Welcome to Attractions on the Uptake blog. We are thrilled you stopped by! Travel is fun, but insider secrets are even better. We plan to share our travel adventures and finds with you and look forward to hearing your suggestions.

Do you have a suggestion or comment about a place to review? Would you like to be a guest writer? All inquires can be directed to attractions.blogeditor AT uptake DOT com

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Meet the Uptake travel gurus:

Gudrun Enger joined Uptake in September of 2007, as a founding writer of the original Uptake blog. An experienced marketing professional, Gudrun has been traveling for as long as she can remember. Her first solo trip, at age 7, was San Jose to San Diego (aboard PSA, no less) to visit Grandma. Gudrun has also written for Silicon Valley Mom’s Blog, and currently writes her own food blog, Kitchen Gadget Girl. In her spare time, she enjoys family travel, cooking local, and exploring the Bay Area with her family.

Gudrun’s Favorite Vacations: My husband and I love planning trips, focusing a good deal of effort on where to eat in each location. Our family still gives us a hard time about our first trip, as a couple, to New York – our entire schedule was built around the restaurants that we wanted to try! Nowadays, with two kids, we enjoy experiencing travel through their eyes and stomachs. Recent tasting adventures include pain au chocolate in Paris, fresh halibut in Alaska, and our favorite, shave ice in Hawaii!

Linda (minnemom) has been traveling the back roads since she was a child, but now has a husband and four young children to accompany her on her adventures.  She’s been writing Travels with Children, http://minnemom.com, since October of 2007, as a way for parents to find family-friendly destinations and to remove the fear of traveling even when outnumbered by kids.  Living in rural Minnesota, she tries to find interesting places that are off the beaten path yet interesting and child-friendly.

Linda’s Favorite Vacations: My favorite vacation was a family trip to Chicago with three kids in strollers and one on foot.  The tall buildings, commuter trains, Lake Michigan, and museums galore were a great change of pace from our farm life, and I loved giving the kids the chance to experience these new things at a young age.  Traveling with four children under the age of seven was a challenge, but it was so much fun to be in the “big city” together, seeing new sites.

Barbara Ann Weibel worked in corporate marketing and public relations for more than 20 years before leaving to pursue her true loves of travel, writing, and photography. In 2007 she strapped on a backpack and traveled solo around the world for six months, visiting 17 countries in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, the Pacific Rim, Africa, and Europe, blogging about her experiences along the way. These days, Barbara divides her time between her popular travel and life blog, Hole In The Donut, and writing freelance articles for a variety of traditional magazines and online entities. She travels six months each year and is currently writing a memoir about her extensive travels.

Barbara’s Favorite Vacations: I prefer to travel without reservations or a concrete schedule, which allows me to take advantages of opportunities I would otherwise miss if I had to stick to an itinerary. Hostels are my favorite places to stay, because backpackers are an invaluable source of information about undiscovered destinations where I can have a “real” travel experience. I love Spain, New Zealand, Bali, and Italy, although Thailand remains my all-time favorite destination, and I found living with the Maasai in Tanzania to be an eye-opening experience that put me fully in touch with my gratitude.

Rhea Thomas is a native Texan currently living in the Dallas area.  She grew up on a ranch with all sorts of experiences and a family that loved to travel.  Now married, with two boys and a dog, she shares her love of nature and traveling on her own blog, Texas Word Tangle, and enjoys learning about other cultures and exploring the world with her husband and children.

Rhea’s Favorite Vacation: My favorite vacation is really hard to pin down. I’ve been all over the Caribbean, Mexico and Europe and hope to see much more of the world.  I have lived in a convent in Spain for a month in high school, played chess with life-sized pieces in England, experienced the Autobahn in Germany in a miniature car and peed in the ruins of Pompeii (does any know the Italian statute of limitations on such a crime?).