Dashing Through The Snow: How To Survive Holiday Travel Like An Expert

The holidays are right around the corner and soon you'll be packing up your family and heading back to your old hometown or maybe an entirely new city to spend time with your extended family. Unfortunately, holiday travel can be a real pain, especially when you're not prepared for it. Whether you're traveling to Oahu, the most populated of the Hawaiian Islands, or Jerome, AZ, one of the least populated cities in the country, it's important to plan ahead to reduce travel stress. Consider the following tips you can use to make holiday travel that much easier so you can enjoy the holidays, no sweat required. Pack light to reduce gas costs Gas can get expensive when you're traveling a long distance by car. When you pack too much into your vehicle, the extra weight can actually make … [Read more...]

Where’s Mummy?

Ah, the Northern Neck. A place of supreme relaxation for me and my family. We venture down here as often as possible and I get a few seaside runs every chance I get. But wait! I'm also over at MPR talking about gorgeous nails from Topshop, cars, hotels and so much more so check it out!Plus, there is still time to enter to win the Friday giveaway - a grab bag of stuff for kids! *Image from usamls.net … [Read more...]

On the Road Again

I woke up this morning in Cheyenne, Wyoming. No, this isn't some other installment of the Hangover. I don't have the stamina for that sort of folly these days. I like my sleep a little too much and a bit more than I like my tequila. Most days.My first thought was not, "Cheyenne, shit"* but instead, "Ugh. I feel so distant from H." I could say that a note from a friend set off this train of thought last night which propelled me into more deep thoughts this morning, but the truth is that this has been weighing on my mind the last few days. If it is weighing on my lug-headed mind then I am sure H is feeling it too. Have I talked to him about it? No. No, I have not. I've been traveling and in between that we have just been flat-out busy. It's not as bad as it was by any means, but we haven't … [Read more...]

Stuck in El Paso

You can't be mad. You just can't be. Frustrated? Yes, I will cop to being frustrated that my flight was canceled for the third time and I am being forced to stay overnight in a city I don't like much at all, but I can't be mad.Why?Because the reason my flight is canceled is because of tornadoes, floods and disastrous storms happening right now in the mid-west. People are losing their loved ones and homes because of these horrendous weather events. What do I lose? I come home a day late. I have to wear my shirt two days in a row and my gym granny panties because that is all I have left that is clean. But I have that. I have clean underpants and somebody else can't find their baby because of those damned tornadoes.I haven't yelled, I only stomped my foot once and that was because after … [Read more...]

Overheards- Avis Edition

Words you never want to hear from the car rental representative-"Ma'am are you sure you want to return this car?  Maybe you might want to check to see if your flight is still going out today?  Now, ma'am, why are you looking at me so funny?"I made it home.  That's all that matters.  The trips are done.  I am relieved. … [Read more...]

The Tiniest Room

You know you are in a tiny hotel room when you can see every part of the room from every part of the room.  You know you are in a tiny hotel room when you have to stand in the shower to shut the bathroom door.You know you are in a tiny hotel room when you iron your shirt for work that day and it sets off the smoke alarm in your room.  I'm afraid I might start hitting the walls with my ever-growing stomach next. … [Read more...]

Traveling is Cake

Oh, sad little, lonely blog.  I've been so neglectful these past few weeks as I live my own version of the movie, "Up in the Air".  Each day I wake up in a different bed, my cell phone alarm chiming away at me. A breakfast suprise awaits me as I head to the lobby or to venture out on my own to find some food.  The worst was the area that didn't have a single place open for breakfast and I had to resort to chugging instant oatmeal out of a cup with out even a spoon. This was also the same place that had no internet service, and that's why is important to have cellular SD-WAN solutions to have connection anywhere you go. Good times. My bank account will be happy, and the review site will be brimming with hotel and car reviews too. I'll be debuting my new brand of review, "Sneak … [Read more...]

Giving Number Three Some Attention

I've been in Florida this past week.  I should be soaking up the rays from the sun but the windy temps have kept me working away at my laptop in the confines of my hotel room.  I've ventured out for meals and post-dinner exploring with H, but not much else. If it sounds like a drag it isn't. I'm reveling in the fact that I can get this much work done.  I'm booked for trips through April now and I feel alive again.  I feel like Vicky and not a drone.  I've accomplished tasks and feel like my brain is no longer mush.  On my jaunts out for lunch and dinner I've tasted some amazing food at local venues (quiche to die for and a chocolate cake that made me smile for almost an hour straight) and enjoyed the warmer temps and ability to wear wedge heels without chasing a tiny being around and … [Read more...]

We Vant to be Alone

Being woken up at 5:30 in the morning by a four year-old whining that she is hungry is maddening.  When that said four year-old is accompanied by a waving long-beamed flashlight that glows across your room making it feel like your being invaded by aliens?  Well, that is just a recipe for evil.  Throw in the four year-old then knocking on her sister's door while calling her name and you have two parents who can only dream of the fact that they are going away A-L-O-N-E this weekend while they grumble into their pillows and bemoan their early morning existence.That's right.  Bright and early Friday morning we are dropping TD and The Comedian off at their grandparents house for a weekend of spoiled, late bedtimes, chicken nugget, juice box … [Read more...]

Traveling my Childhood Fantasties

Oh, if only I could uncover the photograph taken of me from Christmas 1985. You would see a pink-sponge curler topped Vicky in a lilac bathrobe clutching a giant tome of a book about the size of my torso while a face-cracking smile threatens to bust through the photograph.For weeks I would drag my mother to the book store so I could gaze longingly at Robert Ballard's book, The Discovery of the Titanic, in all it's full color glory. Filled with beautiful illustrations, actual photographs from the deep sea wreck as well as those from it's maiden voyage, this book was all I wanted for Christmas. I memorized it before I even owned it. Before it was in print I had watched television specials, read articles and checked out every book about the Titanic from my local library. I was a kid obsessed. … [Read more...]