If you’re writing off business expenses (that you have NOT been reimbursed for by your employer, of course) this year, don’t forget about your travel expenses! I just dug the receipts out for my airfare and hotel in Las Vegas out of my laptop bag…I knew there was a good reason for saving those things. I wouldn’t have been in Las Vegas if not for the PayPerPost / Blog Expo conferences, which is related to my blogging income, and therefore, tax deductible. My total for airfare was $507.70, and my hotel was $843. Of course, I’m only deducting the things I have receipts for, which means all of the food I bought related to the trip won’t be going onto my taxes. I didn’t think to save any of those receipts.

Travel expenses related to charity work are also deductible. I not only donated money to the 3-Day for Breast Cancer last year, I walked in it as well. I had hotel expenses related to the walk (we paid for a hotel when our campsite was rained out, rather than sleeping on the concrete floor of a stinky, loud parking garage) and I can deduct the cost of the hotel under the charity section of Turbo Tax.

My trip to Amsterdam was AMAZING, and while I’ve not posted much of a recap about our journey, I do have pictures on Flickr, and quite the lengthy recap of our visit to the Anne Frank House on my other blog, Simple Kind Of Life. In the past 7 months, I’ve seen a lot of amazing things - natural wonders like Niagara Falls and the Grand Canyon, and historic sites like the Anne Frank House and Old Montreal. Without a doubt, walking through the Anne Frank house was the single most moving experience in all of my travels, past and present!