A dreaded activity for many and a welcome problem for few, I have always enjoyed packing for trips. As I started to recall just what I deemed appropriate for the Ultimate Female Packing List for Italy on Her Packing List this week, I remembered some of my painful packing errors. While I had tried to push those incidents out of my memory, they are always there, tugging at me and reminding me there is no such thing as a travel packing pro. Packing is a something I think you don’t get down with one trip, or even two. It takes a great deal of time to master, and even when you have gone pro, you Continue Reading
The Tale of The Belfast Thief: What I Learned About Travel and Theft
I was just days away from going home after my first time trying solo travel. I had a certain confidence I didn’t have when I left Colorado. I managed to drive all the way around Ireland by myself, navigating solely on roads that should really be called sidewalks. I talked to strangers. I drank Guinness. My Ireland trip was a success in all regards until I hit Belfast. I checked into my guesthouse, right near Queen’s University. I was already impressed by Belfast. I had driven through years ago with family, but I was more preoccupied by men with machines guns and barbed wire than getting a Continue Reading
Showers, Smells and Excuses on Travel Planning
I awoke yesterday morning, just like every other. I headed down to start the coffee. I took a sip and began writing away the morning. By noon, I figure I should join the human race and shower. I had bought a shampoo I also brought to Italy last summer. Lathering up, I was suddenly transported to that turquoise and yellow bathroom in Florence. It is amazing how a simple smell of recognition can bring you back to a time, to a place and most importantly to a state of mind. The smells of travel are what remind me to get out of my routine. I might put on a certain perfume or lotion I brought to Continue Reading
When Humanity Takes Flight
He looks out the window in awe, even before take off, fascinated by the loading of baggage onto the plane. He turns to his mother with a beaming smile. In flight, he keeps his eyes glued on that window, occasionally pointing out cars he sees, landscapes he wonders about. When it is all over, the pilot thanks the passengers for flying with the airline today. The 6-year-old shouts, just loud enough for a few rows back to hear, “You’re welcome. It was fun!”. A few travelers quietly laugh as he thanks his dad profusely for taking him on his first flight. It is another routine flight for me, one Continue Reading
For Love of Travel, Not Destinations
Sometimes, it is not the destinations we remember, but how we arrived. As travelers, we are always so preoccupied with destinations. I want to go here. I have to see this and that. However, I didn’t fall in love with destinations at a young age. I feel in love with traveling to them. My first memories of traveling are in the back of a blue suburban. Sometimes under the cover of night, my four other brothers and sisters and I would pile into this monster of a vehicle and head out where our parents had planned for us to go. From exploring the U.S. north, east, south and west, road trips were Continue Reading
Solo Travel Staring
I sit in a dark pub sipping Smithwicks as I receive a few stares. As a woman traveling alone, walking into a pub in Ireland is not the easiest thing for me to do. I believe it is the idea of wanting to involve myself in pub culture, but at the same time I don’t want to attract creeps thinking I am alone for a reason. I walk into this pub in Doolin, Ireland, perhaps incredibly self-aware and assured, but I fumble. I watch two local twenty-somethings giggle at me as I ask if I can sit anywhere. Of course you can, you pub novice fool. It’s a pub, not a five-star restaurant. I head for a table Continue Reading
Traveler’s Block
From a young age, I always had something to say. Even at 2 years old, I changed my name and that was that. I was no longer Suzanne, but Suzy. When my words go quiet and I have no comment, no suggestion, no request, I know it is just a block of some kind. This too shall pass and I will be filled with words again. Lately, not only have my words grown quiet, but also my ideas on travel have silenced. After returning from my first complete solo trip to Ireland, I was left empty. It wasn’t that the trip deflated me or left me uninspired. I just couldn’t see past this roadblock. Much like Continue Reading