Dear Phoenix,
If you haven’t already gathered, I really enjoy backpacking. So I created a quick vlog explaining the items you will absolutely need if you plan on going backpacking. Give it a quick watch to get a feel for the kind of equipment you will need for a night in the wilderness with your feet as the only form of transportation.
Keep those feet in good shape!
Amanda
Dear Phoenix,
If you’re at all like me, you like to push your textbooks aside and start planning summer vacation when the temperature breaches 80 degrees Fahrenheit for three days in a row.
I’ve just begun planning a road trip, and I want to walk you through the steps I’ve gone through (and will go through) to plan the most perfect road trip possible.
The first part of the planning process is to pick out where you will be stopping! I want to go up the coast this summer with my friend Natalie. She hasn’t traveled much on the west coast. We plan to stop in San Diego, Los Angeles, Berkeley/San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia. On the way back, we’ll be stopping in various places in Idaho, Nevada and Arizona as well.
The second part of planning a road trip is budgeting. Figure out how much money you’re willing to spend on gas, food and lodging. We’re both on a budget, so we’re taking a fuel efficient car, splitting gas money and sleeping on the floors of friends. If you have more money, you can splurge for a hotel or hostel.
The third part of planning a road trip is to select the time span of the trip. Our trip is likely going to be two weeks or longer, because I can do that without a foreseeable summer job. It will give us ample time to visit with friends in each city and to explore on my own. Pick a time constraint that fits your life.
Those are the three main steps. As the trip approaches, we’ll start planning what clothing to pack based on the weather, and what local activities we can participate in.
Hope to see you on that open road!
Amanda
Dear Phoenix,
I’ve been planning this blog for a few months now. As soon as I heard I would be creating and managing a blog for my Online Media class, I knew I wanted to spread the love for traveling in and around Arizona.
I made a list of places to visit and things to write about including Arcosanti, Jerome, the Salton Sea, road trip planning and music selection, and I plotted out when I would be traveling where.
That being said, I want you to know that I was supposed to go to Arcosanti this past weekend (the 7-9 of February), and then blog about it. I had contacted Arcosanti and almost made my reservations to stay there overnight, then I was offered the opportunity to go on another adventure.
Arcosanti: 60 miles from Phoenix.
The United Students Against Sweatshops annual national conference was in Austin, Texas and ASU needed another representative. I was essentially offered a free trip to a city I’d never visited before, where I would attend a conference that would teach me how to organize and mobilize people to fight for the rights of workers in other countries. How could I turn that down?
Exactly. I couldn’t.
Austin: 1,000 miles from Phoenix
So this is where I stand. I ditched the Arcosanti plans to go to Austin instead. I figure this would be a great note to begin my blog on: Plans are never ever set in stone.
If you’re going to be the traveling, adventurous type, you need to be ready to be spontaneous. You need to go with the flow. Greater, grander surprises could be waiting around the corner than whatever you may have planned.
I ran into musician Daniel Johnston’s famous frog mural without even looking for it.
This trip isn’t the first one I’ve embarked on after very little planning, and it sure as heck won’t be the last. If you’ve never gone on an adventure sans-planning, I implore you to give it a try.
Right now.
Stay audacious,
Amanda
Postcards to Phoenix 