The 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
North America
My travel adventures in my second most-visited continent North America
City Trip: A day in Cleveland
Industrial 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
Thinking 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
City Trip: Two Days in Montreal
Looking for the top things to do in Montreal? Spending a few days on business and have some time to spare? Montreal is a great city for a city trip, with plenty to do for a day, and more than enough great sights for a week or longer, in any season! I visited Montreal in the height of summer, in July 2014. Or as they say in Montreal, in the height of the construction season. Like many of my readers I was in the area for business, but stayed a little longer to see the city. Continue reading
My travels in 2014
With the travel year 2015 still fully open, I can only hope it will become as great as my travels in 2014. So before I start reporting on my trips in the new year, here is a summary of my trips in 2014, with links to the blog posts to some of these trips. Sometimes it feels as if I travel too much to blog about each and every trip, so I hope I will have time to catch up on my work. Until then, please follow me around the world in 365 days: Continue reading
Road trip: Father and son from Washington to New York
Over 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
This 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
Washington 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
Earlier 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
Space 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