travel - Lili on the Loose

5 09, 2015

Souvenir Saturday: Omamori

By Lili|September 5th, 2015|Categories: Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: 2004, Ai, Amelia Earhart, amulet, Anime, Asakusa, Asakusa Temple, Asia, Buddhist, charm, college, deity, en-musubi, evil, exchange program, Final Destination, gakugyō-jōju, good luck, Harajuku, Japan, kōtsū-anzen, Love, Love Charm, luck, manga, Meiji Jingu, Meiji Shrine, Movie, Nagano, omamori, prayer, protect, protection, Rei Hino, Sailor Mars, Sailor Moon, Sensō-ji, Shinto, Shrine, Sister Cities, Sister Cities Japan 2004, studying, Suwa, Suwa Grand Shrine, Suwa Shrine, Suwa Taisha, talisman, Temple, Tokyo, travel, TV Show|0 Comments

In Sailor Moon, one of the main characters Rei Hino (Sailor Mars), is a Shrine Maiden, and in some of the episodes she sells amulets. I remember watching this episode when I was young and I was very excited to go to Japan and purchase one of these charms! The Hikawa Shrine in Sailor Moon Called Omamori, these talismans are sold at Shinto and Buddhist shrines and temples and provide different protection or luck. They contain a prayer written on paper or wood and are contained within a cloth bag. The shrine or temple sell these in return

5 01, 2015

Travel Missteps: La Befana

By Lili|January 5th, 2015|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: 2006, All in the family Italy 2005/2006, Christ Child, Christmas, cookies, Epiphany, Europe, guide, Hag, Halloween, Italy, Jesus, La Befana, milk, Piazza Navona, Rome, Santa Claus, Three Kings, Three Wise Man, tour, tour group, Trafalger, travel, UNESCO, UNESCO World Heritage Site, wine, Witch|0 Comments

Walking through Piazza Navona in Rome, Italy I hear the unmistakable cackling laugh of a witch! I turned towards a nearby stall and spy hundreds of flying witches hanging from the roof. Big ones, small ones. Some like an old woman, while others looked like a creepy old hag warts and all! Some even were animatronic whose eyes glowed red (and made the cackling laughter that caught my ear.) But surely this must be a mistake? For its not Halloween time, but after so soon after Christmas! I was confused but had no one to ask about this strange sight,

5 04, 2014

Souvenir Saturday: Shot Glasses

By Lili|April 5th, 2014|Categories: Buying Guide, History, Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: buying, ceramic, collectable, collection, glass, history, jigger, legends, measurement, memento, memories, New York Times, pour, shopping, shot, shot glass, shot glasses, souvenir, standard, travel, whisky glass|0 Comments

A Brief Un-History of the Shot Glass Shot Glasses have become a common souvenir staple the world round. It surprised me to learn that there really isn’t any idea on who first created the shot glass and what their initial purpose was for. There are actually so many stories and legends on why they were created and how they got their name, ranging from the plausible to outright legends. What can be said is that in 1940’s the first use of the term “Shot Glass” was printed in the New York Times in reference to a standard measurement of alcohol.

8 03, 2014

Souvenir Saturday: Its Smaller on the Outside

By Lili|March 8th, 2014|Categories: Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: 2009, at the heart of it Ireland 2009, castle, CIE, Coat of Arms, coins, collectable, collection, contrade, contrade of Siena, Doctor Who, Dublin, euro, Europe, exchange money, flag, group, Ireland, large, memento, memories, shopping, Siena, souvenir, tour, tour group, travel|0 Comments

I was on my last afternoon in Ireland, and had a lot of euro coins left over. Knowing that my bank won't exchange coins, was buying random souvenirs as gifts. One of the last items I bought was a small county flag of Dublin, Ireland. I had seen them around while traveling and they reminded me of the flags of the different contrade of Siena. But when I returned home and open the package, I found that this 7 euro flag, was not a small flag. But it was actually the size of a traditional flag (about the size of a

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

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

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