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 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.

8 Tips for Staying Healthy While You Travel

2 Comments May 16, 2019 The 2 Idiots

When you take a vacation, it can be easy to overindulge and put on a few pounds. Cruises are notorious for all-you-can-eat buffets and lots of fruity alcoholic drinks, with passengers gaining an average of 5 to 10 pounds during the duration of one cruise. To take a 9-month trip around the world, however, we knew we couldn’t eat our way around the globe — although we definitely wanted to sample the local foods. We made a commitment before we embarked on our journey to do it in a healthy way. We promised ourselves we wouldn’t come back from our trip in worse shape than when we left. And we didn’t!

We know it’s tough to maintain your health on the road, so we’re sharing our tips on how we stayed healthy.

One of our favorite pictures from the boat tour in Jinze Water Town with the family and our tour guide

5 Tips For Traveling In Non-English Speaking Foreign Countries

2 Comments June 7, 2019 The 2 Idiots

One of the biggest fears that prevents people from traveling is the fear of not being able to communicate. Visiting a country where English is not widely spoken can definitely be nerve-wracking: How will you find your way? How will you purchase tickets or order a meal? So many “what ifs” may run through your mind, but having visited numerous countries where we couldn’t speak the language, we discovered it’s much easier than you think.

How to Conquer Your Fear of Flying

Leave a comment July 26, 2019 The 2 Idiots

I remember the day I developed a fear of flying. I was taking a 20-minute flight to Washington, D.C. from Charlottesville, Virginia. We flew over the mountain ridge and there was a lot of turbulence, and from that moment on, I have hated to fly and experience full-on panic attacks even a week before leaving!

Whats on our travel bucket list - 12 ideas for our next trip around the world

What’s Next On Our Travel Bucket List? 12 Places For Our Next Trip Around The World

2 Comments July 26, 2019 The 2 Idiots

We may have traveled to over 50 countries each (and over 40 with our child) but that has not cured our insatiable wanderlust. We knew our 9 months of nonstop travel would have to end, yet even while on the road, we were always planning for our next big adventure, saving our list of places we wanted to visit onto our phones. Our list has grown since we have returned home. Some would call it a Bucket List.

5 Tips for Protecting Your Memories While You Travel

2 Comments June 28, 2019 The 2 Idiots

Travel is wonderful for all of the experiences it provides you and your family, but long after a trip is over, the best part of travel are the memories you make. Your family will always have the special bond that comes from making it through a journey together, laughing about travel mishaps and fondly recalling meeting a local family that you still may be connected to via social media. To keep those memories vivid, you’ll also want to take lots of photographs and videos, and both are irreplaceable if lost.

IMPROVISE: Improvise and go with the flow

Leave a comment April 24, 2019 The 2 Idiots

Note: This is the sixth article in our series around our travel philosophy, Be F.L.E.X.I.B.L.E. In this article, we breakdown what I 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.

There are friends who stick to strict schedules for their children but sometimes, those schedules could cause you to miss out on things, or doesn’t always work. We are big believers in improvisation: Improvise and go with the flow with eating habits, eating times, sleep schedules and nap schedules.