Where Do You Belong?

Hiya folks! No new travel news. Just another state-themed survey/article I wanted to share that shows the "mood" of every state. I took the quiz and it said I belong in Florida (of all places! ha!). Find out where you should be by clicking the article below:

America’s Mood Map: An Interactive Guide to the United States of Attitude

In other news, Nevada is officially on the schedule for 2014 and Georgia and North Carolina are strong candidates for travel. Of course I'll have to add more to reach my 50 state goal on time...but know that I AM working on it!

What is the Most Screwed Up Thing About Your State?

One of these days I'm going to learn to not make "final" plans until I know they are officially final.

Remember how I said that I was done traveling for the rest of the year? Well, turns out, unless my co-workers TOTALLY flake on me, in about two weeks I'll be doing another excursion within Pennsylvania!

Otherwise, I've already set up my schedule to be available to see Georgia and Nevada before Memorial Day. I've never been to Nevada, but I actually used to LIVE in Georgia, so that will be a bit more difficult to work out.

In the meantime, I found this article about weird factoids about the states. For example, did you know that Ohio is the nerdiest state? That Florida has the highest rate of identity theft? Or that Alaska, the state I just left, has the highest suicide rate in the country? Pretty strange indeed but I thought this was at least a little entertaining and state themed, so I wanted to share.

Enjoy, and talk with you in a few weeks!

What is the Most Screwed Up Thing About Your State?

10 Cures for the Chronic Overpacker

When I started this blog, I said that I would be open to doing this exploration with whatever friends and family wanted to tag along. I've had people tag along with me through Maryland, Florida, Puerto Rico, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. I've had people claim excursions with me for whenever I get to Hawaii, Nevada, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia (right?!), Texas, and Colorado. Most recently, my godmother was my travel buddy for Washington and Alaska. Since we live in two different states (Pennsylvania and Georgia), we met up at the airport in Seattle.

I hadn't seen my godmother in a few years, and after my initial joy at being reunited with her, I was totally shocked and surprised to see her lugging this humongous, over-sized, HEAVY suitcase. 

Seriously, this might as well have been her

What on earth could be in there? On the blog, I previously discussed ways to make packing a suitcase more efficient, and many of those tips I learned directly from her. I stood there next to my carry-on suitcase and tried hard not to laugh at her as she asked me where the rest of my luggage was. We were only going away for a week- how many clothes did she NEED? I just didn't get it. I brought three pairs of pants, shirts and sweaters, a few pairs of shoes, plenty of underwear and socks, and a dress for when I needed to be fancy- and still had room for souvenirs at the end of the trip!

Yes, I'd love to be all fancy on trips and have a super fly new outfit for every day of my vacations (I guess), but more than that I dislike having to lug my suitcase around. And being responsible for a big, clumsy block of baggage is not my idea of fun.

So, to help you, my loving readers, avoid the same fate of bringing way too much crap with you on a trip, I wanted to share an article with you from the Huffington Post.

10 Cures for the Chronic Overpacker

 To me, the suggestions seem pretty common sense. But apparently this information must be shared. Enjoy!