Author Archives: Tiny Travelholic

Packing: The Bane of my Travel Existence

Today is packing day for my Carnival Breeze cruise to the Western Caribbean! I really love travel, but I really hate packing; this is an annoying dichotomy because of course I need to pack for every trip.  I’m not one of those people who pack a week in advance for a trip, but I”m also not one of those people who pack the morning of the plane flight (Mr. Travelholic; I’m looking at you; I wonder if most men pack at the last minute like my husband does?).

Luggage I'm Packing Today

My Delsey and Travel Pro Bags

In any event, I usually like to pack two days out which gives me enough time to make any purchases of last-minute needed items. However, today is not the first day I’ve THOUGHT about packing; there are a few preliminary things I do about a week prior to a  trip:

1. Figure out what size I am for the trip.  My closet has a full wardrobe in sizes 8, 10 and 12 thanks to fluctuations from age, dieting,  medications (prednisone, get back ye devil med) and such. For this trip, 10 it is.

2. Figure out if there are any camera-related or other items I need to order off of Amazon.com, and then order those items via Amazon Prime in time to arrive for the journey.  For this trip I needed a case for my DxO One (I lost my case  on a recent trip) and a couple of SD cards. And I bought a new carry-on that I’ll discuss below.

3. Figure out if I need to do any shopping out of town (which I did for this trip; see my post on my San Francisco trip).

4. Take in any dry cleaning for clothes that I want to pack.

5. Make a list of anything I need to buy locally (good DEET bug spray–don’t want Zika for this trip–and a gentle SPF sunscreen for faces); I usually make a drug store run for such things right before the trip.

So, with all my pre-packing chores done, I’m ready to pack today.  One of the things I’ve learned from years of travel is Continue reading →

A Classic Quick Shopping Trip to San Francisco

Peacock mural, San Francisco

Mural as seen from traffic, San Francisco Tenderloin district

One thing that you do when you live in “the country” is make trips to “the city” for various things that you don’t have in your country locale. So today I’m doing an overnight to San Francisco for shopping and a doctor appointment.

Depending on traffic, we are about 3.5 to 4 hours from downtown San Francisco. We usually stay at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis on Mission, but evidently there is a giant Oracle convention in town and rates were jacked up to $750 a night for a standard room and no rooms on points available (in other words, Marriott is saying unless you are here with the convention, don’t book with us). So, we are trying the JW Marriott Union Square up on Mason. The rates there were also ridiculous ($550 for standard room) but we are using 40,000 points (which is a lot, but I have over 300,000 points so I might as well use them).

Being a frequent visitor to San Francisco, we have always had a “base” hotel where we stay.  For years, it was Campton Place off of Union Square. Everyone from the doormen to the reception knew us by name. Then they changed owners and became Taj Campton Place and it all changed, so we migrated to the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, where the doormen knew us etc…until Borders Books closed down.  This was our favorite spot on a San Francisco shopping trip–giant bookstore, family full of geeks, always left with arm loads of books after browsing to our hearts content. When they closed down
Continue reading →

Some Fantastic Low Airfares Are Available Right Now to Japan from the US

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Garden in Kyoto, Japan (c) 2015 Denise Van Patten

So today I was booking Daughter Travelholic’s and Son Travelholic’s tickets to Japan in November from the East coast of the United States, and I couldn’t believe how cheap the flights were on United, using All Nippon Airways (ANA)! The flights were $533 each way in Economy to Haneda (HND) on ANA.  With taxes and fees the round trips were only $1,200 which is significantly cheaper than usual. These fares count as a super discounted fare so of course no refunds or changes and also no Mileage Plus accrual on the ANA portions, but at those prices, who cares?

Anyway, if you have been thinking about visiting Japan and looking for a low fare, here’s your chance! Japan in the Fall is absolutely gorgeous, and the weather is fantastic too…so much better (for me) than summer, which is so hot. Plus if you are lucky you’ll catch the fall colors (which are legendary around Kyoto).  We are going at the end of November, and the Christmas decorations at the large stores and modern shopping areas are quite fun too, especially if you are crazy about Christmas like me.

A Little Bit About Me, And Why You Should Read The Tiny Travelholic

sydneyaustraliaWell, first of all, yep, I’m tiny. Five feet tall in my bare feet (That’s me in the middle there in Sydney Australia, between  Daughter Travelholic (also tiny) and Mr. Travelholic) .  Being tiny might not matter very much for matters of travel, except that all of you tall people should be really jealous of me on airplanes, where I can curl up comfortably in pretty much any seat. And I hate crowds because I can’t see a thing in one.

Second, I travel. I travel a lot. My friends think that keeping track of me is a little bit like “Where’s Waldo”, except they are playing “Where’s Denise”.  In the past year alone I’ve been to Japan, Australia, Maine, New York, Boston, Florida, Washington DC, Lake Tahoe, and Chicago. in the next 6 months (so far) I have two trips planned to Japan, a cruise to Central America, and trips to Maine and New York again.  Places I’ve been to Include Canada, Italy, England, Scotland, France, Mexico, Costa Rica, Hawaii and Alaska (and over 40 other states), Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Continue reading →

Welcome to The Tiny Travelholic!

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View from boat off Lizard Island, Australia, June 2016

Does the world need another travel blog? Probably not. That said, I’m a writer and a travel photographer and this blog has been brewing in my brain for years. I travel. I love travel. I travel a lot, and I have 30 years of travel photography and adventures under my belt, with trips planned all the way to the horizon. So, for me, it’s time to finally share my passion for travel with the world. I hope you’ll come along!