United States
Only in the US
This article is a smorgasbord of photos and facts that made us feel that we were indeed in the United States. For the most part, these are things you won’t see anywhere else. Looking back at our 2.5-month trip to the US and viewing the photos that we took, we came up with the idea of posting photos of things you only see in the US, or things that seemed strange, new or weird to us. Those points are posted randomly, and don’t have any connection to each other (besides the fact that they were seen in the US). Only in the US can you see: And also, what we couldn’t capture in photos: Huge quantities of food in restaurants. Selling cigarettes and alcohol...
Read MoreOur CouchSurfing Experience in the United States
Since our journey to the United States is coming to an end and we are about to head to South America, we thought it would be a good idea to share our experiences with CouchSurfing (and one Airbnb), and how we had the chance to meet very interesting and kind people each time we visited a new city. This post is dedicated all those people who hosted us and made our dream come true. Thank you all so much! For new readers of our blog, we started our trip in August 2012 after quitting our jobs. Our first destination was New York City, and below are the details for each city and host. We crossed the States from east to west using buses, trains and airplanes. We visited six...
Read MoreUSA Summary: Our Observations & Experiences!
As we are about to leave the States after two and a half months in which we visited six states and nine cities, we thought it would be a good time to write a summary about the country and it’s different aspects. First, we would like to say that in general we liked the country very much. Coming from Canada, we didn’t experience a very strong culture shock, as a lot of things are very similar. So here are our feelings about the country presented under different topics. Nature Although we didn’t spend much time in nature, I can say that nature is everywhere here—even in cities. Everywhere we went we could enjoyparks, lakes and forests. I was amazed by the...
Read MoreThings to Do in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles is the city where we stayed the longest—although we didn’t stay in Los Angeles itself, but at Mission Viejo, which is an hour and a half driving from L.A. We could go to downtown as often as we wanted, however, as Bassel’s uncle works there. We always feel in our element when we are in the heart of a city, and L.A is a very nice city to walk around. What Can You Do for Free in L.A.? First of all there is the famous Hollywood Boulevard, where you can spend hours just walking and looking for the star of your favorite celebrity. The boulevard is very long, so you can spend easily the afternoon there. Not free, but Very Fun! Wax museum . You can buy...
Read MoreStupid Incident in New York—Priceless!
I had just arrived in New York City at JFK airport, and I was excited because my whole journey had gone smoothly (I had a layover in Zurich and spent the night in a very nice airport private room that cost $80). I went into the queue to stamp my passport, and I had the most wonderful welcome in all my US visits. Usually I would spend between two to four hours for “random” security checks, but for some reason this time I only spent three minutes chatting with the officer and answering all the questions he was asking in a very polite way, while smiling the whole time. Since I only carried my backpack (which I didn’t have to check in), I left the airport...
Read MoreFree iPad, how did that happen!
Summary: This is a true story that happened by mistake with us and not “how to get free iPad” kinda post As we were preparing for our ongoing travel around the world, we’ve decided to buy an iPad for my wife so each will have their own. We went to BestBuy Canada and purchased one with an extended warranty. We also got a confirmation from the agent that the warranty will cover any problems while we are traveling abroad. Anyway, a month ago while we were in the States we discovered that the home button wasn’t functioning well, so we took it to the nearest BestBuy store and asked for repair. We took the receipt and the warranty with us so that we...
Read MoreWhat a Backpacker’s Day Looks Like…
Today was kind of a tough day (October 16, 2012)… Woke up and packed, did some cleaning to the room and bathroom where we stayed, prepared our breakfast and then the day started: two hours walking in a park in the middle of the desert near Vegas (35 degrees Celsius). Upon our return 30 minutes later we spent one hour standing in a queue to check in to the hotel. Took a shower to refresh and spent one hour and a half watching the Obama/Romney debate. Then we spent three hours walking in the streets and casinos and one and a half hours checking emails at McDonald’s and hoping that we could walk back to the hotel (which is actually our first night in a hotel in...
Read MoreHow to Visit Vegas with a Tight Budget and no Gambling
We spent one week in Las Vegas. I must say that I didn’t want to visit Las Vegas (Basel did), but as everyone in Los Angeles kept telling us that the city was nice and worth seeing, I started to change my mind. At first we stayed 20 minutes outside of downtown, but our Couch Surfing host took us to The Strip as often as we wanted. Free Things to Do in Las Vegas As everyone knows by now, we don’t have money to spend on expensive tours or museums, so basically what we did was walk (a lot) along the Strip and visit the hotels (which are all very beautiful—that’s what is worth seeing in Vegas). We didn’t gamble (neither of us tried any games), so we...
Read MoreLaura Ingalls Wilder Museum, Walnut Grove.
The only reason we went to Minnesota was for me to visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum, as I am a big fan of the TV series The Little House On The Prairie. So this was a dream for me. How to go to Walnut Grove: To get there, we had first to go to the closest big city, which are the twin cities Minneapolis and St. Paul. We stayed in St. Paul for a week, and we won’t post anything about those two cities because we didn’t do anything there. So, back to Walnut Grove! It was not easy to get there at all! We don’t drive, so we couldn’t rent a car, and there are no buses from Minneapolis to Walnut Grove. The closest city you can reach by bus is...
Read MoreFree Things to Do in Madison
We stayed in Madison for only two nights. This wasn’t planned in our trip, but after being there we thought we could have spent at least one week in the city! We arrived on the day of a football match, and almost everyone in the city was wearing red a red t-shirt (I think they call them the Badgers?). It was awesome! We did nothing our first day. Madison is not a very big city, but it’s very nice and there is a lot of energy, as most of the people are young. The city itself is very nice to walk around. The second day we stayed downtown and walked around the Capitol, and then went to the Monona Terrace. We had a very nice sunset coming back from a fair with...
Read MoreWho we are?
Bassel & Ariane, a couple who quit their jobs to realize their dream "traveling around the world". This travel website is our way to share with you the amazing adventures we have had, with the goal of helping to make your own travels more enjoyable.
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