Monthly Archives: December 2013

Tarpon Springs Sponge Docks

Florida, North America, Photos, , ,

This out of the way, middle of nowhere gem is one of the places you literally stumble upon and then you wonder how the hell to get out.

If you’ve ever seen The Spongebob Squarepants Movie, it looks exactly like the shop where they go to die. With fish and shells and sponges in every size, shape and color imaginable. It’s a quaint little street with restaurants and gift shops and it’s bordered by fishing boats that have been there for generations.

It’s obvious it’s inhabitants are proud of where they come from, and they’ll tell you everything there is to know about what they do and how they do it. And it’s oh so fascinating.

There’s an air about these streets. It’s like being in a coastal town in 1950’s Greece. The old men are sitting on the benches puffing away on whatever is in their mouth and making gestures towards anyone whom walks by. The women are huddled, talking, while simultaneously getting chores done.

Tourists walk about but no one seems to be in any kind of hurry. There’s a saltiness to the air. The shop’s bells all ring in chorus and the conversations of those who walk past create this harmonious symphony.

You could easily spend a whole day here even though it’s only 4 blocks long and all the shops seem to be carrying the same things. But there’s something about it. Something wonderful.

spongedocks

Seat Guru: My New Best Friend

Female Travel, How I Travel, Tips and Tricks, ,

My dad was in the Air Force for almost 25 years and did more traveling than I could ever dream of. He was off every week to some far away land, bringing back only small magnets or chocolate bars to satisfy my thirst for wanderment.

I’ve recently started as a Travel Writer/Marketing Director/Travel Representative and I was looking for some ideas for articles. My dad brought up this website that seemed like perfection; SeatGuru.

What it is, essentially, is a super in depth seat map that allows you to not only look at the airplane you’ll be taking on each specific flight but which seats recline the most, which seats don’t recline at all, which lay down beds have the most leg room, which exit row seat is the best, etc., etc.

It’s fantastic.

I’m not really picky about my seats, as long as they’re not middle seats, but I’m tall. I’m 5’9, which might not seem all that tall, but I’m all leg. So sitting in a confined seat with my knees in my chest for 8 hours isn’t always ideal. This helps me identify which seats recline a little bit more or have the most legroom so I can actually relax.

There’s was one flight that I took with my mom and we were flying from London-Heathrow to Philadelphia and I remember we literally had the best seats ever. Our flight wasn’t full and we had the exit row. In addition, no one else sat on our row for the flight. The way the airplane was set up was that the first exit row had two seats and the exit row behind it had three (which we were in) so we had even MORE legroom.

It was the best flight ever.

So all I’m saying is give it a look if you’re really picky about where you sit or how much room you’ll have,; SeatGuru is super informative.