All Posts
Let’s Chat
Follow along on my Journey!
I promise to share fun and infrequent updates
My Latest
Adventures
Well Hello
I’m Kate
For more than a decade and a half, I’ve helped people create a life by design through my lifestyle and travel blog.
I’m a mom of 3, a full-time romance author, and I’ve been to more than 40 countries and nearly all the states.
I’m happy you’re here.
Learn More >>
Shop my Favorites
5.3M
syndicated blog views per month
Latest Blog Posts
-
You Booked a $129/Night Hotel and Paid $214. Here’s Every Hidden Fee That Did It
The price you see on Expedia, Hotels.com, or Booking.com is almost never the price you pay. Resort fees, destination fees, amenity fees, parking charges, and urban surcharges have quietly turned hotel booking into one of the most deceptive transactions in travel — and the industry is counting on you not to notice until checkout.
-
Every State’s Most Instagrammed Spot vs. What Locals Say Is Actually Better — A State-by-State Breakdown
Every state in America has a photograph that gets taken 10,000 times a week — the shot that every travel influencer has, the angle that Conde Nast used, the spot that requires a 45-minute wait to take the photo. And every state has a local equivalent that is better, emptier, and often free. Here’s the breakdown.
-
These States Will Kill Your Car (and Maybe You) If You Drive Them Wrong in Winter — The Routes to Avoid
Not all winter driving is equal. There’s a difference between “it might snow” and “this mountain pass closes for days at a time and drivers have died here in conditions exactly like today’s.” Here are the states where winter driving is a genuine emergency and the specific routes that experienced truckers and state DOT workers warn about.
-
What a Cruise Actually Costs in 2026 — The Full Honest Number After Every Add-On They Don’t Tell You About
The cruise industry is one of the most effective marketers of partial truths in the travel world. That $499 per-person price you see in the ads is real. It is also approximately 40–60% of what you will actually spend. Here is the complete, honest math — every fee, every add-on, and the real total cost of a cruise in 2026.
-
Travel Experts Know These Exact Shoulder Season Windows — The Weeks When Popular Destinations Cost Half as Much and Have None of the Crowds
There is a specific two-to-four-week window before and after peak season at almost every major destination where the weather is nearly identical, the prices collapse, and the crowds evaporate. Most travelers miss these windows because they book by school calendar instead of by data. Here are the exact dates for the destinations that matter most.
-
The One Thing Americans Do at the Airport That Every Other Country Finds Completely Bizarre
Americans have a set of airport behaviors that feel completely normal to us and read as deeply strange to the rest of the world. Some of them are cultural quirks. Some are security theater. And at least one of them is a habit so uniquely American that it has become a reliable way for other travelers to identify us before we even open our mouths.
