Hi everyone! I've been wanting to share some details about my recent trip to Tucson, Arizona! It's the first place I've traveled to since all of the COVID madness and I'm so glad I was able to squeeze it in right before the numbers got bad again. I'm not even sure how much content I'm going to have, but I really wanted to document this super awesome and beautiful place/trip.
As most of you probably know, I went to Arizona to visit Andrew, my boyfriend of 1+ years. He goes to school out there and I've been dying to see what it's like and spend some time there. I booked my plane ticket in October, cautious and aware that things could change depending on the pandemic.
Luckily everything was going well enough where Andrew is in Arizona and I've pretty much been pent up in the house the last few weeks anyways. (This was obviously before things started really getting bad here again too.) The airports are super clean and I only had to sit next to somebody on 2 of my 4 plane rides which was super nice.
PACKING
I am a terrible packer. I always pack way too much or not enough (and sometimes even both somehow). I tried to be mindful of the Arizona warmth and think about what our plans were going to be each day. My bigggg mistake was that I forgot to pack a pair of shoes to go with my nice dinner outfit. I packed these cute cheetah Steve Madden flats my mom has, but that literally only went with one of the possible outfits haha. Besides those I had my Adidas Ultraboosts that I wore to travel. I ended up wearing those pretty much everywhere the whole trip. I didn't want to check a bag because this was my first time traveling alone and I just wanted to make it as easy as possible for myself in the airport.
-My Vera Bradley travel cosmetic set is my favorite travel item ever. It's a decent sized clear case with three smaller cosmetic nags inside. They are nylon so they are durable and protective against spills/leaks. My travel bottle of face soap leaked on the plane to Arizona but I was easily able to clean it from the larger plastic case when I realized. The plastic case keeps all of the items in your cosmetic bags from leaking out into any of your other items. I can't find the exact one I have because it's a few years old, but I'll link what seems to be a newer version here.
-I was able to store all of my clothes in my Vera Bradley weekender and throw in the clear bag on top. The VB weekender bag is a little pricier, but I've had mine for years and use it constantly. It is definitely a great investment, especially when you can go to the outlets and get it for up to half off! I got mine on sale for 70% off on Black Friday a few years ago. If you live in Pittsburgh, don't ever buy Vera Bradley at full price. ALWAYS go to the Grove City Outlets!!
I'm going to go into detail into some of the things I packed for the trip! This isn't everything, but these are the main essentials I grabbed at Target:
-I went to Target a few days before my trip and purchased a bunch of travel bottles for my soap/shampoo/conditioner. They have this really nice set with a clear plastic pouch to protect from spills, that definitely would work just as nicely as the Vera Bradley travel organizer. It comes with this set of 5 bottles for only $7.
-I got a travel toothbrush set with a mini toothbrush and holder, toothpaste, and a little travel size mouth wash. Only $2.50 from Target and it just seems much easier and cleaner to take and throw away when done rather than transporting my toothbrush from home.
-I also grabbed a mini hair brush rather than packing my full size one, it definitely came in handy (although was not the greatest brush I've ever used). I'll link it here, it's definitely a way to save some space when packing.
-I packed a mini loofa! It is the cutest thing ever. It did start to fall apart after 3-4 uses so this is definitely a travel item only. I can't find the exact Target link but they had them in the mini-sized item aisle with the travel stuff.
-Since A. I was going to Arizona and B. I am a freak about sunscreen, I obviously picked up a mini spray sunscreen from Target too. I actually got a few to keep around for summer pool days, vacations, and just sunny days outside.
-I actually hate makeup wipes because they don't ever take off all of my makeup. And I just find them a little gross. But because I knew I'd be traveling and my face would be sweaty in the sun, I picked up a travel pack of makeup wipes. I'm actually glad I had them with me even though I don't use them regularly. I like to use them to refresh my skin rather than to take off makeup.
I was able to pile all of that and more into my clear VB travel case along with the biggest cosmetic bag for makeup. I truly was able to pack a LOT of crap. Hahahaha.
TRAVELING
Photo Links:
-similar Kate Spade purse (I actually ended up deciding not to take this, I already had too much stuff! But one of my fav purses so I'll still link!!)
-Tiffany necklace from Andrew
-similar Michael Kors bag
-Vans (I ended up wearing my Adidas Ultraboosts because they're just as easy for me to slip on and off!)
-comfy bra (I found this really comfy seamless one from Pink for only $15)
-I took my VB weekender instead of a checked suitcase
-Amazon portable charger
I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about the trip itself. I have traveled hundreds of times with my family so I knew exactly what to do. I was just terrified and paranoid about paperwork and my ticket. This is typical Bella for you. I didn't even take a picture in my adorable travel outfit because I was too busy thinking about everything (and so so soooooo excited to see Andrew after 3 months!!)😭.
American Airlines has a really convenient and easy app that connects with your wallet app. 24 hours before the flight I was able to check-in and get my boarding pass. I screenshotted it to make sure I would always have it, but I didn't even need to. It stays up as a notification on your lockscreen while you're traveling for easy access. The trip home was so peaceful and relaxing because I knew everything was right where I needed it and I felt completely comfortable relying on the app. I didn't need any physical form of paperwork at any point. My dad always has a huge stack of papers, which is probably why I was anxious about not having everything I needed! I needed my ID before security and a scanner scanned the boarding pass from my phone when I boarded the plane. It was soooo easy.
My flight was at 3:50ish on Friday. I had my last zoom class for the fall semester until 12:20 and my mom and I left immediately after for the airport. (Also Olivia brought me Starbucks before I left which was so lovely so thank you to her😭❤️!!) We got there around 1:15 and it wasn't crowded at all for a Friday. I said goodbye to my mom and walked straight through to security where less than 10 people were in line ahead of me. I was at my gate in literally less than 20 minutes. I even had time to stop for an egg sandwich, which was good because I was so excited I hadn't eaten!!
I sat at the gate for about an hour and a half before boarding. I downloaded a movie on Netflix in the airport that I was able to watch on the flight. It was called Holidate and was actually a cute movie. Very lighthearted and funny for adults. The last hour of the flight dragged but before I knew it I was in Dallas for my layover!!
The Dallas airport is sooo big and amazing. I peed immediately after landing and got a Starbucks lemonade w/light ice (my new obsession) and a croissant before going to my new gate.
This is really random but I was so amazed by these lights in the bathroom that I obviously had to take a picture while I was peeing!😂 The lights above the stalls turned red when someone went inside and the open ones were green! I thought this was so cool and had to share hahahaha.
I got to my gate with still over 2 hours until boarding. The layover was 3 but I had wasted some time on the way. I got all settled and started watching a movie when I heard on the loudspeaker that the gate was changed. So I had to hop on this shuttle thingy to take me to a whole other wing of the airport. Luckily I must've been close to this wing because I just got on the shuttle and it thankfully opened right where I needed to be! LOL. By the time I frantically changed gates I just hangout and relaxed until boarding.
I also have to add that although wearing a mask for almost 12 hours was annoying and uncomfortable at times, it wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. Plus it really put me at ease about traveling in general.
This flight was sooo pretty because it was at night. And I was literally gushing with excitement hahaha. This airplane was super nice and had a screen at every seat for movies and all other sorts of things. I used it to obsessively track the planes location obviously. Lol. I landed at 10:30 AZ time and Andrew was there waiting for me!
ARIZONA
My first full day in Tucson was Saturday. I woke up and showered all the travel germs off and then Andrew took me on a tour of his campus (University of Arizona). It was sooo beautiful. There were cacti everywhere and massive palm trees. I kept telling him it felt like the beach haha. I wish I would've taken more pictures of the campus itself. I also keep saying that Arizona wasn't what I expected but I really also had no idea what to expect! It was just so different and amazing!
People pretty much everywhere had masks on. We only took our masks off when we ate inside a restaurant. I felt really safe and secure knowing that I was outside most of the trip when I wasn't in Andrew's apartment itself. It was very very safe and I was trying to be as cautious as possible.
After Andrew walked me around campus he took me to this beautiful spot called Gates Pass to watch the sunset. It was soooo beautiful. Definitely a great spot to see in Tucson, we ended up going back another night too.
That night we went back to his apartment and showered and had a little Friendsgiving dinner with his roommates and a few other people. It was a really fun time and mashed potatoes🤤🤤🤤🤤
On Sunday we slept in and went to the driving range during the day. Then that night we had our date night!! We went to Sakura, a Hibachi-style Japanese restaurant similar to Ichiban. It was super yummy. I wore a cropped white t-shirt from Target with black mom jeans from American Eagle. Paired with the Steve Madden cheetah flats.
Monday was my last full day. The trip went by so fast, at this point I couldn't even believe that all of the anticipation and preparation and traveling for this trip was about to be turned right around when I got to the airport the next day. On Monday we had a super lazy day and then went to Gates Pass for sunset again. We got a few nice pictures that night too. We got back and walked to a rapid result testing center where they said they were completely out of tests? Made zero sense because that was not advertised anywhere online. But oh well. We went back and I showered and put on this Pink set that I've practically been living in. (Top / Bottoms). We made Mac-n-cheese and did face masks together.🥺
Outfit details:
-same white tee from Target
-Ultraboosts again (cause packing fail)
-Etsy bracelets (my absolute favs)
I packed up most of my stuff Monday night so I could get up and go on Tuesday. My flight was at 12:30ish so I got to the airport at 10 and sat there foreverrrr. The Tucson airport is nothing special and it's super small. I got another breakfast sandwich and got some souvenirs at a gift shop!
Going home I didn't care what I looked like AT ALL. I wore my favvvv Pink set and a UofA baseball hat. The Pink set is actually on sale right now so I'll link it again. I wanted mine to be oversized, so I got medium bottoms and a large top. Both are VERY oversized so it probably wasn't too necessary, but I love the way it fits me. I got the top and bottoms in the desire wash color. The bottoms are linked here and are on sale for $32.96!!! The crew sweatshirt is also on sale right now for $27.96. BRB ordering another pair. (Legit just ordered it in the white camo xoxo lol!!)
The trip home was sooo easy and nobody sat next to me on either flight. I was able to stretch out and have my own space AND not have to worry about someone else's germs right next to me. I was so relaxed the whole time and got the wifi so I could watch Grey's Anatomy.
I am soooo thankful and lucky to have gotten the opportunity to travel AND to visit Andrew. Everything is so crazy right now so it was great that I was able to fit it in at a good time when everything was low-risk. I absolutely loved being able to see where Andrew goes to school and has been living out there after only seeing photos for so long. Thanks Andy for being the best tour guide!!
That is all for this post I think?! I am very sorry if it was a little scrambled and all over the place. I wanted to talk about so much and give as much details as possible for anyone interested and more so myself to remember my cute little weekend trip to AZ. ;). This definitely turned into more of a travel "diary" than I was expecting haha.
Thank you all for reading, as always. I hope everyone is staying safe and happy during these last few weeks of 2020! I really want to figure out how to do some sort of interactive feature on here besides the box below 🔽🔽🔽 (I LOVE reading your submissions so please send one in to show some love!!!) And like I said last time, I have some reallyyyyy exciting news coming to the blog, hopefully VERY soon. Stay tuned!! ;)))
Have a great weekend!
-Bella <3
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