Welcome to Travel Diaries, a Refinery29 series where we tag alongside as actual girls embark on journeys around the sector and track their journey fees down to the final cent. Here, we offer a detailed, intimate account of when, where, and how our friends spend their vacation days and disposable earnings: all the meals, adventures, indulgences, setbacks, and surprises.
This week’s travel diary: A 27-year-vintage sales government visits Tennessee for tattoos, Dollywood, and karaoke.
Costs: Round journey flight from LAX to BNA became $225. We booked an Avis rental automobile thru Costco Travel for five days for $128.87. Still, we’ll pay this whilst we choose up the car (if you haven’t checked them out, exceptionally encouraged. We first booked via Expedia before this and discovered that Costco changed into $one hundred twenty inexpensive).
When did you book? Do you watch you got a good buy? We booked it 4 months in advance, without delay via Southwest’s website. I thought we were given a fantastic deal!
Costs: We stayed in some distinct places. My nice buddy, B, works in hospitality and gets a big discount on lodges. We stayed at a Hilton Garden Inn first, then at a Hilton in Pigeon Forge, then an Airbnb barn, and another Hilton with the airport’s aid on our ultimate night. B positioned it on her card, and I Venmo’d her.
1:02 p.M. – I clock out of work and am officially on an excursion! I took a half-day because I haven’t hit quota, but (I paintings a sales process, and it’s pretty important to hit numbers each month). I’m leaving instantly from work to my parents’ residence because they live closer to LAX. I get there around 2:15 p.M., And my mother and I, without delay, head to the airport.
3:10 p.M. – I check my baggage and undergo TSA Pre-Check, which is SO worth the cash if you travel frequently. It takes me about 5 mins to get through the line; I do not take my footwear off, don’t want to experiment with my boarding skip (they just positioned my driving force’s license through a system), and get to keep stuff in my pockets. My first-class friend, B, is still on the way by the time I get finished with security, so I walk around LAX for a chunk and read a touch bit of Jurassic Park. I’m re-reading it because I desired an amusing myth read. However, I always forget about how terrific Crichton’s writing is.
4:25 p.M. – We start to board the aircraft. Even although B is similarly up than I was, we nevertheless manipulate to get seats after each difference. We have a layover in Vegas, and one of the flight attendants is dressed up as Elvis, which is lovable and fun.
6 p.M. – Arrive in Vegas and de-plane. We have about a half-hour to kill before boarding once more, so we stroll around and look at the stores and charge our telephones.
6: forty-five p.M. – Board plane, and it’s pretty empty, so B and I get an entire row to ourselves!
7:15 p.M. – We take off, and I try to sleep for a chunk but fail. I determine to study extra of Jurassic Park and finish approximately one hundred twenty pages of it earlier than I determine to take a spoil. I take a seat and let my thoughts wander; I feel like some of my exceptional “deep thinking” comes from me sitting on an aircraft, possibly because I’m literally sitting with nothing to do.
12:40 a.M. – We land! We grab our bags from luggage declare and head to the ride proportion pickup. B calls an Uber, and we split the cost. $eleven
2 a.M. – We eventually settle in and get prepared for bed; however, we’re still pretty stressed out from the time alternate. B falls asleep pretty quickly, and I eventually knocked out after.
Eleven:02 a.M. – We didn’t set the alarm, but possibly should have due to the fact we awaken high-quality late, oops. We had been set to pick out up our rental car at 10 a.M… However, that’s now not occurring. We call, and they say it’s great to pick out up later.
1:59 p.M. – We get a Lyft back to the airport to grab the rental vehicle (this changed into the closest pick out as much as our resort; Avis become closed while we landed, so we had to select up day after today). They provide us a lovely inexperienced Kia Soul, which is sincerely terrific spacious and exceptional to drive. $sixteen.14
2:30 p.M. – We wanted to get tattooed nowadays as it’s our “low key” day with no plans, but the artist we want is booked up. We make an appointment for the next day, though, which matches as it’s speculated to be raining. We discover a BBQ spot close to the tattoo save referred to as Edley’s. I can handiest have facets because I don’t eat meat, but they may be likely the great damn BBQ aspects I’ve ever had. I get mac and cheese, baked beans, and cornbread. I come to be getting some other facet of mac and cheese because I became still hungry, and it’s far awesome. $10.10
