Kelocity.com

A runner with an appetite for adventure!

Three Travel Tips March 28, 2013

Filed under: Travel — Kelocity @ 9:56 pm
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What’s it like to fly solo with a 9-month old baby?
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1 Checked Suitcase
1 Checked Carseat
1 Checked Stroller
1 Diaper Bag (Backpack)
1 Purse/Camera Bag
1 Baby Carrier for Hands Free travel

Piece of cake really. Somehow I managed to check in at the counter, board and ride the plane, disembark, get baggage off the carousel, take a shuttle to a rental car place, pick up a rental car, check into a hotel, check out of a hotel and drive two hours across the state of florida (and then do it all in reverse) — all by myself*. And it was surprisingly easy! Being organized is key.
You’ve seen a ton of “how to travel with baby” posts before so I won’t bore you, but here’s a few little tips I picked up along the way.

1.) When you get to a hotel, ask for a pack n’ play. Some hotels charge for these, but I asked nicely and the receptionist gave it to me for free (there was normally a $20 charge at this hotel). I also travel with my own sheets (one pack n play and one regular crib sheet if you don’t know the size ahead of time). This saved me the hassle of traveling with my own pack n’ play.

2.)  Upgrade your seat. When I got to the Jetblue counter, I asked to change my seat to one that had an empty seat next to it. On both of my legs, I lucked out with two seats for the price of one. (They didn’t charge me anything to do this). If your flight isn’t full and you’re traveling with an infant, your row will be the last one they fill.

3.) Save Those Bags! You know those huge blue Amazon sacks you get with you have a large item giftwrapped? They fit my Chicco Keyfit Caddy Stroller perfectly! My car seat goes in a travel bag that my parents gave us. Worked like a charm.

Happy Travels!

*Ok, on the way back, Aunty Laurie was there to help/’watch-Adele-So-I-Could-Get-Dunkin Donuts’ at the airport. But still. =)
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Viva Las Baby February 25, 2013

Filed under: Baby,Las Vegas,Theater,Travel — Kelocity @ 2:33 pm
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My sister, Laurie, was in Las Vegas with friends this week and she wanted to extend her trip to visit us in LA too! We looked into flights from Vegas to LA, but in the end, we decided it was a better idea to just go there, spend the weekend and drive her back with us.
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Best idea ever. I miss this girl.
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We had a blast hanging out. Since it was a last minute trip for us, we didn’t have a set agenda so it was nice to roll with the punches.
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On Saturday, we met up with Laurie at the Excalibur pool. What a lucky girl.
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We people watched and lounged poolside and then one of us took a nap.
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Irving, Adele and I spent the rest of the day doing some outlet shopping while the cool kids hit the clubs. After shopping, we grabbed dinner at Ping Pang Pong at the Gold Coast casino. And by “we” I mean Irving. I got TGIFridays to go. haha (Irving’s Side Note: Ping Pang Pong was recently rated one of the countries best Chinese food in the country by Travel + Leisure Magazine. Apparently I’m missing out.)

Sunday morning, we picked up Laurie and Jim and headed off the strip. Way off. All the way to the mountains to check out Red Rock Canyon. We loved it when we were there a couple of years ago and were excited to go back. Plus since Laurie and Jim live in Chicago, they don’t see mountains much.
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We didn’t get a chance to do much hiking, but the views were still stellar.
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Love this candid shot. haha
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We did the 13 mile drivable loop and saw the whole valley. They got out and took fun pictures on the cliffs, but it was wayyyy too windy for Adele. I tried once and poor girl nearly blew away.
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After that, we drove back to the strip for some more sight seeing. First stop was the Stratosphere. Come to think about it, that was my first time there! Then we jumped over to the Mirage.
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We were actually looking for the lions, didnt they used to have a free exhibit? Am I making this up? Was that years ago? I thought there were free lions or tigers or something somewhere in vegas. Oh well.
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After that, we were all tired and headed back to our hotel for some much needed rest.

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And then Irving and I were excited to take advantage of our free babysitters for the evening and we headed out to see Mystere!
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Bye Adele. Bye Laurie. Um, good luck with that. hahahaha
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Just kidding, I heard the night went well. Lots of playing, lots of cuddles and Adele was in bed by 8pm. Wheeee! What a good Aunty.
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We loved Mystere. Not the best Cirque show in Vegas, but I heard it was the first one which in itself makes it special. You can see how the troupes have evolved over the years. This one was a little circus-y but the stage and lighting were great. And the acts were excellent too. (My #1 Cirque show is KA. But then again, I have yet to see O.

We’re currently en route back to Los Angeles. Irving’s driving, Adele’s sleeping and Laurie and I are chatting (while blogging). Excited for a few days of adventures with her this week! I’ve got a lot of fun things with Adele planned too. Can’t wait!
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And PS… just for fun… this photo was from the last time we were in Vegas! A lot changes in 10 Months! I was bummed she was asleep in the car when we took our iconic vegas sign pictures this weekend. Next time!

 

Where to Next? February 15, 2013

Filed under: Travel — Kelocity @ 3:22 am

Spoiler Alert:
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Zion National Park: Video February 3, 2013

Filed under: Travel,Utah,Video — Kelocity @ 4:09 am

Here’s a video of our Zion National Park trip!

You can read about the rest of our trip here!

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Enjoy the video!

 

Zion: Waterfalls and Emerald Pools January 26, 2013

Filed under: Travel,Utah — Kelocity @ 11:53 am
Tags: , , ,

Here is the last of my Zion posts. If you are catching up, here’s what you missed:

Tuesday was our last day in Zion, so we made the most of it! It took us a couple of hours to get two adults and one baby dressed, fed and packed up. We tried to pack light, but it still ended up being about four trips the car! Babies have a lot of stuff. Some of which we didn’t even end up needing –ahem, Pack N’ Play, I’m looking at you.

Anyways, all the effort to get out the door early paid off when we realized we had exceptionally perfect weather for a hike.
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Whoo hoo! Baby loves her sweet ride! Our destination this time were the hikes around the Emerald Pools. It’s supposed to be a loop, but the middle of the loop was closed due to ice so we did it in two separate parts so we could see the whole thing.

Usually this is a waterfall, but it freezes when it gets cold.
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Although it would have been awesome to see the waterfalls flowing, I much prefer the 50*-60* temperatures over the 110* it can be in the summer!
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On our way around the second side of the loop, we found our own “Narrows”. haha
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It’s hard to get a family photo when Adele can’t see over Daddy’s head. lol But she was there!
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The frozen pools were so neat. The camera really doesn’t capture the contrast in colors in the park.
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Towards the top of the hike, the trail turned to sandstone stairs…
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…that led us to the Emerald Pools! (I’m told in the summer they are much bigger).
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But still impressive nonetheless. This picture was taken on top of this waterfall that we saw earlier, the water literally just falls off the edge of the rock.
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We did it! We hiked to the top of a waterfall with a 7.5 month old baby.
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On the way back down the mountain, we had a great conversation about how we want to raise Adele and all the cool things we want to expose her to as she grows up. Over the past year, we’ve encountered a lot of naysayers who told us that we’d never be able to travel once we had a baby, and it made us proud to look around at where we were on that trail to say “Yes. We have a baby. And we’re traveling. We’re doing it!”
IMG_9484PS. Icicles and Cactus on the same trail? This place is crazy.

Zion definitely impressed us. We had a blast. It was so nice to get out of Los Angeles and into nature. It was only 7 hours away, but it felt like a whole different world there. So what’s next? Yellow Stone? Kings Canyon? We’re already scheming our next National Park adventure.

TRIP DETAILS:
Hotel: Desert Pearl Inn
Restaurants: Wildcat Willies, Zion Lodge: Red Rock Grill, Oscar’s Cafe
Hikes We Did: Riverside Walk, Lower Emerald Pool Trail, The Grotto Trail, Pa’rus Trail, Canyon Overlook, Upper Emerald Pool Trail