Packitupwithanne

10/10/2024

Ciao Tutti! I'm just back from a month in Italy 🇮🇹 with lots of new travel and packing tips 🧳 Join us at an upcoming AAA event near you 🌎 RSVP at AAA.com/Events.

02/08/2024

Sharing a recent article I contributed to from Buy Side from WSJ - a great variety of Passport cases to consider for your next International trip! ✈️

Tip: Be sure to check your passport expiration date. Most countries require 3-6 months validity 🌎

No need to fly by the seat of your pants when it comes to carrying travel documents—these secure, stylish picks will ensure you’ve got it all together.

01/18/2023

And I can’t wait! 🧳
Where in the world is your next vacation? 🌎 ✈️ 🚙

05/14/2022

You rock Rachael Ray!
💛 🇺🇦 💙

05/09/2022

Hi Travelers!
It’s Souvenir Sunday ☀️

Cookbooks are a great souvenir for anyone who loves to cook - the best part is you can make delicious dishes you enjoyed on your travels once you’re back home with family and friends 🏡 🌎

A few years ago I had so much fun in NYC filming travel and packing tips with Rachael Ray on Rachael Ray Show - I’ve never laughed so much on a TV set as I did with her. Rachael autographed a few cookbooks for me to bring home as souvenirs for friends and family and I decided to actually make - yes cook - something. Voila!! photos attached 🌟 I surprised myself how well it turned out - super easy directions and delicious! 😂 💙

Travel tip: Be sure to check out Chelsea Market when you’re in NYC. Lots of great eateries and a foodie paradise.

What type of souvenir do you like to bring home? ⬇️

04/10/2022

Hi Everyone!
It’s Souvenir Sunday☀️

What could be better than finding a double-decker souvenir bank while cleaning out my closet? If it was full of coins and English toffee!! 🇬🇧 💂🏻‍♂️ 🇬🇧

Love this ‘money box’ from a trip to iconic Harrods of London years ago 🇬🇧 💂🏻‍♂️ ☎️

Have you been to London? 🇬🇧Share a favorite memory or souvenir ⬇️

03/21/2022

Hi Everyone!
It’s Souvenir Sunday ☀️
I love postcards - writing them, sending them, receiving them - it’s all part of the fun of traveling for me ✍️ 📫 🧳

So - no surprise one of my favorite things about AmaWaterways river cruises is they provide complimentary post cards AND they pay the postage to mail them for you ⚓️ 🤍 How great is that?!

But wait - there’s more. I just received a thank-you postcard from my recent Dec AmaSiena cruise in the mail yesterday ⭐️ It made my day! I especially love wondering where it’s traveled to since it was mailed three months ago 😉 📫 🌍

Travel tip: AMA Christmas Market cruises sail Nov thru Dec - so pack your Christmas card list/addresses and send everyone on your list Fröhe Weihnachten Merry Christmas postcard wishes from Europe! 🌍

Do you send postcards? Have you ever mailed one to yourself?

Let’s get packing! 🧳

03/02/2022

Hello from the Oregon Coast!☀️

Travel tip: when booking a hotel room - ask a few key questions like which side of the hotel has the better view or less noise. And if you’re a light sleeper - consider packing ear plugs. 🧳

This is the amazing view from my room at Hampton Inn & Suites - Astoria, Oregon The good news here is when my door is closed I don’t hear the sea lions 🦭🦭🦭 and the location is great! 🛳 🍺 🚃

Do you have a favorite hotel from your travels? Where in the world is it? 🌎

02/16/2022

Before your next adventure - be sure to complete - and update - page four of your passport and put a Post-it Note on it with your cell phone number. ☎️

If your passport is misplaced along your travels - it might just catch up to you. ✈️

Let’s get packing! 🧳

02/06/2022

Hi Travelers!

Let’s talk travel books! 📚

I recently spent some quality time at Powell's Books, Inc. in Portland looking for some new travel books 📚 I’d forgotten how much I enjoy wandering through bookshelves of inspiring travel guides and beautiful coffee table books full of photos of far away places 📚 🌎

Here are two new books I discovered:
📕Clanlands -since I’m planning a trip to Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
📕Q&A For the Traveler - a sort of journal/memoir 📓

And - I thought it would be fun to share a travel book - fiction or non-fiction- that you enjoyed or inspired you to travel📕 🌎

I’ll start: I read The Yellow Envelope ✉️ a few years ago - a true story of a couple who traveled around the world🌎 Before they left they were given an unexpected gift: a yellow envelope of money with instructions to give it away to people they encountered on their journey. I found it fascinating…

And - by the way - do you travel with an e-reader/kindle or pack actual books when you travel? I’m still packing books and would love your suggestions ⬇️

Travel Tip: Next time you’re in Portland make Powell’s a destination. Did you know their flagship downtown store is so big they actual provide a map to find your way around?! 🗺 🗺 🗺

01/28/2022

Find your next adventure 🌎 and learn how to pack for it! Join us tomorrow Jan. 29th for Packing for Cruises and Solo Travel Tips⚓️⚓️⚓️ Let’s get planning 🗺 and packing! 🧳 Register below👇🏻

Join us for our Virtual Traveler Showcase starting January 26th! We'll be featuring webinars from our top Cruise partners, such as Princess Cruises, Royal Caribbean, Holland America Line and more. Cruise webinars run January 26th - 29th and tour webinars from February 2nd - February 5th.

Register now & find your next adventure! https://bit.ly/31qNpQj

01/23/2022

Hi Everyone! ☀️

In addition to big adventures I love local trips and this weekend was perfect weather for an Oregon Coast getaway! 🚙 😎

Lincoln City is just a two hour drive from Portland and I’ve always wanted to join in Random Acts of Findness: where glass treasures made by local artisans are hidden on the beach continually through out the year. I didn’t find one this time - but I’ll be back in the future for sure 🍀🤞🏼🍀 They also have special dates where they drop more treasures - including Antique Week coming up Feb 12- Feb 21 - with 100 Japanese Floats! Go to for more info.

As much as I’d like to say I found the Japanese floats in these pictures - they’re actually floats my dad found at sea many years ago ⚓️ 🌊

Travel Tip: Pack a warm coat - even on a sunny day it’s always colder than you expect at the coast! 😎 ☀️

Have you ever been lucky enough to find a glass float, sea glass or something interesting at the beach? Where’s your favorite one day getaway? ⬇️

01/13/2022

So… there’s a contest over on Instagram to take a selfie with a flight attendant and nominate them for recognition. I didn’t have a selfie with my favorite flight attendant John Layton but wanted to nominated him - don’t you just love how creative he was to send me this pix!? 📸

Once you read the heartfelt letter two Army Veterans gave him/his flight crew I think you’ll see why I hope this nomination is one of the winners 🤞🏼 If you’re on Instagram - please like our post ✈️

And- just for fun- here’s a photo of John and I from our Holland America Line days⚓️

01/09/2022

A few more amazing moments - and photos - from my Rhine River Cruise. Memories to last a lifetime!

A huge thank-you to our AmaWaterways Cruise Director Cesario - who went above and beyond to make sure everyone had a great time!!

From the fine dining 🍽 to beautiful staterooms 🛌 to the
excellent tours ashore 🏰 and the outstanding staff 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 this truly was a cruise of a lifetime!

And a big shout-out to AAA Oregon/Idaho for making it all happen! We had such a great time! 🌟

Travel Tip: With travel guidelines changing - sometimes daily - simplify your travel with a trusted name. AAA Travel Agents are a must have tool for travel planning! ✈️ 🚙

Here’s to 2022 and beyond and making many more travel memories!

Where’s one place you’re dreaming of traveling to? 👇🏼

01/02/2022

Hi Everyone! Woo whoo!!
It’s Souvenir Sunday! 🌟

Here are some - ok lots 😊 Christmas Market souvenirs and pictures from my recent Rhine River cruise. I can’t believe it’s been only a few weeks since we were cruising through Holland 🇳🇱 Germany 🇩🇪 France 🇫🇷 and Switzerland 🇨🇭on our amazing AmaWaterways cruise making
memories to last a lifetime! ❤️🎄

Travel Tip: Pictures make great souvenirs - you can frame them 🖼 to remind you of your journeys and they don’t take up any room in your luggage! 🧳

Packing tip: If you’re buying something large - like a cuckoo clock - ship it home to save valuable packing space - and use a credit card that has insurance coverage. Yes - one of our group bought a beautiful Black Forest cuckoo clock - hopefully🤞🏼 we’ll see a photo soon! 🕰 Update: Clock photo posted in comments below 👇🏼

What’s a favorite souvenir of yours? Share a photo or travel memory below ⬇️

01/01/2022

Happy New Years Eve!🎉🍾

I love traditions! Growing up we always rang in the New Year by banging on pots and pans at midnight - hands up if you ever did this! 🙋🏼‍♀️

Flash forward a few years: here’s a photo from a fun NYE on board Fairsea where we celebrated the British 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 New Years tradition of the Wishing Tree: writing wishes on a piece of paper 📝 tying them to the branches 🌲 and the wind blows 💨 them away to make them come true. Note how helpful I am 😉

But possibly my favorite New Years tradition is from Columbia 🇨🇴 where party-goers carry empty suitcases 🧳 around at midnight in hopes of inducing a year full of travel!! ✈️ 🧳 🌍

Wishing you a great year ahead with lots of happiness and travel!

Share a favorite tradition below ⬇️

12/26/2021

Hi Everyone! It’s Souvenir Sunday!

Just home from our European adventure on AmaWaterways having coffee fireside in my new Glühwein mug from the Cologne - aka Köln - Christmas Market. 🇩🇪

I have a collection of mugs from over the years - but I especially like this whimsical one with the angels 😇 that seem to be diving into my coffee. 😊 😇 😂

Travel Tip: On long overseas flights be sure to get up and stretch your legs whenever possible. And while you’re up: check-out the galley for snacks between meals like these fan favorites Biscoff from my recent flights. ✈️ I may - or may not - have made numerous trips through the galley 😉😉😉

A special thank-you to Delta Air Lines pilots, crew, flight attendants and ground crew/staff for all your care and kindness on our flights! ✈️💙✈️

PS: The great thing about souvenirs is they bring back amazing travel memories we might tend to forget with time- just sayin’😉

Do you have a favorite souvenir? Share below ⬇️

12/26/2021

We celebrated many Christmas🎄traditions 💚 on our AmaSiena cruise ⚓️ including carols lead by the crew, tree decorating and even a surprise appearance from a special guest 🎅

One of my favorites: Traditionally children put their shoes 👟 outside their door in hopes St Nicholas would fill them with sweets if they’d been good. So … we were all instructed what night to put out a shoe - or slipper - and apparently everyone onboard was good this year: there was a sea of chocolate up and down the passage-ways 🍫🎅♥️

Travel Tip: Pack a collapsible duffle bag in your suitcase so you have an extra bag for shopping/souvenirs/gifts on the way home. 🧳

Have you ever put your shoes out for St Nicholas? Share a favorite tradition below ⬇️