Sometimes, you just need an app to get through life. I rely heavily on my weather app, when I'm at home and when I travel, but one of my other favorites is Voxer. It's a messaging app that doesn't use up data like your texts do, plus it's free, so you don't have to pay for international texts when you go out of the country. It works with WiFi and it enabled me to send text of any length, pictures and even voice messages to anyone with the app. If you don't have a WiFi connection, you can still "send" them and they will push through when you do. I love this list of apps, especially TripIt, which I find invaluable every time I travel. The only app I'd replace is Yelp. I'd use TripAdvisor instead, as it is less biased and a lot better for restaurants and other activities, since it encompasses pretty much anything you'd do on a trip.
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Saturday, October 18, 2014
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Washington, DC in Pictures
Last month I was on the east coast and we spent three days in Washington, DC. You may have read my last post on how I stayed in an Airstream trailer through Airbnb in Arlington. We did quite a bit on our short trip to our nation's capitol, but three days was simply not enough to do everything we hoped to do. In fact, I have a feeling we may not have gotten to everything we wanted on a two week vacation. I'll go more in depth about this trip over the coming weeks, but for now, I though it would be fun to share some of the many photos I took.
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| a flower in the children's garden of the U.S. Botanic Garden & Conservatory |
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| planes used to be so much smaller |
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| ...and, ironically, much more comfortable. |
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| I love how funky the Madame Tussaud's building is compared to the rest of the block |
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| a heroic government pigeon spy |
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| The opening of the 50 Years of Bond Villains exhibit at the Spy Museum |
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| Large portions of the actual Berlin Wall |
You know I never go anywhere without trying some delicious foods.
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| Yorkshire pudding and chicken curry poutine from Elephant & Castle |
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| Lamb and other kinds of handmade sausages at the farmers' market |
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| Visitors waiting to get into the White House |
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| Unbelievable picture from the top of the Washington Monument |
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| Washington Monument as seen from the Lincoln Memorial |
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| Good ol' Honest Abe |
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| Time to fly. A lovely picture of the city and the Potomac from the airplane window |
If you want to find ways to spend your short trip in DC before I share more, you can read Krizstina Williams's guest post and another one I did after that on saving money there. If you visited DC, what were some of your favorite things to do there?
Review: Travelon Convertible Crossbody Duffel
When I travel, it can be difficult to pack light while also
bringing the right bags for my trip that can accommodate what I’m bringing with
me and what I will probably be bringing back. Generally, on vacation, I like to
do a bit of shopping. My souvenirs are minimal, but I find travel the perfect
time to find unusual and fun gifts for birthdays and the holidays. I often
bring an extra bag with me for my purchases, but the problem with that is that
it takes up space in my bag that I need for clothes.
Travelon has solved my problem with the Convertible
Crossbody Duffel. It comes in all the newest colors and it’s totally innovative,
because it’s two bags in one. When you start your trip, you can use it as a
regular crossbody bag, which is perfect, because Eric and I take two personal
items on the plane with us for things we want to have convenient and which fit
under the seat. The Convertible Crossbody Duffel is just the right size for
your books, Kindle, iPad mini and has pockets to keep things organized. Put
your card games, snacks and other items in it, then toss the stuff in your
pockets into it when going through security, so you don’t have to use one of
those bins for stuff like your wallet, keys and change that you probably don’t
want other people to have such easy access to.
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| Just FYI, Eric could have made the strap longer for him and I could have made it shorter for me, but we liked to carry it different ways. |
The padded strap adjusts to anyone’s frame to make it
comfortable for them to carry. I used it as a day bag on several days of the
trip, because it was fun colored and lightweight, but had enough room to carry
everything I needed, including a cardigan that I brought just in case it got
chilly. I like that it also has swivel clips, so the strap can never get all snarled and tangled from clipping it on the wrong way.
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| In the small space of our Airstream camper, we used the bag as a laundry bag, because it was easy to place anywhere. |
Once we started purchasing things to bring home, we employed this bag's second feature. The back of the bag unzips all the way
around and folds out to a duffel size bag. Not only that, but you don’t have to
take anything out of the bag in order to make it full-size. Now you have a
second carry-on to bring back with you that has a fairly large capacity and can
rest on the top of your wheeled bag, plus you don’t have to spend extra money
to check it at the gate. As you can see, the strap clips to two new rings that are revealed when the bag is expanded to evenly distribute the weight and make it into a
real duffel. Surprisingly, the lightweight fabric doesn't make the bag bulky in crossbody mode. The duffel part folds into the zipper compartment effortlessly and pretty much is undetectable.
One of the cool things about this bag is that even though
you are using the bag for a new purpose on your way back from your trip, it can
still hold the original items without compromising space, because the crossbody
part of the bag is still there as an extra section to your duffel. It’s also
nice to be able to keep your snacks or whatever else you’ve brought separate
from your dirty clothes and you don’t have to open the main bag and dig for
things that would inevitably end up at the bottom.
As sturdy as this bag is, I wouldn’t suggest loading it up
with heavy items, because it is nylon
(though ripstop) and doesn’t have a structured bottom. Even so, we put this bag
to the test and filled it with a mixture of clothing, food items and souvenirs.
It was fairly weighted down on the trip back home, but I wouldn’t do this on a
regular basis, nor would I check the bag, since it fits easily in the overhead.
If not totally full, it would still fit under the seat.
You can feel free to take this bag with you everywhere.
Though it’s nylon, it is stain and water resistant, so whether you get caught
in a rainstorm or go to the beach, you don’t have to worry about your stuff
getting all wet and soggy.
I’d also like to call some attention to the zippers of the
Convertible Crossbody Duffel, because they have nice ergonomic zipper pulls which
helps to give the bag a cute sporty look. The bag is quite good for both men
and women, as it’s not girly and comes in colors that are appealing to
everyone. I see us using this bag often on our future trips and even around town, simply because it's cute and versatile. Even if we decide to pack the bag to use at our destination, it doesn't take up much room.
The only thing that would make this bag better is if it had a bottle holder, though that might compromise the structural integrity of it. Even without one, it is a fantastic bag for traveling, overnight trips and even everyday use, like going to the gym. Because it is dual-use, we ended up getting a lot more use out of it than expected. Also, the price-point makes it a wonderful gift, as it's pretty budget-friendly, and your recipient probably has never seen a bag with this kind of innovation.
More information
Size: 9.25 x 11 x 4 , Duffel Bag: 24 x 11 x 9.25
Colors it comes in: black | lime | teal (shown) | pink berry
How much is it?: $45.00
Where you can buy it: Travelon website
Other specs: 190T ripstop nylon
Stay tuned for two other great bags from Travelon that I tested out on my trip.
Disclaimer: I was provided with the Convertible Crossbody Duffel for the purposes of this review, but all opinions are 100% mine.
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