Welcome Back! Travel Savvy has been upgraded!!

The Savvy Traveler you all know and love has finally fund some congruity.
Check out the blog for new videos and writings compiling all the cities I toured in 2015, including Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Bali and Hawaii (again).
New pictures. New dialogue. New vibes, and here is a little video to say thank you and I missed YOU!

Also, I am no longer on FB, but please follow photos on Instagram @TravelsavvyIntl and tweets @TravelsavvyIntl : You will find my posts here on my blog, and you may always reach me by email and phone (DM if you do not have that current information). I am planning on vlogging more, so you can see my face and I can charge you with my travel energy, so watch out for that fun stuff coming up!

Love and Blessings~
Sherri

Living in Terror

I came in late last night - quick overnight at home and as I relaxed and fell asleep with the fan on me, I thought of nothing but sleep. Within 3 hours I was awakened by a car door slam and then the sound of fighting.
I looked out my window to see a car pulled over on the side of the street, lights on, and a man atop another in the middle of the street. Although the streetlamp exposed the scuffle, it was hard to make out the who, the what, the why. I then heard a voice. A voice hurrying the fighters back into the vehicle. I had to assume they had seen me peering out of the window directly at them.
As I contemplated calling the police, the voice jarred me into reality. I live alone. I travel a lot. I am now a target.
A man punching the daylights out of what looked to be a teenager in the middle of the street at 3a.
What do you do?
And as fast as it drew me out of bed, the tires on the mini van squealed and the driver drove both men away into the darkness.
I re-ran the conversation, all the sounds over and over again in my head. Was this a gang related beatdown? Were these two drunk buddies that finally broke the last straw and decided to throw down? Was this a father figure beating a teenager who was out of line? These are the thoughts that went through my head.
Something told me it was domestic. Maybe the way the receiver of the beating slunk back to the car and got in silently. It also wasn't a loud altercation. NO cries for help. No voices at all, except initially when the car door slammed. I heard a man's voice saying, "...I told you...". Then after repeatedly punching the victim in the face and head, the voice of the woman driving the vehicle signaling them to depart the scene.
Regardless, my thoughts surrounded, would they come back? Would they break in and give me a beating because I witnessed the event? What the hell just happened?
Re-living the scene over and over again.
Getting out of bed over and over to look into the street and the cars. Trying to recognize my worst fear.
Finally falling back to sleep hours later of sheer exhaustion.
I sat on the toilet and quietly peed listening for any sounds coming from downstairs and outside. I thought about the fear the victim must live in daily to take a beating like that and get back in the car with these people. I thought about how much I don't know about my neighbors. I thought about how I made a conscious choice not to live in fear after two home invasions during my twenties.
It crossed my mind that I need to move. That I love my house and I love downtown but I am alone.
I am not protecting anyone. No one is protecting me. I don't want to lie awake at night reliving someone else's terror.
No compassion in the world can absorb the victimization of another human being.
And I look forward to my hotel room tonight so I can sleep well again.
And this makes me sad as well.

The irony: it's Independence Day.
Where is my freedom?

My morning commute

Every day as I am driving my kids to school I try to take the time to think about my day, make lists, organize myself. During these times I have a very short time to prioritize because simultaneously I am noticing the world around me. I take in the people walking the streets of Denver. I watch the small children walk and bike to school. I look at all the homes for sale in the neighborhood and the snow still left on the ground.
This morning as I cruised over 23rd Avenue behind St. Josephs hospital and the Not-So-Safeway on Park Ave, I noticed a man on his porch. This man was simply standing on his porch with his hood pulled up watching the traffic pass by and the sun come over the buildings to our south. I thought, people in my neighborhood are just like me; chilling - checking out their neighbors, starting their sunshiny day.
Then I noticed in his right hand was a 24 ounce can of Schlitz, and in his left hand a cigarette.
Not so much like I kick off my morning, but "Good morning Denver".

Cause we will believe anything John McCain

In a feeble attempt to regain any semblance of a true competition after the successful (to say the least) DNC, held in Denver this week, John McCain has pulled, what he obviously looks at, as his trump card. By choosing a female running mate, he believes he has made a brilliant chess move. I beg to differ. John McCain is transparent and simple. Not only have we seen this throughout his weak campaign, but now we see it highlighted in this aggressive and overtly insulting move. Are we small children? Do we not get his weak attempt at tossing us, the American public, a bone after seeing with his own eyes the power and stamina the Dems have touted this week?

This move brings to light 2 possibilities: On one hand, he believes he has made a brilliant choice, after years and years of not supporting women (fiscally, rights-wise, or otherwise), and we should believe that against everything he has stood for in the past, TODAY he is a new man, with a new outlook, and a new following? That his "good old boys" club needs a soft feminine face. A FACE EVEN YOUNGER THAN HIS COMPETITION WHICH HE HIMSELF HAS DESCRIBED AS LACKING EXPERIENCE. Obama is too young but his running mate is not? Rich! I guess the self-proclaimed hockey mom has built her defense strategies around what she's learned on the ice. How do the rest of the "good old boys" feel about that John?

or 2, he knows good and damn well he is trying to manipulate the American public, pull some disgruntled Hillary fans to his side and eeek by in an election he truly can't compete in. Now that's the John McCain I know.

Hey John, most of those Hillary followers were pro-choice, think they will overlook their beliefs to follow your running mate's anti-abortion campaign strategy? They are not as simple as you think.

I truly hope the American people see through the transparency of this pathetic attempt at collecting votes and see him for the fool he is.

By LIZ SIDOTI and BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writers 6 minutes ago

DAYTON, Ohio - John McCain has introduced Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a conservative who shares his maverick streak, as his vice presidential running mate in a startling selection on the eve of the Republican National Convention.
At a raucous rally Friday in the swing state of Ohio, McCain said he made his pick after looking for a political partner "who can best help me shake up Washington and make it start working again for the people who are counting on us."

McCain said that Palin was "Exactly who I need. She's exactly who this country needs to help us fight the same old Washington politics of me first and country second."

(Is this supposed to be a good thing? 8 IS ENOUGH FOOL!)

In an earlier announcement, McCain's campaign said that Palin, who has been governor less than two years, "has the record of reform and bipartisanship that others can only speak of.
"Her experience in shaking up the status quo is exactly what is needed in Washington today," the announcement said.

Palin has a strong anti-abortion record, and her selection was praised warmly by social conservatives whose support Mccain needs to prevail in the campaign for the White House.

GOOD FOR HER, BUT WHO ARE YOU TRYING TO ATTRACT...AND "WARMLY"...THAT'S USUALLY NOT A POWERFUL CATCH PHRASE USED DURING AN ELECTION. I'M JUST SAYIN'.

"It's an absolutely brilliant choice," said Mathew Staver, dean (AND IDIOT-SHEEP) of Liberty University school of Law. "This will absolutely energize Mccain's campaign and energize conservatives," he predicted.
With his pick, McCain passed over more prominent contenders like Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, as well as others such for former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, whose support for abortion rights might have sparked unrest at the convention that opens Monday in St. Paul, Minn.

The timing of McCain's selection appeared designed to limit any political gain Obama derives from his own convention, which ended Thursday night with his nominating acceptance speech before an estimated 84,000 in Invesco Field in Colorado.

Public opinion polls show a close race between Obama and McCain, and with scarcely two months remaining until the election, neither contender can allow the other to jump out to a big post-convention lead.

At 44, Palin is a generation younger than two of McCain's seven children. She also is considerably younger than Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, who is Barack Obama's running mate on the Democratic ticket.

She is three years Obama's junior, as well — and McCain has made much in recent weeks of Obama's relative lack of experience in foreign policy and defense matters.

AND NOW YOUNG IS GOOD - YOUNG AND FEMALE, EVEN BETTER, EH JOHN?

In its formal announcement, the campaign pointed to her powers as head of the Alaska National Guard and the mother of a soldier herself as evidence that she "understands what it takes to lead our nation..."
McCain has had months to consider his choice, and has made it clear to reporters that one of his overriding goals was to avoid a situation like 1988, when then-Sen. Dan Quayle was thrown into a national campaign with little preparation.

A self-styled hockey mom and political reformer, Pallin was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, population 6,500, until she became governor.
Palin flew overnight to an airport in Ohio near Dayton, and even as she awaited her formal introduction, some aides said they had believed she was at home in Alaska.
She is a former mayor of Wasilla who became governor of her state in December, 2006 after ousting a governor of her own party in a primary and then dispatching a former governor in the general election.

More recently, she has come under the scrutiny of an investigation by the Republican-controlled legislature into the possibility that she ordered the dismissal of Alaska's public safety commissioner because he would not fire her former brother-in-law as a state trooper.

Palin has a long history of run-ins with the Alaska GOP hierarchy, giving her genuine maverick status and reformer credentials that could complement McCain's image.

Two years ago, she ousted the state's Republican incumbent governor, Frank Murkowski in the primary, despite having little money and little establishment backing.

She has also distanced herself from two senior Republican office-holders, Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don young. Both men are under federal corruption investigations.

She had earned stripes — and enmity — after Murkowski made her head of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. From that post, she exposed ethical violations by the state GOP chairman, also a fellow commissioner.

Her husband, Todd Palin, is part Yup'ik Eskimo, and is a blue-collar North Slope oil worker who competes in the Iron Dog, a 1,900-mile snowmobile race. The couple lives in Wasilla. They have five children, the youngest of whom was born in April with Down syndrome.

Exhibit Darfur, Denver

Last night I had the privilege of attending the opening evening of the Exhibit Darfur at the Ditto Gallery located at 12th and Speer, right here in Denver. I had no idea we had such brilliant activists right here in town...little ole' Denver.

I understand that this exhibit was put together in one month. Not just the exhibit, but the opening evening's reception, which included our Govenor speaking, and various other artists and activists, educating Denver on the atrocities occuring in Darfur right now.

The exhibit included the photographs of Mia Farrow, Brian Steidle, Izabela Lundberg, and Aaron Cohen, all true to the plight of Sudan as they shared the horror that exists within the country today.

The exhibit displays visually the tragic impact of war and genocide in Darfur by Steidle; the reality of slavery in the Sudan by Cohen; Sudanese culture and life in refugee camps by Farrow; and the hope of Darfur survivors in the U.S. by Lundberg. One of the most impactful sights was the drawings by small children of Sudan depicting bloody gunfire spattering into homes and innocent bystaders of Darfur. The concentration camps, or refugee camps as the government is calling them, are implied "safe areas", yet these camps are isolated in the middle of nowhere with no food or water resources.

gen·o·cide pronounced [jen- uh- sayhd]

–noun
the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.

The Ditto Gallery did a fine job of hosting this informative and socially relevant event, and the groups which sponsored the event have made available a tremendous amount of information for the public. Please take the opportunity, pop into the gallery and check out the exhibit, it is an eye opening experience.

For more information, check out these resources:
http://www.savedarfur.org/page/group/DENVERCOALITIONTOSAVEDARFUR

http://www.beyondintractability.org/case_studies/Darfur.jsp?nid=5101

But whatever you do, Be Conscious, Be Aware!

DNC Denver 2008, sights, sounds and symptoms

Denver has been lucky enough to have the presence of the Democratic National Convention grace our fair city this summer. In an election year abuzz with media pressure, anxiety amidst a war, and at the very least, hope; here we are politicians - show us what you got.


Being from Missouri originally, I'm still a firm believer in "You've got to show me".


The city is bursting with energy. New faces are all over the downtown area. Judging our city. Taking in the beauty of Colorado; some for the very first time. Everyone with their badges proclaiming them great enough to walk the streets - our streets, for a cause. Do us proud Dems!

As I parked downtown, I looked up to see the solemn face of Barack Obama, Democratic Presidential candidate. Graced with the mountains of Colorado as his backdrop, a vision of hope for our state as well as for the country in the upcoming 4 years. Then as I walked along the streets of downtown, I saw his face everywhere, in storefronts, on T-shirts, on doggie sweaters, everywhere. I thought, people are really looking towards the convention as well as something new.


Barack Obama represents change in this country for many reasons, and seeing his face 10 stories high facing the Denver community speaks volumes. The DNC has opened it's minds, and hearts to the hope that Senator Obama has brought to the table this presidential election year. We welcome Obama, and we welcome the Convention to our city.

As with any major event in any major city, with the good also comes the negative. The protestors, the police with billie clubs, the raging lunatics; everyone comes out to be a part of the energy that brings people together. I must say I am rarely shocked, and some of the sights that I witnessed downtown were just plain shocking, and I realize that this is the point - to parlay their propoganda into a base, shock value to jar people out of their reality.
I have opted not to show the photos of the truly shocking because I am a firm believer that the media choosing to sensationalize tragic events is what pushes them to the forefront of society and actually allows them to gain momentum. I will say that the pro Life vs Pro Choice argument is a strong one and no matter where I stand personally, I would never step outside of my moral convictions as a Christian to try and manipulate people to stand on my side of the fence. I truly hope these good Christian, Pro-lifers who think it is morally correct to show pictures of bloody fetuses on the side of a 16 wheeler are prepared to stand in the light of the Lord on judgment day. My children, and the children of most of the city who happened to be downtown and were subjected to this horrific photographic display were terrified.
And it didn't change my viewpoint, only made me realize how sick these people are and pray for them.

I am an advocate for having a stance. Stand for something or STFU, is my mantra, so believe it - I have value for peaceful protestors who believe in what they stand for enough to get out there and share it with the world. This guy didn't try to shove propaganda in my face. He didn't try to scare my children, nor did he vilify my city with his viewpoint. I am proud to have him here as part of the DNC standing for something. Peacefully. Welcome Sir!

Denver...My City

I fell in love with Denver within 3 days of moving here. I have lived all over the world and initially the attraction to snowboarding and hiking, and all the outdoor activities Denver has to offer year round is what inspired me.

The longer I lived here, the more I realized what a charmer Denver really was. As a community, Denver tries with all it's heart to offer everything any big city has to offer; fantastic restaurants, marketable and fashionable retail shops, a sporadic, yet solid nightlife, and even a young but workable rail system. Denver shows up.

This weekend Denver housed the People's Fair, a community driven free event where live music is showcased among local artisans and food vendors. For 2 days at Civic Center Park locals and tourists alike can mill around taking in the sights and sounds of what Denver has to offer.










Zeut








Simultaneously, downtown, La Piazza dell'Arte, which is advertised as the Rocky Mountains preeminent street chalk event, took place. This event brought chalk artists from all over the world to the streets of Larimer Square right downtown in our fair city.


This outdoor fair encouraged locals and tourists alike, to find the artist within themselves and draw, photograph and really enjoy the city streets in a new light.


Even European artists showcased their brilliant concepts on our art friendly streets as we soaked in in like a fresh ray of sunlight after a long, gray winter.


Kids and dogs alike, families, couples and even the mayor enjoyed this beautiful weekend in Denver connecting with the community. Making Denver a great city to live and love.
The all weather fans never forget what this city has to offer year round, boasting Pro teams in all sports. Go Broncos!

Denver...My City.