Things to Avoid in Rome, and Experiencing Them Anyway

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Kizzle

Ah, Civitavecchia. All of the interpreters were free to roam as they pleased at this port. Well, all but me. A 3-person project team (2 students and a leader) needed one of the interpreters to accompany them to both interpret and act as a body guard. 5’1″ bodyguard who doesn’t speak any Italian. Right.

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Between our engagements, we had some time to roam around and decided to go check out the Colosseum. Lying in wait around said Colosseum are, of course, men dressed up in Roman soliders, just waiting for their camera-wielding prey. Continue reading →

Posted in ITALY, PEACE BOAT, SENGAWA, TEACHING, TOKYOish | 1 Comment

Wine Tasting in Greece

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Kizzle

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Though I’d worked on tours previously on this voyage (Singapore//Vietnam//India), this was the first time since crossing the Indian Ocean that I was going to be interpreting English to Japanese on my own (and really, I was simply nervous for most English to Japanese interpretations). Nervous was my middle name.

I barely remember stumbling through the explanations of the buildings that comprised the Olympic village over the summer of 2004 and all of the stories of the Greek Gods in relation to all of the ports in the area, one of which, Piraeus, was the port at which our ship was patiently waiting for us.

After what felt like both an eternity and half of a moment, we arrived at the winery. Continue reading →

Posted in DRINK, GREECE, PEACE BOAT, Wine | 8 Comments

#TeamHilary

Posted on May 4, 2013 by Kizzle

My favorite part about travel blogging is the opportunity that it creates to share stories with people about their journeys. Singly, they are great stories, but followed over time, you start to understand what shapes that person and you really get to know them despite perhaps never having met them face to face. One of my said blog friends is Miss Hilary Billings.

The first thing that drew me to her blog is that she too have a life changing journey in Nicaragua! And what kept me going back was her story telling and dedication to it. When she’s not off on a crazy adventure, she’s off on some crazy job, such as helping the Muppets shoot a music video with CeeLo Green, so saying that she has some unique stories to tell is an understatement.

She’s a crazy cat lady, but the cats she loves tend to be lions.
She also happens to be on the short list to be a Park Ranger for one of Tourism Australia’s Best Jobs in the World.
Continue reading →

Posted in RANDOM | Leave a comment

See/Do/Taste Seattle

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Kizzle


Ah, Seattle. My home. I may choose to live elsewhere, but I will always love this dear mid-sized city. And you should too!

Here’s how…
1) Visit more than one neighborhood. Don’t worry, it’s all histper-grunge.
2) Ignore the rain. Seriously. Get a Goretex and get over it.
3) Love nature.
4) Read this BuzzFeed Article about Truths that every Seattleite knows.

Quick note: I started making this, it kind of got out of hand so… I hope you have some time. I’ll also do my best to update this as I find/remember new things. Continue reading →

Posted in ITINERARY, SEATTLE | 25 Comments

The Most Memorable Restaurant in Kusadasi

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Kizzle

Kusadasi Alleyway After wandering around and around, we turned down this alleyway. I wanted to know what those men on the left side were up to. Was it an out-of-the-way restaurant? No, it was a few groups of old Turkish men sitting around playing cards. There was, however, a restaurant with no customers on the other side of the alley, whose owner yelled “Konnichiwa” out to us. Turned off by the fact that he could greet us in Japanese, we walked to a çay place just around the corner.

As quaint and perfect the çay place looked, something stopped us and made us turn around. A couple of the girls had stayed to poke into this restaurant and soon we all stood, skeptical, as the owner half verbally & half with charades insisted “2 Euros per person, just sit. I’ll bring you food.” Continue reading →

Posted in FOOD, PEACE BOAT, TURKEY | 8 Comments

Cold Tapas and a Quest to Find the Perfect Restaurant

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Kizzle

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We made a rookie mistake as our taxi driver brought us back to port. We asked for a restaurant recommendation instead of asking where he liked to eat. He dropped the taxi off with his coworkers and walked us to a place with lots of cold tapas and kebabs. It was sad parting ways with him as we had had such a great time with him, thanks in large part to Pitbull. Continue reading →

Posted in FOOD, PEACE BOAT, TURKEY | 8 Comments

The Cats of Ephasus

Posted on March 30, 2013 by Kizzle

I’m not a huge cat person, but they are growing on me, especially when they have clearly made an ancient Greek and Roman ruin their home. I’ve also taken the liberty of naming all of them.

Nelson:

"I like to people watch"

“I like to people watch”

Continue reading →

Posted in ANIMALS, PEACE BOAT, TURKEY | Tagged | 15 Comments

That One Taxi Ride… oh yeah, and some ancient ruin (Part II)

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Kizzle

Ephasus with the girls II)')">

Ephasus was one of those places that was amazing but also gave me the same kind of anxiety as the Amber Fort in Jaipur. These places have few areas that are roped off so you can run around as you please and really enjoy the experience of being there. However, I tend to simultaneously have constant anxiety that if all of us are able to go/touch/climb whatever we want, won’t the beautiful architecture and craftsmanship rub down? Not everyone is a considerate tourist who doesn’t feel the need to touch and climb on everything in sight. That being said, I usually give into said anxiety and end up walking around like I’m in a glass house.

Excavating! II)')">

Excavating!

OK, not really. Continue reading →

Posted in PEACE BOAT, TURKEY | 6 Comments

That One Taxi Ride… oh yeah, and some ancient ruin (Part I)

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Kizzle

Road to Ephasus
There was that one taxi ride when I thought I was going to get stuck in the middle of the desert and there was this taxi ride, where I thought we were going to be abducted. You might be thinking “Over-react much??” In case you haven’t already picked up on it, I’m the queen of paranoia.

After battling it out with some touts and generally being hassled in Egypt, we found our vessel docked at Kusadasi, Turkey. The town was walkable from the port, but we arrived in port so early that nothing would be open. As we were deboarding, we kept hearing the word “Ephasus” so a few of the other volunteer interpreters and I decided to shop around the taxis that were waiting by the port to see if we could get there for a reasonable price.
Continue reading →

Posted in PEACE BOAT, TURKEY | 16 Comments

Pyramids of Giza- Worth It?

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Kizzle

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The road between Port Said and Cairo is long, straight, and narrow so there’s nowhere to escape if highway robbers deem you a good target (and a Japanese tourist seems to be the universally accepted good target). The travel agency on the boat created a tour specifically for staff so that we could go to Cairo safely. Ours was the last of a caravan of over 10 tour buses, accompanied by the tourist police including two men actually aboard each bus. One was quite heavily armed. It took a couple hours, though I can’t tell you exactly how long because we all napped on the way there. That was, until one of the tour buses clipped another. Tour bus on 2 wheels? Legitimately heart stopping. (And unfortunately something the heavily armed man couldn’t help us out with.) Continue reading →

Posted in EGYPT | 12 Comments