Travel Tips

Cruises work best for me because when someone else drives, cooks, and cleans--how can I go wrong?

When the only real decision to make is what to eat, drink and do, there can be no equal when it comes to travelling

Whether it is an upgrade to 1st or business class on a long flight or a bump to a verandah suite on a cruise or even a room upgrade to a suite like I received at the Rialto Hotel on the Grand Canal at the Rialto Bridge in Venice last year, surprises during travel often work in one's favor if you take the proper attitude.

Then again, as the saying goes, sometimes the travelling dragon wins.

Dreaming about visiting a place and then seeing that dream come to life is extremely fulfilling.

I would have never thought years ago I would be travelling as much as I have and as well as I have.

I never take anything for granted and appreciate those things in life that are important.

Whether it is a quaint bed and breakfast, a classic hotel-resort-spa or a nostalgic inn, classic venues are always fun to enjoy.

Eating dinner at a 200-year-old dinner house, relaxing at a rustic lodge in the woods with a breathtaking view or sleeping in a historic inn, they all have their virtues.

Success while travelling sometimes requires turning lemons into lemonade.

Last year I tried unsuccessfully to fly to Barcelona via Miami. Long story short, I flew from Miami to New York and onto London before catching a flight to the previously- unknown-to-me city of Alicante in Spain.

I fell in love with Alicante immediately and at the Melia Hotel I was upgraded to a 2-room suite overlooking the beach and mingled with some actors and actresses that had just departed the Cannes Film Festival.

Two days after arrival, I took a wonderful train ride through the Spanish countryside (much like Northern Nevada where the Basques settled) into Barcelona and I had great memories to return to.

It did not take me three trips to Europe to discover that I appreciated and learned more of the arts world by actually experiencing it first hand, rather than reading about it or hearing it second hand from others.

Galleries, museums, shows, plays, & musicals and the like should be seen whenever possible and I always try to devote some travel time to experience the world of art from a personal perspective.

Annual events, or even more so, unique and once-in-a-lifetime events, should be a goal for any seasoned traveller.

I will sometimes schedule trips around certain events, festivals, etc. or I will research my destination to determine if I can attend any activity that I would not normally be able to.

Taking time to "smell the roses" and "enjoying the moment" where ever you may be I think is important.

I try to make myself as comfortable on land as I do in the sea and as I do in the air.

Travel is a way of life and as once said, ""Travel is the frivolous part of serious lives, and the serious part of frivolous ones." -- Anne Sophie Swetchine