Summer Travel :: Take Time For Lunch

[trip style = any]

"On the coasts of France and Italy, a midday meal isn't some grab-and-go affair. It's the centerpiece of your day--every day." - Adam Rapoport, EIC Bon Appetit Magazine

When's the last time you had a lengthy lunch? The kind where you sit under the shade of an umbrella or low-hanging tree without a care in the world?

I recently read an article in Bon Appetit Mag {my new magazine obsession} extolling the lost art of the long lunch. Inspired by a summer vacation to Tuscany and the daily afternoon ritual of gathering with friends and family to eat fresh food and cheap wine, the mag's editor, Adam Rapoport, examined the leisurely European midday meal.

It made me think. In the past few years, I can only recall two instances of an nhurried afternoon nosh. The first was in Europe three years ago. I was with friends in the Cinque Terre. There were long pasta lunches AND long pizza dinners {it's Italy ok, you eat a lot} atop the stone cliffs of the Italian Riviera. The second was on Wilson Island, Australia last year. Sitting at a long table in a bathing suit cover-up {hair messy from a morning snorkel in the great barrier reef}, an Italian chef prepared a four-course meal every day at noon. Not surprisingly, along with the free-flowing fine wines, the gourmet lunch lasted for hours. I haven't had a long lunch since.

It's true; we're just past summer's midpoint but that's not to say we can't adopt the not-so-lofty luncheon for an upcoming weekend or late-summer trip. In fact, I'm going to attempt to channel a smidgen of the Europeans' August holiday tradition this week on vacation in Washington's backcountry. There will be market-fresh food, there will be laughter and there will be cheap rosé, and aside from my book and a morning bike ride, I'm banking on lunch acting as the centerpiece of our three-day getaway.

Cin cin, I hope you find time to clear your schedule and fill it to the brim with family, friends and food to reclaim lunch.

[photos by @tripstyler]

Saving Your Sole{s} At Security

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Fact: Everyone passing through security going in or out of the US must take off their shoes.

Notice how the carpet lining airport security checkpoints always smells like feet. GROSS. If it smells that bad, I can't even imagine what's lurking---maybe even festering---beneath. Time to save our soles...

The Problem: Bare feet through security The Opportunity: Protecting feet through security

Many of us wear flats on travel days. They look good and feel good when walking {what feels like} a half-marathon through the airport. When the 'shoes off' rule just started, I made the mistake of walking through security with bare feet. NEVER AGAIN. I died a little inside. I don't even want to know how many germs the soles of my feet came into contact with walking 10 steps through the metal detector/body scanner.

Now, when I wear flats without socks, I pack a pair of 'security sox' into my carry-on's top zip pocket. These would only be used twice on my trip, once through security there and once through security back.

On a recent trip style = spa stint in Vegas, I took things one step further {pun intended} and devised what I thought was an even better plan to save my soles. I wore slippers {the kind hotels give you that can be washed post-trip}. On the way there, I had no problem at security. On the way back, it DID NOT go over well. I got berated by a TSA agent who insisted I must take my slippers off {rendering my feet bare}.

Moral of the story: wear socks through security. They are our only hope of protection from airport carpet cooties.

How To Save Your Soles At Security

• pack 'security sox' in the top of your carry-on for easy access
• put the socks on while taking off your shoes at the security scanner's belt
• walk through the metal detector/scanner
• take off your socks and put on your shoes
• throw the security sox in the wash as soon as you get home
• slippers don't count

[photo by @tripstyler]

My "Find Yours" Background

[trip style = benevolent]

On Monday I told you about my "secret" {but now the cat's out of the bag} trip to San Felipe, Mexico three weeks ago with Expedia for the "Find Your Calling" video shoot. Though 99.9% of my days were spent filming in and around the medical clinic I helped build, I got a chance to snap some photos between takes. Since San Felipe is a bit off the traveler's radar in comparison to Cabo and Cancun, here's bit of background on the town and my journey there...

I've been to San Felipe three times. My Mexi "first" was 18 years ago, followed by a second trip one year later and a third trip 10 years ago. Each journey centered around helping with the development of the medical clinic. And in case you think the experience was cushy, let me assure you it was not. As you can see below, the beach is quite lovely; however, there were no daily sunning sessions après work.

The first and second times I went, the clinic was in its infancy. As a result, we slept like canned sardines in sleeping bags on the floor of an old mobile home trailer beside the site. In the morning, we'd throw our "foamies" to the side and eat cereal in the same spot. Twenty of us shared one bathroom. Looking back, I'm not sure how. Despite the trailer's tattered and sand-stained carpet, basic kitchen and bathroom with rotting linoleum, it was more cushy than the way most locals lived. We had daily food, a roof over our heads and four connecting walls---still a luxury by 90% of the world's standards.

My two spring break visits were in grade 10 and 11. I returned for my third visit when I first started working in the corporate world, but this time as a leader to the teens on the trip. Given that seven or eight years had gone by since my first two visits, the clinic was now a bigger operation, capable of handling more patients with more sophisticated medical equipment.

Fast-forward to present day. When I got the email from Expedia saying they wanted to take me back to San Felipe to film for their "Find Yours" campaign, I was a crying mess.  I couldn't believe that a} the world's largest online travel company would be interested in my story and b} I would have a chance to share a life-changing moment that occurred on a mountaintop 18 years ago.

I learned MANY lessons on that first trip to Mexico, but the one that sticks in my mind the most is when you take yourself outside of your comfort zone, you learn the most. This is not always comfortable, but it can change the course of your life---for the better.

Thanks for sharing my journey. Here are a few photos of my trip to San Felipe with Expedia...

{Getting there}

{The colorful airport}

{San Felipe's arches welcoming visitors}

{5:30am sunrise}

{Our new, half-built hotel from the beach}

{The clinic today}

{The clinic's neighborhood}

{The view of the mountain from the clinic}

{The view from the top of the mountain}

{Lunch: just-caught fresh fish tacos}

{Filming...}

In case you didn't see the video on Monday... Can't view this video?

[Photos by @tripstyler]

Find Your Calling

[trip style = benevolent] {video is below}

Three weeks ago I did the opposite of what 99.9% of travelers do in Mexico {read: sip salt-rimmed margs on the beach}---I revisited a place that completely changed the course of my life.

When I was 15, I had the opportunity to visit San Felipe {a little town at the top of the Baja} on my spring break to help build a clinic. The project was significant because the fishing town is isolated and only reachable via a a three-hour, straight-as-an-arrow highway from Mexicali. Without a proper clinic in town, people were dying on the side of the road while trying to reach Mexicali for acute care.

Along with a team of teens from Vancouver, BC, I chiseled concrete, dug trenches and painted to help give the residents something everyone should have access to, but many in the world do not, basic medical care.

I went down with the idea that I'd help the 'poor people' in Mexico. After all, they lived differently than me: in houses constructed with plywood scraps, built on sand, and surrounded by fences constructed of barbed wire and prickly cactus. I could NOT have been more misinformed. I have the locals of San Felipe to thank for changing what I care about, how I spend my time and how I spend my money. To them, I am FOREVER grateful.

Expedia recently got wind of my story, so I went back to San Felipe with a camera team. It is my HIGHEST honor to have revisited the place that disrupted my worldview and changed my course. The just-launched two-minute video is part of Expedia's new campaign: Find Yours.

Eighteen years ago, I found my calling---something I do quietly behind the scenes, but is probably one of the most important parts of my life---find yours.

Can't view this video?

ps - stay tuned, behind-the-scenes photos of San Felipe to come on Friday! And, one other video has been made about Dave & Deb finding their harmony, check it out!

Shop Talk :: What's Up With TS

A Trip Styler In-flight Service Announcement, If you've been a faithful friend of TS since we first launched in December of 2009, you know it's rare that we'd take up a post {and most importantly, your time} to talk TS biz unless it's really important. This is one of those times.

As Trip Styler maintains your good graces and "beach read" status in your day-to-day life, we don't want to end up like most airlines: reducing your in-flight experience to a small package of weird crunchy bits and a single cup of water. We want to continue to be your fresh-out-of-the-hangar Boeing Dreamliner, transporting you to close-by and far-off lands, in style.

In order to be the Dreamliner in your life, our flight schedule will shift to Monday, Wednesday and Friday departures. No crunchy bits here, at TS we'll stock our cart with champagne, strawberries and the trip styled goodies you've come to expect as your in-flight nourishment and entertainment.

Air traffic control has promised clear skies. So join us, Pan Am-style, on the second leg of our adventure. Grab your aviators, it's always sunny at 37,000ft.

Cheers, Trish, Heather, Leah, Lauren, Nicole and Keryn

PS - I almost forgot to mention that I've started a Trip Styler Editor's Ledger on Tumblr {aka - my travel stream of consciousness: tidbits, inspiration, fashion, press mentions and articles from the other publications to which I contribute}.