guardian.co.uk
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 where the invading British first came from. We’re staying at my friend Dave’s flat (because they are “flats” and not “apartments” there) in Notting Hill. Apparently that travel bookshop that Hugh Grant owns in the movie “Notting Hill” (see photo) is not a front and is really a travel bookstore, which first peaked my interest while I was watching the movie, and it’s located right around the corner from Dave, so I’ll be heading there too (and not because Hugh Grant was there). Dave is an old Boston friend, actually from Habitat for Humanity we did together in Paraguay, but then I moved two blocks from him in Boston.
Then after running through London for a few days, we’ll be on a flight to Stockholm, then another to Visby on the island of Gotland to participate in Medieval Week), then a ferry back to Stockholm to catch the morning fast train to Gothenburg for Josie’s and Steve’s wedding. Following that, we’ll be driving (really I will be driving, since Jon doesn’t know stick shift) through the lakes and along the Gota Canal back to Stockholm in our rental car, and then spending our final days in Stockholm where I’ll also get to visit with my old Boston roommate, Jenny. There is a certain Boston theme running throughout this trip.
Of course, stay posted as I update with our adventures, photos, and whether Jon’s suit and shoes for the wedding will really fit into his carry-on suitcase along with 12 days of clothes (he seems to believe it will). Yeeha! It’s already an adventure.
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.
Smithsonian is actually made up of 19 museums. They are all free, so you can visit or skip areas without guilt other than that you’ve traveled all this way to Washington and are skipping parts of our national treasures. The following are museums I think are worth visiting, based solely on what is unique and Washingt0n-esque and may not necessarily be found in other cities: 
you’ll start charging all the tourists $5 a photo. Bring a rain jacket or umbrella because it might suddenly break out into a ridiculous downpour.
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 messages asking where everyone is when nobody answers and says JON!! a lot.
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 had to do a lot of due diligence when shopping for these flights. While significantly cheaper than if I flew from the U.S., the amount of traveling I was doing was inversely proportional to the amount of cash in my bank account (i.e. the more I flew, the less money I had).
Turkish Airlines
fainting (like I did while climbing the ancient city wall), fewer crowds at the Hagia Sophia, and more delicious pides and hummus and stuffed grape leaves and Mediterranean cuisine with Turkish wines. If you have a little child, the Turkish men will, oddly, go out of their way to pinch his/ her cheeks and give treats as if they 
had never seen a child before. Even young Turkish dudes who dressed super hip and were too cool for school pulled off their trendy sunglasses to make googly eyes at my niece, then 1 1/2 years old. It is especially helpful when you’re dead tired from trekking around mosques all day, and your child is fussing away, to have a waiter voluntarily entertain her the whole evening with puppets and toy cars on hand in the restaurant.
USA Today 
Talk about figurative baggage: in addition to charging passengers $15 to check-in their luggage, 
