Features

October 2011 issue

Enter the secret world of London’s private clubs
What do these disparate famous people — real and fictional — have in common: James Bond, Phileas Fogg, Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, the Duke of Wellington, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling and Gwyneth Paltrow? They all are or were members of private London clubs, many of which are just as fascinating, historic and beautiful as the standard London landmarks.
January 2009 issue

Lithuania — A homecoming

by Donald Tremblay, Santa Monica, CA

For more than 50 years, since my wife, Lili, and I first met at UCLA, I had been hearing about the country of Lithuania — her birthplace and the area that she and her family had escaped from in advance of occupying Russian Communist forces during World War II. Much had transpired during the intervening years and, finally, with Lithuania in 1990 having again declared its independence, the opportunity to visit arrived.

Getting there

Although Lili and I are experienced world travelers, we somehow had never been able to fit a visit...

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May 2009 issue

Exploring the remote villages of Russia's Southern Urals

In my continuing quest to visit every oblast (region) of Russia, I landed in Moscow in September ’08 to join six other travelers arriving by various flights from every direction within the continental United States. Our group spent one night in Moscow, then flew on to Ekaterinburg, where we were joined by Paul Schwartz, our MIR Corp. tour manager, to begin our adventure in earnest.

Ekaterinberg

Ekaterinberg is clean, modern and full of life. It is commonly known as the place where the last czar, Nicholas II, and his family were imprisoned and executed by the Bolsheviks,...

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September 2009 issue

France’s Dordogne

by Beth Habian, ITN

I must admit that, despite my profession, I’m a chicken when it comes to traveling to an unfamiliar place on my own. While many thrive on the excitement and challenge of tackling a foreign country independently, I like the security of traveling with someone who knows the destination and the language.

I don’t, however, enjoy being a “tourist.” The thought of walking through narrow streets following a guide holding a brightly colored plastic flower on a stick makes me cringe. For me, small-group travel is the way to go.

This year I was invited to...

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July 2011 issue

Cape Town to the Canaries — cruising the West African coast

by Joyce Bruck, Ocean Ridge, FL

For some time I had been looking for an interesting trip up the west coast of Africa. I finally found one, offered by Silversea Cruises, and, to my excitement, it offered free air travel and a deep discount.

On Feb. 7, 2010, I flew from Miami to Cape Town, South Africa, to begin a three-night pre-cruise adventure before embarking on the 18-night, seven-country cruise, ending in the Canary Islands.

Making plans

I followed my usual strategy that I use before any trip, researching the various ports and what I might expect to see...

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December 2009 issue

Sri Lanka — Surprising and a bit surreal

by Teresa O'Kane, San Jose, CA

Sri Lanka is a place like no other. That’s what the marketing posters say, and why not state the obvious? But if I were in charge of marketing for Sri Lanka, my slogan would be, “Feel in the mood to drop down the rabbit hole? Come to Sri Lanka, where the unexpected happens.”

The Cannonball Run

In the capital city of Colombo, my husband, Scott, and I stayed at an old colonial hotel, the Galle Face (phone 941 12541010), which still feels “veddy, veddy” British. Expats working or passing through Colombo gather nightly for drinks on the...

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November 2011 issue

Japan — Touring Tottori
The fractured, eroded and impressive Uradome coastline.
During my first visit to Japan, in 2009, I hit a few of the typical first-time-in-Japan sightseeing highlights: busy cities, fabulous shopping, “tea and temples” and ancient castles. When I was offered an opportunity to return in July ’11, I hoped to focus on some of my personal interests: birding, gardens, history, art and, of course, savoring the local food. The compact Tottori Prefecture seemed like the perfect place to pack all of that into a relatively brief eight-day trip.
February 2009 issue

The Adriatic Coast — In the wake of the winged lion

by Yvonne Horn, Contributing Editor

The winged lion of Venice, sculpted in stone, stood high above us just beneath the tip-top bronze bell of St. Mark’s Torre dell’Orologio, looking down on the populace as if it owned the world.

My grown daughter, Joanne, and I had come to Venice to board Windstar Cruises’ Wind Star — an appropriate starting place, as our week-long August ’08 voyage would trace a long stretch of Adriatic coastline systematically conquered by the Venetian Republic during its reign of supremacy. From the beginning of the 13th century until Napoleon Bonaparte...

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