| Obsessed with Travel & Going to Mexico for the DAY!  Tanya's Daily Scoop CURRENTLY IN: ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA Hey guys! I cannot believe that it is already Thursday! I really don't know where the week has gone, but it did just that, it left and now it's gone. LOL Dave arrived back to SoCal yesterday morning. He had left on a cross country drive last Friday morning, heading all the way to North Carolina for business and the poor guy had run into so very many travel issues along the way. It was just one thing after the next to the very end of his trip including his flight(s) back - it was just absolutely cray cray. In the end with all of his flight delays - he arrived back over 26 hours LATE!! And I've had my share of travel hiccups and doozies. In related reading: RoadTrip Mishaps Mis-Adventures in Barcelona Stuck on a Layover in Denver Really makes you wonder how I can love traveling so darn tootin' much?! In fact, I have just had such the hankering for trip planning over the past few days. I mean in all honesty I always have a hankering for trip planning, but just not quite at this level of intensity. So what does any good travel junkie do with their addiction - they feed them and plan trips. (Hey at least I'm not a drug addict or an alcoholic). One of my biggest issues is the darn calendar. There are only so many days in a month and most months I have dates that I have to work around and need/want to be local. It is sort of like a puzzle. A fun puzzle, but a puzzle none the less. So in addition to all the trips I already have on the calendar for the remainder of 2024 plus at least filling up the 1st quarter of 2025 (with other 2025 trips just not so closely packed into the schedule)... I have pretty much decided that I NEED to add a trip to Costa Rica. I've been wanting to go back to Costa Rica ever since my first (and only) visit back in 2009. In fact we actually had 2 trips planned to go to Costa Rica in 2020 - they were both cancelled - no surprise. And those were not my only cancelled 2020 trips - we also had a Prague Christmas Markets trip cancelled as well as a trip to my favorite city in the world - Rome. In related reading: Blisters in Rome - Can you avoid them? Scary Wildlife Encounter in Costa Rica  Travelin' Tanya or Rambo... in Costa Rica (c)travelincousins.com I also think I'm going to add a trip to Breckenridge in December (or March) and I've been pretty much staring at the calendar as to where to squeeze Sedona in to the mix. Right now I'm thinking that I will put it at the end of February and just before doing Spring Training in Phoenix. I did already go ahead and book a ski trip to Lake Tahoe for the end of January, which will be after us getting back from Hawaii in the middle of January. From sunny bathing on a tropical island to freezing our bums off while flying down a snowing mountain! Yes as you already know I am also going to Hawaii in September. And No, I have no clue how many times I have been to the islands of Hawaii. I tell ya, I am all of the map - literally. Luckily I can sort of keep track of all that is going on. And finally as for today, I am actually leaving the country! Passport in hand and I am crossing the border. Mexico here I come! Since December, we've actually made a habit of going to Tijuana along with Michael and Violet, and doing this every so often. It has been great amounts of fun. We do a ton of exploring on foot (lots of walking) and find lots of incredibly DELISH vegan dining options. It actually amazes me as to how much better most of the food served in Tijuana is compared to that of SoCal. Being that it's just a day trip, we'll be back home later tonight. Here are some pics from our past recent visits to Tijuana, MX:  Tijuana Sign (c)travelincousins.com  Tlaloc - the Aztec god of rain (c)travelincousins.com  The day Cosette came. With the Arch behind us. (c)travelincousins.com  Violet, her mom, me and Cosette. Dinner with a view (c)travelincousins.com  Time for some shopping (c)travelincousins.com  Taconveggie - Vegetarian Taco Stand for the win! (c)travelincousins.com  Vegan Tacos from Taconveggie (c)travelincousins.com  Tijuana Wax Museum (c)travelincousins.com  Viva Mexico (c)travelincousins.com  Ceramic tiles (c)travelincousins.com  Museum complex (c)travelincousins.com  Vegan Lunch (c)travelincousins.com  Another Tijuana sign! (c)travelincousins.com Signing off now. See you back here on Saturday. Ciao 4 now, Travelin' Tanya | Focused Work Schedule & 11 Day Countdown to Disney  Elisa's Daily Scoop CURRENTLY IN: LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK Hey! Glad to be here today! My week was filled with a variety of activities - some fun, some not to fun lol. In recent months, I've developed a pretty regimented schedule for my week to be as productive as possible. So, I have specific days for specific tasks. I started taking this approach after I read 10X Is Easier Than 2X by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy- wherein the authors suggest breaking your work week up into "Performance Days" "Buffer Days" and "Free Days."  (c) Dan Sullivan "Focus Days" for me, is when I see clients in my coaching practice or have scheduled networking meetings. "Buffer Days" is for administrative work that needs to be done to keep my business running smoothly. My Buffer Days are also for when I do my podcast and any writing for my beloved Travelin' Cousins blog. "Free Days" are just that - Free Days!!.  Mondays for me are always a Buffer Day since this is when my podcast is aired on the 1st & 3rd Monday of the month. On the Mondays that I do not have a podcast, I also catch up on household "to do''s and this week I had many things to get done. Not only did I have to have a small repair on my oven, but it was also the day that I had my annual HVAC system check up. (Needless to say, I racked up some bills this week with these two tasks!) I also had some video prep work to do for a number of "shorts" that I was going to film on Tuesday and send out a few invites to individuals I wanted to invite on my podcast in the coming months. Well... when I was all done - I decided I had earned some free time, so Kelsey and I went over to Le Pain Quotidien. I was really in the mood for a comfort snack, so I had a Belgian Hot Chocolate and a chocolate almond croissant!! Kelsey ordered a more "sensible" menu item - their Warm Grain Bowl.  Le Pain Quotidien - Warm Grain Bowl and Belgian Hot Chocolate with oat milk (c)travelincousins.com  Rather decadent Chocolate Almond Croissant (c)travelincousins.com Disney World Bound!! Anyone who knows me, clearly knows that Disney World has been a regular destination for me and my girls throughout the years. Well, in 10 days we will be headed down to Orlando for yet another memorable festive experience!  Me & Kelsey at Disney World - November 2021 (c)travelincousins.com Our last trip was in November 2021, which, to be honest was really annoying because of the ridiculous mask mandates. Not only was it awful wearing a mask throughout the park, but the plane ride was full of NAZI flight attendants whose only goal was to make sure a useless cotton mask was placed correctly over your face, full of threats and intimidations about being thrown off a flight. It was absolutely dehumanizing and un-called for. - but, I digress. Additionally, at that time, the theme park also had some other rules in effect that included pre-planning and committing to which park you were visiting in advance. It was very limiting and I"m happy to say that as of January 2024, this rule has been lifted. Our plan for this trip, (which by the way, was totally spontaneous since I had points left in my Disney Vacation Club account for the year that I didn't want to lose AND found myself with many Delta points) is to be fairly mellow and relaxing. Usually we rush from park to park, filling each day with LOTS. of activities. This trip will be a bit different. In the first place, it will be shorter than usual - only 5 days instead of our usual 7. We're only visiting 2 theme parks instead of our usual 4. And lastly, our plan is to have some foodie adventures at a few of the Disney Resorts instead of sticking strictly to the parks or Disney Springs.  View in Disney Springs from Blaze Pizza (c)travelincousins.com Here's our itinerary as of today: Day 1 - Arrive - Disney Springs - Shop & Eat Lunch - Raglin' Road Irish Pub  EPCOT - Close up of Spaceship Earth (c) travelincousins.com Day 2 - Epcot - Rides, Attractions & Eat Breakfast - Sunshine Seasons Lunch- Spice Road Table - Morocco  Animal Kingdom Lodge - view from Sanaa (c)https://www.aklresort.com Day 3 - No Park - Animal Kingdom Lodge & Disney Springs Lunch - Sanaa at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Dinner - Earl of Sandwich at Disney Springs  Magic Kingdom - View of Castle from Main Street (c)travelincousins.com Day 4 - Magic Kingdom Lunch - Geiser Point Grill at Disney's Wilderness Lodge (will take a boat there) Dinner - Counter Service in Magic Kingdom at one of the following: Pecos Bill, Casey’s , or Tortuga cafe  Day 5 - Depart for New York More about our trip to come!! Have a great day! -Travelin' Elisa |
