Dos & Don'ts of Airport Wear

[trip style = any]

Sometimes my travel faux pas turn into teachable moments. This is one of those times.

But first, some questions to set the mood: When you're about to take a flight, do you think about the overall impact of the items you're wearing? How long will it take to partially disrobe before security---think jacket, scarf, sweater, shoes---and do your pants have too many zippers? And will those pants be comfortable on a six-hour flight?

A few weeks ago I traveled to BC's Wine Country, and in a Speedy Gonzales packing session, I planned my outfit based on fashion, not function.

On the way there, the culprit was a brown leather belt connected by metal bobbles. True, I could have removed it in line, but I forgot, so I took 1.5 mins to weave it out of my belt loops while everyone in the security line behind me grunted with frustration. On the way back, the culprit was a dark jean shirt with 12 metal snaps. As I was about to walk through the metal detector I sighed, knowing I'd made the wrong shirt choice. As expected, the beep called out my shirt {and 6 am outfit choice} and a touchy-feely body search ensued.

It had been about a month and a half since I'd been on a plane and my airport skills were rusty. Don't make the same mistake I did; airport attire is one of your most important packing decisions because you have to sit with your choice while traveling to the airport, going through security, waiting for your flight, putting a bag in the overhead bin and sitting for however many hours in your seat.

Good Airport Wear
- loose tops and blazers and jackets
- pants with some sort of give
- skirts
- a scarf/pashmina for warmth
- flats

Bad Airport Wear
- zippered anything
- snaps
- metal
- jewelry
- crocs or uggs
- juicy couture-like tracksuits

More Travel Fashion
Runway Style
Travel Staple :: The White Shirt
Like a Virgin
Celeb Travel Must-Haves
Airport Style

[graphic by @tripstyler with photos sourced online]

KinderHop:: Transitioning from Couple to Family Travel

[trip style = any]

KinderHop is published once monthly and written by Trip Styler’s Seattle-based kid ‘n family writer, Keryn.

One of the biggest fears my husband Mike and I had when we first discussed having children was how much it would alter our lives. Our careers were growing, we were able to put money away, and more importantly, we were traveling. Adding kids would change everything. We would surely be relegated to theme parks and playgrounds. I wasn’t sure I was ready for that.

Some of our first trips as a couple were overseas. We went to Italy. We stayed out late eating homemade pasta and house- cured prosciutto e melone while sampling the local vintage. In Rome, we woke up whenever we wanted to in our adorable (read: cramped) hotel just mere minutes from the Trevi Fountain. I could eat gelato for breakfast if I wanted to, as long as a shop was open. Mike and I would explore the side streets of a new city for hours; he with his head in a guidebook so he would know what ruins we were seeing and me with my camera glued to my face trying to capture every moment.

Enter the children.

My oldest son Dek is now 3 years old. His little brother Ty showed up earlier this year and is now 5 months old. Have our travels changed? Yes. Is this a bad thing? No, because the change crept up slowly. After all, no one handed us a running toddler nor did we have a primary school schedule to consider. We could still travel any time we wanted to, we just had to take a baby with us.

Our first big international trip with Dek was to China. He was 14 months old. People thought we were crazy, and maybe we were. The opportunity to travel presented itself and I wasn’t going to let it pass us by just because we had a child; we would just figure it out as we went.

Yes we had new foods and shifting time zones to contend with, but just like we were parents at home, we were now parenting in a new country while exploring some of the world’s most magnificent historical sights (i.e. Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City).

The pace of our travels was the most noticeable difference. We could not rush from sight to sight. We were actually forced to stop and see where we were going. Little legs slowed us down. Dek found the most mundane things interesting, like sidewalks, or at least we thought they were mundane at first, but then realized he had stumbled across something amazing. Without him we would have missed the intricate stonework on the pathways of the Forbidden City.

It was inevitable that the way we approached our favored trip styles would change, but it didn’t have to be as drastic as we thought. Theme parks with dancing characters have not crept into our lives. I have chosen to continue to see the world through four sets of eyes rather than two. You can as well.

More KinderHop Back to School Seattle Shop 'n Stay How To Keep Kids Occupied On A Plane Family Road Tripping Tips How To Pack Less With Kids In Tow Family-Friendly Big Island Making Hotel Rooms Work With Kids

[photos by keryn]

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

[trip style = beach + sun]

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving, or as some people put it, "turkey day." In observance of the Canadian national holiday, I'm trading pumpkin pie for pupus, and prose for photos in Maui.

Happy Thanksgiving, and as ALWAYS, I'm grateful for your support of Trip Styler. Your comments on TS posts, and social media shares and interaction are the wind beneath my trip styling wings.

Thank you, Trish

[photos by @tripstyler]

Pro Tips For WOW Vacation Photography

[trip style = any]

Kirsten Alana {left} is a traveler, writer, and photographer on a quest to experience life to the fullest, and capture it behind the lens. When she's not snapping cityscapes in her home base of NYC, she speaks all over the world about travel photography and iPhoneography. Basically, if you want the 411 on how to photograph a landscape, dish, or subject, she's your gal, and was kind enough to share a few of her pro tips for taking WOWZA vacation photography! Knowing a lot of people are about to leave for fall getaways or are thinking about a winter escape, I thought today would be the perfect time for some vaca-tography 101 {which I'm definitely using while currently in Maui}. By the way, if you're on instagram, her photos make your eyes pop out cartoon-style they're so good...

1/ Your top three tips for shooting landscape photos? * If it is black and white, make it dynamic and high contrast. Seek to emulate Ansel Adams. You can get away with the whole scene being in focus {shooting at f/11 or even f/22}.

* If you want to capture a place in color, look for a way to give the scene depth, placing some part of your scene that is in the foreground in sharper focus than whatever is in the distance/background. For some reason, depth becomes far more important in color landscape images than in black and white, and is more appealing to the human eye when constructed in this way.

* Include a dynamic sky! The worst thing you can do is have an entirely flat, white sky in a landscape photograph. Fog is different of course, but images with no clouds have nothing to distinguish the sky as an important part of the composition {and usually fall flat}. A stunning sky can set the tone, communicate the weather, give a sense of place---even be the most important part of a photograph.

2/ Snapping people - how do you add depth and interest to the shot? I've studied Steve McCurry's work---think multiple National Geographic covers--- for a long time and I try to learn from the images of his that I really love. He adds a sense of place to his best images, making it more about WHO the person is than what they look like. Also, my best portraits have been of the people that I know at least on some level. Even when I was a full-time wedding photographer, my best portraits were of the clients who I had been able to know as friends. I attributed that to the fact that I was familiar enough to know them and then be able to express the best version of who I knew in a photograph because of that knowledge.

3/ Can you depend on your iPhone {or Smartphone} for wow-factor travel photos? Yes! That being said, not out of the box. You have to take the time to learn a smartphone just like you would a point-n-shoot or dSLR camera. Few people can get the most out of any device right away. A smartphone is a complex tool just like any camera. * To get WOW, you have to work for it and use your tool to its greatest advantage. * A beautiful image is created by the photographer, their skill and their imagination, it's not created by the device---only captured by it. There's a big difference!

4/ You shoot a lot with your iPhone. What are your fave photo apps? Currently, I'm really digging Hipstamatic again, I've discovered a love for VSCO CAM, my old standby Camera+ and I like Instagram for sharing but not as much for its filters. Additionally, I often use: * ProHDR * Filterstorm * Over * Diptic * moreBeaute2 * AutoStitch

5/ Snapping food, your bite-sized tips? * My golden rule is always use natural light. Food looks most appetizing captured this way. A steak lit by dramatic, high-contrast, noir style or candlelight does not usually look super appealing---and that's coming from a steak and potatoes kind of girl! * I like to think of breakfast or lunchtime as the meals that I photograph before eating and dinner is the meal I simply enjoy. * Also, if you're using an iPhone like I do, the Hipstamatic Foodie Snap pack is simply delightful.

6/ Going through hundreds of snaps at the end of a trip, are there any tricks {aside from using your gut} to decide what photos to feature? Think about building a framework for the story you want to tell, whether that's in a blog post, an album or a slideshow for your friends and family. Use a variety of images: detail shots, wide shots, maybe an image of you in the place or portraits of people you were with. A well rounded group of photographs has little repetition and a lot of variety. You shouldn't show, or even always keep, every photograph you take.

[photos by @kirstenalana]

Healthy On The Road :: Go Pedometer

[trip style = any] When she’s not training clients or being trained by her dog Zuzu, Leah writes Healthy On The Road, published the first Wednesday of every month.

At Healthy on the Road we often hail the benefits of walking---easily the most ancient and travel-friendly form of exercise you will ever find.

To the doubters who believe walking shouldn't be considered a valid form of exercise for anyone under the age of 65,  I challenge you to consider the words of my favourite talk show host, Ellen Degeneres: “Let your haters be your motivators" and prove the doubters wrong.

The Walking Secret If the benefits of a daily fitness walk could be packaged in a pill, it would be one of the most popular prescriptions in the world. In order to reap the rewards associated with aerobic exercise, we must walker farther, or faster, or both! Ideally, you should aim to get at least 30 minutes of continuous brisk “late for a flight-speed" walking in per day, aiming to accumulate 10,000 steps.

How To Clock 10,000 Steps In addition to your brisk fitness walk which can take place ANYWHERE, seize any opportunity where there's an option to walk instead of drive {aka avoid the airport's moving sidewalk}.

iPhone Saves The Day I used to pedal high praise for the pedometer, a nifty, pager-style gadget often clipped to a pant pocket or waistband. I now accept that I lost many of you at “pager-style gadget!” Not only does this device look a little more out of place than it would have in the '90s, but for many of us, it’s just one MORE thing to remember as we head out the door. iPhones saves the day; to the developer pedometer app, I thank you.

The Go Pedometer This nifty 99 cent app allows you to track your steps even while the phone is in your pocket, as well as tell you the number of calories you’re burning per hour, plus your average speed, current speed and distance traveled. Simply press the start button, put your iPhone in your pocket and off you go!

More Healthy On The Road The 15 Minute 54321 Workout {you can do anywhere!} Keeping Fit In Hotel Hallways Exercises For The Rhythms Of Life Give The Pool A Chance – A Workout In The Water The 20-min Exercise Itinerary Healthy DIY Plane Snacks Hotel Room Exercises {You can do in your underwear}