Tag: carry-on

Oahu /Molokai

Of course. Nothing ever goes as planned. I just got notification that my return flight will be delayed two hours. That will put me back in Portland at 11:30pm. since I’m not a fan of a 3 1/2 hour drive that late I will need to find somewhere to stay the night. Which also means I need a hotel that will come and get me from the airport. So I will end up staying there the night before the flight.

Staying the night in Portland before my flight does two things for me.

1. I no longer have to watch Krystal pack the night before the flight. This is good.

2. I will be at the airport waiting for Krystal and Randy to show up to board the flight. This is bad lol.

Historically they are never early for a flight. Not “Kris” early, (5 hours before boarding and not even able to check my bag) 😂 but early like me. Normal early. Two hours early. No, they will run in with 45 minutes to spare 🙄 One time, Krystal forgot her phone and we had to drive back to the house to get it lol. They have been lucky though and never missed a flight. Yet.

Getting packed up. I am taking the bare minimum. The least I have ever packed for a trip to Hawaii. We will see how that goes.

I was asked by a reader why I blog my trips.

I blog to let friends and family know what I am up to. I blog to let others that have thought about traveling solo know that it’s possible. Once upon a time I had my doubts I would ever be able to go and see what I wanted without a partner. Don’t get me wrong. Traveling with someone is fun. Experiencing things together but it’s also exhausting. Making sure the other traveler is having fun too. You might want to go shark tank diving or parasailing and they are afraid of heights or sharks lol. But mainly I blog to remember. To be able to look back and have zero regrets. My first blog to Vegas 2016 solo got deleted off of here but I learned a lot from that trip. Part of it was saved in my personal archives and it’s fun to go back and read it. I’m pretty sure that trip was all about buffets and eating lol.

Well, see you in the air ✈️

Oahu /Molokai

Good news! I booked my flights. I decided to fly out of Portland. And when I say Portland I mean Portland Oregon, PDX. The actual flight with Hawaiian Airlines was down to $400 and adding my seat choice put me at $600. I love flying Hawaiian. You are guaranteed one meal and I always choose the extra comfort seats. There is more leg room and I’ll get a window seat. Flying out of Eugene would have been around $1300 with my seat choices. It also didn’t match up with my flight home from Molokai. This way I can stay on Molokai until the day I fly home.

Now that my flight plans are all buttoned up I can think about packing. I still plan to check a bag but my goal is to use a small, manageable piece of luggage along with a small backpack. I don’t want to have to wrangle a big, heavy bag along with my carry-ons. I will pack a weeks worth of clothing. I’ll be able to wash them at the condo before I travel on to Molokai. I wear my bulky clothes and hiking shoes on the airplane. I always bring my jacket and hat for the flight. Its usually freezing and by wearing a hat and headphones nobody will try to strike up a conversation with me. Lol. Not a fan of small talk lol.

I will be flying over with Krystal, Randy and the kids. So the night before the flight I will drive up to stay with them. I know this will probably put me over the edge mentally. Krystal has a habit of waiting until 10pm the night before to pack. The horror😂. I really don’t know where she gets her traveling skills from lol. Obviously not me. I am Ms. Prepared, most of the time. Just depends on what has been forgotten lol but I do try to write up a good list.

Well, I’ve got a couple of months to get into shape, pack and plan my itinerary.

Wish me luck 🤞🏽🤙🏽😁

Oahu/Molokai

This trip started out as a Foxpartyofone getaway. A little blogging and laying on the beach trip. I love traveling with a partner but I also like traveling solo. I feel like it has helped me to grow as a person. It pushes me to step outside my box. My plans were to go to Maui and Molokai. Well, word got out and that quickly morphed into Foxpartyofseven lol. I got a great deal from a friend, using points at her time share. That went from just me to Krystal, Randy, Camden and Noa and Kasey and Liz tagging along. So I changed it to Oahu. Oahu is very walkable so we won’t be tied to each other. There is a lot to do and see and it can all be done on foot. There is a two bedroom available. We will stay there for a week and then I will travel on to Molokai. Alone lol. This is the last island on my list to visit. I would love to go to Niihau but that is a little outside my travel budget lol but at least I will be able to say I’ve been to six out of seven of the inhabited Hawaiian Islands.

I can’t say this will be my last trip to Hawaii because it won’t. Hawaii calls to me. There is always that whisper in my ear. The ocean. The sand. The sun. The fruit and the aloha. 23 and me found me a less than one percent relative from Honolulu. Lol. For those of you who don’t know me, I was adopted at birth, so my heritage has always been a mystery. I must be from there, right?

As always I am wrestling with the question of checking a bag or carry-on. Carry-on would be so much easier and quicker to deplane but I can’t take any self defense weapons on board so I will have to check a bag. This includes a knife and a tazer. The tazer is compliments of Anna. Thank you. I am somewhat doubtful that it works though. Lol, anyone want to be my test subject?

Traveling solo there are always safety precautions that need to be taken.

1. I never use the bellman to take up my luggage, that would imply I am traveling alone.

2. I always do a safety sweep of the hotel room. Check for cameras, the windows and the locks. Bring an extra lock.

3. Lie and say I am meeting someone or my partner is on their way.

4. Put my car keys and wallet next to my shoes in case I need to leave in a hurry.

5. Keep my cell phone and weapon of choice with me at all times.

6. I never stay on an elevator if someone gets on. that gives me the creeps.

Bottom line, always trust your gut.

Omg it’s May and I haven’t booked the flight…. Reason being, I am having a hard time deciding whether to fly out of Portland or Eugene. Portland is 3 1/2 hours away but it is a cheaper and faster flight. Usually a straight shot to Honolulu. Eugene is an hour drive time but I would have to change planes in Seattle so that adds time to the trip. I can stay in a Portland park-n-fly hotel but that adds time driving and also increases the cost of the trip making it about the same as flying from Eugene. So, it’s a toss up.

Welp. Wish me luck 🤞🏽

Legoland

Travel day home

Well, I packed up last night and Randy and Krystal will be driving my bag back. I’m taking my backpack and small purse with me on the airplane. I should have just brought the bigger backpack. Oh well. Next trip I won’t be taking a 17 inch carry-on. I’ll take my chances lol.

Woke up at 4am and scheduled my first Uber ride on the app. I was a little apprehensive that there wouldn’t be one available but it was pretty easy. His name was, Innocent, (that made me feel so much better) and he was only 20 minutes away from my hotel. Good driver. Didn’t speed and wasn’t super chatty. Which is a good thing for me. I can only do so much small talk lol. He did confirm my flight times and made sure I wasn’t living on the edge lol. I tipped him in cash. I feel like cash tips show your appreciation for their service more than on the app.

Boarding. I don’t get why some people stand in line even though they aren’t boarding until 3rd or 4th call. You picked your seat. I’d rather wait and board last. Fake your seat mates out and get them thinking they have the whole row to themselves.

Just now thinking about the whereabouts of my car keys. They are in one of my carry-ons. The one I almost smashed into my bag in the back of Randy’s truck. Thay would have been bad lol.

Review of Legoland :

The park was pretty good size including the water park. The two day trip was perfect. Being there barely preseason in June, there were rides that weren’t open both in the park and the water park. I don’t know if this was due to staffing or the time of year but it was a little disappointing because the rides that were closed were for the bigger kids, e.g. me lol. The park was definitely geared more towards the 4-10 year olds and most of these rides were open.

If you’re headed for Disneyland I suggest to go to Legoland first. Legoland just hasn’t captured the magic yet and while it was fun and I love Legos it’s just not the same.

Legoland

Travel day

I went to bed at 8:30pm last night. Set my alarm for 2am but I woke up at midnight. I packed and repacked my bag, trying out a couple different scenarios…..I know I’m crazy lol. I ended up with my REI Big Haul 40L backpack / duffle bag and a small backpack purse. I couldn’t get back to sleep so I stayed up and left the house at 2:30am. Stopped at Chevron since a coworker said that to get the most fuel in your tank you should get gas when it’s colder out, thanks Crystal 😁

EUG Eugene

I hate driving in the dark. I used Maps to get to the airport and it had me turn into the first parking lot. After putting in my credit card at the gate I found out it wasn’t connected to any of the other lots so I had to walk a mile to get to the terminal. I wasn’t even sure where the terminal was but I saw a couple getting out of their car so I ran to catch up with them. Lol they probably thought I was a stalker. Next time I will remember that. Oh well. I got my exercise for the morning.

I scored TSA precheck so I flew through check-in. That meant I didn’t have to take any electronics out of my bag. I still had to take off my jacket and shoes but it was quick.

Boarding. They gave out substantially large sanitizing wipes so I channeled my inner Krystal and wiped down my seat lol. They didn’t really look at my bag. Hmm I probably could have just brought the original suitcase 🙄 oh well better neurotic than annoyed. I scored the whole row of seats! No annoying neighbors to ignore.

It’s raining. Can’t wait to see the sun. I’m in need of a healthy dose of vitamin D 🌞

Landed in SFO San Francisco. Three and a half hour layover. What to do? What to do? Well, find my next gate for one. I walked around in a circle for twenty minutes until I decided to ask for directions. I was lost lol. The TSA officer pointed to the sign right behind me. Haha how embarrassing. Oh well, I made it to my next gate. I guess there are directions on the app but I didn’t know that. So, what am I going to do? Well, I saw a sign for yoga 😂 or I could walk back down to the other gates for shopping but I found a prime seat for waiting to board. So, people watching it is. I did learn from the best. Thanks Kris😁. Welp. Pretty boring or I’m just not any good at this lol.

Boarded flight #2. Boeing 737. Plane is full but the middle seat is empty in my row. Yay! Again. No bag checks.😲🙄. There is no under seat storage for my seat this flight so I put it up with the carry-ons. This flight is only a little over an hour so I will be fine. The lady across the aisle got stuck with a young family that purchased two seats and a lap baby. Dodged that bullet.

Landed in San Diego at 12:30pm. Now I just need to figure out how to get out of here. Ground transportation? I’ll try that😁. They really should specify car pickup😂. Oh well I found Randy.

Staying at the Marriott. Nothing fancy. They tried to charge me for my room again. I told the person at check-in I booked through a travel site and already paid. That settled I’m on the second floor and Krystal and Randy are on the third floor.

Went shopping at the outlet stores. I got told my shirt was, “interesting”. Really?

Ate a quick bite in my room I passed out at 8pm. I’ve been up for twenty hours!

Legoland

Packed😁

Okay. I am packed and ready to go. I have packed, checked to my paper list and repacked and I think I have everything.

The garage is cleaned out and ready for the dogs and Sunny, my plus one.

Krystal and Randy stopped by and took my pillow, blanket and food in their car. That way I only have a carry-on and my backpack to worry about. There is a layover in San Francisco so less is better.

I packed my backpack with my essentials for the airplane ride.

1. Ipad mini

2. Headphones

3. Hat

4. Sunglasses

5. Snacks

6. Battery pack

7. Switch lite

If you don’t know me, yes, I am a gamer. I love Zelda and I just got the newly remastered game, Skyward Sword for the Switch. It originally came out for the Wii but I was not a fan of the Wii’s style of playing, slashing and jumping around. I’m a thumb player, so I never played that version of the game. So far it’s pretty good.

Also, if you can’t tell, I don’t want any idle chit chat from my seat mates lol. I think they should get the message 😎🎧🎩 😂

I did decide not to get a hotel for the night before. So, that means I will be getting up at 2am in the morning so that I can get ready and drive the hour and a half to the airport. Boarding starts at 5:25am.

Checked in to my flight and found out that there is a 17 inch limit on carry-on unless I am a member of some club 🙄. The bag needs to fit under the seat in front of me. So, I will be repacking tonight or pay $25 to check my bag when I get there. I really don’t want to check my bag. It adds another hour leaving the airport. Hopefully one of my bags will work. Maybe a duffle.

Wish me luck🤞🏽