On Traveling [Destinations + The Dread of Long Haul Flights]
Many moons ago, during a spring break week in college, I booked a solo trip to New York City, I spent the entire week alone, unplugged from my phone, with only a guidebook of the city in hand, and a very tight student budget, it was quite the experience. Seeing one of the most inspiration filled cities in the world was mesmerizing, though the short week quickly came to an end, but it has hit me with a rather long-term travel bug. On the flight back to LA, I jotted down the next 10 places I wanted to visit before I turn 30 in my notebook, and the dreaming began.
- Easter Island
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Iceland
- New Zealand
- Australia
- India
- Japan
- Greece
- Morocco
- Galapagos Islands
How am I doing on that list you might ask? 3/10 as of August 2014, a bit far from my goal sadly but I still have a couple of years to make a run at it, 3 countries a year? Ha!
On the topic of traveling, as much I enjoy going to new places, I don't like long-haul flights, the TV dinner food, the stuffy, recycled cabin air, screaming toddlers(if you are a parent flying with a toddler, I salute you.) and I have terrible flying anxiety. But over the years I have learned to manage my flight stress and make the experience more enjoyable, with the help from a few flying essentials in my carry on.
That's it, everything I need in my carry on to ease the flying process for this anxious traveler. Of course, with most airlines you are allowed another personal item as well (Backpack/Purse/Laptop case). I usually go with the backpack option, with a little crossbody bag thrown in there. It will hold the more important items like wallet, boarding pass, passport/ID, sunglasses etc.
And if you are interested, check out my most recent trip to Taiwan, here, here and here. Taiwan was beautiful, food was amazing, and the people were warm and hospitable, it wasn't on my list before but it definitely should have been.