As we paddled across the frigid but silky-smooth fjord of Höfðaströnd in the Hornstrandir Nature Reserve, the far northwest fringe of Iceland, our Icelandic guide, Oli, said with a wry smile, “I think the woman in the red cabin would like for us to stop for a visit over a cup of coffee.” Oli said […]
After making my way through Japanese customs, I was thrilled to be greeted at the airport by Yoshi, who announced with great enthusiasm, “The first cherry blossom has bloomed!” How auspicious, I thought, to arrive on the day of the first official bloom. At first, I imagined there was only one cherry blossom somewhere in […]
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“If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.” – African proverb that speaks to the value of community for long journeys. “If you want to go at all… and get there, make sure your flight leaves on time.” – me After decades of solo globe-trotting – first […]
Last month, I traveled to Kraków, Poland, where I was invited to speak at the International Wine Tourism Conference. I arrived expecting to find an emerging category that felt technically promising and logistically interesting while still finding its footing. I left thinking about something else entirely. Beauty. Ambition. The thrill of discovering a wine region […]
Before we left for Southern Patagonia, our South American travel agent insisted, “The most important thing to remember is you must go with a driver and a guide. The roads are terrible, and each hotel is isolated. There are no gas stations between hotels, and no place to stay if you cannot reach the next […]
Ahhh!… now we knew we were tucking into an authentic, iconic, traditional English afternoon tea: There were plates of finger sandwiches. My wife, Merry, and I sat in the white-columned tearoom at The Empress hotel, a stately dowager that has stood facing the Inner Harbor in Victoria, on Canada’s Vancouver Island, for 117 years. A […]
When travelers dream of the Italian Riviera, their minds often picture the pastel perfection of Portofino or the glittering allure of nearby Monte Carlo. Yet just beyond, along a sun-drenched stretch of coast, lies Sanremo, the storied “City of Flowers.” Nestled between the mountains and the sea, Sanremo is where the Riviera truly reveals its […]
I teetered on the edge of the north rim of Fish River Canyon, a lofty perch overlooking the second largest canyon in the world. The starkly beautiful desertscape is in Namibia, in Southern Africa. The colossal geological wonder appeared every bit like the American Southwest’s Grand Canyon, the largest canyon on the planet. Scanning with […]
My traveling pal and I arrived at the lovely, seaside Hotel Gutkowski (an affordable recommendation from a friend) on a Sunday early afternoon, just moments after a welcome, much needed thunderstorm and downpour began to clear the air. The island of Sicily had been suffering from a drought and the air had been gray and […]
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Our short but harrowing lift, from La Bella Palermo to the car rental agency, was thanks to a hair-raising ride by our very own Parnelli Jones. Our taxi driver seemed both skeptical and disdainful of the fact that I, a “woman of a certain age,” would be sharing the driving in Sicily with my friend […]
Here are some images capturing only a few of the highlights from my Japan travels earlier this year. Of note was a visit with Hiroshima bombing survivor Sadae Kasaoka, who spent over an hour with us, and seeing the “Atomic Bomb Dome,” a surviving building that was the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. There was […]
I love Sicily— and not just because I am half-Sicilian! The food markets, the array of amazing architecture, the people, the scenery… Palermo is a vibrant port city, from its underground catacombs to the heights of Santa Rosalia, and from amazing fine art collections and museums to eye-popping churches and restaurants of the highest caliber […]
If it’s good enough in this century for Madonna, Sir Paul McCartney and Zendaya, (whom I just missed by a day) – and in the past century frequent visitor Winston Churchill, as well as U.S. Ambassadors Joe and Rose Kennedy, Rudyard Kipling, H. G. Wells, W. B. Yeats, and other political and literary movers and […]
My seatmate on Alaska Airlines from LAX to Puerto Vallarta was Jeremy, a South African who made his fortune developing software for Wall Street and had become a U.S. citizen. He was traveling with 16 of his best friends to celebrate his 60th birthday in Punta Mita, Mexico. I was heading for a special culinary […]
