Why 16+ Hours On A Plane Isn’t That Bad

The flight to South Africa from New York is about 17 hours in flight. About two hours to Atlanta, and then another 15 to Johannesburg. Thank GOD for Delta’s Atlanta-Johannesburg nonstop. Apparently, another option is to go through London, and have a 20 or so hour layover. I love you, London, but no thank you. Please just take me to where I want to be.

There may be nothing easier than making a list of all the reasons why these long flights are terrible. Loud passengers, uncomfortable seats, terrible lighting, dry air, tiny blankets…

So instead of being discouraged, I tried to think of the reasons a 16 hour flight isn’t so bad, as my seatmate continued his never ending conversation. For the record, this ALWAYS happens to me. I always sit next to someone chatty who is interested in talking to me the entire flight. I came up with a list and wrote it on my boarding pass:

1. I have a lot of time to try to get at least 6 consecutive hours of sleep.

2. I can wake up for every meal AND still get 6 consecutive hours of sleep.

3. …and/or (if I choose not to sleep), I can watch something like 6 to 8 movies.

4. When I fly Air France, I try to speak French with the flight attendants the entire way. If I did that now, I’d be, like, fluent! Ok, not fluent…probably tired but also very proud of myself.

Clearly, there aren’t TOO many reasons I could come up with, BUT I did watch 4 movies and still got over 6 hours of sleep, which I would not be able to do on a shorter flight, on which I’d be so obsessed with getting sleep, I’d have no time for anything else.

xo

J. Justine

Flight Prep

So, my trip is coming to an end. P.S. Sorry for not blogging whilst away, South Africa has an interesting internet situation. But, you know me, I’ll start from the beginning…

I woke up early on the day of my flight to South Africa, because I had a body wrap appointment at Caudalie Vinothérapie Spa at The Plaza Hotel. The plan was to run errands at the bank and post office, get a body wrap, meet up with C. (travel companion), grab lunch, and go straight to Newark Airport. This was all to happen within a span of three hours. Why is it that things rarely work as planned? Why do I always try to pack too many activities into such a short period of time? Yes, I booked a body wrap at 11a when I had a 315p international flight. Why? Because it was spa week – $50 treatments?? Yes, please. I got the honey and wine wrap, and my skin is reaping its benefits.

It completely slipped my mind that it was Columbus Day and the post office and bank were both closed, but luckily it freed up some time. Turns out, my friend C. also had some errands to run before the flight and with her recent habit of missing her flights, it was good to get such an early start. Next stop: Whole Foods for lunch. NEVER FLY HUNGRY. I made the mistake of doing that on my way to Nicaragua and then the airline served inedible, microwaved hamburgers. So, all I had to eat was the accompanying iceberg lettuce topped with mustard…and “probably six gnats,” said my friend sitting next to me. And if you know how much I love food, you’ll realize that this moment has traumatized me. I will never again leave my flight meal to chance. At Whole Foods, I picked up brown rice sushi, berries, and a small block of gruyere. It came with a small, free bag made of recycled plastic, thanks to the woman standing behind me who had a fistfull of free bag coupons.

And then to the airport, we went. During the ride to the airport, Orbitz called…approximately four times…to tell me that the flight was delayed. Lovely, we were going to be SUPER early for this flight. And then possibly late for our flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg. The delay cut our layover time to 50 minutes. Needless to say, I have never run through the Atlanta airport so fast. Nor have I ever been to impolite, barging through crowds of people with my suitcase, screaming “Sorry!” over my shoulder. Luckily, we made it. Unfortunately, my safari hat did not. But there was no time to go back and get it. More later.

xo

J. Justine

Caudalie Vinothérapie Spa at The Plaza Hotel, 1 West 58th Street, New York, New York 10019

Packing For South Africa

At this exact time in two days, I will be boarding my flight to South Africa. I had no idea what to bring to this trip, so I reviewed the itinerary/list of events, got on the internet and figured it out. Unfortunately, because I was a little late with shopping, I had to order many things overnight, which is sad considering so many online stores now have free shipping. I packed “city attire” for Johannesburg, “beach attire” for Cape Town, and some brightly colored mix of the two for our Garden Route road trip.

Then, it was time to pack for the few nights we’re spending at a game reserve. I look in my closet and through buckets of storage. I have nothing. My friend (C.), currently quoting straight from Fodor’s, tells me that I need to bring lots of khaki, neutral colors – no white and no brights, lest I scare away all the animals. The friend we’re meeting in South Africa (S.) is telling me to bring warm clothes for early morning game drives. I declare that I have nothing and NEED to go shopping. I am ignored. I scream that I found the perfect safari dress.

C: This is not Hemingway meets Africa

Me: Ohh, I like that. [writes it down in planner to remember]

Call me a romantic, or ridiculous, but I have visions of how the game reserve will be – detailing every ounce, down to the outfits I’m wearing, which I purchased. It includes:

Anyway, I’m all packed and ready to go. Very excited. Still missing: An appropriate hat. It’ll work out, though.

xo

J. Justine

Dress: 3.1 Phillip Lim, available at www.theoutnet.com

Boots: Hunter, available at www.nordstrom.com

Paris Fashion Week Is Making It Difficult To Be Excited For South Africa

In less than a week, I’ll be on my way to South Africa. I’ve reviewed the itinerary. I’ll soon start packing. But, truth be told, there’s somewhere I’d rather be: Paris. As stated before, I’ve been STALKING the Paris shows. It’ll be over soon, and I’ll calm down. But, honestly these shows are making it difficult for me to garner excitement for this trip. Today, I watched the McQueen show live on his website. Omg. If there was any doubt that this man was a genius, I mean…

God, I love it. Sigh. Anyway, enough of this. I need something to make me excited for South Africa. Although, I do hear the weather this time of year is perfect, and I’m very excited to have a reason not to put my summer clothes into storage just yet.

xo

J. Justine

Photo credits: Style.com, Alexander McQueen SS2010 Show “Plato’s Atlantis”

Travel Sample Sale

Gilt.com, an online sample sale website for members only, has just launched Jetsetter.com, a discount travel site. Jetsetter’s model is the same as Gilt: Almost everyday, a new sale, lasting for just a few days, comes available. However, instead of it being a designer sample sale, it is a hotel brand, or a cruise ship, offering a few rooms or a few different cruises at discount prices.

I am a huge fan and have long been a member of Gilt. I’ve found quite a few designer (Rachel Roy, Nina Ricci, Alessandro Dell’Acqua) steals on the website, and I look forward to finding something fantastic on Jetsetter, as soon as their set dates work for me. Contact me on twitter if you’d like an invitation to join!

xo

J. Justine

Jetsetter.com, A member of Gilt Groupe

Seriously? Chasing Beauty?

Months ago, I was speaking to a friend of mine, who happened to ask me about my recent trip to Budapest. I launched into a monologue. Of course. I spoke about the food, the people I had met, the castles, funny things that happened…only to be interrupted.

Him: Hm…yeahh…so what I meant by that was ‘How attractive are the women?’

Me: Please be kidding.

Him: I’m not.

I never told him what he wanted to hear. Of course. Truth be told, I almost forgot all about this conversation until I read “Essay: Chasing Beauty” in this month’s Travel + Leisure, where Guy Trebay admits that when he travels he hopes the locals will be hot. This is the point in this post where I’d like to differentiate between Guy Trebay and my friend: There is none. And I quote:

“…we also, secretly, want the strangers in the places we visit to give us something to look at. If not flat-out beautiful, we want them to be comely or stylish or to have something about that to please that most promiscuous of organs, the eye.”

“…getting to know inner beauty requires intimacy. And intimacy takes time to develop, and travelers generally have little time to spare.”

Saving grace, or what differentiates this New York Times writer from the likes of every straight male on Twitter when they heard Rio won the Olympic bid:

“This love is strictly platonic. You’d have to be a fool or a criminal to follow the lead of beauty hunters…who traveled with the idea of gratifying organs other than the optic ones and with faily predictable results.”

I’m almost afraid to ask how many people “chase beauty” while traveling. I mean, honestly, I’m starting to think that Guy Trebay is merely my friend’s nom de plume. Sigh.

xo

J. Justine

Travel + Leisure Magazine, October 2009, page 110.

Happy Monday

The internet is bombarding me with travel news. It’s everywhere I turn.

1. European pilots are on strike. I’m all about this. Pilots SHOULD get more sleep. It makes for a safer flight and it’s just humane.

2. Fly first class to Australia for coach-like fares. Too bad I cannot exactly afford coach-like fares at the moment…considering I just went shopping for South Africa.

This time next week, I’ll be en route to South Africa, so I’m spending my Monday preparing for the trip: looking over the itinerary, looking at photos, stalking concierge.com – the usual. And distracting myself with scenes from Paris, comme…

Happy Monday!

xo

J. Justine

Photo credit: Givenchy Spring Summer 2010 Runway Show

Nuit Blanche

I said earlier that I would tell you more about last year’s trip to Paris. There is no more perfect moment than right now. This evening, Paris (and 120 other cities) will host Nuit Blanche, an all-night arts festival. A friend (K.) and I had flew to Paris to visit another school friend (N.), just in time for Nuit Blanche and in time to catch the end of Paris Fashion Week (parties). Note: I sigh longingly after each sentence I type.

I had done my research on Nuit Blanche, so I had a number of things I wanted to accomplish – like late night swimming in a public Parisian pool. My friends were disgusted by the idea. I also wanted to stay out until 7a, when the festival officially ended. I said so and they looked at me like I was insane. Clearly, I was not placed in charge of the evening.

Our first stop was Jardin des Tuileries, where we were expecting a party but instead found locked gates. Not discouraged, we picked up some street meat…yes, last year, I ate chicken. I officially became a pescetarian on January 1, 2009. I’m kind of a baby at this…to re-energize and headed over to Palais Royal, where we kind of watched portions of a film while we decided where we would go for the rest of the night. No more party hopping. We settled on a lounge near the top of the Champs-Élysées, called Milliardaire. It was random and fantastic. African drummers performed every hour or so over the house music. The manager gave us drinks on the house all night because he moved us from one table to another. We were introduced to our new favorite drink, piscines, and new favorite friends. And, the moment we stepped off the metro to go back home, the clock turned 7a. At least one wish came true that evening.

N., thinking back to last year, said “Oh Nuit Blanche, what a hot mess.” So true. Yet I loved every minute of it.

xo

J. Justine

SS2010 Fashion Week

This time last year, I was packing for Paris. I only WISH I could say the same this year. ::Sigh:: More on that later.

Anyway, being that we’re in the middle of the September-October fashion week season (season including New York, London, Milan and Paris fashion weeks) and considering I spend all my time now STALKING the fashion blogs trying to get a glimpse of the runways, it’s only appropriate to discuss it in same way. How about a game of: I’ll show you mine if you show me yours? I was in New York for fashion week. So I’ll let you know of the (few) interactions I had, if you let me know about yours…via comments, or twitter, whichever works.

Eagerly awaiting your stories…

xo

J. Justine

Contest: Win Your Dream Trip

Itching to take the trip of your dreams? Go to the following website and follow its instructions for your chance:

http://tweetyourtrip.com/

Good luck!

Simply Wanderlust