Name a better duo....
"J.E.T life to the next life" - Curren$y
I love to travel, it’s obvious; I have an entire blog (somewhat) dedicated to traveling and if you follow me on any form of social media, you will see I’m never at home. Traveling will never get old to me, but there are always new ways to approach travel. I’m a planner, by nature (blame my Virgo rising). 90% of the trips I’ve taken are trips that I’ve planned, whether it’s just me and one other person or a group of us. I can say I'm good at planning trips too; down to the coordinated flights, nice rooms, lit events, and everything in-between. Of course, I would love for someone to plan a dope trip and I tag along and not have to lift a finger, but that comes few and far between. The idea of having someone plan an entire trip for me sounds good, but if you add the fact that you don’t know where they’re sending you, it sounds stressful lowkey. But you know me, I‘m always down for a good adventure so why not try this? I’m always willing to try some new and interesting shit.
Hence, PackUp+Go, a travel agency that will plan a domestic trip for you but you won't find out where you're going until you get to the airport. A good friend of mine told me about the company and encouraged me to check it out. This is how it works: you choose what type of trip you would like for them to plan (plane/train trip, road trip, or staycation), then you tell them more about your traveling style and trips you’ve taken already or are planning to take by filling out their survey. Lastly, you set your budget for how much you would like to spend on the trip. The trip would have to be at least 4 weeks in advance and price budgets for trips start at $650 per person with the minimum number of nights starting at 2 nights but you can increase either of these options.
If you decide to take a trip with PackUp+Go, the cost of the trip is due upfront, but the great thing is they offer Affirm, so you can make monthly payments on the budget of your trip which eliminates the stress of paying in full for your trip when you book. If you decide to use Affirm, you would need to choose that payment option when you’re checking out. I told my mom about PackUp+Go and she was ready to go right then because she's fun like that. We decided to book for a September trip and we booked it in May, so we filled out the survey, used Affirm to pay for our budget, and we received the confirmation email that specifically says we won’t hear from them again until the week before our trip. We just had to wait, which was the hardest shit ever.
My mom and I talked every day on the phone about the trip. Where do you think they’re going to send us? Do you think we‘re gonna have fun? We even asked our friends what they thought. September seemed so far away, but it came quicker than I expected. The week before the trip, they sent an email with the weather forecast for our surprise destination, along with things to pack and where to be and when. The weather threw me off on where we were going. We were told to be at the airport at 6 am for an 8 am flight. Still excited, I packed early, my bags were by the door, do you hear me?!
At this point, we were counting down the days to our trip. I was telling everybody that I was going somewhere for the holiday and that I would find out at the airport. Everybody had hella questions, and I honestly didn't have any answers. Then, the envelope came in the mail. It arrived earlier than expected but I wasn’t in a rush to open it, surprisingly. I mean, I had to wait a couple of months for this trip so what’s a couple more days to find out where I’m going? I put the envelope in a safe place because we were instructed not to open it until the day of our trip. The envelope had our destination, a list of things to do in our destination, and any vouchers, tickets, or reservations that they booked depending on how much we had left in our budget.
On the day of our trip, I didn’t get much sleep. I had been up since 4 am, hella excited and ready to head to the airport. My mom and I decided to wait until the very last minute to open our envelope. We also received a final email from PackUp+Go that we were to look at AFTER we opened our envelope because it would’ve spoiled the surprise. So, we are at the airport and now is the time to open our envelope. Let’s do this! I excitedly open our envelope and it says our destination is…
I was all off; I definitely didn’t expect that we were going to DC but I was curious to see how this trip was going to be. Our envelope had included a $90 Uber credit, tickets for a show, and 2 dinner reservations that were made for us. They also checked us into our flight so we didn’t have to worry about that. We flew with United, arrived in DC pretty early, and took an Uber to our hotel.
We pulled up to Conrad Washington DC, a dope ass 5-star hotel in downtown DC. My first impression was okaaay, they did they thing with the hotel! We did prioritize luxury accommodations in our survey and I’m glad we did. The staff were super nice and accommodating, and we even got to check in way earlier than the 3 pm check-in time. So far, so good. I loved the marble decor, the huge tub and shower, and the floor-to-ceiling windows in our room. The view looked really nice. I also liked that our room had a cute little couch and an eating area. Our hotel was in the heart of everything; walking distance or a short drive from many of the events that PackUp+Go had planned for us.
The first thing on our agenda was dinner at 7 pm at Ella’s Wood Fired Kitchen, which was reserved in advance by PackUp+Go. All we had to do was show up. This place was listed as Black-owned so I was even more excited to go because I love to experience all the Black shit! The restaurant was within walking distance from our hotel, so we decided to walk and see a bit of the city. The food was great and the atmosphere was even better.
Our first day was pretty long because of us traveling so we headed back to the hotel to chill and get ready for our first full day in DC, which was Saturday.
For Saturday brunch, I did some searching on my own and came across Po Boy Jim, another Black-owned spot that’s known for their New Orleans-themed decor, amazing mimosas, and bomb po' boys. They did not disappoint; the vibe was there with the food, the drinks, AND the playlist. I got the Fried Catfish Po Boy and a watermelon mimosa, which somehow turned into us getting a pitcher of mimosas because it “came out cheaper.” Hey, I’m on vacation, I’m here for it.
From there, we hit up the International Spy Museum, a recommendation of PackUp+Go, and just the type of thing my mom and I love. The museum specialized in the history of spies, showed the origin of spy gadgets, and talked about historical events where secrecy and undercover/spying was necessary. This museum is HUGE, so it was truly an all-day event and it was super dope.
Then, we headed down to the Washington Harbour for our 7 pm dinner reservation for Farmers Fisher Bakers. The Harbour was popping; lots of people enjoying themselves, eating at one of the many restaurants in the area; some people had music playing on their boats, while others waited for the fountain show to start. It was so much to see and do in the Harbour, but we had to eat first.
This restaurant was a bit more upscale, with fancy decor and outdoor seating. I had the Blackened Salmon Jambalaya which was good, but I’ve had better meals. I enjoyed the ambiance much more. We walked the waterfront and enjoyed the nice weather before heading over to DC Improv to see Tony Rock. I’ve always wanted to go to Improv and I think Tony Rock is hilarious so this was perfect for me. The tickets were already paid for by PackUp+Go and they instructed us to just go to will call when we arrive. Easy breezy. We had some pretty close seats and got to laugh all night at Tony Rock. The man was hilarious.
I ended the night seeing a good friend of mine who is from DC at Rocket Bar, which was this cool basement bar with pool tables, cheap drinks, and a jukebox. We went to college together so the turn-up was real. I had a lot of fun catching up with her. Satudary was long but it was super eventful.
Sunday was a chill day for us. PackUp+Go hadn’t booked any more reservations for us, and so we stayed in for the better part of the day, watched good shows, ordered good food, and rested. Later that night we decided to bike ride around the National Mall and ended up at Amigo Mio, before heading back to the room. Sadly, Monday was our last day. We chilled until check-out, then headed to the airport to fly back to the city.
My overall thoughts about this trip and PackUp+Go were that it was a great unexpected experience. Honestly, DC was not on my list of places to travel to, so I was not packed or prepared to travel there, but I think that's the beauty of the experience, we truly didn't know where it would take us. They gave us so many recommendations that it would've been impossible to experience them all on this trip. I liked having more options to choose from than less options. I'm not sure how personalized the recommendation lists are for the people they send to the same cities but I appreciated them including Black-owned restaurants and coffee shops. I liked the feeling of not having to plan things and just being able to show up with ease. I would advise people to go into this experience with no expectations so that they would be able to enjoy the experience much more. Have an open mind! For me, that was the hardest part, and I did not go into this with an open mind. I still had a wonderful trip but having an expectation for where I think they were going to send me kinda defeats the purpose of this experience altogether. It's also important to note that PackUp+Go only guarantees to book your flight, hotel and dinner reservations (which are not paid for in advance). But the bigger your budget, the more extras you will get. So choose your budget wisely.
For someone like me that loves to travel and plan amazing traveling experiences, this was definitely out of my comfort zone but it made this experience feel much more fun and spontaneous. This would also be great option for someone who travels a lot and would like to go somewhere new without all of the hassle. PackUp+Go may take you to a place that you would've never imagined and you may have the time of your life.