Let’s Embark
While the definition of embark relates to boarding a vehicle, it also means to begin a course of action. As we go from moment to moment, day to day, year to year, new beginnings emerge as new phases, mindsets, commitments, relationships, and perspectives change and vary. This blog is a place to share my thoughts and insights on the various adventures and daily journeys on which I, and we, will embark.
Eating My Way Through Astoria (yes, Queens)
When I signed up for a culinary walking tour of Astoria, I’d expected to learn about the neighborhood while ducking into some of its Greek restaurants. While I am happy to report that some Greeks do remain, I found instead an enlightening mélange of cultures and...
Rolling on the River
There are few things as thrilling as rolling on the river – whitewater rapids crashing against your raft, pushing and shoving as you fight to control the force of the water by digging your paddle deep into the river. It was our first time on northern California’s...
Travels to the Sunshine State
Two of the things I love most are travel, and time alone with each of my kids. A few years back, I wrote about the gift of those journeys and how much I, and they, gain from that time away together. (You can read that piece here.) The latest was a four-day jaunt to...
A Focus on Women and Art in Florence
In honor of women’s history month (March), a new walking tour focusing on women’s role in art has just launched in Florence, Italy. And isn’t it about time? A collaboration between Context Travel and the Advancing Women Artist Foundation (AWA), this small group tour –...
Botswana Beauty: The Okavango Delta
Sunday evening television was pretty sacred when I was growing up in the late 1960s and ‘70s. Although Laugh-In held the top spot in my house, I’ll never forget the mesmerizing wildlife images of Mutual of Ohama’s Wild Kingdom. Fast forward several decades and there I...
Getting some Headspace In Flight
Air travel can be stressful, boring, anxiety-producing. Once in flight, there’s no way to escape – the surrounding confines of a packed aircraft and its poorly circulated air, the tension that comes with making a connection, the inevitable lost baggage syndrome....
Walk into the Real “Downton Abbey”
This January, the PBS hit series “Downton Abbey” begins it’s third season, and I can’t wait to see what happens to the Grantham family upstairs (will Lady Mary and Matthew make it to the altar?) and their Downton staff downstairs (does footman Bates’ murder...
The (Mayan) Doomsday Ride on Two Wheels
According to the Mayan calendar, the world will end on December 21, 2012. To mark the event, the Tour d’Afrique biking company has organized the first (and last?) ever Doomsday Ride on La Ruta Maya. The trip leaves San Jose (Costa Rica) on December 20th and will lead...
Chocolate, Crosswalks and Close-by Adventure in Lucerne, Switzerland
“There are two kinds of travelers,” announced Jurg Schmid of Switzerland Tourism to a packed house of over 600 international delegates who convened in Lucerne, Switzerland for the annual Adventure Travel World Summit. “There are those who want to forget, to leave...
On a Gîte in Southwestern France
For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to stay on a gîte – the French word for a holiday vacation home, often on a farm or vineyard. When a colleague mentioned she knew someone who’d opened a gîte on a vineyard near France’s southwestern city of Carcassonne, I...
Taking the “Om” on the Road
I used to pack a yoga mat nearly every time I traveled. I’d neatly roll up the rubbery sheet and press it atop my folded clothes, squeezing it in diagonally when necessary. Once at my destination, I’d place the mat in the corner of my room, unrolling it whenever I...
Peru (part 2): The Inca Trail, Machu Picchu & Lima
After writing my first post about Peru, I was all excited to write the follow-up. The trip had been amazing, and there is much information to share. But something kept me from getting to it and I kept on re-adding it to my “to do” list without actually doing it. Keep...
