So I am a little bit overdue here with all of my write ups. I sat down and realized that I had kept on traveling but hadn't been writing up my travels to all of my destinations!  So last April, we booked a long weekend to my favorite city ever, Istanbul, during the Easter holidays!

A train is a loud thing when you are in it, and this train was no exception. In the rear of the train, we stationed ourselves. For most of the time, it was quiet. I sat in the very back with the sun beating the hills around me, creating yellows brighter and more pure than any painter could create and bringing out the greens in the trees. The wind blew about me, whipping the hair around my face. This was a tour of New Zealand that is extremely cool. It brings you through places you can’t get to without taking a train. No cars were able to come, and there were no airports.

If you've always dreamed of getting away and truly exploring a place - but thought it was too expensive to do so - I've got the book for you. Cheap Places in South America & Budget Travel Tips, by Molly McHugh, is an extraordinary resource. This book covers six countries - and places I'd not thought to visit. Molly speaks from experience, having lived there for four+ years, and publishing an ENTIRE site on South America Living.

If you’re like me, you love discovering new places. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the town and environs of Hurghada, Egypt. Located on the western edge of Egypt, on the Red Sea, Hurghada is a popular place with tourists, who come to relax in the excellent weather and take advantage of the seaside location.

Casey McCallister takes great photos. His ability, vision, and determination, to wake up, stay up, and go, to the places that others do not, when others would not, set him apart from the pack of those whom many would append the title of photographer upon. The appearance of co-adventurers in any number of his images often has the effect of making me feel like I could be there as well.

Our earning potential is often a driving factor in our pursuits. Many of us spend our lives in jobs we do not necessarily enjoy simply because if its compensation, theoretically overriding the disdain we endure in its daily accomplishment. Those people finish the task to the end, with the mindset to "work now, play later."  Others of us spend our lives in the seemingly unattainable pursuit of balance in financial wealth and personal happiness.