When I was growing up in Los Angeles I never understood why nearly every comedian constantly made fun of New Jersey as if it was hell on earth. It was always like, “This place is the pits, but at least it’s better than New Jersey.” So years later when I finally visited New York and then later moved there, I was interested to find out why.

Here’s why New Jersey has the horrible reputation

So, as it turns out, New Jersey is easily one of the most beautiful states in the country. The only part of it that is bad at all is the area between Newark Airport and Manhattan, which also happens to be the only area that most New York residents ever see. When you land at Newark, it’s an industrial-looking area with an IKEA right across the freeway, and as you get closer to Manhattan it turns from industrial to post-apocalyptic.

Honestly, it looks like the area was once rich in minerals, and it has been strip mined with no apologies for 100 years. There are a handful of power plant-looking things mixed in, but it’s mostly a mangled wasteland.

And this is why most New Yorkers make these jokes

As you probably know, New York City has 3 airports, except that one of them is really in New Jersey. And since flights from Newark are often cheaper than those from JFK or LaGuardia, many New Yorkers use the airport regularly. Another notable factor is that Newark Airport parking is much cheaper than parking near the other airports, so many locals drive their cars through this nightmarish strip on their way to Newark, and that’s all they ever see.

Other parts of New Jersey

I used to work for a company that had its headquarters in Heightstown, New Jersey, so I spent my fair share of time there. It’s a nice wooded area, just about 10 miles from Princeton, but it’s not too special. I’ve also spent a decent amount of time in the hotels in Atlantic City, but to be honest that area might be the second worst part of the state.

It really wasn’t until I had the opportunity to drive through the southern part of the state on the turnpike, as well as along the Garden State Parkway that I really saw what was so special about the place. Aside from Newark itself (which isn’t really that big of a city), can you name a large city in New Jersey? There’s Jersey City and Hoboken, both suburbs of Manhattan, and the capital is Trenton, which also isn’t a large city.

That’s the thing, it’s all small cities and towns, and if you get anywhere off the main highway and especially if you avoid the area between Newark and Manhattan, it’s lovely.

As most of you regular readers know, I lived in the Greater Phoenix area for about 5 and a half years in the 1990s, and I’m sure I’d never go back permanently, but I am always tempted to rent a place there for the winter. I grew up in Los Angeles so good weather during January wasn’t foreign to me, but the weather in January in Phoenix isn’t just good, it’s unbelievable, and it stays that way through March.

The sky has never looked so blue, and the temperatures always seem to go between the 60s in the morning to the low to mid 80s in the afternoon, but there is no humidity at all so it just feels perfect all the time. Right now I imagine there are many empty houses there, as it’s been one of the hardest hit by the real estate bust, so I imagine one could get a good monthly rate on a nice rental there.

Another less obvious great thing about Phoenix

If you want to just sit in your backyard and enjoy the sunshine in Phoenix then no one could blame you, but there is another less obvious reason to spend the winter in Phoenix – you can get cheap flights from Phoenix to almost everywhere, and usually without even having to change planes.

This was part I loved when I lived in Phoenix, namely that US Airways (then called America West before the merger) was based there, and Southwest Airlines had almost as many flights. Since PHX is an important hub for both airlines it means that you can pretty much go anywhere either of them fly, for very low prices, on nonstop flights. I used to fly to New York City all the time, but it honestly is pretty much skies the limit when it comes to destinations, at least in North America.

It’s also very convenient

The area is huge and spread out, and all the roads seem comically wide, as well as in perfect condition. This all makes it really easy to get around there, at least outside of summer when the steering wheel can burn your hands for the first few minutes of your journey. More good news comes in the fact that Phoenix airport parking is abundant and cheap. It’s not a bad idea to book a space ahead of time if you like to arrive at the airport just before your flight, though if you get there early you should have no problems except for maybe around Christmas.

So you can rent a cheap house in Phoenix for the winter, and then once a month or so take a cheap and quick flight to somewhere else that you want to check out. Maybe one month it’s Austin and another it’s Las Vegas and another it’s Orlando. The world is your oyster there if you can pull it off.

Australia is an exotic place to visit, home to the stunning Great Barrier Reef, gold sandy beaches, clear waters, extinct volcanoes, scenic mountains, rivers, lush rainforests and cosmopolite towns. The majority of those who travel to Australia don’t have too much time available on their hands and need to choose where they’d be spending their vacation and what type of vacation they want.

But regardless of what you plan to do in Australia, the first step is finding cheap tickets into one of the major airports.

Sydney’s airport is the biggest in Australia and where most travelers choose to land. Summer (December to February) is the best time to enjoy the beach activities and the outdoor life. It can get scorching hot at times but generally temperatures stay around 26C. The city is also an excellent base for exploring the country. You can drive across the Blue Mountains to the Western Plains. Of course, stopping in the mountains area can offer an excellent opportunity to explore nature and enjoy the outdoor activities.

The second largest airport is in Melbourne. The city is regarded as the cultural center of Australia and is an excellent place to visit if you want to shop, visit museums and spend time in large parks. Due to its location, Melbourne can be an excellent start point for exploring the coast of Victoria. Many beautiful places are located less than an hour drive from the city.

The thirst biggest airport serving the country is in Brisbane. As opposed to Sydney and Melbourne, Brisbane’s climate tropical, making the summer months dry and sunny. There are many interesting activities to do within the city, including visiting the Koala Sanctuary, checking out the farmers’ markets and cruising the Brisbane River. The city is a great base for exploring the southeast of Queensland. Amazing beaches are within easy reach and so are several theme parks.

Regardless of which city you decide to fly into, finding airline tickets to Australia is an easy task tanks to the many carriers which serve the airports. However, when traveling during the peak tourist season (December to February) make sure to book your flight in advance in order to save some money.

You can also check out the weekly deals on Australia vacation packages . These can be hotel-only or flight-only deals, but also might comprise both and some other facilities. In most cases, you’ll end up saving some money if you opt for such a deal.

My husband grew up in central Pennsylvania, and his family still lives there. As such, we spend part of each holiday season in the Keystone State. The fact that my husband went to school in Pittsburgh and still has family there, however, doesn’t change the fact that I’ve still never been to Pittsburgh.

Whenever we fly back east for the holidays, we almost always end up flying into the Baltimore or DC area as opposed to Pennsylvania, because it’s not as far to drive. That’s one of the things that’s hard for people not used to the small size of eastern states to wrap their heads around, but it’s so easy to drive across several state borders in a day that the nearest airport to your house is just as likely to be in another state as it is to be in your own.

But I digress.

Most of the time when you hear about tourism in Pennsylvania, it’s centered around Philadelphia and all the U.S. history there. I’ve not been to Philly, either, but though I’d like to visit I’m slightly more intrigued by Pittsburgh. Sure, that’s partly because of my husband’s connection with the city, but from what I’ve heard (from him and others) it bears some striking resemblances to a city I know and love – Portland.

Mainly, it’s the rivers running right through downtown that make it look like a city I could spend time in. I know it’s not the ocean, but I like being close to water. So Pittsburgh’s got that going for it. Plus, like Portland, it’s not exactly a tourist hotspot. Yes, there are plenty of great reasons to visit and lots of things to do and see there, but it doesn’t have the same level of famous sights that Philadelphia does and so doesn’t attract the same number of visitors.

Although I still won’t be looking for flights to Pittsburgh for our annual holiday trek, since the DC-area airports are still much closer to my in-laws’ home, perhaps one of these days I’ll make it a point to plan a trip to PA for something other than the holidays so I can visit all the places I keep hearing about but that we never have time to squeeze in.

Of course, if my in-laws get word that I’m anywhere near them – even if it is much further to drive and nowhere near their home – I have no doubt that I’ll get there only to find that they’ve pulled the minivan into Pittsburgh airport parking and are waiting for me. Then I’ll just have to convince them I’m staying in Pittsburgh and not heading back home with them.

Right. Because that’s an easy thing to do… So, anyone got a plan B?

After having traveled so much in “The West” it sometimes feels like I’m starting to run out of places to visit, which is one reason why I’m starting to find “The East” more appealing. When I say the east in this case I’m speaking from the Western European perspective, meaning on the other side of what was once the Iron Curtain.

The two largest and most notorious cities that were communist are Moscow and Berlin, although of course I know that Berlin was slightly more than half controlled by the Allied forces, so only half the city was truly communist.

These cities have grown even farther apart since the Iron Curtain disappeared around 1990, and now Berlin is one of the most exciting and vibrant European cities of all, while Moscow is still struggling to get any kind of tourism boom started. Let’s look at each of them, shall we?

Berlin

The very fact that half the city was controlled by communists has actually turned into a great thing for tourists. These days the former East Berlin is filled with affordable hotels, partly due to there being so many under used and abandoned buildings left over from the heyday. Generally speaking cheap hotels in Berlin are easy to find, but the ones in the East tend to be lower priced than ones in the West. Most backpacker types and independent travelers much prefer the East anyway, so this is a good thing.

Getting there can be a bit expensive at times though. You are certainly aware that Germany’s busiest airport, by far, is the one in Frankfurt, so air tickets to Berlin are usually more expensive than those to Frankfurt. If the difference is significant when you check you can consider taking a train to Berlin from Frankfurt, but generally the price is close enough that you won’t have to bother. If you pay close attention and you have time to play with then finding cheap tickets to any of these cities shouldn’t be too tough.

Moscow

As mentioned up top, Moscow is still struggling in a lot of areas in the tourism realm. It often tops the list of the most expensive cities on earth, which is shocking since incomes there are still very low compared to every other city on the list, and facilities are usually said to be poor in the moderate price ranges. Hotels in Russia are generally very expensive new places or more affordable places from the Soviet era that really show their age. If you are a backpacker then this might be okay for you, but if you are used to 2-star hotels in the US then you’ll have to pay quite a bit to get that quality level in most bigger cities in Russia.

Getting there is actually cheaper than most people realize. Airfare to Moscow is often cheaper than airfare to Western Europe if you can find a promotion running when you are ready to book. For example, I just found a round trip from Portland to Moscow for around US$650 total, with only one stop in Washington DC in each direction. It’s a bit more expensive to fly to London from here now, and definitely more expensive to reach Paris or Amsterdam.

The majority of Caribbean vacation packages include the round trip flight from Miami into the Caribbean destination and even those planning their vacations independently choose one of the large airports in Florida to fly from, and Miami is definitely the preferred one.

But you should know that there are several other airports which can be used to fly into the Caribbean, whether you want to visit Mexico or a more exotic island. Depending on where you live, it might be cheaper to travel to either Phoenix or Houston and then catch the flight to your dream vacation.

PHX flights are available from all major US cities so you won’t have a problem catching a flight into Phoenix. The city is served by Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, the main gateway into the state of Arizona. It is the primary hub for US Airways and a major hub for Southwest Airlines and Great Lakes Airlines. Two more airports serve the city, so there are plenty of choices when you need to find a flight into Phoenix.

Should you decide to drive to Phoenix, it’s important to know that Phoenix airport parking is affordable and can be booked online. So you can leave your car here until you come from your vacation.

Another option is to find flights to Houston and then travel from here to the Caribbean. The city is served by two airports. The biggest of them is George Bush Intercontinental Airport, located 23 miles north of downtown. It is a hub for Continental Airlines, so make sure to look at their flights before you check other offers.

Just like in the case of PHX airport, you can book Houston airport parking online if you choose to drive to the airport and need a safe place for your vehicle until you come from your vacation.

In either case, make sure to plan to arrive in the city at least a day earlier than the day of your flight to the Caribbean. And that means you need to book a hotel. For example, you can easily find cheap Houston hotels right by the airport, especially if you don’t plan to do much sightseeing in the city. Likewise, in Phoenix you can choose to stay close to the airport and save money on accommodation.

No matter how much fun you’re planning to have on your vacation, no amount of guidebook-reading can prepare you if something terrible happens while you’re away from home. It’s something most of us don’t (or don’t want to) think about, but the truth is that people do get into accidents, get hurt, and even die while on vacation. And because it only takes a few minutes of research to feel prepared to handle unfortunate travel incidents, it’s something we should all do.

Whereas booking international air tickets has become something most of us are familiar with, buying travel health insurance is still a mystery to many people. Certainly, there are lots of things to consider when you’re researching travel insurance, but there are also tools that will help you find the right policy for you depending on the trip you’re taking.

Here are some comparison charts for travel medical insurance and trip protection insurance that will help you understand the differences between insurance policies and providers. It’s easy to rule some of them out immediately, as some are only applicable to residents of the U.S. or specifically applicable to non-U.S. residents. Some policies focus more on adventure trips that include what the insurance industry calls “extreme” sports or activities (say, for instance, if you’re going to climb Kilimanjaro) while others are more geared toward package tourists who just want to make sure they don’t lose their non-refundable deposits on things like cruises.

Perhaps the thing we want to think about the least is someone dying while on vacation – and although it’s not likely to happen, that doesn’t mean it’s not something worth preparing for. There’s accidental death insurance available for just this purpose.

One of the things most people don’t realize when they hear about travel insurance is just how inexpensive it is – and I’m not even talking about the “relative” expense of the cost of your trip vs. the cost of insurance, or the cost of paying for an ER visit vs. the cost of insurance. I’m talking about the cost of insurance on its own, which is really cheap. Of course, you can choose a lower deductible, which will cost a little more, but it’s still unbelievably inexpensive to have the peace of mind that comes with knowing you’re taken care of if something bad happens while you’re away from home.

If you listen to enough old-time backpacker types you’ll certainly hear many of them say something about how “Prague is beautiful, but it’s really crowded and expensive now.” Well, compared to how things were maybe 15 or 20 years ago that’s certainly true, but don’t let these relative comparisons keep you from actually checking the place out for yourself.

Getting there is the only expensive part

We’ll discuss food, drinks and hotels below, but this is really the part that you have to be concerned about. The truth is that flights to Prague do tend to be a bit expensive compared to other popular European cities. This is partly due to the fact that there are no major airlines that use Prague as a hub in the way that London, Paris, Rome, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam all have them.

When I’m in the mood to annoy people it usually doesn’t take much prompting to get me to admit that I’ve been to about 45 different countries and even 47 of the US states, but as you might expect, those numbers can be more than a little misleading. It’s true that I’ve criss-crossed the USA by car about 6 or 7 times, and actually stopped off in every state except North Dakota, Alaska, and Hawaii, but there are still loads of places I’ve missed, and soon my trip to Houston will take care of one of those major holes.

I’ve had a cousin and her husband living in Houston for about 20 years now, and they’ve always said I’m welcome to stay with them, but I for one am never too comfortable staying with relatives that I don’t see too often. And besides, staying with relatives usually means staying out in some suburban area that doesn’t help you get to know the actual city much anyway.

So I’m actually going

Since actually flying to Asia or Europe is so expensive with all the baggage fees and whatnot, I decided to figure out which American cities I’ve neglected for far too long, and Houston was at the top of that list. From my home in Portland, Oregon I noticed that flights to Houston are cheaper than I would have guessed, and the better news is that nonstop flights between these cities leave several times per day, thanks to Continental Airlines.

I’m going to stay with my relatives for a few days, but even they understand that it wouldn’t be a good idea for the whole stay. I’m also thrilled to discover that hotels in Houston, Texas are great bargains as well. Checking for the second week in January, 2010, I see that there are dozens of choices for under $50 per night. These are 2 and 3-star chain hotels too, not some dump where they rent rooms by the hour on weekends.

And a side trip

I know it’ll be off-season in January, but I’m also going to check out Galveston. There’s something about islands that I find strangely appealing, and thanks to it being the cold season it means that cheap hotels in Galveston are easy to find. Again, there are dozens of choices starting under $50 per night, and I’d guess that most of them will be so empty that I’ll be able to get an upgraded or deluxe room for the same price once I check in.

Galveston is only about 50 miles from the center of Houston, so I could easily stay in Houston and just drive down there a couple times, but it’s precisely because it’ll be empty and kind of eery feeling that I’ll want to actually stay on the island. I don’t think the weather there is terrible, even in January, so hopefully I’ll be able to walk around and see the place even if it’s a bit chilly.

Needless to say, I’ll report back here on this blog when I return.

How mad can you be to plan a family vacation around the world? After all, the idea of a family vacation conjures a nightmare car rides (to visit the grandparents, of course), a visit to Disneyland, a beach resort vacation or, if you are brave, a family cruise… That’s what most people think of when they plan a family vacation. But you are not “most people”, are you?

Now that we decided that you are not mad (or trying to kill your kids), it’s time to start looking at those international flights and make some plans. Where to start from? Whatever is cheaper and closest to your point of departure, of course!

Europe – excellent first stop

The Old Continent is filled with incredible places to visit, no matter what you are interested in. You can start by flying into London and visiting the British capital for couple of days. Then, look for cheap tickets to Germany and explore this interesting country. Berlin has changed a lot over the years and is the perfect place to try to understand both the Western and Eastern Europe. And while you are at it, take a train ride to Vienna. It’s a very interesting place and you are guaranteed to fall in love with it.

Asia – the saga continues

There are several countries in Asia which deserve quite a bit of attention. China is definitely one of them and is the excellent choice for families with children. They can experience thousands of years of history along with the interesting cuisine. Then there’s Thailand, the country loved by budget travelers. And is also the place where you can learn a lot about other religions and explore the stunning temples.

Now look for cheap airline tickets to India . People either love or hate this country and is a daring adventure to take the children here. But with careful planning (and that includes travel insurance), you can enjoy the interesting country and even leave with beautiful memories.

Australia – unique landscapes and cuddly koalas

Remember how you sighed when you saw that documentary about koalas? Then what are you waiting for? Hop on a flight to Australia and explore the beautiful continent. Don’t miss checking out the wildlife, of course.

Africa – why not?

Safari anyone? Then make sure to put Africa on your travel plans. You can visit all the zoos in the world and it still won’t be the same as seeing the animals in their natural habitat, which makes a trip to Africa really worth while.

South America – lost civilizations

Learning about the Mayan civilization is fascinating and when you happen to visit some of the sacred Mayan sites, it’s even better. Take into account if your kids can handle trekking and also consider a short jungle hike, for a really different experience.