We just got back from 2 small group tours to Iceland and the Northern Lights. Contrary to what you may believe, the Northern Lights are not always visible. First of all, there needs to be no cloud cover and of course, it needs to be dark outside.  The darker the better which is the reason we search for them outside the city of Reykjavik.  Secondly, the Northern Lights needs to be there, which as we found out, is not always the case.   On our first trip, we did not get Mother Nature to cooperate.  However, on our second tour, we had a spectacular night.  Here are my tips for photographing the Northern Lights.

If you are hungry, Florence is not a bad place to be.  Fresh vegetables, fat cuts of beef, and let's not forget the marvelous desserts. The Traveling Professor does at least 2 small group tours to Florence each year and we've found some very good dining spots.  Listed in today's blog post are 5 of The Traveling Professor's favorite places to eat in Florence.

Being a frequent flyer and a member of American Airlines AAdvantage program, I have accumulated millions of miles since I became a member in 1984.  I have accumulated these miles mostly through purchases on credit cards and through flights themselves.  I would use these miles to get "free" flights or upgrades. Is it worth it to accumulate and redeem miles anymore?  Please read my blog post and see what The Traveling Professor has to say.

In our blog post yesterday, we examined how airline award miles have become devalued, are harder to redeem, and have added extra fees.  Today we talk about accumulating points through credit card spending to help people fund their travel endeavors.  So, check out The Traveling Professor's blog post on using points instead of airline reward miles.

One big issue travelers have when traveling abroad is cell phone service.  It can be expensive and difficult to set up.  So how can travelers stay in touch with each other using their cell phones, even when there is no cell phone service?  The Traveling Professor has the solution for you for off-the-grid communication with his Travel Product of the Month.

On The Traveling Professor's small group tours to Paris, we usually schedule a day trip to Versailles from Paris.  Versailles is located outside of Paris, but not far. It is worth the trip but some planning is involved to get there quickly, efficiently and inexpensively. In today's blog post, The Professor will show you how to get the most out of a day trip to Versailles from Paris.

The Traveling Professor runs several small group tours to Italy each year.  We travel to major cities like Rome, Venice, Florence, Sorrento.  We also take small group tours to Italy to smaller cities like Padua, Verona, Lucca, Siena, and Vicenza.  Italy is not always the easiest place to fly to and fares can be high.  In this blog post, The Professor shows you how to save a significant amount of money on your next tour to Italy with cheap airfares.

Destination:  Peru.  Tonight I fly out of Hartford to return to one of my favorite travel spots; Peru, Machu Picchu and the Amazon Jungle.  I've done this tour many times before and I enjoy it every time I go.  I am actually doing two trips in one.  The first is for a private group of 8 people and the second trip is a short 5 day trip to an exciting new area in Peru, dubbed as the "next Machu Picchu".  Read my blog post and keep up with me on Facebook while I am traveling to find out more about my small group tour to Peru.

It seems like airlines are giving away frequent flyer miles all over the place today.  Get them by using a credit card, flying, buying flowers, dining in restaurants, even when buying electricity for your home.  Getting frequent flyer miles is easy - but spending them is another story.  Airlines have "cheapened" miles earned by making flights unavailable for redemption with frequent flyer miles or simply raised the number of miles needed to ridiculous proportions.  In this blog post The Traveling Professor shows you the easiest way to find the diminishing award flights available on American Airlines.

Flying overseas today can be a brutal experience.  Packed planes, small seats, uncomfortable seats, noisy flyers, time changes, chaos at the airport, etc.  Add to it that most flights from North American to Europe are overnight flights just adds to the stress.  I've taken hundreds of trips overseas in the last few years.  On my small group tours to Europe, thousands of my travel clients have flown overseas.  Get my best tips for beating jet lag on your next tour to Europe.