Trip Planning: Spring Travel & Fall Travel

This spring I'm going on a trip with friends to North Carolina. It will be my 3rd time there (beyond the airport). I've spent a lot of time in Lexington NC and also Chapel Hill for work. I no longer travel really all that much for work so it's a treat to plan trips for fun.

I scored tickets on JetBlue for only $11 (used some JetBlue points!). I only keep frequent flyer points on Virgin America and JetBlue as it's hard for me to fly any other airline in the US. Outside of the US I'm pretty unbiased. I love non-USA airlines. I also got a free ticket to use for the fall trip--road trip for 10 days with my hubby in CO and UT. That will be my 3rd trip to CO and my first to UT (beyond the airport of course).

So it's fun at this point to dream about hiking in a tee shirt. It's fun to think about hiking in boots that are not snow boots. There's still several feet of snow at our home in Maine and the ice is still 18-24" thick in town at our friend's lakes. There was an ice fishing derby this past weekend.

I'm curious what trips you folks are planning for 2015? Are you like me and not really doing much work travel? I used to do work travel 3 months in the spring and 3 months in the fall so it was a lot. I was a bit of a road warrior and I do MISS it with all my heart and soul. I'm a bit of a nomad at heart. A nomad with roots. A nomad divided between MA and Maine (happily).

Here's what I'm thinking about today (below photo). Asheville, North Carolina. The mountains. Fresh air that is not recycled through a tired HVAC system. Cool breezes. Wearing my cowboy boots for a night out on the town. And maybe some magic on the trails. Spotting animal tracks or sharing a lovely lunch packed for a hike with friends.

What to Pack?

It's heading into my busy time of year again for work travel. With us also going to Maine every other weekend year round I've turned into quite the packing expert.

Here's my Maine list (based on winter):

-Check snow levels (right now, great with 4-8" on the way)
-Fill large plastic bag with snowpants, gloves, ear band (warm), gators, wool socks
-Grab snow boots and pack them in the back seat
-Extra shovel (gotta dig out a parking space)

In a cooler (because once up in Maine it's hard to hit the grocery store):

-Enough food for two dinners (Trader Joe's makes this easy)
-(that would be two meat items that can be grilled or cooked stove top (we don't have a traditional oven in Dixmont).
-Veggies
-Bread for sandwiches or wraps
-English muffins
-6 eggs
-creamer
-beer (a must)
-wine to share with neighbors (we love our neighbors)
-Cheese for sandwiches, lunch meat if we're doing deli sandwiches
-fruits that pack well like apples
-Chips & salsa
-Crackers and some sort of smoked fish (cocktail hour is important in Maine)

In all weather:
Hiking pants, sweater, fleece, sunscreen, extra socks

Here's my work trip list:

-tablecloth and bin for raffles (the two things I don't ship)
-Clothes for yoga and gym sneakers (pick out yoga classes near hotel and put in phone)
-Print out of all reservations (I've  had hotels say "I can't find you..." upon arrival)
-Address in phone for hotels, meetings, etc.
-GPS for rental car
-Two dressy outfits. Typically two dresses and one suit jacket and one cardigan
-heels or boots
-jeans (trade show booth is messy)
-tote bag (great to carry clothes to change into, packs flat)
-Phone charger, I don't tend to fly with my laptop any longer
-Nook and charger that plugs in (I use my phone for alarm clock)
-PJ pants, and slippers if room
-I always check my suitcase because I cannot handle small planes with 0 room and last minute checking of bags--I've seen to many bags go missing this way as they are not tracked
-Regular book (always reading regular book for book club and Nook at same time)
-A couple of snacks
-$20-40. I don't travel with a lot of cash on me
-Yelp bookmark stuff near my hotel

And that's it!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome to my wild world of always having a half unpacked bag sitting on the floor in my TV room!

I'm in love with my Jeep(r) suitcase. I can't believe it took me so long to get a good suitcase:

Summary of the Reverb10 Excercise

Although I did not participate in every single Reverb10 post I really enjoyed the process. I was e-mailed a Reverb each day and many of them I actually posted on.

Here's two of them:

Dec 22
Prompt: Travel. How did you travel in 2010? How and/or where would you like to travel next year?

During 2010 there was some stand-out travel. We went on a budget-friendly vacation and camped in Canada for 10 days (ok, one night at an Inn when we decided we needed a shower without quarters to feed in). It was our first time going to Canada from the Maine house and it turned out there's a lovely little seaside town (St. Andrews by-the-sea) just 3 hours, 15 minutes away including border crossings. I've never camped on the beach before and that was pretty amazing. Still have red sand from PEI in various hiking boots I think.

• Work trips: lots of work trips took me back to places I have not been in a while (Philly, NYC). I also got to eat at some pretty fabulous restaurants (shout out to Gordon Ramsey at The London).

• Florida: well we were hoping to see the shuttle launch and spent 2x what we were planning on after 3 flight changes and extra hotel nights. This trip could have been better (both T and I really could not take a vacation that was 2x longer than planned). Kinda funny to go to Walmart and buy clothes because you find yourself in Florida a few extra days. Highlights of this trip including going to a beach of Tyler's childhood and looking for shark's teeth, going to an old school tiki bar (on a dock where the food is cooked in a truck), and seeing 6 different family members in 1 day (including the grandparents in assisted living). Oh and the Villa for $60/night (thank you Kayak.com) was pretty incredible. :)

• Next year: back to Iceland! We have not been since 2007. Must go. The pull is too strong to ignore. (it gets into your soul if you've ever been).

• California in March for work (get to see an old family friend too). LA. :)

We'll see where else we end up. Of course there will be lots of time in Maine with the rental to manage.

Dec 20
Prompt: Beyond avoidance. What should you have done this year but didn't because you were too scared, worried, unsure, busy or otherwise deterred from doing? (Bonus: Will you do it?)
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Photography! Other than my AMAZING Canada trip I really did not take any memorable photos this year and I did not take part in a single photo shoot with my photo club.

I used my distraction and lack of creative juices as an excuse.

Starting with the holiday party on the 30th I'm getting back into the mix.

That along with x-country skiing are my two resolutions for 2011.