The Green Turtle Club in the Bahamas is where I want to go for my next vacation. I've been planning it for awhile (hence the link), but due to an eardrum issue, haven't scheduled it yet (I want to dive when I am there). The GTC is located on the Out Islands of Great Abaco in Green Turtle Cay. You can only get there by boat, it's only three miles long and there are no casinos or traffic. (It's not one of the major destinations.)

The beaches look spectacular, the people seem friendly and I've always wanted to end up on a quiet tropical island.

I love youth hostels. I've spent a lot of time traveling over the years and staying at hostels not only saved me money, it made me friends and helped plan future travel.

One of my favorite places is the Banana Bungalow Youth Hostel in San Diego. It's cheap, it's directly on the beach (in San Diego, which is freaking awesome) and the people are incredibly nice and friendly.

David Lebovitz is an incredible pastry chef who's written numerous books, teaches cooking classes and lives in France. But I didn't find him, or keep this URL, because of that. Slashfood is a foodie blog I read regularly via RSS, and one day in 2007 they posted a link to David Lebovitz's post "10 Insanely Delicious Things You Shouldn't Miss in Paris." Being the France-and-food lover that I am, I instantly clicked through, read it and kept it in my travel folder. I might not be going to France anytime soon, but when I do, I'll be ready.

Macarons, French baguettes and chocolate… it's an excellent list of where to find his best of France. And he's a pastry chef, so who better to trust for suggestions?

In 2004 a guy named Sean McGrail decided to circumnavigate the world and write about it. I honestly don't remember how I stumbled across his site, but ever since I met someone on a round-the-world trip, I've wanted to take one myself, so finding this was great.

I hesitate to call it a blog because it was only updated for a few months, and to my knowledge, hasn't been updated since 2005. McGrail spent $22,371, traveled over 41,000 miles and visited all of the wonders of the world. His site still exists and is filled with funny anecdotes, excellent travel information (see "what I packed") and gorgeous pictures.

McGrail is from Boston, so in addition to basic gear, he took along his Red Sox cap, and somehow he managed to convince LOTS of people to pose, wearing the hat, in front of all the wonders of the world. Who does that?!

One thing that really struck me was that he wanted to take the 117 day trip alone. Several years back I traveled around the US for four months, and to this day, I wish I had convinced someone to go with me. Granted, back then blogs weren't that well known and no one I knew had a laptop, so my cellphone was my only connection to people from home.