Blog

Late last year we took a girls trip (grandmother, mother, daughter) to the lovely Savannah, GA!  I wished I would have started this blog years ago so twenty years from now I could reflect on my travels.  Writing it after the fact makes me rely on my memory, which sometimes fails me.

Anyway, let’s go to Savannah!  One of my favorite things about Savannah is getting to stop at Mosley’s Petting Zoo (26127 Ga Highway 57 S. Metter, Georgia 30439) Go inside and spend the $2 on the bag of food to feed the animals.  It is so much fun!  

Savannah is a coastal, historic city located on the Savannah River.  It features antebellum architecture and is made up of 22 lush, green squares.  The best way to see everything this charming southern city has to offer is by a hop-on, hop-off tour.  There is a lot of history here so having a tour guide is extremely helpful.  When I go on these types of tours I always loop around once getting all the history then on the next loop I’ll get off to venture out.

The architecture and tree lined streets are beautiful, but the food is incredible!  One of my favorite places is Treylor Park.  The food is unique combinations and nothing short of delicious!

 

Paula Deen’s Lady and Sons is also a standout in Savannah.  You can choose the buffet or order from the menu.  Both options are mouth-watering good!

 

While the city is charming one of the most beautiful places is the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.  It is worth the trip inside every time I go. 

Tybee Island is also a short drive from Savannah and features a quiet beach.  It is pretty in its’ own way, but I have been spoiled with the Gulf Coast and Caribbean Sea 😊

We stayed a short drive outside of downtown, which is a funny story about freshly fried fish in the room.  Needless to say, that brought us to a different hotel also outside of downtown.  It is more cost effective to stay on the outskirts and the tour bus pick up site has free parking so it makes cents (corny joke I know).  Savannah is a great weekend trip any time of the year!

Traveling is often perceived as expensive, however, with a little bit of planning it can be more affordable than you think.  I use my credit card reward points whenever possible.  I also always use a credit card for my day to day expenses, but the secret is I pay it off in full each month to avoid interest charges.  This is a tricky thing to manage at times, but the goal is to never ever pay the interest! 

The credit card companies now offer additional offers at places I already shop.  For instance, chewy.com (where I buy dog food) had a deal to spend $49 and get a $15 credit.  It’s little things like this that add up.  I always look for a deal on most things and especially traveling because I am a savvy traveler.  I won’t stay at hostels, but it is also a good option if you are on a tight budget.  Besides you don’t spend that much time in the room anyway.

I am also a fan of way.com to purchase airport parking.  You can also get up to an additional 10% off if you receive their email notifications.  The Atlanta airport is not exactly an ideal place to park because it is huge and very expensive.  I like to book my parking through Way for the shuttle services (preferred is Peachy Parking).  They pick you up at your car, take you to the airport, and drop you off in the front.  It’s as easy as it gets and inexpensive.

I have yet to try sitting through the time share pitch to get a free week stay at a hotel, but I am not opposed to this.  I have known many people who have, and it seems like a good option.  I’m not one for gimmicks and tricks to waste time so I’m hesitant. 

If you have any helpful money saving traveling ideas let me know!

 

I have one rule when preparing to go on a trip, only pack what fits in my carry on suitcase.  Thus far I have been successful with this and prefer to not take a bunch of things or worry about finding suitcases at baggage claim.  I also take another carry on bag (from deux lux) for snacks and toiletries, etc.  This bag is also clutch because I can put more shoes in the bottom of it and they never touch my other items.  Side note, shoes are one of the dirtiest things to me if you think about all the places they go!

Since my trips are mainly adventurous I tend to wear my day to day clothes, which consists of gym clothes and sneakers.  What’s funny about my packing style is I don’t always get the weather right and usually have the wrong clothes, but I’m ok with buying a piece on sale if need be. 

I was victim of the “the coldest winter I ever saw was the summer I spent in San Francisco”.  I ended up wearing the one pair of long pants and long-sleeved shirt I brought the entire trip, which also meant I gave up washing my hair since I was already “dirty”.  Oddly enough the stores were only selling summer clothes even though it was freezing outside.  Puzzling! 

I remember physically sticking to things and fitting in with the homeless population at times. Since then, I do a quick search on temperatures but still end up bringing the same gym clothes and sneakers as I normally would.  I’ll highlight the item I must buy on each adventure.  It never fails!

 

For my mother’s 60^th she and I packed our summer clothes and headed south of the border to Cancun, Mexico!  I’ve always heard Cancun was a spring break destination, and it can be, but it was more of a trip of fun in the sun for us.

We stayed at Oleo’ Cancun Playa, which was a 15 minute trip from the airport and right at the start of Cancuns Hotel Zone, which is where majority of tourists stay when visiting Cancun.  Upon checking in we were greeted by many smiling faces and brought mimosas as we gazed at the beautiful blue water.  Check in was a breeze and we were quickly escorted to our room, which had ocean views in every direction.  There were so many windows!  The room was decorated with balloons and even had a piece of cake to celebrate.  The bellhop showed us features of the room and then snapped a few photos of us to capture the moment we witnessed paradise.

Oleo’ is a smaller boutique style all-inclusive resort and I highly recommend it.  With this being the first time to Cancun there are an abundance of choices, and I am very happy I chose this one.  It features 3 restaurants, all of which were fantastic and top-notch service from all of the staff!  Breakfast every morning at Azul was one of my favorite breakfast places I’ve ever been to.  Fresh Mexican options including vegetables, homemade quesadillas, fresh fruit juices were available every day.  I realized I should be eating breakfast like this all the time!

There are 2 options for lunch; a delicious buffet with ocean views at Almar or you can sit by the pool and order burgers, tacos, etc.  You can even order your food as you sit on the beach and have it brought to you.  The dinner options are also delicious, and my favorite was the 7-course meal at Hakka (Japanese).  

We mostly sat on the beach and soaked up some rays, but we did venture out once.  We took the R2 bus line (bus stop right outside hotel) and went to downtown Cancun in the hotel zone.  The bus ride was a $1 and comparable to riding an old roller coaster as you are slung around and often get whiplash from the sudden stops.  Luckily someone beside us informed us you tell the bus driver when you want to get off, but be prepared to move quickly because the bus rarely stopped for anything.  Once we arrived downtown at the market we realized it was all the same goods that the beach hustlers were selling.  There were a lot of touristy type places and overpriced eateries.  There was a lot of hustle and bustle and not a relaxed beach town vibe.  This is where the spring breakers stay and where a lot of the clubs are.  We boarded another bus quickly to get back to the hotel, more of my kind of place.

When we got off the bus we stumbled across this hole in the wall next to the lagoon – so many things from what I just wrote should have been an indicator to not go in…but…we did.  After the joy ride on the bus the first thing I wanted to do was wash my hands.  There was no running water in the bathrooms or the entire “restaurant”.  The night before when we were out we smelled this smoke like someone was cooking and discovered this little place was the culprit.  We proceeded to walk down the stairs to the dirt floored restaurant right on the lagoon where they were cooking in open fire pits.  Surely this was going to be the authentic Mexican cuisine we imagined.  We each ordered fish tacos, which were deep fried and incredibly hot from the grease.  We tried to cool them down with the salsa on the table, which had to be straight jalapenos.  Everything about this taco was on fire!  I’m not quite sure what the fish was, but nothing I’ve ever had before, nor do I ever want again.  It was definitely something out of the lagoon that wasn’t desirable.  Remember the lack of running water I mentioned?  Well in the “restaurant” they used 5-gallon buckets for the water they used.  They also dunked the dishes in these buckets to clean them. Mom and I agreed this was the most unsanitary place we’ve eaten at.  To top it off, it wasn’t even good.  Back to Oleo’ we went to eat a real lunch and laugh about our trip we took off the beaten path.

The other time we left the resort we headed south to Playa Del Carmen to the Vidanta to see the Cirque du Soleil production JOYA’.  It was about a 30-minute taxi ride.  JOYA is a dinner and show experience and worth it!  It’s a much more intimate venue and the performers are literally right in front of you.  There are no bad seats in the venue in my opinion.  We indulged in the appetizer and champagne upgrade ($50) and thoroughly enjoyed the show.  The food was different and very beautiful.

Mostly we stayed at the hotel which had daily and nightly entertainment. We really enjoyed the mariachi performance and the Latin music night.

The most memorable take away from my first trip to Mexico was how incredibly nice the people were and how beautiful Cancun was.  Totally blew my expectations out of the water! I definitely recommend February as a good time to go since it is before the spring break crowds and the temperature is in the 80’s.  

To me, each trip I plan is an adventure, not necessarily a vacation.  When I am traveling my days are packed so full that there isn’t a lot of time for rest and relaxation.  I’m OK with that and prefer to explore as many new things and places as possible.  The first step is to create an itinerary.  I love itineraries and use travefy.com. 

The next step is an easy search of things to do in the area and from there I build the itinerary.  My favorite way to see a new place is on bike.  I find myself also googling things like “how to spend 2 days in NYC” or whatever the case may be.  This usually leads me to other blog posts and gives me an idea of what I want to do. 

I hope that’s what my blog can do, guide someone who is unfamiliar with an area on adventures they must go on.

Hi! Allow me to introduce myself…I’m Katie

My passion is adventures and food.  I work in commercial property management by day but find myself daydreaming about my next adventure more often than not.  Or daydreaming about my next meal, or maybe a combo of the two.  Anyway, I wanted to start this blog to share my adventures in travel and culinary experiences.