2018 by the numbers

2018 has been a strange year for me. It’s been my first year without a traditional office job, which provided a lot of structure and an easy way to find self-worth. Without that, I’ve had to learn a lot about what makes me satisfied. I always knew that travel and going places was an innate need of mine, but I also learned that simply getting on a plane was not going to make me satisfied with my life. There are a lot of things I found joy in, and a lot of things that caused me pain. I had to learn that without a traditional job, I needed to find purpose in more than just what freelance work I was able to get; I couldn’t expect my husband to make my happiness his job.  In all honesty, I’m still learning that, and I think he’s still learning, too.

Throughout all this, with all the confusing and complicated emotion of change, I know that my 2018 was really, really incredible. I sat down to take inventory of all that I did, all that I was able to do because of my nontraditional new schedule. Looking at these numbers, it may seem like my life has been a lot of fun. But there’s a good chance if you sat down and tallied up all the things you did this year, you’ve probably done just as many of the things you care about.

Here’s what I sought out in 2018:

Comedy Shows: 13

Theater: 16
Head Over Heels, Mean Girls, Dear Evan Hansen, Sleep No More, Hamilton, Soft Power, School of Rock, Aida (the opera, not the musical), Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, On Your Feet!, Miss Saigon, Waitress, Chicago, Cinderella, A Bronx Tale

Films: 13

Concerts: 4
John Oates (no Hall), Tom Jones, Jennifer Lopez, Rod Stewart
*If you took JLo off this list, how old would you think I am?

Museums & art installations: 12

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Artist: Yayoi Kusama

Visited places within the US: 23
Las Vegas, Kauai, Charleston/Hilton Head/Savannah, Disney World, NYC, Malibu, Palm Springs, Temecula, Vegas again, Chicago + Iowa, Boston, Chico, Paso Robles, Palm Springs again, Spokane, Portland, Miami, Key West, Palm Springs again, Maui, Las Vegas again, Palm Springs again, Paso Robles again (today!)

Countries visited: 5

Flights taken: 34
*Not including layovers or multi-leg flights to one destination

Wineries visited: 20
*That number is growing today — we’re in Paso Robles for NYE!
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Distilleries visited: 8

Breweries visited: 4
* I guess 2018 was the year I stopped drinking beer: normally this would be a much higher number!

Bottles of wine purchased: 82

Rewards program (legit) status achieved: 3
Sephora VIB Rouge
Alaska Airlines MVP
Hotels.com Gold

What did you do in spades in 2018? Do any of your numbers rival mine?

How to make swag for your group vacation

Recent obsession: making custom swag bags for trips with friends or family.

When my two favorite travel girlfriends and I went on a cruise to celebrate Mary’s birthday, Kristina and I collaborated to make custom shirts, fanny packs, and sweatshirts for the occasion. It was so fun and pretty easy, so when Tim’s family accepted an invite to spend the Christmas holiday in California with my family, I knew I wanted to make “welcome bags” for us all.

It’s a real sickness. I want to make swag for EVERYTHING now.

First, I discovered a free design software online called Vectr. I was yearbook editor in high school so I kind of remembered how to use Adobe InDesign, and this was a decent and totally gratis dupe. I traced a map of the US to make the outline, then traced a cartoon cactus and lighthouse to add a little local flare. (My parents live in Palm Springs and Tim’s parents are Maine-based.)

It’s a little tricky to find affordable customized items for a small group (many items have minimum order quantities of 50 or 100) but after combing the internet, I found some amazing items. Here’s what I did for our group of 7 people:

+ KOOZIES

Tim’s folks are beer drinkers, so this was an immediate must-have. They were only a couple bucks each online and even with shipping these were my most affordable customized item. I used inkbrander.com. Think about what your group enjoys and create an item they’ll actually use.

+ TUMBLERS

This was the only tumbler available on Vistaprint’s swag site, Promotique. I used the same logo and it couldn’t be easier. This way we’d also have something fun to remind us to hydrate despite all the adult beverages we’d be consuming.

+ CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS

Since it was Christmas, this was my most favorite idea. I love the simple frosted glass and how packable it would be for the family who’d be flying back home. Look for something appropriate to your theme or occasion.

+ WAX FOOD WRAPS

Not customized, but I love those Trader Joe’s waxed cotton food wraps and wanted to share the goods. You might want to do a similar gift of something inexpensive that you really enjoy and use in your daily life. (Kind of like how Candice Zamporini bought her family blow pokes. Y’know?) (If you don’t get my reference just exit my page now.)

+ SWEETS

Obviously! Candy canes, Dove chocolates, and stroopwafels felt perfect for Christmas.

Making a custom logo is a game changer and makes it feel ultra exclusive and special, but in reality it’s just a little extra work up front and you can use it (or versions of it) for all your custom swag!

Right now I’m also planning a bachelorette party and I am loving the items we’ve chosen. Every time I do a new swag bag I learn more and get better at it.

Have you ever made swag? Or maybe you have an event coming up that you might consider making some custom gifts for? I love it so much, please let me know all the details!

How to plan an awesome trip

The absolute joy of my life is planning. I thrill at the opportunity to put an agenda together. There are times when I don’t have a trip on the calendar and I can feel happiness and sense of purpose gradually evaporating from my body.

I share my travel guides on here sometimes because I know that I have painstakingly combed the internet, talked to friends, and tested and tried all the best places at a destination. I do so much work before a vacation because I genuinely enjoy it, but even more than that, I do it because the trip is so much more satisfying to me when I know we’ve done all the best there is to do in that destination. All that work that I put into my own vacation surely can’t just die in my Google Calendar. Perhaps you’ve even referenced one of my travel guides before. But now, I want to share the very near-and-dear-to-my-heart process of how I plan a trip.

First, here are the general assumptions: I already know where I’m going and when and with whom. Maybe I’ve also booked flights, but everything else is totally undecided.

1. DECIDE WHERE TO STAY. Where you stay is extremely important to the overall success of the trip. I don’t care what your accommodation preference is, or what your price point is, but I do care that you stay in an area that’s central to the things that you care about. Because I recently traveled there, let’s use Maui as an example. I know that a trip to Maui for me means relaxation and the luxury of being able to walk to dinner and drinks and leisurely make my way home at night. It also means being able to take in the ocean’s natural beauty. While I enjoy the lush foliage of some parts of the island, I don’t want it to be rainy. So, I take to Google. I’m going to search something generic, like “best areas to stay in Maui.” This will not be a definitive list, because someone else’s definition of the best place can be very different from mine. I’ll read the description of each of the “best places” and pick one that sounds like what I want. Then, I’ll go to Google Maps and zoom in on that area. Are there lots of restaurants? How well are they rated? Do the menus and hours look compatible? If so, then it’s time to start seeing what else is in the area. Are the beaches in this area accessible? Can I snorkel and boogie board, or do I have to just watch the waves from shore? If everything checks out on Google Maps, then I’m going to move to hotels.com or airbnb to start searching for a place that’s walking distance to these restaurants and beaches. Filter by price and date, and you’ll have a location decided easily.

2. CREATE A GOOGLE DOC. I plan every trip by creating a Google doc for it. I will keep tabs on what restaurants I want to try, sights I need to see, and beaches I want to visit. Use this sort of as a scratch pad. I might clean it up later and add a schedule, but usually I’m not doing much else but writing down all my ideas here.

3. GET ON EATER.COM AND THRILLIST. Food is one of the most important experiences to me when traveling. Eater and Thrillist both are extremely reliable sources for me when I’m planning a trip. Eater is fantastic for mapping out restaurants: They have moveable maps with their restaurant recommendations, and often their posts are VERY specific categories, like “Best Bottomless Mimosa Brunches on the Las Vegas Strip.” First of all, hell yes I want bottomless mimosas whenever I’m on vacation. But also, all these places are vouched for by a site I trust, and it helps narrow down the wasteland that is Google Maps when I’m looking for fantastic food. Thrillist is fantastic and I find it generally has more content overall, though they don’t do the moveable maps. I’ve used Thrillist to plan wine trips (like my upcoming one in Paso Robles), ensure that I’m updated on the best places in Miami whenever I visit, and I even recently found that they sent a writer to test all the subway toilets in New York and share which ones aren’t just a boiling pit of filth (aka doing the Lord’s work). It enumerates art exhibits worth seeing, parks worth frolicking, beaches worth beaching. Eater and Thrillist aren’t the only sites I use, though. Also try the web pages for Conde Nast Traveler, Food & Wine, and the New York Times “36 Hours in” series. Any place you want to visit, add it to your Google Doc!

4. SCHEDULE EVERYTHING BEFORE YOU BOOK IT. Now’s the time to start making a visual for what you’re going to do and when. I use Google Calendar to schedule out my days. In some cities, I’ll want to do an “excursion,” like the day-long Road to Hana drive in Maui or a trip to Aconcagua in the Andes of South America. Suss out what day you want to do that, and add it to the calendar. Start to build around that: What night do you want to go to that amazing restaurant? What day will you make it to the renowned winery? Will you set aside a day to just lounge? I love to decide what “events” I’m doing first, like excursions or winery visits. Then, I see what restaurants are nearby that I can visit before or after that event. This way, you don’t spend too much of your vacation in transit to different places, and you can be a bit more relaxed. If you’re going to a very busy city like New York, London, or Miami, you’ll want to book everything in advance after you’ve finished sketching out your trip. But if you’re going somewhere relaxed, like Maui or Mendoza, you can be a little more lax with actually booking.

5. BUILD IN OPTIONS. Sometimes, you don’t want to book everything in advance. Maybe you’re not sure how much downtime you’ll want, or if you’ll need to catch up on work, or if your travel companion will need a day to sleep in, or whatever. Build in options wherever you can! This is my favorite thing to do when I’m traveling with my husband, because we have different travel styles. I love to be on the go and do everything, and while he definitely loves to adventure with me, he needs a bit more downtime to recharge. This can be a blocked-off few hours in Maui that gives the option of doing a coastal drive, or heading a nearby beach and reading our books; it can be going to dinner and then heading back to the condo, or staying out after dinner and getting a drink nearby. When I’m traveling with girlfriends, this can mean making two dinner reservations, one at a higher-end place and one at a more affordable spot, and letting them take a look at the menus to decide without judgment or pressure. It sounds simple, but the key is that I always know where we’d go if we took advantage of either option. You avoid the dance of figuring out where to go and then giving up or having a less-than experience.

Great planning is the key to the best vacation. Everyone’s relaxed, because all you have to do is show up. Plus, the next time a friend visits one of your favorite places, you can send them your recommendations, because you know that they’re the best of the best.

What are your secrets to planning a fantastic vacation? What did I miss?

Featured image: my calendar from a May 2018 trip to Disney World. Every. Ride. Was. Scheduled. (But had those good good options built in.) And it was amazing.

Kauai Travel Guide

While on our honeymoon, Tim and I took inventory of all the trips we loved most in 2017. Mine was Miami (ugh, Miami, how I love you so). His was our trip to Maui in March of 2017. I was kind of surprised, as he doesn’t love snorkeling as much as I do and that was far and away my highlight of that trip. But as it turns out, he found Maui was super relaxing in both pace and ambiance. And I realized I agreed. We’re so busy — and I focus on doing and seeing and eating and drinking everything possible — that a relaxing trip is SO. IMPORTANT. So a few weeks ago, we decided to book a long weekend to a different Hawaiian island: Kauai.

You probably already know that not only do I travel a lot, but I am also fiercely passionate about giving you my recommendations for any city I’ve visited. This is no exception. We stayed in Kapaa and were there during a bit of a storm, so we have a heavy bias on easy-to-access things here.

 

Photo opps

 

Opaekaa Falls: Twin falls that are easy to spot from an accessible parking lot — aka no hiking required. 

 


Spouting Horn: I thought this was going to be lame but it was really really cool. Basically the waves crash into this very hole-filled rock bank and in a couple spots there’s HUGE explosive geyser-like activity from the force of the waves. 

 

National Tropical Botanical Gardens: So, so much gorgeous plant life. (Also saw a lot of spiders, so beware.) This place is huge and long and narrow in shape, so usually you have to take a tram to the other parts of the garden. We didn’t have enough time so we just went to the first zone and it was still awesome. There were vanilla bean pods, mangos, all sorts of flowers, trees, and bananas. It’s like a zoo for plants. They recommend allotting a couple hours here.

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Hanalei Valley Lookout: Get an amazing view of classic Kauai from an easily-accessible parking lot. 

 

Activities

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Kealia Beach: Just north of Kapaa, this is a perfect spot for boogie boarding. We had a great time here. Tip: Drive all the way to the northernmost parking area to be right at the non-rocky, wavy area for activities! The rest of the beach is gorgeous, though shallow. It’s also great for whale watching.

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Kapaa Beach Shop: Super affordable rentals if you’re in Kapaa. Snorkel sets were I think $15 for the week, and boogie boards $20. (Note that the above boogie-boarding photo was censored for modesty. #ladyprobs)

 


Kipu Ranch Adventures: Our original boat activity was canceled due to weather. We ended up finding this fun excursion and LOVED IT. You drive ATVs through the gorgeous landscape of Kauai and stop at movie filming locations (esp. Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones!). It’s great for families, too. The ATVs have 4 seats and only one person drives. Prepare to get muddy if it’s been raining — and bring black clothes, because my white tee and jean shorts got permanently dyed/ruined from the mud. But so worth it!

 


Poipu Beach: On the south coast, this was the rare beach where we were able to snorkel during the storm. I got a TON of fish action when snorkeling, a vast area of living coral reef, and got up close to a giant turtle (like 3+ feet long) for a long time here. Highly recommended for any weather! And lots of space for kids to play — plus a playground. PS: I thought “snorkeling here must not be good; it’s so shallow” and how wrong I was. It’s no Molokini (off Maui) but it’s awesome.

Queens Bath: We didn’t end up going because the trail was super muddy and we were in street clothes, but I wish we could have gone. Bring your snorkels, cameras, and play clothes!

 

Food/drink


Tiki Iniki: I loved this Princeville bar! It had a bunch of really neat, authentic tiki drinks — including the Flaming Zombie, which involved fire. Super cool. It lacks a good view, but otherwise so great.

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The Local Kitchen + Bar: We ended up going here 3 times in our trip. It was the best food and cocktails in Kapaa, we thought. And they use a ton of local ingredients, which is what we always seek out when traveling!

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Ono Family Restaurant: Also in Kapaa, we ate at this place EVERY. MORNING. for breakfast. I always got the Lindsay Special: Two eggs (I got over-easy), fried rice (WHY don’t we have this for brekky in CA?), and bacon (or your choice of sausage). Seriously amazing. Add a few dashes of hot sauce if you’re feeling spicy.


Nalu Kai: Poolside bar/resto at the St. Regis in Princeville. We went here at the suggestion of some people we met. It is overpriced, sure, but the St. Regis has a private beach and gorgeous views, and this bar is RIGHT. THERE. Somehow I don’t have photos from down on the beach, but you get the gist here.

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Uncle’s Shave Ice: They also have “shaved snow,” a creamier option to regular ice. Really close to the Lihue airport. You can squeeze in a quick treat before your flight home!

 

Things we did that we don’t necessarily recommend
:
  • Kauai Museum: Not that rich in things that we cared about. And we like museums a lot. But some of it was cool, so if you really want to learn some history, go for it.
  • Hotel Coral Reef: It was so highly rated on TripAdvisor but I hated it. Amazing location though, right on the beach and very walkable. But just shell out a little more per night for a … brighter hotel. The person who cleaned the rooms didn’t seem to have much attention to detail or will to clean up sand. We found a dead cockroach as soon as we walked in, too. Cockroaches happen and I totally get it’s not preventable, but a dead one the day that a new guest checks in is. (Side note: The bed was comfy, which means a lot.)
  • Big Wave Dave’s: A bar in Kapaa. It was a typical dive bar. The reviews made it seem cooler/more interesting than it was.


Bonus hot tip:
I don’t own a GoPro, but I rented one — along with a stabilizing stick — from BorrowLenses and I absolutely loved it. It only cost $80 total for the week. If you live near one of their two offices (San Carlos, CA; Waltham, MA) and can pick it up yourself, you don’t have to pay for shipping!

Have you been to Kauai? What spots do you love?

New Year’s Resolution: Experience More

New Year’s Eve is such an overrated holiday, right? It’s a lot of expectations for one tiny second switching from one year to the next. (Or in my case, I haven’t made it to midnight in at least three years.)

But I’m a huge sucker for New Year’s Resolutions. There’s something about the perceived “reset button” of a new year that makes me so motivated. So after forcing Tim to do “reflection and intentions” with me, I put together my New Year’s Resolutions for 2018.

Ok, I made a couple little mistakes because I’m new to my sure to be short-lived attempt at bullet journaling. But whatever, all in all it looks pretty cute, no?

So I’m starting with the one that’s most exciting to me: Experience More.

When Tim and I went on our honeymoon to Chile & Argentina, I was so inspired. First of all, I really had no idea what to expect going there. I feel like I knew what I was getting into when I first went to Paris or Rome. But Santiago? It hadn’t been on my radar as a kid the same way that the Colosseum was. And the whole trip was AMAZING. (I am pronouncing that “a-MASE-ing” because that’s how an Argentine would pronounce that word in English, and it’s impossibly charming to me.) We did so much: Interesting restaurants with local foods; in-depth winery tours learning how Mendoza vintners create their wine.

Speaking of Mendoza — best known as a massive wine region in Argentina, the size of the state of Indiana, and capital of Malbec production — something big stuck with me there. (Not just the several pounds I undoubtedly gained from consuming steak, bread, and a cumulative bottle of wine every day.) So many times throughout our trip, people assumed that we went to wineries all the time because we live near Napa & Sonoma. Spoiler alert, we totally don’t. Like twice a year maybe. And that thought totally crushed me. I put such an emphasis on traveling the world — and I don’t want that to change. But instead of throwing away a day by sitting around the house or just going to one of the restaurants down the street that aren’t special to me. It’s so easy to make the effort to go somewhere new.

As soon as we got back from our honeymoon, I made an effort to put fun things together. We went for a hike, and instead of getting Taco Bell on the way home, I put together a little charcuterie picnic and we drove to a local winery only 20 minutes away from where we hiked. It was SO GRATIFYING! We got a full tasting and took home a few bottles and still look back really fondly on that day.

When I lived in LA, I created a spreadsheet of all the places I wanted to check out, organized by neighborhood. Well, I have one for the Bay Area now, and we’ve been ticking off places pretty consistently. That’s why I love New Year’s Resolutions: They motivate action (or in my case, they motivate organization, which motivates action).

What do you want to experience this year?

PS: I’ve been getting a LOT of comments on my bullet journal. I’m obsessed! I got all my gear on Amazon: dot-matrix notebook | fine-point markers | stencils (MUST!) | washi tape