When it comes to traveling, my goal is to relax and enjoy my time. There are a few things that tend to hamper my experience. These are some pet peeves I often encounter while traveling:
1. Airlines overselling seats-it’s too often I show up to listen to attendants all but beg passengers to take a voucher so the plane will not be oversold & can take off on time. Get a grip. This is a terrible way to treat customers and should be banned.
2. Overselling Rental Cars-Recently, it seems that it’s becoming a more common practice to oversell car rentals. I’ve shown up, waited in exceedingly long lines and told along with others that our reserved car type is not available and won’t be for an exceedingly long timeframe. Unacceptable.
3. Last minute gate changes-trains or planes. Nothing like reaching your destination on time to learn that you are now in the wrong area.
4. Baggage fees-I despise these increasing size of carryon luggage try to cram in the overhead bins and the tug of war over overhead storage room that it has created.
5. Tourist vs. Traveler’s argument-trust me, it does not matter. One is not better than the other. As long as the individual enjoys their travel experience, that is all that matters.
6. The inevitable questions: Are you twins? How old are you? Do you have the same birthday?” If I had a penny for the number of times these questions have been asked together, I’d be a millionaire multi times over. Doesn’t matter where we go, we get the same questions.
What are some of your travel pet peeves?
We chose the name “TrippinTwins” because it popped in my head instantly and it fit our situation perfectly. After we moved back to our hometown, after living in Northern Virginia, we could afford to travel again. We took a few trips together and with others and found that we enjoyed our trips most when it was just the two of us. Some of our friends mentioned that we should start a blog. After some thought, we decided to give it a try.
The name is fairly self explanatory. Trippin in this case is a play on “Trip” and Twins because we are twins. We both have full time jobs and do not have endless amounts of time to travel, so we take shorter trips. We work together now, but in different areas, which makes it easy to coordinate our time off.
Finding the perfect travel partner can be difficult. We have learned that just because you love someone or just because you are great friends, does not automatically mean they will be the best travel partner. We still travel with other people and sometimes solo. We find that we are great travel partners because we have similar interests and travel styles, which makes trips generally fairly easy and a lot of fun. We are not completely settled and know that a lot could changed down the road. For now, we are choosing to live in the moment and enjoy our experiences as they come.
Do you have a fun story about your blog name to share?
This was an unexpected day trip, but one worth mentioning because of the great experience we had. We had always wanted to visit southern California, but those plans of “some day” suddenly turned into “right now” when we got the call that a dear friend’s cancer journey had taken a turn for the worse and were invited to join her family and close friends for a quick trip to Disneyland California. We flew into Anaheim a day early and decided to take a day tour of Los Angeles.
We booked a last minute tour with Starline Tours and decided on the 7 hour “Deluxe City Tour of Hollywood and Los Angeles” that we thought would give us the best city overview in the timeframe we had. Our tour guide picked us up from our hotel at 10:30am and we were immediately at ease with him. He was friendly, engaging and kept everyone chatting and laughing while picking up the remaining passengers and on the drive into Los Angeles. He gave everyone the opportunity to discuss the itinerary and encouraged everyone to speak up if there were additional sights they wanted to see that could possibly be worked in.
The tour started in Downtown LA, making stops at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Staples Center where we were given 15 minutes to get out at each place to take pictures.
Then we moved on to the the Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites where we hopped on a series of elevators to reach the top floor for a distant view of the Hollywood sign. The view as quick, but everyone had a good time trying to see it.
Afterwards, we met back at the bus and drove to the Hollywood/LA area to the LA Farmers Market/Grove where we were given 45 minutes to eat lunch. This turned into 90 minutes break when our bus had mechanical difficulties and we had to wait for a replacement. We immediately decided to seek out some of the famous California Mexican food we have heard so much about. We found a stand that had a large crowd that we figured would be a good place to eat.
Tara waiting to eat lunch!That delicious food!lunch timeWhy not try some guac?
After finishing our delicious lunch, we went to explore the Grove area. It is a fun area to do some shopping & people watch.
Chinese New Year decoration
Once we got a replacement bus, we were off to the La Brea Tar Pits for a quick photo op. They are considered to be a National Natural Landmark. We did not have the opportunity to tour the Page Museum, so it’s on our list for our next visit.
Next, we drove to Beverly Hills, where we were given 30 minutes to explore Rodeo Drive where I happened to walk right into a photo shoot taking place on this amazing street.
Random photo shoot
The next stop was one that everyone was excited about-Hollywood Bowl overlook.The outlook is close to the interstate, making it easy to reach. The drive is pretty with views of celebrity homes. The parking lot is very small, but street parking is available. We arrived right at dusk on a clear night, which made for great city skyline views. Unfortunately, I only had a cell phone camera, so my shots did not come close to capturing the stunning view.
LA Skyline from the Hollywood Bowl OverlookHollywood Sign from the Hollywood Bowl Overlook
No one was ready to leave the Lookout, but we had to in order to go see Hollywood Blvd where the Chinese Theatre & the Walk of Fame are located. We were both tired at this point, so after snapping a few pics, we found a coffee shop near the Chinese Theatre and got a drink until it was time to head back to Anaheim.
As last minute travel decisions go, this one was a much needed surprise. Would sign up and do it all again, if given the chance. Next time just hope to have a few days vs. a few hours to spend exploring LA.
