Traveling is a privilege and definitely not one to take for granted. It helps us reset if we’ve been feeling particularly burned out by our responsibilities at work or at home and provides a great way to build memories with our loved ones or friends. With the lure of luxury hotels, first class flights, party buses, thrilling excursions, beautiful landscapes, and once in a lifetime experiences, it’s easy to see why many people spend hundreds and sometimes even thousands of dollars on travel expenses each year. 

For me personally, traveling is one of my favorite things to do. I enjoy going to new places, seeing new scenery, and being in the hustle and bustle of moving around. I don’t mind driving ten hours to the beach in North Carolina or flying five hours to Las Vegas as long as I have plenty of snacks and ample restroom breaks. While I normally don’t like getting up super early, I get up willingly when I have to travel. 

I must say, my favorite mode of transportation is flying. There’s just something really special about being on an airplane for me. I grew up watching the planes from a distance and daydreaming of all the far away places they could take me. Now that I’m able to make those dreams reality, it fuels me with such creativity and inspiration. Every time a plane passes over my house, I try to stop and look up to see how big it is and if I can identify the carrier. Call me crazy, but I have a passion for watching plane crash videos on YouTube that detail what went wrong, the investigation process, and the safety changes the industry made. I’ve seen almost every major crash video, and it doesn’t deter me from stepping foot on that concourse. I also enjoy watching the live landings and takeoffs since it’s great background noise. 

In my lifetime, I’ve visited the states of Nevada, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina. I think I’ve also been to West Virginia on a family reunion trip, but since I was so young, I don’t count that one. As for cities, I’ve seen Vegas, Chattanooga, Charleston, Myrtle Beach, the Outer Banks, Jacksonville, Miami, Dothan, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, Fort Lauderdale, the Bahamas, Key West, Asheville, and Raleigh.

While that’s only a tiny portion of the world, I hope to add to my list of places visited slowly but surely. Each place creates new memories that I laugh at years after the vacation is over. For example, I love joking about Miami’s janky airport and how we almost didn’t make it back to Atlanta from our honeymoon trip because a hurricane almost canceled all the flights. Our early morning flight was literally one of the only ones to leave before the weather started causing chaos. On the other  hand, when Nala sits outside in the warmth, we always say she would love the warm, humid weather in the Bahamas, while her sister would probably prefer the coolness of the Asheville mountains. 

As for vacation activities, I enjoy any excursion related to animals. While in Jacksonville for the Georgia/Florida NCAA football game in 2022, Kris and I visited the Catty Shack Ranch, a sanctuary for 30 to 45 big cats. We got to see the nighttime feeding and learn more about each of the animals, the sanctuary’s plans to renovate and expand the space, and even got a free shirt with admission. I would definitely go back to see the new additions and progress they’ve made. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if our paths will cross this year since Kris has a whole agenda planned for us in the Jekyll Island area.

We rarely vacation to simply relax. Sitting on a beach or at the pool for hours on end, just isn’t really our thing. At most, we spend maybe an hour out there before we’re ready to move on with our day. We want to experience all the city has to offer, or at least as much as we can given the time constraint. We’re big on taking boat tours if we’re in a city located along a river or the ocean. So far, I’d say we’ve done about five boat tours total and they’ve all been totally different from one another.

One in particular was an airboat ride in the Everglades, and that was one of the coolest experiences ever. Being in the middle of the swamp, probably surrounded by hundreds of modern day dinosaurs, was definitely a once in a lifetime experience and I would 100% recommend it if you have the opportunity. The driver of the boat had names for some of the regular gaters that appeared on his tours, and was friendly when we asked questions. 

During the trip planning process, we focus on scheduling as many activities and excursions as we can within the time period that we’re at a location. That way if we never go back to that particular city, we have no regrets that we missed anything fun. Kris is the absolute pro at planning our vacations. Luckily for me, he takes care of all the difficult decisions and I can just show up and have fun. He spends ample time researching, planning, and coordinating things for us to do from meals to hotels to entertainment and everything in between. I believe if he really wanted to, he could help others plan amazing vacations and getaways that are not only fun, but feasible and geographically sensible. 

While vacations are meant to be super fun, it’s important to not break the bank. We strategically book our plans well in advance so we aren’t overpaying for something that may fluctuate in price depending on the season. Since we’re usually eating out the entire day, we’re mindful to keep our selections within reason. We might splurge on a super nice meal here and there, but we can’t go overboard every single time we need to eat something. 

The remainder of our 2023 will be rather hectic as the fall always is. Football season is always a great time to travel to some road games or take a weekend away to recoup before the marathon known as the holiday season. Like I mentioned earlier, we are going to the Georgia/Florida game in Jacksonville, but instead of staying downtown, we are going to explore Jekyll Island to make this trip a little bit different. There’s a really cool sea turtle museum and conservation center that we will definitely check out. Hopefully we’re able to find a unique turtle mug and magnet to add to our collections. 

For the final trip of the year, we plan on going somewhere the week after Christmas, but we haven’t narrowed it down or booked anything yet. We’ve thought of going to Palm Springs, Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Vegas, but I think we are leaning toward Dallas and Houston. That way the climate will hopefully be a little warmer, the flight and hotel will be cheaper, and we can catch some NBA or NFL games while we’re there. Similar to Weekend Getaway, you can look forward to a vacay recap blog where I share all about our trip!

Don’t take the opportunity to travel for granted. I believe if you have the chance to see the world, you definitely should since great experiences turn into memories that last a lifetime. 

If you enjoyed this episode, let me know by giving this video a thumbs up, leaving a comment, and subscribing to my channel. See you in the next episode! 

Signed, 

Jessica Marie