There’s just something alluring about having dinner in a low-ceilinged dining room with peanut shells on the floor and a fireplace and ancient-looking wooden beams holding everything in place and rippled views from the antique glass windows. That this place—Purdy’s…
During this season of renewal, my mind floats to my favorite churches in Paris. I can’t help but marvel at Sainte Chapelle, stuck next to a courthouse, the little sibling of its competitor, the grand Notre Dame Cathedral. With each…
Any number of people, knowing that I’ve visited Russia, say to me, “I’d never go there now.” I can’t help but think, why not? Well, there’s that crisis in Ukraine, of course. Yet most people I know wouldn’t be heading…
Not every vacation can be a jungle adventure in the Amazon. Sometimes, a traveler just needs to get away and for the trip to be unthinkingly stress-free. For a quick escape, I tend to choose Florida. It’s all too easy…
Florida features so many destinations, and hotels are so numerous, that making a choice can be overwhelming. Even narrowing down a list of prospective hotels can be daunting. At the high end, chances are you won’t really go wrong no…
So said a divorced mom of two to me about going through life a bit solo right now. I am always surprised when otherwise outgoing people suddenly become needy and clingy when confronted by an adventure that they have to…
Watching Peace, Love & Misunderstanding (2012), I remember how I’d like my ideal life to be, full of Jane Fonda as a hip grandmother, happily cluttered houses fostering free-range chickens, and women with whom to howl at the moon whenever…
The Brawny Sherpa and I wander aimlessly through Captiva Island, Fla., having ditched our rental car somewhere with the optimistic hope that we’ll remember its color, make and license number when it’s time to retrieve it. This is a day…
Never super-keen on the Gulf coast of Florida for no particularly discernible reasons except Miami, Palm Beach, and Amelia Island, I headed there for a quick stay on Marco Island with the Brawny Sherpa before pointing north to a family…
On a trip to the west coast of Florida, the Brawny Sherpa and I are staying on Sanibel Island when we decide to take a little road trip to nearby Captiva. This is the most basic of vacations featuring beaches,…
I’m not sure why rooms with a fireplace are so attractive to me since I have a fireplace at home, but I’m quick to click “buy now” whenever a hotel features a bit of flame. Fireplaces are so romantic that…
I had no idea what a huge deal a snowflake’s refusal to morph into an Olympic ring could be until the global coverage of the snafu at Friday’s opening. That such a commotion was made about a snowflake seems to…