The Most Iconic Book Set in Every Country [Infographic]

couv16574900This is a great infographic! Global English Editing services (I am not endorsing them – I know nothing about them) have put together this fun list of the most iconic books set in every country of the world. With this gorgeous map, you can tour the entire literary world—without ever leaving home.

If you scroll past the map/graphics you’ll find all of the books listed alphabetically by country so you can get a little sense of the plot. Unfortunately, there’s no hot links so if you want to grab any of them, click here.

And yeah, I specifically chose the Lithuanian entry as the graphic for this post.

And So It Ends – 2017 Summer Holiday

Friday July 14

Daisy.jpgFriday morning we again made it to Disneyland and were all about meeting characters. Our first stop, just inside the gates, was Daisy Duck. Since it was early in the morning, Monki was asleep by the time we made it to the front of the line, but we’ll tell her she had a great time and all will be right in her world. Continue reading “And So It Ends – 2017 Summer Holiday”

Back to LA, Back to France – 2017 Summer Holiday

Sunday-Monday July 9, 10

Alien Fresh.jpg

Sunday morning, bright and early, all of the out of towners showed up at mom and dad’s place for brunch and goodbyes. AAron and Troy were there along with Tom. Family and other friends came by as well and there was even a cupcake to celebrate Monki’s birthday (although according to Lithuanian tradition you don’t officially celebrate birthdays before the day because that is bad luck and takes time off the back end of your life). Continue reading “Back to LA, Back to France – 2017 Summer Holiday”

Sun and Sand – 2017 Summer Holiday

Shadows.jpgTuesday June 27

After the crazy adventure getting in, our first night was a wash. We ate, said hello, then quickly collapsed. Monki experienced jetlag and was up at 1:30am, ready for the day to start. We were kept active with her until 5:30 when we were finally able to get a couple more hours of sleep. Continue reading “Sun and Sand – 2017 Summer Holiday”

Coming to America – 2017 Summer Holiday

Sunday-Monday June 25-26

I’ve said it before, but traveling from Lithuania is not easy. At least not by plane. Very few places are accessible directly, and those that are, are usually through the low-cost airlines (let’s never forget Flights for 50p, shall we) and get you someplace near your destination (For example, going to Paris, Ryan and Wizz fly you to Beauvais, which is about an hour away). Anyway, for our flights to the US, where we are going to spend a week on vacation with family in San Diego then all head back to Vegas for mom’s Bat Mitzvah, we decided to do it in two jumps – Vilnius (not even from Kaunas, so that’s another hour added on to the journey) to Paris then Paris to LA. Continue reading “Coming to America – 2017 Summer Holiday”

Kuwait – Show days

1kxu80We really started our work on the 28th of February. After resting from long flights and taking in the sites, we headed to the theatre to get down to business. The theatre is a government owned place, and the home of the Sesame Street show, which, it turns out, would be the source of a few technical hiccoughs.  Continue reading “Kuwait – Show days”

Kuwait Day 2 – Scientific (Center and the) American

Kuwait_Aquarium.jpgWhether I forgot or just didn’t think about it, I was awoken early on Sunday morning by the sun streaming in through the window I had left uncovered. Not a huge deal, to be certain, but all in all I knew I wasn’t going to get more sleep. So up I jumped, took a shower (and mentally thanked the Corniche hotel for providing beach size bathroom towels!) and headed upstairs for breakfast.  Continue reading “Kuwait Day 2 – Scientific (Center and the) American”

Kuwait Day 1 – “You’re now official!”

You know how we all have dreams for our future? Right now mine involves living somewhere that travel doesn’t have to start a day or two in advance of the actual trip. Case in point, the trip I’m on in Kuwait for Aga-Boom started on Thursday, even though my flight wasn’t until Saturday. On Thursday I took a train to Vilnius to borrow a car from my friend Rokas (thanks, Rokas!!) so that on Friday, I could drive Rasa and Monki the 250km or so up to Mažeikiai, drop them off, then drive back to Vilnius where I could return the car, then meet up with friends for coffee, different friends for dinner, including my friend Gaby, on whose couch I would crash so I could get up at 4:00 to catch a cab to the airport for a 6:20am flight.

Rabbi Abraham Zacuto and the Astrolabe | David Magazine

15731830_1394489910585063_3400966232016091909_oMy boss, the publisher of David Magazine, has this wonderful way of working. If I happen to be traveling somewhere, he knows something about the history and sends me on an adventure to write a story for an upcoming issue. This time, I was in Portugal, so he sent me in search of Portuguese Jewish history. The result is at the link below. Enjoy!

The Age of Discovery of the Portuguese Jews

Source: Rabbi Abraham Zacuto and the Astrolabe | David Magazine

Portugal and the World of Tomar… (12/6-12/11)

belem-tower-farWeek two started on Tuesday with a late start, for me. I was out of the house at 10am and decided to try one of the several Hop on/Hop off bus tours in order to get to the big sites easily. Unfortunately, we’re in the off-season so the bus schedule for the line I chose (and I admit, I just went with the first one I saw, and even then I thought it was a different line), the Grayline tours, which, truth be told, was kinda shitty. The busses were supposed to come every 20 minutes but every 30-45 minutes was more accurate and the ground staff (and the one driver when I tried to get on the wrong bus) were unfriendly and unhelpful. But I had paid for it, so I tried to take as much advantage of it as I could. I did do the full circuit on the two lines (out of four) I had paid for so I guess that was okay. And it did take me to see the Belem Tower, which is certainly on the must-see list. Continue reading “Portugal and the World of Tomar… (12/6-12/11)”

Magic – Live and otherwise

14095822_10154399304143665_5366482407314087398_nSo… A few months back, say around May or June, I got an offer to cover Magic Live for Magic Magazine. The problem of course was that the baby, who had yet to be born, was due July 1st and going off to Vegas for a magic convention with a 6 week old at home didn’t particularly strike me as the best idea in the world. But I really wanted to go. But 6 week old baby.  Continue reading “Magic – Live and otherwise”

Reimagining London 2016

DSC04765 (1) 6.13.04 PMOne of the great things about living centrally located in Europe is that nothing is very far away – and generally not that expensive to get to. If you’re like Monika, you can find amazing deals (she boasts about a roundtrip from Sweden to Italy, via Frankfurt, for little more than a euro each way). But even if you don’t have her luck, you can get some pretty amazing deals which allow you to see new countries or revisit old ones. Continue reading “Reimagining London 2016”