Traveling without your kids can come with a lot of emotions. You can be excited about the trip and still miss your kids. Your kids can be perfectly safe and happy with Grandma and still miss you. Both things can be true. Parents are allowed to take a break, spend time together, celebrate an anniversary, or simply take a trip they’ve been dreaming about. That doesn’t mean you love your kids any less.

There are a few things I wish I had known before our trip to Barcelona—and a few things I was really glad I figured out ahead of time. From what to book before you go to getting around the city and keeping an eye on your belongings, knowing a few things ahead of time definitely helped.

If you live in Iowa, chances are you’ve been to the Iowa State Fair. If you’re an Iowan who has never been, what are you waiting for? If you’ve never visited Iowa, put the State Fair near the top of your list when you do.

Traveling abroad on a budget doesn't mean staying in questionable hotels, eating peanut butter sandwiches for a week, or skipping everything you actually went there to see.

After doing a lot of research over the years, I've learned that going to Oktoberfest itself isn't necessarily the difficult part. Figuring out the beer tents and getting the experience we want is where things get more complicated.

As you can probably imagine, my travel bucket list is miles long—and what’s at the top seems to change all the time.

I guess you could say my cousin Kim and I have short attention spans and apparently need to entertain ourselves while traveling. Somewhere along the way, we discovered a Snapchat filter that turned us into trolls—and naturally, it became a very important part of the trip.

For some people, this may be a no-brainer. For me? I had to learn the hard way.

I’ve stayed in a few questionable places. I’ve stayed in even fewer places that made me feel like royalty. Most of the time, I land somewhere comfortably in between—and that’s exactly where I’m aiming.

My iPhone 17 Pro does a lot of work when I travel—Maps, photos, boarding passes, train tickets, reservations, translations, and probably way too much Googling. I’m not sure how I traveled before smartphones.

*Carry-on and personal-item rules vary by airline and ticket type, so I always check the size, weight, and baggage allowance for my specific flight before packing.

The day I met a new friend at Hannigan & Sons Irish Pub in Granada, Spain.