In exactly 24 hours we’ll be on a flight heading from DC to Boston… then a 12-hour layover (yes, American Airlines screwed us and changed our flights so none to London take off until evening) eating lobster rolls and looking at the birth of our nation… then following the Redcoats path across the pond to London [...]
Entries from July 2009
July 28, 2009
Cool Tools: XE.com, currency converter
If there’s a silver lining in this recession, it comes threefold: the cheaper cost of travel, the abundance of time for unemployed individuals to travel, and the value of the dollar against other currencies.
The last time I was in London (November 2003) the pound was worth $1.75. I ate a ₤9.99 value lunch at TGIF in [...]
July 27, 2009
Getting Lost In: Historic Washington, D.C.!
(Above: my best friend Karen the giant, pushing the Washington Monument on a very typical insanely hot summer day in DC. This photo is from the Silly Pictures Archive of Rin & Karen that we use to blackmail each other from time to time.)
This weekend, Jon, I, and his two cousins went to see Night [...]
July 23, 2009
My Travel Hats adds: Chomping Around Town
(above: an amazing food stall at the market in Florence)
Surprise! It was about time I started in with one of my favorite activities and highlights of traveling: eating. Soon you’ll start to find entries specific to food highlights, ingredients, and all those deliciousness that will make your mouth water from reading my blog. Kind of [...]
July 21, 2009
Cool Tools: Gotobus.com and Busjunction.com
My niece has her own version of “The Wheels on the Bus” that she prefers to sing. For example, the “Ayi (me) on the bus goes ‘Hi Kiddo. Where is everybody? JON!!’” Apparently Ayi (which officially means “aunt on mother’s side” in Chinese, but does get loosely applied to any aunt-like person) leaves enough voice [...]
July 20, 2009
My Travel Hats has a new nephew!
Technically it’s me, and not the blog, who has a new nephew, but that will explain the brief hiatus from last week. I will be back with more entries this week! In the meantime, enjoy the addition to the cast of characters mentioned in My Travel Hats. Soon enough you’ll be hearing about his upcoming [...]
July 14, 2009
Cool Tools: EuroFlights.info for discount European airlines
One of the best highlights of living in Paris was its proximity to so many amazing European destinations that would otherwise cost us 10 days of vacation and $700+ if flying from the U.S. Of course, while the euro continued to ascend against the dollar during my time there, and in my student status, I [...]
July 9, 2009
Now Boarding: Istanbul for $544 from Chicago, RT
Turkish Airlines is offering a ridiculous flight steal: Istanbul (from Chicago) for $544 roundtrip (departing Monday-Thursday).
I will include a “Getting Lost In Istanbul” posting next, but let me just state that my ticket in July 2007, when subprime lenders were still doling out funds to people who shouldn’t have received them, was $1,700 roundtrip on British [...]
July 6, 2009
Now Boarding: Travel taxes up
USA Today reported a nice summary of hotel room and car rental tax increases in a handful of popular tourist states that will hopefully balance their budgets with your out-of-state (or in-state) tax dollars. Yes, that gritty little tax that gets tacked on along with the accidental bottle of water you opened from the mini-bar [...]
July 2, 2009
Now Boarding: More fees on baggage
Talk about figurative baggage: in addition to charging passengers $15 to check-in their luggage, US Airways and United Airlines are charging an ADDITIONAL $5 if you pay to check-in that bag at the ticket counter. To avoid the $5, which you should, sheerly out of principle, you can pay the $15 online ahead of time.
I [...]
