My experience is that travel is awe-inspiring, eye-opening, mind-bending, and never ceases to amaze. I hope to never stop. It is, on occasion, hair-raising, challenging, disorienting, and downright scary. So what does one do when things don’t go according to plan? When you miss your flight (or your traveling companion does- looking at you, Juliet 😉)? When you’re...

For those of you who read my postcards, you know that cold weather and I don’t do well together. Yet I often visit cold-weather destinations because they are uncommonly beautiful, are unique, and have wildlife that can be seen only in very few places. So I go. By now, I know to bring certain essential clothing: two kinds of long underwear, wool socks, jackets of...

Many years ago, I began taking a pillow with me when traveling. I’ve always liked soft downy pillows and all too often, the ones I find in accommodations are otherwise. In Cairo at the Garden Hotel in 1983, there was what felt like a sack of hardened cement at the top of the bed. Who could possibly rest their head on such a forbidding surface? Having no alternative,...

I’m not much of a shopper at home (well, except for plants but that’s an entirely different story). However, when I travel, I love to shop. It’s such fun to buy things and then enjoy them in my house long after I’ve returned. I get to relive the experience of the purchase: who I was with, what the place looked like, how good the sales...

I don’t have a bucket list. I keep my eyes and ears open for interesting places to visit. Sometimes it will be somewhere I’ve had on my radar for years (e.g. Spring Green, Wisconsin). Other times, an overheard conversation will get me to thinking (e.g. Sicily). I have no parameters. That is, I am attracted to places near and far away. Of course there are...

What to take my stuff in is the first question. Roll-aboard to carry on or duffel to check? Almost always a back-pack either way. Frankly, I don’t like to check anything. There’s the possibility of it being lost or delayed and the headache associated with either of those events. However, carrying on definitely limits the amount of stuff I can bring and...