Harry Potter Celebration in Orlando kicks off today. I've always wanted to go, but at least I got to visit Diagon Alley last year for a quick day trip! Although it took me ages to get this photo. Each time the dragon breathed fire I could never get my camera ready in time! Every Friday Lili shares her favorite photography & the stories behind the photos.
Travel After my dream trip in 2015 to Egypt, 2016 felt like a bit of a mild year in comparison. I didn't travel internationally, instead I had 2 quick business trips (Las Vegas and Orlando), a road trip to Santa Fe, and then a proper little vacation to San Francisco over Christmas. I'd never thought I'd... Visit the Winchester Mystery House. We were driving down the coast when my mom remembered she had visited it 50 years ago. I got really excited when I could prove to my parents that it was on the way back to San Francisco and
I'm afraid of heights. While sometimes I will test this fear, one thing I just cannot handle is very fast roller coasters, or ones that make you go upside down. But when visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter I decided I had to see the Triwizard Tournament Dragon Challenge theming for the Dueling Dragon coasters, even if I wasn't going to ride it. On my second day I had early admission so I entered the queue and slowly walked through it, waving others past me. First you'll see the banners for the 4 champions. As you walk you'll see the
England had some pretty disappointing train trips. I traveled there in the summer of 2002. I remember being a Senior in high school, and dashing through Kings Cross station late at night, to try to catch a glimpse of the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. Why? Because I wanted to act out and take a photo pretending to gain access to Platform 9 3/4! Imagine my surprise and disappointment to find that platform 9 and 10 are in separate areas! (Now they actually have a photo op elsewhere in the station, but it was dark times for early fans.) So,
Today is my birthday, and I've hit the "Big 3-0". I wanted to look back at 30 of my favorite travel memories in my life, in no particular order: Fulfilling my dream of going to Egypt, seeing so many amazing tombs and temples Sitting alone in the temples of Abu Simbel and Karnak Climbing into and on top of a pyramid Wandering the Christmas Markets of Munich Seeing the castles of Germany Taking a haunted trolly/walking tour of Boston graveyards. Seeing as many museums as I could in Washington, DC Swimming with sharks in Belize Racing golf-carts on Caye Caulker Making
A few years ago I fulfilled a childhood dream of going to Hogwarts. I had already learned from Pottermore that I was sorted into Ravenclaw. For years I had thought myself Gryffindor but realized my mistake and found my home in the Claws. So I dutifully got myself my House gear when I went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Here I am dressed in my Ravenclaw robes, sweater, and tie for Halloween 2012 I'm your typical Ravenclaw student, I love learning so much I have a Time Turner! Souvenir Saturday is an every-other week series on
Which Card Will You Get? Chocolate Frogs are an iconic snack from the Harry Potter books. They also are a great souvenir from the Wizard World of Harry Potter in Orlando, FL. I was a little worried as I had two issues when purchasing these. Firstly, it was August, and hot, and I worried that the chocolate would melt. The other issue is that you don't know what card you are going to get. At the time there were just 4 cards, one for each founder. The first few boxes I got were for Salazar Slytherin. I
This is a gallery of photos of the Dragon Challenge at Universal Studios Florida.