Travel Talk | Columbus for Lunch

What’s the craziest trip you’ve ever been on? Did you book a last-minute flight to see a friend? Go to a game? Attend a wedding? I’ve taken a few last-minute trips like I’m Julien Solomita + it’s been a whirlwind! I’m sharing three of those with you this week on the blog. The three I’m sharing this week might be tied for the craziest trips I’ve ever taken. I don’t mean that crazy things happened, I just mean my reasoning behind taking these trips have been deemed crazy by my circle, but it’s been so worth it.

(Feel like you’ve already read this paragraph? You might have. I used it as an intro for all three posts. Sorry not sorry!)

I booked a trip to Minnesota that I’ll be talking about tomorrow back at the end of September + with those flights I was only one flight short of maintaining A-List status with Southwest for next year. I’ll be completely honest when I tell you I entertained the idea of flying somewhere like Indianapolis or Grand Rapids + have a quick enough return flight that I wouldn’t even need to leave the airport. Not super exciting, but remember we travel on a budget here at LifebyChellie.

So, while sitting at a bar with my friend on Black Wednesday, I was looking up Southwest’s flight map + realized they fly to Columbus. One of my sweet blogger friends, Olivia of The Lovely Twist, lives in Columbus + we’d missed each other when I made a quick trip out in early July for the Taylor Swift concert, so I thought this might be an ideal time to meet up for lunch. I knew she was traveling around that time for work so on a whim, I messaged her asking if she was free on the 7^th or if she’d already be away on her work trip. She said she was free + asked what was up. I mentioned that I was a flight short for A-List + wondered if she was free for lunch. She laughed (I mean, I would have, too) + said she was free so I went to book my flights. I found flights for $79 each way but luckily before purchasing, I remembered that this is my second to last trip of the year. Having 25 or 26 flights wouldn’t make a difference. So, rather than pay $158 round trip, I decided to only buy a one way going there + book my flight home using points. So, the grand total for airfare on this trip was $84.50.

Mom was kind enough to take me to the airport that morning as I breezed through security, sans carry on, + on to my favorite gate at Midway, gate A4B. I briefly chatted with a woman standing behind me in line before we boarded. I was able to get my preferred seat, seat 2A, buckled in + flew for only 48 minutes to Columbus. The flight wasn’t particularly turbulent, so I was able to enjoy my ginger ale + now that Southwest includes iMessage + WhatsApp texting in their free entertainment package, I was able to update Olivia to let her know that I’d be landing early. I grabbed a quick coffee from Starbucks while I waited for Olivia since I was early, but she arrived quickly + we were off on our quick adventure!

Olivia took us to the Short North neighborhood of Columbus which is adorably nicknamed “the art + soul of Columbus.” We parked + walked to Harvey & Ed’s for lunch. We chatted blog plans, work, fashion + her recent wedding over sandwiches, soup + mimosas. I enjoyed matzo ball soup + a chicken salad sandwich while Olivia munched on stuffed pepper soup + an egg salad sandwich. Did we take photos so you know we ate? Nope. You’ll just have to take my word for it.

After lunch we poked into a couple of cute but very spendy boutiques before settling in at the Pint House for DELICIOUS mules + more girl talk. Did we drink two? Three? I couldn’t tell you. But I can tell you that we enjoyed each other’s company for another two-ish hours before it was time to take me back to the airport. I was on the last flight back to Chicago so missing it simply wasn’t an option. But we couldn’t get back in the car without stopping at a fun mural + grabbing a few photos for #content.

If you ever need to fly through Columbus on a Saturday afternoon, do it! The airport was empty! In the few minutes it took Olivia to get home, I’d already made it through security, made a restroom stop + got in line for another coffee to calm the pre-flight jitters. Southwest got me home 15 minutes early again + the cool thing about flying from Columbus to Chicago is, with the time difference, you land 10 minutes after you take off. But since I landed 15 minutes early, I landed five minutes before I took off. I’ve mastered time travel, guys! But Columbus is such a cute city that I honestly don’t think I’d have ever considered visiting if I didn’t have Taylor Swift tickets or a friend that lives there but from the little bits I’ve seen, it’s such a cute city + I can’t wait to visit again + explore more. Many thanks to Olivia for her sweet hospitality, friendship + enjoying mules as much as I do!

xo.