Viva la Vida Travel with Carmen Schaffer

I travel to places where many people sometimes give me that "Oooh, you're going there? Isn't it dangerous? Isn't it poor? " comment. I always respond with an enthusiastic, "Yes I am and I am about to break any stereotypes that you may have about this country." My most recent trip was to Nicaragua where I spent my days meeting with tourism partners, hoteliers and then traveled around to experience the country first hand. In order to promote travel to a country, I like to experience it personally so that I am basing my suggestions off of personal experience instead of someone else's reviews.  Augusto Cesar Sandino. When most people think of Nicaragua, their first thought is usually one of a few of these things : Guerilla warfare, Sandinistas, poverty, danger, and gang activity. Understanding the history of a country will allow you to see past the stereotypes that you have and help you determine your own opinion on a destination. Here...

What do you think of when you think of Ethiopia? What about Croatia? How about Jordan or Jerusalem? What crosses your mind when you think about El Salvador or Colombia? Chances are a flash of images or events cross your mind that were fed to you via a variety of media channels.   Having never been to any of these destinations, your tendency may be to immediately write them off as  viable travel destinations based solely on the information you’ve received via news channels or social media. I was talking with someone the other day and she said, “ I have some friends who are traveling to Croatia right now. I never thought to travel there. I mean, I think of war and struggle when I hear Croatia but these people are LOVING it there. They don’t even want to return home. I have send their pictures and it looks amazing! I want to go to Croatia now.”   Like many people, she had an idea in her head about how Croatia is ; she was proven wrong by people who took a leap and t...