Travel With Betsy

Not quite as “Bushy Tailed” as I had anticipated I would be…..

But, feeling good…and excited…..as I embark on my travels to Peru….via Miami!   I will feel even better and more excited when I feel more awake……zzzzzz…..

I knew that I would have a long travel day on Monday with a stop in LA and then in Houston before reaching my final destination of Miami. So, to save my sanity….and my patience…….for the travel day, I cleared my schedule for the week or so before the trip so as not to wind myself up like a top at the last minute trying to get everything done. As the week progressed, despite my best efforts, I found myself spinning as, day by day, a myriad of unexpected events continued to put me a day behind.   On the last day before my trip I found myself much more engaged with last minute details than I wanted to be.   So, after one super busy day and a few sleepless nights, I donned my “sensible shoes”…..

……..and made my way to the airport for my flight. It was, as is usually the case these days, a challenging travel day that was underscored by a delightful seat a few rows up from the bathroom (phew) one seatmate that was expelling gas at the speed of light (double phew) and two delays. At midnight, I finally arrived at the airport in Miami, collected my luggage, and made my way to the hotel. What a day…but, I made it!

As always, the preparation for the trip was almost as interesting as the trip itself. And, as always, I learned a few things along the way.

First, I realized that we were again going to a place with a large percentage of the world’s mosquitos. And, now, of course, we also have the related problem of Zika. Here’s the joy of doing 2 South American trips in 1 year. I have all of the mosquito bite preventative tools that one could possibly want or need….Deet to carry along in my bag and Prometherin to spray on my clothing pre-trip. Believe me, before I left I sprayed the living daylights out of my convertible pants, “moisture wicking” shirts and socks. Just as I did for my trip to the Galapagos, I lined them all up like soldiers on the fence in my backyard and let loose. So, I dare the mosquitoes to get through all of that! I guess it could happen, but they will need to be persistent to penetrate that kind of armor!

As I mentioned in my Galapagos posts, I am not really an outdoorsy kind of gal. After my last trip, I felt pretty prepared for all types of outdoorsy issues. But, just to be on the safe side, I decided to, once again, seek out the advice of the friendly people at the Mountain Air Store in San Luis Obispo to point me in the right direction of “must have” items for a trip to Peru. The friendly girl, who now knows me be name, and who, by the way, has been to Peru, confirmed that I had all of the necessary basics.

“But”, she said, “Have you considered your underpants?” What?! Of course I have considered my underpants. I’m taking them. I never go without underpants.

“No…..no”, she said. “Not just any underpants. Have you considered the ones for travel that are moisture wicking and odor absorbing?  They are great! And, they can be washed in the sink of your hotel room.”

“Wouldn’t it be nice, “ she said, “to take only 2 pair of underpants and just wash them each day? They dry in about 10 minutes. I have used them on all of my trips. But now, I just wear them all the time because they are so comfortable.”

Hmmm…….I gave this some serious thought and came to the conclusion that she could be right. This was a great concept! So, $35.00 later, I was the proud owner of 2 pairs of travel underpants. I wore some of them today in Miami where the heat and humidity closely resembled that of my trip to Costa Rica. Whew!! There’s really no reason to take a shower or do your hair here. As soon as you step out into the humidity, you are drenched and stinky. Just like in Costa Rica!

I will say that by the end of the day of walking all over Miami and Fort Lauderdale, my underpants were soaking wet. They were so wet, that I was wondering if I had a “tinkling” accident (I didn’t…..at least I don’t think I did!) But, true to the word of the sales girl, when I took them off and hung them up in the room, they dried in about 10 minutes and when I sniffed them, I didn’t detect any stinky stuff. I’ll let you know how they do in the bathroom sink washing machine as I get into the trip. It didn’t occur to me that I could try this out in my Miami hotel room before I left. Oh well….didn’t think of it. Also, I am not out of underwear yet.  (Always prepared, I do have other underpants just in case these little gems don’t work.) The only downside of these underpants that I can see so far is that they were a little bit….well, more than a little bit…… too big for me, even thought I got the smallest size they had. I could practically pull them all the way up to my neck. Good thing I was wearing a skirt. No panty lines! And, there is little chance of someone giving me a wedgy. I doubt that someone could pull them up far enough to achieve that. HA!

I also decided that I was no longer going to carry my huge perfume container along as I usually do. Would I really need perfume in the wilds of Peru? Probably not, but you never know. So, I learned from my friends at Sephora that I could buy a small, refillable container that would certainly be enough for what I was doing. (You would think I would have figured that out by now.) Great!

I am also packing light….one suitcase and a small backpack. So, my travel mates will see me in the same clothing time after time. I understand it’s easy to get the hotels in Peru to wash your clothes…..and, I hear that it’s cheap! I hope so. Otherwise, by the end of the trip, I will be quite ripe! I’ll try to give you a heads up on this so that you can run the other way when you see me coming!

I have also decided that sensible shoes are the way to go. I have 2 pairs of shoes that will have to do the trick for any outfit. I don’t think that will be a problem, as I only have one type of outfit…..casual.

Well, I have finally gotten a good night’s sleep and I’m feeling a bit more awake and the bubble that I have been walking around in is starting to dissipate. I’m so grateful.

Bright-eyed and bushy tailed…..well, getting there anyway….. traveler signing off from Miami……

This entry was posted on September 8, 2016 at 3:51 pm and is filed under Solo Travel for Women, South America, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.