Picking my brain: the travel bug

I love to travel. It's something that's been passed down to me from my parents, who are world travelers themselves. I as a young child, I became accustomed to traveling a lot to visit my family in Europe for various holidays (although getting older I tend to get a bit of airplane anxiety, but that's another story for another time). Transitioning to adulthood, I realized the benefit travelling has on our perspective of life. I'd like to take credit for passing along the travel bug to my guy, who is by farrr my favorite travel companion. After seeing some of the world, I feel that I've become more open-minded to different mannerisms we inherit from our culture and I appreciate my way of life so much more (a little 4th of July patriotism). Other cultures and how we evolved to act the way we do is so fascinating. Our societal behaviors are on a constant strain of evolution, changing practically day-by-day. However, with media and the introduction of the internet, we have all become so close together. I can now see someone on the other side of the planet with the right software and a click of my mouse and yet we still hold on to those deeply rooted cultural values and norms (seriously, you'd think I was a sociology major!) 


Working in an office all day my inbox gets flooded with amazing travel deals from websites like living social, travel zoo, and Jetsetter. So many deals, so little vacation time... oh yah and money (that funny little thing)

My dream job (I tell my boyfriend this on a weekly basis) is to move to some exotic place and work in the tourism industry - beaches, fruity drinks, sun-kissed skin... I digress. Check out these amazing places that are currently topping my list of go-to's...

1. THAILAND
If you've read back a few months, you may have seen me mention my liking for Eastern/Buddhist culture art. PS - I'm addicted to Thai food. Plus, it's beautiful there! Yes pleaseee!

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2. SPAIN
History, art, architecture, delicious food... there are no words.
(oh and soccer!)

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3. NOR CAL
Just a hop skip and a jump away compared to the two destinations above! And yet, I yearn to go. Northern California has amazing food, wineries and let's not forget the Redwood Forest.

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Ah so beautiful... Can't wait to blog about these places when I actually visit them.

Happy 4th of July!

xoxo

Airport Etiquette

Here I go, right up on my soapbox to tell the citizens of the USA:

YOUR AIRPLANE ETIQUETTE SUCKS.


You'll have to excuse my absence the last week as I travelled to New York City for the first time to reunite with my best friend for her birthday. A side note: Arizona girl in New York City during the dead of Winter? Yes, I might be a saint and a damn good friend I must say.

Anyway, during my travel there, I became utterly appalled at the terrible etiquette my fellow passengers displayed and let's not forget the terrible flight attendants. Where do I begin?

Here are some rules (in no particular order of importance)....

1. Let's just say that yanking the seat in front of you as an attempt to stand up is not acceptable. How about using the armrest provided? Because unlike you,  I AM SLEEPING and prefer not to be yanked violently because you need to use the restroom.

2. Do you need to crowd when entering the plane? The zone is clearly labeled on your ticket and blocking the entrance isn't helping anyone people.

3. Even though I am already sitting in my seat, I still do exist and I'm 5'9".  Getting hit by your obnoxiously large carry-on luggage isn't really my cup of tea.

4. NEVER wear cheap cologne. I guess these goes to say for all forms of etiquette. Spare us please. I was practically choked to death for the two hours I had to endure with the greasy looking man next to me who seemed to have spilled the entire bottle all over his cheap, poorly tailored suit. Did I mention he loved Mariah Carey?

5. This brings me to my next point. Just because you love Mariah Carey and she gets you through the flight doesn't mean that all of us want to hear her, especially the muffled version because your iPod is blasting. Because you know what happens? When others get annoyed with your loud music selection, they decide to blare their favorite music on their respectable iPods to drown out your choice. Where does that leave us innocent bystanders who just want to nap? In muffled musical agony. I experienced a war between Mariah and Usher than not even E! could get their hands on.

6. Last, but surely not least, this is for all you flight attendants. That fake smile plastered to your face doesn't do much justice to masking the fact that you hate your job. Running into your passengers with your butt isn't really professional or appropriate. That is all.

To conclude my rant, I know we all hate the airlines. They charge us obscene fees for luggage and every time I fly the planes seem to be smaller and fuller.  But when it comes down to it we should not succumb to our misery - we need to work together to make sure our encounters with the airlines are as short and stress-free as possible. I know you all agree.

Until Next Time....

XoXo
Nina