Traveling is a lot more fun when essential items are packed. Whether you are planning a weekend getaway or a lengthy trip, our six most essential items are described below. Your trip will be less stressful, more enjoyable, and you can be assured you will have everything you need the most.
Rebekah (Bekah) Waldron studied psychology at the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC), at the North campus, and recently graduated in May 2020. She initially started her higher education journey at West Virginia University (WVU) in 2016, but when her dad passed away, she decided to stay and be near family...which ended up being the best decision for her.
It’s a weird world we live in right now, that’s for sure. Some kids are headed back to traditional brick and mortar schooling this year, while others will be in some sort of distance learning for the foreseeable future. Some parents will be headed back to in-person work, complete with public transportation and all the new physical distancing protocols, while others will do their best to handle remote work in whatever space they’re lucky enough to call home for a while longer. And yet others are out of work and don’t know when their situation will change.
Picture it: Pittsburgh; the year was 2008. I graduated with my Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Hospitality and Tourism Management from Robert Morris University. I had a wonderful undergraduate experience, where I was hyper-conscious of making sure I made myself employable from this expensive degree, because I was the first to attend college in my family and I wanted to help my family and make them proud.
My mom, Rita, turned 60 last year, and my sister, Nicoletta, and I wanted to take her on a special birthday trip to commemorate this milestone in her life! We offered her anywhere (literally in the world to pick from), but she wanted to go to a place she hasn’t been in close to 30 years...Bedford, Pennsylvania! It is a place that was always special to her heart growing up as a child. Her father, John (my grandfather), was from a little town in Bedford County, called Riddlesburg.
Cookbook author and food researcher/educator Diana Kennedy, now 97 years old, is the subject of a brilliant new biographical movie, Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy.
Whales, minerals and dinosaurs. Planets, forests, mammals and butterflies.
The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a hub for all things human science: biology, ecology, zoology, geology, astronomy and anthropology. Spanning many city blocks on the Upper West Side of New York City, with four floors, 42 permanent exhibits, a planetarium and an IMAX theater, approximately five millions visitors explore this behemoth of a museum each year.
Music can invite and encourage contemplation and connection, solitude and community. Participating in arts of all sorts allows, invites, and encourages perspective and reflection.
At times, this also makes space for a place of rest.
With those ideas in mind, take a listen to the differing ways these musicians invite you into all of this.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect people throughout the world, it is not possible to predict when it will be safe to travel again. In the meantime, I can take time to reflect on past adventures and recall what I learned at each destination. After visiting Peru, I remain fascinated by the Incas who built Machu Picchu, and by Hiram Bingham III who brought this civilization to the attention of the western world.
If your family’s anything like our family, you love to talk and to learn about history, whether that’s in the local area or on the other side of the world. You’ll know you’ve caught the bug if you can’t get enough of documentaries and the history channel.
Nothing quite brings history to life like going to visit some of the places where the iconic moments that shaped our times took place. But with so much history all around us, how can we decide where to visit first?