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Zakopane dinner of Spinach Pierogi

 in Deb's Travels / Food / Poland

Here’s the place that attracted our attention for a good sit-down meal for a late lunch or early dinner. The Pierogi caught my attention. I ordered the Spinach Pierogi for 12zl. When the waitress brought it, swimming in butter, I had one bite and was in heaven. I know I took photos of it, but don’t know what happened to those photos. So I can only share a photo of the restaurant and show you its menus. Arranging the night’s accommodations as we ate Dorota needed to get back to work so our mini holiday was ending soon. We were taking a bus back to Krakow by dark. Dorota was worried about me having a place to stay. I wasn’t. I had called Joanna, a woman with whom I’d stayed the first time I came through Krakow because she’d told me to call when I returned. Besides, I can always walk […]

The menus

Zakopane Poland summer holiday

 in Deb's Travels / Food / Poland

I arrived in Zakopane, a popular mountain resort in Poland. My Polish friend was on the way by bus. I walked around, found a place for a sit-down lunch, then I listened to room-hawkers who approached me as I awaited my friend’s bus. It was a change for me to stay in a chalet rather that a hostel.

Cell phone SIM for travel in Poland

 in Europe / Poland / Traveling with Technology

I got a Polish SIM card for my iPhone today. I went with Play at the recommendation of a Polish friend. The Starter Kit was 19 zl ($6.50).

The man at the Play store popped it in for me and it worked. It simply worked. Phone, data, done. Not like the configuration needed in Central America.

But is that a result of the Polish system or being on iOS7 instead of iOS6 or having an iPhone 4s instead of 3gs? I guess I have to return to Central America to find out.

Krakow town square & area

 in Deb's Travels / Europe / Poland / Sight-seeing

My Krakow friend Dorota had a work appointment the afternoon I arrived, so we walked together to the entrance to a park near the main square — a medieval square — and arranged to meet at the same spot later. This gave me the opportunity to wander by myself and get a feel for the area. As this was my first walk in Krakow, every storefront, ever vehicle, every sign, was new to me.

I’ve got some photos of this medieval square for you.

Bus from Warsaw to Krakow

 in Deb's Travels / Europe / Poland / Sight-seeing / Transportation

I awoke at 6am to the sound of Joanna cooking. I was in for another truly home cooked meal. Today was the day for me to move on to my second place in Poland. I was Krakow-bound and a friend was meeting me on the other end of the ride. I sat in a red high back seat on the upper level of my first Polish bus, PolskiBus. It was a very clean, new-seeming, beautiful double-decker. For approximately 5 hours I watched the scenery and did some writing. No friendly conversations with locals on this bus ride.

Warsaw day 3 – Driving & the Uprising Museum

 in Deb's Travels / Europe / Poland / Sight-seeing

On this rainy Sunday, Michal and Joanna took me to the Warsaw Uprising Museum in the part of Warsaw called Wola. We drove as it was our only stop — and because it was raining, of course.

If you’re curious about some of the roads in Warsaw, here’s a slideshow of photos from our drive from his suburb to the museum. Then I’ve got a slideshow of some of the museum, of course. I can show you the photos, but can’t even begin to tell you about its impact.

Reflections on map tech

 in Traveling with Technology

June 27, 2014 Today as I was updating one of my safe cloud backups from before my 2011 travels—  when I had a huge hard drive and everything was on it —  I came upon a folder called Travel. In it were PDFs of MapQuest maps, a couple of bus routes,  etc. I remember making those PDFs 10+ years earlier. I’d added my own text to the map image and was quite impressed by how great the technology was and how easy it was to simply email that map to anyone, anytime rather than phoning them and making them write down turn-by-turn instructions and landmarks. They’re gone now; deleted. We don’t use those things anymore, now that the iPhone came along and ushered the era of the smartphone with built-in GPS. Need a map now? Use Apple or Google maps, and in case you’ll be off-line, capture a screen shot […]

Warsaw day 1

 in Deb's Travels / Europe / Food / Poland / Sight-seeing

As I traveled to Warsaw for the first time, I felt like a VIP knowing my host, Michal, would be waiting for me at the airport — holding a white sign with my name on it. As he drove me home, he told me of his girlfriend Joanna (Yanna) and that she was making me a traditional Polish meal of Pierogi (but with berries)l for my arrival. Wow.

My first outing in a new country is always exciting. Even if it’s just walking to a food market. But in this case, being taken around by a life-long resident of Warsaw was particularly nice.

How I came to be traveling now and for so long 1

 in About Deb

What would you do if you’d hit or neared 50, had always wanted to travel the world, and didn’t even come close to having the resources to do so.

What if… for too many years, all of your work and earnings had gone into keeping a roof over your head without allowing you the luxury to go out from under the roof to enjoy your own town, city, state, country or planet?

That was me.

So I jumped on the next best event that came along. Instead of moving to a new apartment, I moved into the world.
If I didn’t have to spend so much money on rent I could travel.
It costs less to rent a dorm room any place in the world than it did for me to rent my apartment for any given night! So the money I saved in rent would cover my travel costs.

Welcome to my life of travel.

Best Travel Spirit Songs

 in Packing / Traveling with Technology

[updated Feb 13, 2015] Every now and then I come across a song that exudes the sprit of travel, puts words to the song of the travelers soul, or just fits a traveling mood.  Last night, May 17, 2014, in a house concert in Austin, Texas, USA, I heard another song like that and realized I wanted to start sharing these songs. So here’s my ongoing blog entry of best travel spirit songs. I’ll add to it from time to time. And if you meet me on the road, you’ll know these are on my iPod. I am opting, for the time-being, to not embed performances on this page as I don’t want to slow the page down.

Don’t miss theater when you travel!

 in Deb in the USA / North America / Sight-seeing / Sight-Seeing in California / Sight-Seeing Wherever / USA

One of the nicest things you can do for yourself when you travel is to experience local theater. Whether it’s a small local theater group, a small traveling repertory group, a small drama theater, or a full-blown Broadway cast on tour — you can’t go wrong getting a taste of the local high culture.

In Los Angeles, California, I never miss an opportunity to see a show at the Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theater or its smaller Mark Taper Forum, both at the Music Center downtown LA. There are inexpensive tickets available. Buses go right to it and trains get you very close.

I don’t think there’s a bad seat in either house — and I’ve never been disappointed by a performance.

Pack 4 white skirts? Can’t do. So…

 in Packing

My favorite travel skirt (one no longer sold by Gap) wore out past wearability a month ago and my other tore, leaving me needing to fully replace my travel skirts. Since I’ve been home: I pulled the twin of that favorite skirt out of its Space Bag to bring on my next trip. My favorite was tan. This one, though, is as close to white as possible, without being white. Pulling out the twin of a heavier favorite but now too-worn skirt out of its Space Bag, I found that Space Bag had turned this once light turquoise skirt white. A friend gave me a great wrap-around skirt. It was too long for her, but perfect for me. I love that as I travel, a part of her will be with me. That wrap-around is pure white. Another friend gave me an above-the-knee skirt with a comfy wide elastic waist, saying “It looks fantastic on you; you have to take […]

Rethink your hair brush for travel? Maybe!

 in Packing

This post is likely just for the women out there.

My question to you: how large is your hair brush?

I actually have a larger one that used to be my favorite, but I started using this one to get used to a smaller, more travel-fitting brush.

So, did I take this brush when I went away for a year and a half? Actually, no. I took a much thinner one. I found one that had plastic bristles that wouldn’t ruin my clothing and that took up much less space. (Yes, every centimeter really does matter.) But I must admit that I didn’t like the brush I took.

My best advice to you about packing a hair brush….

Packing the right shoes – I went with Aerosoles

 in Packing

As I packed for my first long-term trip in many years, I pondered my shoe choices. 

At age 26, as I started what turned out to be 3 years going half way around the world, I took one pair of leather sandals that had a good strap over my toes as well as an ankle strap and one pair of sneakers good for walking. (How well I remember those battered dirty sneakers.) Perhaps I had flip-flops. That was it. I liked this packing; nice and light. I’d later bought a pair of hiking boots in Italy. I carried them for 2 years, rarely wore them, and regretted their bulk and weight.

However, when invited to a state dinner, I missed that opportunity due to lack of appropriate clothing and shoes — and I didn’t want that to happen again.

Protect yourself from phishing & email cons

 in Traveling with Technology

As you travel, you’re going to be relying on email and online services more than ever.  So you need to be more careful than ever.  When you’re home on your home computer, you might be careful about checking for fraud. BUT…it’s harder when you’re on a new computer, new computer system, etc each day, so be sure to put this into practice: You’re going to get emails that say: log into your bank account to verify your info log into your bank account to because someone tried to log in as you click this link because we’ve been trying to reach you etc And now that you’re traveling, these things seem more viable. Maybe you did leave your password in a browser somewhere? Maybe you did get seen entering info?  You can’t afford to just ignore those questionable emails. So what should you do?

BEST Apple laptop protection for travel

 in Packing / Traveling with Technology

As I set out to travel again, now with a brand new MacBook Air after my first one was stolen, I sought out and finally found the best case for myself and other travelers to use on our Macintosh computers — but, surprise, the protection solution is not actually a case. It’s a simple combo. [This article has been updated at times to add protection information.] If your  laptop is not a Mac, part of this will be helpful and perhaps you’ll be able to adapt some of this for another laptop computer, but I have not found a snap-on shell for other brands. From what I understand, the models change too often for manufacturers to create the shells. I always want to be able to pull my Mac (or netbook/laptop) out of my satchel or handbag, pop it open, work, slap it closed, slide it back into the bag, and […]

WordCamp Austin 2014 logo

Furthering my WordPress abilities

 in Deb in the USA / Deb's Travels / Traveling with Technology

You never know where your travels will take you — or what you’ll learn on the way. I still think it’s odd that as part of traveling the world, I landed up living in Austin for a few months. Yep, Austin – Texas – USA. Not some remote place like Austin like when I was in Australia and got to waterski under the Brooklyn Bridge.  As it happened, WordCamp Austin 2014 is taking place during my stay. And since I started getting into WordPress heavily as I traveled — due both to starting this blog and being robbed of my Mac and thus, my license to use Dreamweaver and Photoshop — I was thrilled by the timing! So my very first WordPress volunteering is here in Austin. I manned the camera and helped the speakers in the Themes & Design track all day today, and return for more tomorrow. The stuff in […]

Sailing in Austin, TX – WooHoo!

 in Boats / Deb in Texas / Deb in the USA / Deb's Travels / North America / Sailing / Sight-seeing / Sight-Seeing in Texas / Sight-Seeing in the USA / USA

It’s been a while since I’ve sailed. My last sailing venture was at Roatan, one of the Bay Islands off of Honduras, and that didn’t actually include much sailing because their appeal for crew was really just an appeal for a wallet. But today I got to sail in the Beer Can Races at the Austin Yacht Club, on Lake Travis in Austin, Texas, USA. “Sailing in Austin?”— some people have asked, surprised. Yep! Austin, Texas doesn’t have ocean, but it does have Lake Travis. And, in summer the lake is warm and inviting for swimming too. (Unfortunately, it’s about 53′ less of a lake now than “normal” due to dry spells and water use — but those boats still able to launch still get to enjoy it.) So today promised to be the first of a lot of sailing for me for the next month while I get to call […]