Wanderlust

Ever since I was a girl, even before I could read, I'd study maps and magazines, dreaming of far off places. National Geographic was my magic carpet. My sister and I would play this game, we'd spin a globe and wherever our finger touched down was where we'd go. I couldn't wait.

I bought my first plane ticket at around age 12 with my own money made by babysitting. My parents agreed I was old enough to fly on my own since I earned and paid for the ticket myself.

That did it :) :) :)

Big beautiful world, here I come! Taking off right after graduation, when the rest of my friends went away to college, I traveled. Until my money ran out. Reluctantly, back home I went to give school a try. Oh I really didn't give it my best, but I just couldn't sit still. So, thinking up this brilliant plan, I took a job at Los Angeles International Airport. Now I could really fly!

Yes.

Speeding on down memory lane, marriage and babies put a damper on my Wanderlust. But it didn't stop me from dreaming or reading every travel adventure or travel essay I could find. So many books, and SO many favorites, it started with a first edition Michener that my Dad bought me around age 9 or 10, still one of my favorites, Hawaii. Then there was Theroux and Hemingway, Laurens Van Der Post, recently I'm going through Pico Iyer's elegant prose. And then Alain De Botton's The Art of Travel. It's about travel but then it's not. Fascinating!

Ah, this wasn't my intention to write about my life, I really wanted to share some tips that have helped me in my travels and maybe you might have some that you would like to share...?

So...in a sort of order here they are:

Transportation Security Administration, T.S.A. ~ if you don't pay attention here, you won't be going anywhere. According to them. ( I am not so bossy! :) This is where to start for all the latest rules regarding airline travel (updated frequently). http://www.tsa.gov/

So you'll always know what to pack, a bathing suit or down jacket, or if your going to New Zealand, both! http://www.weather.com/

oh, and so you'll know where you are once you get there:

http://www.maps.google.com/

For the latest conversion rates on just about Every currency on the planet:

http://www.xe.com/

And for a really cool little chart that you can print out and put in your wallet, go to http://www.oanda.com/ Look under currency tools, and then look for FX Cheat Sheet, choose your currency and you'll get the Interbank Rate for the days date. Print it out and refer to often, if your like me. A money dodo.

For reviews on just about anything travel related (funny too) go to

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ informative and entertaining.

Now, here is my favorite, Seat Guru. http://www.seatguru.com/ Here you can choose your destiny. You can choose your own seat! Yes! it's a simple thing to do, first you find your jet, go back to your itinerary, or to the airlines website, it'll be there. Then you will be shown a Seat Map Key. Read it and decided what's most important to you. If you are like me and wantneedhavetohave an aisle seat then you will love this site. I love you Seat Guru.

Here are a few fun sites to visit if it's possible you have any money left over after paying for your trip!

Need luggage that'll take your things safely anywhere on the globe?,

http://www.patagonia.com/ they have great travel clothes too...

For just plane fun (get it? plane? hmmm...;) and really great useful stuff check out http://www.flight001.com/ .

And last, there's more, good grief I've gone on, but I'll end here... this one is fantastic and fun too, it's called Don't Forget Your Toothbrush. It's like having a personal assistant. You get to make a list and customize it any way you want, and then DFYT sends you reminders, 2 months before, 2 weeks before, the day before, the morning of (or something like this). So you'd really have to be a dumdum to leave the cat locked out or the coffee pot on or your passport on your desk. Tsk tsk. It's brilliant really. I tried it on my last 2 trips and it worked beautifully! (it's won lots of awards, BBC Radio, Time, CNN International...)

http://www.dontforgetyourtoothbrush.com/

...and now I really am done except for one last tip. It's always a good idea to take a photocopy of your itinerary and passport and leave it home, with a friend or relative, but another thing I like to do is colorcopy my passport and plop it in my journal or use it as a bookmark. It comes in handy when you need your information (to fill out endless forms...) and don't want to be digging your real passport out of its safe place everytime. See? easy!

I hope you've enjoyed reading all about these handy tips. I'd love to hear any or all of yours!....till next time...

Goodbye - English
Salam - Arabic
(aabar dekha hobey) - Bengali
Donadagohvi - Cherokee
Hagoonea' - Navajo
Ja ne - Japanese (Sayonara if you will not see them for a long time)
Auf Wiedersehen - German
Bis dann - German
Tschüss - German
Ade - German
Tschau - German
Bis Spater(Bis Schpaater)-German
Arrivederci - Italian
Addio - Italian
Ciao - Italian
Buona sera - Italian
Au Revoir - French (aw reh-VWAH)
À bientôt - French (see you later)(ah bee-EN-toe)
À demain - French (see you tomorrow)(ah deh-MAN)
Hejdå - Swedish
Le'hitraot - Hebrew
Shalom - Hebrew
Sampai Jumpa - Indonesian
Adios - Spanish
Paalam - Filipino
Zai Jian - Chinese, Mandarin
Zoi Geen (the "g" is pronounced like geek) - Chinese, Cantonese
Farvel - Danish
Namaste (same as hello) - Hindi
Fir Milenge (see you) - Hindi
Alvida (Goodbye, bit formal) - Hindi
Ayo - Papiamentu
Rub Rakha - Punjabi
Feri bhetaula (lit. we'll meet again) - Nepali
Do zobaczenia (see you) - Polish
Żegnaj - Polish
Adeus - Portuguese
Adieus - Portuguese
Tchau - Portuguese
Do svidan’ya/До Свидания (until we meet again, formal)- Russian
Poka/Пока (pronounced pa-ka, informal)- Russian
Do vstrechi/До Встречи (until we meet again)- Russian
Selamat pergi - Malay
Tot ziens - Dutch
Dag - Dutch
Doei - Dutch
再见 - Chinese
Yasou (YAH-soo)- Greek
Hwyl fawr - Welsh
Annyeonghi Kyeseyo(if the person you're talking to isn't leaving)- Korean
Anyeonghi Gasyeo(if the person you're talking to is leaving) -Korean
Näkemiin (See you) -Finnish
Hyvästi (Farewell) -Finnish
Hasta La Vista (see you later) - Spanish
Vale- Latin (to one person)
Valete- Latin (to more than one person)
La revedere - Romanian
Veloma - Malagasy
Sige la - Pangasinan
Khuda Hafiz - Urdu
zai jian - chinese
Ha det bra- Norwegian
Ha det- Norwegian
Sees- Norwegian
Snakkes- Norwegian
Vidaiperukiren - Tamil
Aavajo - Gujarati
Slan-Irish

xxx love, lori