May 26, 2017

Fantasyland: Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, CA

San Luis Obispo (SLO) and the Madonna Inn, especially, are wonderful destinations for a three day weekend if you’re in California. Located in the Central Coast region, about halfway between LA and San Fransisco, it’s an easy drive. We left work on Friday at noon (sneaking out of the city before rush hour makes all the difference) and made it to the Madonna while… [read more]

Categories Lodging/USA Comments: 2

May 19, 2017

What to Do, See, and Eat in Oklahoma City

This post originally appeared on XOXO, Lib. I’ve included it here with permission. We didn’t give each other gifts this Christmas, promising that we’ll take a road trip soon instead. Well, “soon” turned into a few months later but we finally made good on our promise to one another. When I would tell people that we were using our quick vacation… [read more]

Categories Itineraries/USA Comments: 7

May 18, 2017

Groovy Hotel: The Pearl in San Diego

Flashback to 10 years ago. I started college in Point Loma, San Diego and commuted down Rosecrans Street every day. A unique-looking vintage hotel out the right window caught my eye each and every time as I headed to class. I always imagined what it was like inside and dreamed of staying there. I now know that The Pearl had at that… [read more]

Categories Lodging/San Diego Comments: 17

May 5, 2017

Artelexia: Delightful Mexican Gift Shop in North Park

I started following Artelexia on Instagram a couple of months ago when searching for cool murals in San Diego. At the time, a large, beautiful, inspiring mural on their south exterior wall was being painted. I loved seeing updates over the course of the week, and I hurried to go visit the shop in person after it was done. I… [read more]

Categories Hot Spots/San Diego Comments: 5

May 3, 2017

Riding the Technicolor Gondolas in Xochimilco, Mexico City

Riding the rainbow colored trajineras in Xochimilco was something I knew nothing about until my friend built it into our 4-day Mexico City itinerary. First, in case you’re not familiar with Spanish and are scratching your head at the name of the place we visited, it is pronounced kinda like so-chi-milk-oh. With that distraction out of the way, let’s check out this… [read more]

Categories Mexico Comments: 17

May 1, 2017

Hiking the Ancient Pyramids at Teotihuacan

The Pyramids at Teotihuacan are ancient, awe-inspiring, and very accessible to tourists. A little planning can keep the trip very low in cost: less than $20 USD.

Categories Hot Spots/Mexico Comments: 4

April 21, 2017

Free Downloadable Trip Planning Sheets

Do you ever get overwhelmed when planning a vacation or even just dreaming about upcoming trips? I certainly love having lots of options but narrowing it all down while the trip approaches is so important for me to focus my excitement and decide what is actually reasonable to fit in. Summer is coming, fast, which means you may have started thinking about summer vacation…. [read more]

Categories Travel Tech Comments: 27

April 15, 2017

Holy Matcha: Yummy Coffee Alternative

Holy Matcha, the shop that launched a zillion Instagrams just celebrated their one month anniversary. I’ll mention the decor (which was the real showstopper) first, and then get to the drinks and snacks second. Wow! It’s so pretty inside and smells amazing. They have fresh flowers everywhere. If there were ever a café interior designed specifically on trends, it would be… [read more]

Categories Hot Spots/San Diego Comments: 3

April 11, 2017

Dipping My Toe Into the Frequent Flyer World

So earlier this week I wrote about a cool tool on Southwest’s website for checking how many points or “miles” it takes to get somewhere. I am by no means a points master; you can find plenty of other writers explaining “the game” and how to work the system. This isn’t one of those posts. This is about making the… [read more]

Categories Reward Travel Comments: 0

April 10, 2017

Explore the US with Southwest’s Destination Finder

Sorry everyone, but it appears that this tool has been removed from the Southwest website! I’ve searched high and low, and can’t find it. If you are looking to maximize your Southwest Rapid Rewards points, here’s a different handy tool to play with! I’ve recently been getting into the idea of earning airline miles towards travel. Now that I have… [read more]

Categories Reward Travel/Travel Tech Comments: 0