I’m typically an advocate for squeezing in as much as possible into a single trip, and my recent trip across the Southeast was an all-timer. Trips like this one may sound stressful, but I have some tips on how to get maximum enjoyment out of them.
First off, what did we do on this trip? In just over a week, we:
-Toured the White House
-Visited a sea turtle rescue center
-Visited a beach park known for unique rock formations
-Explored old St. Augustine + fort
-Toured the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier
-Stayed at a historic bed and breakfast
-Visited the home and graveyard of Christina’s east coast family
-Played three renowned escape rooms
-Took a four day cruise to the Bahamas
This trip required four flights and a rental car, and we lost some time due to issues with our rental car. Still, that’s a lot of great content packed into a short window. The best takeaways?
1) Be flexible with lodging
I didn’t book hotels ahead of time. Generally speaking, we could find hotels close to our desired location that hit our key marks without breaking the bank (personally, an 8.0+ rating on Hotels.com is the key criterion).
Leaving the lodging flexible can create great opportunities. I wasn’t planning on staying beachside in St. Augustine, but with the time we arrived and what we planned to do, we found ourselves in a situation where staying at a historic inn on the bay was the best option. Similarly, the historic bed and breakfast in Sumter, SC, was a last minute find, and it ended up being a highlight of the trip.
There is a tradeoff – sometimes plans need to change a little. We initially planned to stay in Myrtle Beach for a night, and we changed course when seeing that even the unimpressive options cost more than double the nice places we had been staying. But being flexible pays off – skipping Myrtle Beach was what led us to the amazing aforementioned bed and breakfast.
2) Be creative with flights
The demise of Spirit hasn’t ended the prospect of budget air travel. Frontier still exists, and United and American also have competitive offerings.
Flying four times in one trip wasn’t my first choice. However, when facing the near impossibility of a one way car rental to Miami, I found that Frontier had some very convenient options, and Frontier offers a Discount Den program that provides savings on every flight.
Checking EVERYTHING is valuable. The night before? The morning after? An airport thirty minutes away? An airport two hours away? Any one of these can be the key to finding a great option for convenient, economical travel.
3) Be flexible with activities
If you had asked me before the trip what among our plans I was most confident would happen, I would have told you that we’d be solving at least a few escape rooms in Orlando, maybe even staying there an extra day. In the end, we circumvented Orlando altogether and only visited three escape rooms on the trip.
There’s an axiom I have, which is that wherever you are, there’s always something worthwhile to explore. Even in the quietest small town, I suspect there’s at least one or two restaurants or shops worth visiting, a natural landmark or scenic route, and maybe even a small museum. I’ll never feel bad about skipping an activity or a place in lieu of another.
The next time you travel, keep an open mind and see what’s out there! Don’t be afraid to follow a billboard or a pamphlet on the “things to do” rack in a hotel lobby. If it leads to you missing something else you planned, that’s not necessarily a bad thing – it’s always nice to have a reason to be excited to return to a neat place.
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