Hello Darlings,
I’m blogging from Santa Barbara, it took me a bit longer to get here than expected, just so much to do. I’ve been busy taking care of business at home, such a bore but it needs to be done.
Juanita returned for a few days, but I sent her back to her family so she has more family visiting time and a wedding to go to, so she is going to be busy for the next few weeks as well. My house sitter is back on duty, so I tied up a few things and then I was off with my darling Princess in my car, Ms. Wicked.
Some people have asked me if I am afraid to travel by myself, taking into account the dangers of a woman traveling alone. Well they are right about that, but there are some things one can do.
I’m going to post here some suggestions for you, there is much, much more that you can research but this should give you a good idea.
1. Never travel in clothes that scream “tourist” that is only for when you are at your resort. Travel in clothing that matches in colors, and choose neutral colors like black, grey and khaki, it’s easy to mix and match things that way and you carry less shoes to match you can always accesorise with a colorful scarf.
2. Remain low-key a much as possible do not wear expensive jewelry while traveling and that includes watches, purses etc. I have a watch and a purse that I bought at what my dear friend Mean Kitty calls “Wally World” (Wal-mart), I chose them to not be flashy and that is important. Some pieces of costume jewelry are fine as long as it’s not flashy.
3. Pack as much of your luggage into the trunk of your car as possible, anything that you put into the back seat, cover with a dark blanket so it will blend in. Get good but non-descript luggage if at all possible. (I’m afraid I sort of over indulged when I purchased my new, well now nearly new, Samsonite Retro collection---just love it) Just make sure that your luggage will hold up to heavy use. When you are traveling on a Airplane, train or Greyhound bus you can use something to make your luggage stand out, like a colorful ribbon or identification tag.
4. Pay attention to your surroundings and the people in it. Try to spot possible trouble makers. When walking to your car or to your room, always turn around to see who is behind you, have your cell phone ready to take a picture just in case.
5. Have 911 on your speed dial on your cell phone. Carry Pepper spray and don’t be afraid to use it. (Not good to take on an air plane because of cabin pressure)
6. Park your car as close as possible to the restaurant doors or Hotel that you are staying at and in a lighted area.
7. Never get a room that is too close to the emergency stairs or elevator, it’s too easy for a trouble maker to invade and escape. But make a note of where the emergency stairs are.
8 Never carry your purse just over your shoulder; always carry it so it is mounted across your body, that way the thief would have to pull it over your head, instead of snatching it off of your shoulder.
9. Never carry identifiable things or credit cards in your purse, there are little travel pouches that you can pin to the underside of your clothing or the inside of the pockets of your jacket.
Only have a little cash, some aspirin, and a lipstick, a cheap purse can always be replaced.
One time I was stopped for going over the speed limit (Yes, bad Moi) and the officer needed to see my driver’s license and I told him I had to un-pin it, He was surprised that I had it pinned to my bra strap, but he understood.
10. Never flash a large amount of money or large bills, if need be use your debt or credit card, never carry a check book while traveling, but get American express travelers checks they can always be replaced.
11. Always carry in your car a first aid kit as well as a disposable camera and car insurance information in case you are in an accident. Call the police and get an incident report if need be and contact your insurance agent right away.
12. Designate one credit card and one debt card for traveling only (you can have a separate checking account for that purpose). Put your travel money that you have saved onto the debt card, and never use that credit card for anything else except hotels, food, and gas. On the credit card make sure you have a high credit line, incase there is an accident and you have to pay for repairs while traveling. But when you get home pay that credit card off.
The extra debt card is only to hold your traveling expenses money. I know some people who sell things on line like e-bay and they have a pay-pal card, the money they make on-line is used for their travel expenses and they use the pay-pal card for traveling.
Keep the phone number of the debt and credit card company in your hidden travel pouch in case the cards are stolen or to find out what your balance is. Report stolen cards immediately.
13. If you are traveling for business, whether your company or your own, always keep an expense list and mileage list for tax purposes.
14. If you are a woman alone and a charming young man tries to make your acquaintance to the point of romancing you, be very aware that he maybe charging all those meals, drinks, and services to your room. Check with the front desk and insist that all charges must be approved by you in writing or else in person; no one else is to sign for it. Also beware of handsome young charming men who try to romance you, they are not in love with your but only after your money, your body or a way of becoming an American citizen---there are too many scam and con artists. Remember all those news stories of young girls disappearing, never to be found.
15. When staying at a Hotel always make a note of where the fire escapes are so in case of an emergency you can find it quickly even in poor visibility. Always have your most important things on your night stand when you go to bed, in case of an emergency you can sweep it into your tote bag that should be next to your bed, and always have good solid flats next to your bed in an emergency. Slippers do not hold up well.
16. If the Hotel has a safe and you want to make sure you don’t have important things stolen make use of it.
17. Always use the hotel locks, if they don’t have those special locks, you can buy them at a travel store, or put a chair angled in front of the door and under the door knob.
18. Always find out about the roming limitations on your cell phones, there are parts of the United States that may not have your cell phone service, select a cell phone service that is nation wide and have full roming service. Be aware that there maybe dead zones.
19. Have a good reliable Road Side Service that is nation wide, AAA is almost everywhere, keep the 1-800 number for Road Side service in your purse or glove compartment along with your insurance. Also have the phone numbers for Car Rental agencies such as Hertz, Avis and Enterprise.
Remember a person may come along and offer help if you break down, but always be careful, use your cell phone to let a relative know if you've had a break down tell them when and where and what your situation is, update them frequently. So even if a good Samaritin comes along do call Road side service, never leave your car unless you are with the Highway patrol.
Now these suggestions are fine if you are traveling within the United States. There is more if you are traveling overseas, but unless you are doing it for business then always travel with a tour group, in that situation Never, Ever travel alone.
There are many more suggestions on how to travel safely, like always carry a bottle of water in your car; you can become dehydrated easily, especially in hot weather.
There are new laws now when driving your vechile such as you must use a hands free device if you are going to use your cell phone, I have blue tooth myself. Do not wear an IPOD to listen to music you cut yourself off from hearing the outside sounds and that could put you at risk. NEVER, EVER Text Message anyone while driving, just one second your eyes are off the road and you could be killed.
Do not drive when tired, if you fall asleep at the wheel, it will be permanet.
Stay at Reputable hotels or motels that have AAA approval, of course some of them may not be the Hyatt or Regency and the pillows maybe flat, but they have been inspected.
I have stayed in some of the "funkiest" motels while traveling, but I've always judged by the manger and if I found them to be agreeable then their rooms while aging have been agreeable.
But always inspect the sheets, even 5 star hotels have been found to be infested with bed bugs, and it's not so much the hotels cleanliness but the previous travelers filtiness.
How to travel with your pet, how to pack for a trip, etc. All these suggestions can be found on line by just googoling it all in, or by going to Wiki-How and typing into the search engine “how to pack for a trip” “How to be safe on a trip”, etc. print the information out and create a binder to refer too and also include a master copy of a check list that you can print out and use over and over again for each trip.
I travel with one tote bag that is my medicine chest, you can get sick while traveling and it can be hard to get to a drug store, although many of the better hotels have a small concierge service they may not have what you need.
If you travel frequently then you will eventually use some of the things in your medicine tote, but in January of each year check the expiration dates of some of those items use them before they expire if you need to at home and keep a list in the medicine tote of what you should have in there.
Never wear on a vacation what you would never wear at home; always make sure your clothing is comfortable. I have no idea why some women wear muumuus and silly straw hats, and the men in Hawaiian shirts, shorts to the knees and sandals with socks, it’s just so tacky.
Mean Kitty use to tell me that when traveling up North towards the “Trees of Mystery” you always knew who had been up there, they would have this wired on bumper card that said “Trees of Mystery” it labeled them as vacationers, she said she doesn’t see it so much anymore, the bumper stickers usually say “Beat Bush” or “My cat is smarter than your honor roll student”, but bumper stickers like that label you as a tourist and as a target, besides Darlings, bumper stickers are so tacky.
Souvenirs—your pictures are your souvenirs and postcards work well because they can always be put into the photo album, just be sure to label your photos. Those tacky trinkets just take up so much space. Keep a journal as well and add the journal pages into your photo album.
Oh darlings there is just so much more, just check on line or read the Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel Magazine. Wiki-how will tell you what to pack and everything else.
Another thing that I’ve known for a long time, when people reserve their hotel reservations through either Expedia or Travelocity or other online discount reservation services via the internet, it is the policy of a hotel if it’s over booked to look at the internet reservations and “bump” them because many times those people cancel and the hotel is never informed, also the hotel makes the least profit off of internet reservations.
If you want to guarantee a hotel room, call the hotel directly yourself. You do not have to accept what is called the “rack rate” you can inquire about discounts and many times they have them plus special packages, especially now with the gasoline prices and the economy being what it is and you will always get better service because you do not use the internet reservations. When you call you always get a confirmation number. That means the room is guaranteed, of course you must notify the hotel if you have to cancel and if it’s at the last minute you will be charged for at least one night. BUT Dahlings you will get good service.
Now there are many hotels that will accept pets, call to inquire, there will be a non-refundable fee for this but it’s worth it and always ‘crate train’ your pet, and inquire on the hotel policy for pets. Traveling with pets is not easy, and requires very careful planning. Never travel with your pet on an airplane, they put them in the luggage compartments, and many times the luggage compartments are not pressurized, killing your pet, or they will lose your pet at the baggage handling, this has happened more frequently than you can imagine.
I prefer to travel with Princess in my Car, no matter what, and be sure to carry copies of all your pets’ shots.
Princess is ‘crate trained’ but because she is so tiny (only 4 pounds) I’ve managed to sneak her into places in her little carry all, as long as she has water and can relieve herself and has her favorite chew toy she is fine.
Zoos will not accept your pets, not even seeing-eye dogs, an animal quarantine thing.
Well Darlings that is all I can think of about traveling as a woman alone.
But I have to admit for the last few weeks I’ve been having fun, I had chance to go to a Fall/Winter fashion trunk show for all the top line designers, I must say I think I’m going to be looking forward to the fall/winter fashions that will be coming out.
Before I left Kevin treated me to dancing to the Glenn Miller Band on the U.S.S. Hornet, we had the admiral seating, so had a great view of the Band and the Andrew Sisters Tribute, very good food, so much fun to see everyone in costume or dressed up, I had to be careful with my ankle but Kevin and I danced to the slow tunes.
I came across my friend Mean Kitty and her wonderful man, she couldn’t dance poor dear, a very nasty injury to her knee, she is not sure if she will ever be able to dance again, but one can hope, but she was enjoying everything food, music and people. I, of course was dressed in my glamorous best ala la Marlene, and we had our photos taken. The men in uniforms, the women looking beautiful, it was a delightful evening that ended all too soon.
So now today I’m at my other brother’s home in Santa Barbara, Ms. Wicked is always ready to roll, and so is Princesses she knows when I pack her things it’s going to be something special. Of late the open road has been frequently beckoning me, and I get a restless feeling that I can hardly wait to see what is around the next bend or over the hill.
I e-mailed my friend Mean Kitty and she said that I should tour Highway 49 and stop and stay at some of those quaint bed and breakfast places in those old time gold mining towns she said I should select some harvest festivals and see what looks interesting. I think she has a point.
My brother Tom has called me and he is going to purchase a small, gently used trailer to put on his home site in the next few weeks, that way he and Lois and Smokey have a place to stay while they make plans to build their new cabin ala “Ponderosa” Lois has made contact with some people who knew the set layout as well as the layout of the actual physical Ponderosa up at Lake Tahoe, she said she is going to have to do some back extensions for the Bedrooms that will be up stairs because if one looks at the pictures there is no real upstairs there, because of the window factors. So this will prove to be interesting. But Lois is going to have fun and that is what is important.
Must go Darlings, there is a wine tasting and art exhibit fund raiser that my brother and his wife are invited to this afternoon and I’m included as their guest, who knows I may come across something I’ll simply adore.
Until Anon, Kisses Darlings.
