Kennedy Space Center – a Space Traveler Guidebook

KennedySpaceCenter_022The number one bucket list destination for any space geek traveler is Kennedy Space Center. America’s biggest and oldest space port is the center point of American space history, space present and space future. Conveniently located on the east coast of Florida, it is close to many other tourist hot spots, making it an ideal holiday destination. This post has all the tips for the first time visitor, but also offers some insider’s ‘secrets’ for those that have been there already and may consider a follow-up visit. Kennedy Space Center is much more than just the Visitor Complex. Continue reading

City Trip: A day in Cleveland

Cleveland_17Industrial and industrious would be good words to describe the city of Cleveland, Ohio. Founded in 1796 on the western frontier of the early United States, it became a center of heavy industry and transportation, before entering into a decline in the early 1980’s, followed by a slow revival from the late 1990’s. Perhaps not the most obvious US city trip destination, but Cleveland certainly has plenty to see and do to warrant a few days of your time. Especially for the space historian it has a lot of cool stuff, making Cleveland a must-see. Follow me on a virtual tour to Cleveland, Ohio: Continue reading

Instawalk through smalltown America – Athens, Ohio

Instawalk_Athens_Ohio_SSP15_14Thinking about the United States, most travelers will have images of skyscrapers in big cities, steep red mountains in endless desert plains, wonderful sunny beaches or lush national parks with deep canyons and luxurious mountain resorts. However, 80% of the United States consists of small towns, away from the big cities, totally off the tourist track. People live a simple, slow paced life, relatively secluded from the rest of the world, in tight-knit communities. These communities are often based around a particular industry or agriculture. Please follow me on a virtual trip to Smalltown USA: Continue reading

Road trip: Father and son from Washington to New York

USA_Oct2014_1077sOver the past 20 years I have taken many great American road trips, crossing over 27 states in total. But the last one was the most special. A father-son road trip with my 12 year old son in October 2014. We started our US tour in Washington DC, which I wrote about earlier here. Being a true American road trip and the first visit to the US for my son we rented a cool all-America classic car, a Ford Mustang, to take us from Washington DC to New York City and back, taking in some of the great sights in between. Continue reading

The best 5 road trips in the world

MGLive09_065sThis post was not entirely my own idea. I was totally inspired by a short blog post by fellow travel blogger We Are Travellers, who wrote about ‘the five coolest cars for a road trip‘ recently. Her post immediately reminded me of the many very cool road trips that I have done over the past years. It even made me realize for the first time that I am actually a real road trip travel addict. Many of my most epic trips were road trips and I still prefer taking the car wherever I can… or can’t… Let these road trip ideas inspire you: Continue reading

Washington DC with Kids

USA_Oct2014_0078sWashington DC is a great destination to visit with kids. With dozens of historic sights it is a perfect place for a citytrip, or to build into an East Coast itinerary. I visited the city several times over the past years, most recently (October 2014) as part of a father-son road trip. Please travel along with me and my 12 year old son to my very subjective top-5 family travel sights to visit in the US capital. Continue reading

A space tourist on Earth

SpaceBucketList_27Earlier today I published the space bucket list, containing all flown manned spaceflight vehicles on public display around the world. Reason for compiling this list was ongoing debate about specific spacecraft locations and people (including me) questioning the authenticity of certain spacecraft on display in museums. I visited a record number of spacecraft in museums in 2014. This blog post is an attempt to describe a specific (geeky?) travel theme and the diversity of destinations this covers, rather than a story about a destination. Join me on a virtual tour of Europe, Russia, Kazakhstan and the United States, all visited in 2014. Continue reading

The ultimate space bucket list

SpaceBucketList_30Space inspires. Space unites. Every kid wants to be an astronaut. Space is humanity’s final frontier. The people flying into space are modern explorers, their space ships the exploration vessels. Visiting these space ships is an awesome experience. The great story of human space exploration really comes to life when seeing these impressive machines. Very worth taking your children to see and help them imagine the long way we have to go before we become an interplanetary species. Check out the ultimate space bucket list: Continue reading

Minneapolis: More Than the Mall of America

Minneapolis_Saint_Paul_2011_003Think of your top-10 bucket list cities in North America. Good chance that Minneapolis won’t be on it. It is one of those off-the-beaten-track places that you won’t visit until you accidentally end up there for work, a conference, visiting friends or a long layover. Like most travellers know, these places are often the most authentic and surprising. Minneapolis, and its twin city Saint Paul, are no exception to that rule. I ended up in the Twin Cities in Minnesota when visiting friends, with my daughter in 2011. Continue reading

New York City with kids

New_York_with_kids_2011_008Do you remember when you were 11 years old? For me it was a very special age. Still a kid, with all the kid’s perks, but also very aware of the world around. In a way it is the perfect age. No responsibilities, huge amounts of time and a long exciting road ahead. I have arrived at the point where my own kids have that same exciting age, time to make it equally special to them! Continue reading