Tag: travel tips

Road Trip Prep List

by The Impatient Traveler, posted in Tips & Tricks

Road Trip 101

I went on countless road trips as a kid. They were lots of fun, but I definitely remember all of the stress that trying to figure out huge paper maps, bumper-to-bumper traffic while you have to pee, eating fast food that sounded like an awesome idea at the time but made you feel bloated like a toad and oily afterwards, being bored out of you mind and trying to keep awake night driving, and all the other fun scenarios caused…

Thankfully, we have GPS now (I love Waze particularly) which has greatly improved the overall demeanor of road trips, however there are bunches of thing you can do to improve your overall experience, all outlined below for your road trip enjoyment!

Snacks: The right mix of snacks will give you guilt free energy throughout your trip and a little planning ahead with keep it budget friendly too. Add a little from each section below and you will be good to go:

  • Bulk section foods at your neighboring Central Market or Whole Foods: The bulk section is my FAVORITE! From granola, nuts, chocolate covered snacks, gummies, dried fruit, baked veggies, and more, you can get salty, savory, and sweet snacks for a fraction of the price you would at a gas station or in a package.
  • Fruit: Apples, oranges, bananas and more, with a little sugar for energy and low calories, fruit definitely outdoes the candy bars any day.
  • Protein: Quest bars, beef / pork / turkey jerky, and protein powder will give you a healthy and filling boost.

Road Trip Snacks

  • Big-meal planning: Being on a road trip is like going to a grocery store hungry – you end up making terrible decisions based on your taste buds and eyeballs rather than your healthy banging bod! To avoid this, check out what quick and better choice restaurants are on your trip in advance (Chipotle, Potbelly’s, Which Wich, Zoe’s Kitchen, etcetera). This prevents quick last-minute decisions you will regret later.
  • Drinks: Don’t forget to hydrate. Bring lots of water bottles and buy flavored drinks in advance so you don’t spend a ton at connivence stores. To prevent drinking too much, I always bring gum (my favorite is 5 gum since it’s so yummy and lasts forever) so I don’t get dry mouth but also don’t have to pee every five minutes.

Things to do: Keeping occupied between stops is much better than being bored, in my opinion at least, so outside of taking in the view, I like to do the following:

  • Counting games: Have you ever noticed how many people drive a Prius? This game may not work in California, the Prius capital of the Universe, but we call-out “Prius” every time we see one and the person with the most Prius calls at the end of the day wins. If you call a different car a Prius on accident, you have to do a dare or something along those lines. Also, taxi-Prius count as two points. While you don’t have to use this particular car, or even a car at all, for this game, it is a fun way to pass the time and have a friendly competition along the way.
  • Podcasts: Serial and Criminal have spent hours and hours coming out over the sound waves of our car. While criminal cases might not be for everyone, podcasts in general can be thought-provoking, funny, serious, and can spark additional hours of conversation from everyone in the car discussing the various topics. Find some that sound interesting to you, download them in advance (to save data), and enjoy hours of entertainment in the car.
  • Books on tape: Have a book you have been wanting to read but haven’t had the time? Play it in your car!
  • Adventure stops: Why stop at a boring gas station when you can find a historic site along your route to stop, learn something new, and use a break for something more fun than the loo.
  • Journal-ing: I always like to document my trips by writing them in journal. What a better way to pass time than to document your adventures in the car?
  • Dance party: A good playlist can make or break a road trip! Don’t forget to plan ahead and download your favorite songs. This will definitely come in handy when your driving late at night and need to re-energize at the top of your lungs signing your favorite songs.

Road trip to Texas

Road Trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico

by The Impatient Traveler, posted in New Mexico, Santa Fe, USA

There are so many options around Texas for three-day weekend trips from wine in Fredericksburg, art in Marfa, music in Austin, to the River Walk in San Antonio – all within a few hours and full of great food, culture, and good times. The one thing Texas doesn’t have though is skiing and, ever since our trip to Snowbird, Utah, we have been hooked on the slopes. With all of that said, when we were trying to plan a quick get away for our 2 year anniversary and realized that Santa Fe’s highly recommended slopes were just a 9.5 hour drive away, we just couldn’t stay in Texas.

Road trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico

Hotels in Santa Fe are so authentically “Santa Fe”. They are all decorated in the local adobe style and have so much personality. Additionally, most have special rates throughout the year so you can find buy 2 nights, get the third free deals, and much more if you do your research. We found a charming place in the middle of town called the Hotel St. Francis, and were totally sold when we found out the hotel was dog friendly. We were planning on road tripping so why not bring our best friend Dakota?! We bought the HosPETality package which waved the pet-fee and had a doggie bag full of treats ready for us upon arrival. With that taken care of, Dakota was all ready to go for her first big family vacation:

Road trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico

After packing for our trip (See my Ski Trip packing list here), we took off on our adventure after work on a Thursday night, right before rush hour. Unfortunately, the road to Santa Fe took every heavy rush hour route all the way through Dallas, but we were lucky that we were at least constantly moving. Our ETA to the hotel was roughly 1:30 AM on Friday morning so we packed lots of high energy drinks, snacks, and adrenaline. Pro-tip, we went to the bulk section at Central Market for snacks which was not only cheap but relatively healthy and definitely delicious. See my upcoming Road Trip Tips post for additional details!

Road Trip Snacks

Our trip was pretty uneventful.. until I took the wheel. It was around 12:30AM in the middle-of-no-where New Mexico where I accidentally hit a piece of tire that was laying in the road and then all hell broke loose noise wise from the passenger seat tire area. We had to pull over in the pitch black on the side of the freeway and use our iPhones as lights to fix the damage. The tire piece hit the wheel well and ripped off a lot of the plastic. We had to drive with some horrible sound effects for about 15 miles to the nearest gas station to buy duct tape and a pocket knife to rip the piece out. It’s never a dull moment, huh? Thankfully, my mister-fix-it boyfriend was able to jimmy the car back together and we didn’t have any issues before arriving at the hotel.

Tired and ready for bed, we walked into the hotel at 2 AM and were greeted by Kevin, the long gray-haired, incredibly nice and puppy obsessed front-desk guy. He was all about Dakota and she was trying to rip her doggie treat bag out of my hands as soon as he gave it to us. The hotel itself was clean, charming and candle lit. We went up to our second floor deluxe king suite and Dakota immediately tested out the bed with its 30 pillows. The whole place was just very comfortable and relaxing overall.

Siena, Italy

Seina, Italy

by The Impatient Traveler, posted in Italy, Italy, Siena, Italy

I don’t know what is worse news; waking up to heard that your travel guide is MIA, or waking up to hear that your guide is missing who has the breakfast vouchers! Apparently, our guide was out and about with some of the group until 5 AM and slept through endless knocking and texts until we broke into his room to rouse him! With Dario in tow, we scarfed down some nibbles and took off our Siena.

Siena is just beautiful. Rolling hills, gorgeous old buildings…  stereotypical Italy that any painter would want as their subject. In trend with all of Italy’s other cities, it also has a massive basilica dedicated to St. Catherine, however, it actually had St. Catherine’s remains on display inside which was a little different. The streets in Siena are very hilly and lined with various flowers and flags from all of the different districts that make up the city. Every year, these districts participate in two-horse races in the track in the middle of Siena, called the Palio di Siena, which people from all over the world come to see! Unfortunately, we were not there at the right time of year to watch, but if you visiting Italy between July and August, you should definitely check it out!

We stopped for lunch and sat outside of a little restaurant on random street we wandered down during our free time. As we progressed through our meal, dull thuds reverberating through the streets started getting louder and clearer to hear, and it turned out that the district we were having lunch in was having a parade! There were about 50 people dressed up in their traditional garb with their district flags flying high! It was so neat to see the locals traditions in-person like that.

Eventually, we made our way back to the main square where the horse races take place, the Piazza del Campo, and hopped on the bus for Assisi. About 20 minutes into the bus ride, we realized we were missing to of the more wondering-off types in our tour, and we had to go back to Siena to pick them up. Major bummer from a timing perspective, but at least they were OK.

I took a nap on the bus to Assisi. We arrived and took an escalator up to the top of the steep hill on which Assisi stands, and walked to the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi; yet another astonishing catholic building filled with incredible art and sculptures. We quickly toured the church as a darkening sky and the rumbling of distant thunder warned of the impending downpour. All of a sudden, we were in a race against the rain and huge gusts of wind to get to our hotel and unload our bags from the bus before getting soaked! Thankfully, my bag was one of the first to get unloaded, so I was able to remain somewhat dry during the luggage battle up to our room on the 4th floor. What a sight it was watching the rain run over the beautiful view we had from our hotel window!

Once the storm dissipated to an acceptable umbrella level, a few of us ventured off into the streets of Assisi to find a spot for dinner. We ended up finding this French-ish Italian restaurant that was decorated like the inside of a doll house… That should have been our first warning. I got sat in front of some really creepy dolls that wouldn’t stop watching us and a TV near by was playing a very dramatic, old Italian soap opera show. Not only was there a creepy factor, but we could see the waiters SMOKING in the kitchen! Unfortunately, we had already ordered at that point and my scrumptious sounding meal came out as a soggy, truffle, mushroom, and bacon mess. How do you screw those ingredients up so badly?! We paid way to much for our meals, I guess entertainment was included, and left to find a market to buy Pringle’s to fill us up and wine to finish off the night.

Creepy dolls in the French / Italian restaurant in Assisi, Italy

Siena Tips:

  • Watch the Palio di Siena horse races in July & August.
  • Explore the different districts to encounter surprise parades, see the differences in the decorations and flags, eat at hole-in-the-wall restaurants, and stop into enchanting little shops.
  • Take silly pictures with scenic views!
At the top of Hidden Peak, Snowbird, Utah

Getting to Snowbird, Utah

by The Impatient Traveler, posted in Snowbird Skiing, Snowbird, Utah

After a very hectic first three days of New Year’s week, I finally wrapped up at work, grabbed my keys, and jetted home to embark on our long-weekend getaway to Snowbird, Utah! As we packed the night before, it was a grab the bags, energy drink, and go situation to get out of the house. Expecting holiday rush hour traffic at 4 PM on a Wednesday, we planned for lots of traffic time, but the travel Gods parted the highway seas for us and we arrived at the airport, checked our bad, and passed through security with 2+ hours to spare. Pros of being early – no stress. Cons of being early – spending 2+ hours in an airport…

Anyway, we squeezed into a two-top at the airport Chilis for a quick bite. I spent the majority of that dinner eavesdropping on the two single travelers next to us that serendipitously made a love connection over chips and salsa. Yay, airport entertainment!

Our plane boarded on time and I spent most of the 2.5 hour flight catching up on the gossip magazines and looking out of the window at all of the city lights. Flying over cities at night is pretty, but doing so while people still have their Christmas lights up is a completely different experience. There is something so enchanting about twinkle lights and it was just that much better once we landed, hopped on our Canyon Transportation van, and drove through the city where the twinkle lights combined with the snow’s reflection. Oh to live in a state with snow…

While we did have to wait about 30 minutes for our transport van to show up, our shared ride there was easy and warm, which was especially good because it was 0, yes 0, degrees out! We had some good conversations with the local driver and other fellow Snowbird travelers during the ride, arrived at the Cliff Lodge around 10:30, checked in, and then unpacked for our first day on the slopes!

Utah travel tips:

  • Bring eye drops, lotion, and chapstick as the air is very dry.
  • Hydrate starting the day before your trip and drink lots of water throughout. The elevation and dryness in the air will be much worse if you don’t.
  • Ask your hotel if they have a humidifier in the room. Most hotels have them and it makes a huge difference when you are trying to sleep.
  • Decided if you want to rent a car or get a transport to the hotel. If you feel safe driving in snowy conditions and want to go to multiple slopes / places, renting is a good option! If you are not a snow day driver and / or are only staying on-location, do the transport option.