Texas Travel 101 Part 1, Top 10 Tips

Elizabeth and I both have jobs where we travel a lot so we thought we’d do a series documenting our best travel tips. I’m usually out of the office 2-3 days a week and around 100 days a year - hotel hopping all across Texas. These tips are things I use no matter if it’s a week long vacation, a weekend getaway or a few days out for work. Here are my top 10 travel tips!

Can't ever complain about a view like this.

1 – Sign up for every single rewards program there is. I have a whole sheet of logins, passwords and honors codes because I have one for every single hotel brand, airline and car rental company I have ever used. Little trips stack up quickly! It took me only a few months to achieve A-List status with Southwest and I had enough points to buy both of us round-trip flights to Cabo last year, as well as several free nights in hotels!

2 – I travel alone a lot and sometimes for extended periods of time. To break up the monotony of lonely hotels, I’ve learned it’s worth it to go a little out of my way to do something fun when I have down time to keep my sanity. From taking a two-hour detour to visit Roundtop and the Junk GypsyHeadquarters to just taking a little time at the pool with a margarita when you’re in South Texas in the summer. I also love meeting up with long-lost friends or family if I’m in their part of the world!

Made a two-hour pitstop (detour?) at the Junk Gypsy Headquarters last summer.

3 – Outlet malls. This kind of goes with #2 on this list, but if there are outlet malls along your route – take advantage of them!! There are no outlets anywhere near where I live so I always jump on the chance to stock up on workout gear when I pass a Reebok outlet.

4 – If you aren’t sure what to do, ask around. I like to send out an SOS on twitter about places to eat so I’m not stuck eating Chick-Fil-A in my hotel alone in every town (not that there’s anything wrong with that J). Locals are usually more than happy to steer you in the right direction for food, shopping or fun. Use work travel as an opportunity to try new things or knock something off your Texas bucket list.

Sometimes, your car becomes your closet, gym, personal kitchen and home. Sometimes I think I should just get an RV.

5 – If you’re timid about sitting alone in a restaurant, order at the bar. Even if you don’t want to drink, there will at least be several people eating alone and may even strike up good conversation – even if it’s just with the bartender. It’s what they do for a living. One of my best experiences was in a wine bar in the Love Field airport with about 4 old men who had just toured Napa Valley.

6 – On a long trip, don’t be afraid to take an afternoon off to get a manicure, lay out with a drink, shop or get a massage. Turn off your email notifications and just relax for a few hours. It will keep you sane. Promise. In the summers I love nothing more than cranking the AC up, getting under the covers and taking a snooze!

7 – I used to be adamant about making as few stops as possible when driving long distances, but I’ve learned that it’s best to stop often and get drinks and go to the bathroom. It keeps me hydrated and awake and I love stopping in at Buc-ees or little mom and pop places for a coke and a snack.

Always buy the roadside watermelon. Always.

8 – If you rent a car, always ask how you turn on the lights before you leave. I’ve found myself driving around in the dark with no clue my lights weren’t on far too many times!!!

9 – I’m notorious for leaving my phone charger in hotels. I’ve gotten in the habit of keeping my car keys next to where I charge my phone so I can’t leave without it.

10 – One last tip for packing – ziplock bags are my best friend. I have used every form of fancy fold-up, hang-up or roll out toiletry bag on the planet but I’m telling you, two gallon-sized ziplock bags are all I need. They lay flat, don’t take up any extra space, and if something spills, you can just toss it and grab a new one. I use one for makeup and one for toiletries. I keep the toiletries bag packed all the time with backup or travel-sized bottles of everything so I just throw it in my bag and go. I love having my makeup in a clear bag – makes getting ready even quicker!

DIY: Pallet Texas Flag

I think it's hilarious that pallets are all the Pinterest rage these days. Growing up half my life on a freight dock and the other half in a hangar, pallets were EVERYWHERE. Seriously they were more like a pest than DIY material. I now see how versatile these things can be, but I can't believe some people PAY for the things, even before they have been repurposed. Seriously - if you need some pallets, just go drive around in a more industrial part of town. More than likely, there are plenty lying around and if you ask nice, I bet folks would be more than happy to let you to haul off a few.

This little project was so so so easy. I just slapped on some paint I had on hand. I didn't measure anything. I am NOT a perfectionist whatsoever, especially when it comes to projects, so everything I do ends up rustic looking because I like it rough around the edges. I used interior paint in white, a cherry red and a deep turquoise. I liked how the turquoise "girled" it up a bit, but if I had navy or royal blue on hand, I probably would have used that instead.

As you can see, these pallets are not the standard size ones you find lying around which are normally more square in shape, maybe a little longer on one side to make it barely a rectangle. The vertical one on the left actually came to our house when we had some parts delivered and it was already that size. The White and Red part was a regular-sized pallet that my dad had that we trimmed I think two slats off of to make it line up with the blue. I think you could play around with whatever pallets you have and just do whatever is easiest. Don't think too hard - don't do math. That's my DIY motto.

Vintage 7-Up cooler stolen gifted from the neighbors. Jalepeno and tomato plants in homemade dollar store planters and the lovely Fran the Flamingo from Coyote Candle Co.

 You could use any kind of paint, even craft paint would work. If you want to seal it (overachiever), it would probably last longer in the elements. Me? I think the more wear it gets, the better. The star was just an old rustic metal thing we happened to have that I hung on with just a nail. I shot it with the same white paint as well, however I may eventually have to go over it with some Rustoleum to keep it from rusting. Or maybe I'll just like the rusty look.

The actual cutting and painting part of this project took a solid ten minutes. Easy peasy lemon squeezey. Now for the hanging... if my roommate Emily and I had been left to our own devices, it would have taken around 10 minutes, been super rigged, but probably worked good enough for us. BUT, we made the mistake of letting boys be involved, so suddenly we had five ameteur engineers who just knew they could get this thing hung better than us. And about two hours later, it was done.

Just a little visit to the hardware store for some chain and hooks and this bad boy was flying pretty. I love how it adds a little something extra to the backyard. It would be even easier to hang on a fence or just lean on the corner of a patio or something. So fun, practically free (minus about $5 on hardware that I deemed completely unnecessary) and about a 20 minute project (if boys don't step in and ruin the fun ;).

Hallie's First Trip to Round Top and Junk Gypsy

I have been on the road for work going on 20 out of the past 24 days. It's been a whirlwind of hotels and miles behind the wheel. But I ain't complaining because I get to see parts of Texas I previously didn't know existed and hit up some places I have been dying to get to but never came very close to before.

One of those place is the legendary Round Top, Texas. Round Top hosts a bi-annual antiques fair where 100,000 or so people come to shop. Can you imagine? Of course I heard about Round Top and Antiques Week through my beloved Junk Gypsies. I have been following them for around seven or eight years and to say they have defined my personal and home style is an understatement. My high school bedroom, college dorm, apartment and current house have all been 100% inspired by their style. So when they opened up their world headquarters, a visit was at the top of my bucket list. But it's not like I can just mosey over to the opposite side of our state and pop in. It would have to be worked into another trip. Luckily, I had some time to kill on this work trip, so driving about 1.5 hrs out of the way wasn't a big deal. Let me tell you, it was totally worth it. If you are ever close, you must find a way to go!

I didn't get to see the sisters, but I did see Archie. All of the staff there was super friendly and helpful and of course dressed to the nines.

Excuse my feet. I was trying to not be so obvious that I was taking a pic of this legendary spot!

From Blake and Miranda's wedding

"I'll take the whole outfit, thanks."

It's no secret where I get my "dump glitter on everything in sight" decorating philosophy.

 It was absolutely heavenly. I could have spent hours walking around in there and never have seen everything. Can't wait to go back!