I made a (half serious) pact to myself some time ago that I’d be on a plane once a month this year. Since July, it seems as though I’ve kept with that pact…which, honestly, is kind of crazy, no?! For the second time this year, I’ll be visiting NYC thanks to my friends at Expedia.ca. I’m super stoked to start working with them – they’ve been my go-to when booking trips, since, well, since I started booking trips. I also signed up for the TD First Class Travel Infinite Card (which is jointly partnered with Expedia) a little over a year ago, and have become the biggest advocate for it. Remember my trip to Miami? My flight there was free, thanks to the points I’ve racked up from that card over the last year or so – it’s honestly amazing. Plus, every time you book travel through Expedia for TD, you get 9 points for every dollar you spend…and thus the reward cycle continues – the more you travel the more points you get to put to travel! Win-win if you ask me. P.s. Realizing how ad-y this sounds and cracking myself up…this is in no way sponsored by TD

So back to the trip – Expedia.ca is sending me to the big apple to check out the Street Dreams Magazine’s Issue 8 launch. I met the guys from Street Dreams through working with Free Agency (You might have seen this video I worked on with them via The Creator Class) and our group of friends just vibe so well together. We all live in different coasts – Toronto, Vancouver, NYC – but when we get the opportunity to get together, we make it work. I booked my travel during Black Friday, and there were some serious deals on Expedia.ca and on the Expedia app as well – not to mention the savings when bundling flight and hotel together. (I saved $225 by going the package route.) If booking separate is your thang – you can find info about Expedia.ca’s other New York hotels here, and find some great flight deals here.

Enough about all this booking talk. If you’re thinking about traveling (to New York, or anywhere for that matter) and you have the funds to do so…my recommendation is to just do it. You will honestly NEVER regret putting your money on a trip. All booked? Great. Now that the important part is done, in comes the next (less fun) part – packing! We all know that what you pack is almost as important as the trip itself, am I right? Here are my travel essentials, by my side any time I step on a plane:

Clockwise from top left:

• passport (duh)
• Rebel’s Refinery lip balm (here)
• Lush liquid liner (here)
• Byredo Parfums Mohave Ghost – my current fav scent, (here)
• my camera
• coconut water (the thirst is real – literally – on planes for me)
• Nars blush in Orgasm, (here)
• Kiehl’s Midnight Recovery Concentrate, (here)
• L’Occitane hand cream (here) and mini shea butter, (here)
• The Body Shop Elderflower cooling eye gel, (here)
• a notebook (cuz’ ya know, you never know when inspiration will hit)
• headphones
• Adidas Stan Smith sneakers, (here)
• Fujifilm Instax Mini 70, (here)
• Phillip Lim sunglasses, (here)
• Cos mini bag, similar (here)

p.s. Follow me on Instagram for freshly updated posts while I’m in NYC! #TBSxExpediaCa