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

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