Randi with an i

How I afford to travel

June 26, 2018 Randi

OK guys, ready? This is a post I’ve been asked to write multiple times. I’ve been putting it off because I wasn’t really sure how to write it without sounding like a privileged and/or condescending asshole, but people keep asking me this question, and I really do want to answer it.

The question? “Randi, how do you afford to travel?!”

New Orleans and southern Louisinana

June 4, 2018 Randi

Oh, hey. Another weekend travel post. *Ducks under desk*

My mom likes to joke about how — if I’m not currently on a trip, I’m planning one. She’s not wrong. As soon as I got back from Boston last month, she asked where I was off to next. I told her I’d been thinking about visiting New Orleans for a while, and surprisingly, she said she wanted to go as well.

So, NOLA it was!

Life lately, a slightly longer-than-necessary version

May 24, 2018 Randi

So, I haven’t really been around too much lately, and I don’t really have to struggle to find the words to explain why. I mentioned at the beginning of the year that 2017 was shitty, and — while I was hoping 2018 would be better — we’re almost halfway through the year and it’s pretty much just as shitty as last year. Welp.

I’m still trying to take things day-by-day, dealing with the fallout from my recent breakup, parents’ divorce, work transitions, etc., and so far that’s meant refocusing my attention away from things like social media and blogging and toward things like reading, yoga, traveling and happy hour with my girlfriends.

Ironically, it seems like the more time I spend doing the things I love, the less time I have to blog about them.

Anyway, I wanted to give a little “Life Lately” update. I used to do these every other month or so, but haven’t posted one since last year. Where has the time gone?

A weekend in Boston

April 27, 2018 Randi

So, I realize a majority of my posts lately have been travel posts. Not gonna apologize! After a really rough late 2017 and a 2018 that honestly hasn’t been any better (in fact, I think it has actually been WORSE), my frequent trips are one of the few things that have been keeping me sane.

I just got back from a weekend trip to Boston with my coworker Colleen, and despite the cold and rainy weather, I couldn’t have asked for a better trip.

EVERYTHING I packed in one backpack for 10 days in Europe

April 21, 2018 Randi

OK, this is the last post about my March Europe trip. I wrote last week about how I managed to pack 10 days’ worth of stuff into my L.L. Bean backpack, but I got a few questions about what exactly I brought.

I learned the hard way my last trip to Europe how much it sucks to roll a suitcase everywhere when you’re hostel-hopping, so I’ve been trying to get a lot more economical with my packing. Plus, I’ve been flying Spirit Airlines more and more, so all the better if I can fit all my stuff into a single backpack.

Here’s a complete list of everything I packed for 10 days of sidewalk walking, Airbnb sleeping and city center exploring in Europe.

“Europe isn’t a country!!” Yes, babes. I went to four different countries on the European continent. We all have short attention spans, I’m going for brevity here.

Keep in mind I was wearing some of these things at any given point, so that freed up some of the space in this bag as well.

Two recent self-help books

April 15, 2018 Randi

Is it just me, or are self-help books kind of becoming trendy?

I’m kind of glad about it, actually! I don’t like the idea of self-improvement being a taboo topic. Really, I think if a person wants to take the steps to better him or herself, it should be celebrated instead of mocked.

But, thanks to a slew of popular titles — like Jen Sincero’s “You Are A Badass” and Mark Manson’s “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck” — I feel like it’s totally cool to be caught reading one of these books in public, or discussing it on social media.

I mean heck, my book club picked “Subtle Art” in January! So it’s definitely not taboo.

Anyway, I wanted to take a quick second to talk about two recent self-help books I’ve read. I really enjoyed one, and the other left me feeling kind of “meh.”

‘Backpacking’ Europe — how I packed for 10 days in one (!!!) backpack

April 8, 2018 Randi

YOU GUYS. I DID IT.

I made it to Europe, around Europe, and out of Europe using a single backpack.

Anyone who knows me knows that this is a spectacular feat.

On my last trip to Europe, I brought a carry-on rolling suitcase in addition to my personal item, and that was only for a five-day trip to two cities.

Toward the end of December, I splurged on the medium-sized Away suitcase, thinking I would definitely need it for my planned 10-day trip to Europe.

I brought it with me on my 10-day trip to Michigan over the holidays, and the friend I visited bluntly told me I was not allowed to bring it with me when I visited him in Europe.

“Uh, why not?”
“…Because we’re going to be going from city to city, and I don’t want to deal with you dragging that thing around.”

…OK. Fine. Probably fair.

Said friend is an ultimate minimalist (seriously, I think he can fit everything he owns into two bags and a box that fit in the backseat of his car) and I didn’t think there was any possible way I could bring a single bag on a 10-day trip.

Buuutttt, when I told my coworker Colleen about my travel plans, she told me she’d actually traveled to Italy for 10 days using only a backpack a few years ago, and it was totally possible.

Soooo, I decided to go for it.