spending more

 i impulse bought a vera bradley cross-body bag to hold my passport and phone when in transit. i've just been steadily working on making the actual journey required for travel more convenient and enjoyable. that time when you are going through TSA or boarding is stressful because i don't want to lose documents. so i've been loosely thinking of ways to streamline that process.

i prefer to secure my boarding pass and passport as soon as i show it to whichever officer. so that ends up with me stepping to the side and zipping up everything. and then inevitably, you have to show it again. so i want it secure but also convenient.

last international trip i used a separate wallet for my passport, cash, and cards. and decided that would just be my international travel wallet. and i left my domestic wallet at home. since i knew this year would be filled with travel, i've been getting 2 of some things so i don't have to worry about packing. 

anyway, last night, while winding down for bed i searched for a passport carrier. after some clicking i landed on vera bradley outlet (didn't know that existed). there was a little satchel for about $10 but what made me buy it impulsively is when i checked to see how much shipping was...it was FREE. so i thought that must be a mistake. not wanting to pay for shipping when i actually made up my mind, i just went ahead and bought it. 

the site clearly has a banner that says orders over $50 is free, so i'm not sure why this was shipping free. it was only about $13 with tax. 

anyway...so yeah... with more time on your hands to think of life's little inconveniences...my appetite for little items under $20 has gone up. and so starts the potential money leak... oh well.

the other thing that's been on my mind...which may just be an idle mind...is spending $6k on my trip to yellowstone. i went ahead and got this summer job to help pay for it! 

but now...i've been wanting to go back to sydney and questioning whether $6k for a week in yellowstone is worth it.

even 9 days in sydney at the W was only $2k...so i'm thinking...i could spend almost 3 weeks living in a hotel for that much! and that was a hotel suite!

so i've been trying to decide what i want to do...

i think $6k seemed okay when i was working because i didn't want to take the time to DIY the trip...there's just a bunch of driving... but this morning... i had the itch to try to figure it out again...

there are just parts of montana that i want to see..so i've been trying to see if i want to break the trip up into separate trips...see montana... and then see yellowstone another time...

trips are interesting...for me...cuz i don't really have much of a bucket list left...so i hear of a place..run it through my mental filter...if it sticks..i plan for it...but some things have fallen off when i couldn't make them work for one reason or another (price, waning interest, logistics too tricky)...

so this morning i'm going to run the itinerary through chat gpt and see if they can plan it for me...