I’ve found that the old dictum “hindsight is 20/20” has taken on new meaning this year. My realization has been that for much of my adult life, travel has defined my most significant moments. I don’t want to come off sounding like some Instagram travel influencer racing around the globe to collect passport stamps for the […]

I am trying to recall my first introduction to Greek music. I was a teen when my parents took me on holidays to the island of Corfu. Was it during the taxi ride to the hotel – taxi drivers love their music, and they like it loud – or was it that night we signed […]

There is much discussion in the shell-shocked world of the travel ‘industry’. What’s lost, what’s coming back, what’s never to return. Goodbye to the city break? Good riddance mass tourism! Farewell fly-and-flop. Well, I don’t know the answer to all that, but I do know that there is one journey I currently cannot get out […]

Here we are in a snow globe of uncertainty. At first, we read every headline. Then we retreated from the media all together for mental well-being. Some wore masks. Some went rogue. We all wonder when we will next travel? How far? Where to? Will the buoyant snow flakes of our current globe settle to the […]

As Italy and most of Europe are gradually lifting the lockdown, many of us over the past few months have become intimately familiar with the concept and the challenges of ‘quarantine’, or sheltering in place for an extended period of time as a measure of public health. Italy reached the mark of 70 days. Some […]

Don’t worry.  I’ve not gone off the deep end (yet). The title is a rough translation of the hymn to San Sebastian, aka Donostia, aka one of the Coolest Coastal Towns in Spain.  It’s also much more readable than the original Basque: Sebastian bat badu zeruan, donosti bat bakarra munduan. But Basque aside, I’m not hot […]

The church of Santa Croce is one of those monuments that never ceases to amaze me, no matter how many times I visit; and truth be told, I plan on spending some time there each time I’m in Florence. There are so many reasons as to why it keeps luring me back: for one, this […]

We were on our way to the market, as lead by our guide, the ever-capable and personable Paco, when my co-culinary-conspirator, Susannah, mentioned in a hushed tone that she had never visited this market before, as she had been warned-off by friends and people-in-the-know, that it was too dangerous to visit, especially for a non-Mexican […]

There’s lots that’s unique about Santiago’s Museo al Cielo Abierto San Miguel, a place where art, history and everyday life come together in the heart of a community, make a living museum in the open air. Beyond the city’s two best known and more classic museums (the Museo de la Memoria and the recently reopened PreColombian Museum), it’s part […]

Italian kids are cool. They drink wine-tainted water from toddlerhood. They have mad ball handling skills from the pressure of containing the soccer ball within the piazza. Lessons in risk tolerance begin on Daddy’s lap in the backseat of Nonno’s car (see photo). From here the risk exposure progresses incrementally until one day these no […]

It’s been a while since we’ve managed to make our way back to Laos.  It’s always a treat to be able to return to Luang Prabang, a true favourite of mine, but this time we were able to explore a bit further.  Laos has long been known as an “add-on” destination to trips in Vietnam, […]

Bangkok to me has always been a stopover destination.  One night in and out, 2-3 the next time, slightly longer when I was a backpacker back in the day, etc.  I  always stayed hyper local, doing a few things here and there but never really getting the hang of it.  Recently, I’ve had the pleasure […]

A short hop from two major Latin cities lies the wee port town of Colonia del Sacramento. Just 2 hours from Montevideo (by car) and 1 hour from Buenos Aires (by ferry across the Rio de la Plata), it is easily accessible from these two compelling capitals. Colonia is a UNESCO World Heritage site and […]