The strongest memories that we retain from childhood are usually the traumatic ones. I’ve been told that I had a good time in California my first time there. Unfortunately, I have no recollection of that. What I do remember is that we were visiting a friend’s house and they happened to have a pet parrot. Having never seen such a colorful animal before, I got a little closer and the parrot promptly bit my finger. And while I’m sure the rest of the trip was perfectly lovely, my six year old brain decided to only store that feeling of sheer terror. Luckily, I got a chance to go back to San Francisco later on in life and create new memories.

Pro-tip: Taking young children on vacation is fairly useless. They’ll only remember the bad stuff. But that’s just my pessimistic point of view.

The beginning of a trip is always filled with excitement for the potential things you will see, places you will visit, people you will meet, etc. Unfortunately, there is also the potential to get lost. That is what happened at the very beginning of our journey in Costa Rica. We arrived at the airport, rented a car and got on the road, filled with the excitement that every new journey brings. That excitement quickly turned to panic once we realized that the main highway was closed down. The only way to get to our hotel was through the mountains. This also happened before the era of smartphones, Google Maps, and Waze. So instead, we had to rely on outdated maps and broken translations in Spanish to guide us to our destination. After nearly 3 hours, we finally made it, although to be honest, the only direction that I properly understood from a local was “make a left at the church.” Needless to say, the lemon infused water provided at the lobby upon arrival never tasted sweeter.

Pro-tip: Navigation is very important while traveling. Don’t just expect to figure things out when you get there, make sure that you pack the proper tools to help you troubleshoot.

One of the first things that is sacrificed while traveling is sleep. While adjusting to a different time zone, acclimating to an unfamiliar environment, and trying to soak up as much as possible in a limited amount of time, sleep becomes a lesser priority. Unfortunately, my body barely rises to the occasion when it isn’t properly rested. We had decided to wake up early to take a train to Giverny so that we could get there before the crowds hit. What I didn’t account for was the fact that I wouldn’t be able to sleep at all the night before and therefore needed to make it through the day on three hours of sleep. Giverny was one of the things I was looking forward to the most on the trip, so there was no way I was missing out. Made it to Giverny but definitely passed out on the train on the way back. I was informed I sleep with my eyes open, so that’s a new fun fact I guess.

Pro-tip: If you know that your body has difficulty adjusting to sleep in new environments, bring along melatonin to help ease you into it.

Sometimes you travel somewhere because you’ve got an entire itinerary of activities that you want to do. And sometimes, you just have one place you want to visit really badly, even if it’s the middle of nowhere. So you go, and you have a great time for like, half a day. And then you quickly realize that you’ve got another day and a half to kill and there’s nothing else to do for hundreds of miles. Such was the case with San Simeon and Hearst Castle. Hearst Castle is a definite recommendation of mine – it’s unlike anything else I’ve seen in the US. It’s got history, it’s got art, it’s got eccentric billionaires and old-school Hollywood scandals, with gardens and scenic views that are unparalleled. And then San Simeon itself has….sand, motels, and a couple restaurants.

Pro-tip: My advice is to get there the night before, stay in a hotel, visit the castle in the morning, and get out of dodge by late afternoon. Trust me, you’re not missing anything.

As a seasoned traveller, I’ve got my methods for overcoming jet lag. Catch a red-eye, sleep through the flight, plan light activities for the first day, and then go to sleep early that first night. Unfortunately, with travel, as I have learned many times before, things don’t always go according to plan. Sometimes, when my body is thrust out of its normal routine, it completely messes with my system. So for the first 3 days in Paris I had no appetite, I had constant headaches and nausea, and most importantly, I was unable to go to sleep. I tried to ensure that sleep deprivation didn’t affect my itinerary, but it eventually caught up with me. And by the time I had finally adjusted, it was time to go home.

Pro-tip: If you have trouble sleeping at night, try to plan little pockets of rest during the daytime.

As an anxious person, I’ve always got an emergency supply of Xanax on me at all times, just in case a situation arises. And the time leading up to a trip is always anxiety producing. This particular trip had me feeling especially anxious so I did something I don’t normally do – I started to rely on the Xanax and took it for 3 days straight. As someone who has a very sensitive system and who usually only takes it every couple of months, this was pretty out of character. So it didn’t occur to me once I finally arrived in Chicago that I shouldn’t partake at the tiki bar. I only had one drink, but that was enough. I was fine that night, but the following morning, I was walking around Chicago and didn’t feel right. I was feeling dizzy, extremely nauseous, and light-headed. I was afraid I would pass out on the street, so I wound up lying down on a bench and googling my symptoms. It occurred to me that the mixing of Xanax and alcohol might have something to do with it. Word to the wise: don’t google “what happens if I mix alcohol and Xanax”. Because the internet will tell you that you’re going to die. Which was pretty disconcerting considering how I was already feeling. After resting and hydrating for several hours, I finally started to feel better, but feeling that vulnerable while in an unfamiliar city was pretty nerve-wracking.

Pro-Tip: Don’t take Xanax and alcohol in the same day. This should be self explanatory but some people (ahem ahem me) need a reminder sometimes. And when in doubt, hydrate.

Have you ever heard about the marine layer in California? I sure hadn’t. Apparently it’s this ghostly fog that rolls in from the ocean and covers the entire state of California for the better part of half a day, every day. This layer was supposed to have dissipated by June, but decided to stick around for an extra month while I was there. For most of the trip, this wasn’t the end of the world but severely impacted our experience while in San Francisco. For the first 4 days that we were there, the Golden Gate Bridge, the most iconic representation of the city, was completely obstructed. We drove past it, we drove back and forth on it, we visited multiple viewing points and saw absolutely nothing. We didn’t even see the bridge while we were on the bridge, that’s how foggy it was. It was until 7pm on our final day that the fog cleared and we were able to get a glimpse.

Pro-tip: If there are any seasonal weather phenomenons that occur at your destination, make sure to look them up in advance, prior to booking your trip.

One of the key components to any travel story is the journey. Like many trips, this one included a flight. One of the reasons that we even booked this trip was because of the cheapness of the flight. I probably should have been worried; there’s no way that you can get a bargain like that and not pay in some other way. But I tend to over-worry and kept telling myself that everything would be fine. The first indication that this was not the case was when they rescheduled our flight from 11:15pm to 2:30am and then again to 4:15am. We later found out that this was because all of their aircrafts were grounded so they had to enlist another company’s plane in order to fly us out. I had paid extra to reserve a window seat since it helps to reduce my stress on flights but upon arriving at my seat, I found out that they had moved me. And when I tried to tell a flight attendant, she told me that she didn’t work for the airline. Having paid for a service that I didn’t receive, I was not only irritated, but very panicked. The fact that we arrived to our destination 6 hours late and missed our timed Eiffel Tower tickets, were promised food and never received any, paid extra for seat assignments that were then completely ignored and essentially missed our first day in Paris all added to this irritation. But the cherry on top was when they pulled all of this again on the way back. Rescheduled the flight, moved around my seat assignment four times over the course of one day, and were incredibly rude and inefficient in every aspect. Needless to say, when they sent me an email the following day asking me to fill out a survey about my experience, I wasn’t very kind.

Pro-tip: With bargain airlines, you get what you pay for. And don’t schedule timed tickets on the day you arrive. You’ll just be tempting fate.

I try not to be too snooty or particular when it comes to hotel rooms. I don’t need the best view or the fluffiest pillows or tons of room service options. I just need a functioning shower, a clean bed, and outlets to charge my electronic devices. Especially while traveling, I use up a ton of battery power each day on my phone, ipad, and camera. It is absolutely essential to recharge these each day, if not multiple times a day, to ensure that I don’t miss out on capturing a memory. So I was astounded when I walked into this Swiss hotel and found a SINGLE OUTLET for the entire room and bathroom. We had to MacGyver the situation a little bit by unplugging the TV (which was occupying 100% of the room’s electrical outlets, aka 1), and using several different splitters modge-podged together in order to charge our combined 6 devices.

Pro-tip: Bring splitters with you. Electricity is a commodity that at times must be shared.

This is a story about making the best of a bad situation. My great uncle Sam was traveling with his mother and 4 other siblings while emigrating to the US. While attempting to board a ship in Antwerp, it was discovered that he had an eye infection. His mother then had the impossible decision of whether to stay back with him and all of her other children, or leave him behind and take the rest with her. She elected the latter and found a nice Jewish family for him to stay with until the infection cleared up. He was 11 at the time. He stayed for about 2 years. When asked about this experience, my Uncle Sam had this to say: At least I got to learn French. Apparently, I had relatives who were inherent optimists. Go figure.

Pro-tip: Traveling places where you have a family history can richen the experience in unexpected ways.