8 06, 2015

Travel Missteps: The Expensive Scarf

By |June 8th, 2015|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments

My first morning in Italy I was so excited. I had a brand new DSLR Camera and I felt like a Pro photographer. I got up early and went into the piazza near our hotel. There was a local market going just getting ready for their first customers. I wandered through it, taking photos here and there. A festive fish stall My sister found me and we wandered towards the edge and found a woman selling pashmina scarves. It was late December and I realized I had forgotten yet again to bring a scarf for the cold weather.

4 06, 2015

Review: Ripley’s Aquarium in Toronto Canada

By |June 4th, 2015|Categories: Attractions & Sights, Travel, Travel Review|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments

On a cold evening in February, after a long day of work, I found myself wandering the downtown area of Toronto. I had needed to take a break and get some air before coming back and finishing up a project for work. But most everything was closed except for bars & clubs.  So instead I wandered towards the tall glowing spire of the CN Tower. Usually I do a lot of planning for a trip, but this trip was just for work and I had only found out about it a few days earlier. So my knowledge of what to do in

3 06, 2015

Delta’s Overhead Bag Valet: Genius or Idiotic new fee?

By |June 3rd, 2015|Categories: Travel, Travel News|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments

Delta started testing a new program called "Early Valet" this week. The service has airline employees take tagged carry-on bags at the gate and place them in the overhead bins above the passenger's assigned seat. It is being touted as a solution for quicker boarding of passengers as Delta believes their employees should be able to load the bins faster then passengers. Numerous articles cite that the flights with this service are routes that typically ferry a high number of vacationers. The idea being that clueless vacationing families who don't travel often are the source of boarding delays. But I have some hesitations

1 06, 2015

Museum Monday: Mammoths and Mastodons

By |June 1st, 2015|Categories: Museums, Travel|Tags: , , , , , , , , |0 Comments

A few years ago, Denver Museum of Nature and Science had an exhibit called Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age. It wasn't one of the best exhibits I'd seen, but there were some great Mammoth skeletons on display. Museum Monday is an every other week series about museum news, objects, and reviews.

30 05, 2015

Souvenir Saturday: Totoro!

By |May 30th, 2015|Categories: Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments

Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro) is one of my favorite Hayao Miyazaki film. So when I was out shopping in Chino, Japan and saw this delightfully detailed Totoro keychain I had to get him! Totoro! Souvenir Saturday is an every-other week series on the items that represent travel memories.

28 05, 2015

Las Vegas Budget & Cost Analysis

By |May 28th, 2015|Categories: Travel, Travel Budget|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments

Consider this my "Throwback Thursday". I'm slowly moving over posts from my travelpod blog, this is one I did breaking down my costs for a 4 day trip to Las Vegas, NV in April 2011 for a friend's bachelorette party.   Las Vegas at Night Originally I wanted to go to Las Vegas after seeing deals on bookit.com but when we actually were ready to book, they didn't seem to have the best deals. I was lucky in the fact that my friend Heather has arranged travel for government agencies and quickly and easily helped plan a good deal

25 05, 2015

Travel Missteps: Not So Yummy Assumption

By |May 25th, 2015|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments

When I had a quick, last minute trip to Toronto for work I didn't have much time to plan. Especially when I was going during a massive conference week and nearly all hotel rooms were booked.  So I looked up a few touristy activities and timing but nothing else. That likely wasn't the smartest idea. I didn't know that my chosen hotel was in the Financial district of downtown, and that nearly all cheap restaurants and stores closed down over the weekend. I also didn't know my chosen hotel was more like a dorm, and it wasn't recommended to drink

18 05, 2015

Museum Monday: Unicorn Bestiary at DMNS

By |May 18th, 2015|Categories: Museums, Travel|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments

Some believe that Unicorns come from a mis-translation of the Hebrew bible of the animal Re'em. Unicorns in a Medieval Bestiary. Denver Museum of Nature and Science's Mythic Creatures Exhibit is available to see through September 7th. Read my review here. Museum Monday is an every other week series about museum news, objects, and reviews.

16 05, 2015

Souvenir Saturday: Mustache Shot Glass

By |May 16th, 2015|Categories: Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments

I have a wide collection of shot glasses, but most of mine are functional. This is one of my only kitchy shot glass, from The Venetian hotel in Las Vegas. It is in the shape of a Gondolier, the people who guide the small boats in venice. I picked this up after riding the gondola in the hotel. Souvenir Saturday is an every-other week series on the items that represent travel memories.

11 05, 2015

Museum Monday: Choco Museo / Chocolate Museum

By |May 11th, 2015|Categories: Museums, Travel|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments

As an American, we eat so much chocolate, but rarely think of where it comes from or how it is made. That is why I decided to visit the Choco Museo in Antigua, Guatemala. Beyond learning about the history of chocolate and its uses over time I was more fascinated to simply learn about where chocolate comes from! Chocolate is from the cacao tree. This tree is very picky on where it lives, and only grows in certain parts of Central & South America, the Caribbean, West Africa, and a few plantations in Asia. There are also different types of