Hot air balloon ride in Albuquerque, New Mexico
In 2001, my 2 hostesses and I were guests of hot air balloonist Richard (Dick) Goss in his hot air balloon at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.
Country
Cathedral City CA Hot Air Balloon Festival November 2021
Hot Air Balloons, a kind of miracle majesty. In November you have the sight right by Palm Springs. If in Southern California, come on by!
Travel regulations by country during Covid
Travelers and want-to-travelers want to know: Where can I travel now/next month/in November/in 2021? This map, published by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), doesn’t predict the future but it helps you know what rules for flying into a country are in place at this time. You can use it for free during the Covid-19 crisis. It doesn’t show announced openings or land or sea info though. It’s called the Interactive Coronavirus (Covid-19) Travel Regulations Map (powered by Timatic).
British Pub Quiz Night – in Los Angeles
I’ve loved neighborhood pubs in England and Ireland when I lived or visited there. However, I wouldn’t typically have entered even a British style pub in Los Angeles.
But my British friend’s long-time friend from England told him about The Fox and Hounds, “a proper British pub” and it had a Quiz Night. That clinched our decision. On a Wednesday evening, we headed over Laurel Canyon…
Good, relaxed quiz, prizes, a new cider for me, great Steak n’ Ale Pie, Steak n’ Kidney Pie for my friend. I’ll definitely bring more people to The Fox and Hounds.
Best Burger Stand in San Diego – Angelo’s Burgers – Encinitas
I asked my long-time San Diego area friend if he had a recommendation for a good meal at a good price. A burger would be good, I suggested. Immediately he knew what to recommend:
Angelo’s Burgers in Encinitas
A very good burger for a very good, price — unlike many other eateries along California oceanfront towns, he added.
This is a quintessential Southern California Burger Joint — but with so much more.
It’s a beach town experience without today’s high beach area prices.
And the food’s really good.
Vicki and son Ben: slow eating lifestyle
We are enjoying the food here. Unlike America, where we gobble our food in a rush, always on our way to somewhere, here they take an hour or two for the meal, savoring the flavors and the company.
Vicki and son Ben: Valencia, Spain
I’ve come to enjoy traveling by bus. I can relax and watch the landscape roll by.
Vicki and son Ben: Tarragona
The water is clear and sparkling and the most amazing shades of turquoise. Beside the sea is this ancient Roman ruins.
Vicki and son Ben: 4 problems to solve
I had four problems to solve today.
Vicki and son Ben: 1st meal in Spain
Our first meal in Spain (not counting the bus station food.) Paella with mussels. Tarragona is a lovely little town. Things are looking up.
Vicki and son Ben: First stop Italy
For me, Italy is the hairiest country, and that’s where we had to start. I speak no Italian, beyond spaghetti and lasagna, and I was terrified of being lost and unable to read signs or communicate with anyone.
How Vicki & her 10-year-old son decided to travel in Europe for 10 weeks
This is the first installment of Vicki B & her 10-year-old son Ben on the road.
While researching it I learned that we could take a four-hour scenic train ride to London. Llooking at the map, I saw that it was just a short ferry ride across the English channel and there’s France! And look – it’s just a short skip over to Italy! Our one-week itinerary slowly morphed into ten weeks.
Riding the tram in Bratislava Slovakia 2
When you’re new to public transportation in a new county it can be daunting so I’ve documented my tram ride in Bratislava, Slovakia. Your first tram or bus may be in any other country but it’s likely to have the same basic system. Not Bratislava bound? Just use this one as an example.
Each tram stop has a vending machine for you to purchase your ticket. You purchase a ticket that covers the amount of time it will take you to ride.
Then…
Side-trip from Bratislava to Prague
One of three popular destinations from Bratislava is Prague. It’s a relatively short train or bus ride. As I had not been to Prague or any of what was Czechoslovakia during my first travels, I decided that a couple of days in Prague, Czech Republic (as it is now called) would be a new experience and more worthwhile. So today, having relaxed and enjoyed much of Bratislava at my leisure, and knowing I needed to be back there for my friend Annaline to arrive and travel with me to Israel, it was the perfect time to take my side-trip.
I don’t always know where I’ll stay upon arrival to a new place but in this case, I had already selected and reserved my accommodations for the night. All that was left was to enjoy getting to Prague and making it my next home.
From Riomaggiore (Cinque Terre) to Venice
A long day…
Today is the day my friend and I leave fabled Cinque Terre for storybook Venice. From one romantic area of Italy to another. I am still traveling with my friend A, ever since hitting mainland Italy after Sicily. Today we’re traveling on FlixBus. But before we can get to our bus, we need to leave Riomaggiore (our Cinque Terre home base) and get to La Spezia as that’s where FlixBus travels from.
Want to follow along with me for the full day’s adventure? Check-out, walk carrying luggage, short train ride, bus from one coast of Italy to another, walk through some of Venice carrying luggage, check-in, and then… explore a new city!
Catania to Palermo by train, finally going to start seeing Sicily
My first morning in Sicily wasn’t where I had planned it. I’d planned to arrive into Palermo, but due to circumstances had to end my into-Sicily travels in Catania instead. This morning I would continue onto Palermo with just enough time to start my first-ever organized tour — Sicily’s Beating Heart Tour with La RosaWorks.
I woke up at 10 — only because I’d set my alarm for the last possible minute that I could shower quickly and still make check-out. Still groggy and with my coordination not intact, I started my day.
Threatened with jail at Nicaragua border over exit stamp position
Each time someone tells me they want to go to Nicaragua I cringe. I hear the people are lovely, they say, and it’s so inexpensive. Yes, that might be true — but my experience wasn’t about nice people. I was locked in a room at the border and threatened with jail — because of an immigration agent on a sick power trip.
I have long debated telling this story, but I feel it’s important. I’ll never know if I really would have been sent to jail in this Dictatorship, but the Tourism agent at the border certainly believed I was about to land there.
Please read this — and take it seriously.
Hiking in Los Angeles – in Hollywood!
Did you know that you can enjoy the Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame, then a hike in Southern Califonia’s nature, and then return to Hollywood Boulevard — easily in just a day?
If you happen to be in Los Angeles, that is!
Korean Friendship Bell San Pedro CA
A visit to the Korean Friendship Bell, located in Angels Gate Park in San Pedro, CA.
Redondo Beach get-away packing
I’m back to living in my adopted hometown for a while, so you might not call that traveling. But LA is a major travel destination — and I am traveling within it this weekend! From Friday – Tuesday, I’ll be a guest of a friend in Redondo Beach. I get to show her all the tricks of the iPhone, see friends, and enjoy the beach air and all that Redondo Beach and the Redondo Beach Marina and Pier have to offer.
Wondering how I packed?
White water rafting on the Kern River in Southern California
White water rafting in Southern California! About 21/2 hours north of Los Angeles, 60 miles NE of Bakersfield… by Deborah S. Shadovitz (A version of this was first written for ValleyLife Magazine, June 2009, when I was its Editor. On the web, I am able to elaborate and on my own site I can add some more of my own feelings.) As my friends and I meandered down a slower part of the River Kern on a warm summer day, I found myself thinking it’s a pity that every American doesn’t get to raft this beautiful river through this magnificent canyon. Rafting is a perfect shared experience: relaxation, flowing water, sun, great food, and the rewarding feeling of getting past hurdles because of teamwork. Since the mid-1970s, the Kern River has been a prime spot for rafting. One reason is Lake Isabella, which sits below the Upper Kern holding water […]
Waterfalls everywhere! Croatia’s Plitvice National Park
Imagine walking through lush greenery and seeing waterfall after waterfall with each step and each turn of your head!
That’s Plitvice — a waterfalls park!
Slovenia into Croatia by train
I am writing this as I sit, alone, in a six-person compartment on the 3:10 train from the Ljubljana (Slovenia) railway station to the Rijeka (Croatia) train station. As I entered the first available train car, the back-most car, I was at first taken aback and disappointed by the car full of 6-seat compartments. The separate compartments can be nice, but I was disappointed because I’d hoped to meet people on the train. I’d met my Ljubljana friends on a train.
I don’t want to be leaving. Slovenia is a beautiful area, I enjoy Ljubljana, and more importantly, I love my friends. However, I must leave. Today is my 89th day in the Schengen Area and 90 days is the limit.
As I stepped off the train there was one other woman with me, I asked about a hostel and she told me there was one just down the road five minutes, but that was all I had from her. I will never know if I found that hostel.
Šiauliai Lithuania to Riga Latvia by mini-bus
As I headed to Lithuania, world-traveling friend Esther Snippe “Facebooked me” telling me that if I was going to be in Lithuania, I had to go to Riga (the capital of Latvia). Due to the Schengen Agreement, my time in Europe was limited to three months. In all of my years (3 + 1½) of traveling, I had never entered a country and only gone to one town. That just isn’t in line with how I travel.
But Riga and its many fine Art Nouveau buildings beaconed and the Schengen limitations make me crazy — so I made an exception and went to Riga.
Want to join me on my 2½-hour bus ride from Šiauliai (show-leh) Lithuania to Riga Latvia?
Hill of the Crosses, Lithuania
The story of the Hill of the Crosses in Šiauliai is a testament to humanity as well as of faith. As I am not Christian, a cross doesn’t have the same feeling that it does to Christians. However, this is a show of people who, through the generations, fought Czarist Russia and then Soviet Russia for their freedoms.
