The Travelers Blueprint

This month we bring you our Travel Bites episode where we break down the previous month’s travel related news that we found interesting.   This month we discuss:  Saudis sentence US citizen to 16 years over tweets The Most Visited Website in Every Country The rise of sleep tourism American tourist smashes two sculptures in the Vatican TSA Screens Highest Number of Passengers Since Februa...

TTB 207: Walking Wales and Ovarian Cancer Awareness Ursula Martin was just 31 years old when she went to the doctor and......BAM.  Large growth, scans, blood tests, fear and uncertainty.  She had ovarian cancer. Three  months later, March 2012, Ursula was in follow-up treatment, feeling dazed, confused and, as the clouds cleared, very very lucky. Starting in March 2014 Ursula walked...

TTB 206: Pursuing a Family Travel Blog with a Newborn Corritta and her wife were tired of the mundane routine of fighting traffic, spending 10 hours at the office, fighting more traffic, and then returning home - only to have dinner and family time for 2 or 3 hours before having to go to bed to do it all over again.  She was tired of spending more time with her coworkers than with her family....

TTB 205: September Travel Bites This month we bring you our Travel Bites episode where we break down the previous month’s travel related news that we found interesting.   This month we discuss:  We discuss time completing the 42 mile Four State Challenge Hike Proposed legislation could affect credit card rewards in the US Newark Airport Will No Longer Be Considered an NYC Hub Scientists...

TTB 204: How to Buy an Island Marshall Mayer is co-founder of Let's Buy an Island, the first successful crowdfunding effort to purchase a private island. A world traveler with a background in launching and investing in social-impact businesses, he is bringing his finance, non-profit, emerging markets and start-up experience to build a community-funded resort into a network of boutique eco resorts...

TTB 203: Guatemala, the Land of Eternal Spring Valerie Russel is the CEO of Due South Travels, which offers custom guided tours throughout Guatemala, at a price point that makes travel accessible to people who never imagined it was possible. A native of Nyack, New York, Val was educated in Washington, DC, and Bournemouth, England and settled down in the New York metro area, prepared for a career i...

TTB 202: August Travel Bites This month we bring you our Travel Bites episode where we break down the previous month’s travel related news that we found interesting.   This month we discuss:  What you need to know about traveling with marijuana How AirTags led police to an alleged luggage thief at Florida airport Why It's so Important for Kids to Travel, This Is the Age Kids Should Have...

TTB 201: Composing an Album on a Cross-Country Train Trip Cheryl B. Engelhardt is a composer and songwriter. She’s toured all over the world, had music in over 40 tv shows and commercials, performed on stage with Sting, and was recently featured in People and Forbes for her social justice choral piece “The Listening”, featuring Martin Luther King Jr’s goddaughter, Donzaleigh Abernathy. “The Passen...

TTB 200: Responsible, Impactful, Sustainable, Ethical Travel Vincie Ho, Ph. D., is a humane educator and social justice advocate, whom founded RISE Travel Institute in June 2020 with a mission to inspire responsible, impactful, sustainable and ethical travel through education. Her work focuses on engaging young people in important conversations around human rights, animal protection and environmen...

TTB 199: July Travel Bites This month we bring you our Travel Bites episode where we break down the previous month’s travel related news that we found interesting.   This month we discuss:  Why You Should Never Put a Souvenir Stamp in Your Official Passport US tourist falls into Mount Vesuvius after taking selfie Venice Plans to Start Weeding Out Cheap Tourists Airbus A380 'flew 14 hours...

TTB 198: The Psychology of Travel Addicts Dave Seminara is a writer and former diplomat based in St. Petersburg, Florida. He is the author of four books. Mad Travelers: A Tale of Wanderlust, Greed and the Quest to Reach the Ends of the Earth (June 1, 2021) is a deep exploration of wanderlust, focused around the true story of William Baekeland, a young Brit who conned many of the world’s most trave...

TTB 197: TAT Different Ways to Navigate a New City On this episode of the Travel Around Table, the group discusses the various ways to navigate a brand new city with a panel of travelers that have vastly different travel preferences! We covered;  Ways to plan (or not) before you depart on your trip Tips on how to get around, how to pick a place to stay, and how to meet locals And general advi...

TTB 196: June Travel Bites This month we bring you our Travel Bites episode where we break down the previous month’s travel related news that we found interesting.   This month we discuss:  Bison Gores a Woman Who Approached in Yellowstone National Park 6,000+ US flights canceled or delayed Friday after one of worst summer air travel days yet Ambassadors Recommend the One Book to Read Be...

TTB 195: Kidnapped, Bollywood Acting, and Finding Work Abroad Derek Earl Baron, aka Wandering Earl, left home in 1999 shortly after graduating from university. His goal was to travel around SE Asia for 3 months before starting a career as a sports agent back in the US. Despite having only $1500 to his name at the time, that 3 month trip kept going and it's still going on today. Derek has now trave...

TTB 194: Part Travel. Part Misadventures. Part Documentary  Pashmina, a travel writer based in Malaysia has cycled in Kyrgyzstan, Taiwan, Laos and even traveled overland from Iran to Europe. Her stories are focused on pushing limits, bicycle touring, hiking and finding relatively affordable ways to plan a grand adventure. Today we talked about her travels by foot from Iran to Europe, her cycl...

TTB 193: May Travel Bites This month we bring you our Travel Bites episode where we break down the previous month’s travel related news that we found interesting.   This month we discuss:  Man's stash of 900 illegal erectile dysfunction pills seized at Philadelphia airport Emergency landing in Florida: Pilot who lost consciousness in mid-air suffered aortic tear Here's What To Expect Fro...

TTB 192: Exploring the Robust World of Coffee Valerian Hrala started Green Plantation Coffee in 2001, offering single origin coffee in Slovakia. For more than 15 years he has been working, living and writing about coffee. With the Boot team, he developed the first online coffee education project coffeecourses.com and in 2017 he co-founded Unleashed Coffee, the real farm to consumer coffee company...

TTB 191: Why You Should Retire in Costa Rica Erika Ebsworth-Goold served as a publicist and messaging expert for several non-profit organizations based in St. Louis. Prior to that, she was an Emmy Award–winning television newscast producer and on this podcast we discussed 8 Reasons Costa Rica Is The Best Place To Retire Internationally!  The Travelers Blueprint is an indie travel podcast wher...

TTB 190: The Importance of Art, History, and Travel Tamar is an art historian turned finance administrator turned independent radio producer.  She worked for years as an art history instructor and an adjunct lecturer at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  Today we took a deep dive (for us, anyway) into the world of art and its relationship to history, culture, and travel!  The Travele...

TTB 189: The Trip From Hell, Meeting El Chapo in Mexico Paul Wilson jumped at the chance to join two local icons on a dream surf trip In the summer of 1978, to mainland Mexico, unaware their ultimate destination lies in the heart of drug cartel country. Having no earthly idea of where he’ll get the money to pay his share, and determined to prove his mettle, he does the only thing he can think of:...

TTB 188: April Travel Bites This month we bring you our Travel Bites episode where we break down the previous month’s travel related news that we found interesting.   This month we discuss:  CDC Removes All Countries From Highest 'Level 4' Travel Warning Airlines ditch face mask rules for the first time in two years.  Hundreds of new and unusual insects discovered in the Amazon’s ca...

TTB 187: TSA, Our Travel Guardians Thomas Carter, Federal Security Director (FSD), leads the oversight of Newark, a Category X airport, and two spoke airports in the state of New Jersey, accommodating more than 30 million passengers per year for the TSA. Mr. Carter joined the TSA at its inception by transferring from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) after the horrific events of 9/11. Toda...

TTB 186: TAT What is “Responsible Travel”? On this episode of the Travel Around Table, the group discusses what it takes to be a “Responsible Traveler”. This included the question of whether or not you should contribute your tourism dollars to governments you don’t agree with, adding “turnstiles” to landmarks in the name of sustainability, tracking your carbon emissions, and where the responsible...

TTB 185: Paragliding with the Monarch Butterfly Migration Benjamin Jordan grew up in Toronto, Ontario and broke into the world of visual arts through pursuits of fashion and advertising photography. In 2006, Jordan and three friends rode their skateboards across Canada, during which he discovered his passion of producing Adventure Travel Documentaries. He remained out West and has since focused al...

TTB 184: March Travel Bites This month we bring you our Travel Bites episode where we break down the previous month’s travel related news that we found interesting.   This month we discuss:  The Most Annoying Passengers on a Plane, According to a New Survey Mother, 34, is left red-faced after drunkenly ordering an Uber XL to Ukraine to 'help out' TSA Is Getting New Futuristic Scanners Th...