Food and travel

Food.  It's one of the best parts of a vacation.  However, if anything I've learned from planning a budget, it's that I almost always go over on my food budget.  I guess you could say that "vacation brain" kicks in and you stop caring about how much you're spending.  The other reason is that I didn't do enough good research to figure out which restaurants I would actually eat at.

The last few vacations I've gone on, I've carefully researched and selected restaurants that I know have good reviews and where I can see a menu posted.  I can use the menu to discern about how much we will spend.  Surprisingly, when you're tired from sightseeing, you're OK with whatever you've picked out.  I always think I don't want to plan, I want to be spontaneous.  It's fun to not plan and just figure it out, right?  Sometimes.  And sometimes you end up starved and arguing about where to find a restaurant at 7 p.m. and you don't know what's good or how much things cost and you finally say, "I don't care if it's $400, I'm just going to eat it!"  Well, if you actually plan and think about where you might be at the time of day, you can at least have some options.  You can still choose to do something else and be spontaneous, but if you decide you're tired and hungry and you want to stick to a budget, better pick out some places.

Here are some suggestions for finding good restaurants around the place you'll be:

1.  TripAdvisor.  You can search the city you'll be in and click on the hotel/bed and breakfast you're staying at.  A handy tool called "Browse nearby" opens up a map and allows you to see what's around you, including things to do.  If you know you're going to a museum around lunch time, search to see if there are any restaurants that have good ratings around there.  

2.  Zagat.  These have some great reviews of restaurants in major cities (major like Paris, London, Atlanta, NYC, etc.)  You can narrow down by cost, location (they have Google maps embedded) and type of food.  They rate restaurants based on decor, service and food so you can see what you're in for.  

3.  Google Maps.  This is a great option for finding restaurants near where you are located.  If you open maps, you can click on "explore nearby" and it gives you the option for restaurants or hotels.  You can see ratings, reviews and you're in a good place to see exactly how far it is from where you'll be.

4.  Magazines and guide books.  I am old school and still read magazines for travel destinations, and almost always they review restaurants.  You can find some new or funky places to try.  Guidebooks are also great, especially for foreign travel.  We've found some great suggestions in guidebooks when we've been in Europe and South America.

The other thing I do, besides research restaurants, is make a list of the nearest grocery stores and convenient stores.  Not only is this helpful if you need to pick up some decongestants or body lotion, but for having snacks and food with you in your room and getting bottled water.

GROCERY STORES

HOTEL	NAME	DISTANCE FROM HOTEL	HOURS
London	SPAR	.2 miles on Queensway	7 a.m. to 12 a.m.
	Queensway Food and Wine	.2 miles on Queensway (5 min. walk)	Mon-Sat: 24 hours Sun: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Chipping Campden	One Stop	.3 miles on High St. (looks like a slight walk behind the main buildings to the left when coming from hotel)	7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Conwy	ASDA Llandundo Junction Supermarket	1.3 miles (3 minutes in a car, over the bridge)	Mon-Sat: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
	Tesco Llandundo Junction	1.5 miles (4 minutes in a car, over the bridge)	Mon- Fri: 24 hours.
Keswick	Booths Supermarket	4.7 miles (13 minutes in car, in the direction of Castlerigg)	Mon-Sat: 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Oban	Tesco Supermarket	.4 miles (10 min walk)	Mon-Sat: 6 a.m. to midnight Sun: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
	Millstone Wholefoods	.4 miles (9 minute walk)	9:15 to 5:15 p.m. Closed Sun
	Aldi	.6 miles (15 minute walk)	Mon.-Fri: 8.00am - 8pm Sat: 8.00am - 8pm Sun: 10.00am - 7pm
Edinburgh	Earthy Portobello	.3 miles (5 minute walk)	Mon-Fri: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
	Scottish Midland Co-op	.3 miles (6 minute walk)	Mon-Sun: 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Dublin	SPAR	.1 mile  (2 minute walk)	Mon-Sat: 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

My favorite accommodation-booking sites

There are a lot of sites to choose from when booking accommodations.  There are some that I prefer more than others, and I have reasons why.  There are a lot of sites like Orbitz, Expedia, Booking.com, Hotwire, Travelocity, etc.  There are also a number of vacation rental sites such as Homeaway.com, Airbnb, and even booking through TripAdvisor.  There are pros and cons to each, and I'm not saying I'm an expert at all of the pros and cons of the sites.  However, there are ones I prefer and use them on a more regular basis.  I'd love to hear from you and see which sites you prefer.

For hotels and bed and breakfasts, I prefer to book through Booking.com.  Here are my main reasons why:

Booked this little gem through Booking.com
in the Lake District

1.  You pay when you get there.  Almost always you don't have to pay until you arrive.  There is no down-payment or money you have to put upfront.

2.  Free cancellation.  Most of the time, I can get a room that I can cancel within 48 hours of arrival.  (Sometimes even 24 hours prior to arrival.)  This gives me ease in booking things well in advance, and if things change I just cancel my reservation with no penalties.  Booking.com has a lot of the smaller bed and breakfasts listed as well, instead of just the larger hotel chains which tend to flood sites like Expedia and Orbitz.

3.  You can book as a link through TripAdvisor.  If I'm looking at hotels through TripAdvisor and I put in my dates, it gives me options on which sites I can book through.  Some hotels are listed on Orbitz, Expedia and Booking.com, some are only available through he hotel website.

4.  Customer service.  I booked a hotel in Edinburgh months in advance.  Unfortunately, the hotel canceled our reservation on account of "being full."  Booking.com offered a few other places to stay at, but they didn't have good reviews.  I chose another place and then wrote a letter of complaint to them.  They refunded us $50 for the extra cost to stay in another hotel.  They credited our bank account quickly, which I appreciated.  Even though that happened, I still felt that this site did due diligence to try and make things right.

For home rentals, I prefer Airbnb over some of the other sites.  Here is why:

1.  Better options.  Frankly, you get better options on Airbnb.  Some of the home rental sites are specific to vacation rentals and and seem more commercial.  Airbnb has regular people renting out spaces in their homes, on their farms, in their tree houses, etc.  You can find unique accommodation that you might not find anywhere else.  Some of these places you may be hard pressed to find without this type of site.

2.  Lower prices.  Their prices are overall better.  If you're looking for a budget option, Airbnb is going to have more options than you would find on a vacation rental site.  Some of the vacation rental options I've seen are the same as staying in a really nice Hampton Inn.  If I wanted to pay $200 a night to stay somewhere, I'd stay a hotel that changes my sheets and makes me breakfast.  I don't mind making my own breakfast if I only have to pay $75 a night.

3.  Review system.  Not only do you get to review the places you've stayed, but they review you as well.  Instead of them just allowing anyone to stay in their home, they can see that I've had some reviewers say that I left their place clean and was a good guest in their home.  This keeps honesty between the renters and the clients which I think is a good system.

Camping and Dolly Sods Wilderness

Dolly Sods Wilderness, in the Monongahela 
National Forest, is part of the Allegheny Mountains.  The USDA Forest Service provides this description of the area:

The Monongahela National Forest was established in 1920. Located in the north central highlands of West Virginia, the Monongahela straddles the highest ridges in the State. Elevation ranges from just under 1000' to 4863' above sea level.  Variations in terrain and precipitation have created one of the most ecologically diverse National Forests in the country.

Visitors to this beautiful place will enjoy breathtaking vistas, peaceful country roads, gently flowing streams, and glimpses of the many species of plants and animals that inhabit the Forest.  

The 17,371 acre Dolly Sods Wilderness is located in Grant, Randolph and Tucker Counties, West Virginia. The Dolly Sods Wilderness contains much of the Red Creek drainage and contains bog and heath eco-types, more commonly typical to southern Canada. Elevations range from 2,500 to over 4,700 feet.

Excerpt taken from the USDA's Website.

This was my husband's fourth (maybe fifth) trip to this beautiful park, and my second.  I remembered the hikes were hard, but views were rewarding.  When we go, we we hike and camp.  It was stunningly beautiful, and reminded me of some of the beautiful highs and lows of a park like Yosemite.  We hiked up to Lion's Head and I was not expecting that kind of dramatic view.  Not only that, but there were only two other people that were up there and they disappeared into their own world and so it was basically a beautiful vista all to ourselves.  These are the moments you can't plan for, and make my top list of experiences.

The park is about 5 hours from Columbus.  It's a little too far for a day-trip, but makes an awesome 1 or 2 night get-a-way.  After our hike back to the car, we stopped at a restaurant called Big John's Family Fixins'.  It was only about 10 minutes outside the park, and their food was hot and good and rewarding after a sweaty hike.  

This time hiking and camping, we brought our dog.  She did wonderful, and she loved every minute of it. Even though she had to work twice as hard, her little legs seemed to keep up just fine with us.  Although, at the end of the day, she passed out by the campfire and we could hear her snoring.  A few people commented on how rare it is to see a little dog doing what the big dogs are doing, but she's no ordinary small dog!  She's a trooper.  Preparing for a hiking/camping trip is not easy, and fortunately my husband does most of it. I am not as skilled at these sorts of things, although he's a great teacher and teaches me as we go.  Some of the things that he hasn't been able to teach me, that I've had to learn myself, is how I can be comfortable as a woman camping.  I recently wrote an article for Travel Fashion Girl about some products to buy to make camping easier for women.  Check it out here: What to bring on a camping trip: a practical guide for girls.

There were a few things I learned this past trip that I thought might be worth sharing.  

My bathroom near the campsite.  A branch and below is a hole.

1.  A make-shift toilet.  Sure, it's gross, but I wish someone had told me this earlier.  One thing I learned is that finding a fallen-over tree branch makes a great toilet.  Instead of trying to find a nice clearing to squat, finding a branch you can sit on really helps.  (You can actually have two hands free!)  If you're thinking, "that's gross," allow me to remind you that it's far less gross to sit on a dirty tree branch in the middle of the woods than it is to use a public bathroom where thousands of other women are putting their bare butts on the same surface and flushing their waste particles all over the air you're breathing.  Once I remembered that, the tree branch actually felt better and healthier.  (And easier at night because once you pick a place, you don't have to sleepily stumble through trying to find a clearing.)

2.  Coconut wipes are the greatest.  These babies cleaned my face and moisturized it, and cleaned my body and smelled delicious.  I really didn't feel that gross, they surprisingly made me feel refreshed.

3.  You can't get the cheap coffee.  We learned that the cheap instant coffee sucks.  Sure, it's seven times less expensive than the Starbucks VIA packets,which makes them hard to buy.  It's hard to look and see $1.19 for one box, and $7.79 for a box of the exact same amount.  But, cheap instant coffee tastes terrible.  You have to pay for the good stuff.  We brought Starbucks VIA Vanilla Lattes and those a delicious treat!

4.  Bandannas are cute and practical.  They make a great headband, sweatband, or when it's chilly a little neck scarf.  I always thought they looked cool, but I didn't realize how practical they are.  My husband used his to dry off his water filter as well.  The uses are endless.  (Well, not endless, but you know what I'm saying.)

5.  Hammocks are a nice perk.  My husband always brings a hammock, even if he's sleeping in the tent.  The hammock is a nice place for a light snooze, or just a place to relax.  He also used it to stretch out his lower back in the morning, after a night of sleeping on the ground.  

Camping is something that really has grown on me.  I started off thinking I never wanted to do it and that I wouldn't enjoy it.  Now, I actually look forward to it and research cool places to go that a car just can't get you to.  The perks far outweigh any inconveniences.  In fact, the inconveniences can turn into blessings in disguise.  No electricity for a few days?  Actually, it's pretty liberating.

What to wear in California National Parks

Californians tend to be stylish and sleek, but with the number of tourists coming to the state attractions every year, you’d be hard pressed to find a typical state wardrobe. Within the different cities and parks, you’ll need to be prepared with a variety of clothing when you’re planning what to wear in California.

Many of the most popular National Parks to visit (such as Yosemite, Death Valley, Kings Canyon and Sequioa) are situated within central California. There are some exceptions, such as the Channel Islands and Joshua Tree to the south and the Redwood Forest to the north, but mostly you’ll find the majority within central California.

The time of year you travel to some of the National Parks, such as Yosemite, won’t make a huge difference when it comes to selecting your clothing. Yosemite’s temperatures can drop to 50 degrees Fahrenheit even in July. However, some of the other parks such as Death Valley can rise to extreme temperatures in the summer, which means you’ll need to pack according to what time of year you go.

If you’re planning on packing for a few of these parks, you’ll need a variety of clothing for hiking during the day, and a few outfits for the evenings when you may be going out to eat in a nearby town. Follow these tips as you plan what to wear in California to explore the national parks.

Click here to read my recommendations on Travel Fashion Girl