A three and a half hour drive from the bustle of the city of Hanoi lies a peaceful set of 1,600 islands and islets, Ha Long Bay. This bay has been the backdrop to many movies, including the Oscar winning Indochine, and has also been featured on many "Things to Do Before You Die" [...]

I had been thoroughly enjoying my free wine every evening, and occasionally during the day, on my Viking River Cruise along the European Rhine. But, when the Tor ship hit Germany and ported in Cologne (Köln), it was time to put a cork in the wine bottle and venture inland for a Kölsch beer. I can [...]

I panicked when I read that there were no blow dryers or flat irons allowed at Blue Osa Yoga Retreat on the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica. Do they not know what my hair does in the humidity? The same information sheet also said that most people choose to not wear any makeup. What? No hair [...]

Who wouldn’t want to visit a place with a name like the Freakybuttrue Peculiarium?  It is filled with creepy oddities, homemade exhibits and weird experiences, like the opportunity to have your photo taken getting an alien autopsy or viewing a dollhouse where one of the disturbing rooms has just had a bloody massacre. [...]

Climbing the 368 stairs to the top of Bartolome island in the Galapagos made my brow trickle with sweat and scaling the 468 stairs of the Florence Duomo made my lungs ache, even the measly 109 steps of the St. Simons Lighthouse in Georgia made me embarrassingly winded. If these were all examples from the past, then what would [...]

It was a chilly 48 degree fall morning in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, the leaves were just beginning to change color and the brisk wind sporadically blew them off the trees. I bundled up, wrapped a scarf around my neck and started to walk from my lodging at the Inn at [...]

Today seems like a perfectly fine day in Cancun to stick my feet into some lace-up boots that are strapped to a short surf-style board. Then, I'm thinking about having a high-performance jet ski, attached to aforementioned board by a tube that forces the ocean's water through it, tow me [...]

This past weekend I was home from traveling and it had been one of the most incredible. On Friday night, the husband and I had attended one of our best friends weddings. Not only did we witness true love, but we slowed dance so closely that after 17 years I felt [...]