2015 - Lili on the Loose

31 12, 2015

2015: The Year of Exploration

By Lili|December 31st, 2015|Categories: Year in Review|Tags: 2015, 2016, Africa, blogging, Canada, Egypt, Florida, Ingress, Miami, Middle East, North America, Toronto, travel blog, Travel Thursday, travel writing, USA, year in review|0 Comments

This has been an amazing year more focused on travel! I had two very opposite business trips. The first, in the dead of winter, was to Toronto, Canada. I had just a little time to explore and so visited an aquarium & museum before a nasty snowstorm hit. The second work trip was to sunny Miami, FL in the heat of summer. This trip I had tons of bad luck and ended up just having a short time at the beach. And throughout this year I was busy preparing for my dream vacation to Egypt! Thankfully everything went smoothly and

17 12, 2015

The Martian and Me

By Lili|December 17th, 2015|Categories: Books, Pop Culture, Travel, Travel Memories|Tags: 2015, Africa, airplane, Andy Weir, Aswan, Book, Cruise, desert, Dream of Egypt, Egypt, Egypt Explorer, G Adventures, Gadventures, GAP, kindle, Luxor, Mark Watney, Mars, matt damon, Middle East, Movie, Photo Essay, Reading, Red Desert, Saqqara, The Martian, Travel Thursday, UNESCO World Heritage Site|2 Comments

Source “Mars is a barren wasteland and I am completely alone here. I already knew that, of course. But there’s a difference between knowing it and really experiencing it.” -Mark Watney in The Martian by Andy Weir Egyptian Desert as seen from a Nile cruise. I remember the days before I had my Kindle. Stacks of books taking up space in my bags. I could easily go through 5-7 books per trip. And god help me if I had only brought a few in a series...and it finished on a cliffhanger! I remember many frustrating trips

7 12, 2015

Travel Missteps: Terror on the High Seas

By Lili|December 7th, 2015|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2015, Africa, Cairo, Camel, Camels, Dream of Egypt, Dream Trip to Egypt, Egypt, Egypt Explorer, fear, fear of heights, G Adventures, Gadventures, GAP, Giza, Middle East, UNESCO, UNESCO World Heritage Site|1 Comment

They call camels the "Ships of the Desert" as they are the most resilient and efficient form of travel. I actually hadn't planned on riding a camel. I had been warned, "They spit! They bite!" And other travel bloggers noted that the gate of a camel is awkward and will make you walk funny for days after. But I got caught up in the mystique of the pyramids, and so happily joined my friend on a camel trek in the desert around the Great Pyramids of Giza. Plus it cost so little! Just 120 EGP (plus 10 EGP tip at

3 12, 2015

Egypt: Planes, Trains, Automobiles, Ships, & Submarines

By Lili|December 3rd, 2015|Categories: Travel, Travel Review|Tags: 2015, Africa, Dream of Egypt, Egypt, Egypt Explorer, Egyptian Sidekick, G Adventures, Gadventures, GAP, Memphis Tours, Middle East, Photo Essay, transportation|1 Comment

I thought it would be fun to count all the ways I traveled on my 2.5 week trip to Egypt! Planes: 8 Trains: 3 Taxis: 8 Vans: 17 Shuttles: 3 Private Cars: 4 Trams: 5 Boats: 4 Ships: 1 Submarines: 0 (sadly didn't get to go on this one, as I had to cancel my day trip to Sharm) Horse Carriages: 4 Camels: 1 And a whole lot of walking, one time swimming, a handful of elevators, and a few people movers.

19 11, 2015

Egypt Trip Cost & Budget Analysis

By Lili|November 19th, 2015|Categories: Travel, Travel Budget|Tags: 2015, Accommodation, activities, Africa, airfare, analysis, baksheesh, breakdown, budget, Cairo, cost, Denver, Dream of Egypt, Egypt, Egypt Explorer, Egyptian Sidekick, Europe, food, Frankfurt, G Adventures, Gadventures, GAP, Germany, hotel, Lufthansa, meals, Middle East, Munich, North America, optional activities, shopping, spending, Super Shuttle, taxi, tour, travel insurance, Travel Insured International, USA, Visa|0 Comments

This is my budget breakdown of my trip to Egypt (with a layover in Frankfurt, Germany). I knew going into this trip that it was going to be on the expensive side. I had budgeted $6262.41 in expenses for this trip. Here is how I actually spent that budget: Airfare: $972.26 I had watched airfare obsessively for about 2 months before I saw the airfare drop significantly through Lufthansa. I was able to get a 1 stop through Frankfurt on the way to Egypt, including a 12 hour layover in Frankfurt. And then on the way home I'd have 2 quick stops in

9 11, 2015

Travel Missteps: Grand Theft Uber

By Lili|November 9th, 2015|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2015, Florida, Miami, Miami Heat, North America, Uber, work trip|0 Comments

I did what I've never done before. Not plan. And apparently not planning for me is doomed to failure. I had 2 days off in Miami after a work trip. I really wanted to go out on a boat, visit sandbars, and snorkel. Unfortunately the only boating companies that did that either were booked...or didn't allow single tourists. (The 2nd time Viator has let me down in that regard.) So with my dreams dashed, I ended up not planning anything. This ended up being slightly in my favor, as the weekend before this trip, I decided to go shopping for

6 11, 2015

Egypt Books, Movies, & Documentaries

By Lili|November 6th, 2015|Categories: Resources, Travel, Travel Planning|Tags: 2015, Africa, Agatha Christie, books, documentaries, Dream of Egypt, Egypt, Elizabeth Peters, lloyd alexander, Middle East, movies, travel guides, Travel Thursday|0 Comments

Yesterday I discussed the many online resources to help plan a trip to Egypt. Another important part of my planning process is reading books and watching shows on the place I'm traveling to. Here are some of the other resources I used in planning a trip to Egypt. Books Travel Guides: I actually had started planning a trip to Egypt back in 2009. So many of by guidebooks I have are older. I actually found the older guidebooks (pre 2011) to be more detailed and many more options. After 2011, when tourism dropped it seemed the guidebook publishers pulled funding and effort

5 11, 2015

Egypt Travel Blogs & Online Trip Resources

By Lili|November 5th, 2015|Categories: Blog Recaps and Roundups, Resources, Travel, Travel Planning|Tags: 2015, Africa, Blog, Dream of Egypt, Egypt, Egypt Bloggers, Egypt Blogs, Egypt Holiday Blogs, Egypt Travel Blogs, Egypt Trip Blogs, Egypt Vacation Blogs, Middle East, Reddit, Social, Social Communities, SubReddits, Travel Bloggers, Travel Blogs, Travel Communities, travel guides, Travel Thursday, trip resources|0 Comments

When traveling I love to research about the place I'll be going to. I usually will get a few travel guides, but I'll also read many blogs from other fellow travelers. I was sad to learn that Google's "Blog Search" functionality was discontinued, which made searching for the rare blog on Egypt so much harder to find. So to help future travelers here are some of the many blogs and other online resources I used in preparation for my trip to Egypt. Egypt Blogs Blogs with multiple posts about Egypt Lili On The Loose LandLopers Young Adventuress Oneika The Traveller

31 10, 2015

Happy Halloween!

By Lili|October 31st, 2015|Categories: Currently Traveling, Geek, Pop Culture, Travel|Tags: 2015, Africa, Archeologist, cosplay, costume, Egypt, Geek, Indiana Jones, Middle East, Movie, Mummy, Raiders of the Lost Ark|0 Comments

Happy Halloween! When I was little, I wanted to be an Archeologist. This probably stemmed from watching Indiana Jones movies over and over again. So last year I created my own Raider's version of Indiana Jones complete with the Headpiece to the Staff of Ra. I thought it was a pretty awesome costume. But we had a work Halloween party where their kids were invited: Kid 1: Are you a cowgirl? Me: No I'm Indiana Jones. Both Kids *Blank Stare* Kid 2: What is India Jones? Me: ....a Archeologist. Both Kids *Blank Stare* Me: ... I dig up

21 10, 2015

Back To the Future Day!

By Lili|October 21st, 2015|Categories: Geek, Pop Culture|Tags: 2015, Back to the Future, BTTF, BTTF 2, Egypt, Geek, Movie, Time Travel|0 Comments

Today's the day! Its Back to the Future Day! On this date, Marty McFly and Doc Brown came to the future to change it, and in the process fucked things up. How do we know? Because we were set back in our technological timeline! We were supposed to have flying cars, hover-boards, Mr. Fusion...and much much more. Then again, maybe Marty & Doc saved us from the fate of horrible fashion faux pas. Ah who am I kidding. That looks pretty bad ass. (C) Universal Pictures For more reading, see what experts are saying on what was Right