If anyone out there is interested in exchanging links just let me know by leaving a comment! I’d love to check out some of the various travel blogs that are out there but it’s hard to know where to even start.

If you’d like to exchange links just leave a comment! Thanks!

Emily over at Maiden Voyage Travel recently talked about her Top 20 travel goals. It made me think about places that I’d like to visit and experience. Here’s my list and I’m not sure I’ll get to 20 but maybe over time I will.

1. Australia: I’ve wanted to visit Australia for as long as I can remember. It just looks amazing and beautiful. I’m always keeping an eye on deals just in case I find myself able to actually afford a trip. I’m hoping to get there in a few years hopefully.

2. Ireland: I’m not sure why Ireland but it’s on my list. A friend of mine had the chance to visit and I fell in love with the scenery and landscapes after she shared all her amazing photos. It doesn’t hurt that I think Irish accents are high on top the hot accent list either.

3. New Orleans: I don’t want to go during Mardi Gras but I do want to experience New Orleans. I’ve talked about going before and I’m hoping to make a trip next year. The history of the area is deep and I’m a sucker for haunted hotspots.

4. London: One main reason I want to go is to check out the catacombs. The whole idea just sounds really neat. I’m sure I could spend all day just checking those out. I’d like to go on the Jack The Ripper Tour as well. Morbid I know but that’s how I roll.

5. Florence: I’d love to visit Florence one day. I’m not sure when but it’s something I really want to try and make happen. The architecture alone is worth a trip. Another reason I’d like to visit is because the film “Hannibal” was filmed in Florence and while researching that I found an interesting website that maps out his travels in the city. I think that’s kind of neat and different.

As you can see my list is pretty short right now but as time goes on I’m sure I’ll be adding to it and hopefully crossing some things off as well.

If you don’t know what San Deigo Comic Con (SDCC) is don’t feel bad. I really had no clue what it was until this past year.

At Comic-Con, the programming incorporates the whole realm of pop culture, and in particular, the science fiction, horror, action, adventure, and animation genres. And Comic-Con is a big deal: the annual gathering is where the major comic book publishers like DC Comics and Marvel Comics unveil their latest projects. It’s where Hollywood presents exclusive previews of their upcoming productions, presented by the actual directors and stars of the films. It’s where retailers gather to discuss issues within the industry. And it’s where the latest merchandise is rolled out (action figures are a big deal here.)

That’s how About.com sums it up. I’ll be attending for the “pop culture” aspect of the Con. Last year there were a number of shows that I love in attendence including Dexter, Big Bang Theory, Bones, Burn Notice & Psych. It’s a great way to get some inside info and have a chance to meet some of the stars. Another awesome part is the fact that many of the shows & movies that attend Comic Con give out some one of a kind swag that you can only get by being there.

As of right now nothing major has been announced as far as who’ll be there. Normally that’s not announced until a few weeks before the event. I’m hoping most of my shows are in attendence but this isn’t something you can just sit around and wait to buy tickets for. The 4 day passes are sold out as are certain single day tickets.

You can learn more about Comic Con here. If you want to see a ton of pictures you can visit the San Diego Comic-Con International Flickr group.

I’ve been wanting to go to The National Musuem of Crime & Punishment in DC for awhile now. I’m a big reader of true crime and enjoy watching shows like Forensic Files and Cold Case Files as well as the random biography on certain crimes/killers. Luckily I have a friend who’s into crime related stuff as much as I am.

The museum is located in the Gallery Place/Chinatown area of DC which makes it pretty easy to get to. We’ll be hopping onto the metro to make our way down. It’s made up of three floors , 25,000 square feet and features over 100 interactive exhibits. One floor I believe is dedicated to the filming of America’s Most Wanted. Along with the exhibits they offer CSI Workshops and even a book club! How exciting is that? My friend and I plan on attending a Blood & DNA Workshop when we visit. It’s only $5 extra and sounds pretty interesting.

The murder in apartment 13, the museum’s own crime scene exhibit, remains unsolved. Three suspects have been captured, but the three suspects have three very different stories. Each describes a different event and a different murder weapon. In this workshop you will learn how blood spatter evidence and luminol can help identify the weapon used to commit a crime and how DNA can place a suspect at the scene of the murder. This is an interactive workshop where you see the evidence and help recreate it to solve the crime.

We plan on trying to go in March or April. It depends on when they offer the workshop that we want. They don’t have an April schedule yet and March is a busy month for the both of us. We’re really excited though and can’t wait to make a day out of it.

In case you’re wondering ticket prices range between $12 and $19.95 depending on the various discounts offered (kids, military…) or if you purchase tickets online. If you’re a “local” which includes DC, Maryland & Virginia you lucked out. You can visit for just $6 on Sundays now through March 14th!

I’ll be sure to post about the visit as soon as it happens! If you’ve been there before feel free to leave a comment about your visit.

This morning I was checking my email and noticed I had one from Southwest letting me know I now had enough Rapid Rewards credits for a free round trip flight! I’ve been waiting for this in order to book my airfare for San Diego in July. It’s the whole reason I applied for the Southwest Visa. I was able to save myself about $400! My flight ended up costing only $7.50 and that’s the 9-11 fee or whatever they call it now.

I had never used Rapid Rewards before and was surprised at how easy it was to use them. I just logged into my account and picked my flights and done. It was that easy. The best part is I had been keeping an eye on certain flights that I liked and was able to book those flights. I’m actually having a stop at MDW in Chicago that way a friend who’s going will be able to be on the same flight as me which is nice. The flight home though is a non-stop.

I’m really excited and can’t wait. I’m working on having a special Comic Con post to explain what it is for those of you who don’t know. Hopefully I’ll have that together soon.

Another month is over and that means one month closer to Comic Con. The only thing left that I need to do is purchase my airline tickets. I’m going to be using Southwest and hopefully I’ll be using my Rapid Reward credits! That’ll save me $400! I signed up for their Southwest Visa card through a promotion I received. I already have 7.5 credits plus I have a flight in May which gives me another 2 credits plus the offer I received will give me 16 first use credits and 2 credits for a balance transfer. I’ve already been approved, now I just have to wait to get the card and earn my credits!

I actually went back and forth on the idea of getting the credit card because it does have a yearly fee. In the end though I thought saving $400 was worth it plus I plan on using the card for travel related purchases only. I think I actually earn double points on those purchases which is always good.

I really can’t wait for Comic Con! 168 Days!

Original Post: December 2008

I arrived back home today from Playa Del Carmen! I had an awesome time and I’m going to do my best in relaying that in my post. I’m going to do one text post (this post) and follow it up with a picture post. There’s just way too much for one post. I’m going to try and space the two posts out to give people time to read everything before moving onto the photos.

Saturday:
The big day. The day where my parents would be surprised at the airport. In case you missed it, my dad’s side of the family including my parents planned on going to Mexico. The plans were made last year and that’s when my one Uncle said he’d pay for myself and my sister as long as it stayed a surprise. Mission Accomplished. We made sure to get to the airport first. We checked in just in the nick of time. As we reached the counter my mom & dad showed up along with my Aunt & Uncle. The rest of the family had to take a separate shuttle from the airport to BWI. Luckily my parents didn’t see us and we made it through check in and security without being spotted. We hang out at the gate and when we see my parents coming we run over and surprise them. They asked what we were doing there, if we were there to say good bye and that’s when we showed them our tickets. My mom almost cried! It was pretty funny. To make a long story short, everyone boarded the plane and we made our way to Playa Del Carmen. Saturday was spent pool & beach side at the resort which worked for me! The ocean and beaches were amazing! You’ll see in the pictures.

Monday: Xcaret
Xcaret is an Eco Park. It’s almost like a zoo but in the middle of the Mayan jungle. You can swim with dolphins, snorkel, have your picture taken with various critters, cruise down a calm river or just walk around the park and admire all the ruins and what nature has to offer. I was able to see Jaguars, Spider Monkeys, Boars, Macaws, Iguanas and tons of other wild animals. It was pretty awesome. At the end of the night we stayed to watch a show that told the history of the area. It was awesome. It was about two hours and featured songs, dance and wonderful costumes. It was really breath taking to watch! I think this one of the longest days of the week. We arrived at the park around 9am and we got back to the resort at about 9pm. After a day of walking and heat, I went right to bed.

Tuesday: Horseback Riding & Dolphins
This was the day I had been waiting for. A day filled with animals that I love. We woke up bright and early to head off to go horseback riding. We didn’t just ride on a trail though, we took the horses INTO the ocean! You have no idea how fucking weird and awesome it is. The only down side was the weather was a little icky and the water was a rough but I still had a blast but riding bareback on a horse is NOT fun. It actually kind of hurts. An hour or so after that adventure it was time for swimming with the dolphins! I was beyond excited for this. I’ll admit I was a little nervous too but it was all good. We were able to do a belly ride, hug, kiss, boogie board push and feel the dolphin plus we had time for some smaller tricks like having the dolphin dance, “sing” and splash around. I think I had a smile plastered on my face the entire time. It was amazing and beyond awesome. I’m so glad I had a chance to do it and I’d recommend it to everyone. You have a new respect for the animal and just how smart they are.

Wednesday: Sick
No, “Sick” isn’t some cool club or park, I was actually sick. I woke up around 4am with a very upset belly. I was back and forth between the bathroom and bed for about an hour. I won’t disgust you with details but it wasn’t pretty. Needless to say I didn’t wander far from a bathroom on this day. I stayed pool side and read a book and tried to get some sun thinking it would help. The whole day I had that nasty feeling you have when you’re sick. That feeling that at any moment you could just get sick. If I was home I would’ve stayed in bed all day but since I was on vacation I tried my best to suck it up and enjoy the day, which I did.

Thursday: Into Town
Thursday I was feeling much better. I was worried I’d be sick the rest of the trip but luckily that wasn’t the case. Thursday we had a lazy day in the town of Playa Del Carmen. We had lunch at a little local place that took two hours. We weren’t too happy about that but what are you going to do? They run on Mexican Time. After we finally finished lunch we headed out and did a little shopping. I ended up buying a nice Mexican blanket for a friend for $4.50. Some places had them for almost $20! What the hell? That’s really the only thing I ended up buying in town. We had planned on doing more but since lunch took an unexpected amount of time we missed out on doing something’s like going over to Cozumel or checking out Senor Frogs. I still had a good time though and enjoyed checking out the little town and seeing some sights besides the resort.

Friday: Xel-ha
Xel-Ha is along the same lines as Xcaret but it focuses more on water. It’s a huge natural water park and aquarium. You can snorkel, scuba, check out various fish and wildlife, jump off cliffs or just float around in a tube all day. The choice is yours. I tried snorkeling but I didn’t really like it. I don’t like the mask covering my nose and I don’t like having to breathe through a tube. It’s just not my think. I’d rather just wear the mask and check out the sea life that way. Since I didn’t like it too much and the water was a bit cold I headed back to our lounge area while everyone else enjoyed snorkeling. When everyone else was finished we walked around the park which included going over a floating bridge, feeding fish, checking out cenotes and jumping off the Cliff of Courage. It’s exactly what you think. It’s a cliff over the river that’s about 15 feet high that you can jump off of. I know what you’re thinking. Those 15 feet doesn’t sound that bad. I agree, until you’re the one standing on the edge of those 15 feet. I swear it took about 20-30 attempts before I finally jumped. In the end though I finally did it and was pretty proud of myself. By that time it was time to head back to our little area and pack up for the day. We had to head back and meet our van that would take us back to the resort. This was another long day. We were up around 7am, got to the park around 9am and we were back around 5pm in order to make it to dinner.

That pretty much sums up the highlights of the trip, and the one lowlight. The time in-between outings were spent at the beach or at the pool. The weather was pretty good until the last two days when it got a little too breezy and cool. I think I ate way too much and drank way too much but hey, it’s all-inclusive and you don’t want that to go to waste! I know this post is a little long but I tried my best to keep it short. If I remember anything else I’ll be sure to add it to the picture post.

In December 2008 I went to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico for the first time. This post is from my personal blog but I wanted to share it here as well. This post just contains pictures from the trip. I have another post waiting in the wings about everything that I did while on vacation. You can see more pictures in my SmugMug account.

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Original Post: December 2008

I know this is the post everyone has been waiting for. It took awhile to upload all the pictures since I took close to 350. I know, I couldn’t believe I took that many! Since I have a shitload to share I’m going to try and break them down and I’m using thumbnails. You know the drill. If you’d like to see the full size photo just click it and if you’d like to see all images just click here.

The Resort

The Beach:

Xel-Ha:

Xcaret:

Myself:

Randoms:

Dolphins:

Since Southwest was having a sale I went ahead and booked a flight out to visit my friend who lives in Chicago. I’ve been out there a few times now and really enjoy it. We’ve already made plans for that Saturday and I’m beyond exciting. We booked our own private ghost tour with Weird Chicago Tours!

It’s only $450 with $100 down for 16-20 people. They say that the bus they use can fit 20 but it’s a tight fit, that 16 is a better number. As of right now we have 9 “Yes” and about 7 “Maybe.” It’s about 3 hours and our tour will be starting around 10pm. We wanted to make sure it was nice and dark to add to the spookyness. They have a couple different tours to pick from and we went with the classic:

Weird Chicago’s History & Hauntings Tour
This is our standard (although rarely ever the same thing twice!) tour of Chicago’s most haunted places, crime spots, disaster sites and all around weird stuff. We travel throughout the city in search of Chicago’s spookiest and strangest places and take visitors along for a first-hand look at what makes it one of the most haunted cities in America! This 3-hour tour offers both on and off the bus locations and visits a wide array of authentic haunts on the north side, west side and the Loop. Each tour is different but is guaranteed to send shivers down the spine! Embraced by ghost enthusiasts and history buffs alike, you won’t find another ghost tour like it in Chicago!

I did ask though when I reserved it if we could add a side of serial killer since I’m a true crime buff. Maybe we can sneak a little John Wayne Gacy or H.H. Holmes into the mix.

I’m really looking foward to the tour and just visiting Chicago again. Believe it or not, I think this is my first trip during nice weather. All my other Chicago trips have been in the winter/fall months. No idea why, it just always seemed to work out that way. Hopefully this time I’ll make it out to Wrigley Field.

This post was first published on my personal blog but I thought it belonged here as well. My best friend lives in Chicago and while out there on a visit we went on a Chicago ghost tour. This is the review I typed up.

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Original publish date: January 28, 2008

I’m back from my trip to Chicago and all missions were accomplished!

I’d have to say the best part of the trip was the Ghost Tour. It.Was.Awesome. If you’re ever in Chicago (or live in Chicago) be sure to go on it! You learn a ton of history about the area and the tours are always different. When I go back I’m totally going on another tour.

I liked the fact that the tour was educational. You learned about the city, the events that cause Chicago to be haunted and other little random facts. It wasn’t just “This place is haunted. Moving on….” The tour guide and the bus driver really took the time to explain everything and even shared their own experiences.

The first stop on the tour was Death Alley which you can find behind the Oriental Theatre. Before the Oriental stood there, there was The Iroquois Theatre.

The Iroquois Theater Fire in Chicago, Illinois, claimed 602 lives on December 30, 1903. It is, as of 2008, the single-building fire in U.S. history with the most fatalities, claiming over 100 more fatalities than the Cocoanut Grove fire in Boston. The Iroquois Theater, at 24-28 West Randolph Street, was advertised as “absolutely fireproof.” The theatre opened on November 23rd and burned 37 days later on December 30th. Over 1,900 people were in attendance at a matinee showing of the popular musical Mr. Bluebeard.

It’s said that you can at times smell smoke, hear screaming, feel cold spots and even actually see apparitions. Death Alley is where around 100 of those that perished jumped to their deaths. When they reached the window, they expected to see a fire escape but it hadn’t been installed. Some of the people who jumped managed to survive because they landed on the bodies of those who jumped before them.

The next stop on our tour was the location of the Eastland Disaster. It took place on the Chicago River when the Eastland capsized. 841 people, including 22 families, died. Some of the reasons for this disaster was the fact the ship was past capacity with 2,500 onboard and what the crew did to try and stabilize the ship and allow more “room” for the passengers.

The crew attempted to stabilize the ship by admitting water to its ballast tanks, but to little avail. Sometime in the next 15 minutes, perhaps owing to a passing canoe race on the river side of the ship, a number of passengers rushed to the port side, and at 7:28am, the Eastland lurched sharply to port and then rolled completely onto its side, coming to rest on the river bottom, which was only 20 feet below the surface. Many other passengers had already moved below decks on this relatively cool and damp morning to warm up before the departure. Consequently, hundreds were trapped inside by the water and the sudden rollover; others were crushed by heavy furniture, including pianos, bookcases, and tables. Although the ship was only 20 feet from the wharf, and in spite of the quick response by the crew of a nearby vessel, the Kenosha, which came alongside the hull to allow those stranded on the capsized vessel to leap to safety, a total of 841 passengers and four crew members died in the disaster. Many were young women and children.

Tied into this haunting is the haunting of Harpo Studios. At the time, the studio was home to the National Guard Armory which was used as a make shift morgue. Obviously we weren’t allowed inside Harpo Studios but the tour guide told us about the various hauntings like that of the “Grey Lady” who’s been caught on video. Oprah did a show in 1996 about the haunting at her studio but doesn’t discuss the topic anymore.

After that we headed to one of the most famous hauntings in Chicago, Hull House. This is where you can see the Devil baby! The story of Hull House and the Devil Baby is the inspiration for “Rosemary’s Baby.” Interesting eh? According to prairieghosts.com:

Hull House has long been known as a pioneering effort in social equality. Jane Addams and Ellen Starr Gates opened the house in 1889 to educate and improve the lot of the newly arrived European immigrants. Jane Addams became the “voice of humanity” on the West Side, enriching the lives of many unfortunate people at the house.

You could say Hull House was the early start of foster care/social services. Hull House is rarely remembered for that part of its history. Instead it’s known worldwide as the location of the “Devil Baby.”

Hull House received its greatest notoriety when it was alleged to be the refuge of the Chicago “devil baby”. This child was supposedly born to a devout Catholic woman and her atheist husband and was said to have pointed ears, horns, scale-covered skin and a tail. According to the story, the young woman had attempted to display a picture of the Virgin Mary in the house but her husband had torn it down. He stated that he would rather have the Devil himself in the house that the picture. When the woman had become pregnant, the Devil Baby had been their curse. After enduring numerous indignities because of the child, the father allegedly took it to Hull House.

It’s said that sometimes the Devil Baby will appear in pictures taken of the upstairs windows. According to the legend, that’s where the baby was kept until it died. Did I manage to snag a photo of the infamous Devil Baby? You’ll have to wait and see!

The final stop of our tour was the location of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. At least what’s left of the location. The building where the massacre took place is no longer standing but you can see the tarline on the building next door of where the roof was at the time. In case you don’t know what happened or WTF I’m talking about…

On the morning of Thursday, February 14, 1929, six members of George ‘Bugs’ Moran’s gang and a mechanic who happened to be at the scene were lined up against the rear inside wall of the garage of the SMC Cartage Company in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago’s North Side. They were then shot and killed by four members of Capone’s gang (two of them dressed as police officers). When one of the dying men, Frank Gusenberg, was asked who shot him, he replied, “Nobody shot me.” Capone himself had arranged to be on vacation in Florida at the time.

Imagine that! Capone was on vacation and out of town! Shocker right?

Anyway, that ended our tour! I really didn’t mean for this post to be this long but I wanted to try and include as much as I could about the stories. If you’d like to learn more about the spots the tour took us to, I recommend picking up Chicago Haunts: Ghost lore of the Windy City. The book is written by Ursula Bielski whose husband was the tour guide. I bought the book while in Chicago to have something to read on my flight back home and it’s really interesting.