A Gal Who Travels

A Gal Who Travels A gal who travels, 50+ countries and counting, mostly by ship. I'm also a Travel Advisor, sharing the real version, not the brochure. Linktr.ee/agalwhotravels

New destinations every Wednesday Wandering.

One day in coastal France, two very different halves. In the morning, I wandered La Rochelle with no plan and found a cl...
09/07/2026

One day in coastal France, two very different halves. In the morning, I wandered La Rochelle with no plan and found a clocktower gate older than most countries and a house with a ceramic cat on the roof. In the afternoon, a guided excursion to Île de Ré delivered a church that survived four disasters and donkeys wearing pants. Full story drops Wednesday.

09/05/2026

The full Istanbul video is up. The Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, the Basilica Cistern, and an obelisk with a story attached to it. Grab a coffee, this one runs a little longer than the Reel.

Check out the blog post for even more detail. Link in the comments.

What actually separates a $600 cruise from a $6,000 one? It's not just the price tag.Cruise lines fall into six recogniz...
09/03/2026

What actually separates a $600 cruise from a $6,000 one? It's not just the price tag.

Cruise lines fall into six recognized categories: mainstream, premium, luxury, ultra-luxury, river, and expedition. Once you know what separates them, choosing gets a lot easier. I break down what defines each one and who each category tends to fit best, plus a few fare surprises along the way.

Spoiler: "luxury" doesn't mean the same thing on every ship, and even "all-inclusive" varies more than you'd think.

Read the full breakdown: https://agalwhotravels.com/cruise-line-types-decoded/






09/02/2026

Two days in Istanbul before boarding a cruise to Venice, and one guide who packed four ancient empires into a single afternoon. The Blue Mosque, the Hippodrome, Hagia Sophia, and the Basilica Cistern, plus the last gözleme before boarding. Full story on the blog and YouTube, link in the comments.

This week's Wednesday Wandering stop heads to Istanbul, where one guide packed four ancient empires into a single aftern...
08/31/2026

This week's Wednesday Wandering stop heads to Istanbul, where one guide packed four ancient empires into a single afternoon between mosques, an obelisk with a missing piece, and a Byzantine cistern held up by upside-down Medusa heads that nobody has ever fully explained. New post goes live Wednesday.

08/29/2026

The full Wednesday Wandering video for Tórshavn and Vágar Island is up. One day, four stops, and a lot more fog than the postcards show.

Watch the full video below and check out the blog post for even more detail. Link in the comments.

Introducing a new series: Ship Spotlight 🛳️I spent a half day touring Celebrity Beyond in Miami... every deck, every sta...
08/28/2026

Introducing a new series: Ship Spotlight 🛳️

I spent a half day touring Celebrity Beyond in Miami... every deck, every stateroom category, top to bottom. Not a sailing, just me walking the whole ship room by room so I could tell you honestly whether it's worth booking.

Some highlights: an infinite veranda in the entry-level stateroom that turns the whole wall into a balcony. A suite-exclusive retreat with its own pool and lounge. A rooftop deck with real plants that somehow feels more like a park than a pool deck. And a lunch at Normandie that was genuinely, actually good, not just "good for a ship."

Full walkthrough, room by room, is up on the blog now (link in comments). If Celebrity Beyond is on your radar, I'd love to help you figure out if it's the right fit.

08/26/2026

This week's Wednesday Wandering: Tórshavn and Vágar Island, Faroe Islands. A solo morning in the capital, then an afternoon bus tour to a waterfall, a church with a nine-hundred-year-old runestone, and a village where tea and cake showed up in a nineteenth century warehouse turned café. Full video and blog post are live now.

One foggy day, one solo wander through an old town, and an afternoon bus ride to a waterfall that drops straight into th...
08/24/2026

One foggy day, one solo wander through an old town, and an afternoon bus ride to a waterfall that drops straight into the sea. There is also a church with a nine-hundred-year-old runestone, a folk legend carved in bronze, and tea and cake in a building that has been standing since the nineteenth century. Wednesday Wandering drops this week, and you will want to see this one.

Confession: I still search for hotels for fun. Not because I need to (see: literal job), but because I'm nosy and I like...
08/23/2026

Confession: I still search for hotels for fun. Not because I need to (see: literal job), but because I'm nosy and I like knowing what's out there.

So when my agency rolled out a new hotel search tool on my website, I was equal parts excited and skeptical... I've seen "convenient" travel tools before that turned out to be neither.

Turns out this one's actually good. 🏨

You can search, compare, and book hotels anytime, right from my site... including rates you won't find just browsing around on your own. And here's the part that actually matters: you're still booking with me. Same advisor, same behind-the-scenes checking, just with the option to poke around on your own time first if that's more your speed.

My agency's Hotel Support Team also confirms every reservation directly with the hotel before you arrive, so check in is smooth from the start.

Curious? Click "Find a Hotel" on my website and start snooping around. Or if digging through options isn't your idea of a good time, reply here or send me a message and I'll do the nosy part for you.

https://bethanybartley.journeysofdreams.com

Happy travels!
Bethany

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Hollywood, FL
33316

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