The United States is the only home I've ever known, outside of a few months here and there in other locations. I was born here, grew up here, largely live here still, and though I'm also a German citizen as of last December, I still identify almost solely as American. Nearly two years ago exactly,…
Two weeks ago, we set out to begin a basic series about traveling using points and miles. We covered the basic - what these currencies are. Then we talked about general ways to earn them. Today we will talk about one of the fastest and easiest way to earn huge chunks of points and miles,…
It is one of the first things I was warned of when I began to plan a visit to Barcelona. "Don't leave your suitcase even for a moment." "Keep an eye and hand on your belongings at all times." "Don't put your phone down, and hold it tightly." Petty crime, especially theft and pickpocketing, are…
Ok, it's important to note a couple things here. First, I love Israel. Both A and I have spent considerable amounts of time there, and it's an amazing place with amazing people, history, culture, and food. It's also a complicated place in a political sense. Talking about Israel seems to always run the risk of…
Editor's note: I find myself, to no surprise, so envious of the travels of others when they are to exotic locations I haven't yet had the chance to see. Here is another amazing story from Sam Spector. To read the rest of his stories here on The Royal Tour, visit his page here. Often when…
If you've missed it, my Facebook group, Travelers Tell All (yes, please join), has been running tournaments to keep ourselves amused while we can't travel. We first decided what the best city in the world was, then the best US national park. Now it's time for the best man-made wonder. There were no qualifications for…
Ok, so we've been over the basics, and now we know what points and miles are. That's a great step and puts us on a nice path. So how do we start collecting them? How do we end up going on free trips already? There are a few ways to collect points and miles, and…
Editor's note: Another incredible article from Kathryn featuring the story of one of the most iconic drinks in Latin America! Check out all of her articles here on The Royal Tour here. Legend has it that the Incan chief Pachacutec ordered the construction of the Achirana del Inca canal in the deserts of the upper…
I've heard both wonderful and not so wonderful things about visiting Cuba, but it's a place with a fascinating history that intrigued me, and a people who are supposedly as friendly as there is. Those are solid selling points for visiting the island, especially now that I am a German citizen and can travel there…
Kazakhstan doesn’t seem to have found a place on the invisible, unspoken “must visit” list for a lot of Americans. Our association with Kazakhstan is usually limited to what we learned from Borat, namely: nothing about the actual culture or people. My only additional knowledge of the country came from living in a Russian dorm…