I’m presently in the middle of my two week trip to Indonesia, the world’s largest Islamic population. I knew at the onset I’d probably be visiting at least one mosque in my travels. While I’ve encountered mosques while traveling (particularly in Turkey), I’m always worried that I am not doing things correctly and thus inadvertently…
Sometimes it becomes necessary to go far from my typical hotel path. A unique visit to Borobudur was one of those occasions. Yogyakarta is the nearest city to the 8th century Buddhist temple site and over an hour away. One of the unique experiences for this UNESCO World Heritage site is to climb up pre-dawn…
In honor of my vacation starting tonight, I thought it would be fun to post a really retro trip report from Cathay First Class from April 2002 – it was my first US-HKG longhaul in first class (I had previously flown both business and coach on the transpacific routes). The original… This was originally posted…
I leave on vacation in nine days. That means in about eight days, I will start packing. I don’t do much in advance which means I will invariably be tearing the house up looking for something less than ten minutes before I’m being picked up for the airport. What I have done in advance however…
All that sea air always causes me to work up a bit of an appetite when I’m on a cruise. Or at least that’s what I tell myself! Today we hit the midpoint of my review of my three-night Mexican escape on Golden Princess a couple of weeks ago. * Part I – How Did I…
I have a shameful secret – I hate travel planning. It’s strange for a Type A frequent traveler to admit that I don’t like travel planning, but it’s true. As a travel blogger, my street credibility rides on having an interesting trip, every time. I need to know the best inside information about every city…
I’ve had several interesting off-blog conversations about hotel tipping recently. One came up in a side discussion about my issue last week with a Starwood hotel failing to deliver on a service request. (A friend asked whether I would have tipped if the requested item eventually showed up, even after the lengthy delay… my answer, YES.) Another was broached…
Greetings from hazy Ensenada! I’m enjoying a leisurely day in port with my margarita & guacamole brunch (and free AT&T wifi hotspot) before we do a bit of lazy wandering. Every cruise I take, I’m repeatedly asked the question “which shore excursions are you taking?” – by friends before I leave as well as by…
Fox News has advice for you on combinations to avoid on your next trip to the bar (and surprisingly none of them involve liberals)! Their top five “dangerous cocktails” are: The Hurl Hurl The Zombie The Vaportini The Tequila Blue Blazer Corpse Reviver #2 While I find their list interesting, it just seems too tame…
Navigating an airport for the first time can be a nerve wracking experience for any first-time flyer. But mix airports and autism together and you can have a highly stressful situation for that traveling family. Sensory overstimulation is often a fear for parents of autistic children. How their child might deal with situations outside their…
Interesting fact #1: The last two hotels I have stayed in have had earplugs strategically placed on the nightstand when I checked in. Interesting fact #2: I have ended up with disruptive noise from the room next door to me on my last two hotel stays. Coincidence? Or correlation? In the case of the first…
Nothing can get a group of frequent business travelers more excited than talking about luggage. And nothing gets this jetsetting diva more excited than Tumi luggage. Unless it’s Tumi luggage ON SALE. Let me catch my breath from the jumping up and down I’ve been doing for the past few minutes. Gilt.com has my favorite luggage…