Let's Go, Jane!

For the next year, I’m treating all travel opportunities as research missions. This past weekend I went to visit my boyfriend in Orlando, FL for five nights, during which we took a road trip to Savannah, GA. It was the longest period we’ve spent together so far, and for the most part, being together six days around the clock was great. I did notice by the end that there were long stretches of comfortable silence. The hardest part was actually finding myself back in New York when I’d gotten used to waking up next to him, but that’s a separate topic.

Here is what I learned on this trip from a travel perspective:

I am determined to travel with carry-on luggage only from this point forward. This means packing lighter and avoiding items that aren’t permitted on board an airplane (liquids over 3.4 ounces, sharp objects, etc.).

This was my first flight with the Osprey Fairview 55L backpack, and I am only falling deeper in love with this bag. While walking through the airport, I attached the daypack to the main backpack so I was completely hands-free. When it was time to board, I detached the daypack, stuffed my sling bag purse inside, and used that as my personal item. I closed the zipper flap on the main bag to cover the shoulder straps and carried it like a duffel bag as my carry-on. No questions asked, and it fit easily into the overhead compartment. Then again, my return flight had a 5-hour delay, so maybe the flight crew was going easy on us. I felt terrible for all those families traveling with very young children. After days of waiting in line at Walt Disney World in 95 degree heat they finished their vacation with a 3 am landing in New York. I very much appreciated that I was alone.

Fountain at Forsyth Park in Savannah, GA

In preparation for this trip, I overhauled my toiletries kit to be lighter and more compact. I’ll do a deeper dive on toiletries in a future post. I also tested out my new compression cubes (not strictly necessary for such a short trip but as I said, this is research). The cubes worked great, but I found myself zipping and unzipping them a lot. I need a better system for deciding what goes inside each one so I don’t find myself doing a scavenger hunt every time I need to change my clothes. I got a water resistant cube that will be dedicated to shoes, and I will get one more dedicated bag for dirty clothes. 

My favorite new item from this trip was a collapsible water bottle. This bottle rolls up flat when empty, and has a built-in clip that can be attached to the outside of my backpack. Once I was through security, I found there were water refilling stations outside every airport bathroom so it was easy to keep the bottle full. This bottle makes it easy to stay hydrated when traveling, and is far less expensive than paying airport prices for bottled water.

One of 22 public square parks scattered throughout Savannah, GA

My main takeaway from this trip is that I need to up my wallet game. On the first night in Savannah, we decided to go out at 2 am to see the riverfront. We had taken an early evening nap and were unable to sleep. I grabbed my purse and we headed out of the hotel for a stroll. Two days later, my boyfriend looked in his wallet and remembered that he had removed some cash and stashed it away in his luggage that night, in case we got mugged. I’m such a house cat, the thought of getting mugged did not occur to me at the time.

I had set out with my full purse, including a wallet with some extra cash in it, as well as all of my credit cards (I have quite a few now, because of the points and miles game). In hindsight, I should have left most of the cash and cards in the hotel room that night. Lesson learned, and no harm done. Come to think of it, what I really need is the equivalent of my backpack, but in wallet form. A two-part wallet system, where the smaller “day wallet” can be removed. Perhaps I will need to invent such a product, if it doesn’t already exist!

POST NOTE: This was my first time in Savannah, and it was a great city to visit. We walked for miles, ate delicious food, listened to live music, and went for a bike ride on Tybee Island at sunset. I would totally recommend it as relaxing weekend destination. The only mishap was finding a large and very beautiful beetle hiding in my quinoa chicken salad. I was so surprised that I did not manage to get a picture before the waiter whisked my bowl away and comped our entire meal. At least I saw it before raising that bite to my mouth!