Conservatives Travel to D.C. For Annual Trip

Twenty nine conservative students from Ohio University's College Republicans traveled to Washington D.C. this past weekend.

The 2009 Conservative Political Action Conference is what inspired these students to make the 5.5 hour drive to the nation's capital.

The 2009 Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC for short is an annual convention for conservative activists across America. CPAC is held at the Omni Shoreham, a lavish hotel in Washington D.C.

Held since 1973, this conference provides an excellent excuse to travel to Washington D.C. and mingle with fellow conservatives.

Washington D.C. is a lively city and highly enjoyable for both the politically active and historically interested. Teeming with monuments, memorials, and museums, the nation's capital is a fascinating place to travel.

This year's Conservative Political Action Conference received a great turnout from conservative activists across the nation. This conference was able to inspire a great deal of traveling to the nation's capital.

The conference was highly successful as it featured noteworthy speeches from prominent conservatives such as Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Rush Limbaugh, and Ann Coulter.

"There were so many fascinating speakers and their events obviously generated a lot of attendance. Unfortunately, some of the events required waiting in line for over three hours just to get into the conference room," says Suzi Hawk, communications chair for the Ohio University College Republicans.

The popularity of CPAC's keynote speakers certainly hindered some attendees' plans. Even after traveling near and far to get to D.C., some people ended up viewing the speeches on televisions in their hotel rooms.

"Regardless of where we viewed these speeches, they were poignant and hard-hitting. Just the environment of being at CPAC was refreshing and invigorating," says Kristen Bussel, vice president of Ohio University College Republicans.

The Ohio University College Republicans opted to carpool this year to the conference. The journey took approximately 5.5 hours and took the students through the states of Ohio, West Virginia, and Maryland.

Carpool tends to be the preferred mode of transportation but charter buses are also occasionally used.

"This is my third year attending CPAC. This annual trip and conference is something I look forward to all year long. Traveling to Washington D.C. each year is definitely a highlight of my college experience," says Melissa Short, president of Ohio University College Republicans.

The CPAC attendees also travel to Washington D.C. to partake in sightseeing and experiencing what the city has to offer.

"Visiting the National Museum of American History, viewing the Washington Monument, and eating at fabulous restaurants completely complemented the CPAC experience this year," says Tanya Rennicker, secretary for Ohio University College Republicans.

For more information about CPAC, please visit http://www.cpac.org/

getting there

Traveling tends to be an enjoyable experience, particularly once you arrive at your destination. The actual process and journey it takes to get to that end destination can be a bit stressful though. While I am not as well-traveled as others, I certainly have had my fair share of travel/journey experiences.

When it comes to successful travel, it is a good idea to keep certain things in mind. There are certain skills or knowledge that allow for a seamless trip. Obviously being prepared and flexible are necessary qualities of a successful traveler. There are some other tips that I have learned from my travel experiences. While some of these tips may seem obvious, they can be easily forgotten when one is actually in the process of traveling.

For this post, I will be discussing travel by car. These journeys usually take place within a single country. For this I will focus on American travel by car because that is obviously what I am most familiar with. Some things I keep in mind or do when traveling by car are:

1. Have a map, directions, GPS, whatever. Obvious, I know. However, never assume you know where you are going. It also pays to be a smart traveler. Don't go east when you are obviously needing to head west. I actually know some people who have done this on more than one occasion.

2. If you are the driver, sleep before you begin the trip. You will need to be alert. Finalize travel arrangements before the trip takes place. By this, I mean discuss with the passengers about gas money payment, luggage space, parking prices, switching off drivers, etc...

3. If you are the passenger, be considerate of the driver. Do not distract. Pay for your share of the gas money. Also, it is a good idea to bring something to entertain yourself during the drive. An iPod, magazines, books, etc... are always good choices.

4. Plan out stops for the trip so everything can run smoothly.

5. Enjoy the ride!

happy packing!

Photo credit: Arturo Elena

Packing for trips is no easy task. Even if you claim to be a professional, it certainly can cause stress for an impending trip.

I for one have a love/hate relationship with packing. I love it because packing means I am traveling somewhere. Obviously, I enjoy traveling. That goes without mentioning.

I hate it, however, because I tend to pack either too much or little. Often, I will have packers' remorse and regret not bringing certain items. This is when I start shopping and then I am in real trouble...

Anyway, with my Florida trip looming ahead and my traveling to Washington D.C. next week, I have some packing to accomplish.

Of course, I will be packing for two different climates and two different purposes.

The purpose of my trip to Washington D.C. is to attend a conservative conference called CPAC where I will network with prominent politicians, authors, and other important people. This will be my third CPAC trip and I always enjoy it. I will be traveling with my fellow College Republicans via cars and we will be staying at the luxurious Omni Shoreham hotel. While most of the days will be spent at the conference listening to speakers or networking at the job fair, we will also be exploring D.C. in order to visit the monuments and museums.

For this particular trip, the packing can be quite tricky. Business professional is the required dress code for the event so that means I will be packing business suits, dresses, heels, and pearls. Sightseeing, however, will require jeans, comfortable shoes, coats, etc... Of course, we will also be going out which will require fancier tops, nicer jeans, and so on and so forth.

As for my trip to Tampa, that will be for pure fun and relaxation. I will certainly need that after finals and these last few stressful weeks of winter quarter. Laying out, shopping, eating delicious food, and spending time with my aunt and friends will be heaven. We will be flying to Florida and staying with my aunt the majority of the time.

Packing will most likely be more fun and certainly less complex for this particular trip. Swimsuits, sunglasses, sundresses, and sandals will be the required dress code.

Some general packing rules I abide by are as follows:

1. Bring clothes you can wear more than once.
2. Limit shoes to three or four pairs maximum
3. Establish a color theme. Mine is pink and black.

More will follow but for now, happy packing!

a picture is worth a thousand words and i have thirty!

Featured above is a slideshow showcasing some selected pictures from my European travels.

Enjoy!

as if i needed another website obsession...

Art Credit to Amihan of deviantART

Being a travel enthusiast, I enjoy searching for websites that match my fancy. Simply running a Google search for travel sites will return 135 million hits. The important thing is to figure out how to disseminate what is quality and what is not.

There are certainly some lackluster websites in cyberspace. There are also ones that are startingly inaccurate. However, when I find a truly remarkable one, I am ecstatic.

Which brings me to this post, of course. I ran a Google search and discovered some real gems. To be a successful travel website, at least in my personal opinion, there must be a level of interactivity, eye-catching graphics, audience-captivation, and an abundance of information packaged in a unique way.

http://www.virtourist.com/ is a fabulous travel website. This particular site offers lots of information and the usability aspect is great. The main page features a world map. From there, you can choose where you want to go. The site allows for a wide variety of search options. You can search by continent, country, or city. It is essentially a virtual version of a trip around the world. Each location features valuable information, gorgeous photos, and historical recaps that are absolutely intriguing.

Each location has a tour guide who essentially "guides" you to each landmark in a particular city. This is a certainly an interesting feature. Another feature that appealed to the journalist in me is the link that takes you to the best newspapers in each city around the world.

Virtourist features a lot of Google ads but they do not clutter the site's pages, which is certainly a nice aspect. Rather, the ads work almost as additional searches for airlines, hotels, and other travel-related things.

I have a sneaky suspicion that this website will quickly become one of my favorites. Easy to use, absolutely interesting, captivating pictures, and valuable information make for a terrific travel website.

fun in the sun!

Copyright Lesley Scott

With spring break right around the corner, I cannot help but yearn for sun, surf, and sand. I truly loathe winter. Other than Christmas, it is a horrible season. Warm weather and sunshine makes me happy. Another thing that makes me happy is traveling. Of course, that goes without mentioning. However, I enjoy traveling for a multitude of purposes. Sometimes I travel for educational purposes. Other times for mere curiosity. Once a year, I travel to Washington D.C. to network. When I am lucky, I travel for sheer relaxation and pleasure.

I am completely looking forward to my spring break this year. Most years I stay at home and work. This year, however, I will be spending a blissful week in Tampa, Florida. I will be keeping my fingers crossed for gorgeous weather. We will be flying into Orlando initially. That night we will go to Downtown Disney. Yes, I am a college student and I am thrilled to be able to infuse some aspect of Disney into my trip.

The rest of the trip will be spent at my aunt's house in Tampa. With a pool in the backyard and being minutes from the beach, this trip will be the epitome of relaxation.

What is it about vacations to places with warm weather that excite us so? Obviously the temperature is an appealing aspect. But traveling to simply relax and take a break from reality has to be a big part of it. Face it. Traveling to foreign countries and exotic places can be stressful. Enjoyable, certainly, but stressful. There are so many tasks involved in planning one of those trips.

Vacations to locations such as Florida, South Carolina, California, etc... tend to be more simple to plan. Once you have transportation and accomodations arranged, the rest is smooth sailing.

spot a cool blog...

Pictured above is my friend Erin and I in front of the Louvre in Paris. Being a travel enthusiast, I often look back at pictures from my trips. I really need to travel again soon to get some more pictures.

Anyway, what brings me to tonight's post is the discovery of a most interesting blog. I felt like Googling other travel blogs to see what else is out there on the topic. While I have not found many blogs that are similar in content to my blog, there are certainly a lot of travel blogs in cyberspace. A lot tend to read more like brochures you might find at a travel agency, one particular blog caught my eye.

http://travel.spotcoolstuff.com/ is quite interesting. It is certainly not your ordinary blog about travel information. Rather, it features cool and unique travel spots in different locations around the world. The blog also features very specific activities you can do in these locations. Some interesting examples I found in my perusing of the blog are spending the night in a museum in New York, staying in a hotel that is suspended above Paris, traveling through a replica of the human body in the Netherlands, going to a monkey spa in Japan, eating breakfast with a giraffe in Kenya, and many other bizarre things.

Another interesting feature of Spot Cool Stuff is that it lists various links of different categories. So if you are looking for unique restaurants, you can zero in on that particular topic. The blog also features a shopping section so you can book flights and hotels from that web site.

Probably my favorite aspect of Spot Cool Stuff is the pictures and animation the blog provides. A picture really does say a thousand words. And these pictures are gorgeous.

The only qualms I have with the blog are that it primarily focuses on travel within the United States. I personally prefer a greater mix between foreign and domestic travel. Also, the entries tend to be more informative than insightful. It would be nice to have more reviews of the activities and locations.

All in all, Spot Cool Stuff's travel section is an interesting find. Definitely worth visiting again, I would say.