Spring Break in Florida!

Good afternoon and happy Monday 🙂

I’m finally home and back in the swing of things after my very long and much needed spring break! I flew in from West Palm last night, and I’m back at work bright and early this Morning getting things going. I had an amazing couple of trips over my break, between visiting family in Maine and spending lots of time in the Florida sun, so it’s only fair I get into all the good stuff with a new travel blog.

I’ve definitely missed writing about new travels since I returned from studying abroad, so I’m super excited to finally have some new content. In my post last Monday, I mentioned that I’d been spending some time somewhere warm. I flew into Florida on Monday and spent the week through Friday in Deerfield Beach. First of all, the weather throughout the week was beautiful, so it was the perfect week to just lie on the beach, read, and relax. While in Deerfield Beach I was alone, which I was a bit nervous about at first because while I loved my solo trip to Eastern Europe, by the end of it I was going crazy – but this week ended up to be the perfect amount of alone time! After the first day or two I got used to the fact that I was alone and actually really started to enjoy the quiet relaxation. I was able to cook for myself throughout the week which was great, and I caught up on so much work, rest, and TV shows!

I was about a mile and a half from the beach, which was perfect for my morning runs. I pretty much followed the same schedule every day, running to and from the beach before it got too hot, making myself breakfast and getting ready for the day, then heading back to the beach until late afternoon, when I’d head back and make a late lunch/early dinner and just hang out for the night. I definitely needed a low-key week to recharge after my busy week of exams before break, and I’m actually really glad I had this time to myself to do so.

By Friday, though, I was ready for some human interaction and a change of scenery, so this was the perfect time for my brother to join me. I headed back up to West Palm for the rest of the weekend where I ended up having to book an Airbnb last minute after I found out our hotel had a 21+ check in policy, but this actually turned out to be really nice. We had a great bedroom/bathroom set up with access to the backyard pool, grill, and fireplace, so I’m glad we ended up getting the privacy and comfort of a home rather than a hotel. 

While I waited for my brother’s flight to get in I hung out by the pool, caught up on some homework, and took in the last of the sun I’d see for the week. He eventually got in around dinner time, so we quickly got ready and headed to dinner at ER Bradley’s Saloon, right by the harbor side of the water. After making myself vegetables for almost every dinner so far that week, it was amazing to have someone cook for me, and I finally got to have my fish tacos that I’d been waiting for. The food here was SO delicious, especially the bourbon-soaked banana bread I had for dessert.

Saturday was Kyle’s only full day in Palm Beach with me, and my last day overall, so we got an early start and hit the beach before it was even 9AM. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t so great (much cloudier and windier, and therefore colder :(), so we didn’t last very long, but we’re definitely beach people so we had to at least spend some time there. By 11 we’d had enough of the sand blowing everywhere, so we walked back over the bridge to the mainland and got brunch at a restaurant right next to where we ate dinner the night before – Avocado Grill. Once again, I got fish tacos – a vacation must! Afterwards we found a huge farmers’ market just a block over, so we walked around here a bit before finally heading back to the beach one more time. We spent some of the afternoon here, and then eventually had to accept that the weather wasn’t great and head back to our Airbnb.

Kyle spent the afternoon in the pool while I (again) got some more work done, then we ended off our vacation with one of the best meals I’ve had to date. We decided to splurge for our last dinner, so we made a reservation at the Breakers Palm Beach Resort’s Italian Restaurant. We got to the resort early enough so we had some time to walk around and take pictures, and the whole environment was so amazing, I’d definitely love to go back. This whole area was right on the ocean side, so despite the wind and clouds, the views were amazing. Once we actually sat down to eat, the food was amazing as well. Everything from the complementary rolls to our bruschetta appetizer, to my shaved cauliflower salad and Kyle’s meat lasagna, all the way to his cheesecake and my s’mores pie dessert, was beyond delicious. This was the perfect way to end off our vacation!

Kyle had a very early flight home Sunday morning, and I left later in the afternoon, but now we’re both back in Boston and I’m very glad to be settled and back into my routine. This past week was so amazing and I loved every minute of my trip, but as much as I love traveling, I love coming home and getting my life back together just as much.

I’m so excited for the rest of the spring and summer, as I do have a few more trips in the works, as well as the new direction in which I’m hoping to expand my blog. Thank you all for following along, and please subscribe below to continue receiving content! Any feedback is greatly appreciated, and I’ll see you all next week 🙂

xx,

Megan


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Current Favorites & Travel Essentials

As promised, I’m back now with LOTS of new content now that I finally have some time to focus on my blog! As I transition into more lifestyle-centered posts in addition to my travel theme, I’m going to start off with a little bit of both in this post. I’ll be getting into my current favorites – everything I’m loving right now, from health products to books to social media – while also including some of my travel essentials – things I couldn’t live without on my trip this week!

First, I want to talk about what I’m reading right now. This is both a favorite and a travel essential – this is The Girls book series by Rachel Hollis. There are 3 books in this collection: Party Girl, Sweet Girl, and Smart Girl. I just finished Party Girl and am now starting Sweet Girl. I’m hoping to finish all three while on vacation this week, as they really are the perfect vacation books. I’ve already read Hollis’ other books, Girl, Stop Apologizing and Girl, Wash Your Face, which I highly recommend as well. These are all the kinds of books you can mindlessly read while relaxing (in my case on the beach!) and still get a lighthearted, feel good story.

Moving on from reading, I’ve also been catching up on my TV shows this week, and aside from my regulars like Grey’s Anatomy, This Is Us, and The Bachelor, I’ve started a couple of other new series as well. On my flight here, I started getting into Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez, a three-part Netflix documentary series. I’d always been interested in this case and finally had the time to get into the documentary, and there is so much more going on than I thought – definitely a good series to get into, but one that you need to pay attention to while watching. Another show I picked up this week that I can’t stop watching is Netflix’s original reality show, The Circle. This is another one I’ve been wanting to watch for a while and I’ve heard so many good things about it, and I’m so glad I finally started watching! This one is definitely more laid back and I don’t have to pay too close attention, but it’s still such an interesting concept for a show and I’m getting more and more into it each episode.

One more TV favorite is another Netflix documentary – Miss Americana. This is Taylor Swift’s documentary which I just recently watched, and I would hands down recommend this to anyone, even if you aren’t a fan. I’ve always been a pretty big Taylor Swift fan, but even watching this documentary completely changed my perspective on her success and the changes she’s made throughout her career. Once again, there’s so much more to her story than we see on the outside, so I definitely think documentary is worth a watch.

Moving on, a few things I couldn’t travel without (besides these books and shows) include:

  • My 40 oz. (extra large!) HydroFlask – I drink SO much water, so having this on a long flight was necessary. It’s also been great to have with me throughout the week so I don’t have to use plastic, and have enough water to get me through a long beach day.
  • I’ve never been one to care too much about germs (except for your normal hand washing/sanitary norms), but this week I am not taking ANY chances in an airport, so I stocked up on Clorox wipes and Purell, which definitely made me feel better on my flight down.
  • In general, I always end up feeling kind of gross after flying, so keeping a pack of facial wipes with me (any simple cleansing wipes – I like micellar water wipes!) helps A LOT after landing!
  • Having enough good content downloaded for any flight is a necessity. I know I mentioned all of these new shows and movies I’ve been watching, but I also love listening to Podcasts when I get sick of music. For this flight I downloaded an episode of Gals on the Go Podcast and The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast – my two favorites!
  • Gum and snacks are always a must for me on planes, no matter how short the flight. On this trip, I brought a banana from home since it was early in the morning and I wasn’t too hungry yet, but usually I’ll buy a sandwich or some trail mix, and an iced coffee on shorter flights.

For now, that’s all I’m going to get into, but I’ll definitely be back soon with an update on my spring break trip (so far, doing great)! I’m very excited to expand more on my writing and get into more things I’m passionate about, so I hope you’re all on board 🙂 

Let me know if there’s anything specific you want to hear from me, and subscribe below to stay updated when I post new content! Have a great rest of your week, and I’ll see you soon.

xx,

Megan


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