Mindy on the Map

When COVID-19 shut down travel around the world for months in some places, and years in others, it was upsetting to anyone with a passion for exploring new countries and cultures. On the flip side, I have COVID-19 travel restrictions to thank for my trip to Albania! Albania was not a country that was on my radar previously, but when I could no longer stand being restricted to domestic travel I googled "countries that Americans can travel to without quarantine requirements" and Albania was the first country on the list. Don't make the mistake of requiring anything so extreme to plan your trip there! It was one of my favorite trips - the cities were lively and full of history, the people were friendly as could be, the food was delicious, and the natural beauty of the landscapes was stunning.  My one and only complaint is that the public transport in Albania left something to be desired. There were some buses traveling between big cities, but the best and easiest way to ge

My husband and I were dating long distance for ~2 years and then we planned our wedding back in Houston while living in Detroit. There's no way I would have been able to afford traveling back and forth across the country every month, or even every other month, without saving money by flying on Spirit. After 3.5 years of frequent practice, I have flying on Spirit down to a science that translates to pretty much any US budget airline. We've all heard the horror stories along with the angry "I'll never fly *insert budget airline here* again!!" But, honestly, it's really not that bad if you follow a couple of ground rules - and I'm here to let you know what those rules are. First and foremost, you need to know that budget airlines make their money  by charging for everything separately . That means you will only save money by minimizing your purchases over the base fares, and you have to understand when booking a budget airline makes sense in order to do tha

If you want to travel from the US without a passport, but still want international vibes, Puerto Rico is an excellent option! Since Puerto Rico is an US territory, US residents can travel there as easily as going to Florida - It just takes a little extra time to get there. There's no currency exchange, cell phone service interruptions, or customs to deal with and, again, no passport required!  Renting a car to explore the entire island is easy enough, but you could just as easily stay in San Juan and get around by walking or taking Ubers. Puerto Rico runs on island time, so you don't want to try to pack too much into your itinerary. That means if you only have a few days, staying in San Juan is probably your best option. Here are some of things you should make sure to do in, and around, San Juan. This post contains affiliate links. That means, that at no cost to you, I earn a small commission when you click on a link and purchase the item. I choose products and service

Sure, you could read a bunch of blog posts and decide what to do on your trip to Switzerland, and then piece that together into a great trip itinerary....Or you could just use my perfect 4-day itinerary to have the same fantastic trip with none of the planning stress! I've already done all the hard work and tested this itinerary out for you!  For this plan, you'll want to fly in and out of the Zurich airport and find lodging in Zurich for days 1, 3, and 4. Day 2 involves staying in the beautiful little town of Mürren in the Swiss Alps. Day 1 can accommodate a flight that arrives early that morning, if you don't want to pay for staying an extra night, and there's a chance you could make an evening flight work on day 4, but I would recommend just flying out on your fifth day if possible.  Of course you can always shuffle the days around to fit your needs, or extend your trip to spend longer in each place if you want too! My blog posts about spending a day in Zurich  and