Planning

I never really fancied myself much of a shopper. I like to think that I do not value things- I like experiences, and generally feel very minimalist at home. But when it comes to traveling, some of that logic goes out the window.

This started on my very first overseas trip when I accidentally started buying a shot glass and a display piece from every country I visited. That trend has continued, and now I have roughly 82 shot glasses and some form of art from almost every country I’ve visited (even if, as of right now, I still don’t actually have my shot glasses out on display).

But over time, we have become quite the shoppers when we travel, and we have expanded our shopping purchases to include food items (ones that can travel, at least), wine and spirits, rugs and blankets, and more. If we can have our house decorated with travel memories and our pantry stocked with international food? Well, that’s almost an experience on its own.

So, we shop- a lot. We didn’t realize just how much we shop when traveling until a friend commented that our shopping was effectively “goals”, and since then, we’ve had many inquiries about how we can pack just so much in our suitcases without having to mail boxes.

In this one, we wanted to share our secrets.

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If you are able to work remotely, odds are good you’ve thought about taking a workcation.

Workcations are often the best of all worlds. You get to work in a cool destination, enjoy the area in your free time, and do it all with little (if any!) paid time off.

But planning a workcation isn’t quite like planning a regular trip. There are a number of special considerations you will want to keep in mind for your work. So in this one, we thought we’d share some of our best tips to get the best out of your workcation!

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We love a good pair of Merrell hiking shoes, and, as it turns out, we’ve been wearing their shoes for the better part of a decade now both at home and on our travels.

So when we were due for an upgrade, we settled on pairs of new Merrell Moab 3 shoes with GORE-TEX waterproofing to get the most out of the upgrade. So, how do the men’s Moab 3 GORE-TEX and women’s Moab 3 Mid GORE-TEX hiking shoes hold up?

We really put them through the test for this review!

Note: We received these shoes through a campaign with Merrell on another website we operate. We were not paid nor requested to publish this review in any capacity and are only sharing our thoughts as fans of the brand over the years.

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We always hold our breath for just a moment when we are in the baggage area of an airport. We know that missing and lost luggage when flying is a more common phenomenon than you would think. After almost 15 years of international travel, visiting well over 100 airports in 60+ countries, we have been fortunate enough never to have a bag go missing.

Until now.

We returned to the USA from Amsterdam (via London) on British Airways when they lost our luggage. Not just one bag. Not just two bags. But four missing bags. 

You can imagine our panic when we were at baggage claim, the conveyor belt came to a halt, and we (along with many others) were told that was it. Not only did our suitcases have all of our clothes in them (thankfully we were heading home and not just starting our trip), but also all of our toiletries, many souvenirs, Christmas gifts, and, perhaps most importantly, a lot of rare Belgian beer from our holiday.

We sprang into action to either be reunited with our bags promptly or, worst case, adequately compensate for all that lost value. So in this one, we wanted to walk through what you should do if you find yourself at an airport baggage claim and an airline has lost your luggage.

Note: This article will include the steps we took for our lost luggage on British Airways; however, most airlines have similar processes albeit possibly with slightly different timescales. When in doubt, always speak to a representative before leaving the airport, find out their recommended steps, and, if possible, get everything in writing and/or in an email with company letterhead for tracking as quickly as possible.

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