Heart-shaped Travel Inspo

Seeing as it's Valentine's Day, I thought you might like to see some naturally heart-shaped places you can actually travel to. Perhaps you can plan a trip to visit one of them in the future or you might just like a little eye candy for the day. 

Heart Island, Croatia - photo credit

Check out these pretty spots:

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Heart Lake, Washington

This naturally-occurring lake can be found in Washington's Olympic National Park. You can hike and even camp next to the lake, for a lovely romantic outdoor date. 

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Makepeace Island, Australia 

This island is owned by Richard Branson and can accommodate 20 guests, so it's probably not cheap to stay on, but it's definitely pretty.

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Tavarua Island, Fiji

If you love surfing (and gorgeous islands), this is known to be one of the best surfing spots in the world and hosts an annual surfing competition. It's also perfect for snorkeling and diving, because it's surrounded by coral reef.

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Coeur de Voh, New Caledonia

This amazing little heart can only be seen properly from above, but this part of the landscape is formed by mangroves and can take on different looks as the vegetation changes. It's difficult to get to, but the area is teeming with fantastic wildlife.

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Valentine Lake, British Columbia, Canada

This lake is for the hard core hiker (or romantic). Plan to camp here, as it's a 4-hour hike from the end of the main road. Just think about what a sweet and well-earned getaway it will be when you get there. Pack a bottle of wine to celebrate the journey.

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Gislachersee Lake, Austria

Located in the Ötztal valley of Tyrol, Austria, this lake offers spectacular views of the Alps. It's a 3-hour hike from the popular ski resort of Sölden, but imagine how gorgeous and secluded it must be in the summertime.

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St. Paul's Bay, Greece

There's a popular wedding venue, there's a small church built on this spot to commemorate St. Paul's visit to teach the Rhodian people Christianity. What a stellar place to renew your vows!

There you have it. Some inspiration for your future travels and a little pretty to round out your Valentine's Day. If you're look for more inspo, you can read my budget V-Day getaways here and if you're solo for the day and need a laugh, check out this blog post on Society6.

What's On Your Bucket List?

We all have one. We may call it a bucket list, a travel wishlist or a life list, but it's all the same thing: The things you want to do or visit before you die. I've talked about mine before. Let's look at a few:

Turkey

This is the ultimate budget travel destination on my list. Once you fly there, everything is quite affordable, plus it’s not like your typical European destination. I want to visit Cappadocia and sleep in a cave hotel and go on a hot air balloon ride and take a ride on a yacht. I mean, don’t all those things sound just the coolest? Everywhere else this would cost a fortune, but not in Turkey!

Greece & Malta

If you’ve ever seen a picture of the gorgeous Greek seaside, you won’t wonder why this is on my list, or really anyone’s list. Between the Mediterranean, the food, and the people, this is really quite high up on my Life List. And since Malta is, literally, right there, there’s no reason to skip it. I blame old World’s Strongest Man competitions for making me drool over this destination. It’s small, it’s beautiful and it invokes a little bit of Greek heaven.

Tokyo Disneyland

Ah yes, Tokyo itself sounds really amazing, and I’m going to make it there one day, but one of the attractions I am dying to see is the Japanese version of my favorite theme park. It’s so different, yet I know it will probably still feel like home, but probably with more politeness. How can this not be on my list? Also, is it weird that I kind of want to spend a night in a capsule hotel? Yes? Okay then.

So those are some of mine, but let's talk about some of yours, because I'm going to base some future posts on them. What are your top destinations on your travel bucket list?

Get $3 when you sign up for Swagbucks in February (US)

Want an extra boost to your budget in February?? 

If you haven't tried Swagbucks before, you can get a bonus $3 for signing up as my referral this month. Swagbucks is a rewards site where you earn points (called SB) for things you're probably doing online already, like searching, watching videos, discovering deals, and taking surveys. Then you take those points and exchange them for gift cards to places like Amazon, Starbucks, Walmart, Target, or PayPal cash. 

When you sign up through me this month, you can earn a $3 bonus! Here's how: 

1. Sign up using this link 

2. Earn 300 SB total before 3/1/18. You'll get a $3 (300 SB) bonus for it! 

3. If you want even more bonuses, you'll get a $10 (1000 SB rebate) bonus for making your first shop purchase! That's in addition to the SB you earn for every dollar you spend. 

That's it. It's super easy, and Swagbucks is for real. I use it myself, and I've earned almost 66,000 Swagbucks that I have traded in for Amazon and Paypal gift cards, so I can pay for travel and also purchase party goodies for my annual Harry Potter party. 

I know $3 doesn't seem like a lot, but you can earn a lot in your spare time. Do search and earn, answer surveys and watch videos to earn points while you're sitting in front of the TV in the evening. It's easy and adds up quickly. I've been able to earn $60 or more worth of SB in a month with little effort and you can do even more! Can you imagine how far that in Paypal will go towards your next trip? In a year you'll have an extra $720+. That's like two plane tickets!