Festival of Holidays - Overview of Festivities at Disney California Adventure

If you are having a difficult time deciding which of California's two Disney parks to visit, maybe this video and post will help!  Right now, Disney California Adventure is having the Festival of Holidays, and it's pretty awesome. There are food vendors that line the street, interspersed with free craft tables for the kids and little outdoor shopping boutiques.  You can have your face painted or have a custom ornament made for you....

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What's cooler than 2 million pounds of carved ice?

I had the chance to explore the amazing ICE! display at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, Texas, and it was spectacular!  The highlight of the experience for most will be a chance to slide down one of the 5 2-story ice slides they have in this holiday attraction.   They keep the rooms at 9° Fahrenheit so the ice doesn't melt...and that means it is COLD.  The AC is always blowing, so it almost feels a bit breezy, too,...

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Photo Guide to: Santo Tomás de Castilla, Guatemala (Family Tour!)

Are you visiting Santo Tomás de Castilla, Guatemala any time soon, or do you have a desire to visit this beautiful country?  Check out the video guide I made below and see what there is to see!This is primarily a shipping port, so if you are visiting via cruise ship, this is the port you should book an excursion on.  There are plenty of things to do if you are willing to drive around an hour or so away from the port.  We did one...

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Grand Cayman - Island Tour (perfect for the whole family!)

Are you traveling to Grand Cayman soon?  There are a lot of fun and exciting things to do on this island, so choosing an excursion could be difficult. If you are on a budget, then an island tour might be the perfect tour for you.  My family of 4 did this tour for a cost of about $15-$20 USD a person, which is substantially cheaper than what the cruise line wanted to charge for the same excursion.  The sellers on the pier were...

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How to Get a Refund of Service Charges on Norwegian Cruise Line

If you are like me, you went aboard your cruise thinking you could adjust your service charges while on your cruise. NOTICE: You cannot do this while aboard your cruise! Instead, they will give you a form and tell you that you can request a refund once your cruise is actually over.  This was mind blowing to me...not to be able to adjust your tips while your cruise is actually happening? To help you avoid the hassle I went through (almost...

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Costa Maya Flyers: Danza de los Voladores

Have you ever wanted to see the Mazatlan Flyers, or another similar group while traveling around Central America, only to miss out? Here is your chance to see this spectacular aerial dance! With a history rooted deep in deep Mayan culture, these dances are extremely fun to watch, as the dancers hang upside down from only one rope while playing instruments or holding a pose, swinging in a circle. The Dance of the Flyers ceremony is performed...

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Belize City: Tour by Horse-drawn Carriage

Slowly but surely I will be posting things from my cruise in May. One of my favorite places to stop is Belize!  This country is extremely diverse in possible shore excursions when your cruise ship arrives. Cave tubing, ancient ruins, city tours, submarines, zip lines... you name it and you can probably find it here. For those of you who spent all your money just taking the cruise, relax!  There are cheap excursions you can do here....

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New Video + Content Coming Soon!

So I just got back from a 10 day cruise aboard the Norwegian Dawn, and I have a LOT of photos and advice to share from it!  For now, I've got a video tour up of the cabin we stayed in about the Norwegian Dawn.  Please check it out and stay tuned for more information from this trip coming soon! For those curious, here are the places this cruise stopped and the destinations I will be detailing about later on: And here is the video tour...

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New Video: Tulum Ruins Photographic Tour

I uploaded a new video I made to the Ground Travel YouTube page!  I would love if you all could check it out and leave me a comment.  Also if you haven't yet, please subscribe!! It would mean a lot to me :) If you are interested in reading about my experience, I've written about it on this blog post here (click). Thanks so much!!...

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How to Entertain 5 Kids for 4.5 Days Straight: Crossing America

So in my last post, I mentioned that we were driving across America from California to Florida and I promised an update.  Here it is!  In this post I'm going to provide a very brief outline of the drive, where we stopped, and then tell you guys what we did to entertain 5 kids for that long. The above picture shows the route we took crossing the United States.  We chose a more Southern route because we hoped to avoid snow and other...

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Driving Across America

Who is crazy enough to drive across America these days? Apparently me :) This time I joined my sister and her family as we drove from California to Florida.  There were 8 of us in that van, 5 of them were under 9 years old.  This took entertainment to a whole new level! It took us about 4.5 days and we saw some pretty amazing things!  Cactus's took on a new meaning for me in Arizona, for example. I had no idea that they grew this...

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