We're Three

Pop the Champagne and string the streamers because Trip Styler just turned three years old! In a birthday celebration of MAH-JOR proportions, I leave for Dubai tomorrow on one of the world's most glam airlines, Emirates. Honestly, I cannot think of a more appropriate {read: lavish and lucky} way to celebrate a milestone.

I started dishing out daily trip style tips for aspiring jetsetters in 2009, and never thought I'd be writing a "world of thank yous" at the end of 2012. In a time when many travel publications fail and everyone wants to be a travel writer, I'm grateful you've given me the opportunity to find my captain's voice and be your official travel tester the world over.

If you asked me in university what I was going to become when I grew up---which I guess is now?---I would have said advertising executive, not travel writer, but this is where I've landed, and planting my feet in a new destination every few weeks keeps life hovering between pipe dream and poetic.

A World of Thank Yous

• Merci to our readers for opening your inbox and your minds to our daily trip style tips. Your readership and feedback makes me feel like it's the '70s and I'm sipping scotch {while wearing a polyester suit, of course} in Pan Am's first class. On the off day I want to cancel all Trip Styler flights, you remind me to keep flying.
• Gracias to the Trip Styler flight crew {Leah for Healthy On The Road, Keryn for KinderHop, Lauren for Travel Beauty, Nicole for Jetset Jingles and Heather for Fashion Friday}; your expertise, voice and perspectives are the wind beneath my wings.
• Mahalo to my BFF and husband, for being the ultimate co-pilot encouraging me onwards and upwards, even when *i think* turbulence threatens my flight path.
• Khob khun mak krab to the tourism organizations and travel companies that partnered with me in 2012: Phoenix, Scottsdale, Vegas, Banff, Victoria, Vancouver, Okanagan, Whistler, Montreal, Canada, Oregon, Maui, Mexico, Rocky Mountaineer, Transat, Fodor's, Jetsetter, ShermansTravel and OnBoard.
• And last but not least, grazie mille to Expedia: never in a million years did I think part of my life's story would be a travel tale worth telling.

Please continue to like, share, tweet and insta-love Trip Styler, we've come a long way baby, but there's still a world of trip stylin' out there.

xoxox, Trish

[photo by and of @tripstyler]

Remembrance Day

Today is a national Canadian holiday paying tribute to the soldiers who fought and fell to give us the world renowned freedoms we enjoy across our vast land. Remembrance Day is always November 11th---a moment of silence sweeps over the nation at the 11th hour on the 11th minute---where ceremonies mark the sacrifice of those both abroad and back home. Since November 11th fell on a Sunday this year, Monday is the observation and as a result, we will resume our regular posts this Wednesday.

Lest we forget.

[photo via cbc.ca]

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

[trip style = beach + sun]

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving, or as some people put it, "turkey day." In observance of the Canadian national holiday, I'm trading pumpkin pie for pupus, and prose for photos in Maui.

Happy Thanksgiving, and as ALWAYS, I'm grateful for your support of Trip Styler. Your comments on TS posts, and social media shares and interaction are the wind beneath my trip styling wings.

Thank you, Trish

[photos by @tripstyler]

You = Greener At Hotels

[trip style = any]

Green: environmental friendliness through the efficient use of energy, water and materials

Hotels, resorts and cruise ships know they are putting a huge strain on natural resources, but it takes two to tango. Looking inward, we are the ones traveling, so how can WE be green at hotels?

At home, many of us keep the environment in mind turning lights off, using natural heating/cooling {when we can} and limiting water use, yet when we're staying at hotels we quickly forget our regular energy-saving techniques in lieu of vacation. Why should a holiday put more strain on Mother Earth?

A few weeks ago, I caught myself unknowingly doing the I'm-on-vacation-so-why-should-I-care-about-the-earth-thing when leaving my room at the Metropolitan Hotel in Vancouver. As I was closing the door, I realized I'd left every single light on, so I quickly ran in and turned off all the switches. I know this isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of life, but if everyone is wasting a little {plus taking 20-minute showers and requesting new linens daily}, every action adds up a lot.

Because we can't all stay at zero-waste retreats all the time, here's a few VERY SIMPLE techniques for being your own ecotourist at hotels:

• Let housekeeping know that you don't need them to replace your sheets and towels every day; this will reduce energy AND water usage. Simple solution: don't leave towels on the ground {indicating they need to be changed}, or opt out of daily housekeeping.
• Turn off the lights, air conditioner/heater and the electronics in your room while you're out. Even when I'm in tropics I turn off the a/c when I'm gone, opening windows and doors when I return.
• Turn off the water when you brush your teeth, and take a shorter showers.
• BYO toiletries, or if you use what the hotel provides, make sure to take what's leftover home. Think how many little soaps are being thrown out, and the millions of petite plastic shampoo and conditioner bottles created. Plus, hotels always give you two soaps, so who needs two soaps and a shower gel???
• If the hotel doesn't have a recycling program, try to find a bin close by for take-out containers and water bottles.
• Take advantage of free bicycle programs.

Do you use other green techniques at hotels?

[images sourced online]

Money Doesn't Buy Style

[trip style = any]

If there's one thing I've learned from life and trip styling around the world, it's that money doesn't buy style {unless you can afford the everyday styling services of Brad Goreski}. Putting this into a travel context, money doesn't always buy a stylish hotel, either. Aka, you don't have to spend $500+ a night to land in a cool pad.

Case in point: some of the most stylish hotels I've stayed in have been $150 or less. Moreover, hit-up über stylish {and exclusive} hotels like the Banyan Tree Mayakoba in shoulder season or on a super sale, and you're singing your way to your vacay.

I get it, stylish means different things to different people. But if there's one thing we can all agree on, it's that style is not run-of-the-mill nor head-to-toe one-branded; style is curated, style is personal, style is local, style is unique.

Stylish Hotels {all $150 or less in low season} *If you're considering jetting away for the fall, take note: style can come with a small price tag. You don't need to have a Ritz Carlton budget to wear Roberto Cavalli.

Thailand - x2 Kui Buri note: an all-villa hotel with wifi and champagne breakfast included.

Venice - Hilton Molino Stucky note: I got this hotel on hotwire for $110, the rooftop pool is its crowning glory.

Bonaire - Sorobon Beach Resort note: wifi and an azure bay the temperature of a hot tub included. BYO soap.

LA - Thompson Beverly Hills note: dark and sleek interiors lead to the 'bev hills beach' urban rooftop pool.

Palm Springs - Viceroy Palm Springs note: a multi-pool garden party to cool off in the desert heat.

Scottsdale - Saguaro note: bright, central and savvy with a coffee shop, whiskey lounge and mexican restaurant on-site. done.

NYC - Ace NYC note: up-cycled urban.

PS - if you're interested in finding high-style hotels for less, check out our curated list of travel websites in TS Recommends.

[photos by @tripstyler except hilton and ace, both sourced online]