Birthdays at the Beach (Savannah & Tybee Island, GA)

Hello all!

This story started about a month ago when my good friend Schyler decided we were going to party it up in Bermuda for our mid-July birthday (her's is the 12th, mine the 16th) along with her boyfriend Steve and friend Jessie. Incidentally, Jessie also runs a very cool blog about her nomadic lifestyle all over the world. I highly recommend everyone give it a read!

Anyway, Schyler and I have been friends for years, and I credit her job for a regional airline as the original inspiration behind me applying to be a flight attendant. In present day, she and I often chat about the adventuresome places we get to go using our flight benefits.

There's the saying "the best laid plans....oft go astray" and those words were never more truly applicable than this trip. First, there were scheduling issues. We both had to coordinate our schedules to be available for going on this trip. Schyler lives in Newark with Steve, and I live in Charlotte, but somehow the fates aligned so we were able to get the right days off.
Next, Bermuda didn't work out because there weren't enough seats on her airline's flight there. Major bummer—especially since she told me this the day I would be leaving to sail over the ocean blue and I was thisclose to getting on the flight!
Fortunately, we had a back up plan—Savannah, GA and the beaches at Tybee Island. What we didn't expect was how it would rain almost the entire time. Or how the room would have only one queen sized bed instead of two. Jessie ended up opting to sleep on the floor (which sends shivers down my spine remembering the roach which visited us) and I took the reclining armchair (not meant for restful human sleep).

All in all, it was a fabulous trip. When we made it to Savannah, we went straight out to the beach while it was still sunny and enjoyed an entire afternoon of swimming in the water and burying each other in the sand. The next day it rained, but undeterred we spent our time visiting historic houses and popular venues in the downtown area—equipped with an umbrella and indefatigable traveling enthusiasm.

Savannah is a fantastic town to visit; it has such a great vibe of modern trendiness mixed with historic Southern roots and beautiful buildings. If you are into cobblestone streets, cozy B&B's, savory cooking and charming pubs, Savannah is the town for you. In addition, Tybee Island is just a short hop away. I love how the sloped beaches have large tide pools left by the ocean in the morning, which heat up to near spa temperatures during the summer. If you are not an ocean swimmer, you can hang out in the waist-deep tide pools and be just fine.

I'm so glad I got to hang out with Steve, Schyler and Jessie and was a little sad to return home. I've said it before and I'll say it again; I have the best friends anyone could ever hope for, and I can't wait to celebrate my actual natal day back in my hometown of Chattanooga.

As I'm sure you know by now, I'm a huge camera nut, and so of course I took a ton of pictures. You can click thumbnails to enlarge the pictures. I have a shorter gallery of pictures below for your perusal, but if you'd like to see the full horde (and outtakes) of pictures from this adventure, check out my Picasa album here.

 

 

[gallery ids="439,475,470,472,465,473,474,469,463,467,464,471,461,456,454,468,460,455,450,449,446,445,447,452,453,448,444,440,441,442"]

 

 

As always, thanks for reading! Until next time, catch me if you can!

—Carmen

Tally-ho Tampa! (Tampa, FL)

If you live on the eastern end of the US, chances are this is what it looks like outside your door:

[caption id="attachment_421" align="alignnone" width="650"] the rain down in Charlotte NC[/caption]

In the South, our summers are filled with beautiful sunny mornings, and rainy, dark afternoons/evenings. Its just one of those things. Unfortunately, this often results in flight delays. Aint nobody got time for that!

About the only thing you can do when this happens is go run off somewhere sunny and precipitation-free. Dreary days lead to a bleak mood, and this is no bueno! It's summer! Time to have fun!

This week that delightful getaway happened to be Tampa, Florida.
The Florida flights are usually filled with vacation-hyper children, parents wrangling them, and old people. Lots and lots of old people.
This time around, pretty much everyone was asleep on our way down to the bay (which makes a flight attendant's job a breeze) and we made it to our hotel with plenty of leftover energy to get out and enjoy ourselves.

The first thing I did was check in to my hotel room. We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn, which is a very comfortable hotel, and conveniently close to the airport.

[caption id="attachment_424" align="alignnone" width="698"] Image courtesy of Hilton Garden Inn[/caption]

My room sported a comfortable king sized bed, a flat-screen tv, a fridge, microwave and desk area. As all flight attendants who pack their own temperature sensitive food are aware—a room with a fridge and microwave is a huge blessing. Its a very kind consideration for these amenities to be provided by the hotel, so props to Hilton Tampa!

[caption id="attachment_415" align="alignnone" width="642"] My king sized bed[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_416" align="alignnone" width="642"] The room came with a microwave and mini-fridge—a very nice touch that not all value hotels offer[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_417" align="alignnone" width="642"] My nice comfy little desk and chair[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_413" align="alignnone" width="642"] my vanity area[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_414" align="alignnone" width="642"] The soap was conveniently labeled for the body part it was best suited for[/caption]

 

Within walking distance were some strip malls, including a Target, TJ Maxx, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and Macy's. I decided to bypass the shopping and went straight for the nearest beach. Tampa's beaches have beautiful white sand and blue-green ocean. In this July heat, the water feels amazing to just soak and swim around in.  Remind yourself that you deserve this vacation, and life is too short not to abscond somewhere beautiful for awhile.

[caption id="attachment_428" align="alignnone" width="800"] Ahhhhh yesss[/caption]