragic image of a dead sea turtle washed ashore on a local beach. This inspired her to organize a group to take action and actually clean the beach. From there, she has launched the support group on Facebook, which you can join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1646054452391755/

A Growing Problem
as published in Scientific American

‘Plastic can be detected in the bodies of more than 50 percent of the world’s sea turtles. Scientists estimate 90 percent of all seabirds have ingested plastic at some time in their lives. Fish, too, contain plastic and appear to consume it in large quantities when it is available.

Although there is a huge amount of plastic trash that has accumulated on land, much of the world’s plastic resides in the oceans, where it is deposited after being whisked there by the wind from land, being dumped at sea or on the shore or being carried there in runoff from rivers and streams. Scientists predict that by 2050 there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish.

Current estimates put the oceans’ total plastic load at 165 million tons. But that is just based on plastic samples collected from surface trawling. More microplastic found at greater depths in the oceans means scientists might be greatly underestimating the total amount of plastic in the ocean—and its total effect.’

Sea Change at Work

Juliane writes: ‘…we did a great job! I want to thank everyone for coming all the way to Pattaya and supporting this little nugget in her endeavors. It really means the world to me to have such a great support group….we got to hang out with old friends make some new friends and spend a great day together. And we still got so much done! It only takes one person to make a difference.

Support Sea Change 

Here are a few things YOU can do!

1) Start using Reusable bags! (it’s a lot easier and more fashionable than you think!).

2) Take the time and actually sort out your recycling.

3) If you see garbage, just pick it up!

4) Join/Share our FB group to help us get more exposure –Sea Change .

5) Set up a clean up with a few friends! (then share your stories with us, we aren’t keeping it to just one location, the beauty of cleaning…. you can do it anywhere).

6) While you’re at it.. go compliment someone today too because the world needs a lot more of those as well.

Juliane writes: ‘And now an update about how going plastic-less in Thailand is going… Surprisingly a lot easier than I thought it would! However, I’m sadly still finding myself buying things with plastic, or forgetting my tote bag and picking up a straw/bag here and there. BUT, as promised… I’m keeping all the plastic I use and I will make a donation to non-profit in Bangkok. I think the most surprising thing is that some people here really can’t wrap their head around not using a bag.’

We hope you’ll all click the link https://www.facebook.com/groups/1646054452391755/ to follow Juliane and her amazing group, and do your part, in however small or large a way you can, to make a difference.

We (and our Oceans and Sea Life) thank you!

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Carla is standing by with travel advice, ideas, recommendations and the best deals you'll find anywhere. Reach out now to make your travel dreams a reality! Email Carla@vacationkids.com or call 973-370-5584

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