Tag: Birthday trip
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That Time We Got Booted From Bali and Ended Up in the Maldives
As mentioned previously, my main man for life, XFE and I went to Sri Lanka for my birthday trip earlier this year, which was culturally enriching yet also challenging (for all the reasons I’ve gone over in previous posts). Which, since this wasn’t exactly our first Southeast Asian rodeo, we kind of figured it…
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Trip Tip: Bring Beer and Patience for Your Sri Lanka Train Adventure
I know I talked a little bit about the traffic and road conditions in Sri Lanka, but there actually is another more peaceful, maybe even more scenic way to see the country. Sri Lanka Railway. A little background: the Sri Lanka Railway was originally known as the Ceylon Government Railways when it opened in 1858,…
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The Most Dangerous Job in Sri Lanka
Hey. Let’s talk about driving. Specifically, driving in Sri Lanka. Or as it should more accurately be called, defying death every single breath. I live just a short metro ride away from downtown D.C. in a very lovely, historic neighborhood with all the restaurants and shopping my little heart desires located just blocks from my…
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An Overview of Sri Lanka, Privileged Tourism and Getting in My Own Head
On paper, Sri Lanka was a no brainer for us—our logical next vacation destination. It has a lot of the things we gravitate towards as travelers—we like South/Southeast Asia (admittedly, one of us a bit more than the other). We love the spicy food in this area of the world, with the focus on fresh…
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How to Have an Amazing Birthday
My 45th birthday was a couple of months ago, so I’ve had some time to really think about this. Be born. Done, easy, check. (OK, this one is going to take a while.) Find a life partner as fabulous as XFE. Took me about, ummmm, 34 years and a couple of failed attempts. Agree to…
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Hotel Crashing: Lemala Kuria Hills, Tanzania
Sorry for the lack of posts this week. I was a bit bummed out by the election results. For a variety of reasons, I’m not going to get too far into this topic, but this post from my favorite blogger, The Everywhereist, pretty much sums up EXACTLY how I feel. Go. Read it. It’s really…
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Ten Other Animals We Saw at Leopard Hills (Including…Leopards, Natch.)
So many photos. Heads up: I’m no photographer, as you will see from many of these images, but especially, the very last ones. So, with that endorsing caveat, enjoy! I believe this was taken on the evening drive on our first night at Leopard Hills. If so, this is Dayone, a 9-year-old male who…
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The Basics on Planning an African Safari, aka: Should You Use a Travel Agent?
Let me start by saying: there’s nothing basic about planning a safari trip to Africa. I mean, come on! It’s beyond exciting! It’s the trip of a lifetime! We’re talking bucket list stuff! You gallop headlong into it with visions of the “Lion King” and “Out of Africa” dancing off in the distance. You start…
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The Wildest Ride: A Wildebeest River Crossing in the Serengeti
“This is not at all like the shows on NatGeo,” my restless mind was thinking. “This is actually sort of….boring.” We’re sitting in a beige, pop-top Toyota Land Cruiser in the midday African heat with four other people. All six pairs of eyes are trained on the nervously shuffling, brownish-gray mass of wildebeest on the…
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Flying Fancy: Review of Emirates First Class
And we’re back! Actually, we’ve been back from Africa over a week, but I’ve been in post-vacation mourning. That coupled with the fact that as a self-employed person, I made $0.00 during my little three-week break, and yet, my bills still came in during that very same three-week period and—quite rudely—those not-so-nice credit corporations and…