I’m a bad traveler; I don’t like getting out of my comfort zone. Since I’m a plus-sized, curmudgeonly woman who doesn’t fit easily into boxes, I have to do out-of-the-box thinking to ensure my comfort and prevent meltdowns when I travel. I’m not built physically or emotionally such that I can hop into the corner store and purchase what I forget to pack. Fortunately, my traveling experiences started in the UK, where people speak English and everything is the same as here – almost. Then I moved on to less similar locales: Netherlands, Italy, Japan, Mexico (San Miguel, not the spring break destinations). My firstRead More →

The first time I bought a DK travel guide was our trip to Amsterdam a few years ago. I looked at several books, and bought only two: DK’s Amsterdam and Holland books. I felt quite fortunate for my selection. Unlike many of the guides, the DK travel guides are very pictorial. They have breakout images of key sights so that you know exactly where to look. This works for visually oriented travelers. The Amsterdam and Holland books included a delightful canal walk. A long, glossy page unfolds from the book, and it depicts detailed images of the buildings along the canal. The page provides tidbitsRead More →

Since I never got a chance to blog about my trip to Scotland: We went Easter week in April because the husband was presenting at the Labour Process Conference again. We stayed mostly in Edinburgh, but we did take a day trip outside of the city. The city of Edinburgh is very cool. The central part of the city, the Royal Mile, part of Old Town, is formed on a ridge or spine that runs from the Edinburgh Castle to the Holyrood Palace. Each of these buildings is fascinating. I spent most of my time on and around the Royal Mile. The Edinburgh Castle isRead More →