Mortified by Mickey Mouse

What child doesn't dream of going to Disney World or Disneyland?  All the amazing rides, magical destinations, and most importantly the mouse behind it all.  When my family decided we were going to take a trip to Disney World, I was beyond excited.  We were going with my cousins, aunts, and uncles--it was bound to be a blast.  Everything I remember from that trip was absolutely amazing, except for the fact that Mickey Mouse really freaked me out.

After leaving Minnie Mouse's adorable house and acquiring her autograph, I did not want to leave!  Her house was everything a little girl could dream of and adore, and I loved it.  My family told my younger cousin and I that we better hurry over to see Mickey, apparently he's in high demand.  Mickey was tucked away in a large, air conditioned building, with an outrageous winding line.  The family didn't mind the line, as you can imagine, air condition is a nice alternative to that intense Florida humidity.  Us kids were getting anxious, and I couldn't wait, but as soon as I got closer to catch a glimpse of that mouse, I instantly became nervous.  As we got closer, the adults created hype and excitement, trying to settle my nerves.  I remember wanting to run away and just say forget it, but after some coercing, I met that mouse.

The rest is a bit of blur, it happened so fast, but after all that I was perfectly happy and content.  I guess that mouse wasn't so bad, he was happy and welcoming.  He made a child's day brighter and magical, which is what that silly mouse is there for after all.

Travel Tip #2: Cash or credit card?

Happy Tuesday all!  For today's Tuesday tip, is it smarter to take cash or a credit card with on your vacation?

There are pros and cons to taking either of these on a vacation, which can be handled by using common sense.  Cash is great, it gives you a spending limit, but it can easily be stolen if not properly hidden or kept safe in a wallet.  Credit cards are small and easy to carry around, but if that is stolen, unlimited charges can be made by anyone.  The best answer?  Take both!

You don't want to go overboard on vacation with charging things on that little rectangle piece of plastic, and as stated previously cash gives you a nice set spending limit.  The most important reason: banks could shut down your credit card while on vacation thinking it's actually fraud or identity theft.  If that was your only form of payment, you would be screwed (for lack of a better term).  So take both cash and credit card, that way you can charge some items, but you also have cash as a back up and to help you keep in mind a spending limit.

To prevent your card from getting a freeze on it, contact your bank or credit card company about two weeks prior to leaving for a vacation to let them know you will be out of town.  It may seem silly if you're not going too far, but it is better to be safe than sorry.  For those of you doing international travel, this is a highly important step you MUST take.  Seeing that you would be more than a couple time zones away, your bank could easily mistake this a identity theft.  Keep this tip in mind for your next vacation--it will save you from stress and save you some money.

Orbitz: Assuring you with a great vacation?

Orbitz has been my go to site for quite a while now, and I have had many good experiences with this site, so I felt this would be the perfect website to discuss first for Website Wednesday.  Orbitz is a large, well known site that offers travel variety.  It is found to be user friendly, easy to navigate, and a great database for booking trips.  A great, new feature are the apps available for smart phones allowing travel planning to happen at the tips of your fingers.

Why I love this site:

1. If you're looking for a package deal, this is great!  You can look for just a flight or just a hotel or you can look for a flight, rental car, and hotel all in one click.  This is a great option for those of you out there who would rather package every all together or don't have the time to browse everything piece by piece.
2. Daily deals every day!  There are always new advertisements on the website for new ways to save or special deals on exotic vacations.  I get email alerts sent to me every time there is a new special.
3. Price Assurance is highly advertised with the company, assuring you that what you see is what you pay.  Another feature I have discovered is the Deal Detector which allows you to set a price you want to pay and Orbitz will find it for you.
4. The flexible flight option is my personal favorite if you are able to have flexible days or times for a trip.  It will compare the same flight you want for different departure dates combined with the length of your trip.  It will find you the best deals to fly out.
5. Orbitz also allows you to check out attractions, cruises, and gives you popular searches to help guide you to a perfect trip.

Why this site may not be the best:  Overall I have little to complain about with this site.  Only one time I had to book through a different website because Orbitz was down for website construction for a day or two, but I typically have no problems.  One frustrating item I have stumbled upon has been times when I have searched for flights and I get a response of "no flights found to match you search."  This is a major travel website and they should be able to fulfill every request or at least suggest an alternative method to arrive at a destination. 

Orbitz is a site I encourage a lot of my friends and family to use since it is so easy and upfront.  I have also found it to be very reliable and credible.  As much as I'd love to critique some more, this is a site for you to personally explore.  So click away and check out Orbitz.com today!


website:  www.orbitz.com
twitter:  @orbitz
facebook:  www.facebook.com/Orbitz

A family favorite vacation.

Ocean City, MD--boardwalks and beaches for miles, and one of the favorite places my family LOVES to travel.  So here we are kickin' of Throwback Thursday with the first vacation that I can remember off the top of my head.

I was 3 or 4 years old for this vacation, seeing that my younger cousin wasn't born yet and she's 5 years younger than  me.  So this probably took place summer of 1992 with my crazy family--aunts, uncles, and a couple cousins.  That's right we used to do it big each summer--the loud, obnoxiously large group of vacationers.  We often stayed at a hotel right on the ocean front called the Carousel, which I loved because of my fascination with their indoor ice skating rink.  I had never seen an indoor rink, especially in the middle of summer!  I thought that was even more exciting than going out to the beach!  I remember my mom saying, "Caitlin, we're at the beach, we can ice skate at home in the winter--we don't  have a beach at home!" "But mom!  It's inside and it's summer!" I cannot believe how amazed I was but that ice rink.  My older cousin Ashley and I stood out in the hallway a few times mesmerized by the skaters below while we would sip iced tea.

Our hotel had a post-card view of the boardwalk and the beach, and the atmosphere setting tone of those gawking seagulls.  We would spend early mornings on the beach, and come in around 1 p.m. to hide from those dangerously strong rays of sun while we would eat our lunch.  After lunch we would venture down to the boardwalk and rent bicycles or our ever favorite multi-seated pedal cycles or surrey bicycles (there are a few names for them).

image: www.primekarts.com

Yeah one of those bicycles, but image it bigger.  We would have an extra row of seating, and lucky little me got the opportunity to sit in the basket in the front.  I'm sure we were quite the image rushing down the boardwalk.  Two or three surrey cycles, loud females, males attempting to speak over the women--oh I'm sure we were louder than all the seagulls in that area.  We were like our own little brigade on a mission to enjoy the finest tourist attractions of all.  Just thinking back on it makes me chuckle.

One more memory I have from this trip is a picture of my older cousin and I, while she's trying to brush out my hair.  I wish I had that photo on me at the moment because it is hilarious.  My mom snapped a picture while my cousin Ashely was brushing my hair--Ashley full of smiles, while I was clinching my teeth and grinning most likely in pain.  It's just the little, silly memorable things I remember which remind that it was a great vacation and a fun place to go.  It really is the little things that do count and make the memories.  As my post comes to a close, don't fear, there will be more from Ocean City as it is a family favorite.

Travel Tip #1: Do your homework.

Kicking of Tip Tuesdays with my first travel tip.  This one seems obvious and also stupid, but very important--but do you travel homework!  Get familiar with travel sites and other travel resources to see where you can get the best bang for your buck.  Don't just stick to one website for all your hotel and flight bookings, shop around.  Compare and contrast differences or if you have a price assurance booking with them.  With our tight economy, every cent counts that you will save.

Last minute trip?  Well this still applies!  Chances are you've gone to a particular place before, but you and your friends or family decide in rather short notice you want to go for a quick weekend trip.  Jog your memory, think back to where you have stayed before--was it affordable?  fitting?  If yes, you should have no problem staying there again.  You should have a few days to still book a room or a flight if not driving, give yourself at least 2 days to look over different hotels, offers, and combination flight and hotel packages.

Check travel sites more than once a day, and not always on weekends.  Travel sites work exactly how the cost of flights and hotels work, they go up and down in price depending on time of day and what day of the week.  If you check earlier in the morning, flights may actually be a little cheaper as to trying to book a flight later in the day.  It makes sense though--most people sleep in, work, or have class to tend to which means less traffic on the site for booking flights.  Less traffic equals lower prices.  Later in the day when people have more time to check out prices for flights and lodging, prices may go up since there will be a lot more traffic than before having a potential for a higher profit.  Now with hotels that may differ a bit, since they are usually at a flat rate--but travel sites and other travel resources offer discounts now and then, so keep your eyes pealed and remember where you saw the savings!

There really isn't must more to the tip than I have already stated.  Take some time to research all the possibilities out there to get your vacations affordable as possible.  Wake up 30 minutes earlier to check out travel sites, you may find a hot deal early in the morning.  And it never hurts to just check out sites for fun to get pricing ideas, even if you aren't planning a vacation in the near future.  Remember this tip, and plan yourself a great, affordable getaway!

Toppin' it off in the "Top End" -Manic Monday

Australia--the land down under--and the land of many wonders.  The land of kangaroos, wallabies, and the thorny devil.  The land of beaches, bars...and army crawling through city landscape?!  This is where one of my crazy and manic stories come from, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia--this region also commonly referred to as the "Top End."  It is referred to the "Top End," mostly because this area is not ideal for living in.  Dry and tropic, no great vegetation, and some beastly critters around.  Read some more about this crazy place in a chapter from Australia for Dummies, which I so intelligently researched via google!

photo: wikipedia.org

The highlighted area is the Northern Territory, what is highlighted in red is considered the Top End.  Darwin is all the way at the very top! 

As for my manic story, it comes along in the latter half of the trip, about 10 days left in this beautiful country.  Being the crazy college students we are, of course we made sure to hit up every party scene in every place we went.  Darwin, even though rather small, had a very typical tourist area full of shops, restaurants, and bars.  Our final night it Darwin, 6 of us girls decided to hit up the bar scene one last time.  Not only would we find fine looking Australia men, but this was a big area for the Australian military--a man with and accent AND in uniform?!  Oh yes, we loved the sound of that.  Not everyone in the group felt the urge to stay up until 3 a.m., like myself and my friend Blair (that's another manic story itself).  Our group withered away person by person--and yes it is okay for a girl to walk home or take a taxi by herself, Australia is really safe (I'm sure some areas would be questionable, but we were in safer areas).  The next morning our friend Lauren had quite the story for us while we were heading to the airport preparing to go back to Brisbane.

On her walk home, an area halfway between the bars and our hostile had been barricaded by police due to a water leak flooding the streets.  Some girls told Lauren to follow them--up a block, over a fence, and crawl through some bushes--the "only" detour around the water leak.  In her intoxicated state, she believed the girls, even though she was slightly skeptic.  The 3 of them made it all the way to the bush crawl, army style, when they heard the police--"Oh shit!  We're out," chimed the two navigators, Lauren was stuck by herself.  She popped up from the bush behind the Holiday Inn, tangled in branches and soiled in dirt, while the cop had a puzzled look on his face.  "Excuse me Miss, what are you doing? Can I help you?"  Lauren replies with sobs, "I...just...want...to go...back.... to my...hotel!"  The cop spoke in a comforting tone while giving her directions back to the hostile, Lauren face began to get red and well-up with tears.  The cop realized she was completely lost, and offered her a ride in the cop car back to the hostile.  Lauren was the only one on this trip to be escorted in a police car, thankfully for no law breaking reasons.

We were dying of laughter, attempting not to pee our pants.  Lauren is a very sweet girl with a sense of style, and enjoyed getting dolled up for a night out.  It was very comical that out of everyone in our group, Lauren would have been the one to crawl through a bush at a Holiday Inn, then getting taken home by a cop--an Australian cop none the less!  I guess Lauren met the dream man after all, and Australian man in uniform.

July 2009

Before we headed out for our final night in Darwin

Bethany, myself, Susanna, Kim, Lauren, & Blair

Cabin Fever & Future Friday

With the feeling winter is never going to end and spring break popping up on college campuses nationwide, it's not surprise cabin fever is here!  Living in the glorious state of Ohio, or should I say SNOWhio, the cold and snow really never seem to end.  I'm getting the extreme itch to travel, but unfortunately that college kid budget interferes with brilliant travel plans I've thought of.  So instead of gearing up to go out and explore, I figured I'd just talk about travel some more! (Yes I just made a cheesy rhyme.) 

What I really want to talk about is the blog.  I've finally come down to some ideas to keep the blog evolving.  My habit with any social site, or journals for that matter, is that I am terrible at keeping perfectly up to date on it.  I really would love to write everyday, but I get distracted easily or usually have about 5,000 other things to do.  With this in mind, I am going to attempt to abide by some fun plans I have to keep consistency, new entertainment, and hopefully staying current with everything.  I've thought of corny subjects for each day of the week, travel related of course, that will bring new topics within in the travel world each day (if I can keep up!):

Snoozy Sunday--Sunday is a lazy day, this day is open to whatever really!  I'll probably just cover things going on, or maybe a trip that I can't stop thinking about.  Sunday is really a wild card day.

Manic Monday--Since Monday is always a crazy day to swing back into things of a work or school week, why not write about some crazy and "manic," experiences that have happened during a trip?

Tip Tuesday--Every Tuesday receive a travel tip!  Plan exciting, affordable, and sensible trips.

Website Wednesday--Oh the world wide web, so many hidden treasures and flops.  There are good travel websites, mediocre travel websites, and sadly some horrible travel websites.  Which ones should you stay true to?
Throw-back Thursday--THROW-BACK!  Reminisce on previous trips!  Now this may seem redundant since I obviously talk about trips I've been on, but I'm talking years and years ago.  I'll talk about silly trips I went on when I was younger, fun memories and scary memories.
Future Friday--Where in the world will I travel next?
Silly Saturday--Funny and silly moments from trips, or even planning trips.

Of course I may not be on everyday, but at least topics will change and make what you're reading a little more exciting (at least I hope so!)  So in honor of Friday, I'll take a brief moment to talk about one future trip.  I'm excited to announce that I will be heading to Washington D.C. for time number 5 or 6 this April!  Actually, I'm going for scholarly, nerdy purposes which makes the trip more exciting.  I'll be presenting research with my research group at a communication conference which I think is pretty exciting.  It's also a really great excuse to get out of school and work for a few days.  Plus we get to explore our nation's capital, which is no doubt one of my favorite things to do!  I started visiting Washington D.C. when I was in 5th grade, and actually have two trips coming up this year.  There's just something I love about visiting D.C., I find something new every time.  Here are some pictures from some of the more recent trips (if only I had the embarrassing pictures of me in D.C. back in 5th and 7th grade near by!):

Memorial Day Weekend 2008



Memorial Day Weekend 2010

 

And my favorite view...

Photo taken Memorial Day Weekend 2008--Arlington National Cemetery --over looking the capital.

(not the best picture, and definitely doesn't give this view justice)

And on a sad closing note--please keep Japan in your thoughts and prayers after dealing with a tsunami and an earthquake.  Also keep Hawaii & California in your thoughts and prayers as well, the tsunami waves may be heading their way.  That's all I have today--have a fantastic Friday :)

Escape, leave it all behind.

I think the thing I love most about traveling is escaping.  I believe we all have our escapes, mine just is really literal.  I love many things and hobbies I have in my life, and that's because it isn't permanent or long term.  Dance--for example--I've been doing it since I was four, so it seems pretty permanent.  The thing about dance though is you can leave each routine after about a few months or a year.  You don't like jazz?  Okay, then find another form of dance to study.  It really is great.  It's like traveling.  I love traveling, I'm dedicated to the art of travel, but I leave places behind--some I never will return to.  Sometimes I believe it is good to leave something behind and never return to it.  Sometimes you don't need everything that you come across in your life.

I've been numerous places, mostly in the continental US, and luckily a few places many time zones away.  It's given me the opportunity to live my life to the fullest, do things with out a regret or care in the world.  I always reason with myself, "oh you'll NEVER see these people again!"  Funny thing is, I have seen some of those people again or at least kept in contact with them.  But sometimes doing those things out of your comfort zone, you make new friendships, great stories to tell, and you learn something about yourself.  I think the sense of doing something you may only do once, and then leaving it behind--you really get the opportunity to define who you are.

Another great thing about an escape, is getting to actually escape.  There are so many times where I need to be a way from some place or people or a thing, that I literally pick up a leave.  This concept has been behind only 2 or 3 of my travels, one in fact being Australia.  Leaving allows me to clear my brain and remind myself that all things are not permanent.  I'll return to love ones who have missed me, a job that must refund my bank account, and the few things I love.  Chances are when I return those things that were bogging me down or stressing me out have been demolished or really weren't as big a problem as I thought.  Escaping puts things into perspective I guess.

My point?  Well I guess my point is that I love to escape and run away, but I do come back.  Come back to reality that is.  I believe every one of us needs something that we can proudly rely on to let us escape and leave it behind us, with out looking back or thinking twice.  When we return, we aren't looking back, we're moving forward, and that's the point of life isn't?  Constantly moving forward in our lives, progressing to something great I hope.  So I encourage you to run away somewhere, don't look back, but return and keep pushing on.  It's okay to revisit some of those places you left behind--maybe you need it but it smaller doses--maybe it brings you good memories now and then but you can't always have it with you.  Interpret that how you will, but escape, don't look back.  Be happy, love your life, and keeping moving forward.  There's always something better around the next corner.

North Stradbroke Island, Queensland, Australia.

(off the East coast of Australia, near the Gold Coast)

June 2009, Australian Experience

(where I was diagnosed with the travel bug--hear the story in a future post!)