Today’s post is a quick trip planning update and travel tip. After accumulating 280,000 Delta Airlines Frequent Flyer Miles, I’ve cashed them all in for 2 round-trip tickets from Orlando to Sydney in just over 200 days! Now that the dates have been selected comes the monumental task of planning the itinerary.

Sure there are lots of online trip planning websites, but sometimes a book is the preferred medium. Books tend to be more comprehensive, can be written on, are compact and can be taken anywhere. My #1 brand is Lonely Planet, followed by Frommer’s.  The downside to travel books – they can be quite expensive – for a book.

Enter your public library.

Back in high school and college the library was a common place to study and retrieve information. But with the growth of the internet and the disappearance of 20-page term papers, people’s needs to visit the library dwindle. Each time I tell people I get books at the library they look at me like I have 10 heads.

Why I Love the Library

The Orange County Library is magic. Here’s why I love going there.

1. They mail books to my house. – Yes I can be lazy and don’t even have to make a trip to the brick and mortar building. I just have to put pants on and open my front door – and sometimes I don’t even do that!
2. I can preview books before I purchase them. - Try before you buy. Why buy a $30 city guide when I can check it out, review it and decide them if I want to purchase the real thing.
3. Great Selection - Even if some of the books are out of date, I can get a good sense for what attractions and itineraries are out there. But surprisingly, the Orange County Public Library System has current titles.
4. It’s Free! - Yes, that’s the purpose of the library, to have free books. But when you consider that most people pay for what you’re getting for nothing, you can’t stop but wonder why people pay for you got for nothing. Make sense? It’s one of the many ways I save money in order to travel.

So…do you have a Library Card? When was the last time you used it?

Today’s Lesson: Your local public library is an excellent source of free travel information! Get yourself a library card and start planning your next adventure!

I’ll see you out there…! In section 910.

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Australia!

What do you think? I think it’s absolutely fantastic.

Australia has always been on my list of places to visit. This is going to be a vacation of a lifetime. Brian and I have been saving for a year already, and have another whole year to save to do this right. We may never return to the Land Down Under again so this vacation has to be one to remember. I’m even more excited to be sharing every step of our planning process here on adventureswithben.com

Here’s what we’ve done so far to plan this trip:

• Brian bought me a travel book to Australia

That’s it.

I know it’s not much, but we have lots of time to figure out the rest of the details. And there’s a lot we need to do to prepare. I’ve been saving my frequent flier miles on Delta. I have about 234,000. That should be enough to get us there and back in the fall. We’d like to go Scuba Diving in the Great Barrier Reef. So this summer we’re going to try to take lessons. And should we trek out to Ayers Rock, I might need to learn how to drive a stick. Surf lessons on the Gold Coast may require some getting in shape for an Australian Swimming Costume (bathing suit). All of that, plus figuring out how to plan a trip like this should make for some great content here.

You’ll be able to follow along every step of the way by becoming a fan of adventureswithben on facebook. You can do it here.

So what do you think of our choice of country? What’s your dream vacation destination? Comment below.