It may be summer in the States (or at least some semblance of it), but if you are like me, you’re already plotting where to escape when ice, snow, and heavy jackets hit in a few months. Top of my list? The just-opened Shangri-La Villingili in the Maldives, with over...
Flying provokes myriad emotions for many of us: excitement, fear, the thrill of adventure, discomfort, a sense of escape and claustrophobia among them. A newly released anthology, Flight Patterns: A Century of Stories about Flying, edited by Dorothy Spears, features writi...
As far as I am concerned, you can’t overestimate the importance of a good hotel general manager, someone who is responsible for handling every whim of guests–dealing with any complaint large or small–as well as making sure everything from the restaurant...
Take the highest mountains outside of Asia, add English meadows, Alpine cows, and Amazonian rain forest, and mix with the Spanish and Incan cultures, and you get some idea of the extraordinary assets of the tiny country called Ecuador. Which is, says Ondine Cohane, one of...
I want a dog. A small dog with a big dog personality. But is it responsible for a writer who goes on the road at least every two weeks–New York, Miami, Hawaii, Mexico, Colombia, etc. etc.–to procure a pup? It is still far from clear, but I must admit that I wa...
On my recent trip back to New York, I couldn’t miss a pilgrimage to Frankies 457, one of my favorite haunts in Carroll Gardens. The restaurant enjoyed a buzzy opening a few years back; it was the perfect spot for dinner with friends or a lunch getaway in an area tha...
I am sitting in bed at New York’s Standard hotel staring out at the quintessential city view: the wide swath of Hudson River with its sailboats, tugs, and cruise ships; New Jersey on the other shore; and the Statue of Liberty in the distance. After a few months away...
If the answer is no, then I highly–highly–suggest you add it to your wish list. I made my second sojourn there last week and found it’s still made with my favorite ingredients: wonderful food (a cuisine that utilizes both ingredients from the coast and i...
I just got an e-mail from Rizzoli about a new coffee table book that the publishing house will release this October, Lamu: Kenya’s Enchanted Island. It got me thinking about my honeymoon, which I spent on the island, one of seven in an archipelago off the coast of K...
