Lebanon - If you had been there, you wouldn't have wanted to leave either...

Left Schiphol on Monday morning. Two flights and a stopover in Italy later, we were in Lebanon.

First thoughts:
Free seating on a plane - what is up with that?

People can smoke IN the airport?
Why is the airport one of the busiest ever at 3 am?
I feel under dressed. A little background info on this one: I decided to wear leggings and boots with a boyfriend shirt - dress. Well once we landed I felt super claustrophobic and hot and lost the leggings and boots. Leaving me in ballet flats and a shirt dress. Too much skin for 3 am airport. And too little make-up. Women always look fabulous here. Even at 3 am.

On to Beirut!

We get out of the airport after the immigration officer has extensively checked our passports to make sure we do not have an Israeli stamp in it. If you want to see the world, you have to pick one between Israel and Lebanon. We have a driver waiting for us and take off. I wait for the 'I'm in Lebanon' feeling, but that's kind of absent. I suppose getting onto a highway and into a hotel at 3am won't really give you a good sense of where you are though!

Day 1
The next day we get up and headed to lunch. Or that was the plan at least. I didn't get the memo that I was supposed to be the leader and know where everything was...whoops...didn't study up on my Lonely Planet enough! Note to self: Lonely Planets are amazing, but they are no GPS....you actually have to sit down and study them before you leave...walking and reading and navigating just doesn't go together. Also, it would help if you knew where you were on the map before you ventured out. Do they have Lonely Planet in electronic versions? If not Lonely Planet, it is time for an upgrade. Gen Y does not know how to read from paper. We are in the 21st century after all.

We were wandering with no destination and figured we would run into food...or Ms. Globetrotter here would figure out the Lonely Planet. WRONG. Can we take a cab out of this neighborhood we ended up in? It took some time, but we finally convinced Uncle it would be better if we took a cab. I think we would have wandered forever otherwise. Wandering forever on an empty stomach does not make me happy to be in Beirut...it just makes me wish a McDonalds would magically apppear on the corner. Yup, Ms. Globetrotter is spoiled and always wants to have food at her disposal or she gets crabby. Add heat, and the hotel restaurant is starting to sound good right about now.

We finally take a cab to Rue de Hamas, and find a cafe. Wonderful! I'm happy again and ready for the next adventure! I thought the cans of Diet Pepsi with Arabic writing and the hand written receipt were the coolest thing ever! We were off to a mall, but more about that in my next post. For now, we have every cab in the street honking at us as they drive by, and I suppose we will just get into one and hope we arrive safely.

Signing off from here, there and everywhere,

Ms. Globetrotter

Adventures in Sisterland

Next stop: Brussel!

Sister loves exploring, so we decided to take a way-to-early-for-me train to Brussel. So excited to go to Belgium, even if only for a day! Of course we did not plan anything, but we kind of figured we would find everything we needed at the train station. Little did we know....

Arriving at the station, there was no food. Problem #1: Sister and I both get crabby when we don't eat. Then we couldn't find an exit. Problem # 2: Sister and I are impatient. We finally make it out, and there is no food in site. What city is this?! Problem #3: It starts raining. Ok, can we start over Day? I'd like a redo.

Sister of course comes up with a brilliant solution - something I swore I would never do when still living in NYC - take a Hop on Hop Off tour. it was definitely necessary though. Transportation taking you to all the spots of the city all day and more importantly - we figured we were sure to find food!

We get off at the next stop - it looks cute, we figured there should be a cafe around here. WRONG. There were all these fancy sit down places and an antique market. Where exactly do people get a quick grab and go meal?! Not here apparently.... I start taking my distance from Sister because I swear she is going to kill me even though this is not my fault, haha. While trying to find the next stop we end up finding a little cafe and ordering tea and crepes. Wonderful. You know the mug 'Instant Human Just Add Coffee' - well, try that one with us and food! We couldn't stop laughing over nothing all of a sudden. A quick map study later and we were finally good to go.

We find the next stop...sort of - but end up waiting for 30 minutes and having to run to another stop anyways! Owh well, we made it. At this point, all Sister wants to do is go to a 'normal shopping street', and so we do. Now THIS is life in Brussel. Before we got off at this stop I was wondering if Brussel had anything normal in it. Two awesome jackets from Zara later, and a failed attempt at finding an H&M dress, we go back to the bus and to stock up on some more history. And decide not to walk anymore, we both wore awful shoes. Now I know why tourists never look fashionable! Both of us would pick fashionable over comfortable anyday though!

We get to drive past all the great sites, and only get off once more, at Manneken Pis. I figure this is one attraction we should see. We also stop at the Central Market...which is not a Market. It is basically like the Dam in Amsterdam. I wish I would have known that sooner, it was soo cute!

A long exhausting, but ultimately super fun day later, we were off to Tilburg! Not before a train delay though...but hey, it could be worse!

Loved the trip, had a great time with Sister and ended up loving Brussel. A city with a lot of character.

Travel Tips: Bring food, a map, and good walking shoes! The city is not walkable though, so I'd take the Hop on Hop Off tour even if just for transportation!

And don't forget to have Vlaamse Patat and Belgium Waffles when you are there!

Home is where the heart is...

It isn't home, but it comes close enough.

Here I was - the Netherlands take 4. Have time, will end up here. Nothing new :) . I see my friends there more than they see each other. Or just as much at least.

This time my journey was taking me to Lebanon by way of the Netherlands. I was super excited to FINALLY, after being Lebanese for 23 years and denying it for 75% of that, embrace my heritage and go to the home I never knew. But first, it was catching up with family and friends time!



Stop 1: Tilburg, somewhere in the South. Such a quaint little town and I loved it! Sister has a super cute apartment there and Mom was visiting too. Mom was leaving on Thursday, so I was planning on staying in Tilburg until then. Mom visiting means shoe shopping, and with only 4 days to go, there was no time to waste! Three new pairs of shoes later, we helped Sister paint her apartment (or should I say they painted and I watched?!), bought a toaster microwave oven (yes, they actually exist) and had lots of paninis. And ice cream... Great times.

Stop 2: Rotterdam! Where else. Most of my friends from Suriname live here. Stuffed my face with Surinamese food, gossip and a good dose of the past on night one. Why does it feel like I was here all along?! Saw my wonderful cousin that lives there the next day, went shopping, saw her brother and baby dog, ate more Surinamese food. We had such a good time together in December and it was awesome to be able to hang again in NL. More friends, more food later on. Then crashed at the last friend I still had to see while here. Stayed up till the sun came up. If I didn't have to get on a train the next morning early we would have never gone to bed knowing us! Wonderful wonderful two days. It's what keeps me going back. Loyalty.

Stop 3: Brussel with Sister! Lets leave that for next time. Too much to say about her haha. Cousin arrived from Miami! Will see her tomorrow, so excited!

Stop 4: Amsterdam! Aunt, Uncle 1 and Uncle 2 arrived the day before we left to Lebanon! Such an amazing day hanging out with them, Sister and Cousin! A bit rainy, but we survived. Aunt and Uncles were staying in this funky designer hotel which I would have LOVED but they were mortified! Haha. It was too much, lol. Look up Citizen M if you really want to know.

That night Cousin, her aunt who lives in the Netherlands, and I went to have the most amazing Chinese food I have ever had! I still dream of it. It was in Chinatown in Amsterdam. Do you deliver to the US?

Then I was off to Blast from the Past who I had not talked to in FOREVER, but who I was getting many texts a day from. Somehow we both made our appointment. Who would have thought. We went out to Leidse Plein and has such a good time! Saw a guy I knew in high school who did not even recognize me! I'll take that as a compliment thank you very much. Had a good time dancing the night away. I miss living here even though I never did.

Stop 5: Schiphol. It's the day we leave, and it brings horrible news. Cousin's brother has been in an awful car accident along with an old friend. We are all scared to death and don't know what to do. Time made it better, and all is well, but that day was a black page in history for us and brought on a scary few weeks. Uncle of course had to go back and he was terribly missed in Lebanon, but we'll all go back again together some day.

A random note - growing in different directions but still being on the same page makes the best friends. Thank you for that conversation we had on friendship.

That's it for the Netherlands Part 1 of summer 09. Stay tuned for more summer 09 adventures coming up! Ann Arbor, New Orleans, Lebanon, Belgium, Netherlands Part 2, Indianapolis.

Signing off from here, there and everywhere,

Ms. Globetrotter

Chi-Town

Hey friends!

I'm not in Chicago, but I was a month ago, and I wish I was right now! Ann Arbor is great, don't get me wrong, but I am looking to a week full of paper deadlines and finals and I am not looking forward to it! Instead of writing my papers I of course decided reminiscing about Chicago would be a way better thing to do :) .

Plus, while trying to figure out how my web cam worked on this computer....I found out that Picasa has some new AWESOME features, such as making really cool collages (see above pictures!) and a movie maker! I am so so excited, but I will avoid exploring the features any farther until vacation hits.

Back to Chicago - Grace, Kelly and I went to visit Emma. I was so so excited I was finally making it after a year of promises! It was such a great weekend. All four of us though everyone else wanted to be active but we all wanted to just relax, and then we figured out - that is exactly what every other person wanted to do! Yay! Relaxing weekend in Chicago here we come! Who says you have to be running around a city when visiting. Ashley's travel rule #1: When visiting friends, it is entirely OK to not see a thing in the city! You're there to visit friends after all. Why not have a long weekend on the couch?!

Travel Rule #2: When road tripping to your destination, why not stop at every McDonald's along the way? You're driving after all. And who doesn't want to see a bunch of random cities in Michigan. Indiana and Illinois on the way to Chicago? OK, we didn't actually stop at every McDonald's, but three stops in four hours must be some kind of record?

We finally arrive and what does Emma have - wine and cheese(AKA heaven)!!! O, and the cutest apartment ever! After hanging out a bit and finishing I don't know how much wine and cheese we went to a super cute restaurant with a very flirty bar tender and futuristic swings (see picture collage). No clue what it was called anymore, but we had a great time of course :) . Stop on the rooftop terrass afterwards. Very cool.

Saturday - Bagels and coffee + lots of rain = hanging out at home. Wonderful! Pizza and gossip for lunch, tea and gossip for dessert, wine+cheese+grapes and gossip for....a mid afternoon snack = perfect girls weekend. We did decide to hit the town after and ended up going to....another place that was lovely but of which I forgot the name....wow, remembering details does not seem to be my forte. Anyways, champagne bar first, then a tapas bar. So big city, loved it!

On Sunday we went to Emma's favorite brunch place and then we were off to Ann Arbor again.

One of my favorite weekends this semester for sure! Thanks for having us Emma! Be prepared, I'm coming over again soon :)

It's been too long!

Oh my gosh, I can post through email! That is wonderful. Another reason to fall even more in love with the BlackBerry!

Just a quick note to say hi! I owe posts from Traverse City and Chicago but I am in my final weeks of college so that will have to wait. Also, summer plans got changed. Details soon!

Greetings from Ann Arbor!

Ash
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

“To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” - Aldous Huxley

The quote is so true - I don't think you can describe the feeling you have when you are on the top of a mountain, on another continent, gazing over the ocean. You just had to be there. Travel experiences are priceless.

Suriname always poses that problem: I lived there for 18 years, but I can't explain the country. I have tried, many different ways, but no words are good enough. You just have to visit some time :) (And yes friends, you are always welcome).

That brings me to my current endeavor. The roommate and I are planning to volunteer in the Philippines for a month and after that possibly visit Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. I have several friends who have been to those countries and their pictures and descriptions look and sound amazing, but of course, the above holds true - I can't imagine the place. It sounds wonderful, but I think I just need to be there. I cannot wait! I hope it all works out.

Currently we are only in the beginning stages of planning, and are only focusing on getting our volunteer time finalized, but here is a preview video of Tacloban City, the site where we hope to be:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFxV8kf8XA8&feature=related

First Update of '09

Wow, when I said: 'I have probably given you enough to read until my next update a year later' in my last post, I did not actually think I would not be writing anything until 8 months later, but such is life I guess :) . I am always running around doing something, and blogging is not high priority.

Anyway, here I am again. Last semester kind of flew by. It was good fun, but a little too late to write about I suppose :) . Since this blog was mostly created to write about my travels, I'll start by talking about Suriname briefly.

Going home is always good fun, but this time was one of my most fun trips back home! I started off my staying with Isabel in Miami for a weekend. One night of chilling out, one mall day, a pair of shoes, and a super fun Caribbean party later, I was off again! I should stop through Miami more often!

During my 3 weeks in Suriname, I hung out with family a lot, was the MC at a horseback riding competition, went zip lining at a new resort, wandered around town, hung out with old friends, and just generally enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere and warmth of home. It is really an opportunity to re-energize. Since pictures speak a million words, here are some pictures:

Ok, uploading became tiring...so that'll be it for now :) . Will hopefully be back soon! xo