Disclosure: Club Carlson compensated me and provided for my travel and accommodations in exchange for writing about my travels with them. Regardless, everything I have said in the post reflects my honest observations and opinions.

Forty-Eight it’s an important number for me for the next 3 weeks. I have some exciting news and it all has to do with the number 48. Actually, it has to do with a lot of numbers.

Three Weeks, Seven Cities

For the next 3 weeks, I’ll be a part of the Club Carlson Global Travelers Program. Carlson has been in the travel industry for years  – I’m sure you know them from their hotel chains among other things (Radisson Blu, Radisson®, Park Plaza®, Park Inn by Radisson, and Country Inn & Suites By Carlson℠ ). They also run a really cool points program,
Club Carlson℠, for frequent travelers to earn points for staying at the hotels and redeem them a zillion different ways including hotel stays, airline miles, PayPal deposits, and charitable donations. That’s where I come in – I’m going to introduce you to some really cool places you can travel to on Club Carlson Points in North America.  Plus, you’ll be hearing more about Club Carlson points in the near future as I have some exciting news regarding Club Carlson℠ that actually affects my readers.

Club Carlson℠ is sending 3 bloggers across 3 continents to see just how far they can travel on Gold Points. I’m the blogger for the Americas traveling to 7 cities in North /Central America in 3 weeks experiencing a variety of hotels.  You’ll also meet and follow the other two bloggers – Nora from Professional Hobo is covering Europe, and James from Nomadic Notes is covering Asia. I love the fact that we have all been nomadic writers for many years – and I’ve recently met them both in person – you’ll love them!

Numerous New Challenges To Take On

Talk about fast travel – this is quite different than my normal mode of travel – but I love to mix things up else life gets pretty boring – even if you travel for a living like I do. Previously, I never really traveled much for work, which is one of the reasons why I actually left my job. I wanted to travel more (duh) and was willing to do business travel since I had no family to anchor me.  But somehow I always ended up in jobs that that required little or no travel while my peers (who hated traveling) were flying to Asia and other parts of the world. So this is my chance to see what rapid business travel is like! I’m really wishing now that I would have gotten a TSA Pre-check – as security lines and airports are going to be a frequent part of this trip!

And my biggest challenge is learning how to be a carry-on traveler. As a slow nomadic traveler, I check my luggage, but as #GlobalTravelerSherry I will need to travel lighter and quicker which means carry-on. Not an easy thing to do for 3 weeks with climates ranging from Vancouver to Aruba and of course all of my electronics needed for blogging – but I’m up for the challenge!

The Seven Cities

I have a really cool cross-section of cities I’m headed to – some new to me and some I’m quite familiar with. In fact, I even lived in one of them before! Here’s where I’ll be headed – and if you live in the area be sure to give me a shout – I could use some good local advice and friends! In addition, I’m really excited to check out the hotels as many of the brands I’ve never even stayed in before.

Vancouver Canada – Park Inn by Radisson Hotel and Suites on Broadway

Twin Cities Minnesota  – Radisson Blu Mall of America

Chicago – Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel

New Orleans – Country Inn & Suites By Carlson, French Quarter

Savannah Georgia – Country Inn & Suites By Carlson, Savannah Historical District

Orlando – Radisson Hotel Orlando – Lake Buena Vista

Aruba – Radisson Aruba Resort, Casino & Spa

Just What Can You Do In 48 Hours?

Back to the number 48. I’ll basically have 48 hours in each city plus some travel days.  In Ottsworld Unique Travel Experience form, my goal is to see what interesting, unique things I can find to do in each city in 48 hours. This will be tips for people on weekend vacations, and business travelers who want to get more out of their business travel. Even if you are in a city for a short time – that doesn’t mean you can’t explore and find local and unique experiences.

I have done a little research on each city and planned one or two things that I will do and some restaurant choices, however, I plan on putting the hotels to the test for this challenge too. I will utilize the hotel staff to provide me with unique tips on what to do or where to eat in their city and I will do one of them while I’m there. I absolutely love it when people are passionate and excited about sharing their city, and the hotel staff presumably live there – so I might as well see what they recommend.  And as usual, I’m not going to be looking for the typical tourist things – I want something different!

And you won’t have to wait long to get the tips – within 48 hours of leaving a city – I will be posting an article about what I did and photos. This is as close as I get to real-time blogging – something I haven’t done in a while but am excited about! Of course in addition I’ll be doing live updates on Twitter and Facebook too under #GlobalTravlerSherry.

Stay tuned – the adventure starts on Wednesday as I fly off to Vancouver!