Seat33C

Simply put, this should be your first stop in any city you visit. They’re located downtown in the city center and easy to find. The offices are loaded with coupons, guides, bus/subway routes, and maps. Most of this stuff is free as well. The attendants usually speak English (at least a little) and can offer [...]

Hostels get a bad rap. Experienced travelers know they are great money savers and social hubs. Inexperienced travelers just have visions of getting tortured ala the  movie Hostel. I reckon 9 out of 10 people who have little travel experience will mention something from that movie anytime a hostel is brought up in conversation. I’ve been [...]

When most people look for a flight they just head to Priceline, Orbitz, or one of the other major travel sites. What they don’t know is that there are a number of other sites out there search all those sites and more. These are called search aggregates and they search the big sites, airline’s websites, [...]

Ah to be in gay Paris.  The beautiful women, amazing sites, delicious food, and the sewers.  Umm, the what?  Apparently Paris has the largest network of sewer piping in the world and as with all these European they date way back.  And lucky for you, tours are available. Tours like these are always neat.  It’s nice [...]

What are some of the most common questions people ask when you tell them you’re heading to Europe?  Where are you going in Europe?  Where are you going to stay?  How much is it going to cost?  Ok, the last one isn’t really related to this article but it does get asked all the time.  [...]

Traveling can be as cheap or expensive as you make it.  Meals are a big area where you can stretch those dollars.  You don’t have to eat at a restaurant every meal or even hit McDonald’s.  Remember, there is no dollar menu in Europe.  Here are some tips I’ve learned to keep your food budget [...]

If you’ve ever been in a big city before you’ve probably spotted double-decker, open air bus scooting around loaded up with tourists.  With their abundance of cameras, fanny-packs, and guides with booming microphones spouting facts and telling stories.  A real backpacker would never be caught in such a tourist trap, right?  Wrong! Experienced travelers [...]

Edinburgh is a special place.  It hosts a number of major attractions you’ll find in every guidebook.  Those are great and all, but there’s much still to be found. Climb the mountain. One of the best views of the city is found on Arthur’s Seat and Salisbury Cags.  Its a short hike and different paths allow [...]

Now we’ve come to part 3 of our little series on traveling and communication.  You can catch up on the first two by reading Travel is a Connection, Not a Field Trip and How to Communicate While Abroad. You may not have realized it but that study abroad group you went to Europe with was a [...]

If you read the first part of this series, Travel is a Connection, Not a Field Trip, then you should be excited about meeting some locals on your next trip.  Not everyone speaks English but everyone speaks sign language.  I’m not talking about signing for the deaf.  I’m talking using your fingers, hand, arms…you’re [...]