My Zen Travel

Name: My Zen Travel
Address: Albany, NY, 12211, US
Telephone: +15184618601

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My Zen Travel

Wellness Travel Consultant helping travelers travel meaningfully and sustainably. When traveling, it is easy to get lost in a crowd and feel overwhelmed.

I started my travel agency to appeal to the traveler who wants to connect with local culture and heritage, no matter if you’re a foodie, music lover, history buff, art lover, or a lover of the outdoors. I have found that with an emphasis on slow travel and a personalized itinerary, you have more flexibility and more options than with package tours. I am an ASTA member and I use my personal experience along with a worldwide network of travel experts to ensure you get the best value.

09/05/2026

Cape Greco lies on the southeastern coast of Cyprus between Ayia Napa and Protaras, where pale limestone cliffs meet the clear waters of the Mediterranean. The headland forms part of Cavo Greco National Forest Park, an area of coastal trails, sea caves, rocky coves, and Mediterranean vegetation that provides a striking contrast to the nearby resort towns. Its waters are popular for snorkeling and diving, while hiking paths lead to viewpoints overlooking the coastline and to the small whitewashed Church of Agioi Anargyroi. Cape Greco also has its own piece of local folklore: stories tell of the Ayia Napa sea monster, a supposedly friendly creature said to inhabit the surrounding waters. The area is especially important for migratory birds because Cyprus lies along a major migration route between Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

09/04/2026

Iguazú Falls is an immense system of roughly 275 individual cascades spread across nearly three kilometers of the Iguazú River along the border between Argentina and Brazil. Its name comes from the Guaraní words commonly translated as “big water,” an appropriate description for a landscape where the river suddenly plunges over layers of ancient volcanic rock. The most dramatic section is the horseshoe-shaped Devil’s Throat, where enormous volumes of water disappear into a narrow gorge amid clouds of spray. Argentina contains most of the individual falls, while the Brazilian side provides sweeping views across the entire system. The surrounding subtropical Atlantic Forest is nearly as significant as the waterfalls themselves, providing habitat for toucans, coatis, monkeys, butterflies, tapirs, and jaguars. Both the Brazilian Iguaçu National Park and neighboring Iguazú National Park in Argentina are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, protecting remnants of an ecosystem that once covered a much larger portion of South America.

Iguazú National Park lies within one of South America’s most important remaining stretches of Atlantic Forest. Walking the trails and encountering toucans, butterflies, monkeys, and other wildlife creates a strong sense of the scale and complexity of the natural world. Learning about the region’s Guaraní heritage adds a human dimension, while visiting responsibly supports conservation of an ecosystem that has disappeared from much of its former range.

09/03/2026

Split grew from the enormous palace Roman emperor Diocletian built beside the Adriatic around the beginning of the fourth century. Rather than surviving as an isolated archaeological site, Diocletian’s Palace gradually became part of the living city, with houses, cafés, shops, churches, and narrow streets incorporated into its Roman walls. The emperor’s mausoleum was eventually transformed into the Cathedral of Saint Domnius, while the remarkably preserved Peristyle still forms one of Split’s great public gathering places. The palace and surrounding historic center are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Beyond its Roman heritage, Split reflects centuries of Byzantine, Venetian, Croatian, and Austro-Hungarian influence. The waterfront Riva remains the city’s social promenade, while nearby Marjan Hill offers pine-shaded paths, old chapels, swimming coves, and views across the Adriatic and neighboring islands.

Roman ruins, Venetian towns, medieval churches, fishing villages, vineyards, olive groves, and island communities reveal how generations have adapted to life between rugged mountains and the sea. Travel slowly to allow time for ferries to smaller communities, meals built around regional ingredients, walks through historic towns, and conversations with residents. Traveling outside the busiest summer months and supporting locally owned accommodations, restaurants, wineries, and guides can also lessen some of the pressures created by concentrated tourism. The result is a journey that connects the Adriatic landscape with the history, food, traditions, and everyday life that give the Dalmatian coast its distinctive identity.

09/02/2026

The Rock Restaurant is perched on a small coral outcrop just offshore from Michamvi Pingwe Beach on Zanzibar’s southeast coast. Originally used as a fishermen’s post, the tiny building has been transformed into a restaurant surrounded by the Indian Ocean, and even the way guests arrive depends on the tide: at low tide, it can be reached on foot across the sand, while at high tide, a short boat ride carries diners to the entrance. Its menu draws heavily on Zanzibar’s coastal setting, with seafood and local ingredients alongside dishes influenced by the island’s long history of cultural exchange. Although photographs have made The Rock internationally famous, its setting also reflects a close relationship with the sea that has shaped the island’s food, trade, livelihoods, and identity for centuries.

Exploring the lanes of Stone Town reveals layers of Swahili, African, Arab, Indian, and European history. At the same time, spice farms, fishing villages, local markets, music, and traditional food provide ways to understand the cultures that developed along the Indian Ocean trading routes. Zanzibar’s history also includes the painful legacy of the East African slave trade, preserved at sites that add important context to the island’s past. Spend time with local guides, eat at locally owned restaurants, visit community-run projects, and explore beyond the main resort areas. A visit can be an opportunity to understand how centuries of migration, commerce, religion, and life by the sea have shaped modern Zanzibar.

08/30/2026

Perast is a small town on Montenegro’s Bay of Kotor whose stone houses and churches reflect the wealth it accumulated as a maritime center under the Republic of Venice. During its height in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Perast became known for shipbuilding, navigation, and a respected maritime school that trained sailors from across the Adriatic region. Despite its small size, the town contains more than a dozen historic churches and a collection of former palaces built by prominent seafaring families. Just offshore lie two tiny islands: natural St. George, home to a Benedictine monastery, and Our Lady of the Rocks, an artificial island created over centuries by depositing stones around a small reef. According to tradition, local sailors began the practice after finding an image of the Virgin Mary there in the fifteenth century, and residents still commemorate the story each July by taking boats into the bay and throwing stones into the water.

Montenegro brings together layers of Balkan, Venetian, Ottoman, Slavic, and Mediterranean history alongside mountains, lakes, forests, and the Adriatic coast. Moving slowly between places such as Perast, Kotor, Cetinje, Lake Skadar, and the mountain communities of Durmitor reveals how geography has shaped local identities and traditions. Staying in family-run accommodations, eating regional food, using local guides, and spending time in smaller communities can create connections that a quick coastal visit often misses. Leave room for conversation, history, and time outdoors, and turn the journey into an opportunity to understand a country whose culture has developed at the meeting point of different landscapes and civilizations.

08/29/2026

Bruges was one of medieval Europe’s great commercial centers, prospering from the cloth trade and its connections with merchants from England, Italy, the Hanseatic cities, and beyond. Its fortunes declined after waterways linking it to the sea began to silt up, but that economic slowdown helped spare much of the historic center from later redevelopment; today, the entire center is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Landmarks such as the Belfry, the Basilica of the Holy Blood, and the medieval buildings around the Markt and Burg reveal the city’s wealth and religious history, while the Groeningemuseum preserves works of Flemish artists such as Jan van Eyck and Hans Memling. Bruges is also known for its canals, lace-making, chocolate shops, and beer, as well as the Beguinage, founded in the thirteenth century for a community of religious women who lived together without taking permanent monastic vows. Time spent studying Flemish art, learning about the city’s trading history, visiting local businesses, and exploring on foot or bicycle can turn a sightseeing visit into a deeper encounter with the culture and history of Flanders.

08/28/2026

Anguilla is a low-lying island known for its limestone landscape, more than 30 beaches, and a coastline surrounded by reefs, cays, and clear Caribbean water. Its name comes from the Spanish word anguila, meaning “eel,” likely inspired by the island’s long, narrow shape. Anguilla has a history quite different from many neighboring islands: limited rainfall and poor soil made large-scale plantation agriculture less successful, and generations of Anguillians instead relied heavily on fishing, salt production, boatbuilding, and seafaring. The island also has a strong musical heritage, particularly reggae, calypso, soca, and string-band traditions, while annual events such as the Anguilla Summer Festival celebrate music, sailing, food, and local culture. Offshore islands and marine areas provide habitat for sea turtles and nesting seabirds, and places such as Little Bay and Shoal Bay offer opportunities for snorkeling and exploring the island’s marine environment.

Anguilla encourages you to look beyond the familiar Caribbean resort experience. Eating at locally owned beach bars, listening to live music, learning about Anguilla’s maritime history, exploring small villages, and spending time with local guides offer ways to understand the community behind the beaches. Its relatively small scale also makes slow travel easy. Supporting local restaurants, fishermen, musicians, guides, and independent businesses helps keep more tourism income within the community, creating a visit that contributes to the island while allowing you to form a deeper connection with Anguilla.

08/27/2026

Portofino began as a fishing settlement on the Ligurian coast, known to the Romans as Portus Delphini, or “Port of the Dolphins.” The village later developed connections with the Republic of Genoa before attracting writers, artists, aristocrats, and international travelers during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Despite its fame, Portofino remains remarkably small, centered on a harbor lined with narrow houses and the Piazzetta. Above the village, Castello Brown occupies a strategic site once used for coastal defense, while the Church of San Giorgio overlooks the Gulf of Tigullio. Much of the surrounding headland is protected within Portofino Regional Natural Park, whose network of walking trails passes through Mediterranean woodland, olive groves, and small settlements. Offshore, the Portofino Marine Protected Area preserves seagrass beds, rocky reefs, and marine habitats that have made the peninsula an important destination for diving and snorkeling.

Arriving by train and ferry or hiking into the village from Santa Margherita Ligure allows the landscape to become part of the journey. Time spent walking, visiting local churches, eating Ligurian food, and exploring neighboring communities reveals a coastline shaped by fishing, farming, maritime trade, and generations of adaptation to steep terrain. Traveling outside the busiest summer weeks and supporting locally owned businesses can also reduce pressure on this small community, turning a brief sightseeing stop into a slower encounter with the culture and environment of the Ligurian coast.

08/26/2026

Monte Carlo developed rapidly during the nineteenth century after the opening of the Casino de Monte-Carlo in 1863, which helped transform Monaco’s struggling economy and establish it as a destination for Europe’s wealthy travelers. The casino complex, designed in part by Paris Opera architect Charles Garnier, also contains the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, linking the district’s history of gaming with a long tradition of music and theater. Monte Carlo is also closely associated with the Monaco Grand Prix, first held in 1929, whose street circuit winds through some of the principality’s narrow roads and tunnels. Despite its dense urban setting, the district includes gardens, coastal viewpoints, and Belle Époque architecture, while its steep terrain offers views across the Mediterranean.

Monaco's compact size makes it possible to explore on foot, moving from the old streets of Monaco-Ville and the Prince’s Palace to the Oceanographic Museum, public gardens, markets, churches, and waterfront neighborhoods. The principality also provides an unusual opportunity to consider how a tiny sovereign state has developed its own political identity and adapted to severe limits on land through reclamation and dense urban planning. Exploring local history, maritime conservation, architecture, and everyday life reveals a Monaco that is more complex than its glamorous image suggests.

08/25/2026

Crane Beach lies on the southeastern coast of Barbados, where coral cliffs frame a sweep of sand facing the Atlantic. Its name comes from a crane once positioned on the cliff to load and unload cargo from ships, a reminder that the area served maritime trade long before it became known as a beach destination. Above the shore stands The Crane Resort, whose origins date to 1887, making it one of the Caribbean’s oldest continuously operating resort properties. The beach is known for sand that can take on a faint pink cast from fragments of coral and shells, while the Atlantic setting produces stronger waves than those typically found along Barbados’s sheltered west coast. Access from the cliffs and the surrounding rock formations gives Crane Beach a sense of separation from the more developed stretches of the island.

Barbados offers a chance to explore the history of Bridgetown and its Garrison, learn about the difficult legacy of the sugar and rum industries, hear musical traditions shaped by African and Caribbean influences, and experience communities where cricket, food, festivals, and family life remain closely tied to Barbadian identity. Exploring local markets, eating at neighborhood restaurants, visiting small rum producers, walking sections of the coast, and supporting locally owned businesses can create a stronger connection with the island. Barbados becomes more than a tropical escape when travelers take time to understand the people, history, and culture that have shaped it.

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