How We Travel

Hey guys! Thanks for checking in with us 🙂 Today I felt like writing a little post about how Scott and I go about traveling (i.e.. how we pick a location, make the most out of our time, budgeting money, etc) Scott and I started traveling together basically right at the beginning of our relationship. It was something we enjoyed doing together because we both liked going to cool places and seeing things we have never seen before. We met in college learning about film production so we enjoyed capturing our adventures on a go-pro and later editing them together into little videos because we were bored. Now, we make full on travel videos that we love creating together, we never thought that we would be blogging about it years later. Traveling with loved ones or a group of friends is an awesome experience and nothing but fun, solo traveling is totally awesome too, traveling alone or with friends helps you grow and see things from a different point of view and that’s why we encourage it so much! Maybe you’re interested in traveling more often but need a little more insight on how you can make it a reality, hopefully this post can give you some insight on getting started on your travels!

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Living in Southern California is great because we have lots of options for where we can go. We have always been on sort of a “mission” to see as much as we can on this side of America just while road tripping. We take into consideration our work schedules and then plan a destination that fits within that, which usually leads to reserving destinations that are farther away for “vacation time” and days off from work, and leaves the places that are only a couple hours away for weekend getaways. But how do we get ideas for where to go? Well, Scott is great at researching cool locations, he tends to search for photography locations because he can get a full review of it online and have an idea of what his pictures would look like if we make a trip there. A lot of places we have planned trips to came to us because they caught our eye on Instagram. I know that sounds kinda stupid, but if something catches your eye and it’s captivating, then it’s worth doing research and finding out more about the location. Whether we are going on a road trip or taking a flight to our destination, mapping out the driving time is very important. Being that most of our time road tripping is in the car, you really have to plan out how your time is being spent. If we are driving 7 hours to SF and back in a weekend, we will make sure to pick a good time of departure from home and a good time of departure for our trip back home so we can fully utilize all the time we have. A lot of times this means leaving in the middle of the night, for example, leaving Los Angeles around 1am in order to get to Yosemite for the sunrise and have a full day of exploring. Once you have a location where you know you will be spending the night, that’s where the fun part comes, finding local spots near it or mapping out all the places you want to stop until you reach that location. You can get ideas from searching online about the location or once again going on Instagram (I know, but it works) and search the location and see some pics of nearby places. Either way, planning is key before you hit the road, Im all about spontaneous trips but please make sure you use your time wisely!

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Some of you guys may wonder how can I travel when I have a full time job? Well, we have jobs too and we make it work!! When we set out for a trip we really use the weekend to our full  advantage. If you have an upcoming Friday off or have PTO, using it on a Friday or Monday can really utilize your time. Another key element is when you should leave. Lets say you got that Friday off, instead of leaving for your trip Friday morning, leaving Thursday after work will make a huge difference, driving or flying at night is part of the adventure and waking up at the place your visiting will give you a full first day to explore. For example, when we took a trip to Big Sur last fall, we made sure to leave around 2am in the morning and arrived at the first location of trip when the sun was coming up. Sunrises are another huge factor to what we consider to be successful trips. As much as waking up before the sun comes up can suck, it can really make a big difference to how productive your days are, and in our opinion, a sunrise always seems to have a little something extra that makes it stand out over a sunset.

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Budgeting out our money is one of the first things we do when planning out a trip. Most of our travels are road trips so we mostly spend money on gas, food, and a motel. All of those expenses are split between us so it ends up not being too costly. Most motels are cheaper than hotels so we usually always go with that option, and it’s really not THAT bad, if anything it makes it more fun because your slightly scared and curious what your room will be like. I think nowadays, a lot of young people look for luxury when they travel, they want something special and pretty and are willing to spend all their money on it. Getting a motel is FUN. The only time you should spend in your room is for when your sleeping, we aren’t the types of people who go on vacation and spend the whole time in their fancy hotel room, we want to see things and experience things (maybe you do too), so that’s why it’s a great option to book a motel to save your money and have a fun experience. If you’re a foodie and want to travel places and try local restaurant dishes, check out the menu before hand to budget out how much money you want to spend on food. Usually, when Scott and I travel, half of the time we eat fast food (not the best option, we know) but sometimes that’s just part of the journey. Sometimes I’ll bring healthy snacks for us in the car, but that can be limited because we don’t want food to spoil. Typically, when Scott and I go on a road trip, we each spend under $250 on our weekend getaways, because we spend our time and money on only the necessities, by being on a budget it helps us save money for more upcoming travels. It’s also really important to know what your priorities are for the trip you’re planning. For example, if you’re planning a photography/hiking trip where you plan on spending majority of your time out in nature, then getting a cheap hotel or motel is perfectly fine. You don’t need to break the bank for a hotel room that you’re only going to use to sleep in. At the same time, Scott and I treat our trips as if we’re working, and less like its a vacation because thats truly what we enjoy doing. We would encourage anyone to just make sure that they do the things that they really enjoy and try as hard as possible not to have to compromise and miss out on the things that make you happy. With that being said, thanks again for reading and I hope these tips help you with your next trip and inspire you to travel as much as you can! 🙂