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Brands are trying extra hard to capture our attention these days, even on airplane tray tables.

This is still a thing

I was skeptical about cell phone service outside of the continental United States on my trip to Alaska, but didn't realize the entire U.S. appears to not be geo-coded by Google Maps either.

Welcome to New York

"It’s been waiting for you." -Taylor Swift

This year, the Artemas sisters decided to spend Thanksgiving in New York. Maria has never come home for Thanksgiving with tight timing and over-priced flights around her class schedule, and this is one of the first times Dad’s priest schedule felt real when our parents couldn’t come due to sacraments at church.

Needless to say, Thanksgiving with the sisters turned into nine days in New York, and seeing more than 20 family members and friends across the city. We explored Midtown, went to the Thanksgiving Day parade, cooked ourselves and relaxed to make it a great holiday.

Eleni, Maria and I in Central Park in the evening

Becca, me, Laura, Kathryn, Sherman and Maria at dinner in the East Village

Watching Mizzou beat Tennessee at Percy's, New York's Mizzou bar

Meeting our godsister Marie for happy hour in Murray Hill

Flat Iron building with Kira & Sophia, our cousins 

Laura and I at the outside viewing area during the parade!

A trip to our Nation's Capital

At the beginning of October, I cashed in some Frequent Flyer miles to visit friends in Washington D.C.!

I had visited DC two other times before while Kara was at Georgetown, but finally go to go when I was 21 and could see what post-grad life is like in Washington.

I had only ever flown into Dulles or taken a train, so there was nothing like landing into Reagan Airport, as it is right against the Potomac River and feels like the plane is going to land in the water.

Kalyn, who I stayed with, lives in the Columbia Heights neighborhood, while Amy lives closer to the Capitol. For just a few days, we got to do quite a lot. While both of them were at work, I went to the Newseum and four Smithsonians- Air & Space, American Indian, the Art Gallery and American History Museums. Amy & I checked out H Street for Dinner, and then Kalyn and I joined her friends on U Street for the evening.

The next day, we hung around Georgetown, Foggy Bottom, DuPont Circle and even got to see Kara who was coming through town with her boyfriend to see their college friends. Sunday, after getting to see St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral, we shopped the Eastern Market and biked the Capitol area to see all of the memorials. It was a packed 72 hours but exciting to see all DC has to offer, especially for free.

Kalyn and I by the Capitol

Amy and I at Fox News, where she works

Kalyn, me and Amy while we Capital Biked the monuments

Eastern Market in Washington D.C.

Relaxing in Punta Cana

Back in the winter, Irina and I were ice skating at Millennium Park in the Chicago cold. We were talking about how we had taken various trips- whether it be to visit a friend, go on a school interview, travel a particular city, but neither of us had taken a vacation in awhile. I see a significant difference between a trip and a vacation; a trip focuses on traveling somewhere with a purpose, i.e. visiting a friend or seeing all a place has to offer, and a vacation's main purpose is relaxation. 

A few weeks later, Irina reached out to a travel agent and sooner than later, we were going to an all-inclusive resort in the Dominican Republic just outside of Punta Cana for six days in the middle of November. I had some days off for work, she had a break in between grad school quarters; it was great.

Irina and I at the hotel

We arrived at our hotel to learn that it was five hotels on one property, with a huge area and nearly six pools. Our building was by the lobby, and just a few blocks back was the main pool and the ocean front. 

For five full days, we woke up, went to the buffet and sat at the beach all day. Our beach time started with riding the waves and treading water, then moved onto a zumba, salsa and merengue class in the quick sand and then ended with some reading in the sun. After a super exhausting morning, we took a nap in the air conditioned room, ate dinner and went to bed. It was fabulous. 

Dancing on the beach!

A quick game we played was "Guess the time," as we often had no idea what day of the week or time it was (we didn't need to!). Our room didn't even have a clock, and we typically overshot the time. We so had fun guessing where people were from and what language they spoke, as the majority of guests were not from the U.S. We met and came across others from Canada, Portugal, Spain, England, Australia, Russia, France, Germany and more- speaking any of these native languages on any given day. It makes sense due to its location that it would attract such a variety of people, but was cool to be in such a global hotel and speak Spanish again. 

Our hotel pool

I hadn't been to an all-inclusive since 8th grade, so it was a different perspective to experience it ten years later. The food was not the best we've ever eaten, but got the job done. Having an unlimited open bar had an inverse effect, as knowing that everything was available at any time allows you to try everything but not require you to finish it. Lastly, I learned that on vacation, I don't like to socialize. Overall, it was an awesome, refreshing trip and I now understand the meaning of vacation and recharge! 

Beach time

Fall travels

Without taking many flights, I was able to take quite a few trips the past few months on the road! Here's a quick snapshot of some fun Midwest cities and adventures. 

Indianapolis
A Project Mexico reunion at Jen & Lee Bailey's wedding

Louisville
Garage Bar downtown with Jen

Nashville
Honky Tonk-ing with Eleni

Louisville
Jim Beam Distillery

Milwaukee
First time at Miller Park for a Cubs-Brewers game 

DeKalb
Not quite a large city, but visiting Yiayia & Papou for the afternoo

The TSA on Instagram

Check out my new favorite Instagram account, the TSA!

It's hard to believe that a security agency can photograph items seen at individual airports' security and post them on social media, but the seriousness of the posts and hilarity of these items is always a good laugh on Instagram. Enjoy!

Airplane secrets

For anyone that flies American Airlines, I found out a new trick this past weekend. Under each seat, there is an outlet! Great way to charge a phone, iPad, camera, computer or other device. Keep an eye out for this on your next plane ride!

Under the bottom right of the airplane seat

2013-2014: The Years of Airports

I've been traveling a lot over the past year or two, and managed to make it to 18 airports across the United States.

At the beginning of the year when I got home from trips, I found myself talking to friends and family on the phone about these travel experiences and rating the quality of the airport. When you get delayed, it seems to overtake your travel experience and every little detail (or nuisance) stands out.

I started to keep track of airports and rank them on five criteria: cleanliness, food, proximity to coffee, availability of outlets and if there is free wireless Internet. The overall conclusion is that airports in mid-size cities have invested the most in great airports, and bigger & smaller cities have a long way to go.

One thing to keep in mind is I usually travel American Airlines, so these ratings might be biased to the American Airlines terminals and reflect the quality there.

✓ = yes

~ = iffy 

No: n/a 

Some overall notes

Airport Ratings

AIRPORT	Cleanliness	Food	Proximity to Starbucks or other good coffee shop	Availability of outlets	Free Wifi?
ORD Chicago O’Hare	✓	✓	✓	~	No
O'Hare is huge and generally, a pretty clean and safe airport. Outlets in mass have not been installed  yet, but hopefully in the next few years some improvements are made. McDonald's and Starbucks locations are pretty frequent, Frontera Grill has some fabulous Mexican food and there are great food courts after security.
MDW Chicago Midway	~	~	✓	~	No
Midway is Chicago's second-tier airport, and its ratings probably how that :).
LGA New York LaGuardia	~	~	~	✓	No
LaGuardia is an interesting airport because all of the good food is before the gate, except for Auntie Anne's and a quick sandwich/bagel shop. It's been installed with plenty of outlets, but there is no free WiFi and the short ceilings make it pretty stuffy. You would think the Big Apple would have a better airport!
DEN Denver	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Denver is a progressive airport and nothing about it has ever been a letdown. The gates are easy to get around, everything is clean, available and straightforward.
SEA Seattle	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Seattle was another impressive airport, and the wifi was fabulous.
MSP Minneapolis-St. Paul	✓	✓	✓	~	✓
I wasn't in MSP for a ton of time, but everything about it was up to par.
DFW Dallas	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
For being in a conservative city, Dallas has a pretty progressive airport. I've never had connectivity issues with the wifi, but the most difficult part of this airport is its huge size and using the tram to get to the right gate on time. Best gate = Gate D. I even had the airport tweet back at me when I shared my experience on Twitter about this pleasant experience!
PHL Philadelphia	✓	✓	✓	~
The Philadelphia airport was very impressive, especially because of the upscale shopping. Great experience here!
STL St. Louis	~	✓	~	~	No
I really don't like the St. Louis Airport. It feels grungy, but does have a lot of quick-service restaurants (QSRs) and fast food. Parking is fairly easy when you drive there.
MCI Kansas City	✓	~	~	~	✓
The KC airport is a circle and has security lines based on the gate you are going to, so the lines are pretty short. The wifi works well, but there is minimal food so pack accordingly.
SDI San Diego	~	~	✓	~	No
I've spent a lot of time here in and out of Project Mexico trips, and it's another one that gets the job done. It hasn't been redone in awhile (at least at the gate I've been around), but there is coffee around and everything else is just okay.
SFO San Francisco	✓	✓	✓	✓	Yes
Another impressive airport, and a lot of funky furniture around.
DTW Detroit	~	CDRs- casual restaurants	✓	✓	✓
Detroit is known for having a large Delta hub, but the American gate was nice as well. It was recently redone and is fairly clean, but in my two-day trips there, I've gone into bathrooms where soap has not been refilled in 24 hours.
BDL Hartford	✓	~	✓	~	Yes
I've spent a lot of time in this airport for work, and being a smaller establishment, it gets the job done. There are only a few restaurants (The Black Bear Saloon is the popular one), but enough coffee to get by. The WiFi works in some spots but is faulty in others.
CLT Charlotte	✓	~	✓	No	No
For being Charlotte, North Carolina- a fairly mid-sized city, this was an incredibly busy airport. I flew US Airways here, but on a 15-minute connection and switching terminals, I walked by three Starbucks and plenty of shopping…and noticed the chairs are incredibly comfortable. Outlets were a rarity, but WiFi is free and easily accessible. Naturally because it's the South, I was surprised to see bathroom attendants too, making the bathrooms even more clean and a pleasant experience.
ATL Atlanta	✓	✓	✓	~	No
Atlanta was pretty difficult to navigate with a variety of tram stops to get you across far distances, but no sign to tell you how far baggage claim actually is and if you need to get on the tram. Some terminals had better restaurants than others, there is plenty of coffee around and the bathrooms were high quality.

MKE Milwaukee	✓	✓	~	No	No
Without flying out of MKE, I learned it was easy and quick to get in and out of there when we dropped my sister off as she flew back to Nashville. The parking "cell phone lot" was a garage that connected right to the airport door, and we walked on in and had a nice, sit-down lunch. Regardless, I still looked at it from the lens of the five criteria.

COU Columbia, Mo.	~	~	~	No	✓
Columbia Regional Airport has been a pretty big joke in my four years in college at Mizzou. At least it's up and running!