Category: Nifty Advice

A couple of things to think about while you travel.

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How To Haggle Like a Pro

One pretty cool part of traveling the world is that instead of wandering the mall on an otherwise boring Sunday, you can cruise the local markets of the world instead, whether it be the San Lorenzo Market of Florence, Italy, the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul, Turkey, or the German Christmas Markets. However, unlike the mall, you need to learn how to haggle like a pro in order to score some cool stuff without accidentally spending your dinner money. And, you need to do it while having fun – there’s no reason to be nervous about wanting to pay a price you think is reasonable and not being afraid to ask for it.

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1. Make someone laugh. Everyone, even seemingly conniving shopkeepers, are looking for a laugh, especially at their day jobs. So while haggling, if you can get a little personal with the shopkeeper; talk to him about the cool stuff he’s got or entertain his lame pickup lines with a friendly smile, you’re golden. He will be more willing to entertain your offers if he sees you as a friend instead of just another tourist.

2. Never be the first to name a price. There’s been many times when I was willing to offer a much higher initial price but then I heard the shopkeeper’s price before I even said a word. For this reason, don’t be afraid to ask, in a non-desperate way, how much something costs. And if they ask you in return how much you want to pay, either go for a major low-ball or ask, “Well how much are you looking to sell it for?”

3. Don’t be afraid to walk away. The best move you can make, even for an item you’re absolutely in love with, is to walk away when a haggle is totally not going your way because the shopkeeper isn’t budging. There will be times you will walk away, seemingly without a care, and no one will call you back. Guess what? Come back around in ten minutes and no one is going to remember you anyway. However, more often than not, you’ll get a frantic Wait! Wait! Trust me, they want to sell that crap just as much as you want to buy it.

4. Enlist a partner. It’s always good to have someone on your side who is as awesome at haggling as you are to say, only to strengthen your case, “Come on, that’s too much money. It’s not worth it.” There’s strength in numbers. If a shopkeeper knows it’s going to be two against one he is more likely to compromise. Pick a code to signal to your partner when you’re in need of some help.

5. Don’t be stupid. In Canal Street, especially if you’re a dumb looking girl with a fancy bag, people are going to mob you and try to get you to follow them for blocks and blocks to come to their shop (one that most likely is hidden in a basement or behind a fake wall). Be careful with this kind of stuff. Never get too close to a van, no matter how cute those bags are, and never wander down those sketchy stairwells. It’s never going to be worth it.

6. Lie. Twenty bucks too much for that crappy bracelet? Yes, I agree. Because you saw it down the street for $10… except not really. Don’t be afraid to make up a little white lie to get the price you want. No one is ever gonna know that you haven’t even seen the item yet besides in this shop.

7. Don’t allow yourself to be charmed. Obviously, it’s OK to flirt – this goes hand-in-hand with haggling. However, don’t think you’re the only one who is trying to charm – usually these suave shopkeepers know their game just as well and will tell you anything you want to hear to get you to buy that $300 leather jacket. Keep in mind that yes, laugh, smile, and be friendly, but you’re also the 18th person today that they have told has beautiful eyes.

8. Take your time. If you feel like you may be getting too caught up in the fun and are going to make a regrettable purchase, you can always say you’re going to think about it and come back later. I particularly like doing this for huge, overwhelming markets, because I don’t want to spend a ton on one item only to see it ten minutes later being sported for half the price. Take your time. Trust me, it isn’t going anywhere, especially if they tell you that it is.

9. Keep those wandering hands at bay. It may seem easy enough to grab something off a table when the keeper isn’t looking, but this is a really bad idea. All of these shopkeepers are friends, people, and even if yours doesn’t spot you lifting, somebody else will, and trust me, you’re going to be wishing there was a cop around if you get mixed up in this kind of sketchy business.

10. Never be taken for a schlub. Especially when you’re a girl, people think that you have money to spend and it’s easy to be taken advantage of. Show them that this is not the case. Speak confidently, don’t be afraid to bargain or walk away, and hold tight to the price that you want.

3 Continue reading “How To Haggle Like a Pro”

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How To Pass The Time In the Skies

If you’re reading this, it’s because you have a thirst for the world. You have a need to try the oddest looking foods, ravage the most dangerous cities, run from the scariest thieves, and see the most stunning sights. However, getting to these places costs a high price. And that price; besides giving up the security of a 9 to 5 job and a cushy salary and any semblance of a normal life, would be that you have to spend a lot of hours stuck in a boring airport, complete with recycled air and screaming babies and freeze-wrapped food.

Passing all of these hours in the airport isn’t easy. Finding things to entertain you takes real effort and it’s hard to give up so much time accomplishing nothing. However, I have some answers to your woes. Read below for ways to pass the time in productive ways at the airport and on the plane.

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1. Pick up some books on tape before you go. Since I have the work commute from Hell, I have been spending a lot of time at the library scoring books on tape. Reading Steve Jobs may be a little boring to actually flip through, but listening to it in the relaxing voice of whoever got paid to read that is much easier to get through and enjoy while you zone out on the airplane and fall into another world. Some that I have been particularly enjoying recently are America by Jon Stewart, Tough Shit by Kevin Smith, and Dude, Where’s My Country? by Michael Moore.

2. Read your guidebook. Before you’re blindly wandering around your next destination wondering where you can find a bathroom, read through a guidebook beforehand so you have a grasp on the secrets of the city, the top destinations, and the top restaurants to hit. The airplane, a hole of a place where there isn’t much else to do anyway, is a perfect time and place to get this done.

3. Download some podcasts. In realm with grabbing your books on tape, downloading podcasts is a cool way to listen to some of your favorite radio stations, find some new material, and generally expand your horizons besides listening to the same albums over and over again.

4. Write down your thoughts. Especially if you are embarking on a true journey such as visiting a new continent for the first time, studying abroad, traveling with a new person, or maybe roaming alone for the first time, writing is a great way to get your thoughts down so that one day when you’re a worn traveler, you can look back and remember how you felt before it all even started. Plus, since you’re gonna be jammed on that plane for awhile, you have all the time in the world so you aren’t rushed to get it all down on paper without really feeling it through.

5. Get drunk. On European flights, wine is generally given out as lax (and free) as soda is, even it tastes like toilet water. However, beggars can’t be choosers when it comes to getting a little free buzz pre-adventure. Plus you’re gonna need a confidence boost before going to try to pick up that guy in the seat in front of you.

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How To Be a Winter Wanderer

This morning, I was fully committed to getting to work. I am aware that most of the time when people tell you that a huuuuge storm is coming, it probably isn’t.

I woke up on time, took a shower, put on my carefully planned outfit, and walked outside ten minutes early so that I could warm up my car and shovel off some snow. This plan was all going accordingly until I abruptly fell off my own porch because I couldn’t see the steps under the piles of snow. Well the effort was there.

Regardless of the fact that I get to work in my pajamas today, it is imperative that travelers of all shapes and sizes, including commuters and cross-country wanderers, complete the basic necessities to make it through when there is an actual blizzard outside.

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This is Norway… in September

1. What to Pack – I’m a neat freak and my car is always pretty empty, besides a few basic necessities. In your car, make sure you always have:

  • A small first-aid kit
  • Tissues
  • An extra pair of pants, shirt, underwear, socks, boots, and sweatshirt (never know where you’ll be sleeping tonight)
  • Ice scraper (duh)
  • Collapsable snow shovel (these are awesome)
  • A water bottle
  • A couple granola bars
  • Bag of kitty litter
  • Jumper cables

2. What to Clean – Trust me, I want to get out the door too. But now that I have a beautiful gem of a vehicle, I now am very strict about cleaning off all of my car before driving after a snowstorm. This means making sure there aren’t snow and ice chunks waiting to fall off the roof of your car and the headlights and taillights are cleared well. Don’t be lazy!

3. How to Drive – SLOW. Once again, I’m probably just as late as you are. However, when you lose control of your car on what looks like a clean road, you’re going to wish you had some more space between the car in front of you and yourself.

4. How to Maneuver – When people lose control of their vehicles on black ice, their first instinct is to pound on the breaks and veer the other direction. However, this is the worst thing you can do. Think about it – you have the least amount of control of your car when you’re braking. Instead, turn the wheel in the direction that your wheels are turning to regain control.

5. How to Stay Alive – If you get stuck, put on your emergency lights (even though they look dumb), park in a reasonable spot that is visible but not obstructing a busy road, and stay in your car. You may be tempted to get out and try to find help, but a cop or someone will come by eventually and you probably have a cell phone anyway. There are some crazies out there.

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The Best Travel Jobs in the Business

Everytime I tell someone that I want to be a travel writer, they look at me like I just told them I want to be a Disney princess. The eyebrow raises and the slow smirks usually make me feel kind of crappy, and sometimes, if I’m down enough that day, the whole debacle makes me want to throw in the towel and say FINE! Just chain me to a desk for the next 43 years and we can call it a day. However, this feeling usually doesn’t last too long, because:

1. Forty-three years is a really long time

2. I would rather die

3. Within the next hour of any given task of any day, I am soon looking up itineraries/travel pictures/travel blogs/daydreaming/posting on this blog.

At the same time, I have to remember (and we all can remember) that there are lots of awesome jobs out there for those of us with wings on our hearts. So next time your neighbor is trying to convince you that being a credit collector is sooo fun, and you’re wondering why the hell you bothered going to college in the first place, take a look at this list and remember that there is no reason at all that you have to throw in the towel and install that back protector on your swivel chair.

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1. Event Coordinators do the job that you used to do when you were 16 and your parents went away for the weekend (but not really) – they plan special events, like functions, shows, dinners, and festivals – for various organizations and corporations. Get yourself involved with a big name company and you could be the one flying around the world looking at huge venues, choosing the best entertainment, and shaking hands with well-connected people. The average salary in the United States isn’t the best ($39,000 – $56,000 depending on various sources) but hey, it beats being a travel writer. WOMP.

2. Cruise Line Workers also don’t exactly bring home the big bucks with their salaries of between $1000 and $4000 a month, but then again they spend their days on a cruise basking in the sun, meeting new people, and visiting beautiful destinations so what is there to complain about. Resorts such as Club Med offer their employees the opportunity to work at several of their destinations, giving them the chance to see the world. Plus, there is no background you “need” to have – tons jobs are available, such as server, shopkeeper, masseuse, entertainer, bartender, etc.

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Hopefully this doesn’t happen on your cruise

3. Tour Guides, who sometimes are the remnants of college history buffs, have the chance (with the proper background) to work and live in various cities all over the world, interact with international citizens, be out and about all day long, and be the ones to show people that “aha” moment. Even if you get burnt out by tour guide life, there are always more jobs behind the scenes coordinating logistics, finance, and finding that one lost old person.

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4. Archaeologists have the opportunity to travel to remote and unknown parts of the world, exploring that location’s history and artifacts with their trusty Masters degree. People in this career need to be good writers, meticulous, detail-oriented, patient, and not too squeamish in touching people’s old bones, garbage, and the like. To an archaeologist, everything is important. Not including the median annual salary of $53,000.

5. Athletic Recruiters used to spend their days playing college football and sitting at the local sports bar on Sundays, and now they live the dream, scouting the world for the next greatest talent. Professional sports organizations and colleges employ these recruiters to visit games and schools to find new athletes… giving you the opportunity to see the world and stay in fancy (and not-so-fancy) hotels in the meantime…. for $36,000 median a year.

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Best Gifts Under $50 for Your Favorite Globetrotter

Being that it is Black Friday, some of us (i.e. those who don’t wait until December 24) are well on our way to making our Christmas shopping lists now that Thanksgiving has cleared and we are starting to be able to button our pants again. We would never forget that bottle of wine for Grandpa, that baking set for Mom, and that fancy watch for our boyfriend(s)… but what about the traveler in our lives?

Buying gifts for travelers isn’t very easy, mostly because those who are travel-happy tend to operate on the same t-shirt and jeans for multiple days at a time and are grateful to have a bar of soap for the next destination. However, get them something they don’t know yet that they want this here. Here are some of the coolest travel gadgets to score before December 25.

1. Scratch Map, $20 is a poster map for the wall in which you scratch off each country you have visited to reveal a rainbow beneath. Also hidden under the scratched off countries is geography trivia.

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2. Water Bobble, $10 is a reusable, self-filtering stylish water bobble that is great for avoiding those pesky tap water table charges in Europe if you’re good at sneaking off to the bathroom unnoticed. These bottles come in many colors, sizes, and styles, although I recommend the Bobble Sport because they still comes in the standard medium size but they are more colorful, dishwasher safe, and the cap is attached so you can’t lose it (unlike the normal bobble). Every month (or two, which is the recommended swap time), you purchase a new filter for about $5. Oh and you get to save the environment too.

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3. Apple World Travel Adaptor Kit, $39 includes a set of six AC plugs with prongs to fit outlets in North America, Japan, China, United Kingdom, Continental Europe, Korea, Australia, and Hong Kong and works with the iPod, iPhone, iPad, Apple MagSafe Power Adapters (for MacBook and MacBook Pro), Portable Power Adapters (for iBook and PowerBook), and AirPort Express. Trust me – you just dumped big bucks into your Apple iPhone and Macbook. Don’t mess it up by using some poorly converting cheap plug in another country and then blowing the whole thing to pieces. Invest in a quality converter.

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4. Bentgo Bento Boxes, $15 are like handy little make-your-own TV dinners, just without all of the fake food. These cute, streamlined compartmentalized boxes make creating meals for the road a lot less messy than your standard cafeteria-style lunchbox.

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5. SearchAlert Locks, $20 are the kind of thing that you think you don’t really need until you’re in a hostel in Scotland sharing a room with a convicted felon. These handy resettable combination locks also change color from green to red if the locks have been opened outside of your presence.

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How To Choose a Guidebook

As we all are well aware, I’m totally down for saving dollars whenever I can… and I fully trust technology to help me do so. I use GasBuddy to find the cheapest gas stations near me, TripAdvisor and AroundMe to find the best  restaurants in my area, and I love FourSquare for snagging discounts at places I check into. However, technology isn’t always the answer, and this is the case for one classic traveling staple… The Guidebook. Nothing beats buying a ripped up guidebook off the Internet for $2, carrying it around and holding up a map over your face, and when it’s all said and done, stuffing it in the hostel drawer for the next lucky traveler. Adversely, no one wants to put their trust in a guidebook that turns out to not be reader-friendly, outdated, and only directs you to boring places. So, to help you out on your journey through the library, Amazon.com, or the nearest book kiosk at the airport, here are some of my top guidebook picks.

I’m a huge sucker for that cheesy dad-type Rick Steves. Even though he sometimes has lame jokes and the hand drawn maps can confusingly be not-t0-scale, one of my favorite perks of these guidebooks is that attractions are nicely organized in a meaningful manner of those you can’t miss and those that can be forgotten when you’ve only got a few days in a new city. These guidebooks also feature easy-to-follow walking directions and descriptions of attractions that stick to the cool parts and don’t expect you to read paragraph after paragraph about one painting. At the same time, these books choose enough detail in that when attending a fairly well-known museum, I can often use the book itself as my own “tour guide.” The book itself reads a lot like a well-traveled friend showing you around a new place.

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When I can’t get a hold of a Rick Steves, I go for Frommer’s, an American classic for travelers. These books read a little more classroom, but they are still jam-packed full of essential information like the easiest public-transportation ways to access your favorite destinations, tips about countries you wouldn’t know otherwise, and top events and festivals in the area. However, I sometimes feel like there is too much information and it needs to be scaled down a bit or organized better so that one can quickly sift through to find the desired text.

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I like Lonely Planet guides – I appreciate their user-friendly and modernistic designs and clever and colorful photos, however, they too, try to pack too much information into too-few pages, missing a lot of stopping points and glazing over some that they do mention. When buying a guidebook, I want to be carrying something that I feel like I would die if I left it at some trattoria, not something I’m constantly wasting time sifting through the pages and wondering if I missed out on a cool sight.

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When purchasing a guidebook before a trip (which I definitely recommend because you’ll have your pick of any brand and you can buy it used and save money, plus you can read it on the plane and get a headstart) make sure you check out the “Look Inside” feature usually available on Amazon.com because all guidebooks are not the same. Obviously, you want it to cover all or most of the destinations you are going to and you want it to have the focus you prefer, either one focused on history, important museums, and educational opportunities or the most well-known attractions, coolest sights, and best restaurants. If you’re buying a used guidebook, know that you will most likely have to purchase a map as well.

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Become The Lazy Tourist

Back in the day, you would never catch me dead staring blankly at a television screen, sitting at my kitchen table eating a meal, or quietly listening to music. Being away on a trip to a faraway land made this even more out of the question – time is of the essence; so why sleep, relax, or eat when you could be exploring?

Even during my too-short semester in Florence, Italy, when I went away for the weekends, I packed every moment full of museums, activities, attractions, and bars. I rationalized this insanity by arguing to myself that during the week I was spending my time enjoying every bite of gelato and every walk down Via Roma. Although I’m glad, in some ways, that I used my time wisely every weekend when visiting other countries and cities throughout Europe, by the end of the semester, my weekly plane trips to these faraway lands left me feeling pretty burnt out.

During one of the last few weeks I spent as a semester-abroad student, my best friend from back in the States came to visit me and we went to Budapest, Hungary with her mother and aunt. For the first time all semester, I didn’t bust my ass trying to find the best prices for every tour and every meal. I didn’t have my guidebook held up over my face, trying to read the map and making sure we had hit every museum on the block. And I didn’t worry.

Instead, I spent a weekend wandering open-air markets, eating at probably-overpriced restaurants, and laying in an awesome bed in – gasp – a chain hotel. I took long showers and read books when I felt like it and I ate a ton of these weird Hungarian pastries. I was a tourist. A lazy tourist, one of the biggest travel blasphemies known to travelers everywhere.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure real Budapest is great, just like all the other international cities were great (for the most part). I’m sure Castle Hill and the Great Synogogue are mind-blowing and very much worth venturing outside instead of just driving by in some lame red tour bus. But I will most likely never know what the inside of the House of Terror looks like or what real Hungarian food tastes like, because I was too busy shoveling strawberry yogurt in my mouth for $15 a pop at the Four Seasons. And that is perfectly okay.

I ate breakfast at the hotel dessert bar and I took idiotic pictures posing next to stern guards and funny statues. I had enough food to go into a coma and I went to bed early. I wandered around a beautiful, historic city with my best friend and I didn’t appreciate one bit of it. Just because you’re a traveler doesn’t mean you can’t be a tourist once in a while.

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Take Cooler Travel Photos

If I have to see one more lopsided Facebook photo of you standing in front of a gum-stained, over-toured national monument, I don’t think I’m going to make it. And I highly doubt I’m the only one. So instead, here are some clever little tips in how to take cooler travel photos that make your friends say, You took that?! 

1. Don’t abandon your nouns. Instead of just snapping lots of pictures of the Ponte Vecchio, get some people in those shots. Dangle your legs over the sides. Get all of your friends to sit on the ledge. Just do anything so that there’s some life in those photos that consist of more than a pile of rock, according to the Independent Traveler.

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 2. Get creative with your angles. You know what’s a nice picture? A pretty little front view of the Duomo di Milano. Too bad it’s the same shot that every one of two million tourists who visit each year have on their iPhones too. You know what a really cool photo would be? An up-close-and-personal shot of one of the 3200 statues that dot the Duomo. Don’t settle for a boring on-your-way out photo of a landmark that you’re lucky to see even one time. Try to get creative and think outside the box.

3. Play with the surrounding scenery. It’s important that your shot is filled with life, however that “life” doesn’t have to just be the subject that you’re trying to nab. Instead, think about the less glamourous and understated scenery that surrounds the area. When snapping a photo of the ancient River Street in Atlanta, Georgia, you don’t need to just include the grayed, decrepit buildings. Instead, a zippy, patriotic American flag brightens up the entire shot.

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4. Don’t just snap and upload. You don’t need to take a bunch of random shoots and then thoughtless send them to the Book. Instead, get them on your computer, saturate the colors, crop out the junk, and delete the ones that didn’t make the cut. There is never a need to upload 600 crappy photos, since let’s get real here, the only person who cares to look at all 600 is your mom.

5. Don’t worry about the weather. Often, we think of the best travel photos around are those with the sun shining, the fluffy clouds drifting along. However, this isn’t necessarily true. Take advantage of interesting situations, including the weather. The pastel colors and bright jazzy colors come through nicely on a sunny day in New Orleans, but you know what’s even cooler? A sweet shot of one of the afternoon monsoons on Bourbon. Get artsy, people.

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Live Free

Being that I live in the boondocks, most of the activities that I am unfortunately forced to participate in near my home luckily tend to be free or dirt cheap. Mostly, this is because I live in a town in which the extent of the businesses is one general store. True story. Anyway, no matter if you live in a small farm town at the edge of the earth or in a fabulous apartment in New York City, here are some activities that are always fun, and, most importantly, always free… or will be until the government figures out how to tax it.

1. Hiking. Here’s a secret people… hiking… is walking. Who knew? And not only that, but it’s also exercise. Usually I forget this until halfway through the hike when I’m already stuck there anyway. It’s a nice way to pass an hour, hang out in some nature and get out of the AC, and a have a chat with someone you’re used to texting instead. My fondest memory of my semester abroad is actually one of the first days in Italy when I visited Cinque Terre and hiked through the five towns connected only by trail and rail. To find all the national parks by state, visit Find a Park on the National Park Service page.

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2. Biking. Okay so I know that if you’re biking in a race or you’re really trying to roll biking technically is exercising, but biking i.e. just cruising along is actually one of my favorite things to do on vacation, which is saying a lot because I enjoy being horizontal if I’m anywhere near a beach. Down by the shore, you can literally rent beach cruisers for $5 a pop, which is the most relaxing way to stroll a boardwalk and see the extent of the coast… and pick up some salt water taffy at the end of the go. Visit Rent a Bike Now to find bike rental shops near you.

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3. Stroll the farmers market.You would really be surprised how much neat stuff you find… that’s cheap, too. Homegrown food runs wild at these places, which we tend to think of as only for grandparents but they’re really a nice way to spend a boring Sunday afternoon… and to get some free samples of some really awesome olive oil. Visit the United States Department of Agriculture page to search for markets near you.

4. Laying out in the sun. Don’t have a pool? Me neither. However, my mother still insists on parking her beach chair out in our (wooded) backyard basically every single day in her swimsuit with a good book. For some reason, this always feels much more exotic than if you were to just take a nap indoors. Also, you get to go back inside with a tan.

5. Start a garden. Don’t have a green thumb? Kill everything within sight? Samesies. However, thanks to the joy of modern technology, you don’t have to anymore. Who knew! Stop by your local grocery store and many stores have ready-made kits complete with dirt, seeds, plant food, and step-by-step directions. Thank God. Visit this blog and learn more about how to start your own little backyard farm.

Want to have a whole money-free weekend and get some more great ideas for when you have some time to kill but no money to spend? Read 100 Things To Do During a Money Free Weekend.

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How To Be Homeless

As of today, I can confidently say that I am a semi-functioning, fairly responsible, well-on-my-way adult. I know how to boil water, I do my own laundry (and nails), and I have a full-time job that I have to wake up obscenely early for. However, adulthood notwithstanding, I still insist on acting like an absolute homeless person from every Friday at 5:00 pm to whenever I happen to wander my way home on Sundays, obviously in time for dinner.

Being that Long Valley sucks, I make my way to (anywhere else in the world) each weekend, relying on cheap food, draft beer, sleeping bags in the trunk of my car, and the extreme generosity of my poor friends to make my way through this three day nonsense fest. Luckily for you, dear reader, I’m about to share with you how to make your time on the road as easy as a casual day at home.

1. Sing for your supper. Literally? Well, you can if you want to, but if the sound of your voice makes dogs cry, then I more mean along the lines of making it worth the while for your friends. Yes, they love you– they’ve been with you in the good times and the bad, the sober and the not-so-sober. However, even still, your hapless body on their couch drinking all their soda isn’t the most pleasant of sights. So, do what you can to help them out. Offer to drive, insist on paying for their drinks, tidy up their room while they’re in the shower. Don’t take the fact that you’re technically a “guest” for granted– guestdom doesn’t exist until one of you actually has money. In the meantime, you’re a good-for-nothing freeloader, and remember that and act accordingly. Be the one who leaves their living room cleaner than you found it.

2. Make their friends your friends. There’s one thing I can say for certain – the person who stands in the corner sipping on a Ginger Ale is never the person invited back for a second visit. Your friends may love you, but they don’t want to babysit you. They don’t want to be the one who has to entertain you. Even if they, or the night, isn’t the most exciting thing in the world, pretend you have been best friends with their friends for years. Be chatty, ask questions, and be friendly. Remember that unlike people you meet at school or at work, this is your one shot ever to win someone over that you probably won’t ever see again, but your own interaction with them will prove a lot to your friends who don’t want to be the one feeling guilty because you’re off moping on the other side of the bar.

3. Don’t just hand over your dollars. When on the road, it’s easy to drop money on stupid stuff because you feel like you’re on vacation. If you’re off every weekend like me, you’re probably not on vacation. This makes it imperative that you do not constantly splurge on nice food or constantly forget your toothbrush and have to buy new ones. So scope out that free beach, bring a couple snacks that can possibly work as small breakfasts, and for Christ’s sake bring water so you don’t have to keep buying those overpriced $2 bottles. A little extra planning pre-trip goes a long way.

4. Scope out free things. Once again, with a little extra planning, you would be shocked at how much free stuff you can snag. For example – this weekend, I casually walked by the beach patrol stand and sort of used the beach shower alongside brightly-dressed families on vacation as my daily shower. Nbd. Getting dressed in the car and doing your makeup in public bathrooms is all in a day’s work.

5. Don’t be afraid to get a little scummy. When living on the road, you can’t sweat the small stuff. Would you rather be changing in your room than in the backseat of your car in a crowded parking lot in broad daylight? Yeah, probably. But consider all your options, and when that’s your best bet, shrug it off and remember that we’ve seen it all anyway. Think logically, figure out who you can bug and where you can go to get what you need, then take it with a grain of salt and act confidently and unapologetically.

Living out your car isn’t the most glamourous of things. Your car quickly becomes full of garbage and sand, as well as every outfit you could possibly need, and you can often be found with your hair piled on top of your head and carrying a lot of bags. Scummy? Sometimes. Tiring? I would say so. But exciting? Always.

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I don’t know why but I feel that this photo is very relevant