TSA Stories

I was reading some interesting articles on the TSA blog about things that the agents find on passengers traveling by plane. 

This was a great one about an aquarium:

" Nomadic Aquarium for People on the Go: A passenger was transporting live fish, eels and coral in their checked baggage at Miami (MIA). The passenger was attempting to transport 163 marine tropical fish, 12 Trachemys Scripta (red sliders), 22 invertebrates, 24 live coral pieces, 8 pieces of Scleactinina with mushroom polyps, and 8 pieces of soft coral to Maracaibo (MAR). The passenger surrendered the items to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. We’re not in the business of looking for marine life, but you can probably imagine how odd this looked on our monitor. "


You can read a bunch of other ones at:
blog.tsa.gov

Travel Nightmares

I was on a trip to Rome with a friend once and she left her purse in a restaurant that we had just finished eating at. Inside the purse was her passport, travelers checks, and some vital medicine so needless to say the panic set in when she discovered it was missing  several minutes later. I'll never forget running from the old ruins just before you get to the Colosseum up until 2 miles of stairs and traffic to get back to the restaurant where we had eaten. I was relieved to speak with the the waiter who said someone had turned it in and was even more relieved once I had it in my hands to hand to my friend.

I recount this travel nightmare to encourage any of my readers to share their experiences be it lost luggage, passport issues, or even just plain food poisoning.

Italy

Over my many years of traveling no other country has felt more like a potential home than Italy. I can't explain what it is about the hustle and bustle of small cars weaving in and out between tourists eating their gelato as they take in the rich culture of this beautiful country.

I have had the privilege of going to Florence, Rome, Venice, Pisa, and the Amalfi Coast. I love finding those small restaurants just over the Ponte Vecchio in Florence and enjoying fine Italian food in a truly authentic Italian environment or touring the sights of Rome from the Spanish Steps to the Colosseum.

There are plenty of romantic hot spots in Italy, the Amalfi Coast and Isle of Capri to name a couple. Has anyone else experienced the death defying bus ride on the coast on the way down to Amalfi? That was an experience I'll never forget and once there the Lemon-cello is a must try.

I would love to hear some of your best recommended spots so that I can make my next trip to Italy an even better one.

HotelsEasy.Net

There are tons of great sites out there to compare hotels, flights, and even car rental prices. One site that I use and find the most helpful when searching for hotels is www.hotelseasy.net. It has similar searches to most other all encompassing search sites but seems to offer a wider range of hotels to choose from.

The site itself is very easy to use you simply plug in the dates and destination then browse the long lists of hotels to connect to for completing your booking.

I would love to hear your feedback on using this site as well as suggestions for other sites.

 hotelseasy.net

Welcome!

Welcome to my brand new travel blog that will encompass all things travel related including hopefully anyways stories form my readers about some of the trips they've taken.

Each week I will update this blog with either features about great hotels, interesting places to visit, budget travel, and a whole range of topics completely dedicated to the exciting world of traveling.

Please feel free to leave comments (no spam!)or submit guest articles for me to post and share with the travel enthusiasts of the world.