California Dreaming month continues with a look at some Los Angeles luxe, appropriate for Oscar Week. When I was in southern California last month for the LA Times Travel Show, I partnered with the three Four Seasons properties in the Los Angeles area, spending a night at each one so I could compare...

One of my favorite lodging trends in recent years: The appearance of the luxury bed and breakfast, one that has the sensibilities of a boutique hotel with the personal touches that you’d find in a small establishment. I have very definite ideas on what a good bed and breakfast looks like, which...

My California Dreaming series continues with a look at Big Sur.This stretch of coastal California has inspired writers, travelers and thinkers for more than a century. Authors such as Henry Miller and Jack Kerouac found inspiration in the forested coast, which was sparsely populated until the famed...

“California Dreaming/On such a winter’s day.” One of the best things about moving to the West Coast has been my newfound proximity to California. At the Los Angeles Travel Show a few weeks ago, I learned that California is the number one state that American leisure travelers want to...

This week’s Photo Friday (#FriFotos) theme is HAPPY PLACES.   In late 2009, Chris and I traveled to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, my favorite Caribbean destination so far.  During our trip, we boarded the Friendship Rose, a 101-ft dual mast schooner for a day of sailing to the Tobago Cays, with...

This week’s Photo Friday (#FriFotos) theme is DOGS.  Pictured are two beach dogs and their walkers on an early morning stroll on Sanibel Island, FL. Caption: “Forgot that little dog!  We came here to walk, remember?”  

Every professional travel writer, it seems, has a happy place, a destination where they return not so much to gather new material, but to unwind and relax. For me, that place is Sanibel Island, Florida. My parents started taking us to Sanibel when I was a teenager. Eventually, they bought a condo...

This week’s Photo Friday (#FriFotos) theme is “best photo of 2011”.  While on an adventure cruise which sailed through the Inside Passage of southwest Alaska, Chris and I had the opportunity to take a small excursion boat to Sawyer Glacier, in the Tracy Arm fjord.  It was extremely misty as...

All Monterey Bay photos courtesy of Nina K. Hahn In 2011, I was lucky enough to have several up-close-and-personal encounters with animals. A seal popped up next to me as I kayaked in an isolated bay in Alaska’s Inside Passage. I fed reindeer, their antlers still covered in fuzzy velvet, by hand...

There comes a point in every couple’s life when the prospect of hauling yourself across the country to celebrate the holidays with family is no longer tenable. For my husband Don and me, the breaking point came last year. We had moved to Seattle only weeks before, undertaking a cross-country move...