Browsing Tag

road trip

Hipstercrite Life, Travel

How Traveling the U.S. Made Me F’ing Love Our National Parks

I must admit: Up until this year I didn’t think much about our national parks.

As a person who appreciates nature, but often stays clear of destinations that draws large crowds, the national parks fell roughly between “meeting Danny DeVito” and “petting a sloth” on my bucket list. (Meaning “nice-to-haves,” not “must-haves.”)

That all changed this summer when a I traveled 5500 miles by car across the great United States of America simply because I’m terrified of flying. And when I say terrified, I mean the last time I took a flight — 3 years ago — I had:

  • Two Xanax
  • Three cocktails
  • One activity tracker that kept telling me my heart rate was over 200 beats per minute.
  • The realization that I was not going to die because of a plane crash but because of a massive heart attack.

Ever since that day, I swore off flying and have strictly traveled by car or train. (You can read about my train travels here.)

So when my mother, a citizen of New York, (more…)

Hipstercrite Life

Big Sky, Big Country

As a freelancer, taking a vacation when you’re supposed to is kind of terrifying, but I gave in to the fact that there wouldn’t be much work to do over the holidays and tried to enjoy my time off. I managed to succeed! Though I was unable to go home to visit my family, I spent the holidays with my boyfriend and his wonderful family. I have a trip planned home at the end of January ($200 round-trip ticket to Upstate New York on Southwest!), so I’ll definitely get some family time in soon and Grandma can stop using here Jewish guilt powers to make me feel bad about it.

Though Texas is a big ass state, one of the beauties of it is its proximity to other cool areas. Along with my boyfriend’s cousin and her boyfriend, we snuck over to Santa Fe for a few days last week. Driving through the American Southwest is one of the most cathartic trips one can experience. I’ve driven alone and with friends or family through the Southwest countless times now and I always love it. Living in cities for (more…)