Travel - Lili on the Loose

3 03, 2014

Travel Missteps: Celebrity Interruption

By Lili|March 3rd, 2014|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2012, celebrity, coffee, crowds, North America, North Pacific Coast 2012, Pike Place Market, Seattle, The Campaign, USA, Washington, Will Ferrell, work, Zach Galifianakis|0 Comments

Sometimes your travel plans are foiled by crowds. And sometimes your travel plans are foiled by…Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis. On a nice July day in 2012 I was in Seattle for a business trip. After my coworker and I settled into our hotel we decided to do a little site-seeing while we got lunch before our first meeting. We headed down to Pike Place Market. After we had lunch, we noticed there were a lot of people…and more people streaming in. It became hard to shop and move about the market, and the sellers at first had no idea

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

28 01, 2014

Sleeping in Airports

By Lili|January 28th, 2014|Categories: Travel, Travel Tips|Tags: aiports, Atlanta, Charlotte, Denver, Kansas City, nap, noise, North America, sleep, sleeping, travel, Travel Thursday|0 Comments

Airports would definitely not be on my recommended list of a “good place to sleep” but sometimes necessity requires it. And I certainly have slept in my share of airports (or at least tried to catch a few winks). Thankfully none of these were caused by delays, but usually due to awkward layovers between flights. It just doesn’t make sense to leave the airport during a short 6 hour layover to try to find a hotel for just a few short hours of rest. So here are some of my experiences while sleeping in airports: Denver, CO: I’ve arrived too

25 01, 2014

Souvenir Saturday: A Buying Guide for Snow Globes

By Lili|January 25th, 2014|Categories: Buying Guide, Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: buying, buying guide, collectable, collection, glass, glitter, guide, memento, memories, plastic, snow, snow dome, snow globe, snow globes, souvenir, travel|0 Comments

Last time we talked about the history of snow globes. Today I wanted to share some things to keep in mind when purchasing a snow globe as a souvenir: Glass or Plastic: This is really a personal preference but I find most of the plastic snow globes to appear very tacky, so I prefer glass snow globes. However, glass does pose the challenge of transporting a fragile object during the trip, as well as the flight home. It is a good idea is to ask if the merchant has the original packaging or has a way to wrap up the

20 01, 2014

Travel Missteps: In the Dark of the Night

By Lili|January 20th, 2014|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2013, airport, Belize, Caye Caulker, Central America, dark, driving, finish line, G Adventures, Gadventures, GAP, golf cart, group, island, lost, Mayan Encounter 2013, ocean, race, racing, runway, tour, tour group|0 Comments

"Now stay here, turn off your engines, and be quite! I'm going to see if the coast is clear." "Can we get arrested for this?" "No, not likely. This isn't the states. Possibly a bribe, that's all." We waited quietly in the dark while we watched one of the golf carts slowly make its way onto the unlit runway. Its little front lights getting dimmer as it blended into the darkness. Minutes went by but it seemed like an eternity to my excited and frightened mind. Then the golf cart came back. Our guide motioned for us to come over

14 01, 2014

What is this SSSS on my boarding pass?

By Lili|January 14th, 2014|Categories: Travel, Travel Tips|Tags: airport, boarding pass, check in, chemical swab, full body scan, Homeland Security, pat down, redress number, Secondary Security Screening Selectee, Secondary Security Screening Selection, security, SSSS, travel, Travel Thursday, TSA|3 Comments

The dreaded SSSS, something no traveler ever wants to see on their boarding pass. Don’t know what it is? Consider yourself lucky. But for the curious it would appear in the corner of your boarding pass and it means “Secondary Security Screening Selectee” or “Secondary Security Screening Selection.” It means either you are “randomly” selected or are on the permanent Automatic Selectee list and will be subjected to extra security. This can include thorough bag searches, full body scans, pat downs, and chemical analysis tests, which can then lead to additional “back room” screening if the TSA agent feels it

11 01, 2014

Souvenir Saturday: A Brief History on Snow Globes

By Lili|January 11th, 2014|Categories: History, Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: America, Austria, Britain, collectible, Europe, France, history, invention, lightbulb, memories, momento, snow, snow dome, snow globe, snow globes, souvenir, travel, Vienna, water globe|0 Comments

The origins of the snow globe is unknown, however there are records of these items dating back to the mid to late 1800’s in France. It is assumed that snow globes were initially created to replace the glass paperweight. Early snow globes showed miniature Christmas or religious scenes. One of the first “travel” souvenir scenes was that of the Eiffel Tower to commemorate the International Exposition in Paris and the 100 year anniversary of the French Revolution in 1889. Snow Globes became a popular collectable during the Victorian era in England. Erwin Perzy I While a few companies