Tag Archives: travel

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My Top 5 Travel Gadgets

So, since we’ve been talking a lot about our Fresh Grounded Faith cruise and all our travel tips, here is a list of my favorite gadgets to add to your travel bag! These are the must-haves that make traveling easier. You never want to bring so many gadgets that you need another carry on, but you want to choose wisely the few that will improve your travel experience. So, here are my top five:

1. Water bottle humidifier
Okay, now this one you can’t just pick up at your local hardware store! But, you can get it online or at a specialty travel store. It’s a humidifier that is smaller than most of my purses! Since I usually have trouble with sinus dryness when I stay in hotel rooms, this little gadget humidifies the air I am breathing! You simply screw a water bottle onto it, plug it in, sit it right by your bed and then all night you will breathe in moist air! And, I often drip some lavender in my water bottle so it freshens the fragrance of the room and makes me feel like I’m sleeping in a spa!

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Tips and Tricks for Packing Light from the Type A Traveler!

I have been traveling in ministry for over 15 years — sometimes as many as 40 weekends a year! And, believe it or not, when I am not traveling for ministry, I still love to travel just for fun! One of the comments I most often hear when I arrive, no matter where I go, is “wow, you travel so light!” I guess I am a little — okay, a lot — type A about how I pack! I’ve been asked how I do it so, even though this is a departure from my usual blog content, I thought I would help the sisters out! Seriously, I write the blogs I do to help you lighten your load in life, so why not help you in a super practical way with lightening your load so you can enjoy stress-free travel? Makes sense to me, so here are 4 tips to simplify your packing and reduce your travel stress:

1. Use lightweight luggage:
Let’s just start with the basics. Not only do you not want to over pack, you don’t want your luggage to weigh a ton to begin with. It’s just no fun to lug it around. So, if you start with luggage that doesn’t weigh much to begin with, you will never be over-weight when you check luggage with the airline and you won’t pull a muscle as you try to drag it into the hotel. There are lots of good brands for traveling light. And, I have learned from experience, you don’t have to spend top dollar. Look for nylon as the main fabric for your lightweight luggage. You can find a four-wheeled carry-on that is under 5 lbs.! I really like Kipling and Lucas brands because they have traveled well and aren’t the most expensive. And, they come in fun colors!

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You’re the Sister I Never Had

Assad and Amaan are now my honorary brothers. One is from Ethiopia and the other from Somalia, and they both work in the Dallas airport. They’ve been in the US for about 5 years and they are both cheerful, hardworking men. I call them my new brothers because they called me “my sister!”

“Step up here, my sister,” Assad said as he helped me into the cart to transport me to my gate. Then, when he transferred me to Amaan for the second leg of my hurry-flurry through the airport, Amaan said, “hello, my sister. I will get you to your gate. You not worry.”

how-very-alike-we-all-are

I loved the way they treated me; it felt like family. They helped me like they would help their own mother. They were protective and as kind to me as they would be to their own sisters.

Why don’t we talk like that to each other?  Why don’t we act like that to each other?

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My Audio Journal Day 1-3: Quito, Ecuador

Well, we made it to Ecuador.

We were stuck in Miami a little longer than we had hoped because–get this–a volcano erupted 90 miles south of Quito, and the ash still lingered in the air. Apparently, that makes air travel difficult. A little different from the states, huh?

Theresa, Phil and Jennifer with Bolivia and 14-year-old Jimmy in the kitchen of their adobe home. Jimmy is one of the children sponsored through Compassion.

Theresa, Phil and Jennifer with Bolivia and 14-year-old Jimmy in the kitchen of their adobe home. Jimmy is one of the children sponsored through Compassion.

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My Visit With 50 Cats

My Dr. Phil and I recently went on a cruise — just the two of us. It was so fun just to be together and relax and eat…eat…eat…eat…and eat some more! Well, you know…It’s a cruise!

The first port on our cruise was Key West, Florida.

Phil and I rented a scooter and put-putted about the island.

My favorite stop…The Hemingway Home nestled in the heart of Old Town Key West.

If you have read my blogs for a while you won’t be surprised! I do have a thing for dead authors! Novelist Ernest Hemingway lived and wrote here for more than ten years beginning in 1931.We stepped back in time as we meandered through the rooms and gardens that witnessed the most prolific period of this Nobel Prize winner’s writing career.