Packing, Freezing, and Ubering – The Weekly Recap for November 10-16

Brrrr….

That one utterance could sum up this past week.  I am decidedly NOT ready for winter.

I left for a quick trip to South Carolina last Monday to see a client.  When I landed in Columbia, I was sweating.  But when I took off from Charleston the next morning, I knew that it was the last I’d see of heat until vacation.  Yes, temperatures in DFW had plunged to the 40s.  Then it was freezing on Wednesday – not that it mattered, I was in Kansas with wind chills below zero.  On Friday, I was back home to the damp cold… and then last night I was off to upstate New York.

To tally that one up, that’s 7 of the last 8 days traveling.  And I did a little bit of cold weather Ubering during the time I was home – only a few rides total, but all of them were longer runs for a change and I had some interesting passengers who I enjoyed chatting with too.

So outside the daily grind, I’m not going to lie… I’m excited about my vacation starting this week!  If you want to follow along, I’ll be trying to keep some posts coming in real time from the road.  Don’t worry about missing them – I have created a special page just for this Indonesian trip!  I’ll be adding content there after it appears here (although I may be a few days delayed updating those links, so don’t forget to check my home page).  I’ll also be continuing to send out updates on Instagram and Twitter, so if you aren’t following me there you may want to!

The vacation planning has been going well – I shared what I’ll be doing in each of the eight port stops as I worked through my travel plans.  I also have some other content lined up for you while I’m out… so if you see me posting random Hampton Inn hotel reviews, don’t worry – I’m not writing those while on vacation – I’ve been saving them up rather than trickling them out like this one from the Four Points Sacramento International Airport.

This week I worked on getting organized here a bit – that includes creating a few new master pages for some of my multi-post content.

There were a few travel reminders this past week – $30 free Uber rides are ending soon – and don’t forget to do these things with your free Hilton HHonors status.  You may have blinked and missed the Veterans Day launch of UberMILITARY in some markets this week as well.

I had an American Airlines throwback Thursday post this past week.  You will definitely want to tune in THIS week  as I share a very special throwback Thursday that was legendary.  The kind where people STILL introduce themselves to me with “you’ve never met me but I read this trip report and….”  There may be appearances from FlyerTalk legends – current and deceased, so if you like trip reports, you won’t want to miss one that I personally consider epic.

We also have been catching up on other reviews – October’s “Birchbox OR Ipsy” is finally up.  (Would you believe this is one of the biggest features that brings new readers to Jetsetter’s Homestead?!  If you got here for the beauty boxes, I hope you stay for the travel.  There’s something for everyone here!

I’ll be tossing in those samples as I pack my bags to leave on Thursday.  I’ll catch the late night San Francisco to Hong Kong flight on Cathay Pacific (in first class).  I’m excited that my travel mate got onto that flight too… it’s her first time on CX although she’s a Star Alliance premium class regular.  Since I’ve flown Cathay Pacific dozens of times, I’ve asked her if she might be willing to guest blog from a first-timers perspective.  I hope she decides to as I think the comparison with Star Alliance premium products is a good one… and she’s seasoned enough to not be easily impressed.  The Krug and caviar is going to be a nice warm up for twelve nights on Seabourn Odyssey (where it’s champagne and caviar on demand pretty much 24/7)… I’m going to try not to overdose.

My weekly recap schedule may be a bit off while I am gone.  Although I’m planning on sharing all of it with my readers, I also am going to enjoy a bit of digital “downtime” so I may be posting some of my usual features a bit early (or late or in abbreviated format).  Fear not, you’ll eventually get ALL the scoop.  To stay up on fast-breaking travel news, keep an eye on Prior2Boarding where my fellow writers are bringing you interesting travel stories every week (like these gems).

And if there is anything you want to be sure I write about – whether it’s sunrise at Borobudur or the special Pollywogs & Shellbacks line crossing ceremony for my first sea crossing of the Equator (which I found out will be something that I will have done that my 99 year old Navy captain grandfather has not!) or my fear of Komodo dragons – let me know in the comments.  I know that SOME of my experiences (like Cathay First) have been widely covered by other bloggers while others may be new territory so I want to be sure I don’t miss a thing!

I’ll be carrying some extra technology with me this time around – my Canon Rebel XT and a GoPro HERO 4 – so that I can bring you great images along with the words.  I only wish I could pack you all in my bag and actually bring you with me!  But since I can’t, I promise to do my best reporting possible.

Until the next update….

xoxo