Hey everyone, it's Jacqueline for Pixie Dust PhD. Today's video is multi-purpose. First,
it is a trip announcement; and second, we will be packing together. So if you want to hear
more about the trip as well as see the packing stay tuned!
Thank you so much for joining me;
I really appreciate that you're here. Be sure to hit that thumbs up button to like the video,
and if you haven't already go ahead and subscribe to the channel--it's totally free, and once you're
subscribed you can ring the bell icon to receive notifications whenever I post new videos. On to
the trip announcement. We are going to Walt Disney World for one day. Long story short, we had some
flight credits from 2020 planned travel that we didn't ever end up going on, of course, because of
reasons. And those flight credits are expiring. When we were looking at the timing of things,
based on our trip for our friend's wedding seeing family and going to Disneyland in January,
and then some other work things happening in March and April, we basically decided we had
to go in February or very early March. And looking at the list of possible destinations, knowing that
it would be winter here where we live in the DC metro area, we wanted to go to somewhere warm.
The most obvious choice was Orlando, honestly. So we are leaving on a Thursday night, we're
returning on Monday morning; so we will be there all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. That being
said we're only doing Disney related things one of those days--that will be Friday. Thanks so much
to a very good friend who is basically giving us tickets to go to EPCOT for the day; if it weren't
for said friend and giving us these tickets I’m not sure we would be going to Disney at all if I’m
being honest. We probably would have taken one day to hang out at Disney Springs or do something at
a resort, but one day tickets are so expensive. I haven't looked at actual prices, but I assume it'd
be around $125 per person for a one day ticket, so that would be $250 for my partner and I just to go
for one day. As much as I love the Disney parks, this trip really isn't necessarily about Disney;
it was always to use that flight credit and just to hang out with friends. We will be hanging out
with friends at EPCOT—again, thanks so much to that friend for giving us these tickets--but
we really have no actual plans. I think this is my first time going to Disney
with no itinerary, no dining reservations, no really anything in mind that we have to get done,
so that'll be an interesting new adventure for me. And then for Saturday and Sunday we are staying
with our friend who lives a little less than an hour away from Disney. So we will be heading
out to their house and just hanging out in their town. They have a pool and a hot tub. We'll just
be catching up and having fun. This is a very low key vacation. It's not really a Disney trip. The
Disney was an added bonus. And my partner really wanted to try to keep this whole trip under $500,
so that's also part of why one or two day Disney park tickets would not have made much sense.
While we are at EPCOT we're not necessarily going to limit our spending with a budget in mind, but
again, we don't have like a Le Cellier reservation or anything that would drive the cost up a ton.
We will be hanging out with our friend all day though who is giving us those tickets, and of
course we will be picking up the bill for all of their food stuffs or really whatever they want.
In total we'll be there for four nights: Thursday night through Sunday night. We are going to spend
two of those nights at hotels just for ease; those other two nights again we'll be staying with a
different friend in central Florida. So that's also really helping with the savings aspects of
the trip and trying to keep it under $500 or so, because two nights we're not paying for a hotel.
We also will not be getting a rental car, which is pretty unusual for us when we head to Orlando.
So we will be relying mostly on ride shares, and occasional driving from friends. Overall,
I’m really excited obviously just to have a little bit of a break, a little vacation, to somewhere
warm and to see our friends. But then also this bonus day at Disney, it's gonna be great.
We're leaving the DC area on a Thursday, and it'll probably be in the upper 30s, and then on
Friday when we'll be at EPCOT down in Orlando the high is in the upper 80s to low 90s. So
it's going to be a pretty big swing. And then when we come back to DC on Monday it's probably going
to be in the upper 20s or low 30s, so a little bit of a shock to the system. But like I said,
it's gonna be awesome to go somewhere warm in the winter. I’m filming this on the Sunday before we
leave, so it's our last full weekend before we get on that plane, and just trying to pack up as
much as I can. It'll be funny to compare this instance of packing to the pack with me video
from our 2021 trip down to central Florida because that was for two weeks, it was pretty different.
But that's the overall plan. I’m really excited to hang out with our friends in a warm location;
really just laze around, no itinerary, no rush to get anything done, really no plans.
Plus that bonus day at EPCOT… I mean chef’s kiss; I really can't thank that friend enough.
Alright, let's get to packing. Alright, so we're leaving Thursday after work, so that will
pretty much just be an airport outfit. And then we're going straight to a hotel, probably just
going to sleep. Friday’s EPCOT all day, and then we'll take a ride share out to our friend's house;
so really just one outfit. Saturday and Sunday I’m not really sure what we're doing during the day,
but it will be at least in the 80s, if not warmer. And then Sunday night after dinner time basically
we will go ahead and take a ride back out towards the airport to stay at a hotel, because we're
leaving Monday morning. For Thursday we've got the outfit I’ll be wearing during the day and then
to the airport. So we have a m95c mask, which is close to a kn95 basically. It is five layers and
it's very fitted. And then I just have a standard surgical mask to go over it. I know it doesn't do
that much extra, but I just like having both layers. And I’ve got this hoodie, t-shirt,
jeans, socks, and I’ll be wearing tennis shoes as well as this is the watch I’m going to wear.
When we leave DC we'll be lucky if it's in the 40s, so I also am going to wear a light jacket
over this. I know it's a little silly, because by the time we get to Orlando it's going to be warm
so those are layers I probably won't use while we're in Orlando. But I do need it for the little
DC portions of our trip. Moving then to once we're actually in Orlando. For Friday I’m going to wear
this dress; I’ve strategically picked it because it's kind of crinkly to begin with,
so I don't have to worry about needing to iron or steam it. I often pack a portable steamer with me,
but I don't think I’m going to this trip just because it's so short. So I wore this
dress last trip in fall 2021 to Magic Kingdom, and now it'll get its time to shine in EPCOT.
And then for Saturday and Sunday I just have this pineapple tank top with some denim shorts,
and then a pineapple t-shirt with my purple denim shorts. I think those will be pretty useful
depending on what we end up doing. I think we'll maybe try to go to a zoo or hit up some breweries,
but it'll be warm so, you know, shorts and t-shirt life. Then I’m also packing a second
dress just in case we want to go out to a slightly nicer dinner where I don't want to look quite so
scrappy in my shorts and tank top or shorts and t-shirt. And here we have PJs and just some
clothes for hanging out, little shorts for pool time, that kind of stuff. I have this dark gray
sweater, it's one of my favorite go-to's, so I’ll bring this as a light layer to EPCOT, and then,
you know, to any restaurants or anything we go to. And then I have one auxiliary tank top just
in case we end up doing quite a lot on Saturday or Sunday and I want to change out of some sweaty
clothes. And one more t-shirt, which in my head I will wear this on Monday on the plane
back. I’ve already packed these two packing cubes; this one has three swimsuits, and this
one just has my underwear and bras and stuff. And then because we are freeloading off our friend,
we wanted to bring them a gift. This is a cookie tin from Milk Bar. I know Milk Bar is not a DC
exclusive thing, but they definitely don't have it down in Florida, so I thought this would be fun.
And it comes in this tin, so nothing's gonna get crushed in our luggage, which was nice.
For toiletries I’ve already packed both my liquids bag as well as my partner’s. There is some more
room in case they want to bring anything else, but we tend to share. So in my partner's bag we have
both body and face sunscreen, shaving cream, some lotion, anti-bacterial cream--so Neosporin as well
as anti-itch cream, body wash, Flonase, that kind of stuff. And then my liquids bag is the same old
same old; if you want to see a further breakdown of that check out my 2021 pack with me video. But
we have the toothpaste we’ll share, I’ve got a little bit of makeup, hand lotion,
face wash, toner, moisturizers, all that good stuff. The only real difference now is this
time I don't have to pack anything related to contacts because I got LASIK! But I do need these
individual eye drops, so I have several packs of these eye drops to bring with me. I’m supposed to
put drops in my eyes every like two hours or so, so it does take a lot of drops. Then we have the
hanging toiletry case. So this is just like last time where I’ve got, you know, hairbrush, razor,
toothbrush, a little bit of makeup, stuff to do my hair, and then in here's like tweezers
and nail clippers. And of course, this is my bag with all my masks. So I’m packing both these m95c
more fitted five layer type, as well as just these standard surgical masks. I probably
packed too many masks if we're being honest, but I would rather have extra than run out.
I will be bringing this phone case that I got for my 2021 trip that has this strap on it, so I’ll
probably use this for EPCOT but maybe not any of the other days. And then for shoes I’ll be wearing
my Allbirds to the airport. I don't necessarily anticipate wearing these at all while we're in
Florida, so it feels a little silly to bring them, but I really have to wear a proper shoe to
the airport… like the thought of wearing a sandal to the airport is, just freaks me out. So wearing
sneakers. And again, it is going to be cold in DC, so it would be rough to be wearing sandals to and
from the airport anyway. Of course, we'll bring a pair of flip-flops, and then I’ve got a nicer pair
of sandals, and my Chacos. So we're only gone for four days really, and I am bringing four pairs of
shoes. It is what it is. Hopefully they all fit. In my backpack, so this will be my personal item,
I’ll put my purse in here, and then these are my meds. I’ll put my retainer in here the morning of,
and of course the all-important foot glide. And then the Milk Bar cookie tin did come in this
really cute bag, so I thought I would try to bring it with, and also just pack some tissue paper so
we can wrap it up for our friend. And then I won't be packing this today, but we always put
our electronics in here. And then either I will bring this bag or my partner will bring this bag.
We also have discussed that the cookie tin is a little large, so we will make it work absolutely;
but I’m gonna try to pack the cookie tin in my suitcase now, and if it turns out we need to put
some of my clothes in my partner's bag we will figure that out later. As far as strategy goes,
I’m hoping to pack this dress in this compression cube and bring that in my carry-on, that way I
will have at least one cute outfit if I need to check my bag. And then otherwise, yeah, I’ll try
to put everything else in this suitcase. This is the carry-on closet that I took to Disneyland,
but I’m actually going to try to pack it this time without the carry-on closet portion, so just pack
it normally basically. And I do really only have a few compression cubes, and those two are in use,
and then I’ll use this big one… so I’m going to attempt to pack the rest of my clothes just in
this cute little pineapple bag. The cookie tin is a real wild card here, so let's see how it goes.
Alright, so that was actually pretty easy. My suitcase closed very easily honestly. And then
I thought I would try to roll my like shorts and tank tops or t-shirts outfits up and put
them in here, because I do sort of like to be organized, but it was just easier to roll them
and put them in the one side of the suitcase. So I didn't end up using this bag. My partner
will have to pack their liquids, and then we will have to pack our electronics. It might be
able to fit in my bag honestly; I could probably move the masks out of here and into this bag,
and then put electronics in there, so we'll see… yeah. I need to put my purse in this bag,
but I think there's plenty of space honestly. This is really just a dress, so it's very compressible.
And then I think that's it; we're doing really well. I’m actually very surprised. So
I guess I haven't packed for a very short trip in a long time. But this was pretty easy! Thanks
so much for joining me on this trip announcement and pack with me video. Have you ever done just
a single day at Disney? If so, let me know what you did in the comments down below.
Also have you ever done a fully unplanned day at Disney? This is definitely new territory for me,
but I’m excited to just sort of walk around and hang out with friends and not have any
pressure to get anything done. Here's to hoping for easy travel days for us and some pixie dust
ahead. I hope the rest of your day is magical, and we'll see you real soon at Pixie Dust PhD!