Getting antsy: must travel
July 17, 2015
For a hermit/homebody, I’ve sure been doing a lot of travel deals scouting.
It’s a restless, bargain hunting soul that’s trying to rev up the trip planning machine. There’s nothing quite so satisfying as nailing a deal combination that gets you to a Must See Destination for way less than expected. Add to that the desire to travel before the Wiggle Worm doesn’t fly free anymore and you get a particular sense of urgency. So I figure why the hell not? I’ll figure out how to juggle travel and work and an increasingly active baby.
Destinations we’re stalking bargains for now through 2016: San Diego, Hawaii, Seattle, Asia, Chicago.
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All my flights of fancy trips are big time-consuming things, requiring lots of time off and probably a lot of patience, possibly more than either of us have. No reason not to dream, though, right?
Someday trips:
Take the whole family on a road trip across the States. Take a few months to do it properly and go through: the Eastern Seaboard (visit friends, eat seafood), Louisiana (visit friends, eat seafood), Tennessee (visit friends, eat BBQ), Montana (just because), Iowa (visit friends, food?), Utah (I’m told the drive is spectacular, but what food is there?), Colorado (visit friends, food suggestions?). I think other states were suggested on Twitter: Massachusetts, Kentucky, Washington. Am I missing any?
Australia for a month. Maybe Australia + New Zealand for 6 weeks? I’m hearing that food is expensive in at least Australia, though, which isn’t awesome because travel is all about food for me.
Japan for a month for all the Japanese food I can think of, particularly sushi. Katherine at Feather Factor has blogged about some really neat ryokan I’d love to try.
Iceland. Peru. Thailand (again). Italy (again). Galapagos.
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Then again, I get the yearning for home after two weeks abroad, almost like clockwork, so maybe these month(s)-long journeys aren’t truly my cup of tea. The trek across the States could happen if we got truly brave and did an RV, maybe, so Seamus could come with us. Missing home is much worse when missing the dog is part of the mix. Being away is much better when your whole chosen family’s with you.
Maybe you’re just feeling up for a bit of adventure lately? š
One thing we found in NZ was that the food prices were mostly normal once you factored in the fact that tax and tip were included already and the exchange rate. After those factors, the restaurant prices were actually pretty comparable to home. I forgot to pack shaving cream though and the first place I looked that cost $6 USD for what I’d pay $3 here. I found a cheaper store later where it was closer to $3 and bought it there instead š
“Iām told the drive is spectacular, but what food is there?” – I can tell travel is about food for you! š
I definitely recommend staying in a ryokan in Japan! It was an awesome experience and pretty reasonably priced too š
Iceland is on my list! I want to go there some day. And back to Europe. It’s been too long since I’ve been to Europe.
Maybe? Might be getting cabin fever.
Good to know about NZ. Food is, as you noticed, very important to me! š
Ooh, do you have ryokan experience? I was under the impression that it was rather expensive and required some saving.
Yeah, prices vary a lot from store to store in Australia too. At the current exchange rate (About 74 US Cents to an Aussie Dollar) I don’t think Australia is so expensive any more. I was in Britain a few weeks ago and that seemed expensive to me.
Good to know! Britain does always strike me as expensive even when the exchange rate isn’t atrocious.
Uh oh! Don’t forget my DXH’s famous aphorism: “It’s hard to be suave when you’re traveling with children.” š
That notwithstanding, we traveled a lot with M’hijito. It is harder in some ways — bear in mind that a baby’s eustachian tubes aren’t developed well enough to adjust to air pressure and so the kid will scream every inch of the way, from the time your plane leaves the tarmac to the time it lands at your destination.
Also, once the kid is off the boob: some hotels will let you store milk and baby food in their restaurant fridge, if the room doesn’t come equipped with a refrigerator. But it’s easiest just to select hotels & motels that do have a little fridge.
NZ is so incredible. You would LOVE it!
Ahhh the dreams of travel accompanied by the dread of baby screams in the air.
Food in NZ is even more expensive than Australia.
Leigh does make a good point about taxes and tipping. But portions here are also a lot smaller generally.
Iceland is super cool and very much like NZ (and free stopovers between continents!)
So excited for Japan, despite recent setbacks. Off to read about ryokan.
I think we’d have some trouble adjusting to the smaller portions in NZ. We’re generally fairly big eaters, when properly motivated or exercised š
May have to pick your brain about Iceland if that comes up, and look forward to your notes on Japan!