February, 2014 - Lili on the Loose

22 02, 2014

Souvenir Saturday: Volcano Snow Globe

By Lili|February 22nd, 2014|Categories: Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: 2012, Arenal, Arenal Volcano, Central America, collectable, collection, Costa Rica, Costa Rica Adventure 2012, G Adventures, Gadventures, GAP, glass, group, La Fortuna, memento, memories, rain, San Jose, shopping, snow done, snow globe, snow globes, souvenir, tour, tour group, travel, unique, volcano|2 Comments

My latest snow globe souvenir is a unique find. While on my last full day in Costa Rica, my group asked our tour leader Randy where the best place to buy souvenirs was. He knew that we would be getting into San Jose really late and since most of us had an early flight the next day would not be able to get anything. So on the way back Randy had the van stop at a large and fancy store. He said it was usually frequented by the all-inclusive hotels and so would have the best selection of souvenirs, however

17 02, 2014

Travel Missteps: Lost in Translation

By Lili|February 17th, 2014|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2002, birthday, call, change, door, euro, Europe, fear, first trip abroad 2002, France, French, knocking, lost in translation, money, paranoid, Paris, phone, pizza, translation|0 Comments

Watching painters in Paris made me want to join them. Today is my birthday! And 12 years ago, I was spending my 16th birthday in Paris, France. After a long day of exploring the city and visiting museums we were just too tired to head out again. And so we decided to put my high school French to the test, to order pizza by phone. I thought I was pretty well prepared, but when I called I first asked if anyone there spoke English...just in case I could make it easier. They asked me to repeat the question,

8 02, 2014

Souvenir Saturday: My First Snow Globe

By Lili|February 8th, 2014|Categories: Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: 1st, 2006, All in the family Italy 2005/2006, collectable, collection, Europe, glass, group, Italy, Mask, memento, memories, New Year's Day, Piazza San Marco, rain, Rialto Bridge, snow dome, snow globe, snow globes, souvenir, tour, tour group, Trafalger, travel, vaporetto, Venetian Mask, Venice|0 Comments

As I often travel during the colder, wetter, and snowier months, snow globes make a great souvenir for me to capture the memory of my travel experiences. It was New Year’s Day 2006 and I was standing under the awning of a small little shop right on the edge of Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy. I was with my mother and we were waiting for my father and little sister to return so we could board the vaporetto back to our hotel. It was alternating between rain and snow that day, and so we ducked into the shop to

3 02, 2014

Travel Missteps: Round and Round We Go

By Lili|February 3rd, 2014|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2002, Backpacking it in England and Scotland, Bath, bed and breakfest, bus, druid tree, England, Europe, hop on and off bus, ley line, London, roman, roman baths, royal crescent, travel, UK, UNESCO, UNESCO World Heritage Site, United Kingdom|0 Comments

In 2002, my family and I went on our second overseas trip. This time backpacking it through England and Scotland. We had utilized the hop on and off again buses frequently throughout our trip. In London it helped to orientate us, and we learned a lot of the history. When we arrived early to Bath our bed and breakfast wouldn't let us in yet. So with all of our luggage we bought a day’s ticket for the hop on and off again bus. It was the slow season, so no one else was aboard, so we put our luggage on

1 02, 2014

January Travel Blog Roundup

By Lili|February 1st, 2014|Categories: Blog Recaps and Roundups|Tags: around the internet, diving, food, geometric, mistake, momento, TSA|0 Comments

In my years of researching travel I’ve stumbled upon some great blogs to read. Here are some of my favorite posts from January! Travel Missteps Stories Nomadic Matt: How to Cope with Travel Mistakes (Because I Can’t Stop Making Them) I enjoy hearing about the mistakes that other travelers make, as they can be good learning experiences for others. Nomadic Matt is one of my favorite bloggers with lots of advice, and it is good to know that the “Pro” travel bloggers out there still run into the same issues that the rest of us have. Twenty-Something Travel: The Horrors