Finding new adventures

Everyone who loves to travel has a bucket list of places they want to go, or things they want to do. Sometimes the list is a formal one, longingly written in a journal or commonplace book or typed into a computer document. Ever evolving, probably being added to faster than items can be crossed off. Sometimes the list is short and unspoken, internalized. The person who swears that one day (s)he will see Paris from atop the Eiffel Tower, or gaze upon the Sphinx whilst camelback, or snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef.

These are dreams that are so ingrained in a person that there's no need to be on the lookout for them. But not all travel has to be of the major vacation, fulfilling-a-lifelong-goal variety. There's also the day trip, overnight, long weekend, close-to-home adventure out there waiting to be discovered. People have often asked me, "How did you hear about that place?"

So here are some of my secrets to finding new adventures:

• Local and/or National Magazines- I religiously read Sunset Magazine and make notes of recommended hotels, restaurants, and things to do. Sunset focuses on life in the Western U.S., but there are usually other regional magazines, such as Southern Living, that would do the trick for different parts of the country. Sunset always has a section for day or weekend trips to places I never would have thought to visit. Who would think to spend a whole day visiting Alameda, or spending  a night in Petaluma?
  
  National publications, such as Travel + Leisure are also good, but more for those "pie in the sky" someday trips. But here's where technology can be your friend. I make notes of recommended hotels, eateries and sights in a database. That way if the opportunity for a trip to Italy or Japan ever comes up, I've already got a head start on planning.

•  Travel Channel- Though it may feel like they've gone away from their original format a bit, and there are more shows that do nothing for me ("Baggage Battles," "Bizarre Foods," "Ghost Adventures") than shows that are truly useful (Samantha Brown, Anthony Bourdain, etc.), I sometimes still find inspiration from cable TV. I must confess to having a spreadsheet with over 1,000 entries of nothing but places to eat that I saw watching Travel Channel or Food Network shows. It may seem like a waste of time to some, but I'll tell you, when you suddenly find yourself going to Portland, Oregon, and the list says that Voodoo Doughnut is a must, you'll be glad for compulsive note-taking.

• Online Deal Sites- If research and note-taking isn't your thing because you're more about spontaneity, consider signing up for one or more of the various "daily deal"-type websites out there. I love, love, love Travelzoo. Every Wednesday they publish their "Top 20" travel deals. Some are international, but there are usually really good local deals as well. Last year Emma, Scout and I went whale watching on Monterey Bay for $25 each with a Travelzoo deal. Groupon has teamed with Expedia to offer their Groupon Getaways, and there's also Living Social and Google Offers, and Travel + Leisure has a deals site called Vacationist for deals on upscale hotels. A couple of years back Emma and I got a great deal at the Tonga Room at the Fairmont in San Francsico through Google. Just be sure that the site you've signed up for is reputable, and be aware that there's potential for your in-box to be flooded with emails.

~Lizzie~

Re-re-introductions

This is the part where your faithful blogesses confess to not being so faithful after all. Has it really been more than a year since our last post? Shameful. 

Perhaps it's time for a re-commitment ceremony of sorts.

Hi there. We're Emma and Lizzie. We both work in libraries. We both like to travel.

In actuality one of the reasons our blog has fallen by the wayside in the last couple  of years is that we were both assigned to work in the same section of the same library within our system. And our system has been incredibly short-staffed for more than a few years now. So getting time off to go on BFF trips was extremely difficult. During this period we each traveled independently of each other-- Emma to San Diego, Oregon, Seattle and Las Vegas; Lizzie back to the UK. And there's always Disneyland and San Francisco. 

But the recent professional separation of your dynamic duo-- Emma finally got her dream job working in her hometown branch-- means we can hopefully return to our globetrotting ways. We have one adventure under our belt already, more on that in a soon-to-be-written post, and we've got something very interesting in the hopper. 



~Emma and Lizzie~

Dark Side... FTW

Holy cow, has it REALLY been that long since our last post? Well, if I was going to come back with a post, I'm happy it's with Star Wars Day with the San Francisco Giants.

Sundays = Free Parking! 

Lizzie and I got to the City right early in the morning and after we found free street parking (hooray for Sundays!), we took a walk to  American Grilled Cheese. It was closed. 

You know how Xena had her signature yodel? The Library Girls have a signature exclamation, "ADVENTURES". It's to remind us of the bigger task at hand... no matter what happens, life is always an adventure! That... and a nice way to say "we'll laugh about this later."

Lizzie was a sad panda because the Giants lost. 

After a teeny brunch at Red's Java House, we met up with Real Paul and made our way to the ballpark. 

This man's outfit was intriguing. Giants hat and shirt but a Wicked sweatshirt!
I'm also nosy... take a look at his book! 

The game started off great, but spiraled into a loss. We did, though, manage to get excited about Amy G. sitting at the end of our row (Lizzie and I had to excuse ourselves on our way back from a nacho excursion), Lou Seal dancing behind us and The Empire Strikes Back after the game. 

Enjoy the fun pictures of the game and the great Star Wars surprises that the San Francisco Giants had for us!

 

You know where I'm going this week?!?!?!?

It's about that time again! In fact, I will be leaving tomorrow to enjoy the spoils of a summer well worked. From preview night to Sunday, follow me through the panels, cosplay and after hours fun! This year, I have a special friend who will be coming with me to help me share the experience.

My hope is to take some time out to share pictures and videos of my time in San Diego and give our fans a taste of the best weekend ever! :)

NERDS UNITE!


xoxoxoxo
Emma

Scouting Report: Top 3 Rules for Traveling By Yourself

Hey guys! So as you know by now, I am the famous Scout. Well my mom has given me the chance to write for the blog while I’m up in the great, cloudy state of Washington. So since it’s the first week, I’ve decided to write my top 3 rules for traveling , especially by yourself, and they go as follows.

1. Don’t be” that” guy (or girl) on a plane. Now we have all had “that” person sit next to us, let them be noisy, obnoxious, rude, etc. Try to make sure that other people don’t have that same story about you. What I do is first either get a window or aisle seat. This ensures that if you do bother someone then it’s only 1 person. Then take either my nook or Sudoku book out or both. Once you hit 10,000 feet, your ipod or mp3 player is your best friend. I only take them off if the flight attendant comes for my drink order (which even then I might not remove them) and when we begin our descent. Also make sure you don’t sing along to your music because I know I have a problem with that. XD

2. Triple check that you have gum and a jacket. Gum is a necessity when on a plane. My ears are super sensitive so they plug up easily and pop not so easily. I have also learned that if you sit next to a little kid and their parent, their parent will love you forever when the kid throws a tantrum because their ears hurt and you offer delicious, nom-nomy gum. Also since I travel to an always cold and cloudy Washington, bring a jacket. This also helps if your seat neighbor decides to crank their air conditioning to full blast.

3. Never miss a chance to pee. This rule is probably the most important and pretty self-explanatory. I highly dislike airplane bathrooms. They are small, cramped and you cannot make a line or “congregate” in front when you really have to go. So go to the bathroom in the terminal. They are the exact opposite of the airplane. Big, roomy, and you can make a line . Even you don’t have that urge, go anyway. It’s better for everyone.

So those are my top 3 rules for traveling especially by yourself. I hope that these rules helped and remember to tune in to the blog (almost) every week for….ME!!!

:D

Scout

Surprises from afar!

Hey everyone!

I know, I know... long time no write. I don't blame any of you for being angry at me, but don't worry, there's a special blogger that I've invited to grace us with her presence.

Scout, in addition to being an amazing kid, is also a fantastic writer. At only 13, she's agreed to share some of her travel musings with us.  (I'm not biased...right?)

I hope you enjoy Scout's writings that will be called: The Scouting Report

It's Baseball Season Again!

We're working on new posts for everyone to enjoy! Until then, enjoy these pictures from The Library Girls' fun trip to the SF Giants Spring training last year!

It was raining in CA when we left. Lizzie thought it would
be awesome if we had yummy sno-cones. 

I agreed. It was good! 

Scottsdale Stadium, the Giants' Spring Training home! 

We were granted access to go into the stadium
before the general public. 

We got to hang out in the dugout. Pablo Sandoval
was getting interviewed right behind us! 

I snuck this picture. I was freaking out. 

Best. Breakfast. EVER!
Matt's Big Breakfast in Phoenix! It was worth the wait. 

 and enduring these offensive pants
during that wait.