Our Philosophy

Perhaps one of the greatest travel mistakes that most people make is to try to plan too many activities in a short period of time; focusing on the quantity of experience rather than the quality.  We at the Vagabond-Hero firmly believe in the "Immersion" concept of travel; to steep yourself in your dream destination  as fully as possible, and use this as a base to pursue your vacation goals.  Packing in too many events in a short amount of time does not allow one to fully appreciate any of them any more than reading a magazine or watching a television program at home, and can be very stressful. 


We believe that if one has a central strategy  to establish and "Immersion experience" with ones travel endeavor, that the sites and attractions can take care of themselves. 


Our road scholars are experts at exploration and discovery on the road, and feel very adept at improvisation, adaptation, and overcoming many travel pitfalls and delight in the wonder of the discovery and the adventure.  However, not everyone is suited for this sort of "Immersion Travel" philosophy, and not all travels and vacations are taken with such a viewpoint.  People work hard for their vacation time and for the money that they pay for a vacation.  Often, people wish to have things arranged for them, and for the hassles of being on the road to be taken care of.  There is nothing wrong with desiring a pleasant retreat from ones daily life with things arranged for you.  This however, is not the purpose of this website.  This website is an effort to give you the tools and techniques and inside knowledge for you to be able to undertake your own personal adventure. 


With that said, we would like to pay homage to those who desire a travel junket or a tour package.  As we have stated, there are many good reasons for this sort of travel experience....to offer a retreat from the stresses of daily life, to make all the travel arrangements, and to avoid travel pitfalls.  Many people who seek this experience find cruises and travel tours very enjoyable for the very reason that the entire stay on board a cruise or on the tour junket is already arranged in advance.  People who enjoy cruises and cross country tours have expressed to us that they feel "As refreshed in 4 days of a cruise as any other vacation that would take a week."


For this reason, we have included some information on cruise ships elsewhere in this site.  Taking a cross country tour can give you a great deal of insider information on the tourist industry and information about sites that boast being able to find cheap hotel rooms and travel rates online.  For more about this topic, please visit the following link:


Some people who do not enjoy cruises and tour buses have expressed to our Road Scholars that they "Felt trapped on board" and where not "specifically interested in the venues offered." 

For this reason, many cruise lines tour companies offer theme and specialty cruises and packages.

One of our favorite specialty cruise companies is called Insight Cruises, and you will not normally find them with a standard search with an individual cruise line or web site.  Insight Cruises cater to the intellectual crowd and offer theme cruises on computer programing, chess, cultural lectures from college professors, etc.  They have been featured in Scientific America. 






At present, our Road Scholars are researching a variety of "Tall Ship" cruises where the passangers live on board a tall schooner or sailing ship.  Such alturnative cruises range from picnic junkets on the North Eastern Sea board to blue water expeditions to the Galapagos and range in adventures from simple courses and tours offered at sea, to actually taking part in manning the sails and learning how to pilot a ship. Such a DIY focus is not the purpose of this web page. 

For those who desire time away where they need not be concerned with the creation of the adventure of travel, a cruise may be a fine choice.  We recommend Cruisedirect.com as this site can give you a good range of the more popular cruise lines including Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and other lines.  They post the various theme cruises, and offer great prices and even short notice specials.    We recommend you take care in choosing the cruise. 

A good rule of thumb is to ask if the cruise  you are interested in can offer at least one new show, performance, entertainment venue or activity each day you are on board.  For people who enjoy cruises...this is never a problem...the dance floor, the casino, the shops, restaurants, and swimming pools offer all the luxury of a fine resort.  If there are members in your party or family who may say "no" to this question, we advise that you keep exploring...there is certain to be a theme cruise that can offer something for everyone.  We have seen main stream cruises that offer everything from French Cooking Classes to Digital Photography classes, to skeet shooting, and many activities  you would not imagine would be on board.  There are so many offerings on board a cruise ship, and Cruisedirect.com can features them so well, there is no reason you cannot find a general cruise that fills all you needs. 

For those we have polled who's spouses have taken an "Insight Cruise" to improve their chess game, take a course in opera or even a steam boat river "Quilting Cruise" to improve their needlework (not offered by insight)....we have found even such specialty cruises go to great lengths to accommodate family members with different interests than the cruise theme, and an overwhelming majority of felt very satisfied "Beyond what they expected" from such theme specific cruises. 

Cruisedirect.com is an excellent source to find a cruise that fits you, but you should also check out Insight Cruises as these specialty cruises are booked on major cruise lines, but are seldom listed on the major cruise line websites.





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