Honfleur feels like a movie set. The old harbor front buildings, each a different muted color, some with windows placed hither and thither, some appearing to lean every so slightly against their neighbors, each somehow managing to provide just the right amount of support to keep all of the buildings marginally upright, just gives off a vibe that this place is too good to be true. And yet, any visitor to this quaint town located at the mouth of the Seine River can see that thi

There's something exotic about European Christmas markets to an American traveler, used to an oversaturated winter holiday season that starts the minute Halloween ends. While certain news stations will bemoan a "war" on Christmas, the holiday is still an all encompassing event in the beginnings of winter. And yet, despite its dominance, Christmas in the US simply cannot measure up to the Northern European experience, with its quaint and charming Christmas markets that sprinkl

One would be very hard set to find a lovelier château in all the land - and lord knows that the Loire Valley, home to the kings and...

(This post is an itinerary post to help those looking for advice on how to spend their time in certain locations. For more detailed...

Ahh, the beautiful seaside town of Saint-Malo. Tis a shame we hardly spent enough time visiting you, for what we saw suggested a longer stay would be incredibly worth it. Located along the northern shores of France in it's western most region, Brittany, and is one of the most charming seaside villages we've visited. Alas, my inability to edit myself caused us to have very little time here, and even fewer daylight hours, but what we saw we liked very much. We had arrived the n

Northern France is a charming place, full of good food, good wine, and good fun (and great people!). While there may be more dramatic scenery across other parts of Europe, I find the gentle rolling hills of Champagne, the long sandy stretches of beaches along the coasts of Normandy or Brittany, and the intricately designed châteaux of the Loire Valley to be absolutely stunning in their own unique ways. My biggest takeaway from this itinerary below is that we need to spend mor

Well, readers, sometimes the best laid plans go awry. And if you're me, you have to have that built into your travel plans, because no...

Recently, I found myself sitting on my lanai at my house in Hawaii on a mild mid-October afternoon. It had just rained for a good hour,...