the essentials : Jenni from Story of My Life

I was tipped off to Jenni's blog by a friend and it has now become one of my daily reads. Story of My Life is just that, stories from her life and Jenni sure knows how to write and tell a good story, all while keeping you entertained. Please leave her some love and go visit her blog!

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Well hello, olive & a'ers!  My name is Jenni and I'm here to talk to you about stuff you must travel with at ALL times.  But first, here's a few pictures of me in some far away lands, to prove my advice is legit:

 Chile

 Argentina

Peru--Machu Picchu!

I've visited some other groovy places besides just South America, but the trip pictured above was me and my husband's latest adventure!

So, Heather asked me to list my 3 travel must-haves, and list them I shall.

TRAVEL ESSENTIALS, in no particular order:

1) hand sanitizer/sanitizing wipes

I can't stress the importance of this one enough!  Airports, airplanes, and foreign contries in general are a petri dish of strange and foul germs we're unaccustomed to, and whenever my husband and I travel, we hand sanitize like it's our job.  We even wipe down the arm rests and tray tables at our seats in the airplane. 

Yep, there is some intense germophobia going on there, but for good reason.  Traveling is an icky, germy thing!

2) Realistic expectations.

Oftentimes, as we anticipate a vacation, we place that trip on a pedastal of high expectations.  We expect perfect relaxation, impeccabale service, and an overall breezy, carefree experience.  After all, it's VACATION!

Not so, my friends, not so.  Vacations are often wrought with stress, angry bickering between spouses ("I thought YOU brought the passports!" "No, you said YOU WOULD!"), and sometimes, unexpected little bumps in the road, like blood on the hotel bed or a massive flood in the bathroom.  (That actually happened to us, y'all, and it wasn't at the local Best Western, either. Read about it here.)

All I'm sayin' is, expect the best, but don't be too shocked or disappointed if your vacation isn't always a smooth ride.  It's all part of the adventure.

3) Earplugs.

via

Such lifesavers these little suckers turn out to be.  Trust me on this one. 

You will want them.  You will need them.  You will thank me later, when you're sitting just behind the screaming three year old on the airplane, when you want to sleep but the blasted seatbelt sign keeps gonging on and off, or when the 5 star hotel turns out to ALSO have paper thin walls or a front row seat to a busy, noisy street in Manhattan.

In fact, just go ahead and buy those Bose noise cancelling headphones.  And then let me borrow them on my next trip, K?

That's all for now, folks.  Come visit me at Story of My Life annnytime!

Thanks for reading! :)