“Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire.” – Jennifer Lee
Traveling has always been something that I’ve loved. Some people like to stay in their own safety net, which I totally respect, but for me personally I love get out! I never want that fire inside me to go out. The first real trip I went on was when I was 15 years old and I flew to Mexico City for a week, with two other American girls, to stay with our classmate’s family. That trip was SO incredible! I got to eat foods I’d never heard of, visit places like the Tiotihuacan Pyramids, and be immersed in a culture that was so different than my own which fascinated me. Ever since then I have had the travel bug and I have a constant desire to visit new places, see different cultures, take in the architecture, the smell, and the food! I’ve been blessed to have been able to visit other incredible places such as a handful of Italian cities, the northern cost of Spain, France, Canada, and many U.S. cities. But, I realize there is SO much more out there that I have yet to see!
So when Zachary and I sat down to write out our goals for 2018 a big one was to keep traveling. In 2017, we went to seven states and four of those were new places we’d never been! So we for 2018 we made our list of travel goals which included going back to some of our favorite places we visited last year (Savannah, Charleston, and NYC) along with visiting 4 new cities! We added in a bonus international destination for this year too (aside from our honeymoon)! Now if it were up to me we’d be jetting off to France as I type this, but life gets in the way when you work full-time jobs! We try to not let this stop us so we’re committed to taking more weekend getaway trips this year! We did a weekend trip to Amelia Island/Fernandina Beach, FL two years ago, last year we did a mini road trip from Tampa to Charleston and we stopped in Savannah, GA on the way there and Amelia Island on the way back (such a glorious highlight tour of the south that deserves it’s own post). This year I’ve been brainstorming some new weekend getaway destinations and if you live in the South most of these should work for you. If you’re in Tampa Bay then all should be do-able!
Weekend Getaway Destinations:
- Cumberland Island, GA (staying at the Greyfield Inn is on my bucket list!)
- Savannah, GA (return trip see my original post HERE)
- Amelia Island, FL (return trip see my original post HERE)
- Sarasota, FL
- West Palm Beach, FL
- Tallulah Falls, GA (to see Talulah Gorge)
- Pumpkin, GA (to see Providence Canyon State Park)
- Sanibel Island, FL
- Miami, FL
- Athens, GA
- Valdosta, GA
- Macon, GA
- Atlanta, GA
- Jekyll Island, FL
- St. Augustine, FL
- Marco Island, FL
- Hilton Head, SC
- Sullivan’s Island, SC (return trip see my original post HERE)
- Tybee Island, GA
Now a big problem I have when I’m packing is over-packing, for starters, second it’s ending up having to bring five bags because I can’t fit my hair stuff and skin care products in my makeup bag so I end up bring three small cosmetics bags that take up space in addition to clothes, shoes, camera gear, etc. ugh! When I flew home for Christmas I brought two suitcases, a backpack, a tote, and a duffel (I’ll never do that again). So after that trip the fates aligned and the kind folks at Jon Hart reached out about their new rose canvas line of luggage and I think it was destiny! I opted for the medium square duffel and a makeup case. I was shocked at the quality of the bags because it was far superior to most I have seen. The canvas is super thick and durable. The duffel is incredible spacious and well made. The makeup case doesn’t look massive, but once I started piling all my stuff in there I realized my three cosmetic bag dilemma has now been consolidated to one. If you scroll down to the very bottom of this post you can see how I was able to fit two full size aerosol products, makeup essentials, travel size skin care products, lip products (in the small pocket-I will put my jewelry and bobby pins in there too!), and my full size round brush along with two rollers. WHAT! Yeah, I was shocked too. I didn’t even have to force the zipper and there was definitely room for more. I have seen other bloggers write posts about how durable these products are and how they hold up over the years. One of the most frequently asked questions from readers is “Sara, what should I invest in?” THIS IS IT YOU GUYS! They have tons of colors and styles available and you can always get your monogram added like I did! Check them out for yourself HERE!
I hope you enjoyed this post and that it has inspired you to start planning your next trip! If you’ve taken a weekend road trip anywhere recently leave it in the comments below so that we can all share our ideas together! Thanks for reading!
Love, Sara
A big thank you to Jon Hart Design for partnering with me on this post. As always, all opinions are genuinely my own.
