Welcome to Travel Diaries, a Refinery29 series in which we tag alongside as real ladies embark on trips worldwide and song their travel charges down to the remaining cent. Here, we offer a detailed, intimate account of while, where, and how our friends spend their excursion days and disposable income: all the food, adventures, indulgences, setbacks, and surprises. This week’s tour diary: A 27-year-old sales govt visits Tennessee for tattoos, Dollywood, and karaoke.
Costs: Round ride flight from LAX to BNA changed into $225. We booked an Avis condo vehicle via Costco Travel for 5 days for $128.87. Still, we’ll pay this whilst we choose up the car (if you haven’t checked them out, particularly encouraged. We first booked through Expedia earlier than this and observed that Costco turned into $120 cheaper). When did you e-book? Do you observe you acquire a good deal? We booked it four months earlier, immediately thru Southwest’s internet site. I idea we got an excellent deal!
Costs: We stayed at some distinctive locations. My excellent friend, B, works in hospitality and receives a massive cut price on lodges. So we stayed at a Hilton Garden Inn first, then at a Hilton in Pigeon Forge, then an Airbnb barn, and any other Hilton by way of the airport on our closing night. B positioned it on her card, and I Venmo’d her.
1:02 p.M. – I clock out of work and am officially on vacation! I took a 1/2 day because I haven’t hit quota yet (I paintings a sales task, and it’s pretty vital to hit numbers every month). I’m leaving straight from paintings to my parent’s residence because they stay closer to LAX. I get there around 2:15 p.M., And my mom and I right now head to the airport.
3:10 p.M. – I check my bags and undergo TSA Pre-Check, which is SO well worth the cash if you travel often. It takes me approximately five minutes to get via the line; I don’t ought to take my shoes off, do not need to scan my boarding skip (they positioned my driver’s license through a gadget), and get to keep stuff in my wallet. My fine buddy, B, remains on the manner by the time I get performed with protection, so I stroll around LAX for a chunk and study a little bit of Jurassic Park. I’m re-studying it due to the fact I wanted a fun fable read. However, I always overlook how extraordinary Crichton’s writing is.
4:25 p.M. – We start to board the plane. Even although B is further up than I was, we nonetheless manage to get seats next to every different. We have a layover in Vegas, and one of the flight attendants is dressed up as Elvis; that’s lovely and amusing.
6 p.M. – Arrive in Vegas and de-plane. We have approximately half-hour to kill earlier than boarding again, so we stroll around and study the shops and fee our phones.
6:45 p.M. – Board aircraft, and it’s pretty empty, so B and I get an entire row to ourselves!
7:15 p.M. – We take off, and I attempt to sleep for a bit. However, I fail. I decide to study greater of Jurassic Park and end about one hundred twenty pages of it earlier than I decide to take a spoil. After that, I sit down and let my mind wander; I feel like a number of my nice “deep wondering” comes from me sitting on an aircraft, probably because I’m literally sitting with nothing to do.
