TRIPPIN.

My sister and I are fantastic travel partners because we have nothing in common. For example, I am excellent at budgeting and saving and she is terrible at it (ergo, I end up paying for the lion’s share of our expenses). But she is excellent with street smart skills and I have none of those (so she ends up keeping us from being robbed and mugged).

I am also high-strung and she is very mellow, and this works well for us, too. For example, when we drove the Pacific Coast Highway from Portland to Santa Barbara, we agreed unanimously that I am a terrible driver and should not be allowed to steer us along a steep cliff for hundreds of miles.

We have even worked out a system for when one of us is being a dumb*** and annoying the other. Our signal came apropos of nothing and makes no sense, but if one of us reaches over and jam’s the other’s dangly earrings INTO her ears, that means shut up before I kill you.

Of course, our differences mean that we sometimes don’t see eye to eye. I spent weeks planning and researching our upcoming Maine trip. I printed out numerous maps, which I highlighted and made lists on. I created calendars of activity options for every day of our stay, along with pricing per excursion and notes on where to find the best lobster rolls for lunch. Lucy rolled her eyes when she saw all this. Do you know what her ONE salient contribution to the trip was?

“Oooh, I know!!! Let’s buy big floppy hats to wear on the beach!!!!”

Comments like these make me want to do some earring jamming, but then something like this will happen and remind me that the playing field is even…

Elle: Here is a highlighted list of hotels, complete with price-per-night and average user rating.

Lucy: You rented us a hotel with no breakfast last time, don’t do that again.

Elle: (loud sigh). How about this one? They have waffles. Read me my credit card number, it says they only have a couple rooms left.

Lucy: (reads number)

Elle: Man, we’re saving a hundred bucks by using this website I’ve never heard of! Sweet! What’s the CVV number on the back?

Lucy: WAIT. You’ve never heard of the website you’re putting your credit card information into? Do you think perhaps we should find out if it’s legitimate first?

Elle: It came from Expedia, I'm sure it's fine (types website into Google) WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s all over the Internet for being a shady company that steals your money! Who knew!?

Lucy: EVERYONE. LITERALLY EVERYONE KNEW.