Thanks for coming back! If you liked this post, you may want to sign up for my weekly blog roundup. Thanks for visiting and continuing the conversation! Have you ever stayed at a haunted hotel before? After a night at the Hotel Jerome in Aspen, I can consider myself in that number. I moved into the Hotel...

I’m no stranger to health problems on the road. I’ve suffered a blood clot in Florida, a gallstone attack in Thailand and pink eye in Costa Rica. That’s why I tote a virtual drug store with me when I travel, including Cipro, sleeping pills, Neosporin, Visine, Tums, Claritin, Imodium, insect repellent...

Confession time: I have this thing for Peter O’Toole (not old alcoholic Peter O’Toole. I’m talking Lawrence of Arabia Peter O’Toole). And I also have this thing for rebels, be them of the Star Alliance, Jimmy Dean or Robin Hood variety. Peter Strauss isn’t too bad either. Needless...

Bauhaus architecture has never earned the respect of, say, Art Deco, Art Nouveau or Craftsman style buildings, at least among the general public. But the Bauhaus school, based in Germany between 1919 and 1933, laid the foundation for most Modernist design.  Noted practitioners included Swiss painter...

Before my trip to Israel last week, I wondered if I should allow immigration officials to put an Israeli stamp in my passport. It’s not that I didn’t want the stamp, which is partially written in Hebrew, as a souvenir.  I love collecting passport stamps and am genuinely disappointed when...

Spa types have always told me that minerals and mud from the Dead Sea, the lowest place on Earth, are good for your skin. But our guide Tamar from the Israel Ministry of Tourism made it sound more like the Fountain of Youth than a facial. “People come out and say they feel 10 years younger,”...

Israel’s great culinary debate, akin to pizza faceoffs in Chicago or cheesesteak wars in Philly, boils down to one question: Where can you find the country’s best hummus? On my trip sponsored by the Israel Ministry of Tourism, we sampled an entry today at Sa’id, a classic hummus establishment...

I’m in Israel this week as a guest of the Israel Ministry of Tourism. We have an action-packed itinerary that takes us through Haifa, Rosh Pina, Tel Aviv, Masada and the Dead Sea and Jerusalem. I had to get here first, of course. And, true to their reputation as the most security-conscious airline...

There’s many ways to soar above the  Hocking Hills‘ hills, lakes and forests. You can zipline through the treetops on a canopy tour. Or take a scenic ride in a small airplane over Cedar Falls. But I couldn’t wait to finally partake in an adventure that had lured me since I read Around...

Do you remember what lunchbox you used to carry to school? I  sported a metal Charlie’s Angels box featuring Kate Jackson, Jacklyn Smith and Cheryl Ladd (apparently Farrah didn’t stick around long enough to be thus immortalized). I used it to carry my typical lunch: a peanut butter or jelly...