Tips for looking good on-the-go

If you’ve ever wanted to know what you look like when you’re completely exhausted, without makeup and dehydrated, try planning an epic trip with lots of flights, hiking and moving around. When you have a very intense on-the-go travel schedule, especially an outdoorsy one, it can become harder and harder to look your best. (Especially when you pack light, and leave all your expensive beauty aids at home.)

Although you may not have time to primp and pamper yourself, you can still do a few things to make yourself feel beautiful. You don’t want to get home and see all those pictures of yourself looking tired. You want to look glamorous!

I have found that you only need a few things to make yourself look and feel your best when you’re on the road. 

Click here to read my suggestions for looking good on-the-go on Travel Fashion Girl

My personal airport style

When I go to the airport, I like to wear something that is casual, comfortable and semi-stylish.  I really like to have all my items ready with me in my backpack, such as an over-sized scarf that keeps my neck warm, but also can be used as a blanket on frigid airplanes. 

Above has been my recent go-to outfit for domestic flights.  However, flying international is a bit of a different story.  If you have multiple layovers, and you'll be spending the night on the plane, jeans aren't going to cut it.  (I like jeans normally, because they're thick and keep me warm.) 

If I'm traveling overseas, I will typically wear a maxi-dress, because it feels like a nightgown and is comfortable to sleep in.  I also bring a hoodie, because it's cozy and keeps me warm.  And of course, I bring a giant scarf to use as a blanket.  I always make sure to pack pain reliever for my killer headache and aching body after a night of waking up every 20 minutes with sharp pains in my legs from them "falling asleep."  I like to wipe my face upon waking with one of these wipes because it wipes off all the make-up and moisturizes it at the same time. 

For Christmas, my Secret Santa bought me a set of Travelon packing envelopes, which I love.  I use those to keep my bag organized.  I pack one of the envelopes full of Larabars, Kind Bars and fruit bars so that I don't have to shell out $45 for a crappy granola bar at the airport.  This way, all I have to do is buy my coffee and I have breakfast taken care of.

What do you like to wear to the airport?

Allegiant Air and Rickenbacker Airport… I’ll Do It Again

Written by: Heidi Papworth

When my brother called me and suggested I come home for the Fourth of July cookout at his place, I told him that I hadn't seen any money growing on the palm trees out front of my studio apartment.  After all, I don’t consider flying home to be cheap.  All of my recent trips from south Florida to Columbus have been an average of $400 round trip.  All of which included a layover somewhere, that made no sense, and a checked bag packed with about three coats.   So when he told me to look into Allegiant Air, which flew in and out of Rickenbacker airport, I was pleasantly willing to book a round-trip and direct flight for under $200! 

My experience flying into Rickenbacker was great, but my experience flying OUT of Rickenbacker was even better.  Upon walking in, there were about four Allegiant counters to my right and one TSA terminal about 2 yards ahead.  There were only about 10 people waiting in line, so going through TSA wasn’t the usual scene with the overhead announcement about liquids, and 10-too many people trying to get their laptops into bins at once.  Let’s just say this: I wasn’t worried about missing my flight because the person in front of me couldn’t untie their shoes fast enough. 

Upon checking in, the only option is to head upstairs (either by escalator, stairs or elevator) to the two gates.  Literally, after being dropped off by my brother, I was able to text him 5 minutes later that I was already checked in and waiting at the gate.  And good news for me, with only two gates getting lost wasn’t even an option.  After being checked in so quickly, I definitely had time for a coffee at the Bob Evans Express!  So thrilled about my quick check-in, I shared my excitement about Rickenbacker with the cashier who commented “getting in and out of here is simple.  It’s the best part”.  I couldn’t agree more.

In summary, here are the pros and cons of the airport and airline:

Pros:

Check-in took five minutes.  There were about 10 other people in the line when I arrived… one place to check in.  You walk in and the check in lane is about 2 yards ahead.  The check in gates are directly to your right, although I had my boarding pass downloaded already and didn’t need to go to the allegiant counter.  In fact, allegiant charges $5 to print a boarding pass for you at check in – so I conveniently downloaded my pass to my mobile ahead of time.

Only two gates.  There are only two gates upstairs so there was no question which gate I was departing from.

No body scan. TSA uses the walk-through metal detectors instead of the advanced image body scanners

Cons:

No Starbucks.  Enough said.

No pre-boarding for children.  Families with children are not considered priority boarding – they have to board with their assigned zone, which made some people angry  (Allegiant policy)

Roadtrippers App and mini-trip

Last minute, we decided to take a little overnight road trip from Columbus.  We wanted to go somewhere fun, but also make the journey fun as well.  What we learned is that trips go by so much faster, even with little 10 minute stops along the way to see something new.  When you know it's only an hour until your next stop, it breaks up the monotony of driving and keeps your eyes on the look-out for the next spot.

We started in Columbus and went to Yellow Springs, Ohio, where we visited Glen Helen Nature Preserve, Young's Jersey Dairy Farm and Clifton Mills.  These were at the recommendation of a friend, and we were not disappointed.  We walked around a beautiful outdoor area, tried some homemade ice cream and saw one of the largest water-powered grist mills still in existence.  

After that we made a few stops long the way that we found through Roadtrippers App. One stop was a legal graffiti wall near Dayton, Ohio, and a castle on the side of the road called Frankenstein's Castle.  These were short, ten minute stops, but peaked our interest as we were driving.  We also stopped by a place called Jerry's Junk, which is basically some guy's house where he collects a lot of large antiques such as cars, phone booths, statues, etc.

We ended our road trip in Louisville, where we stayed downtown and were able to walk to Whiskey Row.  We visited the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience, not an actual distillery, but still was able to learn a little about how they make bourbon.  (And of course, a tasting.)

Sometimes a little exploration near your home is all you need for a little fun and relaxation.  We didn't want to spend the entire time in the car, and if we picked somewhere further away for two days, we would have spent all our time in the car.  This was a shorter journey that we stretched out by doing interesting things.  

My suggestion is to pick somewhere you want to visit within 3-5 hours of your home.  Enter your destination in the Roadtrippers App and see if you can make the journey just as fun as the destination!

Click here to see our pictures from the trip