Lili on the Loose - Lili on the Loose: On Life and Getting Lost

8 07, 2013

Travel Missteps: Go to Hell!

By Lili|July 8th, 2013|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2011, bar, Bavaria, Christmas in Germany 2011, Europe, Germany, hell, history, Medieval, night watchman, Rothenburg, rothenburg ob der tauber, snow, snowing, walking tour|0 Comments

We'll continue our Travel Missteps series in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, one of the best preserved Medieval towns in Germany. While this town is primarily touristy, it was beautiful decorated and thankfully deserted for the holidays when I was there in December 2011. Me posing with the Night Watchman. One of the key attractions is taking a "Night Watchman Tour" ( 7 EUR) to learn this history of the town. We had planned on doing this on the first night we got there, but as what commonly happens, we were too tired and so kept putting this tour off until the

24 06, 2013

Travel Missteps: I’m on Fire!

By Lili|June 24th, 2013|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2004, Asia, Bon Odori, Chino, exchange program, fire, fireworks, hanabi, Japan, Lake Suwa, Nagano, Obon festival, Sister Cities, Sister Cities Japan 2004, spirits, Suwa, train, yukata|0 Comments

Fireworks while camping. As I've written before, in the summer of 2004 I went to Japan through a Sister Cities student exchange. The bulk of the trip was spent with a host family in Chino, Nagano Prefecture. This period in late August is during the Obon festival where Japanese honor the spirits of their ancestors. Its sort of like if you combine the American aspect of Thanksgiving where everyone goes home, Mexican Dia de los Muertos, and every possible firework related holiday. There are many components of the Obon festival. One key piece is the Bon Odori dance, that is danced by

10 06, 2013

Travel Missteps: Black goes with Everything

By Lili|June 10th, 2013|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2002, black, clothing, Eiffel Tower, Europe, first trip abroad 2002, France, monument, monuments, Napoleon's Tomb, outfits, Paris, planning, protest, terrorist, The Wall of Peace, unrest|0 Comments

Napoleon's Tomb on a cold, yet sunny day in February 2002. I've written about my first trip abroad before, but sadly not having a watch wasn't the only thing I got wrong in Paris. The other spectacular travel misstep was my wardrobe for the trip. You see my mother had read up on Paris, and was adamant that Parisians are savy dressers and wouldn' t be caught dead in blue jeans. Instead, all the rage in Paris was sleek black clothing. And so no one in my family was aloud to bring blue jeans, or bright color clothes as we didn't

4 06, 2013

Upcoming Travel Plans: Summer 2013

By Lili|June 4th, 2013|Categories: Travel, Upcoming Travel|Tags: 2013, Capitol, Henderson, itinerary, Las Vegas, Nevada, North America, plan, planning, road trip, upcoming travel, USA, Washington DC, work|0 Comments

I'm the type of person who is always planning my next trip. But after my last few trips in Central America, I've decided to focus a more on the good old USA. And what represents America the best than the capitol! That's right, I'll be going to Washington, DC for a week. I'm really excited as I love museums! I've already got tickets for a tour of the Capitol building and the National Archives. I don't have set plans but just wanting to experience the monuments and maybe some food trucks while I'm there. But as soon as I get back

15 04, 2013

Travel Missteps: Disrupting Go Slow

By Lili|April 15th, 2013|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2013, Belize, Caye Caulker, Central America, G Adventures, Gadventures, GAP, golf cart, hammock, island, Mayan Encounter 2013, Motto, racing, rush, scavenger hunt, slow life, sunset, tour, winner, winning|1 Comment

"Yo Mamma! Go slow. They ain't gonna leave you." I had heard that Belize's islands unofficial motto was "Go Slow". I had been warned that if I rushed I would be told to slow down. But I didn't expect that to be my first greeting in Belize while waiting for my water ferry to Caye Caulker. You see my group had been split up, and our van arrived an hour later than the other half of the group. When we finally made it to the dock I was told the boat was leaving in 2 minutes, so I was running around, going

1 04, 2013

Travel Missteps: The Color Coded Dance Card

By Lili|April 1st, 2013|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2009, at the heart of it Ireland 2009, CIE, color, colored sheep, Europe, Ireland, sheep, tour|0 Comments

An Irish Sheep with colors on its back. Ireland is full of 3 things: Pubs, Churches, and Sheep. In 2009 I visited southern Ireland for a few weeks. One thing I thought was out of the ordinary was the different colors on the sheep. Some markings are to help determine the owner of the sheep, as sometimes sheep from multiple farms are kept on the same land together. But other color markings are during the breeding season. The male sheep, a ram, has a harness installed near his neck that contains an animal friendly dye. When he mounts

18 03, 2013

Travel Missteps: Stuck in Paradise

By Lili|March 18th, 2013|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2010, Caribbean, eruption, paradise, Snowpocalypse, snowstorm, St. John, St. John 2010, stranded, stuck, USVI, volcano, work|0 Comments

View overlooking Trunk Bay, St. John USVI In February 2010 I visited a paradise known as St. John USVI for the first time. Nearly 3/4th of the island is national park land and it is beautiful. I stayed in an eco cottages (pretty much tents in trees with geckos and frogs as roommates) and snorkeled every day. I didn't want to ever leave this paradise. But as with all trips the end seem to come too soon and it was time to go home. A day before I was supposed to fly out, I started hearing rumors that flights into the USVI had been cancelled and no

4 03, 2013

Travel Missteps: What time is it?

By Lili|March 4th, 2013|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2002, Champs de Elysee, Europe, first trip abroad 2002, France, French, language, Paris, planning, time, watch|0 Comments

Time seems to stand still in Paris. You feel the desire to sit and watch as life unfolds around you. My first trip abroad was when I turned 16 and was a week in Paris, France in February 2002. It was a family trip, my mother had found insanely low vacation package that included pretty much everything (air, hotel, river cruise, museum passes, metro passes, etc) for around $700 per person. This was a few months after September 11th, 2001 and the world, including the travel industry was still reeling from the effects and that is why the package was so cheap.

18 02, 2013

Travel Missteps: Lost in Italy

By Lili|February 18th, 2013|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2005, All in the family Italy 2005/2006, Assisi, bus, Christmas, church, churches, Europe, Italy, lost, New Years Eve, police, smart car, taxi, tour, Trafalger, UNESCO, UNESCO World Heritage Site, view point|0 Comments

This is the view I should never have seen, but because I got lost I had a chance to see it. When you are on a strict timeline, getting lost can be a disaster. In late December of 2005 I was on a bus tour of Italy with my family. We were adamant that we were not "Bus Tour" people. We were use to doing things on our own. But we didn't speak any Italian so we decided to utilize a bus tour "but only for the transportation logistics". So we set out to plan down our moves in each "stop" of the tour,

17 02, 2013

Birthday Triceratops!

By Lili|February 17th, 2013|Categories: Dinosaurs|Tags: birthday, dinosaurs, triceratops|0 Comments

Birthday Triceratops by http://prismafox.tumblr.com Two facts you should know about me. Today's my birthday and I love Triceratops! Imagine my delight when I was browsing Draw a Dinosaur Day's submissions and saw this beautiful Triceratops by http://prismafox.tumblr.com/