Miss Adventures

Freelance Travel Writing and the Art of Being a Parent

I recently turned down a press trip to a place I’ve always wanted to go. The press trip was going to be an all-expenses paid trip to a destination near the Mediterranean Sea. I would go, see the sites, and write about the destination for a few publications. I didn’t have a firm assignment for [...]

Istanbul: 2010 European Capital of Culture

Tomorrow – January 16 – Istanbul will be introduced to the world as the 2010 European Capital of Culture. Istanbul, the Capital of European Culture, you say? But Turkey is not even part of the European Union. You’re right…not yet. But, most of Istanbul is in Europe, even if the majority of Turkey lies in [...]

Five Reasons Why I’m Returning My Kindle

On Christmas morning, I was one of the thousands of people who awoke to find a Kindle, Amazon’s e-book reader and the company’s “most gifted” product ever, under the tree. As my family’s gadget geek, I was definitely excited to test out the holiday season’s most talked about toy, even though I hardly have time [...]

More Great Gifts for the Sensory Kid

Looking back over my last post Gift Ideas for the Sensory Kid, I know I could’ve included even more gift ideas. So here I am – back with some more tips. Crayola Color Me a Song I am pretty excited about this product, which I bought a couple of weeks ago to put under the Christmas tree. [...]

Gift Ideas for the Sensory Kid

Since my son was diagnosed with PDD-NOS (aka “atypical autism”) and Sensory Processing Disorder, I’ve had a tough time figuring out suitable toys and games to get him. Sure, he’s happy with just about the same stuff any other kid is – blocks, mind-numbing, battery-powered toys, ride-on toys, etc. But I know that a lot [...]

Three Best Travel Secrets

I’ve been tagged by Robin Locker at My Mélange to provide my three best travel secrets. She actually tagged me on my Italofile.com site. But I had so many good secrets beyond Italy that I wanted to share my top three non-Italy secrets here. To see the Italy list, head over to Italofile. Have a [...]

Fashion Tips for the Mom Who Has Let Herself Go

When I was in high school, I used to be obsessed with fashion. Instead of doodling flowers or names of bands on my notebooks, I wrote names of fashion designers and models. After all, I did grow up during the age of the supermodel and CNN’s Style with Elsa Klensch. I never missed an episode [...]

The Little Train That Could

Here’s the link to my latest travel article on National Geographic’s Intelligent Travel Blog. This was my first piece for them, and I’m really pleased with how it turned out. This piece is about the Toy Train in Matheran, a hill station outside of Mumbai. India has submitted the toy train, which made its first run [...]

Things I’m Thankful For

Now that Thanksgiving is nigh, I’ve been seeing all of my friends list things that they are thankful for. So I, too, wish to reflect and count my blessings. Here, in no particular order, are the things I’m thankful for this year. I’m thankful for… My family The fact that my youngest boy Leo made it through his [...]

Fall of the Wall

November 9, 2009, marks 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. I was in 9th grade when the news came across CNN that the physical symbol of the East/West divide was on the verge of toppling. And my mother reminded me today while I was reminiscing about the event that I sat for [...]

27

Start spreading the news…the Yankees win the 2009 World Series! Here’s how they got to number 27: (Above photo © Nick Laham/Getty Images on Detroit News website) Every 2009 Yankees Walk-Off Win

The Perfect Gift For Your Little Mad Scientist

Tell me these aren’t the coolest blocks ever! I just saw these Mad Scientist blocks today on Etsy. There are a lot of cool, wooden, alphabet blocks out there. But these are special. Here’s what each letter and accompanying picture stand for: A – Appendages B – Bioengineering C – Caffeine D – Dirigible E – Experiment F – Freeze ray G [...]

Mommy, why are you ruining Halloween?

I live in a half crunchy/half alpha-mom neighborhood, and I love it. Typical topics on the community listserve are “home birthing options,” playgroups, yoga classes, vaccine debates, and baby clothing swaps. I really don’t pay much attention to most of the discussions, except for maybe the free/heavily discounted stuff. But I have been a bit [...]

Of Freelance Writers and Junkets

There was a debate about travel writing ethics today on Twitter (#twethics), which started with a story on Gawker called “New York Times Travel Writer Broke These Travel Writer Rules With Junket.” Gawker ran the above photo of Mike Albo, said travel writer who was accused of engaging in a “swag orgy” because he accepted [...]

A Review of Phanfare’s Photosharing Site

A review of Phanfare, a photosharing and archiving site, by a blogging, stay-at-home-mother-of-2, freelance travel and food writer. Get the first year of Phanfare for $27.47.

Down with the DC Cellular Surcharge!

I’m getting ready to settle down in the DC area again after a long while of living overseas. So, I’m getting things in order. One of the first things I did upon coming back to the States was get a new cell phone. I’m loving my new iPhone (a topic for another post) and my [...]

If I Ever Renew My Vows…

…I want to do something like this. Yeah, this video has been all over the Internet and on TV by now. But I just watched the whole thing and it brought me to (happy) tears – much more than the traditional Wedding March ever has. Super cool. Congrats, Jill and Kevin from me and the [...]

Where Has the Time Gone?

I can’t believe it’s been more than one whole year since I wrote a post for this blog. The main reason was because I kept having this technical glitch with wordpress, my blogging software. That all seems to be solved, thanks to a solution from tech blogger Dave Risley. I owe him. Of course, it hasn’t [...]

Paul Theroux On How He Became a Travel Writer

Paul Theroux may be a curmudgeon, but he’s a damn good travel writer (if that’s what you must call him). This piece in the Guardian about how and why Theroux became a travel writer comes a few days shy of the release of his books The Great Railway Bazaar and The Old Patagonian Express as [...]

Planting Season at MissAdventures

Dear friends, I must apologize for the long delay in writing. But, I have been up to big things. First of all, I have been concentrating on my writing and my other blog Italofile.com. I am using Italofile as a way to explore the Italy travel landscape beyond the pages of my books The Unofficial Guide [...]

Perfect Summer Salad

My staple during this hot Turkish summer has been kisir, what some call Turkish Tabbouleh. It’s not really a salad, but it makes the perfect cold side for stuffed peppers or karniyarik (another Turkish dish I’m making a lot lately). I learned this recipe from my maid, but you can also find a perfectly good version [...]

Three Great Books

There are a ton of books, both fiction and non-fiction, about Turkey and the Middle East. While most of them are useful in learning about the region’s history and culture, few hold my interest for more than a couple pages. That’s not the case for the following three books, which I am reading or have [...]

Help Victims of Agent Orange

It’s an hour later and I’m still bawling over a piece that I saw on BBC News regarding the Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange. A situation this grave is enough to make an inactive person like me want to do something to help. While I may consider a letter-writing campaign at some point, I’m moved right [...]

Beypazarı and the Food of Anatolia

Last weekend we went to Beypazarı, a small village an hour and a half by bus from Ankara. Located on the old “Istanbul to Baghdad route,” Beypazarı has been inhabitated by various tribes and peoples, including the Seljuks, who left behind a 12C mosque, and the Ottomans, whose “konak” houses dot the town’s hillside. Beypazarı [...]

First Impressions: Ankara

No one ever writes anything particularly special about Ankara. Guidebooks don’t dedicate many pages to the capital. And, when I mentioned to people that I was moving to Turkey, their faces lit up: They: “Istanbul?!” Me: “No, Ankara.” They:”Oh, too bad. Istanbul is great.” My first impressions of Ankara had been quite favorable, up until this past Tuesday, when [...]

Evacuation Plan

Earthquakes. Forest fires. New Orleans. Iraq. So many natural and man-made disasters are in the news lately that I keep hearing about “evacuation plans.” As serious as such things may be, I couldn’t help thinking about using the phrase in a humorous way on a baby onesie. Click on the photo above to see the [...]

36 Hours in Istanbul

In case you missed it, the New York Times ran Seth Sherwood’s 36 Hours in Istanbul this weekend. I’m looking forward to following Sherwood’s suggestions and telling you all about them very soon. Before that, we’ll be doing some traveling in Anatolia. Stay tuned…

Welcome to Turkey

We arrived in Turkey at a very interesting time. The Battle for Turkey’s Soul is afoot, pitting the “sons and daughters” of Atatürk (as well as the Turkish military) versus the “headscarf republic,” or Islamists. Hundreds of thousands of Turkish secularists have marched in Istanbul and Ankara at the slightest hint that the prime minister [...]

Here First! Miss Adventures or Ms. Adventure?

Hi there! Are you looking for Ms. Adventure, the website of the Animal Planet television show that launched in January 2007? Or are you looking for Miss Adventures, the on again-off again blog of freelance travel and food writer Melanie Mize Renzulli? If it’s the latter…welcome! If not, check out Ms. Adventure here. It’s unfortunate I didn’t [...]

On Republic Day, Starting Anew and Moving On

It has been almost nine months since I left India and last posted on the blog. (You’ll also notice I moved cyber addresses – from http://tblogs.bootsnall.com/miss to here.) I was ready to leave India last April, but now I look back on that chaos quite fondly. Indeed, I was also fond of today’s holiday – Republic [...]