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Poe Poll: Is This Funny?
Just a quick post. We have returned from Paracas for one last night in Lima before we head up to Urubamba and Machu Picchu. Our wake-up call tonight? 2 am for a 5 am flight. Not. Pumped. Right now, we’re sitting in the executive lounge of the JW Marriott in Miraflores, having a glass of…
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How to be Completely Useless
This might be one of the most frustrating images I’ve ever come across in my many years of reading blogs. I saw it on Sojourning Abroad and it claims to be a color coded map with a list of local emergency numbers. Hmmm, I think to myself, wouldn’t that be a nice, permanent addition…
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My Spring Break with Hugo Chavez

Our upcoming trip to Peru is not my first South American “rodeo” (that’s Spanish for rodeo, by the way). No, I’ve actually been to much more dangerous locales in South America. By myself, in fact. It was the spring 2001, in what would be my final year at the University of Texas at Austin. It…
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Nerves of Jello Over Here

I am very nervous about our upcoming trip to Peru, y’all. I’m not nervous about packing. For once. Although, my new laissez faire “take what you wore yesterday and throw it in a bag (*plus clean underwear)” attitude won’t work for this trip. For one thing, I wore a bulky turtleneck, wool pants and a…
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Sichuan Must Be Chinese for ‘Burn a Hole in Your Belly’
My travel-buddy-for-life XFE and I often discuss where we might want to go for our next Really Big Trip. You know, the ones that require using lots and lots of miles, and all of your 25 vacation days and crossing many, many time zones. The last Really Big Trip was three weeks in Australia for…
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Mine’s Bigger
Sorry about the lack of blog posts. I’ve just been been biting my nails down to the quick over our upcoming trip to Peru. And, making and discarding numerous packing lists in my head at 3 am when I’m supposed to be sleeping. But, I did want to check in and say, What the…
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Valentine’s Day Wet Blanket
Yes, today is Valentine’s Day, as you may have noticed from the obnoxious month-long “Every Kiss Begins with Kay” commercials. (Know what else begins with K? Kick to the kidneys. Knock out to the kisser. Knee to the gonads. So congratulations, ad man, you get paid this month, courtesy of Sesame Street brought to you…
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Also: When Did We Start Naming Our Winter Storms?

Despite the ominous-looking, but not at all ominous-sounding Winter Storm Nemo, and the accompanying weather-related hysteria that swept most of the Eastern Seaboard, my personal chauffeur XFE and I went to New York this past weekend for our Global Entry interviews. Well, XFE went for the Global Entry interview. I went with a secret wish…
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Would You Like Some Deer Antler with Those Wings?
Why yes, I did watch the Super Bowl this past weekend. I know the complete absence of any suggestion of Beyonce’s fierce halftime show outfit must have had you all wondering. We actually went over to a friends’ house to watch it. It was fairly entertaining because (1) we’re not really that into football, (2)…
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(Some of the) Laws in Virginia are Bleeping Stupid
Ugh, so apparently we have to move. It’s all very unfortunate because we love our little house, and our adorable neighborhood and we live just a block from Trader Joe’s, which has always been my main aspiration in life. And, I’ve just figured out where to stand on my neighborhood metro platform to place myself…