Traveled: November 2023 If you had to pull out a map to remind yourself of where Laos is located, I understand – its partially how we stumbled upon this amazing country and what is now my favorite city in all of Asia. While planning a trip to Vietnam, our...

The past year has taken us on some very long flights to far flung destinations, so when it came time to plan a family trip with my parents this winter, I yearned for an international trip that didn’t require a long flight but wasn’t Mexico. Any reasonably logical daughter...

The name Bologna might conjure up childhood memories of not-so-great sandwiches, but Bologna and the surrounding area known as Emilia-Romagna is a food capitol that is not to miss. One of Bologna’s nicknames is “La Grassa,” the fat one (along with La Dotta, the educated one, as Bologna is...

Since Puglia is a bit off the beaten path, it is best to plan to spend a full week or more. For the second half of our week, we chose Lecce as our home base for exploring southern Puglia. With more days – and we found ourselves needing more...

Rome, Florence, and Venice get a lot of hype in the tourism world – and for good reason. However, Italy is a treasure trove of wonderful smaller cities, sites, and cultures. A region that has long been on my bucket list was Puglia, the “heel of the boot”. You...

Later this week, we will be in vacanza in Italy, and non vedo d’ora! (I can’t wait!) We will be traveling with my parents to visit our relatives in northern Italy (my grandmother’s cousins) as well as heading to some parts of Italy that none of us have been...

On a boat transfer from our Bora Bora resort, a blond Californian, fresh from a 10-day catamaran excursion, asked where we had been during our French Polynesia travels, and I replied that we had spent 5 days on Moorea. She stared at me a moment, and then scoffed, “Huh,...

They say there is no such thing as a free lunch. And most of the time, when I say we flew somewhere for “free”, I mean on points and miles, which do require investment of time and monetary funds. Our flight to Tahiti was, in fact, completely free –...

Over the last month, as Omicron has wreaked havoc, it seems it is time to reclassify the pandemic as an epidemic. I have lived the past 2 years being as cautious as possible: vaxing, boosting, and stockpiling enough N95s to supply an island nation for a year. Starting around...

Our 2020 Thanksgiving trip finally took place a year later than anticipated, but we found Kauai to be worth the wait! Kauai is a great choice if you are looking for an island escape with a bit more peace and tranquility. Highlights of our Trip: Waimea Canyon Kokee State...