Category Archives: Travel Journal/Blog

Considering Travel Insurance

Travel Journal/Blog, Travel Tips,

With Covid 19 still confronting us, airlines canceling and delaying flights, not to mention losing luggage, travel insurance appears to be necessary. But coverage is confusing, and your needs may change from trip to trip. 

Passenger Luggage

In the August 2022 issue of Money Magazine, a reputable publication,  they list by category the 9 Best Travel Insurance Companies.

Top Picks for the Best Travel Insurance

Many of these companies offer single-trip insurance or annual coverage. The difficult part is anticipating your needs. Do you desire to cover the cost of your trip or tour, get coverage for canceled or delayed flights, reimbursement for lost luggage, theft or loss of items, and Covid or injury coverage if needed for medical assistance and extended stays? I recommend starting to compare policies at TravelInsurance.com. Then, depending on your needs and time, continue your research. 

From personal experience, I can tell you some unexpected events do occur. In 2016, I took a six-month trip to Europe that included adventure activities like hot air ballooning, rafting, boating, hiking, sledding, and whatever else we found along the way. We planned to use public transportation, including planes, trains, rental automobiles, buses, and taxis (but no Tok-Toks on this trip)! As a travel writer, I needed to bring my computer and camera gear. Therefore, I needed as complete coverage as I could get.

After much investigation and debate, my travel buddy and I purchased a policy with World Nomads. In retrospect,  I certainly am glad I made that choice.

During the six months. we never got sick or had any medical issues, but I did encounter a strange loss: a theft while I was wearing the item. 

While in St. Petersburg, Russia, we were walking with the crowds of morning pedestrians to catch a bus. I had my camera strapped across my body, not in a camera bag, and my travel purse included a slash-proof wire in the strap over my other shoulder. The wired strap prevents thieves from cutting the handle and running off with the bag. Many backpacks include such straps.

The incident must have happened while waiting at a congested stop light. A very talented thief unscrewed the lens from my DSLR camera without my noticing or feeling. How that happened still confounds me, but it did. As I entered the bus, within the next half block, I looked down and saw the lens missing. I was aghast. 

Judy and I turned around but saw nothing, and we didn’t speak Russian, so no one understood us. Befuddled, we returned to our lodging to regroup. We thought about reporting the crime to the police, but then again, we were Americans in Russia without proficiency in the language. And what was the likelihood of ever recovering the gear?

The next thought was to contact the US Embassy. I did this online by filling out a report. The Embassy later notified me of a time to come in person. Thankfully, we were staying in the city for a few more days.

I went to the US Embassy, passed through their stringent security checks, and was required to leave my phone and passport with them while I went upstairs to wait for a meeting. The meeting was surprisingly a standing affair, me on one side of bulletproof glass and the embassy official on the other. The officer was very understanding, and we completed a form explaining my loss and how it had happened. The Embassy signed and sealed the document, and I took it home. 

Once I returned, I filed the report with World Nomads (I may have reported the loss online but did not send the paperwork until back in the states.) I am pleased to report that World Nomads covered the cost of the lens. It wasn’t brand new, so I got the resale price- the exact amount I spent to replace the lens. 

I have since been on trips, including a 3-day camel trek in South Sinai, Egypt, riding camels again in Morocco, driving ATVs in Iceland and West Virginia, and taking a deep underground tour in a salt mine in Poland. World Nomads covers these kinds of adventures as well as typical tourist travel. 

Since the loss of my lens, thankfully, nothing out of the ordinary has happened to me. But I have been on tours where others have suffered injuries. Getting medical attention abroad can be tricky, but some insurance companies will help with medical issues. Be sure to read the fine print, and do get insurance.  

First Timer’s Guide to St. Augustine

Adventures, Land Adventures, Travel Journal/Blog, United States

History claims Ponce de Leon and his landing party first came ashore in La Florida on April 3, 1513. Nearby St. Augustine, in Northeast Florida, was founded in September 1565 by Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles of Spain. The town celebrated its 450th anniversary of its founding in 2015, making it  the longest continually inhabited European-founded city in the United States.

My 2015 article was republished by Where Traveler Magazine. You can read it here: https://www.wheretraveler.com/st-augustine/st-augustine-guide-first-time-visitors.

I offer tips on what to see and do depending on your interest.

Flagler College, formerly the Ponce De Leon Hotel.
The St. Augustine Lighthouse as seen from a biplane.

Have You Been to Lexington?

Travel Journal/Blog, , , , , ,

Have you been to Lexington begs the answer, “Which one?” Lexington, Massachusetts is the oldest municipality with the name and Lexington, Kentucky is the largest city. There are cities named Lexington in Alabama, California (now a ghost town), Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. I’ve visited three, so far, all memorable for very different reasons.

Massachusetts

When I first hear the name Lexington, my thoughts skip to the famous Battle at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. On April 19, 1775, they became the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War, 

The Battle of Lexington

On the night before the clash, Paul Revere and Samuel Prescott galloped on horseback to warn that the British were coming. The first shots were fired just as the sun was rising in Lexington. Eight militiamen died. The confrontation proceeded on to Concord, resulting in many casualties. 

Patriot’s Day Parade

Patriot’s Day, originally April 19, is now observed on the third Monday in April. A reenactment of the horse ride and battle coincides with the historical event, so you must get to Lexington’s Battle Green before sunrise. The entire drama takes no more than 40 minutes, but the poignant scene stabbed me to the core, like a wound from the bayonets carried by the soldiers. We often forget the Revolutionary War, but this annual drama pays tribute to those early colonists and the freedoms they sought. 

Re-enactors of the Battle at Lexington

Virginia  

Another Lexington I’ve visited a few times is Lexington, Virginia, a small town in the Shenandoah Valley. Lexington is home to the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), Washington & Lee University (where my son graduated), and about seven thousand residents. While Confederate generals are no longer celebrated, I must say I fondly recall the serene Lee Chapel as the campus highlight.  This National Historic Landmark is the burial site of Robert E. Lee. His horse, Traveller, is interred outside, and many people leave sugar cubes on the horse’s grave.  The church’s basement contains a museum featuring the history of the school, highlighting the time when Lee was the college president. 

The Lee Chapel

Other attractions to see include the restored Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson house.  Tours revolve around Jackson’s life before the Civil War, including his tenure as a VMI professor. 

Lexington’s carefully preserved downtown is on the State and National Registers of Historic Places. Shops offer fine art, Virginia-made gifts, jewelry and more. Visitors enjoy a carriage ride through the downtown and remember Virginia is for Lovers.

Carriage Ride in downtown Lexington, VA

North Carolina

Lexington, North Carolina, calls itself the Barbeque Capital of the World. No visit is complete without Lexington style barbeque, made from pork shoulders cooked over hardwood coals. This century-old method involves smoking the pork for hours and then chopping or slicing it, leaving bits of crispy, brown skin.  The meat comes with a thin ketchup-and-vinegar sauce called “dip,” a distinctive red slaw, hush puppies, and sweet tea. While the meal is nothing fancy, you’ll find it finger-licking good in all of Lexington’s 15 BBQ restaurants. 

Smoking the BBQ

Lexington. NC also offers a fascinating collection of artifacts, memorabilia, and furniture from  North Carolina’s most famous living artist, Bob Timberlake. Visitors also enjoy the Richard Childress Racing Museum,  one of NASCAR’s top race shops and museums. The championship cars driven by Dale Earnhardt Sr. prove to be the most popular.  To round out your visit, stop by any of the 19 vineyards and tasting rooms that are earning NC winemakers rave reviews. 

Richard Childress Racing Museum

Kentucky

Lexington, Kentucky, is another famous city, this one known as the Horse Capital of the World, plus the birthplace of Bourbon and Bluegrass music.  

Kentucky is horse country.

While it ranks high on my bucket list,  I have not been there—yet.  Visitors tour Keeneland Race Course and Kentucky Horse Park in the early morning to see workouts, plus walk the pastures at  Old Friends, a thoroughbred retirement farm. Don’t miss the 14 bourbon distilleries and their tasting rooms, Mary Todd Lincoln’s historic home, plus the famous Kentucky Castle in the middle of Horse Country.  

Again barrels of bourbon

You can’t go wrong in any of four of the cities named Lexington.   How many have you seen?