The Nerdy Travel Agent, LLC

27/01/2025

Happy birthday to my OG travel buddy, my big brother! 🌎

37 years around the sun ☀️

I love traveling the world with you and seeing the world through your eyes.😍

To my first, and forever, best friend, I love you to infinity & beyond! ♾️

22/01/2025

Enjoy the best of local culture, beaches, and endless adventure and experience everything Sandals has to offer with the Winter Blues sale.

Save up to $1,350 off your next vacation and you will also receive up to $1,000 instant credit, $175 spa credit, and $175 experience credit!✈️🌴☀️

17/01/2025

Tallinn, Estonia 🇪🇪

12/01/2025

When I’m not working as a travel agent, I’m an Assistant Professor at UTRGV. Always nerdy! 🤓

I’m honored to have been recognized as one of Southwestern University’s 18 alumni under 40. (SU was founded in 1840, hence the 18 under 40)💛🖤

A double major in history and Spanish at Southwestern, Erika Rendón-Ramos earned her master’s degree and doctorate in history from Rice University as well as a master’s degree in higher education administration from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). She currently serves as an assistant professor of Mexican American studies at UTRGV, where she teaches and publishes research on immigration, borderlands dynamics, and Mexico. Her favorite part of her job is supporting students at one of the largest Hispanic-Serving Institutions in the country.



https://www.southwestern.edu/alumni/alumni-achievement/18-under-40/

07/01/2025

My husband tries a new beer in each country we visit. 🍺

Unfortunately, I don’t like beer.😅

Instead, I try “new” cocktails.🍸 Or you know, a trusty margarita like I’m drinking here. 😝

My obsession on our last trip was the P**n Star Martini. 🌟🤩

My brother laughed every time I ordered it.😁

07/01/2025

Ximena: “I don’t like these fancy pajamas. Can we take these off now.” 🙃

03/01/2025

Mentally, I’m here💗

27/12/2024

Happy Holidays, nerdy travelers! 🌲

It’s a great time to start booking your spring break adventures! ☀️ 🚢 🏝️ 🎿

Where do you want to travel in 2025? 🌎

Let me know in the comments & send me a DM to get you next vacation booked! ✈️

21/12/2024

Bruges is such a gorgeous city!

It’s one of those quintessential European places that makes you fall in love with your surroundings.

The architecture, the canals, the holiday spirit ✨

And when I tell you that I had the most DELICIOUS liege waffles every day 🤤… with REAL Belgium chocolate, not just chocolate syrup or Nutella 😆

I could live off of those forever.

If you want an alternative to Belgium’s capital, Bruges is a wonderful option!

Add to your Europe bucket list! 🌍

13/12/2024

I do the planning, you have the fun 🤓✈️

Thank you for my awesome sweater! I adore the way it turned out.♥️

08/12/2024

Should you do a northern lights hunt with kids? 🤔

The answer will be different for each family but here is our experience.

Our tour with started at 7pm and we made it back to our resort at around 11:30pm. This was tough on our kids (4 & 6), who usually have an 830 bedtime (but worth it).

The aurora’s can be seen once it’s dark out (which in late November was by 3pm!) BUT they are typically more active in the evening hours of 10pm - 1am.

We could not do such a late tour with our kids so we just had to cross our fingers for some early aurora activity.

I didn’t take tablets or anything to entertain the kids while on our mini road trip because I worried that they wouldn’t want to put them down to be in the moment and enjoy the lights we flew thousands of miles to (hopefully) see.

Our kids were extremely excited and hopeful about the northern lights. They watched a movie about an arctic fox with a magical tail that would light the sky for Santa Claus and kept begging her to make an appearance.🎅🏼

Our biggest issue didn’t end up being entertaining them or keeping them awake on the drive, but the extreme cold when we’d leave the van.

The cold was mild for Arctic Circle standards but extreme for us south Texans. We were using the snow jumpsuits provided by our resort (@ provides them too), and those made the world of a difference but our hands and feet were still like ice. 🧊

It was realllllllllly hard to stand outside and wait for the lights to show.😅

Our last stop including a yurt, a fire, hot tea, hot chocolate, and roasted sausages. Thank goodness that’s the stop where we finally saw the lights 😁 This made it so we could go in and out to warm up and still see the lights. 🌌 🔥

Of course, as luck would have it, both kids decided they needed to go to the restroom while at the yurt and not while we were on the road with the option of a gas station. 😳😩

They did NOT enjoy having to take off their snowsuits in freezing temperatures to go in the snow 🙈 ❄️

That’s definitely something to consider when planning this excursion with small kids who have less control of their bladders.

Overall, our kids did well and were truly ecstatic that they got to see the lights. They appreciated the warmth of the yurt and that made seeing the lights more comfortable. 🛖

However, I’m not sure how grumpy they might have been if we hadn’t been able to see the lights after staying up way past their bedtime. There is not guarantee so that’s a risk you have to be willing to take! 🤞🏼

04/12/2024

The reality of northern lights hunting…the good & the unlucky.

Seeing the northern lights has been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember.

We planned this trip knowing that this year was the peak of a 12-15 year solar cycle resulting in better chances of seeing the aurora borealis.

After checking out many different companies, I decided that would be the best fit for our family.

We booked a private northern lights hunt since it would be more flexible with our 4 & 6 year olds.

Our guide took us to three different spots. The first two had no lights ☹️ We were supposed to be chasing the lights but we were chasing the clouds! ☁️

With the cloud coverage, our likelihood of seeing the lights was not very strong but our guide was on top of his apps & alerts and kept us hopeful that we might get lucky.

On our way to our last stop I could swear that there was a green streak in the sky but the van windows were frozen and difficult to see through. That, and I was SURE my brain was playing tricks on me because I wanted to see them so badly.😅

It wasn’t a trick! I was actually seeing them 🥹

We arrived at our last stop with clear skies and the lights dancing in the sky. 🌌

They weren’t as bright as they’ve been in the last couple of weeks, and that was a bummer. But we could see it with the naked eye and that still felt like a win! I underestimated how quickly they appear and disappear and change in appearance.✨

It was an incredible experience to share with my family.♥️ I highly recommend to anyone looking to book a northern lights tour or other activities in Lapland! I’ll be sharing a review specifically on the family aspect of this tour and how that worked out for us (pros & cons!). ✅

with kids

02/12/2024

Hi friends! I received many requests while I was out on vacation & I’m slowly working through all of them! I appreciate your patience and can’t wait to book your dream trips 🥰🫶🏼✈️🤓

01/12/2024

DON’T SKIP THIS!

Y’all know that I love family photos.

It doesn’t take much to convince me I “need” them.

But you really DO need them when you’re traveling!😆

It’s so hard to get a nice photo with everyone in it. You’re constantly on the go and managing the kids and stopping a stranger to request a picture is not always a fun experience. 🥴

That’s why I always schedule a family photo shoot when we travel. It’s my souvenir to myself. 📸

I want to be able to look back at these photos and remember the memories we made on our trip. I want to show our kids the places we saw, since I know they won’t remember everything.

It’s my favorite keepsake. ♥️

My husband complains every time but he always loves the photos in the end 😅

This was our first time booking with and we had a super positive experience from beginning to end!

They capture photos all around the world and make it easy to find someone in your destination of choice! 🌍

Use my code: RENDONRAMOS for $25 off your booking!

27/11/2024

Hi, it’s me, your nerdy travel agent! 🤓

I plan trips all over the world and love traveling to give my clients first hand experience and recommendations! 🌍

Send me a DM to get started!

I can’t wait to help y’all plan your dream trips!🥰

Xoxo
Erika

Shout out to for this awesome headshot at 🫶🏼

26/11/2024

Helsinki’s majestic cathedral is an incredible backdrop for their annual Christmas market! 🎄

The market is located in the Senate Square, directly in front of the cathedral and is surrounded by historic cobble stone streets♥️

A little bumpy for strollers, but the kids didn’t mind since I reminded them they could be walking instead 😅🙃

What’s your dream winter escape? Ready to plan your Finnish adventure? ❄️🎄

08/11/2024

When I tell you that Telluride/Mountain Village is a dream 😍

I felt like I was walking through Elf’s enchanted North Pole forest ❄️

Definitely want to go back with our kids someday! ☃️

It’s not too late to plan your holiday vacation to the mountains! Or spring break 😉

Where do you want to go next? ✈️