![]() |
Photo by Tracey Hocking on Unsplash |
Wednesday, August 25, 2021
Get Better Sleep While Traveling
Saturday, August 21, 2021
Why Staycations Are Still Big Right Now
I know most of us are dying to get out in the world and explore, but we also want to be responsible and safe. Eric and I are still doing Destination Date Nights and exploring Portland's outdoor spaces and through restaurants that specialize in foods from outside of America. Yes, we'll be taking a road trip next month, but like our last one, we'll be changing the way we approach this trip, eating outside as much as possible or taking meals to-go, doing outdoor activities, and masking up whenever we're around people.
![]() |
photo credit |
We'll be staying at our timeshare, so we'll have a kitchen and patio and pool and picnic tables. While this may not sound like as much fun as regular vacations we take, we'll be away from home and have a change of scenery. Follow me on Instagram to follow along on our trip and maybe snag some ideas for your own next trip.
Will you be staycationing or road tripping this year?
Wednesday, August 18, 2021
3 Steps to Preventing Jet Lag
You can lose hours or days of your trip because of it, which is kind of like being robbed, because you're paying for vacation you don't get to use. Going west to east is worse than going east to west, but it depends on how many time zones you're crossing. The best way to avoid jet lag is to start combating it before you even leave home. Here are some tips:
When you get to your destination, stay on schedule. If it's daytime, do some sightseeing. If it's nighttime, then go to bed. Simple! And don't forget to eat on time. Have problems getting on a new schedule? Try a time adjusting app!
If you want to know more about a jet lag "diet", see my post here. I still haven't tried it like I meant to, but I found that getting on schedule ASAP worked really well. I am normally tired the first evening, but after a good night's sleep, I am good to go for the rest of my trip. I've done this for coast-to-coast trips and also trips further away.
Saturday, August 14, 2021
Shereen Travels Cheap Turns 11
What's coming up after this road trip?
Wednesday, August 11, 2021
Planning Your Trip to Malta
So, we have recently "returned" from Malta and enjoyed the scenery and food and music. I, honestly, can't wait to go in real life and do and see and taste everything the island has to offer. If you're interested in learning more about Malta, here's an infographic on doing it on a budget:
Saturday, August 7, 2021
Malta at Home
It's been a minute, but I've had a really busy month, and I'm finally getting back to my Destination Date Nights. Our last one was to Malta, because I knew that summer deserved some actual summer destinations. As you may know, Malta has been a destination on my wish list for quite some time, and we'll be heading there in the future, if we ever get out of this pandemic.
Things look to be doing better and then everything goes to hell again, so I don't expect regular leisure travel to really be back until probably mid-2022. What does that mean? More staycations for you and probably more time to plan a big, awesome trip when we finally come out of this. I'll still be doing some travel in the next year, though probably not as much as I hoped for, because it will have to be careful and safe and responsible. For now, let's look at how we traveled to Malta while staying at home.
Because of where it's located, Malta is influenced by Greece and Italy and northern Africa. This is shown in the architecture and foods. Malta doesn't have much that seems uniquely Malta, but the combination of other countries makes it interesting and a clash of cultures makes for a feeling of being in many places at once.We made this a simple Destination Date Night. We had dinner, we listened to some Maltese music and we just enjoyed each other's company. I used the look and island vibes to set my table. Malta is a beautiful, breezy, fishing destination, so I used my striped tablecloth and added a fish vase with poppies (a flower is grown in the area), and topped it off with one of the Knights of Malta.
Because Malta is such a niche country, there aren't any Maltese restaurants around here, so, like I did with Mongolia, I found a restaurant that had items that were close to what is popular in Malta and then filled in with other foods. I found that the place I wanted to order from actually charged LESS if you purchased a meal kit and assembled/finished the food at home, so I ordered and picked up a seafood stew and a beet salad. I felt that the stew was close enough to Aljotta, a Mediterranean fish soup. Cod is a native fish there, so I chose a stew that also included cod (and also shrimp and clams).
Everyone has salad, and it was an easy thing to include and put together from the restaurant. I always like to have some sort of vegetables with dinner, and this was a perfect fit. It was beets, gorgonzola, and pistachio brittle with a champagne vinaigrette. Malta has a bread that is similar to focaccia - Ħobż - which I thought would go really well with both the salad and the stew, and I was right.
While we did some sightseeing via our backdrop ("That lady down there is taking a photo of those people with an iPad!") and chatted about the food and what we would do in Malta, we listened to some Maltese pop music. Then we busted out the dessert.
I wasn't sure I would be able to find cannoli in our local bakeries (it's not really that popular), so I decided to fake a Maltese dessert called imqaret. They are sort of like fig newtons, but flaky, so I baked fig paste in croissant dough. Then I did find cannoli at the bakery down the street, so we had both. Cannoli is an Italian dessert, but it's frequently served in Malta as well. Both were delicious, so I guess I'd be into visiting some bakeries while in Malta.
- A Malta backdrop
- Here's my seaside one
- And here's the colorful door I purchased as a second viewpoint
- A simple striped tablecloth or a fish motif
- A fish vase (also comes in clear and blue)
- Poppies for your vase
- A Knight of Malta
- Malta flag
- Find a good travel tour video or one on the Malta catacombs
- Get your kids to play some old Malta street games
- Cook your own food with a Maltese cookbook
- Watch a food tour or learn about Malta's culinary culture
- Plan a trip with the help of a local
Unfortunately, between being so busy and our heatwaves, it's been hard to plan another one, but I have a new one coming up. You'll be seeing us visit Chicago soon, and hopefully, also Reykjavik. We'll also be actually traveling to Reno and Vegas on a road trip soon-ish. You can see photos of all of these as they happen on my Instagram. Cheers to more staycations while we're waiting to safely get back out in the world.
Have you done any fun staycations over the last year and a half? Tell us about them in the comments!
Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links, and I may be compensated should you choose to make any purchases through them. This allows me to keep this blog running for you. Thanks in advance!
Wednesday, August 4, 2021
Happy Birthday, Harry!
So, as you know we usually do a big party to celebrate Harry Potter on his birthday, but last year we had to do it virtually, and this year we're waiting to see how things go and have already moved it to September and turned it into game night instead of the usual big do up. We'll be celebrating Harry and the return to Hogwarts for wizarding kids.
![]() |
One of the staff at Kennedy School, dressed as a House Elf |
That doesn't mean we didn't do anything for Harry on his birthday. We did. The week before his birthday I helped run the PDXpelliarmus Harry Potter Activists' booth for Wizarding Weekend at a local hotel that was once a school. For 3 days we have magical vendors, the movies going, themed food, and games. Considering we had to skip last year and we weren't sure how well received this would be with everything going on this year, we were blown away.
Usually, this weekend is the end of our back-to-school supply drive, but we pivoted this year to end Accio Books with this big event and were overwhelmed with book donations. With the money we made from selling our buttons, bags, and other HP-related goods, we were able to cover our entire book list for a charitable organization that works with the houseless, so we can provide them with young adult and adult books.
Here are some pictures of our table, Diagon Alley, kids dressed up for the costume contest, and my own outfit. (Yes, this was an event where we encouraged masking and all volunteers had a mandatory mask rule.)
![]() |
My last-minute, weather appropriate garb, as a Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes employee |
![]() |
Our 3 costume winners: Seamus Finnegan (complete with soot-covered face, Dobby, and Professor Trewlawney) |
![]() |
Putting together our gear for Wizarding tea |
On Harry's actual birthday, Eric and I convinced some vaccinated friends to go to an annual Harry Potter tea near to us. We have gone every year except last year, where everything was still shut down for indoor dining. This year they had welcome cocktails, tea leaf reading (a must for every year), and a Muggle magician. If you've seen my IG reel, you can watch me volunteer. I wrote my name on a piece of parchment, we set it on fire, and then it reappeared inside of an orange. Amazing! Here are some of my favorite pics:
![]() |
Channeling our love of Ron's love for the Chudley Cannons Quidditch team |
![]() |
Reading our tea leaves. I see a crow and a crown in the middle, and what might be a squirrel - I see a llama - over on the right. What do you see? |
![]() |
There was a Muggle magician! |
![]() |
Dobby follows me everywhere, I guess. Here's Eric and I with some fellow Potter friends |