10 Things: Travel Edition
All the things I recommend you bring, buy, eat, do, listen to, and watch if you're straying from home.
I’m on the road, visiting my sister to celebrate her birthday (tomorrow), her daughter’s birthday (Tuesday), her son’s birthday (two weeks ago), and her husband’s birthday (next week). I don’t travel much anymore because I have a baby who doesn’t understand words and gets rightfully frustrated with long plane rides, but I used to travel a ton, and I know a few things about it. Not a lot of things. Not enough things to have a travel blog, or even a travel blog POST. But I know enough things to recommend ten of them. Well, nine of them. One of these recommendations is for a television show I like. The first three are free; paid subscribers this week get my house blend of trail mix, and the three things I think are worth spending money on if you travel a lot.
Bon Voyage!
(PS - Final warning that I’m taking next week off to celebrate roots! See you in a week!)
This is a Costco recommendation that I have now bought for the fifth time, making it an official staple in our house. My one-year-old daughter and I love these equally. I am always trying to avoid processed sugar, and these hit the spot in terms of texture, flavor, size, and ingredients. They’re basically just apple-and-another-fruit bars, and (maybe you guessed?) THAT’S IT. I threw about 20 of them in my backpack for this trip, and they’re nice and small and it’s fine if they get squished.
Packing Cubes
I can’t believe there was a time in my life that I traveled without these inexpensive and handy travel tools. (A quick Google search shows me that these can actually be laughably expensive. Let me tell you what: THERE IS NO REASON TO PAY MORE THAN $20 FOR A SET OF THESE. Here’s a $20 version. Here’s one that’s $15.) I am pretty sure they would be easy to make yourself, so long as you know how to cut up a pillowcase and sew in a zipper. Basically, you use the cubes to wrangle things like underwear, socks, cords, shoes, tank tops, etc. etc. etc. I’m not sure how it is that having MORE FABRIC in your bag makes more stuff fit in it (?) — it probably has to do with density and physics — and packing cubes also help me make sure I have everything I need, check things off my list, and not leave stuff behind. I pack an extra one for filthy clothes. I bought mine at Marshalls, and I think they were $4.99.
Once, on a trip to Portland, I listened to the entirety of this podcast (it’s nine episodes long) for the whole flight, and it was great. It’s part history, part music, part history of music (and sharply edited), and is best listened to all the way through, so good for any long journey you might have to go on. Don’t forget to download it in advance!
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