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Episode Description:

Welcome Back to everyone (and Beth) and hello September! Labor Day Weekend was spent on a road trip from New Jersey to St. Andrew's, Canada, for 6 days of activities (including a wedding and rehearsal dinner). Learn how Beth plans her outfits, packs efficiently, approaches eating well on the go, and creates opportunities for fun along the way.

Special shout-out to those who love to drive (and those of us who benefit).

Next Week:

Join us for a special interview episode with Amanda Jefferson, fellow Type A+ person and co-host of The GoodEnoughish Podcast.

Links mentioned in the episode:

Podcast:

The Type A Plus Podcast Instagram

Host:

Beth Lawrence LinkedIn

Beth Lawrence & Company Instagram

Beth will be back each week, delivering bite-sized tips (15 minute episodes or less) on how to optimize your life and work.

Episode Transcript can be found below:

Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the Type A+ podcast. I'm also welcoming myself back because this is the first episode I have recorded since I got back from my little road trip. It actually wasn't a little road trip, I suppose it was about 12 hours and we were going up to a place called St. Andrews in Canada for a wedding of two friends that we'd waited for, what was it? 1,092 days for? It's been postponed a few times due to COVID and we just felt that it was a celebration. We couldn't. So over labor day weekend, my husband, John, and I made the trip up, and before we went, we, of course in Type A+ fashion had a lot of different plans for making sure the trip went smoothly.

The first thing that we always do is make sure to plan out our attire for the entire trip. Obviously, when you are driving, it's a little bit easier than if you're flying, because you have a little bit more space to, for example, put all of your shoes in their shoe boxes and stack them, which is exactly what we did as opposed to putting them in our bags.

Each of us used our luggage that is about carryon size. So to give you an example, we had to go to a few different events: my husband was golfing. I was going to the pool. We knew that we were going to play tennis and do things that were active. So we had to bring active wear.

We had a rehearsal dinner, we had a wedding. And then of course we didn't realize what other events we may have that needed to be formal all since we were at a resort. So there were a lot of things to sort out. What I like to do is start again, a note in your notes app, you can also do this in a Google doc or whatever you're comfortable with.

And I lay out every single day, including my travel days, what I will need from my undergarments to my shoes, to even my accessories. And I try to make sure, obviously that the pieces that I am bringing can be used for multiple occasions so that I can create different outfits and don't have to put too many things in my suitcase. So for example, for Wednesday, for my travel day, I knew that I wanted to be very comfortable. I knew I needed flip-flops, a brow, top overalls, a sweatshirt, and a car. A sweatshirt for in the car in case it got cold and then pajamas for when we were sleeping over that night, I had already put at the top all of my toiletries and everything that I needed to bring there.

And then I just did the same thing every single day, planning loosely what I would need. And of course, if you're not sure, I always just bring a couple of different options when I'm actually packing. I don't do the Marie Kondo fold. I need to actually catch up on that on Netflix. Believe it or not, as a type, a plus person. Actually, that saved that, put a pin in that for later. Cuz I'll talk to you about our guest, uh, coming up. Um, so I don't fold my clothes. I roll my clothes. I find that rolling them into, especially if you can roll 'em into outfits with the undergarments, helps me make sure that I have everything that I need, including enough pairs of underwear, enough socks, and things like that.

So I actually roll them into outfits and it actually helps me. Fit a lot more into the luggage. I put all of my toiletries, all of my, you know, shampoo, my, um, skincare, my makeup. All in clear plastic totes that I can easily grab out if I need them and put into other bigger bags or for when I'm going out when I'm staying, maybe in a hotel one night, it makes it very, very easy. I made sure I had all of my sunscreens, everything packed in there. It also made sure that you don't have a mess in all of your clothes, which I absolutely love. So once clothes were packed, I will admit that my husband actually packs the car. He's very good at it. He likes to do it. It's almost like, a puzzle for him. So I let him take that. We made sure that, so we didn't have to make a bunch of stops on this very long day when we're driving, you know, presumably at least 10 hours in one day, we always plan ahead to make sure that we have something that is healthy. It's not gonna make us feel exhausted, even more, exhausted driving, on these long trips, but also some snacks and treats for when we are getting bored and we need a little pick me up. So. We have a small cooler, we pack the cooler full of cold sandwiches in his case, or in my case, I'm gluten-free.

So I sometimes make a gluten-free pasta salad, or I will buy things like chicken salad and eat them with a fork on the way. We also had a large bag of snacks, everything from, for him, Cheez-Its and Zebra Cakes. And for me, pistachios and trail mix and plain chips, and a hazelnut, dark chocolate bar. We made sure to have a range of things so that we weren't stopping constantly.

We also, of course, made sure to have our Yetis full of ice and then bring either a large canteen of water and, or a couple of gallons of water so that we have ice accessible and we have water accessible, of course, not too much. So you don't have to stop too often, but you have enough so that you're not constantly needing to stop again and look for water.

It was just the two of us. So we don't have to make as many frequent stops as if we had a family, larger family, but it was very. Great way to prepare, because then you have everything you need in the car. I also made sure to have toilet paper and paper towels and also a trash bag to make sure that the car kept was kept clean.

So we were all prepared. And then in order to make the drive more fun, we decided to play each other, our favorite albums of all time. So everything from blink 180 2 in my case. And, um, The miseducation of Lauren Hill to, in his case, a Bronx tale. And I think, we listened to one of John legend’s albums.

I can't remember, what the title is right now, but it made the time pass, you know, every album is about an hour. So if you have. 10 albums. You have 10 hours if we also switched off so that it was things like soundtracks, or playlists, as opposed to just albums from time to time, but again, it was nice we had a few times where we were both singing along and it made the time pass. And the final thing is if you are going to stop, for example, we stopped on the way home stop strategically. So we knew that we wanted to go see Portland Maine, for example. So we. Really quickly in Portland on the way home, we walked around by the waterfront and checked out a few of the dispensaries.

I always love to see what the dispensary experience is like in different markets in Canada. And in Maine, they have canna beverages, which are a huge favorite of mine and I always like to see the selection of what's new in hopes that it would come to the state of New Jersey.

We saw a few boats, had a really nice dinner, and then we made the, I think four-hour journey to Connecticut where we stayed overnight. We had a nice sleep in a really just basic hotel right off the highway that had a free breakfast in the morning. And then we were on our way back to New Jersey on Monday labor day. It was a wonderful time. And I think being prepared and also being aware of yourself and knowing what. Triggers are in situations like that and being prepared for it really helped having the water, the snacks, having options, and having a plan when it came to the music. So that one person isn't, you know, commandeering the radio the whole time.

Um, and also shout out to my husband because I think obviously having a company that you enjoy is the number one thing. Makes road trips worthwhile. And my husband also likes to drive. So I'm very, very lucky that I only drove, let's say maybe two or three hours out of the whole trip. So I hope that you enjoyed this.

It was a little fun, you know, episode, especially ahead of maybe some of the family trips, we're all gonna be taking over the holiday season and this fall. I know that there's a lot coming up for all of us. So hopefully this was fun for you all. And then the "sticking a pin" in it, a note, the bonus episode with Amanda Jefferson is coming up. She is a certified Kamari consultant. She is a speaker. She is a professional organizer. She is a podcast co-host and she's an all-around badass. And we really, we really like her. So she is going to be on next to talk about her favorite tips on making sure that your inbox is manageable and it doesn't overwhelm you.

I hope you're enjoying the podcast. I've reached a hundred plays and that is extremely, extremely amazing. Um, I launched this about a month ago and the response has been amazing. So thank you all. I'm glad that you're relating to it and we will catch up soon.