My Dream Road Trip

This is my dream road trip. I've been wanting to go to Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington for such a long time! I thought I'd just add Vancouver in there since it is so close.

What are some popular/fun/budget friendly things I could do in these cities? Any ideas where we should camp along the way?

Postcards

I think postcards are the best souvenirs. I like buying them for myself from places I've visited as well as receiving them from my friends and family while they're traveling. Postcards are wonderful for many reasons...

• They're cheap. They're usually less than 50 cents!
• They are small and easy to pack if you want to bring one home for yourself.
• They a little tiny bit educational. Often, they have a little tid bit of information on the back.
• They're easy to store. I keep mine in a photo album.

Here are some postcards I have received from friends over the years.

From my friend Jay while in Tahiti (2008)


From Sarah and Cathy while in New York (2009)


From Myles while in Washington D.C. (2009)


I especially love this postcard from Myles because of what was on the back... NOTHING! I guess he didn't realize people usually write a little message on the left side of the postcard. Instead, he just wrote my address (I don't live there any more, so don't stalk me!). He actually sent me several postcards during his trip, all without a message on the back. So cute! And sooooo "Myles."

Day 8

I shot up out of my bed at 3:00 a.m. after only 3 hours of sleep. I had been tossing and turning all night worried that I would sleep through my alarm clock. I tried to go back to sleep, but my heart was racing. I wanted to get started with my long journey home. I decided to go ahead and get going with my day.

I had arranged to have a taxi pick me up at 4:00 am to take me to the airport for my 7:00 am flight. But I was ready to go by 3:30 am. So I sat and waited in the dark lobby.


At 10 minutes til 4:00 am, the taxi driver dressed in a dark suit came into the lobby and loaded my things into the sleek Skoda car.

When we started driving away from the hotel, I told the driver "I'm so sad that I have to leave, I love it here." I don't think he understood what I said because he didn't respond at all.

I arrived at the airport a little early so I bought freshly squeezed orange juice and read my magazine. My first flight of the day was from Prague to Amsterdam. Our flight was 15 minutes delayed which sucked because I only had an hour between arriving in Amsterdam and departing to LA. I had a great seat next to the exit with lots of leg room. Unfortunately, this was only for my short flight.



When I landed in Amsterdam, I had to run from one end of the airport to the other. Luckily, I had printed out a map of the Amsterdam airport which I was able to study on the flight. I arrived at my departure gate just in time to board! Phew!

My flight was loooong. Ugh.

I was so happy to arrive in LA. It seemed like I couldn't get off the plane fast enough. JR picked me up. I was happy to have someone carry my luggage! We stopped in Ventura and Santa Barbara on our way home. I ended up at home around 5 p.m. and was happy to take a shower and relax for the evening.