Travel Time Tips - lost in drafts folder post

This picture is not from our honeymoon but my shoes are! 

While pondering what to write for this week's blog post, I found this little guy in my drafts folder. This post is only a little less than 4 years late so enjoy a blast from the past. 

Just a few short weeks ago I was hanging out with New Dude, in Las Vegas, Nevada. We were enjoying our Honeymoon.

I have traveled many times now as an adult. I've left the country, I've gone on cruise ships, and driving up and down the east coast. This is, however, the first time in YEARS I have been able to take a plane ride with someone, New Dude. I actually cannot even remember the last time I went on the plane with another person. That is sad actually.

I've gone on some amazing trips with my friend V., but a lot of the time we meet at the airport at our destination and then go from there. This time I was actually driving to the airport with someone. It was a good type of different.

While on my trip I had a few moments when I wished my mom was there calling all the shots.
As children, your parents are the ones taking care of transpiration, money, food, shelter, what to do, when to do it, and all of the packing/double-checking of the packing. We just had to follow along with their master plan, fill in complaints when we couldn't eat fast food for every meal or go to some crazy super-duper expensive tourist trap.

Well, that doesn't really happen anymore. It is all on me and whomever I am traveling with, in this case, New Dude.

I am getting better at it, I really am. Or at least that is what I keep telling myself, however, like all trips I had some fails. Like bringing along my computer but forgetting the charger at home. Or forgetting my socks on top of the dryer. Here are just some new fun facts that I've learned about travel from this trip.

I don't mind being told I'm a tourist by taking pictures of everything, pulling out a map more often than needed, or even smiling like a dork at something I've never seen. What I do hate about travel is when I feel like I'm being taken advantage of.

On this trip, we rented a car, and during this rental process, I felt like that. I received a quote from the Internet which was about half of what the final cost was. I think one of the places where we could have saved was the gas fee. We paid a gas fee where we could drop the tank off empty and they would fill it up and we wouldn't have to worry about a thing. Well, it sounds like a good idea because we had no idea how much gas was, or how big the gas tank was. You never know exactly what kind of car you're going to get until you get the car. Well, the gas tank for the car we were renting was only 10 gallons. At $4.00 a gallon, which it wasn't, we still would have saved money for filling up the tank ourselves. We also did the extra insurance, which I think was probably a good idea. However, because I wasn't completely sure what it covered made me like it less. If it would have been explained a little better about what it would take care of versus our own personal insurance I would have been less frustrated. I also think them giving us a breakdown of how much it would cost per extra hour would have been helpful as well. I knew it would be a little bit more expensive but for about 1 hour over we paid half a day's rental. Add in the total time of renting the car took about 2.5 hours. Two hours to rent and exit the parking garage and another 30 minutes when we returned the car. We didn't know exactly what to do or where to go and had to wander around and find a person, it was a very, very frustrating process.

If you rent a car on your next trip I would do a little bit more research and ask more questions about price. Also, the keys are probably already in the car, we did not know that. I would also ask for and write down the process of returning the car/keys. It was our fault just as much as theirs for not asking more questions. The rental car itself was very nice and was great for getting us where we wanted to be, but I feel like some stress and the nagging feeling they were taking advantage of us could have been removed.

The next thing I would do is learn more about the shuttle services that the hotels offer. The first hotel on our first night did have shuttle service, however, they had a cut-off hour of 9 pm. Our flight didn't arrive until 9:30 pm so we were calling the hotel at 10 pm just to find out that we had to grab a taxi. Honestly, I would have changed hotels if I would have known that before. Standing at an airport after traveling for over 12+ hours and not sure how to get to our hotel was not fun. A taxi brought us there but you never know if they are taking the best route and how much the actual trip will cost. More fun money I did not want to spend on transportation. If four people would have been sharing a cab it would be worth it, but not for just two people. We did use the shuttle to get to the airport the next day to bring us to the car rental place.

One of the last places we stayed also did not have a shuttle service at all. I was very bummed to learn about that but I did learn about the Super Shuttle. It is a small shuttle bus that will take you from the airport to your hotel. It just might have a less direct route because they'll be stopping off at other people's nearby hotels, possibly, first. It was cheaper, and at the same time we were getting our first ride to the hotel we were also able to set up our return pick up time. Our flight home was at 12:30 pm and they picked us up at 10:30 am that morning. That part was a nice find.

Most cities that I have visited as of late have had public transpiration like subway stations of some sort. Well, we were on the Las Vegas strip, with no hotel shuttle bus and no desire to pay for the high unpredictable cost of a taxi. We found a few very cool ways to get around. Any of the actives, we went to a machine gun ranch which was off the strip, had a shuttle service that would pick us up and drop off. That saved us a few dollars. We even had them drop us off at a different casino off the strip to go zip lining. We zip-lined and then hung around there for a little bit before wanting to get back to our hotel. One staff member told us about a bus stop but we were unsure where it was located. We went up to the player/club/member desk for the casino to find out where exactly this bus stop was. Instead, the lady told us about them having their own shuttle bus to other casinos on the strip. She told us where to wait and if anyone asked us about our member's card to tell them we forgot it our room. No one asked and we made it back onto the strip. That was a nice little surprise. The only issue with shuttle buses is that you are always waiting on other people/on their timeline. Being spoiled by living in Virginia in a less busy area where I can jump in a car anytime I want, park where I want, at any time I feel, well it makes waiting seem like forever.

The next best thing we learned was about the bus that goes up and down the strip. For anyone who wants to go to Las Vegas, wear comfortable shoes those blocks are LONG and usually hot since it was in triple digests during the day and still high 90s at night. The bus is the way to go. You can pay for two hours, 24 hours, or 3 days and you can jump on and off as much as you want and they go up and down the strip and all over. I think that was one of the best ideas we had. We were able to go all the way to Fremont Street and up to the Mandalay Bay on the same $8 per person.

Water, water, water. If you are anything like New Dude and me, we drink a lot of water. If you grab a bottle from every convenience store, shop in the airport, and mall drink station you'll spend a lot of money on just water. We, especially in the airport, would just drink all the water and hold onto the empty bottle and fill it up at water fountains. Yes, the water sometimes tasted a little different and was a little less cold, but it saved us a lot of money. Plus, you might not always be able to get water. When we were leaving the Hoover Dam the cafe' was closed and we couldn't get any water. At the car rental place, it cost us $10 for two 1 liter bottles. That is stupid, but then we had large water bottles that came in handy when stuck at the Hoover Dam with no water.

Bring snacks with you as well. Maybe not the same snacks that you have at home like cheese sticks and apples, but bring something that you can throw into any bag and eat if you are stuck away from food. We brought an entire box of Cliff Bars with us. They saved us when we ran out of time in the airport between flights, on the road stuck in the desert, waiting for the shuttle at the machine gun ranch, and a few other times. When I get hungry, it is no fun. Not much talking, low energy, mean, cranky, and frustration, which you really want to avoid on trips, goes sky high. Having one of these bars in easy reach made waiting to find a bigger meal possible. Those Cliff Bars saved useless fights, angry stares, and overall unpleasantness that we wouldn't want in any part of our trip.

One of the many things that made this trip so much fun, besides it being with New Dude and ending with some friends, was that we made goals each day. Going into this trip that there were a million and one things we wanted to see and do on our 7-day trip, but there is only so much time, money, and hours in a day. By sitting down on the plane or car or wherever we were, we made sure that if nothing else was done/accomplished with that day that we did X. It was a great idea for a few reasons. One, it did keep us from packing our day with 80,000 things so for every moment we weren't rushing from event to event and never getting a moment to just enjoy the activity we were doing. Two it also helped keep us on budget. We had a limit on how much money we could spend per day on food and activities. If we didn't spend all of it in one day we could push it over to another day, but still, we had a limit. We didn't want to come back in the hole from vacation. And, it still allowed us to have freedom of change. On the second day, our goal was to make it from Las Vegas, Nevada to Flagstaff, Arizona. Well, because that was our only goal we stopped at the Hoover Dam. When we finished the Dam Tour, we took our time walking around and then when leaving, we walked across the new Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. If we would have been super rushed to get to the hotel that night we wouldn't have been able to go for that walk or take some cool pictures.

The last thing I learned from this trip, especially in a city like Las Vegas, is to make sure you plan and bring about $50 or more in small bills. You're going to be tipping a lot of people. All the people on the sidewalks are dressing up for tips. All the shuttle buses, cabs, waitresses, bellhops, and it just seems like everyone you talk too would like a tip Now, I used to be a waitress, I understand how much my pay depended on tips. My only question would be some jobs, how much do they make? Then again, does it matter? I don't know, all I know is that we were always looking for ones and fives. So just plan to bring small bills and add it into your budget.

In conclusion, travel is a great way to get closer to the ones you love while exploring and visiting other places. It allows you to see all the different types of jobs people have, the ways people can live, natural beauty, and even inner beauty. With a few more questions asked about shuttles, a few drinks and snacks, and allowing for some wiggle room both in the budget and the timeline, any trips you take to be filled with fun memories. 

Do you have any travel tips? If so please leave a comment below!

Lockness Monster vs ShanShan and the Lamp

Today's post is about the on going saga that is my relationship with our cat, Lockness Monster. One of the first post you can meet him is in Clean Cat. 

In general we do not have the best relationship. He loves my husband and I get less than sloppy second for his affection. They hang out together, they sleep together. They laugh, they play, they have a good time.

When he comes and visits me I get so excited I try and take photographic evidence. When looking for this picture, it is from March. Yes, March of 2019, that is how long it has been since he has come and cuddled in the chair with me.

Now, I have to admit that sometimes he does come and cuddle with me when I am sleeping. I know this only because I accidentally kick him when I start to get up in the morning.

This war has both scars and injustices for all parties involved. 

This is but another chapter in our life's saga.

As of about a month ago Lock has started this new game where he wants to go outside in the morning. That would be okay if he wanted to wait until I was up. Instead he start to try and get me up between 3:30am-4:30m. Clearly this is not okay. I understand he is an inside outside can and might want to go poop in a neighbors yard instead of in his litter box but he HAS a litter box. It is clean, it is always available. I make sure he has food and water before I head to bed there is NO reason for him to wake me up to go outside.

When he comes to wake me up, even if Husband is home and sleeping next to me, he does it by messing with my nightstand. I have random things on it like books, hair ties, my cell phone, and a lamp. When he messes with the night stand he takes ones of two approaches. He either knocks the book or cellphone off the night stand or he messes with the lamp.The lamp has a little pull cord and it clicks and ticks when you push it. I am a light sleeper so I hear this noise and wake up. 

On this particular night we were on about day 4 or 5 of this early morning wake up call. I knew that even if I was rough and gruff when I picked him up and threw him outside he was still getting what he wanted. It is one of those good attention or bad attention still equals attention. 

Lock started his normal tricks of pushing things off the nightstand and hitting the lamp string. I pushed him off the nightstand and was like, "No! Go away!" 

He left for all of about 3 minutes and he was back.

Pushing the books and clicking the lamp sting. 

This time I scooped him up and brought him in bed with us. I figured I could keep him there long enough that he will either give up and stay or run away pissed off like a moody teenager. This lasted all of 5 minutes. He escaped the bed, ran out into the hallway and then was back, at it, on the nightstand.

That was it, I wanted more sleep, I was done with his game, and he was going to get what he wanted.

I threw off the covers, stomped to my feet and went to grab him from next to the lamp. I believe that was the moment when he might have a moment of regret. 

I grabbed for him and started to pull him off the nightstand when he then grabbed the lamp as a life line. In my head I heard him going, "No mama, noooo!" as I pulled him and the lamp at the same time. Three tugs later he released and I very roughly carried him to the side door, and practically threw him outside. 

Now, some people might be like why not just sleep with your bedroom door closed? We don't for two reasons. The first is that Husband likes the cat and they do cuddle pretty good together. He wants the option for the cat to come sleep with him. The second reason is that if I close the bedroom door he just stand on the outside of it pawing the door until he still gets what he wants, which is me up and throwing him outside.

Now that it is summer time I have actually let him stay outside all night as well. That isn't very often though because sometimes when I do that I still sleep poorly because then I'm worried about him. What if it rains? What if he's hot? What if he's cold? What if he's thirsty, or hungry, or hurt or gets lots, or scared or any other number of things people worry about for their cats.

I'm going to stay for this current night event the cat one this battle but the war will continue to rage on.

Does anyone else have a cat that is wakes them up and not their spouse? Or became their unwanted 4am alarm clock? If so please leave a comment below!

Nailed It!

Photo by jonathan ocampo on Unsplash

I am not a huge fan of binge watching shows. I am not against other people doing it, I just normally over schedule too much to take the time to sit on the couch and enjoy show guilt free for a few hours when perfectly healthy.

The last time I was sick I binged watched all the episodes for the show Super Store by NBC on Hulu. That is a pretty cute show for sure.

Though I am not physically sick, just going through a thing right now, I have now successfully binged watched the show Nailed It! on Netflix.

This beautiful cupcake by Jonathan Ocampo is not something you would see on the show. It is a bunch of really bad bakers trying to make some extraordinary baking treats and failing pretty hard core.

I sit and watch this show with a stupid smile on my face the entire time and then break out into belly laughs sometimes with the reactions of the judges.

I had my mom and my husband watch the show and they too were laughing just as hard as I was. I told my friend about it and she looked at me liked I was crazy. She was laughing at me laughing and not the show. So this show isn't always for everyone. Eh, it's okay.

I can say I have learned some things from this show since they give the failing bakers some tips on how they can do things better next time. First, when making butter cream always use room temperature butter. I've never made butter cream so I would not know that. Second there is something called modeling chocolates that you heat up using your hands and then play with like play dough. I think the most important thing I've learned so far is that baking is more of a science than an art really.

Nailed It! also makes me want to try to make some of their creations to see how it goes more me. Would I be able to do it any better or would I fail just as hard core? I feel like a pretty competent baker so I want to say I can do a bit better. The real thing would be if I do make the thing should I also put a timer on like they have? I might just have to try this.

I am not sure if I will or not but if I do, I'll be sure to post my results good or bad on here!

Does anyone else watch this show? If so do you have a favorite episode? Do you have a favorite host? Let me know with a comment below!

Book Review - Crazy Rich Asians Triliogy by Kevin Kwan

Photo by JOSHUA COLEMAN on Unsplash

Please note, starting off this post, this image is not from the book. I am pretty sure I am not able to put the book covers on my post. But this picture by Mr. Coleman makes you feel all rich and fancy right?

The point of this post is not the picture but the books! They are so good! Honestly, they have twists, they have turns, they have characters that you love and love to hate.

I mean, I know the first book has been made into a movie which was also so cute!

The books, like most books are always better. The movie did a good job in keeping with the books  over all story but it's tiny details that just brings this world alive.

I haven't had the pleasure, at least yet, to see all the places mentioned in the books. When the characters are going across the world you are right there with them.

Don't forget about the food. I want to try everything described being put in their mouths. I enjoy all the food I eat when I travel, but this is at a whole new level I want to be apart of in the future.

This isn't really a review as much of a push to say go read this fun series. It will make you laugh, it will make you tear up, but thankfully it wont make you want to throw it. I've done that before, and you feel really guilty hurting a book.

Did anyone else read this book? If so, who's your favorite character? I'll share mine if you share yours ;)

Audio Books Make Your Brain Happy!

Photo by Blaz Photo on Unsplash

I remember when I was younger walking through my local library and seeing the audio book section with all their cases of CDs and being very judgy. I was like, why would you ever LISTEN to a book when you could just read it? I didn't understand or know why anyone would want to listen to a book.

To be fair, as a little kid I was always reading books. One summer my brother and I had a contest to see who could read the most books. Yes, I understand that makes me sound like a total nerd, but I was, so you called it. Matilda by Roald Dalh was one of my favorite books. I had aspiration of trying to read every book in the library like her. That, never happened.

As I got older my time for reading became less and less. I would still find time to read some books but not many. Most of my reading was for school either by required reading or text books.

Now, I can proudly say I was part of the lucky few who were able to experience the Harry Potter series book releases parties. I joined that wonderful world after book 3 was already out and I then had to painstakingly wait for books 4, 5, 6, and 7. Man those were fun!

That being said, after the Harry Potter series concluded I kind of stopped reading. I did read thing here and there but moving into the movie and television industry for college I spent all my free time watching and talking about movies. Once I left that life I kind of just fell out of reading in general. It was always something I loved but just never had time for it.

In the last few years that trend of not reading has both continued to slowly dwindle until... it...  .......stopped.

However, all is not lost! I have continued to fuel my brain and heart with stories because now I listen to books on tape! Well, more like mp3s. I listen to audio books, like all the time. When I say all the time, I mean, when I am driving in my car, when I am cleaning my house and pretty much any time I can. At work we are allowed to listen to music/our phones with ear buds. Instead of music I am pretty much always listening to a book. Sometimes at work, I do sometimes listen to podcasts instead of a book, but if my ear buds are in my phone, it's a book.

I love it!

I forgot how wonderful it was to be taken into a whole new world or place with just words. It gives me something to talk about with my husband. It gives me something to listen to when cleaning and doing other chores I might not like to do. And most important I'm learning! I am not always just reading fiction I do throw in a non-fiction book like every 3-4. It makes my brain expand!

Now, I do have the ability to mooch off of my friends Audible account which is wonderful. The other way I listen to books is the Libby app. (Please note I put this link on here of my own free will. They are not paying me or probably even now I've done this.) I love this app because it uses the card from your local library and allows you to either read a book through the app or listen to some of them. I love it because they have a great selection and because it's through a library so the books are free to listen too!

Anyway, if you're looking for something you can do in your commute or on a walk with your dog and aren't musically inclined like myself, I recommend an audio books.

Anyone else "read" books though one or two of the above apps like me? Let me know if you have a favorite app or book!

So Cute!

Now, hopefully I wont get in trouble for this post, but look how cute this guy is!

I was walking through my local BJ's and saw this guy! I mean, just look at him! He is like I am ready for this day, I am ready for this summer! I have my hat, my chair, and sun glasses, what else can I need? He could be going to the lake to fish, or beach to sit and watch the water this guy is ready!

That's it, really, I just though he was super cute.

Selfie? I don't mind if I do

I have a problem. It really isn't this specific picture as much as what this picture represents. I like to take selfies, but on other people's phones.....when they aren't looking.

I don't know how long I've been playing this game, but it has been a while. Most of them are not flattering pictures. Most of them kind of make me think I need to learn to make more faces.

There are two best parts to this game. The first is just knowing you took a picture on some one's phone and that they are going to find one of the weird gems later that day or even next week. It will probably both confuse them and make them smile. The second best part is that people do this game to me too. I've probably got at least 100-200 pictures of attacks like this from other people. I love it so much. 

I have to admit for a while anyone with an iPhone was exempt from this game. It was just because I couldn't figure out how to get to the camera screen. However, I have learned and so now no phone is safe.....no phone. Friend, foe, or stranger, are all free game. You've been warned. 

Does anyone else play the selfie game?

Bee Fail - again

In the last few years I have attempted to raise honey bees. Both attempts I failed.

In both cases I had new queens with 3lbs of work bees. The first attempt mostly failed due to ignorance. You can see the devastating results at 0-2. My second attempt was pretty much due to the same reason.

The first one was my fault due to being exciting and hoping to expand the colony to fast and big. When fall started and the colony shrunk they had too much space to take care of and not enough workers so the wax moths came in and took them out. The second time they failed faster. I feel pretty confident that it was due to a missing queen. I don't know if she died or flew away but she went MIA and before I knew what was going on it was, again too late. They did give me a fun memory though.

A few things tickle me the most out of my bees. First, they both were murdered, like completely and utterly, no survivors at all.Second, two years in a row, you would have thought I would have gotten a little better by the second year. Nope, apparently not. Third, I just went to apply to our local state agency about getting help and extra equipment for my third attempt next year, in less than 24 hours the agency received over 2,000 applications and have already closed out the process. I guess I'll know better next year to stay up to 12am on June 30th. (I just set up a calendar reminder). I think the fourth and most important is that friends and family members have always told me that I needed to get a hobby. It would be, "fun." I had a hobby, I've put a lot of money into it and twice I have failed. I guess they never specified the goals of the hobby. These well meaning people never said find a hobby that wouldn't immediately fail on you, or cost a bunch of money, or that could give you a rash, or attack you. Nope, just get a hobby.

I should have defined it better. Maybe I'll have to keep that in mind for my next hobby.

Until then, I'm still sticking with bees. It's just going to be another year because I need to save up. My goal is to get two nukes at the same time. Nukes, for anyone not familiar with bees, are several frames that have eggs, honey, pollen, and an already tested queen and helpers. Think of it as buying an already started tomato plan that has buds for flowers. It isn't a guarantee my bees live or that the tomato plant produces fruit, but it seems like a pretty good chance.

Anyone else playing around with bees? If so, any suggestions on books or blogs? Thanks and have a great night!