Travel Thursday - Lili on the Loose

14 01, 2016

Omikuji: Fortune Telling at Japanese Temples & Shrines

By Lili|January 14th, 2016|Categories: Activities, Travel|Tags: 2004, Asakusa, Asakusa Temple, Asia, Buddhist, curse, fate, fortune, fortune telling, good luck, Harajuku, Japan, lottery, Omikuji, sccared lot, Sensō-ji, Shinto, Shrine, Sister Cities Japan 2004, Temple, Tokyo, Travel Thursday|0 Comments

If you find yourself at a Japanese temple or shrine make sure to have your fortune told! Called Omikuji are essentially a sacred lot, where you randomly draw a stick that will tell you your fortune. But beware, these fortunes can foretell a bad fate! After you have paid, you will shake, spin, or rotate a container full of numbered sticks. It is important to make sure you wish for a good fortune at this point! Once you pull the stick out, find the corresponding fortune in the numbered drawers. Then return your stick. Now it is time to read your

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

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

4 11, 2015

This Day in History: First Steps towards Tutankhamun’s Tomb

By Lili|November 4th, 2015|Categories: Currently Traveling, History, Travel|Tags: Africa, Cairo, Egypt, Luxor, Middle East, Tomb, Travel Thursday, Tutankhamun, UNESCO, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Valley of the Kings|0 Comments

Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon at the entrance of the tomb. 1922. “At last [I] have made wonderful discovery in Valley; a magnificent tomb with seals intact; re-covered same for your arrival; congratulations.” Howard Carter's cable to Lord Carnarvon on November 5th, 1922. The day before, on November 4th, Carter's team found the first step of a sunken stairway and then on the 5th they reached the sealed doorway to the tomb. A few weeks later Carter and Carnarvon would open Tutankhamun's tomb and entrance the world with their findings. Today I'm sadly leaving Luxor to head back to

22 10, 2015

Sun Festival at Abu Simbel

By Lili|October 22nd, 2015|Categories: Events, History, Travel|Tags: Abu Simbel, Africa, Amun, Egypt, Middle East, Ptah, Ra, Rameses II, Ramses, Sun Festival, Travel Thursday, UNESCO, UNESCO World Heritage Site|0 Comments

Today is Rameses II birthday! Each year on this day (and February 22nd, the day of his coronation) the morning light pierces into the dark chamber of his temple at Abu Simbel, shining on the statues of Ramses, Ra and Amun. They are 3 out of 4 statues in the central chamber, the last one Ptah the God of Darkness, which remains in the shadows. Source Red more here. I'm excited to be heading to Abu Simbel during my trip to Egypt!

8 10, 2015

Making a Dream Trip to Egypt a Reality

By Lili|October 8th, 2015|Categories: Travel, Travel Planning, Upcoming Travel|Tags: 2006, 2015, Africa, Chicago, Chicago Field Museum, Dream of Egypt, Egypt, Field Museum, Illinois, Indiana Jones, Karnak, Middle East, Travel Thursday, Tutankhamun, Zahi Hawass|0 Comments

I have always dreamt of Egypt ever since I was a little girl. I loved ancient history (and Indiana Jones) and wanted to see the temples and monuments in person. It was fascinated how they complex and old they were. And they were so beautiful from the photos! I would watch the history channel and just eat up anything related to ancient Egypt. Source But it was always this far off exotic place that I hadn't really thought of actually going to. Not until I heard a character in Anne of Green Gables shout this: "I want to travel.

24 09, 2015

Coatimundi

By Lili|September 24th, 2015|Categories: Attractions & Sights, Travel|Tags: Central America, Coatimundi, G Adventures, Gadventures, GAP, Guatemala, Mayan Encounter 2013, Tikal, tour, Travel Thursday, UNESCO World Heritage Site|0 Comments

Source When traveling the jungles of Guatemala & Belize I was on the lookout for local wildlife. But at Tikal, I literally stumbled upon so many! Parrots, Macaws, grey foxes, and then I saw something I had no idea what it was, or how to identify it. I was told it was called a Coatimundi! If you see a group of them, its likely a band of females, as males are solitary. We saw many bands of them, and they were very curious, coming right up to us. They kind of remind me of more active raccoons, who are

10 09, 2015

TSA Chemical Swab Test False Positive

By Lili|September 10th, 2015|Categories: Travel, Travel Tips|Tags: chemical swab, Chemical Swab Test, Colorado, Denver, EDS, ETD, Explosive Detection System, Explosive Trace Detection, false positive, glycerin, Glycerine, Homeland Security, Nitrates, North America, pat down, Secondary Security Screening Selectee, Secondary Security Screening Selection, security, SSSS, Travel Thursday, TSA|0 Comments

I've written before of how I'm on the "random" SSSS list and so get extra security every time I fly. What I forgot to bring up in that discussion was how once I accidentally set off TSA's Chemical Swab Test using Explosive Trace Detection (or Explosive Detection System aka EDS) to find explosive residue on your person or belongings. It was like any other travel day for me. I was getting my usual extra "random" security, and automatically presented my hands to be tested with their chemical swab. But this time it beeped, and the female TSA agent checked the machine. "Sorry,