Girl’s Trip: Sarasota, Florida

I recently went on a road trip with two of my gal pals, Quetsy and Vanessa. It was our first time traveling with this trifecta, though I’ve known both of them for equal periods of time, so it was overdue. Friends are like food. Some pair very well together an some, while great on their own, go horribly together. There are some friend combinations that one is weary about. Some friend combinations one knows for a fact won’t work because it has been tried before.

.

Sorry, I was in a corner shuddering and flashbacking.

.

Then there are some friend combinations that one is really hopeful might work. Here’s our trifecta. One friend is the surprising class clown– making fun of her friends and family is her favorite past time, I’m sure of it. The other friend is so easy to make laugh that it’s easy to feel like a comedy god in her presence. Her superpower is insight and candor. And then there’s me, Lyz-Stephanie, keeping the entertainment rolling along with the video.

I hoped, as we made this journey across Florida and up the west coast, that we’d find a good rhythm and ride it. We took off from my house at 5:30 am, so things could go either way. Vanessa is well acquainted with 5:45 am spin classes while Quetsy is the walking dead in the wee hours of the morning. But who knew what my friends’ eyeballs or attitudes would be as we all went to bed entirely too late the night before. I made a strong brew of coffee and took the driver’s seat.

The ride there included laughs that grew in frequency as the sun rose, and a great conversation long as the wide, cow sprinkled pastures, golden in the morning light.

Four hours later we were ordering breakfast in Sarasota, Florida.

Check in to our hotel wasn’t until later– a fact that always irks me, so we went straight to our destination, Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, “a respected world leader in the study and conservation of plants, particularly epiphytes– plants adapted to live in the tree canopy, including orchids, bromeliads, gesneriads and ferns.” This place is gorgeous; dripping with tropical plants and beautiful trees.

One of many beautiful trees.

What I wore.

One of the issues I’ve been facing recently in my multipassionate journey to learn every damn thing is remembering. Photography has been a love of mine since childhood and anytime that I’m traveling I’ve had a camera stuck to my face. But now that I’m getting into video, which I’m also growing to love, I have to figure out this balancing act of remembering to capture images and video. Often when I’m remembering one, I’m neglecting the other. I’ve got tons of video that I can’t wait to show you.

The Gardens is currently showcasing an Andy Warhol exhibit, so there were many installations around the grounds that were created to reflect his love of symmetry and repetition.

On this particular trip, my primary focus was on capturing video for the travel diary that I’m still putting together. It wasn’t until laying in my hotel room that night uploading all the contents of my camera onto my computer that I realized how woefully lacking my photography had been.

 

I couldn’t get a sharp image on this for the life of me.

 

This girl gang trifecta worked out beautifully, and I can’t wait to have more of it.

________________________________________

Travel Tip: If possible, bring your computer with you on trips and upload/backup as many files as you can at the end of each day. Coming home from vacation to hundreds or thousands of photos and videos to sort through can be a very stressful downer if you let it. I prepare by creating folders broken down very specifically.

Folder: TRAVEL

Folder: Sarasota

Folder: Sarasota Day One- Gardens

Folder: Pictures

Folder: Videos

Folder: Sarasota Day Two- City

Folder: Pictures

And while you’re on wifi, I suggest you take the extra step and upload everything to Google Photos. This system is good for 3 reasons:

1. It helps you stay organized.
2. You can clear storage space for the following day.
3. If anything terrible should befall your phone or camera or sd card, all won’t be lost. I’ve witnessed each of these sad events happen. You don’t want to be a victim.

_________________________________________

Want more travel tips? Here you go.

Documenting Your Journey

Documenting Your Journey 2

---

Instagram I Twitter I Pinterest I YouTube

Meet me this Wednesday for the next installation of Women’s History Wednesday. Instagram Live 6:30pm!