Things to Do Before You Travel Abroad

1. Contact your bank/credit card company to tell them you'll be out of the country. If you don't, you run the risk of having your debit or credit cards flagged for fraudulent activity, rejected when you try and make a purchase, or worse, eaten by an ATM (this has happened to me, and it's not fun).

2. Get cash before you go. It never hurts to have enough money to buy meals, get into attractions, and tip drivers. You don't know what the situation will be when you arrive at your destination. When I went I Greece in 2004, all of the banks were on strike, meaning that I couldn't get money from an ATM or cash my traveler's checks (remember those?!). Since Greece was the second part of my Mediterranean vacation, and I was too young to have a credit card, this really sucked. Those kids (I was traveling with a group from high school) who had extra cash quickly became powerful. 

3. Read about the destination, local customs, and attractions. Knowledge is power, and can prevent you from missing out on something or making a fool of yourself because you aren't aware of customary tendencies.

4. Learn some basics of the language. You don't have to become bilingual, but learning key phrases will help you and will make natives treat you better because they'll appreciate your effort. My broken Italian and French has come in handy plenty of times.

5. Scan your passport and save it in an email to yourself. Don't print copies and put it in your luggage! If your luggage gets lost, your copied passport papers will be inside, which is bad news. If you lose your passport, you can head to the nearest U.S. Embassy and get a replacement ASAP from your digital copy.

Hostage Situation in Murano

When we were in Venice in 2010, our hotel offered an excursion to the island of Murano. The island is world-renowned for its glass production, and the monopoly on European glass fabrication was held by Murano artisans for centuries. Many of the glassmaking factories on Murano have been in existence for hundreds of years; the one we visited had a family tree hanging in the workshop and the factory itself dated back to the twelfth century.

When our boat docked on Murano, we were led into the factory for a glassmaking demonstration. The proprietor, who wasn’t a member of the family, was an Italian guy named Frank. He had a long, blonde ponytail and was very tan. He looked exactly like the Beast in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast after he turns into a human again.

The glass demonstration was really interesting. It was neat to learn that the process has remained the same for hundreds of years and has been passed down from generation to generation. I did wonder though if the artists got annoyed with people watching them all day. I don’t think I could concentrate on my work if there were tourists gawking at me and taking photos. Maybe they’re just used to it though. After the demonstration, we were taken into the gallery where we could peruse (and as they hoped, shop) various forms of glass art. There were statues, vases, drinking glasses, plates, boxes, and chandeliers—basically, anything you could imagine was in that gallery—and ranged in size from miniscule (figures the size of an earring) to massive (glass chandeliers weighing several tons). Our group walked through the gallery and looked at everything, but because of the exorbitant price tags, hardly anyone was seriously considering buying anything. The exception was a group of loud Americans who were buying very ugly clown statues (WHY?). There was also a group of Russians who looked as if they were members of the mafia. They looked loaded. I can’t remember what they were buying.

R and I joked around saying that we should add a set of eight Murano drinking glasses to our wedding registry. At the very inexpensive price of 700 Euros, the glasses were a bargain! Frank, who was hovering around eavesdropping, got wind of our conversation and thought we were serious. He latched on and went into the back and brought out all sorts of glasses in different styles. Although we kept telling him we were students and couldn’t afford such expensive glasses, he persisted and tried to get us “a cheaper price because we were so nice.” As Robin pointed out later, the fact that I had my Louis Vuitton purse didn’t help; Frank was determined to sell us whatever he could and didn’t believe us when we said we weren’t rich.

As Frank kept bringing out products, everyone disappeared, including the clown-buying Americans and the members of the Russian mafia. I was starting to get really uncomfortable because we were in the glass showroom totally alone with Frank, who more than likely worked on commission and seemed hell bent on getting us to buy something. When he finally realized we weren’t buying anything from him, he started telling us a story about people he knew in Texas and how we should meet up with them. What? He then told us about his friend who sold her wedding dress to someone in the United States without receiving payment for the dress first. The friend was distraught and surprised when the money for the dress never arrived. Frank was ranting about people being crooks while we slowly edged our way to the door. After Frank gave us his business card and contact info, and we assured him if we were ever in the market for expensive glassware we would call him, we extricated ourselves and ran from the factory to a little gift shop where the exit was. The whole tour had taken about an hour and a half. 

Occasionally we still talk about Frank and wonder what he's doing. If we ever go back to Murano I think we'll go back to the same glass factory just to see if Frank's still there. I wonder if he'd recognize us?

Why We'll Never Fly Frontier Airlines Again

We just went to Colorado for Hannah's graduation from Colorado State. This was by far one of the worst travel experiences I've ever had. You name it, it's happened to me, but this was absolutely ridiculous. Out of curiosity, I just looked Frontier up and there are many negative reviews circulating out there. So beware if you decide to book your trip with Frontier.

• Our seats were assigned throughout the plane and separate from one another. Now, I understand if we had booked our tickets late; however, when you book a couple months in advance, there shouldn't be a problem. My main issue was that Frontier placed my 9-month-old in a seat by herself. In the middle seat. Between two strangers. Oh yeah, great idea. I get that it's probably done electronically. There needs to be someone checking though. When we finally landed and I tweeted Frontier about it (and my tweets continued until after 10PM), I received immediate responses. Seems to me if there's someone monitoring the Twitter feed, it's possible to have a human checking seat assignments as well. Anyway, when we went to the desk at the gate to inquire about changing seats on the plane, the Frontier employee said he'd take care of it. Then HE LEFT. Fortunately for us his fellow employees were understanding and outraged at his behavior, and some very nice fellow passengers moved so R, Z, and I could sit together.
• Z wasn't a lap baby and had her own seat. That's how we roll because it works better for everyone. During takeoff and landing I nurse her so her ears don't bother her, so she doesn't sit in her seat during those times. We had no problem during takeoff, and although Z was awake and somewhat antsy during the flight (she wanted to get down and crawl around), everything went smoothly. When we started our descent into Denver, I started to nurse Z. The flight attendants came around to check that seat belts were on and tray tables were up. The flight attendant stopped by us and said "You need to put it in its carrier. That's the safest place for it during landing." Um, hold up. HOW did you just refer to my child? As an IT? Even though Z was under my Bebe Au Lait nursing cover, her pink sandaled feet were hanging out. This woman had walked by us throughout the entire flight. And yet, she refers to my kid as an "it." I don't even call dogs or cats "it." How rude! Also, what about lap babies? I guess they aren't safe during landing? Are their parents taking a gamble with their safety? If I want to nurse my daughter I have absolutely every right to do so. Just because there's a vacant car seat sitting next to me doesn't mean I'm endangering my child. I should have gotten that lady's name, but all I did was glare at her when I walked off the plane. (I think Z smiled at her though so that plan failed.)
• On the way back home, we were flying back with Hannah's cat. Rather than carry our luggage on, we decided to check it and had to go to the check-in counter to get the proper travel documents for the cat. Denver's airport is always really crowded and there have been a few times we've cut our flights close. Since we had to do all this extra stuff and we needed to ensure Z was not in a row by herself again, we got to the airport two hours early. Frontier, once again, failed. The check-in line took over an hour because there weren't enough desk agents working. When we finally got up to the kiosk, there was a young couple next to us. I overheard this conversation and was appalled at the Frontier employee's behavior:
• Young man: "So our flight leaves in 30 minutes. We're going to miss it because security will take forever. What do we do? Just go home? Can you rebook us?"
• Agent: "Sure you can go home. Or find somewhere else to complain because here isn't the place to do it. I don't have anything to do with this."
• Young man: "Seriously? This is ridiculous."
• The security line and TSA took ages (I know TSA is unaffiliated with Frontier and other airlines. It's its own entity. Got it.) We missed our flight by 3 minutes. No joke. The plane had just rolled out of the gate, and we could still see it sitting there. We went to the desk and my dad said to the agent "We missed our flight." She took our tickets, looked at them, and said "Flight 294 just left." Um, really? Isn't that what we just told you? Or is this some weird game of copycat? "Yeah, no kidding, the plane is pulling out right now," I answered. The agent just looked at us, then said we had to go to customer service to rebook. She didn't offer any sort of greeting, apology, nothing. 
• Over at the customer service desk, the woman was, as per Frontier's seemingly established protocol, unsympathetic. You'd think a group of visibly harried travelers with a restless infant and a crying cat would elicit some sort of emotion. Nope. The woman typed on her computer for a bit and then informed us it would be 24 HOURS before we could return home. Keep in mind this is on a Sunday afternoon, and we all work Monday. She was too dense to understand why we were upset that no other arrangements could be made. When I asked her about our checked luggage, she was like "Oh, that's on the plane and heading to St. Louis." Great, just great. So we have no luggage and it'll be 24 hours before we can get home? At this point my dad suggested driving home. 12+ hours in a car with a cat and baby was just daunting, so we booked with Southwest and were fortunate enough to fly out only a couple hours after our original departure time. We still made it home in the afternoon and had time to unpack, do laundry, and get ready for the workweek. 

I value competence and professionalism, and I understand that the travel industry can be stressful. When employees are rude, abrasive, and uninterested in the clientele, there's a problem. Now, I'm in no way implying that every Frontier employee is rude or unprofessional. I do realize that because of my frustration with the situation I'm lumping together a whole group of people who are probably excellent at their jobs and care about the public; however, two completely separate days and employees in two different states treated us exactly the same, so to me, that is indicative of a training problem. We are paying good money and keeping Frontier employees employed. We shouldn't feel like we are inconveniencing them. Based on the reviews I just saw online (and all of the people I've talked to about this!), I don't see how Frontier is going to last unless it reviews its customer service policies.  Travel is expensive and stressful enough. Why make people's experiences terrible? There are other carriers to use and that's what we will be doing from here on out. Adios, Frontier. We won't be seeing you again.

5 Things To Always Take in Your Carry-On Luggage

We have a couple of trips coming up at the end of the month and I'm already thinking about packing. I have a tendency to over-pack, which results in shuffling junk between my checked luggage to avoid the overweight baggage fees. This always happens at the airport, usually in front of a long line of aggravated travelers who more often than not get a glimpse of my undies. The trips we're taking soon won't be long and therefore won't require checked luggage, but fitting the necessities into a carry-on is important.

Here are what I consider to be the main staples of any carry-on and why you should pack them:

1. Extra underwear and socks. You may miss your connecting flight and have your luggage arrive at your destination several days after you do. (This has happened to me.) The airline may lose your luggage (This has happened to me.) Won't you feel better conquering problems if you're wearing clean underoos? I always do. I also pack twice as many pairs of undies and socks than needed because you never know what is going to happen.

2. Plastic grocery or Ziploc bags. You may need somewhere to put trash during a flight. You may get carsick while crossing the French-Swiss border. (This has happened to me.) Or, you may need to wrap fragile souvenirs for the trip home or a place to put a wet swimsuit. Plastic bags come in handy and don't take up much room in your suitcase. If you don't use them, keep them in your suitcase for next time.

3. Snacks. If you're stranded in an airport, bus station, train station or on a plane, you'll need something to eat eventually. Packing your own snacks will prevent you from spending serious cash on overpriced food at gift shops. You can also make friends by sharing snacks. Once I was traveling from Denver to St. Louis after visiting my sister for the weekend. Mid-flight, my seat mate (who was traveling with her teenage daughter) pulled out a pack of crackers and the two started eating. Then she turned to me and offered me some! How nice! I didn't mind that she was hogging the armrest after that.

4. Toiletries. It's nice to have your contact lens solution, toothpaste and toothbrush, moisturizer, etc. with you in case you're separated from your luggage. At least you'll be able to see and have clean teeth for pictures while you're out sightseeing.

5. Baby wipes. Even before we had Z, I'd always pack baby wipes in my carry on. They're handy for wiping your hands or face, cleaning up spills, or preventing stains from setting in. You can "shower" in a pinch if need be. I've used them to wipe Versailles dust off my feet (remember, E?), pyramid dust off my jeans, and I've given them to strangers on planes to clean up sticky messes. Packs of baby wipes are inexpensive, smell good, and are easily transported.

If there's anything you cannot live without for an extended period of time, you better put it in your carry-on so it stays with you at all times. As I said before, you never know what is going to happen. If you can imagine it happening, then there's a chance it will. I think you'll be happier if traveling with clean underwear and socks, too. (Can you tell I'm passionate about clean undergarments?!)

Car Intruder in Fort Collins

In October we went to visit my sister Hannah in Fort Collins, Colorado for Colorado State University's family weekend. This was the first time we traveled after Z was born, and it actually wasn't too difficult to manage. The extra adults, Z's adaptability, and our awesome travel system really made flying and vacation with a two-and-a-half-month-old easy.

On our final morning in Fort Collins, we went to eat breakfast at a restaurant that's famous for its homemade beignets, jams, and biscuits, called Lucile's. The restaurant is located in a small Victorian house and it's quite popular so there's always a wait. Hannah and Tess wanted to get there early to avoid waiting, so we all got up early and got ready. When we arrived there was about a 15-20 minute wait, which wasn't too bad. The only place to wait was outside though so since it was chilly we decided to sit in the SUV, which was parked across the street from the restaurant. My dad and Robin were up front, Hannah, Tess and Z were in the middle, and my mom and I were in the very back.

We were getting really hungry and paranoid that the place was going to give our spot away because they couldn't see us in the car. Hannah kept getting out to check and see how much longer the wait was estimated to be, and she let the hostess know that we were in the white SUV. 

 After we had been waiting for a while, a lady walked up along the right side of the car. None of us thought anything of her until she opened Robin's passenger side door. We all got quiet and stared at her, and she stared back. Robin eventually said "Hi," (In a really creepy voice, I might add.) but the lady kept staring. Was she from Lucile's, coming to tell us our table was ready? Nope. She was just a random stranger who got confused about where she had parked. After a couple seconds she slammed the car door shut and ran to an SUV that was also white and parked a few spots down from ours. She jumped in the passenger seat and somewhat shielded her face from us. Her family was slowly meandering from Lucile's and heading toward the right car, which had Arizona license plates (ours had Colorado license plates). At this point everyone in our car was laughing hysterically (except Z) from lack of food. A short while later, we finally got our table and proceeded to have the best beignets and homemade jam in the world. This incident happened over six months ago and I still think about those darn beignets.

To this day, we still re-enact the Fort Collins car intruder incident whenever we are in a parking lot and someone walks by our car. If you're ever in Fort Collins, Boulder, Denver, Littleton, or Longmont, go have yourself a beignet. And be sure to lock your car, because there may just be a satiated beignet-eater who gets confused about where she parked.

Here's a link to Lucile's website if you're interested:

 http://www.luciles.com/locations-a-menus/52-fort-collins-location-a-menu

Flashback Friday: Freakout at Pompeii

Every Friday I’m going to write a post about a funny, interesting, or unusual experience I’ve had while traveling. This is a way for me to remember fun trips and the unique times I’ve had on my travels around the world. Today’s flashback comes from 2005 when I was in Europe on a school trip. We were visiting Pompeii in Italy, which is one of my favorite places. The history of the site is incredible. In 79 CE, Mount Vesuvius erupted, blanketing Pompeii and the neighboring city of Herculaneum with volcanic ash and debris, effectively preserving the Roman cities for over 1,500 years. The towns were frozen in time and you can now visit them and get a good sense of the layout of an ancient city in the Roman Empire. Visiting Pompeii is both awe-inspiring and tragic. I think the plaster casts of the citizens of Pompeii, especially their fear and grief-stricken faces, really make the disaster resonate with us today. 

We had to get up very early to take the daytrip from Rome to Pompeii. After an amazing tour, we found a restaurant to eat at which was located right outside of Pompeii’s gates. It was a gorgeous sunny day with no clouds in the sky, so we ate under a tree. Eating pasta, fresh bread, salad, and drinking wine just doesn’t get any better than in Italy, especially when surrounded by gorgeous views in a historically significant location. There was a light breeze that kept us from becoming too hot, but it also kept causing small seeds to fall from the tree we were sitting under. That got a little annoying when we started eating because the seeds were getting in our food. It took a few minutes to realize that the seeds were then walking off our plates. Turned out they weren't seeds at all, but ticks! We freaked out and started running toward the nearest bathroom to check ourselves. My sixteen-year-old self didn't know much about ticks but I knew they were bad and could cause Lyme disease. Now that I think about it, I still don't know anything about ticks, 10 years later. I do know they're bad though. Anyway, one girl, who shall remain nameless, actually took off her shirt and ran to the bathroom screaming in just her bra. The other tourists and proprietors of the restaurant sure got a good show that day, especially because none of them knew what had caused eight American teenage girls to start freaking out at Pompeii. Luckily none of the ticks had started feasting on us so we avoided contracting Lyme disease (maybe?) that day; however, I will always associate Pompeii with ticks. Just a few days ago I warned a colleague who's planning a trip to Pompeii that he better wear a hat, just in case.

Venice

Robin and I just returned from a short trip to Venice. It was fantastic and I highly recommend visiting this city if you ever get the chance. There's nothing like it in the world! Here are some of our photos from the trip.