reflections of a travel whore

I'm going to throw this out first- I'm a Europhile...I love Europe. I majored in European History in college. I love other places too but Europe has me sprung. If you know me, I usually go to Italy because I'm half Italian and all. I love that country way too much. The history, art, and over all beauty are great. Sure their politics are as shit as our's but once you've been wooed and seduced by an Italian boy you'll understand.

This time last year I was in Italy rounding off my grand European adventure. I've been going to Italy almost yearly now and was certain that I would return this year. However, due to unplanned financial circumstances and such I could not. It totally bummed me out. Anywho, I was thinking about the traveling I have been able to accomplish this year. While I didn't get to step foot on European ground this year, I still went to some cool places near and far.

Earlier this year the buzz was about Jamaica, Jamaica and more Jamaica. The trip finally happened in March and what a hot mess that was. It was fun. Extremely different from my Europhile existence that's for sure. I learned to appreciate the madness of the country even though it was stressful at times to deal with shit. I also want to travel as much as the world as possible so I'm now able to say I've been to the Caribbean.

Jamaica was my only international excursion this year. I was somewhat spoiled after having gone to about 9 different countries in total. My other ventures were more west coast based. I took two trips down to Palm Springs. It may be full of old retirees but it's pretty cheap to go for a couple of nights. I had never been there before so it was cool to check out the fancy desert and stuff-plus I got to go to Coachella, ha!

My last 'major' vacation was to Portland, Oregon. I had been wanting to go to Portland for years. I heard so many good things about the city that I wanted to find out for myself. I've also thought about moving there so I wanted to make sure I liked it just in case I do make it up there. Portland was awesome. I had never been to Oregon. California is the only west coast state I've seen. It was nice to see a new state. Portland is at the top of Oregon so I got to see the whole state. The drive sucked balls and I learned my lesson about road trips and such and such etc etc...It was great though

Being the brat and travel whore that I am, I actually rung in the new year on a mini trip. I was in Maryland visiting a friend. Where am I going with this entry? I'm not so sure myself though...but I was just stuck on not being able to travel a lot this year but in actuality, I've been to a lot of cool places and seen a lot of cool shit. Well done...and the year isn't even over yet.

rocking and rolling my way to creating the perfect escape bag

I'm usually a dedicated blogger in that I never delete blogs and start again. However, times have changed and so have I. This is not my first blog, and it might not be my last blog, but it is my blog and I will write as I want to.

Moving right along

For those of you living in the Los Angeles area we recently had what I would like to call a mild to very moderate earthquake. If you're from California you're pretty well accustomed to the earth rocking and rolling. Personally I've lived through every major quake in the LA area since 1982. My last major earthquake was the Northridge quake of 1994. I was not quite 12 and I vividly remember it. I was asleep, everyone was, until the earth started shaking and shaking more. Things started falling on my head and all I could hear were things breaking, crashing, and rattling-not quite knowing what the breaking, rattling, and crashing were. I remember pulling my comforter over my head to protect myself. The thing about earthquakes is that you never know how long they will last. At first the ground will start shaking, maybe rattling and then it gets harder and shakier. It might die down a bit but still continue to lightly rattle into an even bigger shake. It's all unpredictable. Was this newest earthquake just a small quake or a foreshock to something bigger. I don't know! Know one does, not even those fancy seismology folks. It's a crazy concept. At any given moment there could be a massive earthquake and no one will know it's coming. Leave it to Los Angeles to be located near major fault lines. Los Angeles is a hot mess of a city. When it rains it's like some catastrophic event on the freeways. Los Angeles can't quite handle nature especially earthquakes. Since I have no faith in the city of LA to save me in the event of a natural disaster I decided that I need to take things into my own hands. I decided to create an earthquake kit/escape bag. As a child I always had some sort of bag or box under or around my bed that I had filled with various items like band aids, candy, tissues, you know whatever a child could throw together to make an earthquake kit-nothing that would really be a live saver if I needed one. I'm now older and wiser so I decided to research kits and then custom make my own. Feel free to steal my list or add to it according to your tastes and/or preferences

1. water
2. snacks- granola bars, nuts, canned foods, peanut butter, hard candies, non perishables etc.
3. a change of underwear and socks
4. flashlight with extra batteries
5. emergency contact info
   
6. blanket- you know those cool emergency ones that are in the foil shit
7. utensils, including a non electric hand can opener
   
8. a wide array of bandages, adhesive and non
9. antiseptic wipes and other ointments
10. aspirin and antacids
11. latex gloves and heavy duty plastic garbage bags
    
12. battery powered radio
    
13. duct tape
14. brass knuckles
    
15. hand sanitizer
16. tools- scissors, rope, pocket tool, whistle
    
17. mini alcohol bottles, choose accordingly
18. a good post apocalyptic read, deck of cards, and hot dice
    

suggested items:
cigarettes, a special toy, family photos, taser gun and/or other weaponry

test one two one two

watch out!