It had been one of the slowest Fridays at work of my life and I could feel the weekend creeping closer minute by minute. I tried not to look at the clock once more, but immediately failed by glancing to the wall and yet disappointing myself again. I was eager to start my long weekend (I was taking the following Monday and Tuesday off for a well needed break) but honestly didn’t know how I would spend it. I tried to distract myself from the snail-like minute hand on the clock by writing out a list of stuff I could do on my next four days off, but it didn’t take long for me to realize I had only written the words “Netflix” and wine. It was becoming clear that this vacation was probably going to end up like a lot of my vacations in the past. And then, all of a sudden I received a text from my friend that would flip my whole weekend around. The message simply read “Wisconsin tomorrow?” I replied with “Yes."

What follows is a survivor's guide (with fun images) that I created after my friend and I dropped everything and headed up to America’s Dairyland for the weekend. We might have witnessed deer crossing the interstate and gotten lost a couple times along the way, but we learned that getting there is half the fun.

1. Do not get your hopes up and expect to see cheese everywhere you look. I did this and was very very disappointed.

2. Be prepared to hear the cutest accents in the whole country.

3. Try not to get too suspicious when all the people you and your friend meet are super nice and friendly and want to start conversations with you.

4. You’ll get used to reading the word “Liquor," because it is literally on every single sign, storefront and banner.

5. You’ll also get used to reading “Subway” – they really like their Subways up in Wisconsin.

6. Bring flashlights and extra underwear because it gets really dark really fast especially when you’re driving and hiking through the forests.

7. Try not to show fear and/or too much excitement when the bartender tells you and your friend that there's been five bear sightings in the past month.

8. Do anything you can to find a Wisconsin steak and don’t stop eating until it’s gone.

9. If you get lost don’t worry, you’ll eventually find a lake or some woods to explore.

10. And when you finally get there make sure to snap a picture and take it all in, knowing that having no plans at all really was the best way to go.