Each time I’ve been to Paris, it’s been during a different time of year. I’ve experienced rainy April days, the tourist swam and local flight of August, chilly October nights, near-perfection in June, and the freezing temperatures and soldes of January. On this trip, my sixth, I visited in December — and got to experience […]
Christmas in Paris Read More »
I’ve been doing several Top 12 of 2012 lists to round out the year, and initially had a Top 12 New Destinations of 2012 list in the making. But I decided to scrap it — 12 wasn’t a good number for this one. I wanted to narrow it down to the destinations that REALLY floored
My Favorite New Destinations of 2012 Read More »
With Christmas freshly finished, I’ve got my next trip planned: Blogmanay! I’ll be celebrating New Year’s in Edinburgh, Scotland. Edinburgh, which I’ve long extolled as one of my favorite cities, has one of the world’s best New Year’s celebrations. People come from all over the world to celebrate Hogmanay. I’ve been invited to be part
New Year’s in Scotland — It’s Time for BLOGMANAY! Read More »
Constant travel does not equal constant happiness. Just because I’m nearly always on the road, it doesn’t mean it’s always easy or fun or exciting. Travel, as life-fulfilling as it can be, can also be very challenging. I try to show that darker side, but most of them time, those bad moments don’t make entertaining
My 12 Worst Travel Moments of 2012 Read More »
This week’s Ask Kate is a question that I get asked with surprising frequency. Two years ago, Nomadic Matt wrote a post called Why I’ll Never Return to Vietnam. It got quite a bit of outcry — many of his readers were in complete agreement; many more disagreed. Here I try to help a reader
Ask Kate: Is Vietnam As Bad As Nomadic Matt Says? Read More »
“Change of plans. We’re going up Table Mountain now,” David told us. Now? We had literally just stepped off the Blue Train. “There are no clouds on top of the mountain today. The weather probably won’t be this good again.” It turns out that although Cape Town has a fantastic climate, Table Mountain can be
View from the Top of Table Mountain, Cape Town Read More »
2012 was a wild year. It’s been a fantastic, exciting year, filled with good times and bad, fun, friendship, and adventure. Looking back, I’ve tried to narrow 2012 down to the best 12 travel experiences I’ve had. Here they are: 12. Visiting the Alhambra in Granada, Spain I’ve always been into architecture, but this marvel
My Top 12 Travel Experiences of 2012 Read More »
This past weekend, I got to experience a delightful festival for the first time: Lyon’s Fête des Lumières, or Festival of Lights. Every year from December 8-11, Lyon’s nights are filled with brilliant light shows that are as technologically savvy as they are artistically scintillating. Despite my lifelong francophilia, I had never heard of this
Lyon’s Festival of Lights Read More »
Of all overland journeys, I’m not sure anything can top my experience in South Africa: riding from Pretoria to Cape Town on the Blue Train. The Blue Train, you see, is a FANCY TRAIN. The kind of train that requires men to wear jackets and ties and ladies to don elegant eveningwear. The kind of
The Blue Train: Crossing South Africa in Luxury Read More »
Changing from the iPhone to the Samsung Galaxy SIII? It wasn’t easy at first. But as time went on, I found myself more and more enamored with this phone. First things first: in my Knysna photo post the other day, I mentioned that the SIII had a great camera, but the only Android photography apps
Making the Switch to the Galaxy SIII Read More »