One Adventure Away

I am honestly without words powerful enough to describe how I... and so, so many of us... are feeling about what the U.S. is doing right now. To Iran of course, but also in just about every other facet of domestic and foreign policy. Watching what this terminally stupid cosplay fascist regime is doing to the rest of the world and to its own people is like watching a slow motion train crash that we're trying to hold back with a feather. We have to grab on to our snippets of joy where we can or we will end up curled into the fetal position under a bed.

So while there are much more important things to worry about than our European vacations, they do constitute those hard-to-come-by snippets of joy. And as a travel planner, I'd like to address some of the fear and apprehension on FB groups and travel forums and all over social media about traveling to Europe right now.

Do not let this administration's chaos steal your trip to Europe too.

Western Europe is not a conflict zone. There are no travel advisories for France, Italy, Spain, the UK, Ireland, Portugal, etc. The State Department's worldwide "exercise increased caution" is a blanket alert they issue every time something major happens globally... it is not telling you not to go to Florence.

Türkiye is more nuanced and I get into that. Your flights are worth checking right now if you're connecting through Middle Eastern hubs. Those are the real, practical things to pay attention to.

But canceling your trip to Rome because of what's happening in the Gulf? That's letting the chaos win twice.

The War in Iran: What it Means for Your Trip to Europe — One Adventure Away The U.S. launched military operations against Iran on February 28th, and the ripple effects on global travel have been significant. If you have a trip to Europe on the books and you're not sure what to do, we've broken down exactly what's happening, what it means for Western Europe and Türkiye spec...

Pope Francis has died, devastating Catholics around the world. For them, this is a time of mourning, reflection, and anticipation. For tourists who have planned their once-in-a-lifetime trip to Rome, it’s a time of confusion and potential disappointment. What happens now? What sites are going to close and when?

I’ve put together a quick rundown of what to expect as a tourist in Rome as it begins its centuries-old process of saying goodbye to one pope and electing a new one:

https://www.1adventureaway.com/latest-travel-news/

Oh hi what's up.

If you'd like to miss your flight, try one of the stupider trends since Tide pods, "airport theory!"

If not, continue to get to the airport two hours in advance for domestic, three hours for international. The worst that can happen is that you get to drink mimosas and page through People at the closest bar to your gate for a while.

This trend is bad and the people posting about it on TikTok should feel bad.

For years, conventional wisdom (and everyone's dad) believed you had to arrive at the airport at least two hours before your flight. The "airport theory" is a viral TikTok trend where people arrive 15–20 minutes before their flight. Tap here for more 👆✈️ https://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/social-media-is-full-of-people-testing-out-airport-theory

Oh heeey it’s and guess what? We’re a small business!

Our goal at One Adventure Away is to take some of the stress out of travel by crafting personalized travel plans that get you closer to that perfect travel moment.

Check us out at www.1adventureaway.com or hit us up in our DMs! We can’t do anything about TSA, but we can find you that life-giving cappuccino! ☕️

Just now wrapping up a few weeks here in England touring some ancient (like, OLD old) sites, and it’s been fabulous and certainly eye-opening in terms of family-friendly travel.

If you know me, you know that I don’t automatically dismiss short-term rentals as the tools of the devil because in a lot of cases, they’re literally the only cost-effective, comfortable way a family can travel together. The solution for family travel so many hotels offer is a room that is twice as expensive for two double beds crammed right next to each other… and any family can tell you that has never been a good solution.

This trip (with the exception of London because we literally had no choice) we stayed in small, ancient B&Bs (the Garden Hilton at Heathrow T2 being a notable exception lol), as first of all, those are the kinds of places we love to stay but second of all, I wanted to see how they ranked against the bigger, more expensive hotels in terms of comfort for families traveling together.

Here’s what I found, ranked in order of worst to best:

…and people wonder why families fall back into the arms of short-term rentals. 🙄

Just trying to book a hotel room for my husband, 13 year old kid, and me in London this summer. That’s all! Should be simple right? I would say a good 70% of the hotels in the area we need to be (in City of London, near the Tower) can’t accommodate more than three people per room. We could get two rooms, one for our underage kid and one for us and lie about who’s staying in the rooms… and then we get to pay for two £500 per night rooms instead of one. And hilariously if they can accommodate three people in a room? It’s usually over £1,000 per night for the privilege of having our teenager curl up on a sofa at the foot of our bed.

Please find a way to do better, hotels. I want to book with characteristic, historic, independently run hotels but it sure is rough.

It is Spooky Season, Europhiles!! And I don't know about you cats, but I for one LOVE a good ghost story.

So I am here to announce the first ever OAA Haunted Europe spooky story contest!!

Here's how it works:

- Send in YOUR absolutely, 100% true spooky ghost stories from your European travels to [email protected]

- We will post them on our website at https://www.1adventureaway.com/traveltales/haunted-europe and make sure to raise the alarm here on FB and on our Instagram whenever there are new submissions!

- Our crack team of ghost story experts will choose our faves, and one day before Halloween, Oct. 30, we will announce the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners!

And my goodness will you get some FAB prizes!

1st place winner: an OAA t-shirt and 40% off any travel plan
2nd place winner: 20% off any travel plan
3rd place winner: 10% off any travel plan

So what are you waiting for?? Send in those spine-tingling stories of ghosts who made their presence known to you in Europe! I'll be kicking off the fun later on tonight (spooooky) with my two personal favorites (and coincidentally the only two I have), so watch this space!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Adventures in solo travel, from guest blogger Megan Starks

Welcome to Florence, I Will Be Your Solo Traveler Doula — One Adventure Away Guest author Megan Starks blogged her way across Europe on a solo tour this year. Hijinks ensue!

It’s called “skiplagging,” and it’s when you book a flight with a layover then… never get on the flight after your layover.

People do it for a variety of reasons, the biggest being to save money. If a direct flight costs you $500 more than a flight with a layover in exactly the place where you want to go, would you be tempted to skiplag? (Which I assume is the correct usage of that term?)

What are your thoughts? Is skiplagging a good idea to save $$, or are airlines in the right for punishing travels who do it?

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/08/travel/skiplagging-hidden-city-travel-layover.html

Whether You Call It ‘Skiplagging’ or ‘Hidden-City Travel,’ It’s Contentious Booking a flight with a layover in the city that’s the real destination for the traveler can net big bargains, but airlines prohibit the practice.

Fine, we've convinced you to do carry-on only. How does that work, exactly?

The 4 Packing Questions Everyone is Always Asking — One Adventure Away How do you solve a problem like a suitcase? Check out these packing tips and travel hacks, from 26 countries’ worth of trips.

If you follow travel news, lately you may be asking yourself: WTF is ETIAS?

We break it on down for you in our latest Tale from the Road. They how, the when, the why—everything we know about this new requirement for U.S. travelers to Europe next year.

(photo credit: )

https://www.1adventureaway.com/traveltales/what-the-hell-is-etias-anyway