It’s very rare to get snow in Atlanta – the last time was in December of 2017 – so when it began to snow in huge fluffy flakes yesterday morning, most of us were pretty excited. We had blackout curtains and were snoring away so I’m thankful for my friend Pam who messaged me so I didn’t miss the snowfall.
We had a blast, obviously. It was really nice to see the snow over everything.
What Makes a Good Traveling Companion?
As someone who is passionate about travel, I’ve leaped into trips for any reason! But — sometimes it’s good to think about who you want to travel with and their different travel styles. There are all types of travel styles! After many trips with an assortment of people, I’ve identified a few.
If the sun rises, they rise. Even if it’s 5:30am. They are early morning energy and are ready to get going! If you haven’t been inside of a breakfast joint right at opening, well now you’re going to. Early birds can get frustrated if their travel companion(s) plan on wasting the morning being asleep instead of seizing the day.
Pros: Early birds enjoy their morning destinations with smaller crowds, better service, and beautiful lighting for photography.
Cons: Early to rise usually means early to bed. Early birds are usually not interested in nightlife as much as they’re interested in being in bed at 9:30pm
Frenemy: The Night Owl
No matter when this traveler rises, the minutes count. They’ve meticulously planned their day and have a laundry list of checkboxes that need checking! Traveling with a schedule packer means you. will. not. miss. anything at your destination. The one thing you might miss is the ‘rest and relaxation’ part of your vacation. The schedule packer is getting the most they can out of their trip – and down time isn’t on the docket.
Pros: You can’t have FOMO if you do everything.
Cons: You’re going to need a vacation from your vacation.
Frenemy: The Meanderer
This person believes in making the most of their trip – and a budget is a limitation they’re not fond of. Expensive hotels, higher end rental cars, intimate excursions, and fine dining often stud this person’s travel itinerary. They may be a penny pincher the rest of the year but when it comes to travel, they are not looking to cut corners.
Pros: Fun transport, very comfortable accommodations, and memorable food and experiences.
Cons: Unless you’re rolling in it, this can put a budget damper on other travel plans for the year. Your vacation may become a financial stress.
Frenemy: The Budgeter
This person’s day starts after they’ve had a great night’s sleep that extends well into the morning. Traveling with them means your meals are lunch, dinner, and midnight diner meal. They are nightlife lovers and come alive when dusk settles. Are you feeling groggy around 9pm? They’re just getting started.
Pros: Experience the nightlife of places you visit. Enjoy the Late night eats of a destination – often it’s own culture.
Cons: Have to battle crowds for daytime events and locations.
Frenemy: The early bird
This traveler loathes the concept of a tight schedule. They usually believe travel should involve discovery and a schedule is a total buzzkill. Meanderers often pick a place to start and let their whims take them throughout the day. Food is happened upon, vantages are discovered, and the schedule is long and relaxing. A meanderer usually winds up stopping places to ‘take it in’ and finds rest in their travels.
Pros: Offbeat finds even in tourist destinations. Relaxation built in.
Cons: Do less in more time. Might miss out on great experiences because they’re on the beaten path or need prior scheduling.
Frenemy: The Schedule Packer
This person plans on enjoying their trip but has no intention of dinging their savings too much. Often good at researching cheap eats, free entry attractions, and public lands and parks. Often sees accommodations as a place to sleep – not a place to enjoy. A fan of public transit or walking over rental vehicles. Not interested in high end food experiences or attractions.
Pros: You will travel and see a place without breaking the bank – leaving you moolah for more trips.
Cons: Miss out on more comfortable or convenient accommodations and transport. Potential FOMO of higher end experiences a destination is known for.
Frenemy: The Big Spender
Ultimately, what makes a great travel companion is the ability to communicate ahead of time what your expectations and limitations are on vacation. Most people are a combination of these “types’. Having that conversation early makes it much easier to accomodate each other – without it being awkward or too late to make changes.
Lara joined us – and I was super excited to see her! :D We drove down to Big Sur along highway 1. California has a beautiful coast. California also has a lot of coast. It reminded me a little bit of when we drove along the coast in Ireland, except if we’d driven this long in Ireland we’d have gone from the bottom to the top. The first stop we made was at a beach pull off near Carmel by the Sea. The sand was really a pale warm pink and the cloud cover gave me nice even lighting.
I’m excited to say our next trip is here already! I am looking forward to the following week of travel. We are going to see our friend David marry his fiancee Tiffany, check out San Francisco, enjoy Zac and Lara’s company, see my childhood friend Sehar, and just take a break from our day to day lives. I am so grateful for good friends, opportunities to take, and the great new photographs I am going to take.
It’s been a while since Missy and Molly have made my blog! Missy has been keeping me company on a new desk we got for my office. Now I have a computer desk and right behind where I sit, we’ve put in a writing desk. Yes, in 2019, I am still writing handwritten letters, and sifting through physical mail. The good news is – I am also enjoying the dedicated space for my bullet journaling, drawing, and magazine perusal without distraction. It’s nice to keep the two spaces close but seperate.
Last week the temps got into the 100’s. That’s probably the hottest it’ll get in Georgia! Molly enjoyed it by baking on the rugs on our back covered patio. I’ve had to keep corralling them back into the air conditioning because I don’t want them to overheat out there.
I love my sweet little furballs!
So recently, I started making time instead of making excuses and have been heading to the gym. I’ve been seeing someone to help me with my goals. I thought I was going for help with my biggest hurdle: weight loss, but It’s definitely about addressing how much you bullshit yourself instead. That’s the root of most of my roadblocks. So to my surprise, I am finding myself not taking my own BS and it’s been pretty dang great. Anyway, in the process I think I found the best workout app ever. It’s called FitBod and the reason I really love it is its muscle fatigue feature. You get a set of exercises per workout that takes your muscle fatigue into account. I’ve been able to log 500+ calorie hour-long workouts but not be completely busted a day later. I never found the absolute soreness that came after hard workouts to be helpful in keeping the habit up. The other feature I really like is that the generated workout plan also has the option to replace a recommended exercise with another. This has been super useful because my gym is well populated and sometimes the bench isn’t available or the squat racks are all taken up. I can swipe left on an exercise and it will give me a few more options that exercise the same muscle group – often without a machine or free weight requirement. Indispensable!
Changing my perspective has been good for me in multiple ways. The change in mood, ability to perform/execute, and overall satisfaction with my day to day life is really improved. I think the best part of the last 12 months was removing sources of negativity ( self centered user/abuser type people, overwhelming information sources, too much social media) in my life, refocusing on expending effort into my life goals, and making the effort to reach out and include positive influences and loving people more.
Hope you all are having good years too!
Guys, Japan was amazing! I had such a different experience of it than I had imagined and I honestly can’t wait to plan a return trip. The roughest part of the journey was definitely the 14 hour direct flight. I might pick a flight with a break in it on the west coast, next time.
Once we did arrive in Japan, the train experience was comfortable, convenient, and clearly communicated. Also it was on time – like on the second. How amazing!