Quirky Fantastic

Main Bag: Deuter Airlite 26L SL As I mentioned in my review post for this bag, I'm planning on walking along Hadrian's Wall Path this summer. I'm using this trip to Austin as a way to test how this backpack works for airplane travel. I don't think that we'll be walking long distances with it, but I'd like to see if I can fit my packing list in without it feeling too cramped.  Inside the main bag, I'll be packing: Tops Athleta magenta tech T-shirt Honolua Wahine cotton T-shirt x 3 (wear one in transit) Old Navy black long-sleeved shirt (wear in transit) Since this is a shorter trip, I'm fine with bringing along cotton shirts. I usually wear them more than once without washing them, but I can always give them a quick sink wash to freshen them up. Honolua Wahine is my favorite Hawaiian surfwear brand, and their shirts are super soft and thin without being too sheer. I may buy a new shirt as a souvenir as well. Bottoms/Dresses Tail polye...

As a teacher, my vacation schedule is set by the school. I have some personal and sick days available, but the bulk of my vacation time happens when the students are also on break. I have a lengthy (but not as lengthy as many people think) summer vacation as well as shorter breaks in December/January, February, and April. Since my breaks often fall when most families in the Pacific Northwest are also on vacation, flights can be more expensive. That means that I try to think outside the box when choosing vacation locations that aren't determined by family obligations. I usually consider four main things: budget, desired trip length, weather, and trip type (relaxation, learning, adventure, connection, or combo). For example, for my upcoming Spring Break trip, I put in my desired vacation days into Google Flights and saw which places had the least expensive round trip prices. Then, I started narrowing locations down based on other criteria. I love using Google Flights for this, b...

For the past couple of weeks, I've been battling what seems to be a combination of bad seasonal allergies and a possible cold. I had to go into the doctor since I was having trouble sleeping due to coughing and congestion at night. I did get prescribed an anti-cough medicine at bedtime, but otherwise I was left to my own devices to rest and recover. Things that help my allergies the most are: 1. Neti pot. I use non-iodized table salt and boiling water in my neti pot, purchased from a local co-op. It takes a while to learn how to use the neti pot effectively, but it does feel great to run warm water through my sinuses to clear them out.  2. Luden's cough drops. I buy the small boxes of both the cherry and honey lemon flavors, since they use less packaging. They're about $1 at most drugstores and are compact enough to easily fit in my purse. They taste good while actually helping with my cough.  3. Doubling up on pillows. This doesn't always make my back fee...

I've been trying to pack lightly for trips for the past several years, ever since I traveled in Europe for a month with just a Tom Bihn Aeronaut back when there was still just one size. It's a lot easier to not need to worry about dealing with the baggage claims. I usually travel with my Tom Bihn Aeronaut or Synapse 19, but I have a work trip this week that requires walking 8-10 miles a day while carrying a first aid kit, food, a bunch of papers, and other goods. My Synapse can definitely handle this amount of items, but I wasn't sure how my back would feel after a day of walking since the Synapse doesn't have the most robust waist belt. I love the Synapse as an EDC pack and travel bag, but I thought I might need something different for this trip. I've been thinking about trying out some longer hikes, so I decided that this would be a great time to purchase a new pack that had a suspension system. My goal was to find a pack that I could use when walking H...