When travelling to new countries, knowing the language always makes everything a lot easier - especially if you are staying for a while. If you don’t already know the language, this can be a problem. Learning a new language can be very tough.

Family vacations are great... when you're getting along. I'm a realist, so I'm going to put forth the fact that all families are a little (to sometimes extremely) dysfunctional. My family is no different, and sometimes I would love nothing more than to vacation away from my family while we're on route to our vacation destination, because otherwise I might just lose it. 

Picture this: late 19th century California. Artists and creative talent overflowing - in fact, some of California's greatest artists - often painting in artist studios repurposed from old Adobe buildings.

It was an explosion of art, spectacularly influenced by the colors and environment of California.

Florida Culture for the Week of August 20 by Josh Garrick

August 24 – Historic Downtown Sanford Art Walk

I remember tripping over myself in my dash through the automatic doors that separated Narita airport and the outside world for that first breath of Japanese air – of the late spring/early summer cool that I had romanticized for the last 6 years. Strangely, it was the first time that, when landing in a foreign country, I didn’t feel like I was out of place, but rather, surreal – like an explorer who finally steps off the shaking waves onto the home he had been dreaming of.