General Travel Advice

The 2 Idiots have traveled to over a 100 destinations in 6 continents with their child! This has taught us a lot regarding best way to book airline tickets, figuring out accommodation, making the most out of your trip and so much more. That’s what we aim to share on this page of our site.

How to Get the Most Out of Airbnb (exclusive book preview)

Leave a comment August 2, 2018 The 2 Idiots

Traveling with your family? First book a suite (hey, we are on vacay we need some space from the kids), then get the over-priced breakfast at the hotel (are those really eggs?) and then have to rent a car because the hotel right in the middle of the city was way out of budget. OR just make your life easier and book an Airbnb: wallet and sanity intact.

Today, there are more lodging options than ever before, especially thanks to platforms such as Airbnb. And we’re here to tell you that, even if you’ve got kids in tow, Airbnb can make your travels much easier and more pleasant.

Quick background: On our most recent trip, we had roughly 100 different destinations, and we used Airbnb for about 85 of them. On the whole, it was an incredibly positive experience, not least because we learned so much about how to use Airbnb effectively.

Technology and apps to make traveling w/ children much easier (controversial topic alert!)

1 Comment October 17, 2018 The 2 Idiots

Do you remember what it was like in the olden (i.e. pre-iPad) days, when you would go to a nice restaurant with your family? You would spend about 60 percent of your time entertaining your child, 20 percent making apologetic looks to other diners, 15 percent wondering why you ever thought this was a good idea, and maybe 5 percent enjoying your time there. Well, multiply that by a 100 and that is what it can be like to travel with a child. But there is a cure: Technology. And we think it’s a pretty good cure!

To Cruise or Not to Cruise? Weighing the Pros and Cons

5 Comments November 9, 2018 The 2 Idiots

Imagine this scenario: You have two weeks of vacation. It’s the only vacation time you have all year, and you want to make it count. You know you want to go to Europe, and you’re presented with the option to take a cruise—11-12 nights, departing from Barcelona and hitting ports all over the Mediterranean. You get to see some sites in France, Italy, Greece, and beyond. Your other option is to fly directly into a city—let’s say Athens—and see Santorini and Mykonos, spending a few nights in each place.

How did I build myself structure during our trip across the world?

2 Comments December 4, 2018 The 2 Idiots

Hello, everyone. It’s Natasha, flying solo for today’s post. I want to share with you some thoughts on a subject that’s near and dear to me—finding structure while you travel.

I’m an organized person, and I always have been. As a girl I polished my shoes and straightened my Catholic school uniform every night, packing my bag to make sure I was well-organized for the next day. And if my room was disheveled, I couldn’t study or do any of my homework until I got it cleaned up. Something about clutter and entropy just makes me anxious.

What We Learned on Our Sabbatical (And What it Means for Your Vacation)

1 Comment December 11, 2018 The 2 Idiots

People often ask us to tell them about the vacation we took in 2017—and we often offer a gentle correction: When you’re traveling for eight and a half months, that’s not a vacation. It’s a sabbatical. And the difference is more than just semantic. It represents a totally different state of mind.

6 Reasons to NOT Take a Cruise Excursion

Leave a comment January 2, 2019 The 2 Idiots

When traveling by cruise, you may feel like the cruise ship has everything under the sun to keep you entertained and show you the world. While that may be true on the ship, it’s when you get on land that they lack the same oomph. Excursions are run by local guides and work on a partnership level with cruise lines. You can trust they have been reviewed and they will get you back to the ship on time, but they don’t give you a chance to explore and discover a new port stop as you would if you were to arrive by plane or train.

How to Do a Cruise Excursion on Your Own

2 Comments January 2, 2019 The 2 Idiots

Just because you are a passenger on a cruise ship does not mean you have to follow the hordes of passengers who disembark to embark on a cruise excursion. Families have the freedom to do exactly what they want in every port – including staying on the ship, should you so choose. Personally, after taking numerous cruises, we learned quickly we would rather do our own thing in port. (In fact, we even have an article on the 6 Reasons to NOT Take a Cruise Excursion.) To us, visiting a place and trying local foods, meeting local people and seeing local neighborhoods enriches a trip and makes any planning worth it. We have a few simple tips to keep in mind when setting off on your own – trust us, we learned the hard way!

Finding The Best Private Tours When You Travel

4 Comments January 29, 2019 The 2 Idiots

Finding and booking reputable private tours can be especially daunting when you are going to a new and unfamiliar city or country. When you don’t have recommendations from friends and all you can do is search, how can you find good private tours (including transportation), not to mention get the best rates?

Our Travel Philosophy: Be F.L.E.X.I.B.L.E.

2 Comments April 5, 2019 The 2 Idiots

Note: This is the first article in our series around our travel philosophy, Be F.L.E.X.I.B.L.E. (Flexible). In this article, we give the overview of what Be F.L.E.X.I.B.L.E. stands for and in future articles, we breakdown each letter at a time.

Before our son, Aarav, was born, we loved to travel together. AJ grew up in Dubai, traveling often with his family when he was young, and then continuing on his own once he left home. Natasha didn’t travel as much as a child, but once we met in North Carolina, she developed the travel bug through AJ, and ever since, we were travelers.

We knew we didn’t want to stop seeing the world when Aarav was born. We made up our minds to continue traveling, taking smaller trips and vacations before deciding to embark on our around the world adventure. We wanted him to see the world with him and share our experiences as a family.

EMBRACE TECHNOLOGY: Use technology to make your travels easier

1 Comment May 3, 2019 The 2 Idiots

Note: This is the ninth and final article in our series around our travel philosophy, Be F.L.E.X.I.B.L.E. In this article, we breakdown what the 2nd E in Be F.L.E.X.I.B.L.E. stands for. If you want to first get an overview on Be F.L.E.X.I.B.L.E. itself, please click here.

We are big fans of technology. (Then again, we are both software engineers, so we may have a slight bias.) Technology begins with using tools like TripAdvisor and Google Translate to help you with your trip. Planning a trip requires some research, and there are many websites that can help you find your routes, seek out accommodations, and book your trip. When in a foreign location, having apps and resources to help you find your way, decipher a different language, or make alternative plans when weather suddenly changes is imperative.