I didn’t have much time to read other blogs when cycling in Germany, but now I’m home, I’m catching up! I’m starting with a very interesting post by Anda from Travel Notes and Beyond about what she has learned from travelling the world. It certainly got me thinking. Next comes some excellent advice from Maggie at Experience France by Bike about the best SIM card to use in France. And to finish off, a fun post by Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris who tested the self-guided Twiztour cars in Paris. Would you be game? Enjoy!

Ten Things I Learned from Traveling the World

by Anda from Travel Notes & Beyond, the Opinionated Travelogue of a Photo Maniac, is a Romanian-born citizen of Southern California who has never missed the opportunity to travel.

If you type “things learned from traveling” into the Google search, you’ll come up with enough reading material for an entire week. Before I sat down to write this post I was curios about other people’s approach to this popular subject. I noticed that in spite of the broad range of opinions, there is one common thread: people who travel don’t remain stuck in their own ideas. They change, they evolve and learn something from their travel experiences. So, with this in mind, here is my rendition of this subject:

1. High expectations may ruin your trip

      We all have expectations, lots of expectations. It’s our human nature, whether we are aware of it or not. And when it comes to our vacation we feel entitled to have them. Read more

Using a Sim Data Card to Stay Connected When Bicycling in France

by Maggie LaCoste from Experience France by Bike, an American who loves biking anywhere in Europe, but especially France, which has the perfect combination of safe bike routes, great food, great weather and history.

We’re spoiled by how easy and affordable it is to communicate, text and tweet to family and friends, post to Facebook, get the latest news and restaurant recommendations and get directions when we get lost.  Until we go overseas.  Unless you have a European phone or SIM card, communication overseas can be difficult and very expensive.  A Google search of anything having to do with saving money communicating overseas yields pages and pages of articles and advice.  Regardless of how many of these you read, there really isn’t a simple solution. For phone calls, you can use one of several internet apps like Skype.  But for me, the problem has always been data.  If ever there was a time you needed data it’s traveling overseas. Read more

Whizzing around Paris in Twiztour cars: #EmbraceParis ice-breaker

by Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris, an American by birth, Swiss by marriage, resident of Paris with a Navigo Pass for the metro that she feels compelled to use

Ladies, start your engines! Or, in this case, turn on your electric, ecologically friendly Twiztour car for one of the most thrilling tours of Paris.

Only hours after meeting each other over a lovely afternoon tea at Le Meurice last Sunday afternoon, taxis whisked the #EmbraceParis ladies to the foot of the Eiffel Tower for our first activity — a Twiztour GPS guided tour of some of the most impressive monuments of Paris. 

Assuring Brooke, who’s from Australia, that I had complete confidence in her ability to navigate the streets of Paris on the right side of the road, I squeezed into the back seat of the car with the walkee-talkee. True to their names, “Leader of the Pack” and “Jessica Rabbit” set off at a brisk pace. The four other Twiztour cars made their way across pont de Bir-Hakeim, one of my favorite Parisian bridges, behind them. Read more