Thoughts From The Team
Reflecting on the year in travel
This week I asked our team to look back on their travel in 2023 and share their favorite memories, tips and lessons learned.
What was your favorite trip in 2023?
Benita: India
Jess: Bryce Canyon National Park
Tiffany: Fort Wilderness at Disney
Kaley: Arches National Park
What was one unexpected experience from that trip?
Benita: An adventurous ride on an Indian Train
Jess: Renting ATV’s and “hitting the sand dunes!” My adrenaline was pumping and I definitely felt fully alive!
Tiffany: We went with several other families from our neighborhood but it wasn’t until we all went to go get dinner one evening that we realized just how big our group was that we filled up an entire Disney Bus.
Kaley: We took a road trip there after visiting family in Colorado. The drive was beautiful and gave us many opportunities to pull over along the way to take in the views.
Are there any lessons learned or tips to share with our readers?
Benita:
- Always travel with under eye patches. It’s a nice refresher for tired eyes after a long flight
- My weekly pill organizer for daily vitamins came in handy. Between jet lag and the time change, it made it easier to keep track of taking them each day.
- Indian food is amazing! After 10 days of eating some of the most delicious meals of my life, I was happy to have comfy (stretchy) pants for my return flight.
Jess:
- Don’t be afraid to ditch the travel guides or yelp reviews. We ended up at a local honky tonk on this trip that had horrible tripadvisor reviews because the more highly rated restaurant closed early. It was our favorite meal of the trip! The food was delicious and there was local music and beer.
- Don’t forget about the traditional bed and breakfast. Because Bryce Canyon is so remote, there aren’t very many hotels and the airbnb’s are extremely expensive. We opted for a traditional bed and breakfast. The family that hosted us provided invaluable tips for our hikes and adventures and we started off each day with a homestyle breakfast (think homemade candied bacon, locally roasted coffee and the best french toast of your life).
- Off season travel has its perks. A record breaking year of precipitation meant that our early April visit included some treks through mud and snow drifts, but it also meant that we were alone on trails that would have been packed if we waited until peak season.
Tiffany:
Bring items to cook- they have grills at each of the cabins to grill out on and microwaves to cook breakfast items or sides. Next time, we will stop at the grocery store on the way to have some things to eat at the cabin instead of eating out all of the time.
Kaley:
Take more water than you think you need! I was not used to the Utah heat in July and definitely did not pack enough water for our day of hiking in the park. Thankfully they have public water fountains so I was able to refill but next time I will bring a bigger bottle!
Thank you to our team for sharing their experiences in 2023! We can't wait to see where they go this year!
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