The Girl Who Goes

independent, intentional travel

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Spirit Airlines vs. RyanAir: How Do They Compare?

spirit airlines vs. ryanair

This past weekend, I got to experience one of the coolest things ever: a Pakistani wedding in Orlando, Florida! An old co-worker of ours got married, and we were SO honored to have been invited! Between the wedding lasting three days, culturally “appreciating” some traditional South Asian dress, and learning a few group dances before the big days, it was an unforgettable experience that I’m always going to cherish.

But, you know, it was Christmas weekend. And it was also Orlando. While I couldn’t have cared less about shifting my family’s Christmas celebration to a different day, finding flights around Christmas — specifically to and from Orlando — was not the world’s cheapest undertaking. Which meant that, in order to make it more affordable for us, we undertook another “first” experience: flying on Spirit Airlines. [Read more…]

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How To Pack for Long Trips in a Backpack + My 2-Month Packing List

long trips backpack

After two months in Europe, we’re finally home in the U.S. — with new Spain digital nomad visas in hand! 🤩 It was certainly a very busy two months. We spent all of August in Sevilla, sweating away the 112F/44C degree days, as we worked on our visas and tried to enjoy the city as best we could. And September was a whirlwind as we traveled to five different countries and I achieved my goal of visiting my 30th country while I’m 30 years old! On top of that, we took engagement photos in Porto, Portugal, at the end of our trip.

And we did it all while only traveling with our backpacks.

Keep reading to learn my secrets for packing for long trips in just a backpack + get my packing list for this trip.

[Read more…]

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The Best & Worst Cities To Change Airports for Cheaper Flights

change airports - chicago

When we travel internationally — whether it’s to Europe, Central or South America, Asia, or elsewhere — we often find and book the cheapest flights from bigger cities to our destination. From Kansas City, where we live, there just aren’t as many cost-effective options. Typically, we use Southwest points we accrued in our former lives as corporate consultants to help us get from KC to our destination city.

Our favorite place to transfer is Boston (like we did for this Europe trip we’re on right now) because Boston only has one airport and we only have to change terminals, but a lot of big hub cities have multiple airports. And Southwest typically flies into the smaller airport of the two. Which means we have to plan the transfer into our travel day. Depending on the airports and cities, this can range from a minor pain to a major one.

The four cities we’ve transferred airports on a travel day are Chicago, Fort Lauderdale/Miami, New York City, and Houston. Here’s a review of what it’s like to change airports using public transportation in those four cities, ranked from best to worst, with ratings based on a few factors. [Read more…]

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How To Transfer from Fort Lauderdale Airport (FLL) to Miami Airport (MIA)

fort lauderdaile to miami airport - tri rail feature photo

The Tri-Rail Train helps you transfer from Fort Lauderdale to Miami airport.

Somehow, more than five years after quitting my corporate job that helped me rack up hundreds of thousands of Southwest Airlines points, I still have points left. And I’m still using them to my advantage. You might know by now that we typically use the Southwest points to fly for free from Kansas City to a bigger cities with better direct flights. So when we went to Costa Rica in April, we flew from Kansas City to Fort Lauderdale for free, and then booked our actual flight to San José from Miami.

But we did have to transfer airports: from Fort Lauderdale to Miami. With more airlines offering layovers at different airports in the same city/region these days, it’s important to know how to get from Fort Lauderdale to Miami, or vice versa, most efficiently.

So here’s what you need to know about transferring airports between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. [Read more…]

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How To Plan Your Own European Road Trip

plan european road trip

If you didn’t know, I’m a big fan of road trips. Whether it was my family’s annual road trip across the U.S. that took us thousands of miles in two weeks, my road trip through Alaska with a friend when we were 24, or the most recent European road trip Matt and I took through Spain, France, and Andorra this past winter… there’s something special about traveling “slow.” Seeing the world around you rather than flying from point A to point B.

Our European road trip in January was actually my first “proper” road trip in Europe — meaning I rented a car for more than just a day. Over two weeks, we visited seven cities in three countries. And while it was more expensive than flying or taking the train/bus between cities, we enjoyed the freedom the rental car afforded us.

Of course, planning a road trip can be overwhelming, no matter whether you’re close to home or on the other side of the world. So if you’re thinking about your very own European road trip, here are my tips to help make it easier. [Read more…]

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European Road Trip: Pros and Cons

Back in January, Matt and I rented a car in Barcelona and began our two-week road trip through parts of Spain, France, and Andorra. While I’d rented cars for shorter day trips before — like Munich to Neuschwanstein, and Dublin to Giant’s Causeway — this was my first time taking a real European road trip.

It’s always cool to try something new, and we had an amazing time visiting three countries and seven cities. And of course, when you try something new, you learn a lot. (Here’s what we learned about taking a road trip in Europe.)

If you’re thinking about taking a European road trip of your own, there are lots of things to think about before you make the decision. And now that I’ve done it, I’ve got a list of things for you to consider.

Here are the pros and cons of taking a road trip in Europe. [Read more…]

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5 Travel Essentials I Can’t Live Without: Travel Electronics

travel electronics

Hi all! I’m getting close to being finished with all my location-specific posts about our European road trip we took in January, but I thought it could be nice to take a break and write about something a little different for my next post. You may have seen the article I wrote over the summer — 5 Travel Essentials I Can’t Live Without — and after a few more long trips, I realized there are some other things I never travel without.

So here’s another list of my travel essentials… this time, with a focus on essential travel electronics. [Read more…]

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7 Things To Know Before Taking a Road Trip in Europe

Our car for our road trip in Europe.

Our BMW that we rented for our road trip in Europe!

Growing up, road trips helped me see more of the U.S. by the time I was 18 than many people ever get to see in their lives, which makes me so lucky! The importance that was placed on travel — in the form of my family’s annual road trip — definitely helped shape me into who I am today. But recently, I tackled a new undertaking: my first-ever road trip in Europe!

While I’d done day trips by car, or even weekend trips with friends in Europe, I’d never done something this ambitious, or for this long. Matt and I spent two weeks traversing parts of three countries, staying in six hotels along the way. But most of the cities we chose to visit weren’t more than 4 hours apart from each other, and we didn’t have lots of driving on back-to-back days. You can read our whole trip review here.

What I wanted to share, though, is that I learned a lot during this trip. So if you’re planning your own road trip in Europe, here are 7 things you’ll want to know before you set off. [Read more…]

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The 5 Travel Essentials I Can’t Live Without – 2024

Hi everyone! With this post, I’m taking a little break from writing about specific places… are you ready to find out about my favorite travel essentials in 2022?

2022 has been a year crazy full of travel for us! And I couldn’t be happier about that. This is going to be our fourth international trip so far this year, and by the time it’s over we will have spent almost 4 months out of the country. But if you don’t have your packing routine down, with a bag full of items that make life easier and more comfortable, it can be difficult.

So I wanted to share the 5 things I can’t live without during all of my travels this year. I hope you find this list helpful! [Read more…]

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How to Transfer From Midway to O’Hare Airport in Chicago

midway to o'hare - waiting for the CTA

The CTA train will help you transfer from Midway to O’Hare, or the other way around

Wow… six posts later, I’ve finally finished writing about the holiday trip I took with Matt! Hard to believe that we set off for our travels almost 3 months ago already. Anyway, it’s time for some new topics!

Last week, my mom and I visited Sevilla in the south of Spain. I was able to find her a relatively cheap flight to Madrid to spend a week with me here. And if you didn’t know it already, I booked a last-minute flight home to Kansas City to watch the Super Bowl with my family (just for a weekend). Which was also super cheap. But how did I do it? [Read more…]