travel

A glimpse of Copenhagen

Greetings from Copenhagen. What a beautiful city when the sun is shining! I’ve been here for the past three days for TBEX Europe, a big meeting of travel bloggers from all over the place. I’ve met some interesting people and learned some useful things, and in between I’ve had the chance to explore a little … Read more

My favorite travel planning websites

I’ve been booking most of my travel online for a good 10 years now. Lots of wonderful innovations have come out in that time, but for the past several years my approach has remained mostly the same: a few reliable go-to websites that get me what I want in a relatively efficient manner. They keep me from losing my mind when I feel myself being pulled into travel-planning-related information overload.

With the launch of several new travel sites this year, it looks like my standard approach might be about to change. While I’m excited to move on to the new and the better, I’m also pretty pleased with my current travel-planning routine. So before I review the new sites, I thought I’d write about my standard plan of attack up until now.

Read moreMy favorite travel planning websites

The New York food post 2010

Our last trip to New York City was a whirlwind of friends, family, and food, topped off with a little bit of art and some volcano drama. Here were some of the culinary highlights from this time around (if you don’t feel like reading the whole post, scroll to the bottom for the best restaurant of the trip).

We arrived in New York exhausted and much later than scheduled, but dammit we weren’t going to miss a single NYC meal opportunity.

Read moreThe New York food post 2010

Merano: best lunch ever

So where were we? Oh yes: Merano, Italy. On our second day there, we asked at the hotel for a lunch suggestion. Lucky for us, the recommended place was closed, and we ended up improvising. We found Castel Fragsburg at the top of a windy road outside of Merano. The posted menu looked interesting, if a bit expensive, so we decided to give it a try. We were led through a large dining room out onto a terrace with a sweeping view of the valley below. Worth the price alone.

Before we can even order the chef starts sending us little ‘greetings from the kitchen’

Read moreMerano: best lunch ever

Because tap water is making you fat

Found this while sorting through my photos from our recent trip to the US. Sometimes Germany feels like an absurd pit of consumer product marketing (Obama Fingers, anyone?), but the US always manages to take it a billion steps further. It also reminds me how much I love being served tap water in US restaurants … Read more

Hooray for Dollywood

In order to preempt what would surely become FAQs, there are two things I will make clear at the outset of this post: There really is a place called Dollywood. I really did go there. Jealous yet? You may share your boob jokes in the comments. —- There is a special little part of the … Read more

A quick Italy fix in Udine

On our way back from Croatia we broke up the driving by spending a night in Udine, Italy.

We didn’t have much time there, but we managed to squeeze in two meals, two gelatos, and a lovely aperitivo while people-watching on a busy square (ie, all the essentials of a great Italy trip).

We had dinner at the charming and casual Al Vecchio Stallo, where we learned that Friuli offers up dishes just as yummy as those from Italy’s other regions

Read moreA quick Italy fix in Udine

Road trip to Croatia: Rovinj

After Opatija we continued our journey along the Istrian coast, stopping for lunch in Pula and then landing in Rovinj for our last evening in Croatia. I’m finding myself at a loss for words when it comes to Rovinj. The photos do a better job of communicating my thoughts. Rovinj’s old town is on a … Read more