This Valentine's Day, Fall in Love With Travel - Single or Not!

February means it's the season of love, what with Valentine's Day being the main focus of the month. I thought I'd dive into why you should fall in love with travel - whether you're single or not!

Why I LOVE to Travel - and Always Have
I'm still a twenty-something, but I'm "settled down" married now. However, that doesn't mean I don't still travel. My love of exploring a new city and going on an adventure is something that has always been near and dear to my heart. I traveled constantly as a young child with my family, and sometimes it feels like I've just never stopped. I love to travel with friends and family, but I definitely have never been put off by traveling solo. In fact, I've backpacked through Italy for a few weeks completely on my own. It was one of the most exciting and empowering experiences of my life! Anytime I'm traveling, solo or with others, I'm learning, growing and exploring - my 3 favorite things! I'm lucky to have found a partner not only in life but also in my travels. I know my husband is always up for some adventure, but if the right opportunity presented itself I wouldn't have any problems traveling on my own again.

Don't Let a Lack of Travel Buddy Stop You!
Solo travel sounds scary, but I promise you it's not that bad and is absolutely worth it! As long as you are cautious and take a few safety precautions, there is nothing to keep you from seeing the world. Traveling by yourself is one of the most empowering thing you can ever do. You learn to  be self-reliant and nothing else compares! Don't sit back and wait for someone to come along who would be willing to travel with you, take control of your life and do it for yourself!

Make it Happen
So many people live their whole life wondering "what if?" Obviously, travel is not something that everyone can afford to just dive into on a whim. It often takes careful planning and determined saving. Great things take time and hard work, but as someone who has lived a life full of beautiful experiences, I can tell you that it's worth the fight.

If you need a little help in the planning process, I'd love to help! MilesIntoMemoriesTravel.com

Adventure Vs. Relaxing Honeymoon - Which is better?

My fiancé and I are getting married in June and we are so excited for our honeymoon! We both love to travel and adventure, but we know after the craziness of our wedding, we might want to relax on our honeymoon. That sparked the great debate: Adventure vs. Relaxing honeymoon - which is better? There are definitely pros and cons for both, so I'll walk you through our decision-making process.

Let's start with relaxing. After a crazy 6 months of wedding planning, we are already starting to feel burnt out. If we had a few days to just get away from the madness and celebrate our new marriage, we both know that it would be amazing. We both love a good beach day, but aren't sure if a resort of beach town would be the best use of our time off; we really want to make the absolute most of our special trip.

As for adventure, we just had the trip of a lifetime in South Africa this past August. We went bungee jumping, hiking, visiting with elephants and monkeys and even shark cage diving! It was insane! By the time we made it back to the US we were almost more tired than before we left. It was an absolutely amazing trip, and we definitely wouldn't trade it for the world.

We ultimately decided to compromise and do a little of each! We will be going on a road trip through Portugal! There are plenty of beaches where we can rest and relax, but there is lots to see and do as well! We will be splitting our time between slow, relaxing days and adventuring days exploring local towns and immersing ourself in the culture. We may even take a day trip over to Seville in Spain! It's going to require plenty of planning, but I'm up for the challenge. 

I'd love to help you plan your special trip! Check out MilesIntoMemoriesTravel.com for more.

Prepping and Packing For My First Cruise

I have been lucky enough to travel the world and see some pretty amazing sites, but never form the deck of a cruise ship! This weekend I am so excited to be headed to the Bahamas with my sisters and best friend! All that's left to do is pack!

I may or may not be stalling just a little by writing this blog post, but I'm mostly packed anyway - here's what I'm bringing!

Clothing - I'm bringing a combination of sun dresses, bikinis and comfy clothes! I'll be sporting my usual airport attire - yoga pants and a hoodie (which can double as workout clothes). Then the rest of the time I plan to be in a bikini or a fun, bright and colorful dress. I'll probably also throw in one or two nicer dress to wear if we decide to go to a fancy dinner or clubbing while on board. That's the fun part about cruises! You get to spend your time being super comfortable and relaxing by the pool. My kind of attire.

Shoes - I'm only bringing 3 pairs of shoes - sandals, flip flops and running shoes. Keeping it simple so I can fit everything in a carry-on.

Toiletries - I'll be bringing the my usual line-up. Plenty of mini products and of course, my trusty shampoo bar. I absolutely love my lush shampoo bar for travel because a) they work great b) it's one less liquid I have to bring!

Accessories - I'll be rocking some top-notch Target sunglasses and floppy hat. Total I think I spent like $15 on the pair so if I lose one or both, no big deal! Other than that, I'll be keeping things pretty simple - my usual stud earrings, my class ring and of course, my engagement ring!  I might throw in a baseball hat in case it gets windy and my sunhat isn't cutting it.

Extras - I'm bringing ALL the sunscreen! AKA my giant bottle of SPF 70. My entire goal is to just not come home burnt to a crisp. Other than that, I've made sure to bring all of my chargers, my kindle, plenty of books, my camera, my GoPro, my boarding documents and most importantly my passport!! 

I'm so excited for this trip! It's a new experience for me - I'm letting someone else plan for once! Ordinarily, I'm the one who coordinates everything, and I'd love to help you out on your next trip. Check out my travel company at MilesIntoMemoriesTravel.com.

How To Pack Carry-On Only

With airlines charging more and more for checked-baggage, many travelers, myself included, have opted to just pack in carry-on luggage whenever possible. I've had years of practice and have legitimately packed for a month-long trip doing carry-on only. Here are my top tips for avoiding those baggage fees and packing light!

1) Try to minimize the number of shoes you bring. I know it's tempting to bring a different shoe for every outfit, but instead try to pick just a few shoes that are more versatile. My go-to shoe packing tends to be one pair of running shoes, my Sperrys and a pair of flip flops that can get wet - for the shower, pool, walking in the rain. etc I also shy away from boots or other bulky shoes as they take up quite a bit of space in your luggage. If you do need to bring a pair of boots, I recommend wearing them on the plane. They may be a bit of a hassle going through security, but they will save you weight and space in your luggage.

2) Wear bulkier layers on the plane. Planes tend to be cold anyway, so if you are bringing a big sweater and a puffy jacket, wear them! Packing them will take up valuable space. Not to mention, they'll keep you nice and warm during the flight and can even double as a pillow. You can always take them off and stuff them in the overhead bins if you get hot.

3) Bring re-wearable items go together. I highly recommend packing a pair of durable jeans and a favorite hoodie or sweater. These items can be worn multiple times and re-worn with different outfits. By color-coordinating majority of your clothing items, you'll be able to mix and match and save yourself quite a bit of space as a result! Same goes with accessories - I recommend picking jewelry that goes well together and that you don't mind wearing multiple times.

4) Bring "small" items of clothing. By bringing items such as dresses (which are an outfit all by themselves), leggings and t-shirts, you'll save room! If you bring several pairs of pants and a sweater for each day, you'll run out of space quite quickly.

5) Pack travel-size toiletries. You'll be limited on space an
d will have to keep your liquids to a minimum. I recommend little things like using a powder foundation and bringing a shampoo bar, because those things will add up and save you quite a bit of space!

It may not be the most luxurious way to travel, but I personally prefer packing light. I like knowing that my luggage is going to make it to my destination and that I won't have to wait at baggage claim. It also makes me really think through my packing. I tend to forget less things and have more coordinated outfits than when I just throw things into a bag.

Here I am on my backpacking trip through Holland and Germany. It was amazing to be able to just pick up my things and move on to the next town so easily. All in all, I highly recommend packing light!

If you're up for some adventure  I'd love to help you plan - MilesIntoMemoriesTravel.com

Germany Bound! 4/20 - 4/21

I left for Germany by way of Chicago. I met up with the team I am traveling with in the airport. They seem very nice and all is well. I had an amazing plane for that leg of the trip! Pretty empty and international quality - ie free tv and charging stations!
I lucked out again seat wise to Germany! No seat buddy for an overnight flight! I stretched out! I didn't sleep all that well, but thanks to new medication I wasn't even too sick in the morning :) I managed to get through it and we had no problem meeting the host team in the airport. We made it to Hennef!
We had a bar-b-que with the host team which was lovely, then watched the kids scrimmage. I then took the supporters to check in with the hotel. Just a few minor hiccups (two beds pushed together does not really count as a double room haha) and we were good to go!
I had a meeting with the supporters then we headed out to dinner.
 We took a cab there after struggling to find the walking route, but we mastered it on the way back! It is nice that we can walk into town. Tomorrow I am going to look into buying a SIM card for my phone so I can make international calls for work when I need to.
We had dinner in a nice German restaurant and a lot of people stayed to watch a big soccer game on TV. I had some work to do and was (am) SUPER tired so me and two others headed out early. We walked home and had a grand time! We stopped in a gas station and I bought an ICECREAM KITKAT CONE! The glory.
We made a few errors, but we learned more about the city! I feel pretty confident I can find my way around at least fairly well now.
Tomorrow I think we are going to go see some cool old castles after the kids train in the morning!
What fun!

Malena

PS Tablet is being weird so pictures are coming soon!

Tips for Prolonged Traveling in a Carry-On

For my recent trip to Europe I went on 5 planes, 7 trains (not including subway trains) and multiple buses. I was so glad that I decided to pack for carry-on only.  In the past I have been rather unlucky with my baggage and if the airline were to lose my bag, getting it back would be almost impossible because I moved around so much. Here are the things that I discovered worked the best for me.

1. Only bring 2 pairs of shoes. No more, no less. I brought a pair of Sperry Topsiders that I bought back in August specifically for this trip. I can't tell you how much of a great idea that was. They were the perfect walking shoes.

My Sperrys looking well-loved

I loved the purple soles

Now I specifically think that two pairs of shoes are a good idea because it helps to prevent blisters by switching up your walking shoes. For my second pair of shoes I chose a pair of seriously comfortable combat boots. They are flannel- lined and I water-proofed them to boot (sorry for the pun). These were perfect for those inevitable cold, rainy days.

These beautiful boots

I actually wore a hole in the heel, I've worn these so much

The only thing I would have done differently with these boots would be to add some insoles to give my arches a little more support. The only additional shoe that I thought about bringing was a pair of flip-flops for the shower at the hostel, however I only stayed one night in a hostel on my last trip so I opted to leave those behind.

2. Pack Light! I only brought clothing items that I thought I could wear multiple times and stayed within a basic color scheme. I folded everything up very small and put my clothes in giant zip lock bags. I flattened the air out and carefully filled my 60L pack. This also added extra insurance that my clothes would stay dry. I once had a bag that was checked at the plane and sat on the runway in the rain actually fall over and lay in a puddle for about 20 minutes. I had to spend a week in Canada with soggy clothes. Not ideal.

Now, the trick to being able to carry the pack on the plane, is to not fill it completely. This leaves room for souvenirs or to combine your day pack and main pack if you don't want to carry two bags at any point. The only item I brought but didn't wear was my fancy party dress. I ended up taking it easy for New Years and I was fine with that!

My 60L pack

My clothes in zip lock bags

3. Bring a shampoo bar. I discovered this shampoo bar at Lush and it was a great idea! It meant less liquid to carry around - always a plus when dealing with airlines. Also, it turns out that the shampoo bar works fantastically! It really helped control the oil that is naturally in my hair. My only complaint is that if you don't completely dry the bar, it will get mushy in the tin. The trick is to take the bar out of the tin and dry it that way after use.

Lush Shampoo Bar

Slightly Dented Lush Tin

Melted bottom of my shampoo bar

4. Bring a tablet instead of a laptop. I brought an iPad mini and a bluetooth mini keyboard instead of my expensive laptop and it worked perfectly! I was able to keep up with my work documents, post blogs, and keep in touch with home all through the use of my iPad mini. It was light, portable and no where near as expensive as my laptop, thus it was cheaper to insure.

 Hope this helps!

Malena