{"id":4966,"date":"2022-10-03T14:28:27","date_gmt":"2022-10-03T19:28:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/?p=4966"},"modified":"2022-10-03T14:28:29","modified_gmt":"2022-10-03T19:28:29","slug":"travel-tip-24-pretend-youre-a-turtle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/travel-tip-24-pretend-youre-a-turtle\/","title":{"rendered":"Travel Tip #24: Pretend You\u2019re a Turtle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I\u2019m headed to a birthday party\nand I\u2019m going like a turtle surrounded by house. I just realized I haven\u2019t\nshared any travel tips since 2019. I guess, given the circumstances, that isn\u2019t\nsurprising. But it seems like it may be time for one since I\u2019m about to travel\nto see my grandkids. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two of my grandchildren live 24\nhours away by car. Most people might advise me to fly. The last time I flew, it\ntook more than 24 hours to get back home. It was miserable. I could have rented\na car and driven the last leg a third of the time it took by plane. The time\nbefore, I had eaten a romaine salad one day, then got up and flew with the\nbeginnings of what I believe was an E.coli infection. Also miserable – that day\nand for two weeks afterward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it wasn\u2019t specifically\nbecause of those awful flying experiences, I\u2019m sure they were a factor in me\ndeciding on a whim to purchase an RV. Last year, I happened upon one that countered\nany objection I might have otherwise had. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This one wasn\u2019t too big for me to\nstep into with one step. It didn\u2019t use too much gas. It had both an indoor and\noutdoor shower. The visibility out the back window was incredible. It had two\nbeds. a large closet, large enough refrigerator, two burner propane cooktop, and\na microwave (plus 2 TVs and DirectTV). I could park it in a regular parking\nspace and it handled like a van. So, 48 hours after I first looked at it, a\n2004 Winnebago Rialta was mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re not an RVer (I am not.),\ntraveling in an RV may sound crazy. It kinda did to me. And thinking about it\nlogically, it still does. And yet, I love my little home, or baby house, as one\nof the grandkids calls it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For someone like me who must\ncarry food no matter the mode of transportation, traveling like a turtle is a\ndream! I have plenty of room for a variety of pre-frozen homecooked meals,\nshelf-stable and fresh ingredients, plus snacks, snacks, and more snacks. There\u2019s\na way to keep food cool and multiple ways to cook it. An RV solves a lot of\nproblems or at least makes traveling less cumbersome and worrisome for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can have fresh coffee in the\nmorning before I get dressed just like I do at home. I love to ease into the\nday with a game of Wordle and some browsing. I bought a study pillow and\nlapboard so I can sit on the bed, drink coffee, and surf the web or watch the\nnews without having to turn the bed back into a dining area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have a flip-up countertop for\nextra prep space or to sit on the edge of the bed and dine. But I can also eat\noutside. Many RV parks have picnic tables. Some have fire pits or grills. And\nmany offer a convenience store for any item I may have forgotten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

My closet is large enough to hang\nsome clothes and also store some in a 3-drawer unit I purchased. My first trip\nwas 2 \u00bd months. I did laundry once a week and always had clean clothes\navailable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I worked on the road using the\ntwo passenger seats as an office \u2013 one for paperwork organization and one as a\nseat to write or attend Zoom meetings. Under one of the seats was room for a still\ncamera, video camera, and tripod along with a first aid kit and folding camp\nchair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I don\u2019t have to drive\nslowly, I plan shorter driving days in the RV than I would in my car or truck.\nOnce I arrive at a destination, I have to get out the water filters and surge\nprotector and hook everything up. I prefer to do that before dark when\npossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing I\u2019ve learned making\nlong drives is that no matter how many hours I plan to drive per day, at least one\nday of the trip will end up longer than anticipated. And I learned the hard way\nit\u2019s a good idea to carry a car phone charger or an emergency charger if you\u2019ll\nbe relying on your phone for directions (or any information, really).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can also deliberately slow down\na journey to take side trips or get out and hike. When you fly, you can\u2019t jump\nout of the plane if you happen to see something interesting. But traveling like\na turtle, you can divert and enjoy anything that strikes your fancy. You can change\nyour route or take one route to and a different one from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you get tired, you can pull\nover and have a comfortable nap. If you need a pit stop, you have your own facilities\non board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if you happen to slowly meander into Los Angeles, I can\u2019t say enough good things about the owner and long-term RVers at Hollywood RV Park<\/a>. What a great community! It\u2019s one of the best neighborhoods I\u2019ve ever lived in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I grew up spending weekends at\nthe lake. We had a cabover camper with no bathroom. I suppose RVing feels a bit\nthe same, but more upscale given the toilet and shower. I tend to call the RV a\ncamper if that tells you anything. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traveling like a turtle can also\nmean a chance to see someone who lives between you and your destination. I\u2019ll add\nan hour or so to my trip to spend a couple of days with my sister. It\u2019s 6 hours\nround trip from my house to hers, so adding an hour seems like a no-brainer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some RVers spend most of their\ntime on the road, but others spend months or years in one location. When you\ntravel like a turtle, it\u2019s really up to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no question that you\u2019ll\nhave something unexpected happen here or there. It comes with the territory.\nBut the benefits of traveling like a turtle often outweigh the difficulties,\nespecially for those of us who can only tolerate a minimum number of\ncommercially produced foods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t want to jump in without giving it a try, rent a rig first. While you\u2019re pondering this option, I\u2019ll keep pretending I\u2019m a turtle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”<\/em> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m headed to a birthday party and I\u2019m going like a turtle surrounded by house. I just realized I haven\u2019t shared any travel tips since 2019. I guess, given the circumstances, that isn\u2019t surprising. But it seems like it may be time for one since I\u2019m about to travel to see my grandkids. Two of … Continue reading “Travel Tip #24: Pretend You\u2019re a Turtle”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[792,9],"tags":[1965,3274,84,3273,151,634],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4966"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4966"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4976,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4966\/revisions\/4976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}