Travel Missteps - Lili on the Loose

15 08, 2016

Travel Missteps: The Fast Felucca

By Lili|August 15th, 2016|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2015, Africa, Aswan, Cairo, Dream of Egypt, Egypt, Egypt Explorer, Felucca, G Adventures, Gadventures, GAP, Middle East, night train, Nile, obelisk, pool, Sailboat, service, unfinished obelisk|0 Comments

After a long night train from Cairo, we finally reached Aswan. To hit the ground running, I immediately took a taxi to the Unfinished Obelisk. Afterwards, I was so tired, and so decided to swim at the hotel pool, which overlooks the Nile. Typical to the "service" standard that was in Egypt, no towel attendants were in sight. Due to the lack of tourists the cafe was shut down. (We ordered lunch with a lone employee who had appeared, but it took over 2 hours for us to finally see them again with that food!) And the pool was missing

1 08, 2016

Travel Missteps: Beware the Peanut Butter!

By Lili|August 1st, 2016|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2007, Hawaii, Maui, North America, Old Friends 2007, Pacific Ocean, Peanut Butter, security, SSSS, TSA, USA|1 Comment

Source Ah Peanut Butter! A tasty snack and critical component for cheap breakfasts and cheap sandwiches. Which is why my mother tends to pack a jar of it along with other cheap foodstuffs when we go on road trips. Always a great way to save money. However, she and my sister found out the hard way that while its a great idea for road trips, its a horrible idea of air travel. In my last year of college, we as a family decided to visit my Dad's best friend. He lived in Maui, Hawaii and so my mother

18 07, 2016

Travel Missteps: Late to the Party

By Lili|July 18th, 2016|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2013, Central America, Chichen-Itza, G Adventures, Gadventures, GAP, Ik Kil Cenote, Latin America, lost in translation, Mayan Encounter 2013, Mexico, Playa Del Carmen, tour group, Valladolid|0 Comments

My last full day of my G Adventures Mayan Encounter Tour was a free day. I had already been to Playa Del Carmen before, and so wanted to see Chichen Itza as I had missed that on my last trip. The problem was, many of my tour-mates had already seen it earlier in their own trips. So I was the only one who wanted to go. No problem! My tour guide arranged for me to join a day trip to see it. And both she and I explained to that tour company that I needed to be back by 5PM

4 07, 2016

Travel Missteps: The 4th of July Parade

By Lili|July 4th, 2016|Categories: Geek, Pop Culture, Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2014, 4th of July, 4th of July Coronado x2, California, Coronado, Independence Day, Movie, North America, Orange Ave, parade, San Diego, The Del, The Del Coronado, USA|0 Comments

In 2014 we were determined to have a perfect view of the Coronado's Independence Day Parade. The year before we woke up too late, and had to stand at a corner, craning to see. So my father had gotten up early, and staked out premo places outside of our hotel so we could see the parade in comfort. We had picked up beach chairs the day before, had a cooler of food, blankets, and ample sunscreen. We were prepared! And it was a perfect spot! We watched as floats and military bands went by. But after about half an hour, we

20 06, 2016

Travel Missteps: Where’s Dad?

By Lili|June 20th, 2016|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: Fort Hays, Kansas, KFC, North America, road trip, trapped, USA|1 Comment

A lot of my family lives in Kansas. It is around an 8 hour drive from Colorado to Kansas, and so I've become a conquerer of the rest/truck stops and restaurants along our route from years of making that road trip. However, one place my father refuses to go back to is the KFC in Fort Hays, KS. To say he had a bad experience is a bit of an understatement. It started out like a normal stop. We were hungry, and there aren't a whole lot of healthy options that are quick, because we've learned who really wants to

6 06, 2016

Travel Missteps: Desperate for Some Ice Cream

By Lili|June 6th, 2016|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2015, Africa, deir el bahri, Dream of Egypt, Egypt, Egypt Explorer, G Adventures, Gadventures, GAP, Hatshepsut, Hatshepsut's Temple, Ice Cream, Luxor, Middle East, UNESCO, UNESCO World Heritage Site|1 Comment

One of my biggest fears of going to Egypt was that it would be horribly hot and I'd get terribly sunburnt. Thankfully, going in late October/early November was a good choice, as while the weather was still warm, it wasn't scorching...except for the one day I was on the West Bank of Luxor touring the tombs at the Valley of the Kings and Hatshepsut's Temple at Deir el-Bahri. That day I was so full of excitement, and had planned as best as I could. Wearing light clothes and hat, with plenty of water and sunscreen, I set out. And it truly

23 05, 2016

Travel Missteps: You hold a lot of stress in your Butt

By Lili|May 23rd, 2016|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2015, beach, butt, Florida, late checkout, Massage, Miami, Miami Beach, Miami Heat, North America, ocean, South Beach, The Redbury, Vinyl, work trip|0 Comments

My Miami work trip, wasn't that great. It was hot, it was stressful, and I had the worst string of bad luck I've ever had. On my two days off it didn't get any better. On the first day, my Uber was stolen. The second day didn't turn out much better. And the bad luck started the night before. I had no plans for my last day. I really hoped to go to a spa...a Canyon Ranch Spa. I had been to one in Las Vegas and it was heaven. After my week in Miami, I needed pampering. But when I called,

9 05, 2016

Travel Missteps: Not the Hogwarts Express

By Lili|May 9th, 2016|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2002, 2012, Backpacking it in England and Scotland, Costa Rica & Orlando Adventure, Edinburgh, England, Family, Florida, Harry Potter, Hogsmeade, Hogwarts Express, Islands of Adventure, Kings Cross, Kings Cross Station, North America, Orlando, Orlando Adventure 2012, Platform 9 3/4, Scotland, Tain, UK, United Kingdom, Universal Studios, USA, Witches, Wizarding World, Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Wizards, York|0 Comments

England had some pretty disappointing train trips. I traveled there in the summer of 2002. I remember being a Senior in high school, and dashing through Kings Cross station late at night, to try to catch a glimpse of the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. Why? Because I wanted to act out and take a photo pretending to gain access to Platform 9 3/4! Imagine my surprise and disappointment to find that platform 9 and 10 are in separate areas! (Now they actually have a photo op elsewhere in the station, but it was dark times for early fans.) So,

25 04, 2016

Travel Missteps: Minutes in Pompeii

By Lili|April 25th, 2016|Categories: Photography, Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2006, All in the family Italy 2005/2006, ancient city, ancient civilization, Europe, history, in a rush, Italy, museum, Photo Essay, Pompeii, ruins, rush, tour, Trafalger, UNESCO, UNESCO World Heritage Site|0 Comments

I love ancient history, and have poured over history books and documentaries since I was a child. So when my family planned a trip to Italy, I knew I HAD to see Pompeii. I had been fascinated with this town ever since I saw a carbonized baked bread in a school book. The fact that life changed so suddenly and this town was erased from history in mere hours was shocking. But unfortunately I found out we'd only have a short amount of time at Pompeii, likely less than 30 minutes. Since I had just completed a semester on Italian Art

11 04, 2016

Travel Missteps: Part of the Family

By Lili|April 11th, 2016|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2002, Backpacking it in England and Scotland, England, Family, Punks, Restaurant, The Shambles, UK, United Kingdom, York, York Minster|1 Comment

As I mentioned perviously, my first trip abroad we didn’t have a watch, and so our eating schedules were off. We’d eat breakfast at noon, and then get hungry for dinner around midnight. On our second trip abroad, this time to England & Scotland we made sure to plan mealtimes better. After spending the day wandering York and taking in sights, like The Shambles and York Minster, we were hungry. So we happened upon a small homey restaurant near dinnertime we stepped in and took a seat. The owners, a cute old couple, were regaling friends with stories and laughter.