6 travel hacks that make every vacation less stressful

Travel

6 Travel Hacks That Make Every Vacation Less Stressful

Drescription

As glamorous and exciting and soul-nourishing as travel can be, we all know that any bon voyage has a few not-so-bon moments. Flights can get delayed (or worse—canceled), the hotel you were so excited about can be a total let down, and your itinerary might leave you tired and, ironically, in need of a vacation.

I’ve been lucky enough to have lived abroad and traveled to over 40 countries, and have certainly bounced around the United States quite a bit. Over the years, I’ve figured out ways to create a "soft landing" upon arrival so that even if things don’t go as planned, I’m able to roll with the punches.

01

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I Pack My Essentials in My Carry-On

I definitely consider myself a “carry-on only” girl, but there are times you need to check a bag. Like when you’re spending more than a few weeks in a destination, or traversing different climates, or attending a variety of event types in a single trip. I prefer to carry on because I don’t want to deal with lost luggage…something that’s happened to me with a suspicious frequency.

For a calm mind and worst-case scenarios, I always pack my essentials in my carry-on—the things I absolutely need the first few days of travel (it often takes airlines 24 to 72 hours to return your misplaced bag). This includes any important clothing for events, toiletries, a change of underwear, chargers, electronics, valuables, etc.

02

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I Work in "No Alarm Clock" Days

We can all laugh at the travel memes featuring sunrise go-getters versus laid-back dilly-dalliers. I happily fall somewhere in between, largely because I swear by the “no alarm clock” approach while traveling. While I like to pack a ton into my day, the reality is that I’m on vacation. My body deserves to rest, and a rested body and mind have way more fun in the long run. If that means sleeping in until 10 a.m. and having a lazy brunch in my hotel room and not venturing outside until noon on a few days, that’s a win in my book.

03

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I Arrive a Day Earlier Than Necessary

This one I learned by proxy. Early in my travel days, I had a trip booked to Ireland with a connection somewhere on the East Coast from Phoenix. The first flight was delayed a few hours, and me and a family, all heading to Ireland, nervously twiddled our thumbs and hoped we wouldn’t miss the connection.

We all ran through the airport together to literally watch our plane pull back from the gate without us, and ended up on the same flight a full 24 hours later. They unfortunately had a cruise scheduled within a day of landing, and had a mess of a time figuring that one out. Now, I always add a buffer day or two to ensure I don’t miss a cruise departure, important event, booked concert, tour, etc.

04

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I Create a "Must See" List of Restaurants and Attractions

Itineraries are great, but there’s a rigidity to them that doesn’t feel like a vacation to me. (Also, it puts you at risk of an over-packed schedule.) I mean, if it’s a business trip, then an itinerary is essential, but otherwise it’s nice to have a little spontaneity to drop by a cute boutique, swing by for some gelato, or linger a little longer at your previous destination.

That said, I also don’t like to show up without any sort of plan. My happy medium is to research cool restaurants, cafes, museums, and attractions I want to see, and put them all on a list, noting which part of town they’re in. This allows me to pick and choose my own adventure with a modicum of structure (outside of anything that requires a hard reservation).

05

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I Look for the Little Joys

This is such a tiny thing, but the difference it makes in my overall travel experience is pretty profound. Keeping my eyes open for little joys and happy moments around me helps me really take in my surroundings, softens my perspective, and it also just makes me feel grateful for being alive. These can be the tiniest things—a sticker on a padlock that says “I like you,” a man carrying an oversized potted plant, the way a doorstep is decorated, a silly phrase written on a cafe board, or a butterfly fluttering around a rose garden.

06

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I Try to Keep Up My Routine

Travel introduces so many variables into your day, which is fun until you realize you’re beat, not eating well, and your skin is breaking out. I’ve found that keeping some semblance of my routine intact helps a lot. This means using the same skincare (this is not the time to try a new skincare sample, especially if you don’t know how long you’ve been holding onto it), going to bed around the same time, staying hydrated, getting in my 10 to 20 minutes of nightly reading, and—if possible—working out regularly.

Cafe Curtains Update – In The Mind Of A Designer Trying To Make A Decision

Over a year ago I threatened to put up cafe curtains in the kitchen. We have a lot of glass windows and in “the great long dark” (i.e. November to March) it just looks like black reflection and doesn’t feel very cozy. But then other priorities got in the way, spring came and I forgot again until this November. So January seemed like the perfect time to tackle it and this time I’d DIY it to save some dough (felt simple enough). This is how our kitchen looks on days when it’s clean, without a lot of styling, so you can get a sense of how it feels. It’s always bright and sunny and during the day you don’t really think about cafe curtains until about 4:30 and then you want them badly. Also, ignore our dirty windows – we didn’t hire someone this winter, but will in the spring – they are FILTHY. As a reminder, this is the rest of the living room (with some slight changes). The Block Print This is how it went down – I chose this block print linen, in a bright white with a green and gray pattern on it. I really liked how it looked and spent hours and hours making the panels. I have a tutorial coming soon (they are no-sew). They look pretty great in this shot. But here’s the deal, when I started putting them up that night, they looked so bright and high contrast and just BUSY. Now this could be because the kitchen was also messy post-dinner, but I did NOT like the vibe (and Brian and the kids agreed). Just too much. Nothing is wrong with these and again in the bright sun I think they are so happy! But it’s like all I could see after the sun went down, against the darkness outside. Sure, if it were a softer cream that might have helped, but during the day the bright white works so well with the bright kitchen. So 7 panels in, I had an epiphany and decided to move the Boro fabric (the vintage indigo plaid) from the other windows in the living room and hang them here instead. I LOVED THEM. Now the issue with these is that there is no way to get 10 panels that match so I had to make sure that the tones worked well together and that they were balanced. Additionally, the panels that we had weren’t exactly the right size so I turned them horizontally and they were a bit short (while others are a bit long TBH), but I think I can still make them work. Pulled back I like them so much more in person (and in the photos, TBH but I’m not sure that opinion will reign supreme). In context to the whole room, shared with the living room, it looks so good. It pulls you over there, but it’s not busy (just blends in with the blue during the day and the “black” of the windows at night). And when they are closed you see the pretty patchwork quilting of the Boro fabric, which I know is not everyone’s cup of tea (one commenter told me to stop “trying to make my ripped rags work” which honestly made me LOL that someone would DM me such a thing – hurt people hurt people!). We used the Rejuvenation unlacquered brass tension rods so that we didn’t have to drill into the tile, and then they sell these pinch clip rings that were tricky to figure out, but once we did were so easy and I love how simple they look. Now don’t look too closely or you’ll see that some of the rods are at different heights and that’s because some of the Boro was just shorter than others, but it’s really hard to detect. Since I generally live in the “interesting is better than perfect” philosophy I don’t care. I’m into this. And before you say that you aren’t sure about this I’d love to style out the kitchen and shoot it with the context of the living room (soon!) We did take one shot with more context and me in it :) I actually love the solid neutral curtains in the living room being simpler now, and it’s inspired me to finally paint the fireplace. The blue cafe curtains just draw you over to the kitchen in such a “me” way and create so much coziness. And you’ll have to trust me that the white was actually busier than the darker blue, which seems nuts! Stay tuned for more photos in the spring of our updated living room (with some surprise products in it :))

Gretch’s Next MOTO: The Bedroom Switch Up

Timing is everything, and that’s also true in design. A little over a year ago, in April, to be exact, I revealed my first Makeover Takeover–my bedroom. I had moved into my place a few months prior and was so excited to have the opportunity to design my room from the ground up, so soon after moving in. It felt like perfect timing. I was (and still am) absolutely in love with how the space turned out. I scored some incredible furniture pieces from Article (a sick storage bed, the coolest floating headboard, and the dresser of my dreams), plus enough fabric to completely cover my walls and then some. It was awesome! But a year and two months of living in a space, even in a room you LOVE, can tend to reveal some things. Namely, how wrong I was in making the smaller room my bedroom, with the stubbed toes to prove it. I consider myself lucky to reside in a two-bedroom apartment, where both rooms are mine to do with as I please. When I moved from my last spot, “more livable space” was high on my wishlist. I’d had a garage previously, which was AWESOME but very dangerous. Not in the sense that anything could harm me (except maybe the rats, damp/crumbling walls, and broken/exposed pipes…okay maybe it was a little dangerous). But when you have a ton of extra space, especially the kind disconnected from daily life (a garage), it is alarmingly easy to fill it with extra stuff. And for me, that is very dangerous. (Later this week, Em will dive into an assessment of her own stuff, which is initially what inspired me to take a closer look at mine, so definitely check that out when it’s live!) When I had the garage, I was working a variety of freelance creative jobs and was heavily into flipping furniture and selling vintage decor on Facebook Marketplace. Having a workshop space was ideal and necessary for how I made a living. But soon enough, I started working for Em, and that garage space just wasn’t needed anymore. And yet somehow I convinced myself that most of what lived inside still was. A handful of unfinished projects, paint cans with some life left (debatable), a huge collection of vintage wares (and soooo much more) came with me to the new spot. When it was time to choose which room would serve as my bedroom and the other as my “studio”, it made more sense to me at the time to pile my mountains of crap into the larger space, thinking I would eventually turn it into a state-of-the-art creative zone and office, with plenty of room to spread out and work. Fast forward a bit, and I can barely walk inside. The in-home studio I envisioned earned its new name, The Doom Room, in record time. A place where all of my extra things went to die, disappearing out of sight and out of mind as soon as I shut the door. No systems, all chaos. And when chaos lives next door, even the dreamiest of bedrooms will begin to suffocate you. After a year in my beautiful room, I began to feel the walls closing in, and not because of the wallpaper, no complaints there–but the lack of wiggle room, in both spaces. My storage bed is so functional, but not if the drawers will only open when all of the dresser drawers across it are closed. Then there’s my clothes closet–the true catalyst for the switch up. If hang up one more romper, and I promise you that wooden rod will SNAP. I literally have to fist fight my t-shirts daily to get them back behind closed doors. And I’m sick of it!! Sick of traversing the narrow walkways of my tiny room, carved out by my big, beautiful bed. Sick of the piles of stuff ignored next door, filling the room with more and more doom every second. Sick of the overall lack of breathing room, accidental injuries, and impenetrable wall of garments. Caitlin’s closet confidential had awoken something in me. Em’s recent prop/carriage house assessment inspired me. Tripping one too many times in both of my rooms drove me insane enough to need a change. Sometimes you really just have to empty everything out, take stock, trim alllll the fat and put back only what’s really important to you, with care (and a bit of a cut-throat mentality) while trying your darnedest not to add more stuff to the stuff. Then step-and-repeating every few years because consumerism has us in a chokehold, and this is a lesson I never seem to be done learning. So that’s my plan! This is the official kick-off of my MOTO: Take 2. A reassessment. And my first step is to purge. My neighborhood is having a garage sale this weekend, and it’s the perfect opportunity (hell yes, deadline) to decide what really deserves to take up space in my life and home. Then it’s another small room challenge–this time a guest room/office that is actually useable and inspired. I want to live in a livable space! My biggest priority is having a bedroom I can actually walk around in, and plenty of room to sit back and admire the pieces I love so much, with the ability to use the drawers (all of them, at the same time) without stubbing my damn toe! I don’t have a solid design plan for either space. Concepts of a plan, sure. What I know for a fact is that all of the major elements of my first MOTO design will live on. I will not be parting ways with my bedroom furniture, only migrating it. I am not exaggerating when I say: these are some of the best pieces I’ve ever owned and still look as good as the day I got them. The headboard, storage bed, and dresser–they’ll live on in the bigger room for a chance to really shine! I will also NOT be touching the wall fabric in the smaller room. This hasn’t budged since the day I installed it (a year ago! With just liquid starch, a bucket, and a paint roller!), and I don’t intend to remove it anytime soon. But it’s totally renter-friendly, and when I am ready to take it down, I can re-use the fabric elsewhere (shameless DIY post plug)! I actually can’t fathom designing a space without adding a little DIY mojo to the mix. The wall fabric is the foundation of the smaller room, so it should be a fun challenge for me to pick pieces that work well with the existing vibe. But the DIY element in my new bedroom is yet to be determined. One big idea on the brain is: stencils. I’ve been vision boarding a lot lately and find myself continuously drawn to the vintage magazine images of stenciled, folky flowers on the walls (or the ceiling, perhaps?). It’s not necessarily renter-friendly, but I’m a friendly renter and could always paint over it when I leave. But also, I’ve been dying to play with the color stain trend I’ve been seeing everywhere lately and might need to test it out on an older piece of mine that could use a refresh (my garage workshop mentality will never die). It’s a beautiful etagere I’ve been using (and not really loving) in my bathroom, which I think would serve me better in my new big bedroom. Better yet, if the wood was stained…burgundy? Or maybe a denim-y blue? I don’t know! But I want to try. So look out for that DIY sometime down the line. That’s it for now. The grunt work comes first, hopefully followed by clarity and tons of radical vision. I’ll keep you posted as I move the needle. All in due time. Until then… Sincerely, Gretch

My Brother’s Playful Shared Kids Bathroom Reveal (Including Cute Double Vanities)

While this house has a lot of contemporary lines (with hits of traditional vibes throughout), it’s still a house for a family with two elementary school-aged kids (6 and 9). They share a hall bathroom that is a nice size and Max and I were able to design it to be happy and playful, and yet use high-quality material that will last (and obviously grow with them). I honestly never pictured this bathroom like this – it’s really sweet and charming and full of layers that are far from “contemporary”. Some of this is in the styling, for sure, but whatever it is I love looking at these photos and every time I walk in I get that surge of, “Oh this is so fun”. Where Are We In The House? Ok, we are on the second floor and you can see the kid’s rooms are nearby. The bathroom is pretty big – although I see that the floor plan has changed since this above version to NOT have a separation between the vanity area and the toilet/bath. It’s part of the house that was designed to be vaulted so it has high ceilings. When they did the window plan they chose a huge window in here – so it has a lot of natural light. Three Different Tiles Max Humphrey and I chose the tile (we co-designed many of the bathrooms together), but this tile is more him, I’d say (and I love it). That guy is a master at selecting and mixing tiles. He generally takes more risks than me but still stays within a restrained palette which you all know I love. We worked within Ann Sacks Made line (made in Portland, which we are big fans of) which has a huge variety of colors. What I love so much about it is the variation of the color at the edges in both the penny tile on the floor and the shower tile – it gives it a lot of dimension and texture (the outline isn’t the grout, it’s the tile). I should back up and say that my brother and SIL didn’t want a tub in here – their kids take showers so they didn’t see the point of a tub (and thought it would be hard to get in and out of). But as an avid bather, I pushed back hard saying how bad for resale it would be not to have a tub for kids. So they chose the most shallow tub (one that would be easy for the kids to get in and out of as a compromise. At times I feared that it would look too basic and not special enough, but as we built the rest of the design elements now I hardly notice that it’s just an alcove tub. The shower surround that we customized (with much agony, more on that later) really helps it feel more elevated. Also a huge shout out to Anne Usher, the architect who planned the skylight in here – the light that it brings into the shower is incredible and makes this area of the room come alive. We used a leftover Caesarstone slab for the niche (making it as big as possible to be in scale with the shower wall). The tray and little pot are from a local resin maker, Swift and Stone who I found at a market and immediately reached out to for this bathroom (you can see her work on the vanities as well). Mixing Tiles We mixed three different scales – the larger blue vanity wall, the medium shower tile and the small penny on the floor. The tones of them all looked really cohesive together and it feels highly customized and yet really cohesive. Purist Faucet Line FTW Always and forever I love the Purist line from Kohler. Of course, you have a variety of finishes (we chose vibrant brushed moderne brass) and different handle profiles (we chose the cross for this bathroom). It’s just simple, modern, streamlined, and timeless. We have this line all over the mountain house. It feels more contemporary there and here it leans more transitional – it’s really easy to mix in most styles, IMHO. The toilet is tucked on the other side of the vanities. We hung embroidery art from the OG Portland project by local artist Annie Odorisio and then styled the opposite wall with robe/towel hooks and a cute wicker hamper to warm it all up. You’ll see in here a circle motif everywhere, which I think really helped it feel more playful and fun for kids. Alright – a his and hers vanity that I seriously wish we had for our kids (who share and quibble and it’s a thing). These are two Tresham vanities that have a simple (and even shaker) vibe to them and then we made them more modern with the wood handles (from Etsy). If you are wondering why they are so close, we did too. In the plans, they were 18″ apart but the room just didn’t allow it so somewhere something was off. At first, I was like “uhhhh…” and then we just worked with it and now I barely notice that they are so close and I even think it’s really sweet. They both have their own storage and counters. With the more traditional tilework and vanities, I wanted to finish the room in a way that went more modern and contemporary like the rest of the house. So once I found these sconces from Worley’s I showed them to my SIL and we both were like, “these are them.” I love that they are graphic, with these playful round glass shades (which also provide great soft light), and you can choose from a variety of metals and wood tones (we chose brushed brass to match the faucets and cornsilk oak for the wood). The three of them flanking the pill shaped mirrors. I like how they call back to the penny tile, the shower faucet shape, the rug, and even the bench. The backsplash tile goes from floor to ceiling (although it originally didn’t – it stopped at 7′ which felt weird so we had to order more tile and cross our fingers the color would match perfectly). The pattern and color make this room come alive – it’s a pattern mixed with three different tiles, stacked in a repeat (this is a Max Humphrey move that I am into). The Tresham vanities also come with an integrated countertop and sink, making it a really easy one-and-done situation. I have this vanity in our mountain house guest room and love the joinery of the base. It comes in a couple of different sizes (I wish it came in 60″ or 72″ TBH – I think it’s awesome.) If you are opening up the walls and changing plumbing (or in this case, building a new house basically) definitely think about wall mount faucets. They really do free up space and I think give a more custom look (we didn’t do this in every bathroom – I like to mix it up). The room is pretty wide in a great way and we were able to add something opposite the vanities. The pocket door was custom (and white oak) and I hung a piece of art that I’ve had forever that worked perfectly in here. I continued with the circle/scallop motif with the rug (from Etsy), wicker pot (from The Container Store, can also be a cute trash can) and bench (from AllModern). We bought a lot of these resin (not pottery, which is nice for kids) bathroom accessories from Swift and Stone which she makes in a variety of colors and sells both locally and on Etsy. Top Down Bottom Up Window Treatments Opposite the vanity is this large window with black frames and while I’m so grateful for the natural light, these kids needed some privacy. So we had Decorview make the same shades that we have in our guest room that I love. They are modern Roman shades that as you can see can be used from the top down or bottom up (therefore letting nice light in through the top). It turned out to be far more of a mix of modern/traditional than I had predicted 3+ years ago, in such a good way. It’s really spacious, airy and bright with playful elements, but executed so well by a great team.

The 4 Active But CUTE Swimsuits I Bought To Play With My Kids On Spring Break (+ Our Favorite Past Swimsuit Posts)

It’s that special time of year (ha) – our tans aren’t on yet (well, they are for some of us LOL) and we usually aren’t as “ready” in all the ways we want to be, but alas swimsuit season is upon and we should feel great regardless. I mean it’s about to be warm and we can be outside as much as we want! Every year we do swimsuits post with different body sizes, preferences, price points, etc – but all driven by what we feel really good in because if you don’t, you won’t wear them. It’s not easy but when you have one you love it makes spring/summer life so much easier and is such a confidence boost. I have some new ones that I bought specifically for our Belize trip which was very, very active (think more spelunking and kayaking than cute beach outfits). So below you’ll find what I bought and wore for those purposes. I wore this rashguard suit no less than 6 times over the 10 days because the Caribbean sun was so hot on my fair flesh and reapplying sunscreen was its own full-time job (and not great for the water). And while the princess sleeves might be too cutesy for a lot of people, I’m telling you – this suit is FLATTERING. I had it in blue stripes (til I burst the zipper after wearing it 20 times) and in rainbow (which is admittedly a bit toddler-esque but I wore it during Pride month a lot). I don’t love the belt they sell with it, but if you are into belted suits that’s an add-on. So I just bought the red and love it. The other two styles had a bra shelf for support and this one didn’t, but I had already bought their matching red bikini top to go underneath it (shown in the photo). It’s a compression suit, meaning that it has 2-3 layers that hold you IN without being uncomfortable (I’m wearing a small). It is very smoothing and shows no little bumps and diminishes pouches if that’s of interest to you (it is for me). Yes, they are so expensive and I wish they weren’t. But I wore this suit snorkeling then to the pool then to lunch then to dinner, with swimshorts or those lightweight jean shorts – I lived in it. And I felt really cute and protected all day. 10/10 (but wish this one had the support shelf, TBD). OK. This is another magical suit from TA3 that frankly, makes your body look really hourglass-y (without the corset back). I wore this A LOT which Brian was thrilled about, LOL. I’m wearing a small and the bust is a bit small, but still fits (these TA3 suits are made for curvier gals to enhance and tuck, and boy do they work). If you have smaller love pillows you might not want this type of constriction nor will it be as figure-flattering. But for curvier ladies, it’s been game-changing. They also have long or short torso options. My only beef with this company is that I want less crazy bright colors. This comes in black which I’m going to buy as well after wearing and loving this one so much in Belize. Oh, and it’s a medium-rise in the leg which is so flattering and doesn’t cut in at all (but is a little bit cheeky in a good way). I would have shot it that way for this post but I had yet to get waxed before my trip, so… This one-piece is also a compression suit from Stylest and I love the square neck and the white stripes. I ended up wearing this one only once because I think I need to size up (this is a small) so I was spilling over the top a lot, and not in a good way. So I wish I had bought the medium instead (and still might). It also cuts in a bit around the thigh (low cut) but I think that’s due to being a bit too small. Ah, the famous Andie Malibu swimsuit. Five of my friends have this suit because it’s so easy to wear, comfortable, supportive (it has a shelf), and looks like a tank top so it is the best “around town on vacation” suit in case you should want to jump in (which we did). I wore this cave tubing, kayaking in the mangroves, and in town a bunch (as well as at the pool/beach). I would love a brighter blue version or stripes on it. It’s definitely my go-to in Portland for the hot tub, too. HUGE fan (and ready for some new colors!) 5 Non-Model Women Tested Summersalt’s Swimsuits – Here Are Their Reviews (And No Photoshopping, Ever) If you want to see the results of the most fun and empowering shoot of all time then click on this one. I love these women so much and was so grateful and proud that we all decided to cheer each other while modeling these really great swimsuits. Not every suit 100% worked for everyone so we give our honest reviews. Unphotoshopped Women Honestly Review Summersalt’s 3 Bestselling Swimsuits This post was our first Summersalt review post where we got to include a couple of our wonderful contributors. Again, always honest and never any photoshopping! Where To Buy ALL The Best Swimsuits (Affordable, Black Owned, AND Size-Inclusive) – Because I’ve Been Heavily Insta-Marketed, Believe Me Not all of our swimsuit posts still have the suits available but we did a post about 27 different swimwear brands that you can shop from if you are looking for some new options! Another Swimsuit Review: This Time On 27 Different Women With Different Bodies & Swimwear Needs This post is one of those that likely a lot of the suits aren’t available but I wanted to include it in this post because we did a reader call out where we asked if anyone had any swimsuit recommendations. They would just need to take a photo of them in their suit, write a little blurb, and then I would of course pay them since I know how vulnerable it can be putting yourself on the internet in a swimsuit. But wow were we blown away by these beautiful women! If you want a feel-good post as we enter swimsuit season, this is a great one. Hope this was helpful on the swimsuit search journey this year.